United States

An Evil So Great That America May Not Be Able To Ever Recover From It

Approximately 800,000 children go missing in the United States every year, and many of them end up in the hands of sex traffickers. After you read what I have to share with you, I guarantee that you will start watching your children much more carefully when they are in public. Earlier today I received an email from one of my readers encouraging me to check out John W. Whitehead’s latest article. So I did, and I was absolutely horrified by what I learned. In America today, authorities believe that the number of under-age sex workers is somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000. Those children are purchased millions of times a year, and it has become a 9.5 billion dollar industry. Every major city in the U.S. has a problem with child slavery, but there are certain areas (such as Washington D.C.) that have become central hubs. This is a major national crisis, and yet for some reason very few members of Congress are making this issue a priority.

Lately I have been writing a lot about how America has become a completely lawless nation, and this is a perfect example. According to Whitehead, some of the children being bought and sold are as young as 9 years old…

Children, young girls—some as young as 9 years old—are being bought and sold for sex in America. The average age for a young woman being sold for sex is now 13 years old.

This is America’s dirty little secret.

Sex trafficking—especially when it comes to the buying and selling of young girls—has become big business in America, the fastest growing business in organized crime and the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns.

As investigative journalist Amy Fine Collins notes, “It’s become more lucrative and much safer to sell malleable teens than drugs or guns. A pound of heroin or an AK-47 can be retailed once, but a young girl can be sold 10 to 15 times a day—and a ‘righteous’ pimp confiscates 100 percent of her earnings.”

With all of the law enforcement resources at our disposal, our nation could destroy this industry if it really wanted to do so.

In his article, Whitehead says that a single child “might be raped by 6,000 men during a five-year period of servitude“.

Just one child.

And since there are at least 100,000 child slaves in the United States today, we are talking about potentially millions of men that are committing acts of evil so horrific that they should immediately be given the death penalty.

Once a nation has fallen this low, how can it ever recover?

In one federal case, a child slave testified that “she was forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a night”…

As David McSwane recounts in a chilling piece for the Herald-Tribune: “In Oakland Park, an industrial Fort Lauderdale suburb, federal agents in 2011 encountered a brothel operated by a married couple. Inside ‘The Boom Boom Room,’ as it was known, customers paid a fee and were given a condom and a timer and left alone with one of the brothel’s eight teenagers, children as young as 13. A 16-year-old foster child testified that he acted as security, while a 17-year-old girl told a federal judge she was forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a night.”

This sort of evil is taking place every night in America, and it should be eradicated.

But our national leaders don’t seem too interested in making that happen.

Every single day, young girls are being abducted and forced into slavery. They are sold to men for as little as $25, and their pimps make up to $200,000 per child every year.

Of course many of the children forced into such a lifestyle don’t live very long. According to Whitehead, the average life expectancy for these victims is just seven years…

Those being sold for sex have an average life expectancy of seven years, and those years are a living nightmare of endless rape, forced drugging, humiliation, degradation, threats, disease, pregnancies, abortions, miscarriages, torture, pain, and always the constant fear of being killed or, worse, having those you love hurt or killed.

Stopping this horror should be right at the top of the list of our national priorities, and yet I very rarely hear any politician even mention this crisis.

And even if we put an end to all sex trafficking, we would still have a massive national child abuse problem to deal with.

The following numbers come from the National Center for Victims of Crime…

  • 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse;
  • Self-report studies show that 20% of adult females and 5-10% of adult males recall a childhood sexual assault or sexual abuse incident;
  • During a one-year period in the U.S., 16% of youth ages 14 to 17 had been sexually victimized;
  • Over the course of their lifetime, 28% of U.S. youth ages 14 to 17 had been sexually victimized;
  • Children are most vulnerable to CSA between the ages of 7 and 13.

We have now raised several generations of Americans that have absolutely no moral foundation, and so we shouldn’t be surprised that evil is multiplying all around us.

If America is going to have any sort of a positive future, we must turn from lawlessness, but instead our nation continues to run away from God very rapidly.

It has gotten so bad that top political leaders such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton really struggle to even say the word “Christian”.

A political solution is not going to solve the problems that I have talked about in this article. What we really need is a spiritual revolution, and we need it as soon as possible.

Get Prepared NowAbout the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

Wild And Unprecedented Price Fluctuations Are Causing Financial Chaos For U.S. Businesses

In every war there is a high price to pay, and this trade war will not be any different. The normal flow of goods and services around the globe is being severely disrupted, and even though this trade war has barely just begun, it is already having an enormous impact on the U.S. economy. Even if we ultimately win this trade war and the Trump administration is able to achieve all of the goals that it is targeting, there will still be a great cost in the short-term. We are going to see businesses fail, we are going to see workers get laid off, and global economic activity will inevitably contract. Heck, at this point even Fox News is calling this trade war “economic suicide”. We live at a time when a delicately balanced formula of economic factors allows us to live a debt-fueled standard of living that is far beyond what we actually deserve. Now we are messing with that formula, and the consequences are likely to be far more severe than most Americans are anticipating.

Let’s start by talking about steel and aluminum. One of the chief goals of the tariffs was to help the steel and aluminum industries, and thanks to those tariffs we have seen the price of U.S. steel rise 36 percent since the beginning of 2018…

For instance, US steel and aluminum prices have soared since the imposition of tariffs. US midwest hot-rolled coil steel price, the US steel price benchmark, soared 36% between the start of the year and the start of July. This in turn causes prices of goods made with the metal to rise.

That is good news for the U.S. economy, right?

Actually, it isn’t.

Every product that uses steel and aluminum is now going to cost more.

In many cases, a lot more.

For instance, one grill company is reporting that they have had to raise prices “by almost $350 per grill”…

Middleby Residential, a California-based company that makes Lynx grills, told the Dallas Morning News that even though the company uses US steel, the recent price pressures have driven up costs by almost $350 per grill.

Do you want to pay an extra $350 for your next grill?

Retail prices for washer and dryers are surging as well. They have increased by 20 percent compared to a year ago, and that is because prices for raw materials are skyrocketing…

Whirlpool Corp trimmed its full-year profit outlook as it booked a large charge on its European operations and said it wouldn’t be able to offset the effect of steel tariffs with higher prices for consumers.

The company said Monday it now expects to pay about $350 million more this year from rising raw-material costs as it faces “a very challenging cost environment.”

Anybody that purchases any products that contain steel and/or aluminum will be feeling these prices increases.

And any business that uses steel and/or aluminum on a regular basis is going to be feeling an enormous amount of pain. For example, the largest nail company in America is already laying off workers…

When President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports last month, America’s largest nail manufacturer had little choice but to raise its prices. Mid Continent Nail Corporation quickly lost 50 percent of its orders as customers opted for cheaper suppliers. Within weeks, the firm had to lay off 60 workers. Up to 200 more might lose their jobs by the end of this month.

All over the country, companies are going to be forced to either raise prices, fire workers or move production facilities out of the United States.

Meanwhile, farmers all over America are facing a different problem. Thanks to a massive decline in demand from China (thanks to tariffs that they have hit us with), prices are plummeting and warehouses are filling up with food that doesn’t have anywhere to go.

Every year, the U.S. usually imports about 14 billion dollars worth of soybeans to China, and I covered the plight of soybean farmers in a previous article. But of course soybean farmers are far from alone. It is being reported that more than 2.5 billion pounds of meat and poultry products that have been produced by our farmers is being stockpiled in cold-storage warehouses. To help the agricultural community, President Trump announced 12 billion dollars in aid to farmers on Tuesday…

As President Donald Trump embarks on a multistate tour through parts of the country hit heavily by trade battles, his administration said Tuesday it will direct $12 billion to farmers whose harvests have been hurt by tariffs.

But the idea faced immediate criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Responding to farm groups and the Republican discontent, administration officials said they have been working since April on a short-term plan to shore up slipping prices for soybeans, pork and other crops hit with retaliatory tariffs from China.

Sure, this will help farmers get through the trade war in the short-term, but isn’t this exactly the kind of big government socialism that we are always railing against?

And who is going to bail out the real estate industry?

CNBC is reporting that home sales fell a whopping 11.8 percent year over year in southern California last month…

Southern California home sales hit the brakes in June, falling to the lowest reading for the month in four years. Sales of both new and existing houses and condominiums dropped 11.8 percent year over year, as prices shot up to a record high, according to CoreLogic. The report covers Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties.

And do you know who has been fueling the extremely hot real estate market on the west coast?

The Chinese.

At one time they were buying up everything in sight, but now they have become net sellers of U.S. real estate.

And there are rumblings that we could soon see some sort of “national boycott” of American goods in China. The following comes from Zero Hedge…

The survey found that 54 percent of 2,000 respondents in 300 cities across China would “probably” or “definitely” stop buying US-branded goods “in the event of a trade war”. Just 13 percent said they would not.

The remaining 33 percent said they were unsure or did not at present buy US branded goods, according to the survey, conducted for FT Confidential Research (FTCR), a research unit at the Financial Times.

The survey was carried out between June 27 and July 10, mostly before the US imposed 25 percent tariffs on $34bn of Chinese goods on July 6. The move elicited an immediate tit-for-tat response from Beijing.

Of course something similar could be tried in the United States, but most Americans simply do not care if a product comes from China or not. They are simply going to buy the cheapest stuff no matter what anyone tells them to do.

Look, I very much understand that we have been sending businesses and jobs overseas for a very long time. I have been writing about this for years, and something had to be done.

But trying to fight trade wars with virtually everyone else on the planet simultaneously is madness, and the consequences for the U.S. economy are going to cause all of us an immense amount of pain.

Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

The Trade War Is Already Having A Huge Impact On The U.S. Economy

The trade war has barely just begun, and yet significant ripple effects are already being felt all across the U.S. economy. Once thriving businesses are on the verge of failure, workers are being laid off, and some sectors of the economy are witnessing enormous price hikes. Right now the mainstream media is absolutely fixated on the drama surrounding the recently concluded Trump-Putin summit meeting, but the consequences of this trade war will ultimately be far more important for the lives of most ordinary Americans. As more tariffs continue to be implemented, this will perhaps be the biggest disruption to the global economic system that we have seen in decades. Perhaps you have not been affected personally yet, but for many Americans this trade war has changed everything. For example, just consider the plight of soybean farmer Tim Bardole…

The U.S. is China’s second-biggest source of soybeans at 34% of the imports, after Brazil, which ships 53%. The staple is used to make cooking oil and seasoning, and soybean meal is found in pig feed.

Now the tariffs have taken the bottom out of U.S. soybean prices, delivering a gut punch to farmers like Tim Bardole. He was already $100,000 in the red last year due to a yearslong slump in cereal prices, and the current predicament has driven him into a corner.

“I’m not sure if I can get a loan from the bank to finance our next year’s crop,” said Bardole.

If this trade war had not happened, perhaps Bardole would have been able to eventually get out of debt. But now he is facing financial ruin and the potential loss of his entire farm.

Switching gears, U.S. consumers will soon discover that common electronics such as phones and computers cost a lot more. The following comes from CBS News…

Buyers in the U.S. will soon see price hikes on computers, phones, thermostats and “everyday items,” according to the Information Technology Industry Council, a group that represents tech companies.

Hundreds of Chinese components that the Trump administration penalized are used to make everything from LEDs to sensors to printer and scanner components. When manufacturers pay more for their parts, the costs are typically passed on to consumers, the ITI said.

Are you ready to pay 50 dollars for your next phone to support this trade war?

Maybe.

50 dollars is ultimately not that big of a deal.

But what about paying $9,000 more for your next house?…

Tariffs on lumber coming from the evil Canadians are adding about $9,000 to the cost of a new house, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Washing machine prices have jumped some 15% this year, the fastest increase ever recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Are you starting to understand why starting trade wars with all of our major trading partners simultaneously was a really bad idea?

We are about to see major price hikes in just about every sector of the economy. According to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the average American could pay over $5,000 more for their next vehicle…

Consumers may see an average price increase of $5,800 if a 25 percent import tariff that Mr. Trump has threatened goes into effect, according to estimates cited by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM), a lobbying group for carmakers.

That’s a “$45 billion tax on consumers,” the group said, citing an analysis of Commerce Department data.

U.S. consumers are already stretched to the max, and they will not be able to easily absorb these price increases.

Meanwhile, farm incomes all across the interior of the country are going to be absolutely devastated by this trade war. Just check out these numbers…

The American Farm Bureau says it expects farm incomes to drop to a 12-year low this year, largely because of the trade war.

An agricultural economist at Purdue University, Christopher Hurt, added that 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans would have made a farmer a $42,000 profit on June 1. Now, it could net him a $126,000 loss.

And as I mentioned above, many businesses all over the United States that rely heavily on exports are already struggling so mightily that they have to lay off workers. The following comes from USA Today…

In Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Mid-Continent Nail, the nation’s largest nail maker, laid off 60 workers last month. Sales plunged 70 percent after Trump placed a 25 percent tariff on steel from Mexico and Canada. When the company boosted its prices, customers defected. Now, Mid-Continent is strongly considering a second round of 200 layoffs, company spokeswoman Elizabeth Heaton says, and all 500 employees could be axed by Labor Day.

Yes, we desperately needed to do something about China and other trade partners that were taking advantage of us. But there is a right way to handle things and a wrong way to handle things, and starting a trade war with everyone at the same time is a really, really bad idea.

I think that a recent piece by Thomas Grennes, a professor of economics at North Carolina State University, made this point quite well…

The Trump administration has said that tariffs are a negotiating technique that need not be implemented. Now that tariffs are in place, they say other countries will soon back down. However, trading partners have not backed down, and, in fact, retaliatory tariffs against U.S. exports are already in place. Foreign officials have expressed confusion about exactly what concessions the US government wants. Currently, no formal negotiations are taking place. Higher future tariffs are being announced regularly. There are no signs of an end to this tariff war. When will both sides recognize that interfering with voluntary trade is harmful to both parties? Trade wars are lose-lose propositions.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that most Americans have any idea how exceedingly painful this trade war could potentially become.

The longer it lasts, the worse things will get, and ultimately it could tip the U.S. economy into the worst recession that any of us have ever experienced.

Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

An Absolutely Epic Escalation Of The Trade War Has Us On The Precipice Of A Cataclysmic Global Economic Crisis

If Americans really understood how much their standard of living was about to change, the streets of our major cities would be packed with protesters by tomorrow morning. For the past several decades, China and other low cost exporters have been flooding our shores with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of cheap goods. This is the only reason why you can go to Wal-Mart and buy a shirt for three bucks. But since we buy far more stuff from the rest of the world than they buy from us, we ultimately have to go back to those other nations and beg them to lend our money back to us so that we can pay our bills. This sick, twisted co-dependent relationship has enabled Americans to live a debt-fueled standard of living that is far beyond what we deserve, and now our rapidly escalating trade war with China is going to bring the party to a crashing halt. On Tuesday, the Trump administration released a list of $200,000,000,000 worth of Chinese exports that will be hit with 10 percent tariffs. Those tariffs are in addition to the 25 percent tariffs that had previously been announced on 50 billion dollars worth of Chinese exports. These new tariffs are scheduled to go into effect on August 30th, and the Chinese have already pledged to retaliate.

In essence, our trade war with China has now “gone nuclear”, and this is going to have extremely serious implications for the U.S. economy. The following is a short excerpt from the statement that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released about these new tariffs…

On Friday, in response to unfair Chinese practices, the United States began imposing tariffs of 25 percent on approximately $34 billion worth of Chinese imports. These tariffs will eventually cover up to $50 billion in Chinese imports as legal processes conclude. The products targeted by the tariffs are those that benefit from China’s industrial policy and forced technology transfer practices.

China has since retaliated against the United States by imposing tariffs on $34 billion in U.S. exports to China, and threatening tariffs on another $16 billion. It did this without any international legal basis or justification.

As a result of China’s retaliation and failure to change its practices, the President has ordered USTR to begin the process of imposing tariffs of 10 percent on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports. This is an appropriate response under the authority of Section 301 to obtain the elimination of China’s harmful industrial policies.

Without a doubt, something needed to be done about China’s unfair trade practices. The Chinese manipulate currency rates, they impose very high tariffs on U.S. goods, and they have been stealing our intellectual property for decades.

But it is very unlikely that anyone is going to “win” this trade war, and in the short-term all it is going to mean is a whole lot of economic and financial pain.

According to Politico, the new tariff list that was just released hits a very broad range of products…

The new tariff list broadens the types of goods caught up in the trade war by targeting items like seafood, minerals, chemicals, and personal care items, such as shampoo and soap. It also includes a number of consumer products such as handbags, luggage, gloves and paper.

Do you buy any of those things?

Well, expect to pay significantly more in the not too distant future.

When compiling this new list, the Trump administration specifically “took into account what could cause disruptions to China’s economy”. The following comes from CNBC…

Some of the products on the list facing tariffs are from Made in China 2025 sectors, the official said. Made in China 2025 is a strategic plan to make China a leader in key global industries, including technology.

When compiling the list of goods, the U.S. Trade Representative took into account what could cause disruptions to China’s economy.

So what do you think that the Chinese are going to do in response?

Yes, they are going to look at measures that will “cause disruptions to America’s economy”.

The Chinese are a very proud people, and they aren’t stupid. They know where our pain points are, and they will not be afraid to go for the jugular.

China cannot match this round of U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar, because China only imports approximately 130 billion dollars worth of U.S. goods a year.

But China could decide to cut off some or all agricultural imports from the United States, and that would be absolutely devastating to many farming states. In fact, many farming states are already feeling substantial pain from the tariffs that China has already imposed…

“Agricultural states, I think, are being hit the hardest,” said Rodney Ludema, a Georgetown University professor and former senior international economist in the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama. The tariffs spare states “that are heavily service-dependent, like New York.”

In terms of value, some 38 percent of products on the tariff list are agricultural, including soybeans, sorghum, tobacco and meat, said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. That’s bad news for farm-belt states, primarily in the Midwest.

In addition, China could decide to “go nuclear” by cutting off U.S. investment in China, by restricting our access to rare earth elements, or by dumping our debt.

The only reason why we have even been able to get to 21 trillion dollars in debt is because nations such as China have been buying our debt at ultra-low interest rates that are way below the real rate of inflation.

If China quit buying our debt and started dumping their current holdings, interest rates would start skyrocketing and we would be in a world of hurt almost immediately.

We don’t have the kind of leverage that some people seem to think that we have. And there are many prominent experts that are warning that we are heading for catastrophic consequences. For example, just consider what David Stockman recently told CNBC…

The United States is heading to a “massive trade war” because President Donald Trump “doesn’t know what he’s doing,” said former Reagan budget director David Stockman.

“We have an absurd policy — dangerous, stupid. The worst that I’ve seen since my whole career started in 1970 under [President Richard] Nixon, and he did some crazy things,” Stockman said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”

The financial markets have reacted very strongly to these latest developments. As soon as the new tariffs were announced, Asian stocks began to drop and Dow futures plummeted about 300 points from the closing highs.

Unfortunately, most ordinary Americans simply do not grasp the importance of what is happening, because we have never seen anything like this in modern American history. The two largest economies on the entire planet are now in a state of economic conflict, and there is no way that this is going to end well.

Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

Experts Warn Of Chaos For The U.S. Economy As China Declares That “The Biggest Trade War In Economic History” Has Begun

Nothing is going to be the same after this. On Friday, the United States hit China with 34 billion dollars in tariffs, and China immediately responded with similar tariffs. If it stopped there, this trade war between the United States and China would not be catastrophic for the global economy. But it isn’t going to stop there. Donald Trump is already talking about hitting China with an additional 500 billion dollars in tariffs, which would essentially cover pretty much everything that China exports to the U.S. in a typical year. The Chinese have accused Trump of starting “the biggest trade war in economic history”, and they are pledging to fight for as long as it takes. As I discussed yesterday, the only way that one side is going to “win” this trade war is if the other side completely backs down, and that simply is not going to happen. So there is going to be economic pain, and that pain is likely to intensify for as long as this trade war persists. U.S. businesses that will be affected by foreign tariffs are already cutting back production and laying off workers, and CNN is reporting that 1,300 products have suddenly become more expensive for U.S. consumers. There will be nowhere that anyone can hide from this trade war, and it will ultimately affect every single man, woman and child in the entire country.

Most Americans are not paying any attention to these ongoing developments, but the Chinese sure are.

Earlier today, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce called the U.S. tariffs “typical trade bullying”, and it warned that this trade war could trigger “global market turmoil”…

“This act is typical trade bullying,” the spokesperson said, before adding: “It seriously jeopardizes the global industrial chain … Hinders the pace of global economic recovery, triggers global market turmoil and will affect more innocent multinational companies, general companies and consumers.”

China’s primary English language newspaper was even more direct with their criticism…

The government-run English language China Daily newspaper said: “The Trump administration is behaving like a gang of hoodlums with its shakedown of other countries, particularly China.”

Here in the United States, the start of a major trade war with China really doesn’t seem like that big of a deal if you listen to the mainstream media. Most people just seem to think that things will continue to go well for our country no matter how many stupid decisions we make. It is almost as if a lot of Americans no longer understand that extremely reckless acts can have exceedingly severe consequences.

One man that understands what is happening is the founder of the largest hedge fund on the entire planet. On Friday, Ray Dalio posted the following ominous message on Twitter…

“Today is the first day of the war with China.”

Please note that he did not say “the trade war with China”.

The truth is that trade wars can often lead to shooting wars, and we need to hope that cooler heads will prevail.

But for now, it looks like things will continue to escalate…

But Trump has said his administration will respond to retaliation from Beijing with much bigger waves of tariffs, raising the prospect of worsening tit-for-tat reprisals. On Thursday, he suggested the possibility of tariffs on almost $500 billion more of Chinese goods.

He described the potential escalation to reporters aboard Air Force One: “Thirty-four, and then you have another 16 in two weeks and then, as you know, we have 200 billion in abeyance and then after the 200 billion we have 300 billion in abeyance. OK?” Trump said. “So we have 50 plus 200 plus almost 300.”

If we hit China with 500 billion dollars in tariffs, there is no telling what the Chinese might do.

As I discussed the other day, the Chinese could start dumping our debt or cut off our access to rare earth elements.

Either move would be absolutely catastrophic for the United States.

We don’t know how this trade war will ultimately end, but as Reuters has pointed out, “it’s going to get ugly”…

The U.S.-China trade war will be fought in the trenches, and it’s going to get ugly. The first round of tariffs hits on Friday, and U.S. President Donald Trump says they might come to cover more than $500 billion of goods. Exporters will feel the pain first, but uncertainty will also dampen investment, impede research and twist reform. It marks a moment of mourning for those who hoped the world’s two largest economies could work things out.

And guess what?

Russia just joined the trade war against the United States as well. The following comes from Zero Hedge…

Whether this is a coordinated response is unclear – and certainly on a much smaller scale – but Bloomberg reports that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree this morning imposing higher tariffs on U.S. products in retaliation for U.S. duties on metals imports, according to Economy Ministry statement.

Reuters reports that Russia’s additional duties will apply to imports of fiber optics, equipment for road construction, oil and gas industry, metal processing and mining, according to an economy ministry statement.

These tariffs are going to have very real consequences for U.S. businesses and U.S. workers.

Even though this trade war just started, some firms are already being hit very hard. Here is one example from USA Today…

Trans-Matic, of Holland, Michigan, shapes metal, mostly into auto parts, as well as components for door locks. It has paid higher steel costs for several months as U.S. steelmakers raised prices in anticipation of higher American tariffs on metal imports, company Chief Financial Officer Steve Patterson says.

Trans-Matic has passed along the price hikes to its auto-supplier customers, but some have scaled back orders, reducing Trans-Matic’s revenue in that key sector by 5 to 10 percent, Patterson says. As a result, the company is giving its 300 U.S. employees about five hours a week in overtime instead of their usual 10.

For other firms, layoffs have already become a reality. Just ask the largest nail maker in the United States…

In Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Mid-Continent Nail, the nation’s largest nail maker, laid off 60 workers last month. Sales plunged 70 percent after Trump placed a 25 percent tariff on steel from Mexico and Canada. When the company boosted its prices, customers defected. Now, Mid-Continent is strongly considering a second round of 200 layoffs, company spokeswoman Elizabeth Heaton says, and all 500 employees could be axed by Labor Day.

The longer this trade war lasts, the worse things are going to get.

Fighting a trade war just with China would have been bad enough. But instead, we have decided that we are going to take on pretty much the entire world simultaneously, and I don’t know if I have the words to describe how painful that is going to be for all of us.

Many Americans seem to believe that the U.S. economy is an unsinkable ship, and at this moment we are heading directly for an absolutely enormous iceberg.

Let us hope that someone is able to pull a rabbit out of a hat, because right now things are looking quite bleak.

Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

The Best Places To Live In All 50 U.S. States

We live at a time when Americans are packing up and moving with increasing frequency.  Some are moving for new opportunities, some are moving in anticipation of what is coming, and others are moving just because they are bored.  As the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The Most Important News, I am frequently asked to give my opinion about a potential move.  Of course I often don’t know what to say, because often factors that I don’t fully understand are involved in the decision.  For example, someone may be moving somewhere truly horrible for a wonderful new job, or complex family relationships are precipitating a move.  But there are some general principles that I share with people, and I will be sharing some of them with you in this article.

If you do a Google search, you will find that most lists of “best places to live” focus on major cities, but often the best place to live within a certain geographic area is far away from a major population center.  And obviously my choices have a lot more to do with quality of life and sustainability during the coming crisis years than with things like “employment opportunities” or “entertainment options”.

With all that being said, here are my choices for the best places to live in all 50 U.S. states…

Alabama – The coast is always tempting if you like the water, but we have all seen what hurricanes have done to the area around Mobile.  If I had to choose some place to live in the state, I think that I would focus up north near the Tennessee border.  There are more fresh water resources up north, and the Huntsville economy has been doing relatively well in recent years.

Alaska – I have always had a fondness for Juneau, but would probably rule it out for practical reasons.  It is quite isolated and it is way too close to the water.  In the years to come it will pay to be away from the ocean and from the major volcanoes, and so somewhere around Anchorage would probably be my choice.

Arizona – Even though my good friend John Shorey may disagree, I actually don’t like Arizona much at all.  Phoenix is way too overcrowded, Tucson is way too hot, and Sedona is way too crazy.  If I had to live in Arizona, I would definitely find somewhere with water, because water resources are going to be at a premium during the years ahead.

Arkansas – Even though Wal-Mart is headquartered there, northwest Arkansas is a lovely area.  Once you get away from Fayetteville there are lots of open areas, and fresh water is fairly abundant.  Crime is relatively low, but there is some around.  The key is to find a good community.

California – Unless you must do so for work or you feel directly called by God to go there, it is probably not a good idea to move to California.  If I had to choose anywhere in the state, it would probably be the far northern area away from the coast.  For much more on why you shouldn’t move to California, please see my recent article entitled “Why Are So Many People Moving Out Of California?”

Colorado – Many years ago I considered a move to Colorado, and I am so glad that I was talked out of it.  The quality of life in the Denver area is continually deteriorating, and more people just keep on moving in from other states.  I am told that Colorado Springs and Fort Collins are still fairly nice, but I wouldn’t be eager to move to either location.  If you must go to Colorado, try to find somewhere rural that has easy access to fresh water.

Connecticut – I actually applied to go to law school at Yale, but I was turned down.  I really would have loved to live up there, although I hear that New Haven is riddled with crime.  Considering the times that we are moving into, I would try to get inland as far as possible, and so I would probably look at any of the small towns north of Hartford.

Delaware – It is right along the ocean, it is riddled with crime, and it is best known for producing Joe Biden.  You probably do not want to move to Delaware if you can avoid it.

Florida – After being rejected by Yale, I was accepted by the University of Florida law school and I had four wonderful years there.  So I have to admit that I am partial to Gainesville, although there are some wonderful places in the panhandle as well.  Unfortunately for Florida, most of the state is either below, at or just above sea level, and that means that it is extremely vulnerable to potential tsunamis.  And crime has become a growing problem in the urban areas, and so that is a major factor to look at when considering a move into the Sunshine State.

Georgia – In Georgia you will want to stay far away from the madhouse that Atlanta has become, and you will want to stay far away from the Atlantic Ocean.  It would be tempting to look at Augusta, but I would probably choose one of the small towns near the northern border.

Hawaii – I think that nearly all of us have dreamed of living in Hawaii at one point or another.  Unfortunately, these are volcanic islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and one of them is erupting right now.  So while it might be tempting to consider a move to Hawaii, for practical reasons you should probably cross it off the list.

Idaho – People up here tend to get upset when I encourage my readers to consider coming to Idaho.  But of course there are good areas of Idaho and there are bad areas of Idaho, and more crazy people from liberal states such as California move in with each passing day.  If you want relatively moderate weather, stunning scenery, low crime and a low population density, I would commend north Idaho.  Unfortunately there are not many employment opportunities up here, and so don’t count on finding a good job after you move.  You will want to have your source of income squared away before you arrive.

Illinois – You can probably guess what I am going to say.  Chicago has become one of the most violent cities in North America, and that is really saying something considering what is going on in Mexico right now.  Today, approximately 125,000 gang members live in the city of Chicago, and they outnumber the police by more than 10 to 1.  If you must live in Illinois, you probably want to stay as far away from Chicago as you can.

Indiana – In general, the further south you go in the state the better.  Fort Wayne and Gary are hellholes, Indianapolis is better, and the small towns that stretch across southern Indiana are probably the best choices of all in the state.  I would avoid Evansville and focus more on the eastern part of the state, but the truth is that the whole region is in potential earthquake territory.

Iowa – Iowa is actually very nice.  It is flat, it is cold, and there are way too many crazy liberals there, but other than that it is quite nice.  I would probably avoid Des Moines and focus on finding a rural community with easy access to fresh water.

Kansas – Kansas is nice too, but the big problem in Kansas is not enough rain.  The current drought is getting really bad, and it looks like Dust Bowl conditions are rapidly returning to the state.  So for that reason alone, I would probably avoid Kansas.

Kentucky – Beautiful scenery, but it is hard to ignore the crushing poverty and the out of control opioid crisis.  If I was moving to Kentucky, I would focus on the far eastern portion of the state so that I could get as far away from the New Madrid fault zone as possible.

Louisiana – They have good food, but they are also a potential epicenter for natural disasters in the years ahead.  We all saw what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans, the Mississippi River is prone to major flooding, and one day the state is going to be on the receiving end of the aftermath of a massive New Madrid earthquake.  So it is probably not a state that would be high on my list of places to live.

Maine – Thanks to very liberal immigration policies, the character of towns all along the Maine coast has greatly changed in recent years.  There are still some towns up north that are very nice, but be prepared if you move to one of them, because it gets bitterly, bitterly cold in the winter.

Maryland – Much of western Maryland is actually very, very lovely, but not much else good can be said for the rest of the state.  If you must live in Maryland, you will want to stay far away from the shore, far away from Washington D.C. and you certainly won’t want to be anywhere near the drug-infested hellhole that is called Baltimore.  So that doesn’t leave much else except for western Maryland, but like I said, western Maryland is actually very, very lovely.

Massachusetts – If John Adams could see us now he would be absolutely horrified by what we have done to his state.  If I had to choose somewhere to live, I would focus on the small towns west of Interstate 91.  They tend to be a bit less liberal than the rest of the state, but I wouldn’t count on meeting too many true conservatives there either.

Michigan – If I had to live in Michigan, the choice would be easy.  I would definitely focus my search on the upper peninsula, because I would want to be as far away from Detroit, Flint and the other major population centers as possible.  In reality, the upper peninsula of Michigan is much more like Wisconsin than Michigan, and that is a good thing.  But if you move there you will need to prepare for some of the most bitter winters that you have ever encountered.

Minnesota – Speaking of bitter winters, Minnesota can be a very tough place to live.  Both of my parents were born in Minnesota, and I have been there many times.  Coming from Scandinavian roots, the bitter winters didn’t bother my parents too much, but they never passed that trait on to me.  If you can survive the winters, the giant mosquitos and the machete-wielding terrorists, you will probably do okay.  There are plenty of small, rural communities scattered throughout the state, and plenty of fresh water.

Mississippi – If you can find somewhere in the state away from the coast, away from the Mississippi and that isn’t being crushed by rising poverty and rising crime, you will probably do okay for a while.  But once again, I am deeply concerned about how this state will do when the New Madrid fault finally rips wide open.

Missouri – One of the worst cities in the entire country (St. Louis) dominates the eastern part of the state, the western part of the state is going to be deeply affected by the ongoing drought out west, but I actually love the southern part of the state.  I really love Branson and the surrounding areas, and I just wish that it wasn’t so close to the New Madrid fault zone.

Montana – There are a lot of people moving to Montana, and many of them don’t seem to be able to handle the bitter cold during the winter that well.  Western Montana is definitely superior to eastern Montana, but the entire state features a low population density and plenty of fresh water resources.

Nebraska – For the Democrats, this is “flyover country”, but the truth is that it is part of the heartland of America.  Like neighboring Kansas, Dust Bowl conditions are going to be an increasing concern, and so it will probably be best to avoid Nebraska unless necessary.

Nevada – Las Vegas dominates the region, and much of the rest of the state is a giant desert.  It is not a bad place overall, but the lack of water in the state is a major concern.  Someday the population of Las Vegas will need to be greatly reduced due to a lack of water, and the same thing will probably be true for other cities as well.

New Hampshire – Once you get away from the major population centers, New Hampshire is actually quite lovely.  And the population tends to be less liberal than New England as a whole.  But without a doubt it gets bitterly cold in the winter, and there aren’t many employment opportunities in the rural areas.

New Jersey – It wants to be known as “the garden state”, but most of us know it as “the armpit of America”.  It is overcrowded, the government is a giant mess, and crime is out of control.  Camden is a microcosm for what is happening to America as a whole, and it is not a pretty picture.  You will want to avoid New Jersey if at all possible.

New Mexico – The state can be summed up in three “D’s” – drought, drugs and decay.  The liberals are rapidly taking over here, and the consequences are quite predictable.  And as Dust Bowl conditions intensify, it will not be a place that anyone wants to be.

New York – The state isn’t all bad.  Yes, New York City is the epicenter for so much that is wrong with our society, but many areas of upstate New York are quite nice.  I would definitely stay north of Interstate 90, and I would focus on rural communities that have easy access to fresh water.

North Carolina – There are some very good reasons why so many people are moving to North Carolina.  The weather is moderate, the economy has been doing relatively well, there are plenty of open spaces, and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous.  Just stay away from the coastline and the major population centers and you will probably be just fine.

North Dakota – Nestled between Minnesota and Montana, this is a state that is for extremely hearty individuals.  But if you can stand the cold and the snow, you will find that this is actually one of the most freedom-loving states in the entire nation, and it has an abundance of natural resources.

Ohio – Cleveland is a nightmare, Cincinnati is not much better, but Columbus is actually fairly nice.  It is technically considered to be part of the New Madrid fault zone, so that is a huge negative, but it does get plenty of rain and it has easy access to lots of fresh water resources.

Oklahoma – This is a state that can never seem to get a break.  It was doing a lot better in recent years, but now Dust Bowl conditions are starting to return once again.  It is also in the very heart of “tornado alley”, and that is a huge factor working against it as well.  I wish that I could commend some area of the state but I really can’t.

Oregon – Much of western Oregon is very similar to California (or worse), but once you get east of Interstate 5 you will start running into a lot of good people.  Some areas of eastern Oregon are actually quite magnificent, and there are lots of high quality small towns if you need a place to hide.

Pennsylvania – Pittsburgh is to be avoided and Philly is a nightmare, but much of the rest of the state is actually very nice.  I would just try to stay away from the major population centers and focus my search on rural communities with each access to fresh water.

Rhode Island – I was actually born in Rhode Island, but that doesn’t mean that I am going to commend it to anyone.  It is our smallest state, and so there isn’t a lot of room to get away from the major population centers.  Unless you must be there, it is probably best to find somewhere else to live.

South Carolina – Many of the positives that can be said for North Carolina can also be said for South Carolina.  Just make sure that you are far, far away from the coast and from the major population centers and you will probably be just fine.

South Dakota – I actually like South Dakota more than North Dakota.  The weather is not quite as bitterly cold, the economy is a little more vibrant thanks to the tourists, and Rapid City and Sioux Falls are both decent.  It is far enough north that the drought is not affecting it too much so far, although that could change at any time.

Tennessee – You will want to stay away from Memphis and the west end of the state entirely.  If you are considering moving there, you will want to look at Knoxville and the Smoky Mountains to the east.  That whole region is teeming with natural resources and has a very low population density.

Texas – There are a lot of wonderful conservative people in Texas, but incoming transplants from California are trying to change things as rapidly as possible.  The major cities are way too overcrowded, crime is increasing due to illegal immigration and the drought is becoming a major problem.  But millions of good people love Texas, and it is easy to understand why.  It has got a great culture, and there are so many good communities down there.

Utah – The south is being heavily affected by the drought, and so that is a major concern.  Up north, Salt Lake City is doing quite well, but if you aren’t a Mormon you may find it difficult to fit in.  As with all of these states, I would strongly recommend visiting before making a permanent decision to move there.

Vermont – So many of the exact same things that were said about New Hampshire could also be said about Vermont.  I would be half-tempted to move there myself for the great natural beauty, but unfortunately the liberals are making a complete mess of the state.

Virginia – I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, and I must admit that Charlottesville is one of my all-time favorite places in the entire country.  Unfortunately, Charlottesville’s good name has been dragged through the mud, and that is a terrible shame.  For the years ahead, I would want to be as far away from D.C. and Richmond as possible, and so I would focus on Roanoke and points west of there.

Washington – The western half of the state is dominated by the liberal bastion of Seattle, and the eastern half of the state is dominated by “Spo-caine”.  Trust me, you don’t want to cheap out on a hotel when you are staying in “Spo-caine” because you could end up in a drug-infested hellhole that doesn’t look like it has had any maintenance for 20 years.  Yes, there are some areas of northeastern Washington that are very good, but you will want to choose your community carefully.

West Virginia – If West Virginia did not have such crippling poverty and was not one of the national epicenters for our exploding opioid crisis, I am sure that we would be able to say some really good things about the state.  Unfortunately, the state just seems to spiral further and further downhill with each passing year.

Wisconsin – Most of the liberals are either in Madison or in Milwaukee, and so finding a spot up north would definitely be preferable.  Once again, it is bitterly cold in this state for much of the year, but if you can handle that a rural community in Wisconsin with easy access to fresh water is not a horrible choice.

Wyoming – There is so much good that can be said for Wyoming.  It is very conservative, the population density is extremely low, there is no state income tax, and there is so much great natural beauty. But it is very, very windy there.  The wind never seems to stop and it cuts through you like a knife, and this is particularly agonizing during the winter.

Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

Donald Trump And Kim Jong-Un Sign A Historic Agreement At Their Summit In Singapore – But All The Mainstream Media Can Do Is Whine And Complain

Donald Trump just did what no other president in U.S. history was able to do. He actually sat down with the leader of North Korea, and at the conclusion of the approximately four hour summit meeting they both signed an agreement which calls for the United States to provide “security guarantees” to North Korea and which calls for the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”. It was a truly historic day and a truly historic outcome, and yet all the mainstream media in the United States could do was whine and complain. Throughout their coverage, mainstream media reporters continually tried to put an anti-Trump spin on things. They claimed that the agreement did not have the “specific wording” that experts were looking for, they pointed out that other agreements in the past have failed, and they continually insisted that the Trump administration was giving Kim Jong-Un too much respect.

Even when something positive was reported, it had to be immediately followed up with a downer.

For example, this is how a Reuters article on the summit began…

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged on Tuesday to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula while Washington committed to provide security guarantees for its old enemy.

But a joint statement signed at the end of their historic summit in Singapore gave few details on how either goal would be achieved.

Of course there are more details to work out. There always are, but why can’t we just be happy that the president of the United States and the leader of North Korea sat down together to talk peace for the first time ever?

Many Americans will never forget the moment when the two leaders first shook hands…

At the start of the summit, the two leaders shook hands on a red carpet in front of the island resort hotel chosen for the meeting.

At one point, reporters overheard a translator, apparently interpreting Kim’s words, as saying that “many people in the world will think of this as a … form of fantasy … from a science fiction movie.”

If this process is ultimately successful, this is one of those iconic moments that will be remembered for decades.

So much is riding on these negotiations. Should they fail, we could end up with a nuclear war in Asia. It would be nice if the mainstream media would cut Trump a little slack on this one, but instead they repeatedly tried to pepper both leaders with unhelpful questions.

For instance, CNN’s Jim Acosta loudly fired off questions whenever he was in earshot of either Donald Trump or Kim Jong-Un. At one point, Trump finally answered one of his questions…

He said he would “absolutely” extend an invitation to the White House to Kim, who also heralded a new era.

“Today, we had a historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind,” Kim said through a translator. “The world will see a major change.”

Later, during a solo news conference after the summit, Trump said he does indeed “trust” Kim.

“I do,” he said when asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta if he trusts Kim. “I do. I think he wants to get it done.”

Other reporters fixated on the fact that Kim Jong-Un is a really bad guy.

Yes, Kim Jong-Un has done some really horrible things. But if he really wants to change and really wants a lasting peace, shouldn’t we make an effort?

Instead, the mainstream media kept hammering the Trump administration for showing any respect to Kim at all. The following comes from USA Today…

Critics said all the pomp and ceremony — American and North Korean flags stood side-by-side to form the backdrops for many of the photo opps — lent too much prestige to Kim, a dictator who imprisons and murders his opponents, all while pursuing long-range nuclear weapons.

Why can’t the “critics” just be quiet for once?

Trump is trying to prevent a nuclear war, and it would be really nice if the entire country could get behind him on this one thing.

CBS News took things even farther. They actually ran an entire article talking about how horrifying the cost would be if North Korea and South Korea were to reunify someday…

Analysts say unifying North and South Korea could cost a trillion dollars under the best of circumstances and take several decades. The final price tag would also depend largely on what the catalyst for reunification is.

Some analyses put the cost of reunification at far more — closer to $3 trillion. Experts argue that much of the cost surrounding any scenario for Korean unification would depend on whether the countries decided to converge gradually or if a chaotic event occurs. If the reform were carefully planned and followed by a peaceful union, it would be far less expensive than if North Korea’s economy collapsed or a war broke out, requiring massive reconstruction costs.

Oh the humanity!

How about the cost of a nuclear war in Asia in which entire cities are flattened and millions upon millions of people end up dead?

Would that be preferable?

Thankfully, Trump is taking the high road on this one, and he posted a very inspirational video with footage of the summit on Twitter…

And for those that have not read it yet, the following is the complete joint statement that Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un signed at the conclusion of the summit…

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a first, historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un conducted a comprehensive, in-depth, and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Convinced that the establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and of the world, and recognizing that mutual confidence building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following:

1. The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.

2. The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

Having acknowledged that the U.S.-DPRK summit — the first in history — was an epochal event of great significance and overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries and for the opening of a new future, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un commit to implement the stipulations in this joint statement fully and expeditiously. The United States and the DPRK commit to hold follow-on negotiations led by the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level DPRK official, at the earliest possible date, to implement the outcomes of the U.S.-DPRK summit.

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have committed to cooperate for the development of new U.S.-DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world.

June 12, 2018

Sentosa Island

Singapore

A Sign? A Badly Wounded Bald Eagle Was Rescued On The Streets Of Washington D.C. Right Before The 4th Of July

I don’t know if you believe in signs, but I do.  So when I heard that a very badly injured bald eagle had been found wandering the streets of Washington D.C. right before the 4th of July, that definitely got my attention.  Today, bald eagles are actually quite rare.  There are only about 5,000 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states, and it is especially uncommon to spot one in one of our major cities.  When I was first told that a bald eagle has been rescued on the streets of our nation’s capital right before the most patriotic day of the year, I was immediately skeptical.  But this is actually a true story.  The following was reported by NPR…

Just in time for the Fourth of July, animal rescue workers came to the aid of the national bird — a wounded bald eagle — on the streets of Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

The eagle was unable to fly, seemed lethargic and had labored breathing, the Humane Rescue Alliance posted to Facebook. The cause of the eagle’s injury is unclear.

Matt Williams is with the group and wrote NPR in an email that the bird’s condition appears to be stable and its prognosis “guarded,” meaning it may recover but with lasting complications.

All the way back in 1782 the bald eagle was chosen to be the symbol of our nation.  I have even incorporated it into my campaign logo.  Other than the American flag, there is probably no other symbol that is more associated with our nation.  And it was chosen as our national bird for very specific reasons…

The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of America, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.

On the backs of our gold coins, the silver dollar, the half dollar and the quarter, we see an eagle with outspread wings.

On the Great Seal of the United States and in many places which are exponents of our nation’s authority we see the same emblem.

The eagle represents freedom. Living as he does on the tops of lofty mountains, amid the solitary grandeur of Nature, he has unlimited freedom, whether with strong pinions he sweeps into the valleys below, or upward into the boundless spaces beyond.

So if this injured bald eagle that was rescued in Washington D.C. is a sign, what could it mean?

Well, clearly the bald eagle would represent our nation.  And the fact that it is injured would make a lot of sense, because today our Republic is hanging by a thread.

It is probably also not a “coincidence” that this bald eagle was found wandering the streets of our capital city.  If there is one city that defines who we are as a people, it is Washington.  Could it be possible that God sent this injured bald eagle to Washington as a warning?

If so, what kind of warning would it be?

In the quote above, it was noted that the bald eagle represents freedom.  And it was rescued on the eve of the holiday that is specifically set aside to celebrate our liberty and freedom.

But if it is unable to fly, an eagle’s freedom is greatly limited, and that is so true in our nation today.

Instead of protecting our liberties and freedoms as our founders intended, our federal government has become very fond of taking our liberties and freedoms away.  Every time a new law is passed or a new government agency is established, our liberties and freedoms are restricted in some way.  Today, there are hundreds of thousands of laws on the federal level, and when you throw in state and local governments all over the nation the grand total is in the millions.

We have lived with a big, oppressive government for so long that many of us cannot even imagine living any other way.

But there is a better way, and our founders risked everything to establish such a system.  They envisioned a nation that would have a very, very limited central government and where liberty and freedom would be maximized.

Yes, liberty and freedom can be messy.  But if you don’t like liberty and freedom, there are lots of other places in the world where the government forces a great deal of uniformity on everyone.  We are going down that path as a country right now, and if you want to see where that ultimately leads just go to North Korea.

If you take the time to stop and reflect on these things, it is truly frightening how tightly regulated our society has become.  Virtually every single product in your home was configured according to very strict regulations set by the government.  If you want to set up a business or hire employees, there are a whole host of rules and regulations that you are going to have to follow.  Many structure their entire lives to minimize their income tax burdens, and today the income tax code is more than two million words long.  And every single phone call that you make and every single email that you send are being intercepted by the government and stored in massive data centers like the one out in Utah.

I could go on and on for hours, but I think that you get the point.

Our liberties and freedoms are continually being eroded, and if we don’t start swinging the pendulum back in the other direction eventually we are going to end up in the kind of dystopian nightmare that George Orwell portrayed in his novel 1984.

I don’t want my 2-year-old daughter to grow up in such a world, and so if I am successful in my run for Congress I plan to be a wrecking ball in Washington.  I plan to tear down and destroy as much of the system as I can, because I want to restore as much liberty and freedom to the American people as possible.  But I can’t do this alone, and so I am asking you to prayerfully consider helping me.  So far the outpouring of love and support has been very encouraging, and I am so thankful to be connecting with so many other freedom-loving Americans.

Like many of you, for years I was discouraged that things never seemed to change no matter which political party was in power.

But the election of Donald Trump shattered that paradigm.

He was not afraid to take on the entire system, and he showed us that anything is possible.

Like that injured bald eagle on the streets of D.C., I believe that there is still time to rescue this nation.

But we have got to act quickly, because our nation is in extremely bad shape and it is rapidly steamrolling toward disaster.

Trump’s First War? ‘All Options Are On The Table’ As The U.S. And North Korea Prepare For The Second Korean War

This may be the closest that we have been to war with North Korea since the original Korean War ended in 1953.  The North Koreans are feverishly working to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike the U.S. mainland, and meanwhile Donald Trump has not moved from his position that North Korea will simply not be allowed to have ICBMs.  If North Korea does not blink, it means that we are literally counting down the days until we go to war.  Unfortunately, North Korean leaders appear to literally be insane and they have shown absolutely no signs of backing off.  In 2016, North Korea tested two nuclear bombs and test-fired 24 missiles, and so far this year they have test-fired five ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.

During a joint press conference with the South Korean Foreign Minister on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson boldly declared that “all options are on the table” when it comes to North Korea…

US military action against North Korea is an “option on the table,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has stated, adding that Washington’s “strategic patience” with the isolated country has ended.

“Let me be very clear. The policy of strategic patience has ended. We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures. All options are on the table,” Tillerson told reporters during a joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Friday.

In addition, Tillerson specifically declined to rule out a preemptive strike against the regime.

Needless to say, the ultra-paranoid leadership in Pyongyang was totally freaked out by what Tillerson had to say.  The following comes from the Washington Post…

Soon after Tillerson’s remarks, in a sign of mounting tensions, the North Korean Embassy held an extraordinary news conference in Beijing to blame the potential for nuclear war on the United States while vowing that its homegrown nuclear testing program will continue in self-defense.

North Korea has amassed a sizable nuclear stockpile and appears at the brink of being able to strike the U.S. mainland and American allies in Asia.

What has brought this crisis to a breaking point is the fact that North Korea has continued to work on developing an ICBM that could deliver a nuclear payload to the United States.

Donald Trump has promised to stop North Korea from doing that before it ever happens…

Just before he took office in January, Trump tweeted: “It won’t happen!” when Kim said North Korea was close to testing an ICBM.

I believe that Trump means what he says.

So now Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are locked in a very dangerous game of chicken.  Both of them are known to be extremely strong-willed, tempermental, and unwilling to back down when threatened.

But if neither of them is willing to back down now, it could potentially spark a major war…

Making matters worse, this year we have Kim Jong Un on one side: A young, relatively inexperienced and unpredictable leader prone to aggression who could be facing internal turmoil (one explanation for killing his brother).

On the other, we now have President Trump. In such a high-stakes standoff, if we’re not careful, these two leaders could prove to be a volatile — and deadly — mix.

In short, what we have now is a regional tinderbox ready to be lit by a small spark that could lead to an exchange of fire and subsequently another war.

And actually the truth is that the conflict has already started.  It is widely known that the U.S. has already been conducting cyberattacks against North Korea’s nuclear program, but if those cyberattacks end up not being enough the Trump administration will order a preemptive military strike.

In recent days, the U.S. military has deployed a 100,000-ton Nimitz-class aircraft carrier to the region.  The USS Carl Vinson is carrying more than 40 F-18s, and it is being escorted by a number of very powerful destroyers and cruisers.

And it is also being reported that SEAL Team 6 is being deployed to South Korea in order “to practice incapacitating North Korean leadership in the case of conflict”.  The following comes from Zero Hedge…

On March 1, the WSJ reported that the options contemplated by the White House in response to recent North Korean acts, include “the possibility of both military force and regime change to counter the country’s nuclear-weapons threat.” The review came es amid recent events have strained regional stability including last month’s launch by North Korea of a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, and the assassination of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia.

And, according to a report in Yonhap, said “regime change” may come far sooner than expected: the South Korean website writes that U.S. special operations forces, including the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, will take part in joint military drills in South Korea “to practice incapacitating North Korean leadership in the case of conflict”, a military official said Monday.

The U.S. Navy’s Special Warfare Development Group, better known as the SEAL Team 6, will arrive in South Korea for joint military drills and take part in an exercise simulating a precision North Korean incurion and “the removal of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un”, according to the Ministry of National Defense Monday.

But regime change in North Korea would not be easy, and unless the U.S. was willing to use nuclear weapons in a first strike the North Koreans would almost certainly be able to strike back very hard.

North Korea has the fourth largest army in the entire world, and it is being reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has personally ordered his entire military to go into “combat mode” in anticipation of a conflict with the United States…

It’s been at least 24 hours since any further sabers were rattled between China, US, South Korea, and North Korea (oh and Japan), but it according to DailyNK.com, Kim Jong Un has ordered the entire North Korean army into “combat mode” to tighten security and consolidate sentiment in response to military drills conducted by South Korea and the US, which began in early March.

A source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK that following the order from Kim Jong Un, every last soldier– even if away on business, on leave, off-base for training, or even those with a recent death in the family–were ordered back to their units. The authorities have ordered the military police in each region to summon all soldiers back to their bases.

North Korea has overwhelming military superiority over South Korea, and unless the U.S. was willing to use nukes, any U.S. strike would almost certainly provoke a North Korean invasion of South Korea.  The following description of what that might look like comes from the Daily Mail…

North Korea, most rogue of rogue nations, has struck. The nuclear explosion, similar in size to that which levelled Hiroshima, signalled the start of a blitzkrieg-style ground invasion intended to swiftly overwhelm its richer, more advanced neighbour.

A second atomic warhead, inbound on a crude Rodong rocket, has been successfully intercepted by America’s THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence) anti-ballistic missile system. But Seoul’s torment is only beginning as hundreds of North Korean heavy guns rain down shells on the capital, many containing Sarin nerve gas.

The city, bunched up against the North-South border, is hopelessly vulnerable to a mass sneak attack of the kind now taking place, as hundreds of thousands of North Korean troops, and thousands of tanks, pour out of innumerable underground bunkers built within miles of the Demilitarized Zone between the two countries.

Unless the U.S. is willing to nuke North Korea into oblivion (and this would almost certainly not happen), the scenario detailed above is very likely to actually happen someday.

And once North Korea invades, the United States will be forced to come to South Korea’s aid and the Second Korean War will have begun.

We are moving into a time when war will become much more common, and at some point World War III will erupt.

If we do go to war with North Korea, Trump will get the blame, but the truth is that Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also deserve much of the blame for allowing things to get to this point.

It is absolutely unthinkable that we would allow the North Koreans to develop ICBMs that could deliver nuclear payloads to U.S. cities.

But it is almost as unthinkable for us to go to war with North Korea.

Both possibilities are absolutely horrific, and so let us hope that cooler heads will prevail and that Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be able to work things out.

World War 3 on the brink in the Pacific – nukes and warships ready for devastating WAR

Washington and Beijing have both been flexing their military muscles as Chinese military bosses declared “war between the US and China is now reality”.

Warships, missiles, and nuclear-capable bombers are flooding the region as both superpowers prepare for a potentially nuclear conflict.

The cradle of this war zone is the South China Sea which Beijing claim belongs to the Chinese by right while the US weighs in support of the Asian power’s Pacific neighbours.

Experts have warned just one wrong move could cause the region to explode into war between the US and China.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Welcome To One of The Most Pivotal Weeks In Modern American History

United States Flag Map - Public Domain

Many are anticipating that a wonderful new era of peace and prosperity is just a few days away, but others are using terms such as “civil unrest” and “civil war” for what they believe is about to happen in America. Without a doubt, Donald Trump is one of the most electrifying politicians in modern American history, but he is also one of the most polarizing. So will the next four years bring us together as a nation, or will anger, frustration, strife and discord tear us much farther apart? It is being projected that extremely large crowds of supporters will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th, but the mainstream media is also reporting that “hundreds of thousands of protesters” are on their way to Washington. Many on the far left are hoping to turn Trump’s inauguration into one of the biggest riots in U.S. history, but thousands of law enforcement personnel are going to do their very best to prevent that from happening.

There are sites on the Internet that are literally counting down the hours until Barack Obama leaves office. Knowing that his time is short, Obama seems determined to squeeze as much “change” out of his final hours as he possibly can. Just check out what the Washington Post says that he was able to accomplish on just one day last week…

On Thursday alone, the administration designated three new national monuments and expanded another two in sites including a forest in the Pacific Northwest and a school for freed slaves in South Carolina; took away one of the special immigration privileges Cubans arriving in the United States without visas have enjoyed for 50 years; announced sanctions designations against 18 senior Syrian officials for their role in the use of chlorine as a chemical weapon in 2014 and 2015; awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Vice President Biden; and accused Fiat Chrysler of cheating on national emission standards for some of its diesel trucks.

And in the last few days of his presidency, there is a great deal of concern about how much more damage he may be able to do on his way out the door. Late last week he enraged the Russians by moving U.S. troops into Poland, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova is warning that Obama still has a few more days left to “destroy the world”…

Zakharova charged that “Obama and his illiterate foreign policy team have dealt a crushing blow to America’s prestige and leadership” and described his administration as “a bunch of geopolitical losers, enraged and shortsighted.”

Obama’s administration still has a few days left to “destroy the world,” Zakharova wrote.

However, there is one piece of good news. According to the Jerusalem Post, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Obama will not support any additional action against Israel at the UN Security Council before Trump is inaugurated.

Of course politicians lie all the time, and John Kerry may not have been entirely honest with Netanyahu, and so we will keep a close eye on the UN Security Council when they meet on Tuesday.

On Friday, the eyes of the entire world will be on Washington. What once seemed so impossible is on the verge of actually becoming a reality, and security officials will be working overtime to make sure that nobody tries to stop Trump from being inaugurated at the last minute.

Needless to say, the festivities on Friday would be a big, fat juicy target for anyone that hates Trump, hates America or that just wanted to make an unforgettable political statement. In fact, Republican Senator Roy Blunt has admitted that the inauguration of Donald Trump will be “the most appealing target in the world”…

“Security is my greatest concern,” Republican Senator Roy Blunt, chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, has said. “No question that on inaugural day, this would be the most appealing target in the world.”

Even if there isn’t any violence on Friday, there will definitely be plenty of angry protesters. And instead of attempting to calm things down, many in the mainstream media are actually promoting the protests. For example, the Washington Post has even published a “guide to inauguration demonstrations, marches and protests”.

It appears that most of those on the left plan to protest peacefully, but there are definitely groups that are planning to be as disruptive as they possibly can. I have previously reported about an organization known as DisruptJ20, and now audio has been released of one of their leaders saying that they want to “do everything we can to try and stop people from being able to access the inauguration”…

A conservative group also shared with FoxNews.com what it said was audio from a Jan. 8 #DisruptJ20 meeting at a Washington church, giving even greater insight into the group’s planned D.C. “shutdown.”

The audio, recorded by Trevor Loudon with Capital Research Center, purports to show a female member detailing plans to “do everything we can to try and stop people from being able to access the inauguration.”

It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out how they are going to do that. According to the shocking new audio recording obtained by Fox News, DisruptJ20 plans to physically block “roads and other modes of transit into the city”…

“We’re going to be doing blockades,” the woman says in the audio. “We’re going to [be] blockading checkpoints into the security zones. We’re also going to be blockading roads and other modes of transit into the city.”

Traffic in the Washington D.C. area is a major headache even at the best of times, and so even if everything went perfectly transportation would be a major issue at Trump’s inauguration. So it isn’t going to take much for these anarchists to create a very real crisis.

And some leftists have been encouraging those that cannot physically come to Washington D.C. to go online and help take down the official White House website on January 20th…

PR Newswire, a global news-release distribution service, circulated a release on Thursday highlighting a campaign launched by Protester.io, a digital protest organizing platform, to “take down” the White House website next Friday in protest of Trump’s inauguration.

“On January 20th, hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to Washington, DC to march in protest of the inauguration of Donald Trump. Millions more around the country will be joining the cause from home. If you can’t make it to Washington DC on inauguration day, you can still participate by occupying whitehouse.gov online,” the release read.

Many on the left truly believe that Trump is the modern equivalent of Adolf Hitler, and therefore he must be resisted at all costs.

And one of the reasons why they want to be as disruptive as possible is so that they can provoke an extremely harsh response. If law enforcement officials can be filmed treating protesters very harshly, that can be used as fuel to inspire thousands of others to join the movement against the “fascist” Donald Trump.

Following the “blockades” and other “actions” on the 20th, there will be a “million woman march” on the 21st. Michael Moore and a whole host of liberal celebrities will be there, and it is being reported that there will be close to 300 “sister marches” in other cities around the nation…

Protesters are using the hashtag #WhyIMarch to explain why they are heading to Washington — from calls for equality to initiatives to curb gun violence to pleas for health care reform.

Nearly 300 “sister marches” have been organized in other US cities — including New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle — and around the world.

This is going to be a week that none of us will ever forget.

Many are hoping (myself included) that the protests will soon fade and that Trump’s presidency will represent a true turning point for America.

But there are many others that are literally gearing up for a “war”, and they intend to fight for as long as it takes to achieve their goals.

We are a nation that is deeply, deeply divided, and it isn’t going to take much to push us over the edge.

So this week is definitely a beginning, but is it the beginning of a wonderful new chapter in American history, or is it the beginning of the end for our once great nation?

This story will unfold over the next four years, and let us hope that it is a good one.

About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The Most Important News. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled “The Rapture Verdict” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

U.S. Army Deploys Tanks to Europe Ratcheting Up Tensions with Russia

u-s-tank

On December 16, US tanks and armor vehicles arrived in the Netherlands to be deployed in a storage depot located in the province of Limburg. The facility, the former Eygelshoven military base near Kerkrade, will be used to keep and maintain tanks, armored vehicles and heavy artillery pieces for a US armored brigade combat team. In January, the US Army in Europe is due to deploy a total of 4,000 American troops and around 2,000 military vehicles on a rotational basis to Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic nations. NATO forces will move to the Baltic States in early spring. In an overtly provocative move, an American battalion will be stationed in Poland near the border with Kaliningrad, Russia’s Baltic enclave.

The US Army is implementing the annual defense authorization act which approved a $3.4 billion spending plan to boost NATO forces, including reopening or creating five equipment-storage sites in the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium and two locations in Germany. In September, the US Army began to assemble more Army Prepositioned Stocks (APS) for permanent storage in Europe. The additional combat equipment will give the Army the option for another heavy armored brigade. Presently, it has only two light brigades in Europe: 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

There’s a Psy-OP, All Right, But It Isn’t “The Russians”

big-brother-is-watching-public-domain

Enough with “the Russians” already. This “Russian Disinformation” and “Russian Hacking” stuff is getting more ridiculous by the day.

First, don’t let the irony escape you that most, if not all, of the pundits breathlessly blaming the Russians for “fake news” and “election interference” are the very ones who were saying that Hillary Clinton was a shoe-in for president. They’re the ones who were providing her campaign with questions in advance, and allowing her people to approve/disapprove of articles.

Secondly, many of the entities blamed for spreading “Russian propaganda” were the ones with the audacity to tell the truth about the Clinton crime family and spread knowledge of the information released by Wikileaks. Obviously, I’m not including those Macedonian college kids in this, but keep in mind that they weren’t doing it for the Russians – they were doing it to make money.

This isn’t about the Russians at all, which anyone with half a brain realizes is absolutely ridiculous.

Here’s what this really is.

This is a war on the Trump presidency. It’s an attempted coup.

Maybe it’s even another effort to outright steal the presidency from Trump. Maybe there’s someone with a lot of money to throw into this “OMG THE RUSSIANS” rhetoric who really hates Russia and who really wanted Hillary Clinton to be the President. Maybe his name rhymes with “Doros.” I don’t know this for sure, but it’s at least a more likely story than “The Russians” hacking our election and deliberately spreading propaganda.

And it’s working. Ten of the Electoral College delegates have asked to be briefed on the Russian “interference” before they cast their votes on the 19th.

But that isn’t all. This is a two-for-one deal.

It’s important to note that the MSM lost every single bit of their remaining credibility during the last election and they’re desperate to get it back. It reminds me of a high school kid who gets caught doing something she shouldn’t, who then makes up stories about another group of kids to get people talking about them instead of her. The MSM can’t accept the fact that Hillary Clinton lost, despite their dishonest but enthusiastic efforts to steal the election for her.   They’ll collude with whoever they have to in order to become relevant again.

Do you really have any doubt that they’ll collude with whoever they have to in order to become relevant again?

About “The Russians”

The whole plotline about “the Russians” really took off when the Washington Post published an article listing a couple hundred websites as Russian “fake news” sites. (I know the owners of quite a few of these sites personally -as in, we’ve shared meals and wine together – and I can tell you, they’re as American as apple pie.” The Washington Post later backtracked on the accusations but did not retract the article.

And today, the New York Times was at it with an article entitled, “C.I.A. Judgment on Russia Built on Swell of Evidence.”

Except that when you consider that evidence by definition is definitive and the NYT admits everything they have is circumstantial, then, doesn’t that completely negates the headline? The article is sheer speculation, just like the WaPo article that named the “fake news” sites.

What’s more, the FBI completely disagrees with the CIA, and they’ve been very public about it. They don’t believe that there is…well, evidence. I’ll quote from WaPo here.

The competing messages, according to officials in attendance, also reflect cultural differences between the FBI and the CIA. The bureau, true to its law enforcement roots, wants facts and tangible evidence to prove something beyond all reasonable doubt. The CIA is more comfortable drawing inferences from behavior.

“The FBI briefers think in terms of criminal standards — can we prove this in court,” one of the officials said. “The CIA briefers weigh the preponderance of intelligence and then make judgment calls to help policymakers make informed decisions. High confidence for them means ‘we’re pretty damn sure.’ It doesn’t mean they can prove it in court.”

Give me a break. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why you should never, ever believe anything the Washington Post refers to as investigative journalism. They have no idea what proof or evidence even means.

There’s a psy-op, all right, but it isn’t “the Russians” perpetrating it.

It’s the CIA (keep in mind that psyops is part of their job) working hand in hand with the MSM.

You just have to laugh at some of these headlines and quotes.

For your entertainment, enjoy the following round-up of headlines promoting the “Blame Russia” sentiment.

  • Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House (source)
  • House passes intelligence bill enhancing efforts against Russia (source)
  • Where’s the outrage over Russia’s hack of the US election?” (CNN)
  • Fake News, Russians, and Election Reversal (Town Hall)
  • A Powerful Russian Weapon: The Spread of False Stories (NY Times)
  • DID RUSSIAN AGENTS INFLUENCE THE U.S. ELECTION WITH FAKE NEWS? (Vanity Fair)
  • Experts Say Russian Propaganda Helped Spread Fake News During Election (NPR)
  • Media Wakes Up To Russia’s ‘Fake News’ Only After It Is Applied Against Hillary (Forbes)

And then, have an eyeroll at some very silly quotes…

From an interview on NPR:

“But let’s remember, this was a very close vote where just, you know, a few tens of thousands of votes in a few states ended up making the difference. So I don’t know, if you believe that the kind of information that crashes through all of our social media accounts affects how we think and potentially how we vote, I think you would conclude that this kind of stuff does matter.” (source)

From the NY Times:

“RT [Russia Today] often seems obsessed with the United States, portraying life there as hellish. On the day President Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention, for example, it emphasized scattered demonstrations rather than the speeches. It defends the Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, as an underdog maligned by the established news media.” (source)

From a secret mystery source on CNN:

“There was no way that any one could have walked out of there with that the evidence and conclude that the Russian government was not behind this.” (source)

From CBS:

Responding to intelligence officials’ report that Russia tried to influence the U.S. presidential election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) on Sunday said he doesn’t know what to make of Mr. Trump’s dismissal of the issue.

“I don’t know what to make of it because it’s clear the Russians interfered,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Whether they intended to interfere to the degree that they were trying to elect a certain candidate, I think that’s a subject of investigation. But facts are stubborn things. They did hack into this campaign.” (source)

Politico reported:

“Donald Trump’s insult-laced dismissal of reports that the CIA believes Russia hacked the 2016 election to help him is rattling a spy community already puzzled over how to gain the ear and trust of the incoming president.” (source)

While some of the efforts are laughable, the end result could be incredibly serious.

And by serious, I mean devastating. It could result in civil war. It could result in World War III.

Despite the inadvertent hilarity, this is a blatant effort to keep President-Elect Trump out of the White House and to silence the opposition.

When all dissenting voices are silenced, you’re only getting one part of the story. You’re only getting the part that those in power want you to hear. If we learned nothing else from Wikileaks, we learned that there are dark secrets about the evils of money, power, and manipulation. We learned how many conspiracy theories about the Clintons were actually facts, and we learned some things we can’t unlearn about the proclivities of some of the most powerful people in Washington.

We learned that some people will do anything to remain in power.

We’re watching them do anything right now.

Never has an election been so vehemently contested. Never has our country been so divided. If the election results are cast aside, what do you really think will happen? Do you think Trump supporters will just sigh and accept it?

And what about Russia?

Just a few months ago, we were on the verge of war with them. By scapegoating “The Russians,” if this psy-op is successful, and Trump is kept out of office, what do you think is going to happen with tensions between the two countries?

Enough with “the Russians” already. The real conspiracy is happening right here in America.

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

Detroit Was Once The Greatest Manufacturing City In The World But Now It Is A Global Joke

The Ruins Of Detroit - Photo by Csmcm

In 1960, the city of Detroit was the greatest manufacturing city that the world had ever seen. Nearly two million people lived there, and it had the highest per capita income in the United States. That may be hard to believe, because today it actually has one of the lowest per capita incomes of all of our major cities. Over the decades more than a million people have left the city, and thousands of abandoned homes have been torn down. But there are still tens of thousands of abandoned dwellings that remain standing, and some have sold for as little as one dollar in recent years. Once Detroit was the envy of the entire planet, but now it has become a global joke and in other countries they love to do news stories about “the ruins of Detroit” to show how rapidly America is rotting and decaying. Sadly, Detroit is far from alone, because there are other formerly great manufacturing cities that have declined just as fast as Detroit has.

Earlier today, I came across a video that contains footage that someone recently captured as they drove through the city of Detroit at night. To say that the footage is disturbing would be a tremendous understatement…

It has become known as a mecca of violent crime and poverty, and now a viral video is giving an unpleasant view of Detroit after dark.

The clip, called Driving through Detroit at night, was filmed by a woman who was a passenger in a car going around the Motor City and was posted to Twitter at the weekend.

It shows terrifying scenes of gangs gathered on the sidewalk, prostitutes lifting up their skirts and dancing, and even a man being run over by a car on purpose.

I would have liked to share the video with you all, but it is just way too graphic. There really are prostitutes lifting up their skirts in the video, and a man really is hit by a vehicle. If you want to watch it for yourself, it is very easy to find on YouTube. But please be warned that children should not be watching this.

If you live in a peaceful rural or suburban setting, the kind of behavior displayed in this video may seem very foreign to you. In America today, it is way too easy to allow our televisions to define reality for us. But the warped view of reality that we get through our televisions is nothing like the real world. The real world is cold, cruel and very unforgiving.

If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, the real world will eat you alive.

In the city of Detroit today, close to half the population is functionally illiterate, and one survey found that 60 percent of all children in the city are living in poverty. It has been reported that 40 percent of the street lights do not work, and as you can see from the video it is a very frightening place to be after dark.

And don’t count on the police to help you. The size of the police force in Detroit has been reduced by about 40 percent over the years, and it has been estimated that it takes the Detroit police an average of 58 minutes to respond to a call.

If it was just one major city where all of these things were happening, that would be bad enough.

Sadly, the truth is that what is happening in Detroit is happening all over the nation. In fact, St. Louis and Memphis now have higher gun crime rates than Detroit does…

The listing places St Louis above the notoriously dangerous Detroit which has topped the list in previous years thanks to the city’s high gun crime rate.

Detroit is now listed as third after Memphis, Tennessee which had 84.2 violent crimes per 10,000 residents.

Birmingham, Alabama comes in fourth place with 82.8 violent crimes per 10,000 residents while Rockford, Illinois was fifth with a rate of 76.3.

Earlier this month, we saw how a major city such as Milwaukee can erupt in flames in just a matter of hours. And in Chicago, some of the major gangs have agreed to use automatic weapons and sniper fire in their battle against the police.

A spirit of chaos and violence has descended on America, and things are going to get much worse during the months and years to come.

Meanwhile, crime continues to rise in our smaller cities and in our suburbs as well. For a moment, I want you to consider a short excerpt from a recent Bloomberg article entitled “Walmart’s Out-of-Control Crime Problem Is Driving Police Crazy“…

The call log on the store stretches 126 pages, documenting more than 5,000 trips over the past five years. Last year police were called to the store and three other Tulsa Walmarts just under 2,000 times. By comparison, they were called to the city’s four Target stores about 300 times. Most of the calls to the northeast Supercenter were for shoplifting, but there’s no shortage of more serious crimes, including five armed robberies so far this year, a murder suspect who killed himself with a gunshot to the head in the parking lot last year, and, in 2014, a group of men who got into a parking lot shootout that killed one and seriously injured two others.

Police reports from dozens of stores suggest the number of petty crimes committed on Walmart properties nationwide this year will be in the hundreds of thousands.

Did you catch that?

This Bloomberg report says that there will be “hundreds of thousands” of crimes just committed at Wal-Mart stores alone this year.

If people are behaving like this while times are still relatively stable and relatively good, what would things look like during a real crisis?

Many people openly wonder what happened to Detroit, but it really isn’t much of a mystery at all.

Over the decades, our politicians have stood idly by as tens of thousands of businesses and millions of good paying jobs have left the country. Our economic infrastructure has been absolutely gutted, and as a result formerly great manufacturing cities have become rotting, decaying hellholes.

And it certainly doesn’t help that voters in many of these cities have willingly chosen to put radical leftists into power time after time.

Unfortunately, it appears that the nation as a whole is about to hand the keys to the White House to a radical leftist that has a violent temper that is absolutely legendary. If she gets into power, that might just be the final nail in our coffin.

What has already happened to Detroit is slowly happening to the entire country, but we never seem to learn from our past mistakes.

So now we will suffer the consequences for our very foolish decisions, and it will not be pretty.

*About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and End Of The American Dream. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled “The Rapture Verdict” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.*

Nuclear War With North Korea Coming?

North Korea Is Crazy

On Sunday, North Korea warned the United States that it could wipe out Manhattan with a single hydrogen bomb, and earlier this month North Korea threatened to make a “preemptive and offensive nuclear strike” on the United States in response to aggressive military exercises currently being jointly conducted by South Korea and the U.S. military. So does nuclear war with North Korea actually pose a significant security risk to this country? Well, according to the Washington Post the entire west coast of the United States is within reach of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. The only question is whether or not North Korea’s ultra-paranoid leader Kim Jong Un would ever actually press the button.

Most Americans don’t realize this, but nuclear war with North Korea is now closer than it has ever been before. In the past, North Korea’s technical capabilities were greatly limited, but now all of that has apparently changed. Just consider what has taken place within just the past few months. The following comes from a timeline that was put together by the Arms Control Association…

January 6, 2016: North Korea announces it conducted a fourth nuclear weapons test, claiming to have detonated a hydrogen bomb for the first time. Monitoring stations from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization detect the seismic activity from the test. The type of device tested remains unclear, although experts doubt it was of a hydrogen bomb based on seismic evidence.

February 7, 2016: North Korea launches a long-range ballistic missile carrying what it has said is an earth observation satellite in defiance of United Nations sanctions barring it from using ballistic missile technology, drawing strong international condemnation from other governments which believe it will advance North Korea’s military ballistic missile capabilities.

March 2, 2016: The UN Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 2270 condemning the nuclear test and launch of early 2016, and demanding that North Korea not conduct further tests and immediately suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program. Resolution 2270 expands existing sanctions on North Korea by adding to the list of sanctioned individuals and entities, introducing new financial sanctions, and banning states from supplying aviation fuel and other specified minerals to North Korea. Resolution 2270 also introduces a requirement that UN member states inspect all cargo in transit to or from North Korea for illicit goods and arms.

In response to these moves, South Korea and the U.S. military have launched the largest military exercises in the history of South Korea. More than 300,000 troops have gathered to simulate an invasion of North Korea and practice the elimination of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction. These military exercises being held over a period of eight weeks, and this is precisely what caused North Korea to threaten us with a “preemptive and offensive nuclear strike“.

And on Sunday, North Korea boasted that they could reduce Manhattan to ashes with a single hydrogen bomb…

“Our hydrogen bomb is much bigger than the one developed by the Soviet Union,” DPRK Today, a state-run outlet, reported Sunday. DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

“If this H-bomb were to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile and fall on Manhattan in New York City, all the people there would be killed immediately and the city would burn down to ashes,” the report said, citing a nuclear scientist named Cho Hyong Il.

I don’t know about you, but I find statements such as these to be quite alarming.

Earlier this month, Kim Jong Un put his nuclear weapons on alert “for use at any time”, and Reuters is reporting that he has just ordered his military to conduct even more nuclear weapon tests.

So why is there so little concern about this in the United States?

Sometimes it is the enemy that you underestimate the most that ends up being your greatest threat.

Meanwhile, in the midst of everything else, a North Korean submarine “has gone missing”…

The North Korean regime lost contact with one of its submarines earlier this week, three U.S. officials familiar with the latest information told CNN.

The U.S. military had been observing the submarine operate off North Korea’s east coast when the vessel stopped, and U.S. spy satellites, aircraft and ships have been secretly watching for days as the North Korean navy searched for the missing sub.

The U.S. is unsure if the missing vessel is adrift under the sea or whether it has sunk, the officials said, but believes it suffered some type of failure during an exercise.

At a time when tensions on the Korean peninsula are near an all-time high, this is a very disturbing development. The last thing that we need is some sort of “trigger event” that could cause the North Koreans to want to start pressing buttons.

Most Americans don’t realize this, but hatred for America is one of the centerpieces of North Korean society. In fact, they have an entire month each year during which they celebrate how much they hate us. The following comes form a New York Post article that was published last June…

June is something like Hate America Month in North Korea.

Officially, it’s called “Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Month” and — more so than usual — it’s a time for North Koreans to swarm to war museums, mobilize for gatherings denouncing the evils of the United States and join in a general, nationwide whipping up of anti-American sentiment.

The culmination this year came Thursday — the 65th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War — with a 100,000-strong rally in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Stadium.

If Manhattan actually was reduced to a pile of ashes by a hydrogen bomb, there would be dancing in the streets of Pyongyang.

So let us not underestimate the threat that North Korea poses. They hate us enough to want to completely destroy us, they now have the technological capability of hitting major west coast cities with nukes, and they have an ultra-paranoid young leader with his hand on the trigger. Meanwhile, we have an increasingly aggressive leader of our own sitting in the White House that seems to like to yank Kim Jong Un’s chain.

If push came to shove, North Korea would attempt to hit American targets with nukes.

Let us just hope and pray that it does not happen any time soon.

Palestinians Continue to Pursue Statehood – Israel Continues to Rely on the U.S. to Stop Them

UN Security Council - Photo by Hu Totya

On Tuesday, Palestinians submitted a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council that would have set a tight deadline for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. It was defeated, receiving support from only eight out of 15 members.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, whose past criticisms of Israel were a source of controversy during her confirmation hearings last year, cast the U.S. vote against what she called a “deeply imbalanced” resolution. Secretary of State John Kerry, an extremely unpopular figure in Tel Aviv whose attempted intervention in last summer’s conflict in Gaza was described by a senior Israeli official as a “strategic terror attack,” worked the phones, reportedly convincing Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan at the last minute to switch from supporting the resolution to abstaining, denying it the nine votes needed for passage.

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Islamic State warns it has sleeper cells in the West, raises the stakes with beheading of American

United States On A Globe - Public Domain

It seems clear that Islamic State is raising the stakes, aware that the gruesome death of an American and the image of another one at the mercy of an executioner who is taunting a US president could invite retaliation – heavier air strikes at least.

But the United States and other Western powers may now be diverting their attention away from the Sunni insurgents innorthern Iraq to what they are capable of doing overseas.

The group can draw on hundreds if not thousands of foreigners with Western passports that can keep them below the radar, like the British-sounding man who appeared to have killed Foley, to carry out its threats.

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The trend for part-time work sweeping the world: Part-time work dominating jobs in the United States, Canada, and Japan

Wal-Mart - Photo by Ben Schumin

The employment statistics do a good job concealing the true nature of the workforce. The unemployment rate has dropped dramatically since the recession ended largely because millions of Americans are now no longer considered part of the workforce. This is an easy way to boost the employment rate without actually creating new jobs. Another trend that seems to be growing around the world is that of part-time work. Part-time work and low wage labor go hand and hand. Part-time workers usually are not afforded the same benefits as those working full-time. They are also brought on with a just in time attitude and are treated as such when no longer needed. Part-time work has been growing before the recession and continues to do so today. In Canada, part-time work has been the dominant sector of employment growth. Low wage labor and part-time work go together like peas in a pod. Is this a trend we should be concerned about?

The growth of part-time work

Companies looking to cut benefits and offer little commitment to future workers will opt to go the part-time route. It is embedded in the nature of low wage labor. This is one major reason how companies have been able to boost profits while filtering profits to the top: slash wages, cut benefits, and squeeze productivity out of workers. It is a good model at the top and simply does not foster a middle class. Why would anyone struggling with part-time work want to commit to buying a home? Long-term purchases are pushed off into the future and big money has stepped in to make those purchases since they have access to funding sources like the Fed with an unlimited window.

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Why nobody but the U.S. voted against the UN’s bizarre anti-Israel resolution

UN General Assembly

Once again, it seems, Israel has been forsaken in its time of need, abandoned by what it thought were its friends. Once again, it feels unfairly singled out, condemned for alleged crimes it committed while defending its citizens against a terrorist enemy that is getting away with murder.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted on a heavily one-sided resolution condemning “in the strongest terms the widespread, systematic and gross violations of international human rights and fundamental freedoms arising from the Israeli military operations” in Gaza. The Geneva-based council, which has a long history of anti-Israel bias, also declared a new “international commission of inquiry” into the events currently unfolding in Israel and Gaza, in what observers are calling a new Goldstone report.

Only the United States voted against the resolution. Twenty-nine nations voted in favor, among them not only the usual suspects such as Saudi Arabia, Algeria and South Africa, but also some ostensible friends of Israel, including Russia, Kenya, India and Mexico.

Equally hurtful for Israel, if not more so, were the abstentions of the eight European Union member states who had the right to vote: Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom. (Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are not EU members but also abstained; non-member states Iceland, Serbia, Albania and Liechtenstein aligned themselves with the EU position.)

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The Emerging Division Between East And West Threatens To Plunge The Globe Into Chaos

Division Between East And West - Public Domain

In general, over the last several decades the world has experienced an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity. The opening up of relations with China and the “end of the Cold War” resulted in an extended period of cooperation between east and west that was truly unique in the annals of history. But now things are shifting. The civil war in Ukraine and the crash of MH17 have created an enormous amount of tension between the United States and Russia, and many analysts believe that relations between the two superpowers are now even worse than they were during the end of the Cold War era. In addition, the indictment of five PLA officers for cyber espionage and sharp disagreements over China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea (among other issues) have caused U.S. relations with China to dip to their lowest point since at least 1989. So could the emerging division between the east and the west ultimately plunge us into a period of global chaos? And what would that mean for the world economy?

For as long as most Americans can remember, the U.S. dollar and the U.S. financial system have been overwhelmingly dominant. But now the powers of the east appear to be determined to break this monopoly. Four of the BRICS nations (China, Russia, India and Brazil) are on the list of the top ten biggest economies on the planet, and they are starting to make moves to become much less dependent on the U.S.-centered financial system of the western world. For example, just last week the BRICS nations established two new institutions which are intended to be alternatives to the World Bank and the IMF…

So in their summit, from July 14 to 16, the five BRICS announced two major initiatives aimed squarely at increasing their power in global finance. They announced the launch of the New Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai, that will offer financing for development projects in the emerging world. The bank will act as an alternative to the Washington, D.C.—based World Bank. The BRICS also formed what they’re calling a Contingent Reserve Arrangement, a series of currency agreements which can be utilized to help them smooth over financial imbalances with the rest of the world. That’s something the IMF does now.

Clearly, the idea is to create institutions and processes to supplement — and perhaps eventually supplant — the functions of those managed by U.S. and Europe. And they would be resources that they could control on their own, without the annoying conditions that the World Bank and the IMF always slap on their loans and assistance.

This comes at a time when both China and Russia are seeking to emphasize their own currencies and move away from using the U.S. dollar so much.

Even in the western media, it is being admitted that China’s yuan is “a growing force in global finance“, and according to CNBC the use of Chinese currency in international trade is growing very rapidly…

Of the German companies profiled, 23 percent are using the renminbi to settle trades, up from 9 percent last year, while usage in Hong Kong rose to 58 percent from 50 percent and to 17 percent from 9 percent in the U.S.

Usage of the renminbi among French companies – a new addition to this year’s list – was high at 26 percent.

And of course Russia has been actively pursuing a “de-dollarization strategy” for months now. Each new round of economic sanctions pushes Russia even further in the direction of independence from the U.S. dollar, and Gazprom has been working hard to get large customers to switch from paying for natural gas in dollars to paying for natural gas in euros and other currencies. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “Russia Is Doing It – Russia Is Actually Abandoning The Dollar“.

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Reminder: U.S. Plotted to Provoke Shoot Down of Airliner to Create Pretext for War

Malaysia Airlines - Infowars

Who in their right mind would risk provoking a war by staging the shoot down of an airliner?

If you guessed Russia, then guess again.

In 2005, a memo was leaked from a January 2003 meeting between President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair during which Bush, “considered provoking a war with Saddam Hussein’s regime by flying a United States spyplane over Iraq bearing UN colours, enticing the Iraqis to take a shot at it.”

However, this was by no means the first time that the United States considered such methods. Declassified documents from 1962′s infamous Operation Northwoods confirm that the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff planned to, “create an incident which will demonstrate convincingly that a Cuban aircraft has attacked and shot down a chartered civil airliner enroute from the United States to Jamaica, Guatemala, Panama, or Venezuela.”

The Joint Chiefs planned to pack the plane with “a group of college students off on a holiday” in order to fully demonize Cuba and potentially set the stage for a confrontation with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

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Vladimir Putin Responds: ‘U.S. Sanctions Will Boomerang And Cause Very Serious Damage’

Vladimir Putin

It took just a little over an hour for Vladimir Putin to respond to the latest, most provocative and toughest round of US sanctions yet. The response, appropriately enough, came just after the BRICS summit in Brazil, where the world’s developing countries yesterday announced the formation of both a BRIC bank and a $100 billion currency reserve to provide a liquidity alternative to the insolvent developed world’s central banks. Here Vladimir Putin was asked to comment on the new package of sanctions against Russia announced just minutes earlier by Obama.

Putin’s response: “We aren’t the ones introducing sanctions, you should ask them.”

“Sanctions have a boomerang effect and without any doubt they will push U.S.-Russian relations into a dead end, and cause very serious damage, and it undermines the long term security interests of the US State and its people.” he said to reporters while elaborating that said he needed to see the details of the sanctions to understand their full scope Reuters added.

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Seven earthquakes shake Oklahoma in two days

Oklahoma_in_United_States

On Saturday and Sunday in Oklahoma, there were seven earthquakes. You read that right. Not tornadoes. Earthquakes.

The most severe temblor registered 4.3 near Langston, the U.S. Geological Survey site showed, delivering a rumble to Logan County, north of Oklahoma City, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no reports of damage or major injury on Saturday, CNN affiliate News9 said.

The three earthquakes that happened Sunday occurred near Langston, CNN affiliate KOCO reported, one registering 4.0.

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United States Loses To Germany But Advances In The World Cup

It was still breakfast time Thursday when the unnamed World Cup fan from suburban New York gulped down a cold beer at Jack Demsey’s Pub in midtown Manhattan, New York.

“I actually got out of work with a concussion,” he said.

For many early risers on the day the United States soccer squad faced mighty Germany in the globe’s biggest sporting spectacle, the breakfast of champions included pints of stout, ale and cider, fireball shot specials and spicy chicken wings.

For 90-some minutes starting at noon Thursday, most of America seemed to stop. Germany won 1-0, but both teams still advanced to the next round.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Clint Dempsey - Photo by Erik Drost

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