WTF Just Happened

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. My top wish for you all (and for myself) is to develop the skill of remaining calm and free from fear through whatever events transpire in 2024 and beyond. I'm convinced that this is up near the top of the list of most important and valuable skills to possess as we navigate the future unfolding around us. I contend that this skill cannot be developed in isolation. It requires community. And so I also that you find your local communities — communities that make you more connected... communities that support you and encourage you to support others... communities that bring out the best in you. Communities that bridge divides. 2024 - bring it on!

Thought for the day: Perhaps one of the less recognised, yet significant, motivations for Government-Big-Business-Complex to eliminate cash from the financial system is because their "cut" of every dollar transacted basically everywhere goes up massively if they succeed. And no, I'm not referring merely to bank and card transaction fees. Those are just a tiny proportion of the long line of entrenched hands that have institutionalised their ability to take their cut out of every dollar you transact. The corruption and ossification that comes with time has created quite the pool of leeches. I suspect many people would be amazed to learn just how big the leeches cut is, across the full spectrum of daily life. Cash transactions, especially those in local circular economies, deprive these leeches of your money. The book "Rigged: How networks of powerful mates rip off everyday Australians", by Cameron Murray and Paul Frijters explains in great detail how everyday Aussies today get sucked dry by a conga-line of leeches. I've had the pleasure of meeting both authors — both quality human beings. Find out more here: https://gameofmates.com/

Despite having a number of things queued up that I'd like to post about, I'm short on time to do so at the moment. But here's one. Meet Gail McRae. Gail is a nurse. She is coming forward to speak about her experience working in hospitals through the Great Covid Hysteria. Of course, this is the perspective of just one person, but my initial assessment is that her testimony is professional and credible. If accurate, there is a lot of details in her testimony that help fill in the details concerning the accelerated breakdown of ethics and procedures in the hospital system in the USA during the Hysteria. Sourced from: https://twitter.com/ChildrensHD/status/1733940175687082090

Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi continue to produce exceptional investigative journalism with this next series, the "CTIL files". They are naming names and bringing the receipts concerning key individuals who appear to have been founders of the government Narrative Control and Censorship Industrial Complex. And we learn that it started well before 2020. Smart people have been warning the world for literally generations that big government is inherently dangerous and to be avoided. The CTIL files reveals yet again why these warnings were justified, as the CTIL files show how politics and institutional self-interest drove various scumbags to harness the immense powers of these bloated institutions to influence public opinion, censor dissenting views and suppress inconvenient truths. https://public.substack.com/p/ctil-files-1-us-and-uk-military-contractors

I was cleaning up my open browser tabs (I have maaaaany!), and came across this older Brownstone article describing a wide-ranging unscripted interview with recently retired CDC employee, molecular biologist, geneticist and epidemiologist Dr Norman Pieniazek. Some very interesting insights and anecdotal details from a man "on the inside" at the CDC long before, and during, the Great COVID Hysteria. If you're as interested as I am in trying to put the puzzle pieces together, then you'll find this one has many interesting tidbits. https://brownstone.org/articles/revealing-dialogue-former-cdc-scientist-norman-pieniazek/

Here is the latest update in the saga on DNA "contamination" in the Pfizer and Moderna injections. I put "contamination" in quotes because the word implies a lack of intention but there as ample evidence now that the manufacturers and the regulators (FDA et al) knew it was highly likely but just looked the other way. What a complete, unmitigated clusterf*ck. The only data point left to be nailed down is the extent (if any) of integration of this DNA in the recipients of this injection. Without playing down the harms of the injections, my best guess for some time is that the harms of lockdowns and other society-restricting measures far exceeded the adverse events of these injections. However, that assumes that the injections do not themselves cause serious long-term harms. If DNA integration is occurring, then my assumption is incorrect, because then we have essentially permanent DNA integration being passed down from parents to children, which is a horrific thing to contemplate. If it turns out that integration is significant, then I expect the injections will overtake lockdowns as the worst case of medical harm essentially forcibly inflicted on humanity in recorded history. https://brownstone.org/articles/fda-shuts-down-enquiries-about-dna-contamination-in-covid-vaccines/

I've shared the writings of "el gato malo" a number of times. IMO, this author has great insights. This latest piece knocks it out of the park, IMO. I've wanted to express extremely similar views in a post for some time now, but el gato has done it for me, in a far more entertaining style than I would be capable of. I can't encourage you enough to sit down and give it a read. It both helps you to see the full extent of the clown world and gives you the keys to escaping the matrix. https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/wag-the-deficit

We all start from the same point of being easily influenced. Gaining sovereignty over that initial state requires specific, significant, hard work, discipline and extreme honesty. And plenty of stumbles along the way. How easily influenced are we? Justin Willman's experiment in "Influencing the Influencers" profoundly demonstrates how easily most people are influenced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RksLFJ7A2M

Balaji Srinivasan has a keen mind, IMO. He recently posted a piece, admittedly highly speculative, about a possible detente between a Newsom-Democrat-led USA and China (as awful as that would generally be, IMO). If you like to analyse issues from all angles, Balaji brings up a whole array of them. His analysis of the political spectrum and why such a coming-together might make 'sense' (to Newsom/Dems and China) is very well put, IMO. It's just how I'm wired, but I never get sick of new ideas, wherever they might lead — and I found plenty in this piece. https://balajis.com/p/only-newsom-can-go-to-china

Any person or persons that implement, or even advocate for, censorship of opinions or ideas is NOT your friend. The grotesque twist is that these censors frequently act under the narrative that they are your friends... your protectors. The reality is the opposite. The censors are either working under the insulting premise that you are too stupid to discern truth for yourself, or they are captured by a toxic ideology, or both. Progress inevitably encounters, and thus requires, dispute and debate. Censorship prevents the latter, and paralyses the former.

"The Top Ten Dumbest Things Empire Propagandists Ask Us To Believe", by Caitlin Johnstone. It's so short I could copy-paste the text below, but it's worth a click to support this piece. https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/the-top-ten-dumbest-things-empire-propagandists-ask-us-to-believe-f92b42147b2c

I really enjoyed this interview of Greg Lukianoff. If you are interested in the principle of free speech and what's going on in this area regarding US law, I'm confident you'll enjoy this. But it's more than that, because Greg shares his backstory, and it's fascinating. Greg Lukianoff is a free speech advocate, first-amendment attorney, president of FIRE – Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind and a new book The Canceling of the American Mind https://lexfridman.com/greg-lukianoff/

"But don’t take your eye off the ball. The only reason we’re here is that the Network succeeded where the State failed. No legacy journalist, politician, regulator, or policeman figured out that SBF was a criminal. But the Internet did." Shortly after completing my previous post, this excellent blow-by-blow re-telling of the Sam Bankman-Fried/FTX fraud saga by Balaji Srinivasan hit my inbox. It's brilliant, IMO. And it's a specific example of how "the internet" or, rather, the people of the open internet which Balaji refers to as the Network did government and law enforcement's work for them and eventually forced them to subject SBF to due process. The SBF saga highlights the across-the-broad bloat and corruption of the major institutions of an empire that's probably past its peak. Read Balaji's article here: https://balajis.com/p/crypto-twitter-found-sbfs-fraud

I have a hypothesis that all the trends towards authoritarianism, totalitarianism, censorship and suppression face a significant opposing force that did not exist in the previous eras when such regimes were last implemented. Furthermore, I hypothesise that this opposing force will cause these trends to fail much earlier than expected by most of those who are "awake" to these trends. That opposing force can essentially be summarised as alternative sources of information on the internet. The existence of such a wide array of differing views and their availability with such incredible ease (even now from within countries that have barriers to access in place) is a major point of difference between now and previous eras of oppression. In anticipation of counter-arguments like "well, if the government is not getting its way it will just shut down the internet", my response is that its unlikely the government will ever do that because the government itself is too deeply dependent on the internet (and getting more so by the day). Furthermore, the timing of implementation of draconian measures is very piecemeal and timed differently across jurisdictions, and this only makes the job of creating and maintaining suppressive systems even more difficult. If there was a grand evil schemer bringing on this oppression, he (or she) is a prize idiot for not realising how much harder he/she/it is making their job by not implementing these schemes in a globally synchronised manner. Currently what is happening is that one jurisdiction is rolling out some shiny new oppression or stupid idea, and people from other jurisdictions are finding out about it, watching it pan out and observing that it is, in fact, a crappy idea. This acts as an educational and immunising agent against their jurisdiction trying a similar oppressive move. For example, — Lockdowns and other draconian controls on freedom of movement. The whole world is now aware of the draconian lockdowns in Australia and elsewhere and quite universally thinks negatively of them. Reflexively, trying to do the same thing again will likely receive much bigger pushback. — Central Bank Digital currencies. They tried it in Nigeria and it's basically a total flop. https://cryptoslate.com/enaira-cbdc-a-massive-failure-despite-nigerian-central-banks-claims-to-the-contrary/ — Digital identities. The Indian Aadhar Digital ID system just got hacked and now the biometric and personal information of around 800 million indians is up for sale. https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/aadhaar-data-of-millions-of-indians-put-on-sale-on-the-dark-web-reports-123103000993_1.html Many — I contend/hope/hypothesise that it's enough — of the rest of the world is watching these events and taking note. One of the next cabs off the rank in a number of jurisdictions is attempts by governments to censor these newer alternative sources of commentary. I predict this is going to turn out to be a massive flop that further tarnishes the already terrible levels of public trust in government. Imagine how the public is going to react when, for example, their Twitter/X feed contains a bunch of posts which read something like "I'm sorry, but your government doesn't think you should be able to see this content. Please direct your complaints to {name of govt department here} and here is the list of elected officials that voted for these powers". Meanwhile, the public in less censorious jurisdictions will learn about this and be more inclined to push back if their own governments try similar things. Let's see how this hypothesis pans out. 🤞

I happened to come across this excellent short clip again today. I can't remember where it's from or when it was made, but its relevance lives on (with no foreseeable end). I give you: a depiction of how almost all humans relate to "the news", in one short, humorous, very insightful clip.

The "controversy" over whether or not mRNA (and DNA) COVID injections are "gene therapies" and the apparent failure of Pfizer and Moderna to obtain GMP licenses in Australia (with all the mandatory additional testing required and the explicit criminality of failing to do so according to Australian law) took another fascinating turn this past week. Arkmedic has done a great job of summarising the developments, which you can read via this link: https://arkmedic.substack.com/p/genetically-modified-organons It would be comical if it wasn't so serious. My jaw dropped to the floor when I listened to the patently absurd and false statements, under oath, of Dr Bhula, the official Australian Gene Technology Regulator. Note: This post is a follow on from my earlier comments on the subject, here: https://t.me/wtfjh/1645 Note 2: take note that episodes like these seriously undermine the theory that the oppression of the Great COVID hysteria was meticulously coordinated by a highly intelligent hierarchy of evil authoritarian conspirators according to some "Grand Plan". When a critical mass of the supposed players in such a conspiracy are incompetent, the theory cannot stand. And we are witness to breathtaking incompetence, with new revelations coming thick and fast.

Staying ahead of the nonsense, Episode 1: price controls This is the first installment of what might become a regular feature. Only time will tell. Staying ahead of the nonsense is an effort to try and identify looming issues and provide constructive ideas about how to stay one step ahead of developing social, cultural and political trends that are particularly dangerous or counterproductive. So, price controls. These are probably coming to a Western country near you in the coming years. They are the more overt version of more subtle forms of price controls known as subsidies. Subsidies are usually also counterproductive, but typically more subtle and not as catastrophic. Price controls are a terrible idea. They are an epic "own goal" which inevitably leads to a plethora of unintended consequences that cumulatively cause more harm and suffering than would have ever been caused if controls had not been implemented. However, and sadly, since markets ever existed there have been periods where governments (usually feeling threatened by rising discontent from the mob) feeling the need to do something, enforce price controls on goods and services. Legal ass-covering notice: None of this post (or my entire channel for that matter) should be construed as legal or financial advice. Do your own due diligence. Make your own decisions. Price controls of goods and services unavoidably lead to extreme shortages and a really profitable opportunity for black marketeers that can stay one step ahead of law enforcement. The mechanisms by which this occurs are well documented, but when the masses are baying for relief and governments are feeling the heat, collective amnesia sets in and history is repeated. I have two specific pieces of advice for you to consider: So as far as goods and services goes, as soon as you get the slightest hint that the mob is finding particular important or essential goods or services prices unbearable, and especially when it gets to the point where there is word that price controls are being considered by lawmakers, stock up on those goods or services at whatever the current market price is without delay. Further, if you get a whiff of talk about price controls, share it with us here in the comments section so we can investigate further and get the word out. Now I turn to the specific subject of price controls of property rentals. If you are a landlord of properties, particularly I would say for properties which typically house people from the lower income end of the spectrum, understand how absolutely devastating rent controls will be to your property valuations. If I was owning such properties, I'd be selling them for whatever I could get for them now. It's not hard to understand how easy it could be for rent controls to set the rent at a level that forces the landlord into a loss-making situation. Even if the landlord has no debt and they can thus manage to "eat" the reduced rent for an extended period, the market value of that property is decimated and you're staring down the barrel of almost overnight massive haircuts to your capital value. Rent controls are already implemented in some parts of the USA, and it's wreaking exactly this kind of havoc on landlords there. For this reason alone there's no way on earth I'd be owning lower-end rental properties right now. Take care out there.

This observation by Sanjeev Sabhlok about economists is spot on. It's profound, and profoundly important. He writes: There are only two types of economists: 1. Those who want Bigger and More government. They find 1000s of faults in the market. 2. Those who want a Minimal role for government. They know that government has no special information advantage but has many perverse incentives. Category 1 includes: Malthus, Marx, Keynes, Pigou, Samuelson, Stiglitz Category 2 includes: Adam Smith, Bastiat, Mises, Hayek, Julian Simon, Buchanan, Demsetz Economics is a highly politicised discipline. We need to keep our eyes open, lest we are indoctrinated by communists. Sourced from his channel here: https://t.me/sanjeevsabhlok/9649 IMO it is the collectivist/big government ideologies upon which economic policies and practice are based that has directly resulted in bloated, inefficient, incompetent, impossibly overindebted governments that are leeching and misleading the world today.

So the White House asserts that Iran is "actively facilitating" some attacks on US military assets and personnel in the middle east. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. But an interesting point to note is that "active facilitation" of attacks on the US by Iran via proxies is considered by the White House to be foul play. Oh, really now? So here's two questions for you to ponder today: 1) How is the supply of funding, military equipment and intelligence to Ukraine by the USA not also "active facilitation" of attacks on Russian military assets and personnel in Ukraine? And, consequently, how is this not foul play by the USA? 2) How is the supply of funding, military equipment and intelligence to Israel by the USA not also "active facilitation" of attacks on Palestinian military assets and personnel in Palestinian territories? And, consequently, how is this not foul play by the USA? And don't get hung up on the fact that these statements by the White House are yet more warmongering nonsense that directly contradicts their warmongering positions in other conflicts. It's correct, but not my main point. My main point is not to single out the USA either. As I've stated before, hopefully eternal hellfire actually exists if only to provide a final eternal home for warmongers on all sides. The deeper points are these: — Falling back on war is the choice of largely stupid, corrupt, dishonourable elites as a means to temporarily override rule of law and take the easy road (bombing the shit out of places and people) because they lack sufficient discipline, humility and intestinal fortitude to do the much more difficult, much more honorable thing which is to sit down with people you despise and make peace. — Politicians have a natural incentive to create chaos and fear, because the fearful masses acquiesce to the exact opposite of what's in their best interests (as they almost ALWAYS do when in a state of fear), which is the temporary suspension and gradual permanent erosion of the fundamental principles of common law and natural law. The incentives are: (a) The politicians are granted more power over the masses (b) The politicians are perceived to be more important than ever to lead the masses out of the supposed crisis (note the embedded assumption that centralisation around a leader is the only safe way forward) (c) The crisis drives the narrative that government generally is more important and necessary than ever. Unfortunately, the more wayward a country and it's economy becomes, the greater the tendency for it's elites to "find" (or gravitate to) external crises (real and imagined), because external crises don't reflect badly on the elites and the elites benefit from the masses being distracted from the increasingly frequent domestic crises. I contend that the fastest route to resolution of any crisis, real or imagined, is to double down on the upholding of rule of law, natural justice, common law, free market capitalism and fundamental human rights. But, as usual, that's the exact opposites of what the elites do in crises (real or imagined) and the masses acquiesce to. I'm sure most of the elites and masses, even in sober moments, don't realise this is the best solution.

An update on my investigations. Attempts to discuss the changing terms via National Australia Bank's secure internal message service (available via the NAB App) hit a dead-end. Bizarrely, they directed me to contact the NAB via the "Contact Us" link on their website instead!!! Not exactly personal human-to-human service, eh?! Concerned that doing so would be a giant waste of time, instead I resolved to try and speak with a human at my local branch. So yesterday I went to my local NAB branch, with printed copies of the current and changed T&C's of particular concern. There I had a polite conversation with Jenny. It was obvious that Jenny was intelligent, so I detailed my concerns to her. It turns out that Jenny hadn't read the changes either (like, I suspect, 99.9% of the population)! So our conversation was her first exposure to the changes. It was very interesting to note that, on reading the changes for herself, Jenny's demeanour distinctly changed from being one of mild interest to obvious concern. Jenny quickly grasped the power grab created by the new Terms and was clearly concerned on a personal as well as general level. It seems a safe bet that Jenny herself is a customer of NAB. Jenny recognised that the new terms seemed to grant NAB "pre-crime" powers to shut down banking access. She appeared to grasp how fundamentally dangerous such powers were. She understood the power (and legal) implications of changing terms to empower the bank to block banking access based on a determination of fraud to a mere 'suspicion'. Noting that the T&C's exempt the bank from all harms caused by blocking banking access, in the course of conversation Jenny quickly realised how an incorrect 'suspicion' of fraud as the basis for blocking banking access could potentially create massive consequential damages (e.g. payment deadlines being missed etc). And yet you won't be able to sue the bank for that. I also raised the issue of the trend towards removal of cash from society (which she acknowledged appeared to be occurring) and how, in a future cashless society, the locking-out of people from the digital banking system seemed fundamentally inhumane (if, for example, they can no longer even purchase basics). Jenny was in agreement. I suggested that if we're going cashless, then access to the banking system for all persons, no matter how heinous their criminal history, should be impossible to deny. Jenny appeared to readily agree. Despite Jenny clearly "getting it", unfortunately, the story doesn't end on a particularly hopeful note. Jenny asked me what I'd like the next steps to be. I suggested that, seeing as she could see I was a sensible person seeking reasonable and polite conversation about an important issue, that it would be great to be put in touch with some individual at NAB who was directly involved with crafting the new T&C's. Jenny's response was summarised thus: 'I'd gladly do that, but I don't know who that person would be, or how I could even find out. We are in the retail banking arm of NAB, and the corporate side is basically impenetrable to us.' So Jenny did the most she could, which is raise an internal complaint in some company intranet portal on my behalf. She had no idea what would come of the complaint. I very much got the sense that NAB, one of the 'big four' giant banking behemoths of Australia, was suffering from decades of institutional bloat and decay (just like many other private and public institutions). It was reasonably clear that, as the saying goes, 'the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing'. I sense it's yet another case of an institution... past it's peak... bloated yet profitable due to its entrenched and protected position (similarly due to the post-peak institutional decay and rot in the public sector)... tweaking itself, and society, to death by a thousand stupid cuts.