Interesting Things in Recent Days

 Hello everyone,

1.  Kansas Abortion Vote - the result of the vote shocked everyone across the spectrum.  Kansas is a conservative state.  The ballot initiative was put up on what is normally a low-turnout primary.  The wording was done in the correct way to alarm the fewest people.  It was defeated by what appears to be 63% to 37%.  Turnout was at a major general election level.  While strategists in both parties and some independents try to puzzle out how to handle one of the strongest messages any electorate has ever delivered... the response of the sponsors... "it didn't go far enough, we need to be more extreme" is the best distillation of what their response was that I've heard.  What is going on with our political leaders?  The only possible conclusion I can draw from the response of the sponsors of the amendment is that some of them don't want democracy at all - they want autocracy with themselves at the top, a monarchy like the one the US escaped from.

2.  Gunman at Town Hall Meeting -  in keeping with that, a "gospel pastor" showed up at a Beto O'Rourke event with an AK and a handgun.  Candidate O'Rourke defused the danger without giving up on his positions, to his credit.  To me, this is alarming, however. It indicates that the group (aforementioned in 1 above) on the extreme is more than willing to use violence to overturn the political order in a democracy.  They have shown that before, for example in the insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, and in some of the extreme actions taken by other political candidates and groups.  This however adds a new wrinkle.  O'Rourke is a people's candidate, he believes in the common man.  Therefore he holds a lot of town halls and direct meetings.  Quite a number of politicians on both sides do the same.  To what degree is that now becoming dangerous?  We do not know for certain.

3.  New Thought -  the philosophy of New Thought is one that exists in various forms among adherents of all faiths.  "The Secret" is a form of New Thought.  Some forms of prayer and of spell casting alike are New Thought.  The most famous and public practitioner of New Thought in the modern day is Donald Trump.  Like him or hate him, there is no question he is a practitioner, as was revealed by  Politico. ( https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/donald-trump-2016-norman-vincent-peale-213220/ )  Donald J. Trump became President of the United States using New Thought techniques in 2016.  His father Fred introduced him to New Thought through its Christian version as practiced by the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, who performed Trump's first marriage.  He has demonstrably practiced it throughout his life, and it has allowed him to survive thousands of lawsuits and dozens of scandals and even become president.  By 2020 his practices were well known, and many of those who were also practitioners and were appalled by his lack of morality and human decency "worked" for his defeat.  Not necessarily because they loved Biden, or even hated Trump, but because they knew where his misuse of New Thought was likely to lead.  I certainly did not deliberately try to reach out on a conscious psychic level to attempt to defeat him, but I will say that after donating to his campaign in 2016, I was completely appalled by his actions in office and certainly wanted him to fail in 2020.  It appears that there was some sort of a battle for the soul of the nation between adepts on both sides.  Were both elections influenced?  2016  by Trump's long-time familiarity and use of the techniques of New Thought and 2020 by both New Thought practitioners and spell casters who worked against him, consciously in many cases, while the more disorganized desires of the "the faithful" on both sides (the difference in votes cast by party is only a few percent, do not be brainwashed by the media to think all Christians are Republican, they are NOT) canceled out.  How that works is probably worth a longer article, but not tonight.

Welcome

 This blog will be updated as things of interest occur to be communicated to interested parties.

Right now we are seeing a number of interesting things.

1.  The World Economic Forum - a major power group that does not style itself as such but certainly is, issued the following statement a few weeks ago:  

“We are at the cusp of a vicious cycle that could impact societies for years. The pandemic and war in Ukraine have fragmented the global economy and created far-reaching consequences that risk wiping out the gains of the last 30 years. Leaders face difficult choices and trade-offs domestically when it comes to debt, inflation, and investment. Yet business and government leaders must also recognize the absolute necessity of global cooperation to prevent economic misery and hunger for millions around the world. The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting this week will provide a starting point for such collaboration”, (Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum.)  the statement went on to predict high inflation across the globe, food insecurity, particularly in parts of Asia and Africa, and "continued fragmentation of the global economy"

They of course suggested that their annual meeting could provide further insight (guidance perhaps?).

To the interest of many watchers, those predictions seem to be beginning to fail.  The price of gasoline, considered a leading indicator, has begun to fall and has fallen for more than 30 consecutive days as of this posting.  Generally, rising oil and gas prices presage increased inflation, and dropping oil and gas prices presage... the opposite. It's too early to tell for sure, but I think we are going to see prices stabilizing over the next 2 or 3 months -- predicted ONLY by the government of the United States, which I find incredibly interesting.  Given the resources available to the World Economic Forum, why would they have issued such a frightening statement unless they were very, very sure?  Was/Is someone trying to LEAD the economy, rather than respond to economic forces? I certainly am not sure.

2.  Evidence is rapidly emerging that the United States Secret Service may have, at some level, cooperated in the coup attempt on January 6. (It doesn't matter which party you support in the US or whether you think Trump or Biden SHOULD have won the election, honesty is absolutely necessary to ever make headway in the world, PARTICULARLY the hidden world and honesty says - Trump lost, Trump then plotted to seize power illegally - and many people cooperated with that effort. It is a shock to me that the Secret Service, at any level cooperated, but the destruction of all text messages from Jan 5 and 6, 2021 AFTER the Inspector General had ordered them turned over is pretty sure proof that they are hiding something.  They can twist themselves into pretzels claiming that it was a mistake, a migration, whatever; I taught computer science courses at the university level for over 20 years - what happened was deliberate.  That leaves me wondering if the 1st and 2nd families - at a minimum - are actually safe from some TV-level attempt at murder, and as an American that concerns me.  

3. The Council on Foreign Relations (full disclosure - I have been an "academic" member for nearly 20 years - I do NOT have any decision-making power, no vote, no nothing, but I do usually get their announcements and occasionally engage in conversations that mean nothing) appears to me to be concerned more by the unbalancing of power in Europe due to Russia's failed invasion of Ukraine than by the invasion itself, which I find odd. On the other hand, I agree with them that the side effect of the invasion is increased food insecurity in some areas globally. I, who am more concerned about human lives than power find this very upsetting.