Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Sound Money Showdown in U.S. States Reply
Policies relating to sound money have been the subject of substantial debate at the state level this year, with bills, hearings, and/or votes taking place in nearly a dozen legislatures.
As most state legislatures have now wrapped up their work for the year, let’s review the victories (both offensive and defensive)—and lone defeat—for sound money during the 2019 session.
The Sound Money Defense League’s primary goal is to remove every kind of taxation imposed on constitutional money. Given its practical importance, the hottest issue in the states has been taxation—i.e. whether citizens should face a levy when buying or selling gold and silver.
● House Bill 2684, introduced by West Virginia Delegate Pat McGeehan, aimed to remove all taxes (sales tax, corporate income tax, and personal income tax) from gold and silver. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 502, sponsored by Senator Craig Blair, exempted only precious metals from the state’s sales tax.
The West Virginia bill removing sales taxes passed overwhelmingly through both chambers, and Governor Jim Justice signed SB 502 into law.
● House Bill 2140, introduced by Kansas Representative Jim Kelly, included a sales tax exemption on the sale of gold and silver as part of a larger bill rife with new taxes. Governor Laura Kelly signed the measure in May.
Debate: US anti-Iran alliance Reply
Geopolitical Analysis #1: Russia 1
Today Lewis is joined by Keith Preston to discuss the geopolitics of Russia.
Who Am I? 3
Occasionally, new readers will come to this site and ask who I am and what I’m about? Briefly, this is me:
Over the past 20 years or so, I have written half a dozen books, hundreds of essays, given dozens of lectures, done hundreds of podcasts and radio and television interviews, made thousands of blog posts, and tens of thousands of social media posts, most of which are accessible from AttacktheSystem.Com. My main area of interest is the ongoing concentration of political and economic power on a global scale, and critiquing the state and power elites generally.
Philosophically, I am an egoist in the tradition of Nietzsche, Stirner, and other similar thinkers. Politically, I am a classical/traditional anarchist, though with some modern tweaks, and within the framework of a wider pan-radical, pan-decentralist, pan-secessionist/separatist umbrella.
However, I regard political ideologies, religions, ethical theories, philosophical systems, and economic schools as having the same basic function. None of these are “true” per se in the same way that gravity is true. Instead, they are a collection of myths, creeds, dogmas, narratives, rituals, and prejudices that individuals use to give order to their own psyche and to form social bonds with other people. These things are all “tribes” in the same way that the Ibo or Visigoths or Comanche are tribes. I also think the philosophical, religious, political, moral, etc. beliefs that people are drawn to will reflect their psychological makeup and personality type, along with their genetic proclivities, and these things will find their expression based of cultural and social experiences.
Most of the material I have written over the years has been more analytical (in the vein of trends research) than ideological per se (“This is what is happening, like it or not”). Even the ideological stuff I consider to be more prescriptive or pragmatic rather than deontological. “If you really want to overthrow the globalists/imperialists/Zionists/capitalists/Illuminati/lizard people/whatever, this is what you need to do” or “Given the fractiousness and diversity of modern societies this is the most viable alternative political model.”
Iran denies supertanker destined for Syria Reply
The Hidden Reason Why Fed Chairman Powell and “Systemically Important” Banks Oppose a Gold Standard 3
By Mike Gleason, First Published on Sound Money Defense League
Chairman Powell’s testimony this week was closely scrutinized not just for its economic implications but also for its political overtones. Powell cited “trade tensions” as cause for concern about the strength of the global economy. He clearly seemed to be blaming President Trump’s tariffs.
But if the tariffs are what ultimately move the Fed to cut rates, Trump will have finally gotten what he wants out of Powell. In recent weeks, Trump has stepped up his attacks on the central bank, calling it the biggest problem facing the economy, floating the idea of firing Powell, and suggesting his administration would match China’s and Europe’s “currency manipulation game.”
Trump comes out against Bitcoin, other Cryptocurrencies, and “Unregulated Crypto Assets” 6
Anti-Centrism: Know Your Extremists (From Anprim to Nazbol) 3
Incompetence not unique to trump but all previous US administrations 1
Press TV. Listen here.
The incompetence and division in American politics is not unique to the administration of President Donald Trump and has rather spanned all US administrations, says a political analyst in Virginia.
Keith Preston, chief editor of AttacktheSystem.com, made the comment in an interview with Press TV on Sunday while reacting to reports that said Britain’s ambassador to the United States had referred to Trump as “incompetent” and “inept.”
Leaked on Saturday, notes sent to the British Foreign Commonwealth Office showed Kim Darroch finding it unlikely for the White House to “ever look competent” under Trump.
“We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction driven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept,” Darroch wrote.
“It’s certainly true that the Trump administration demonstrates a lot of signs of dysfunction and internal division and incompetence and so forth, but that’s not necessarily original to the Trump administration,” Preston said. “We can go back to the Obama administration, the George W. Bush administration and some other earlier administrations and find several examples.”
Preston also pointed to what he said was a “rift” between the Trump administration and various European elites, which particularly stemmed from a conflict between Washington and the European Union over trade-related issues, the NATO and its funding.
PressTV-UK envoy: Trump career could end in disgraceLeaked memos show Britain’s ambassador to the US warned London that President Donald Trump’s “career could end in disgrace.”
The British envoy also described the never-ending conflicts inside the Trump administration as “knife fights.”
The revelations came weeks after Trump paid a long-delayed state visit to Britain.
The US and Europe are already in the middle of a tense trade dispute, with Trump having imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on the EU since last May, criticizing the bloc for the trade deficit in US-EU dealings.
PressTV-EU vows to respond to any US auto tariff moveA senior official with the European Union Commission says the bloc will respond to any US move to increase tariffs on cars made in the bloc.
Washington has also threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on European auto imports, which would have a far greater impact on the European economy.
Moreover, Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO over how the alliance is funded and pressured other member states to increase military spending.
NATO members are required to spend at least 2 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on military affairs. This is while the US currently spends around 4 percent.
The American head of state threatened that Washington would “go its own way” in 2019 if other NATO countries did not increase their military spending levels.
81% of ‘suspects’ flagged by Met’s police facial recognition technology innocent Reply
The force maintains its technology only makes a mistake in one in 1,000 cases, but it uses a different metric for gauging success.
By Rowland Manthorpe and Alexander J Martin
news.sky.com
Four out of five people identified by the Metropolitan Police’s facial recognition technology as possible suspects are innocent, according to an independent report.
Researchers found that the controversial system is 81% inaccurate – meaning that, in the vast majority of cases, it flagged up faces to police when they were not on a wanted list. More…
The Dr. Strange of the American Revolution Reply
nautil.us
Brian Gallagher
“I ascribe the Success of our Revolution to a Galaxy,” Benjamin Rush wrote to John Adams, in 1812. He wasn’t invoking the astrological. It was commonplace then to associate a bright assembly of people with the starry band in the night sky that Chaucer called “the Milky Wey.” Yet Rush crossed out “a Galaxy” and wrote in, perhaps for the sake of specificity, “an Illustrious band of Statesmen—philosophers—patriots & heroes.” Historian Jill Lepore has written that, in the “comic-book version of history that serves as our national heritage, where the Founding Fathers are like the Hanna-Barbera Super Friends, Paine is Aquaman to Washington’s Superman and Jefferson’s Batman.” And Rush? I posed this question to Stephen Fried, author of the recent book, Rush: Revolution, Madness & the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father. Fried replied, “Dr. Strange.” More…
Tourist buses ‘no longer welcome’ in Paris city centre Reply
france24.com
AFP / Lionel Bonaventure (file photo) | A tourist double decker bus in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Paris aims to ban tourist buses from the city centre to spur visitors to walk, cycle or take public transport, tackling complaints about nuisances caused by mass tourism, the French capital’s deputy mayor said.
Emmanuel Gregoire told Le Parisien newspaper that the situation in Paris was not as bad as in tourist-swamped Venice or Barcelona but Parisians were concerned about the influx of tourist buses. More…
Video Games That Made People Question Their Beliefs Reply
Gita Jackson
Kotaku
When Scott Udall first played Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance shortly after it came out in 2005, he was in a vulnerable spot. Udall, who grew up Mormon in Salt Lake City, Utah, was very religious, and his family were all politically active Republicans. His parents had gone through a messy divorce, and he’d lost contact with his father’s side of the family. He found solace in Path of Radiance’s world, and when the sequel, Radiant Dawn, came out two years later, he was excited to revisit the characters. He didn’t realize when he started playing that Radiant Dawn would become a catalyst that shook him from his previously held convictions. More…
It took a decade for the Declaration of Independence to matter in American life Reply
Stanford News
Two Stanford historians discuss how the United States’ Declaration of Independence became one of the pillars of American civic life and other lesser-known historical facts about what happened on July 4, 1776.
On the historic day of July 4, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress, Thomas Jefferson, its primary author, went on a small shopping spree and bought seven pairs of women’s gloves.
Celebrating the Declaration of Independence on July 4 is an American tradition, but it took a while for that tradition to develop. (Image credit: todd taulman / Getty Images)
Open Letter From Steve Forbes To Mark Zuckerberg Reply
Dear Mr. Zuckerberg:
Your company made big headlines when it announced it would be launching a cryptocurrency called the Libra in 2020. Not surprisingly, given the nature of the times, the project has been greeted with intense criticism and skepticism. Don’t lose heart. In one sense, the idea of a company creating its own kind of money is an old one. The airlines’ frequent-flier miles are really a form of money that customers can earn and use to buy trips and various other things. Credit card companies, hotels and numerous retailers have all sorts of loyalty programs in which people earn points that will let them buy all manner of goodies.
But if you play your cards right with the Libra, you could be to money and finance what Henry Ford was to automobiles. Your new currency could take its place alongside the inventions of coins and paper money many centuries ago. It could replace the U.S. dollar as the global currency. More…
The Gap Between Rich and Poor Americans’ Health Is Widening Reply
NPR
by Susie Neilson
Researchers compared Americans’ health status today with that of 25 years ago and found that health is worsening among lower-income Americans.
Orbon Alija/Getty Images
Income inequality in the U.S. has grown over the past several decades. And as the gap between rich and poor yawns, so does the gap in their health, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open Friday. More…
Rising US Inequality: How We Got Here, Where We’re Going 1
Stanford Business
Shana Lynch
An economist and a business advisor discuss what might happen if the gap between rich and poor continues to grow.
Inequality is on the rise in the United States. Stanford experts discuss possible solutions. | Reuters/Lucy Nicholson
The U.S. economy hit a historic high in 2018, and today unemployment is at its lowest rate in five decades. Yet wage growth for the vast majority of Americans has stalled, and more people are struggling to afford housing, health care, education, and other basics.
The Long, Slow Death of Venice 1
The local population is at its lowest since the 1950s, with no turnaround in sight, as tourists continue to chase locals out.
by Chiara Albanese, Giovonni Salzano, and Federico Vespignani
If you’ve been to Venice, you get it. Even the most jaded globetrotter can’t help but do a double-take at the sheer originality—and beauty—of the centuries-old city built entirely on water.
Yet even the quickest visit reveals that Venice is no longer a living city, with scores more tourists than actual Venetians crowding its lagoon, bridges and walkways. The numbers bear that out. The city’s population basically peaked in the 1500s, and though it rallied again to near 16th century levels in the 1970s, today there are just one third as many Venetians as 50 years ago. More…
Tucker Carlson Tells Trump in Private: No War With Iran 4
Interesting if true.
The Daily Beast
In the upper echelons of the Trump administration, hawkish voices on Iran predominate—most notably Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton. But as tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated over the last few weeks, there’s been another, far different voice in the president’s ear: that of Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
A source familiar with the conversations told The Daily Beast that, in recent weeks, the Fox News host has privately advised Trump against taking military action against Iran. And a senior administration official said that during the president’s recent conversations with the Fox primetime host, Carlson has bashed the more “hawkish members” of his administration.
While some Fox News hosts have argued that a conflict with Iran would be justified, Carlson has consistently criticized U.S. military intervention abroad, particularly in the Middle East. In recent weeks, he has questioned whether war with Iran would be “in anyone’s interest.” Last month, he publicly chided Bolton, saying he was intentionally escalating tensions, and that a potential conflict would “be like Christmas, Thanksgiving, his birthday wrapped into one.”
Libertarian presidential candidate looks to get rid of the federal government 2
Watch here. Adam Kokesh is running for the Libertarian Party nomination on a platform of ending the federal government for real. Not “enforcing the Tenth Amendment, ” not “going back to the Constitution,” not “reducing the size and scope of the federal government,” not “tax cuts and deregulation” or any other mainstream conservative/neoliberal-libertarian bullshit.
Adam has the right idea, but I’m not sure he’s the right kind of leader given his failed, over the top, armed march on Washington from a few years ago, and his much publicized domestic abuse issues. The ideal revolutionary leader would have a clean image and one that exhibits uber-competence, and not have a personal history of instability (mental illness, alcoholism/drug addiction, domestic violence, financial corruption, etc). I don’t really care about any of those things myself. It’s more about marketing.
I like what Adam says in the video, and I think he’s on the right track. But he brings too much personal baggage, and the LP is not the right forum for this. Fringe parties don’t reach a large audience. For a range of tactical and propagandistic reasons, what we need is an American version of someone like Carne Ross running as a Democrat on the same platform that Adam is suggesting, and a Ron Paul-type running as a Republican on a parallel platform (thereby covering the left and right wing bases simultaneously).
This is not to say that electoralism/reformism is the means by which the state will be abolished per se, only that Adam’s idea applied in a competently and strategically executed way would be an excellent marketing/propaganda/strategic effort.
Pretenses for US troop deployment dubious Reply
Press TV. Listen here.
The pretenses under which the US is sending troops to the Middle East are dubious, according to an American political analyst.
Media reports said that the US was sending 1,000 more troops to Middle East for ‘defensive purposes’ amid tensions with Iran.
PressTV-US sending 1,000 more troops to MideastThe United States has approved deployment of some 1,000 more soldiers to the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran.
Speaking to Press TV from Virginia on Tuesday, director of Attackthesystem.com Keith Preston, questioned the claims behind the move and said the troops deployment was under false pretenses.
“Supposedly, this is a response to the attacks on the oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman,“ he said, while pointing out that it had not been established yet who carried out the attack.
“It has not been established as to who was actually responsible for those attacks,” he said.
Preston said the administration in the United States had very recklessly tried to blame Iran for the attacks.
However, Preston reminded, any involvement of Iran had “not been demonstrated by any kind of evidence.” He noted, “In fact, all of the evidence points away from the idea that Iran would be responsible for the two attacks.”
He said the truth of the matter was that sending additional American troops to the Middle East was an anti-Iran effort aimed at exerting pressure on the Islamic Republic.
US President Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive anti-Iran stance has been the result of false reports to him by White House National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who were pushing the United States into a military confrontation with Iran, according to the American analyst.
Preston said Bolton, who is notorious for his decades-long animosity towards the Islamic Republic, was pigheadedly pursuing “regime change” in Iran.
The analyst noted that regime change in Iran was part of the wider neoconservatives’ agenda that had been implemented in the region for some years now. “This is the latest chapter in the unfolding of that drama.”
“The important issue at present is to recognize that the pretext for sending the troops is a false one,” Preston said, concluding the interview by saying, “It is based on claims that have not been demonstrated.”
