It's Revolting!

It really helps me get a grasp on reality once in a while to listen to Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage.  It often takes a healthy dose of non sequitur to reboot after reading the "news."  This world has gone completely off its rockers.

Here's how you know things are changing at a very profound and meaningful way: remember those Bundy brothers who took over a government office in Oregon, and one of the members was shot dead in a field in cold blood?  Well, they've been acquitted of all charges.  A few years ago, juries would have bought the government rubbish and sentenced these guys to life in prison.  Now, they aren't even spanked.  FULL ACQUITTAL.

This one case shows a profound change in the political sea-state of the USSA.  People aren't buying the party line and are turning against the government in nearly every possible way.  When folks start shooting back at cops, anti-government activists get full acquittals and broadcast network ratings are falling 10% to 20% year-over-year, there is a deep and unstoppable change coming, folks.

Maybe the fluoride in the water is weaker, or folks are buying good filters?  Maybe the anti-depressant craze is waning?  Maybe so many folks have been so shat upon that nutters like me are starting to make sense?  Whatever the reason, all the things that have been assumed for at least a few generations are no longer valid.

Remember the days when the Republican party represented the corporate bosses and landed gentry, and the Democratic party was the blue-collar, working man's champion?  Have you looked around America lately?  If you haven't heard Trump's Gettysburg Address, then you are missing one of the most significant landmarks in the American Revolution 2.0.  If you missed Michael Moore -yes, THAT Michael Moore - stumping for Trump, then you have not witnessed one of the most significant about-faces in American culture in decades.

What so many people are missing, because they are focused on Trump and the election, is the fact that a real, true revolution is underway.

I grew up with a grandfather and father who both told me the revolution was coming.  My father, the politician and historian, fed me full of triggers to watch for, so that I would recognize it when it arrived.  I have spent a fair amount of my life watching and waiting for those signs to appear.

They have appeared.

Not only have the corporate, political, religious and media self-appointed elites run themselves up on the rocks, but a man like Donald Trump has become a catalyst for a vast ground-swell of discontent.  Regardless of who wins the election, the tide has turned and it won't stop until it has run its course.  Even if Hillary's cabal succeeds and rigging every possible outlet and gets herself installed, she won't be able to take a breath without millions running to plug the holes in her head.

What is so unique and fascinating to me, though, is that the revolution is NOT local, regional or even national - it is GLOBAL.  This is an historic moment when the people of Earth - and not their enslavers - are coming together as the HUMAN race.  And the thing is, now that the masses have had small tastes of victory, they want a LOT more.

Brexit was a major victory.  Despite all the dire warnings, such as we are hearing regarding a Trump election, the Brits voted to opt out of globalism, and they economy is thriving because of it.

Here in Jakarta, an ethnic-Chinese Christian governor was elected a couple of years ago and started reforming government and eradicating/punishing corruption.  It's working so well that the Old Guard Islamic power-brokers are mounting national protests against a governor, and its having the opposite effect and the masses are rallying to protect the one person finally standing up to the entrenched powers.

The Philippines just told the US to go jump in the ocean.  If you don't have an historical concept of the bombshell that was dropped, go back and read about the Spanish-American War and why the US has been in the Philippines for the past century or so.

The Ukraine "revolution" was a complete washout.  The Russian "hack" attack was spotted instantly as a fraud.  The Trump "touchy-feely" scandal flopped.  The Icelandic Pirate Party is winning.  The EU is crumbling.  The BRICSA are creating their own financial system.  The International Banking cabal is on the run in nearly every country they have controlled for decades.

Everywhere you look, the Decrepit World Order is crumbling into dust, just like Daddy Bush and Henry Kissinger.

Win or lose, Trump doesn't matter.  His job is done.  He has rallied forces that will not stop now, short of a massive ET invasion - which I understand is in the works.

The revolution is upon us.  Quick!  Get the popcorn and picnic lunches ready.  Make sure the beer is chilled.  The next couple of years are going to be fun, no matter how you slice it.

The Global Con Game

Don't know if you've noticed, since not many folks are talking about it, but all of the major countries either having problems, or are on the US shit list are members of the BRICSA bloc of nations.

In case you are a bit behind, the BRICSA is a somewhat loose association between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICSA).  Over the years, they have built up amenable trade and cultural ties, and have tried to synchronize policies in such a way as to benefit and promote the member countries.

The latest BRICSA efforts have centered around creating a new financial clearing system to compete with the ubiquitous SWIFT system, and the essentially Western lap-dog JSCC system in Japan.

Why is this important?  Well, SWIFT handles nearly all the major inter-nation settlements for securities, bank transfers, credit card purchases, and so forth.  Basically, SWIFT is the world's financial system.  Without it, most major economies would simply shut down, because backing the SWIFT system are, for the most part, seven major players who insure the transactions.  For instance, if the US needs to transfer a few billion bux to China on account, one of the players will insure the transaction at value for the few seconds it takes between hitting "enter" and the blips showing up at the other end.

The SWIFT system is enabled by a fleet of secure satellite transponders and the most intimidating (not really the largest and no one is sure if the strongest) military forces on Earth.  It is this system that is the fundamental underpinning of US hegemony since the last World War, and the primary reason that the US dollar is the world's reserve currency.

Along come these BRICSA upstarts who understand the power and influence exerted by the SWIFT system, and they decide they are going to take a stab at making a parallel system that is not beholden to Western power centers, specifically the seven groups who underwrite the transactions.

Well, the Western banksters ain't having none of that.

Since the moment Russia and China announced their intentions to create this new financial system (about five years ago), Russia has been on the NATO target list, China's South China Sea activities have gained increasing attention at the Pentagon, India is suddenly not as chummy as it used to be, and Brazil...well, we'll get to that in a minute.  As for South Africa, hell no one's paid any attention to them since the end of Apartheid.

Most of the world's big geo-political problems can be traced back to this one thing: replacing SWIFT.  If you have any doubts about who runs the Western powers, just look at the Western militaries and their behaviors since the SWIFT system came under close scrutiny.

NATO has suddenly gotten all up in Russia's face.  US covert operations stirred up the Ukraine.  The US navy and air assets have been buzzing around the South China Sea like disturbed hornets and sea lice.  India is suddenly not the hot IT paradise it once was.  And Brazil...well...

Brazil was given the Olympics a few years back as reward for being such good boys and girls and playing nice in the US sandbox.  But, when Brazil started getting uppity and electing people like Dilma Rouseffe, who dared to think her country could be a little more independent, POOF!  Along comes the Zika virus, which first made headlines in Brazil, and where most of the severe cases (so we are told) are at the moment.  Next thing you know, Rouseffe is impeached, folks start pulling out of the Olympics and Brazil is close to being stuck with a huge bill if the games are cancelled due to...um, Zika, yeah Zika.

This whole mess is quite obvious from a certain point of view. Of course the media won't connect the dots because the wizard doesn't want you peeking behind the curtain.

Brazil is receiving special attention because, 1) it is over a barrel with the Olympics, and 2) it is in the US backyard, where other powers are not allowed to play.  You see, the US has this thing about keeping South America and Europe tied tightly to its apron strings.  That's why Venezuela was dealt with so harshly, and Obama made a hurried trip to Argentina for the first time in his administration (the Chinese are making big investments there), and why a bankster (there is no former) is in the lead for president of Peru.

Of course, the BRICSA are fighting back.  All this immigration mess?  Yup, you guessed it.  Just turn the US' and EU's lax immigration laws and policies back on them.  Quiet.  Subtle.

As for the US, we have Killary, whom everyone knows is in the bankster pocket, but Trump?  Well, guess what?  All those billions he brags about?  Gosh, they could all vanish with a keystroke, and he still has to use the SWIFT system to move his bux around, no matter how independent he thinks he is.

In the end, nearly every single problem in the world for the past five years can be traced back to competing financial systems.  The Western oligarchs have gotten used to controlling to world's money, and they won't give up easily.  Think Al Capone, but on a far grander scale.

We are witnessing turf wars, plain and simple, though played out on a global scale, with a game of Risk thrown in for good measure.  Armies move around and deploy, satellite ground stations get built over here, man-made islands appear over there, national economies rise and fall based on whose turf they want to play in.

On the one hand, it's a ridiculous mobster game, but on the other, there are a lot of innocent folks who will get caught in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Remember the shakedown of 2008-9?  Now, imagine this: a couple of well-heeled guys walk into your shop and say, "Pay us some protection money, 'cause I wouldn't want to see your business fall apart or nuttin'."  Same thing.  Gee, Congress, don't wanna pay up?  Ooh, did you feel the economic earthquake just now?  Better hurry or we won't be able to protect you much longer.

It's all one big alphabet soup: SWIFT, JSCC, US, EU, TPP, TTIP, BRICSA...

But it all boils down to one thing: it's an international game of gangsters and mafia, and we are all pawns.  They have the power to destroy nations who don't play along - on either side.  The Big Question is, who will win?  The next question is: how many of us will get crushed in the stampede?

Immigration Reform? Hahahahaha!

The ongoing debate over immigration in the States and Europe is cause for some introspection on being an expat now well-past five years.

In my life, I have been an expat for roughly a decade, with the longest stretch being the current Indonesian adventure.  One assumes that the term 'expat' refers primarily to folks who go about it in a legal manner, with all the appropriate stamps and permits to carry on the daily routine of life, since one rarely hears the term applied to those who do not.

Currently in the US, there is a tremendous amount of hand-wringing over 'immigration reform', which involves granting amnesty to illegals, forgiving back taxes and offering various incentives to help them on their way up the social ladder.  The US immigration system is a farce by any measure and laughable to those of us who endure the rigors of other nations' policies.

Let's take Indonesia as an example of what most of the world considers immigration policy.

Here, a 30-day tourist visa costs $25 on arrival.  You can get a 60-day visa outside the country for around $45, plus any agent fees and such.  The 30-day visa is extendable up to 90 days at $25 per month.  The 60-day visa is extendable up to 180 days with the same $25 per month.

Beyond that, you can obtain a 6-month and one-year visa, called a KITAS, that is concomitant with an IMTA work permit.  You must have the KITAS to get the IMTA, but the former does not guarantee the latter.  For one year, it runs about $2,000, all in.  If you get the one-year visa, then you must get the NPWP, or taxpayer number.

You are liable for tax on all income from whatever source anywhere in the world until the NPWP is cancelled - even if you leave Indonesia.  To cancel the NPWP is a 6-month process with a guaranteed tax audit for all the years you have been in-country.

In all cases, you must either maintain a valid ticket out of the country, or your employer is required to pay your ticket out at the end of the contract.  This is to ensure that if you are deported, you pay your own way.

Furthermore, foreigners can not own any property outright.  You can co-own it with a spouse, but if your spouse dies or divorces you, you have one year to divest the property or face confiscation.  The best you can hope for otherwise is hak bangunan, which gives you full rights to property for up to 30 years, and is renewable one time.

The biggest reform to Indonesian immigration laws in the past two decades was the creation of a 10-year KITAP, or permanent resident visa.  This is only available to expats married to locals and so far does not come with the IMTA - that's extra.  It costs $5,000, and because there are yet no controlling regulations issued for them, it is nothing but a big shaft.  One story I heard was that an expat got one after months of strenuous effort, only to have it cancelled when his employer applied for a work permit.  It was replaced with the standard one-year KITAS.

If you want to become an Indonesian citizen, the you must hold a KITAP for some mysterious amount of time.  Then your application will go through a Kafka-esque process until it reaches the president's desk, where he must sign it and publicly declare you a citizen.

Given this background, when I hear of 'immigration reform' in the US, or Europeans wailing and gnashing their teeth over immigrant workers taking over the place, I laugh.  By comparison, the US immigration system is a joke, and the reform is hardly worth the effort since no one pays the least bit of attention to it in the first place.  I personally know two Indonesians who have lived and worked in a major city for more than 25 years with hardly a bead of sweat to show for their dealings with immigration laws.

The word 'farce' comes to mind.

To call the debate in the US "reform" is a bit disingenuous.  It's more like deciding whether to keep the patient on life-support or pull the plug.

A number of writers have speculated that the true demise of Rome was due to the overwhelming number of former slaves who eventually took over the daily operations of the empire.  Most of the real Romans had long since bugged out or left the drudge work to the under classes.  By the time the Visigoths overran the city, there were few folks left to worry or care.

Most people who think the current immigration 'reform' is compassionate have never lived, much less traveled, outside the US.  They have no clue what real immigration policy is, nor do they have any notion of history to inform their thinking.

The Big BO invited a group of illegal immigrants to the White House, a place where few citizens are allowed in the name of 'security'.  There are currently little or no repercussions for employers or illegals alike when they flaunt what little regulation exists.  If the media really had the intention to debate the story, they would interview US expats in other countries about what it means to be an immigrant.  But that might risk introducing a bit of reality into the discussion.

Immigration reform does not mean giving away the store or spending a bit more time groping people at the airport.  Reform means enforcing the visa expirations, disallowing 'anchor babies' and withholding social benefits paid for by productive taxpayers.

Personally, I think all national borders should be done away with because the whole thing is nothing more than a revenue scam, and has little or nothing to do with national security.  But public discourse on the topic of immigration should at least be honest and complete.  Don't call it immigration reform when what is really on the table is creating a class of specially privileged people based on the fact that they have no history or investment in a country.

In every case where I have lived overseas, I have gone out of my way to learn the languages and customs of my host country.  I have done all I could to assimilate, even when I stand out like a galleon among row boats.

If an immigrant begins his tenure in another country by refusing to follow the common law, what does that say about his long-term intentions?  And to reward that behavior with blanket amnesty and special treatment that offers enhanced status over current citizens is nothing less than insane.

Whether we are discussing the US, UK or EU, the current immigration debate smacks of either a concerted effort to undermine the long-term viability of those nations involved, or a depth of stupidity rarely matched in history.

I opt for the former.

Money Grows On Cyprus Trees

What would you do if you woke up one morning and found that your money was not yours?  What if you found out that because your government was full of numbnuts and bucketheads you were 10% poorer than you were when you went to bed?

If you live on a sleepy little island in the back corner of the Mediterranean Sea, snuggled between Turkey and Lebanon, that is exactly what happened to you.

Yielding to pressure from the IMF (big surprise there) and the EU, the Cypriot government agreed to steal nearly 7% of all Cyprus bank deposits up to 100,000 euro, and almost 10% of all deposits over that amount, and hand it over to the banksters.  (gasp!  shock!)

Why?  Because the government of Cyprus had been arm-twisted into buying Greek bonds as part of one of the many earlier bailout schemes.  When Greece defaulted on the bonds, the banksters wanted their money back.  Damn the little guy and his hard work and desire to save for some future reward.

The first thing we should all learn from this happy little event over the weekend is that your money is not yours.  The second thing is don't put any of 'their' money in 'their' banks.  Keep it in your mattress and make them work for it just like you did.  I have always found it helpful to keep as much of my liquid assets out of institutions I don't personally control as I can.

It's no small irony that Cyprus has been a major cog in what Joseph Farrell calls "the international bankster class" operations for about as long as the West has history.  In his book, Babylon's Banksters, Farrell traces the history of money and banking from the dawn of recorded history up to yesterday.  By the last page, you have a pretty good grasp on what just happened in Cyprus and would not be very surprised by it.

What the whole thing comes down to is that the euro, like many of the world's currencies, is private money created by private banks.  When they want some of it back, they are well within their theoretical rights to take back their 'property', which they only lent to you and me (at interest, of course).  We mere mortals, having agreed to use their property to conduct our daily activities, have wittingly or not agreed to their terms.  It's a simple, if rather obscure, contractual arrangement.

What causes me no end of head-slapping is that we mere mortals just don't seem to get it.  We act all surprised and shocked when we realize that our 'money' really belongs to someone else and we have just been allowed to use it, like borrowing the neighbor's lawn mower or something.  And just like the mower, we have to return it full of gasoline, regardless of what state we received it in (usually empty in this case).

A lot of conspiracy theorists talk about a 'one world currency' and how They are driving us into it.  Little do they know that a single global currency would not serve the bankster purposes.  Since the beginning of our history, They have fostered incompatible currencies and then sat back and reaped gobs of wealth being the only group that could convert one to another.  Actually, if there were a single global currency, it would put a major dent in their operations.

Rather, they want to simplify the math and create two or three (trilateral) currencies, which would need to be traded and converted in the course of commerce, thus paying them a fee on every international transaction.  It's little more than a carefully hidden private tax on business dealings.

As Joseph Farrell points out, even in the earliest times, the West used gold bullion, while the East used silver.  Thus, the traders in the middle reaped a tidy profit converting the bullion back and forth between hemispheres.  And just like Sparta (then) and Libya (now), anyone who didn't play their game got a good ass-whuppin'.

Back to Cyprus.  The Cypriots really don't have the right to be angry in strictly legal terms.  They consented to use private paper to conduct their business transactions.  Furthermore, they didn't raise a fuss when the IMF/EU arm-twisted their government into buying up a bunch of worthless Greek bonds to keep the game afloat a bit longer.  Now, when the chips are down and the chickens come home to roost, now they are upset.  Sorry Charlie, shoulda seen that one coming.

The only way out would be to follow the Icelandic model and repudiate the debt, sever all ties with the IMF/EU and throw the banksters in jail.  One caveat: they had better arm every Cypriot to the teeth and be ready for an invasion.  That's the bankster ace in the hole.  They always foster a healthy arms trade with belligerent groups and nations in order to have ready 'enforcers' for just those kinds of situations.  The one thing Iceland had going for it is that there ain't much there to fight for, other than some ideas.

Cyprus, on the other hand, has always been a key trading post between the Occident and Orient, at least for the past 12,000 years.  At one point or another, it has been occupied by northern, eastern, western and southern empires as a key trade route.  Cyprus has also served as an important hangout for banksters trading bullion back and forth between their playgrounds.  Right now, Cyprus is a key base for launching attacks on Syria, Lebanon and other points of interest to the Zionists.  It must remain within the Western hegemony or cause a significant rewriting of Mid East strategy.

I have to laugh at the headlines that claim this is a 'dangerous precedent'.  In fact, it is not a precedent at all.  The right to private property has long been established at law.

What is worth watching is how the Cypriots react.  Most likely, there will be some rioting and hording, but eventually folks will knuckle under or lose food and energy imports.  If they continue to stand up against the banksters, then the island will be invaded by more compliant forces...say, the Muslim Brotherhood from Syria.  Either way, the banksters seemingly hold the winning hand.

Really, the only way out of this mess is a tripartite attack on the bankster class:

1. widespread democritization of hyper-dimensional energy (i.e.-zero-point energy);
2. complete and utter rejection of GMO foods; and,
3. the issuance of publicly-controlled currency in whatever form.

Short of that, we are all well on our way to the Cypriot model.  The banksters have already seized north of $8 trillion in the US, and similar reclamations of private property are running apace worldwide.  Cyprus is only the latest and currently most visible example.

The most likely outcome is that people will generally roll over and take it.  Why?  We've all been trained by religion to wait for some outside force to come in and clean things up for us.  This mentality has been carefully fostered by the banksters over centuries to keep us all complacent and docile.  In other words, Karl Marx was right on that score.

In the near term, the most likely outcome is that the Cypriots will riot and destroy each other's property, while leaving the banksters' property untouched.  You are not likely to see bonfires of euro notes, which is the real problem.  Instead, people will lash out at local businesses and homes, destroying the few things with which they really have to fight the real monster.

Furthermore, we are likely to see the same scenario played out repeatedly in other places.  The ideal response will be that of the US, where folks stirred for amoment, grumbled, then went directly back to sleep.  Instead of becoming angry, we will all run to the churches to listen to the bankster prophets tell us that our savior is coming...just wait (another 2,000 years)!

And so it goes...history repeats and rhymes and no one does anything really constructive to fix things.  It is said that we use roughly 10% of our brains' capacity, which happens to be the same amount of money being confiscated by the IMF from the Cypriots.  Maybe we are using the wrong 10%.