The end of the US empire is near. The debt at some point will bankrupt us; the SCO meeting may be seen in the future as the event that marked the last phase of the US hegemony. The timing is uncertain - but Hemingway was likely correct: two ways - gradually, then suddenly.
Neither of the two major political parties, or their candidates, or their Presidents, can change what is coming. All of them have brought us to this point - and what's to come. Perhaps a future historian will note they were all the grotesque mediocrities that arise in late stage empires.
All we can do is hold onto our humanity, along with those going through what comes. And that means finding that humanity in people - scared and frightened of what's occurring just like us - who we've been told are 'them - whether they wear red hats or have pink hair.
It's taken 49 years, Tom, but this line, "The end of the US empire is near." is the spirit of the letter published by The Kansas City Times September 13, 1976 unfolding in the World Today: “He came to town for the Republican National Convention and will stay until the election in November TO DO GOD'S BIDDING: To tell the World, from Kansas City, this country has been found wanting and its days are numbered [...] He gestured toward a gleaming church dome. “The gold dome is the symbol of BABYLON,” he said.” [...] He wanted to bring to the Public’s attention an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a War with Russia.”
That 1976 FUTURE is NOW with the Revelation of the details GENERALLY unfolding in the spirit of the letter.
The World is waking up to see Americans may hasten “its days are numbered” part of the 1976 Vision, and waits with bated breath.
To make it perfectly clear, I have nothing to boast about that Spirit of the letter unfolding in OUR Generations, other than being a Messenger in 1976 with the Door opened to have it as an historical Newspaper record with the benefit of hindsight!
Like everyone else, I wonder what Tomorrow will bring?
Ray, in 1976, my sub was getting ready to deploy to the Med and I had the duty - so I missed driving up to Boston with some other guys to watch the Boston Pops 4th of July concert. But they spoke on their return about how great it was, and the celebration of the country's 200th birthday.
The country had withdrawn from the catastrophe of Vietnam; Tricky Dick had resigned; and Jimmy Carter was interviewed in Playboy (along with Barbi Benton as the centerfold). It became the time of power suits, the most toys win, and disco.
Unfortunately, not everyone could see what you tried to write in your letter - or understood Carter's 'malaise speech' in 1979 - that the road we were on would lead us to ruin.
Now, a half century later - after the tragedies, war crimes, destruction of the environment, and the loss of hope for the generations that followed ours, we have reached the end of that road that we were warned about.
Well said Bill, and thanks especially for the Moody Blues link! And Aunty Jean's comment reminded me of a quote that has gotten me through times of political despair as well:
"If you have thought you were too small to make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito".
Great article Bill. We need to unite the public on the left and right against the elites that have devastated our country. We not only need publicly funded elections with no elite "contributions", we need true publicly run media, rather than the CON. You can't fix this country as long as the "news" is just corporate/military propaganda. We need something much stronger than the fairness doctrine, we need an honesty in news establishment that constantly monitors journalism to ensure that no propaganda sneaks in. Finally, we need to bring back Eisenhower's 91% tax rate at the top to stop the gambling casino that Wall Street has become (and no more overseas tax havens). In other words, we need to undo what the Powel memorandum dictated way back when.
Yes, great point about the CON. Too many people still think the MSM is somewhat fair and balanced. Or they just pick the silo they like (MSNBC for Dems, Fox News for Repubs).
The sad part is that the news, at least to some extent in the past, acted as a watchdog on government and corporate excess. But now, they act as the gatekeepers of the narrative, and they are the watchdog that beats back public protest whenever it rises. They now just serve their CON employers, who pay their salaries. Think of how the CON treat any kind of protests now, from Occupy Wall St. to Palestine protests. They now perform the exact opposite function that people think they do.
WJA - Since I've been onboard with Bracingviews (what, a year now? dunno...), I'd say this rates as one of your top pieces (I think among our online intersections is Clif Brown's site and his courage and determination).
As to one of the seven "Ds," despair, a few years ago a book came out "Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism" (interesting the inclusion of the last three words) by two economists, Anne Case and Angus Deaton https://deathsofdespair.princeton.edu/about (my copy is some box in the basement waiting to be unpacked since the house was renovated). It's chilling. We're a society not only feeding off the world at large ("American interests abroad") and the environment, but also on its own, at some point there's a terminus to that, The End, Fini. Our response to that existential threat, or certainty thereof...? Of course, cut taxes!
I can't recall the circumstances, but a few years ago I came across something called the Victims of Communism Foundation or something like that. Of course it turns out to be a vanity project of a bunch of self-satisfied Right wing ideologues convinced of God's blessings upon them, connected enough at the time to the Dumbya (mal)administration (quelle surprise!) I think to get some federal money, at least a proclamation from Bush fils, for a "Memorial to the Victims of Communism" monument to their hubris in, of course, overly monument-populated Washington, D.C.
I don't exactly recall what their toll was, 120 million victims since the Russian Revolution?, I just don't remember. But in light of Case and Deaton's book, it got me to thinking, how many victims of capitalism have there been since its inception, and as especially practiced since the end of WWII, turbocharged the end of the Cold War. My visceral sense is that it's on the order of several multiples, if not geometric progressions, on the number attributed to communism. Of course there'll never be an analogous monument in D.C. or anywhere else in this country.
The point? The existing parties conform to the scam, no new party will be allowed to come into existence. The $1+ trillion Pentagon budget tells us all we need to know. Its steady increase at the expense of a civilized existence will culminate in use of the ultimate weapon in the ultimate expression of capitalism, private equity, that being the neutron bomb - kills people - hence no need for social spending - and spares property, the game "Monopoly" writ large.
Oddly enough I am energized by all this, not in the sense of "knowing that he's about to hand in two weeks concentrates a man's mind powerfully," not in the sense of thinking matters can be reversed, but more along the lines of I'm gonna take as many of those bastards along with me when I go. So I'm doing my bit, here and there, to do just that - I won't tout the particulars, nowhere near what Clif Brown has been doing - but something, at least thus far enough to annoy the malevolent powers that be, to afflict the comfortable. There's satisfaction to be found in that.
The USA is an Augean Stable that has been in need of a thorough cleaning out for more than a century. There is no „Hercules“ in sight who can accomplish that feat. Those wo have tried are more like Sisyphus. Nothing will change until the country suffers a major national and existential catastrohe at home.
"Americans, in the main, are against mass killing (at least, I hope we are), but what does it matter when all 100 senators take money from AIPAC and the Trump administration is rabidly pro-Israel? “Our” government isn’t ours; the man who gets what he wants with the loudest applause is Bibi Netanyahu. Talk about foreign interference in America’s elections and governance!" No kidding all of the divisions and distractions that Bill writes about are caused by concentrated wealth/power.
It would be too radical too un-American of me to suggest putting limits on private wealth. The root cause of overreach and underreach.
If we limited private wealth to 5 or 6 million (a high limit more than enough to more than afford the good old American materialistic dream) but ended an individual's ability to hoard tens of millions or billions think of the overreach denied by that limit and think of the housing health care shared infrastructure that money no longer hoarded and loaded over us could afford us. How completely un-American of me.
Exacly, Bill! The whole system is based on the advantaged taking advantage of the less advantaged. The Israeli Lobby has mastered this system like no other organized money groupings of concentrated weath.
In a MONEY DRIVEN World, the existence of $Billionaires is a CRIME against HUMANITY!
Christianity doesn't even question why Christ said HARDLY EVER will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven? Christ doesn't ban rich people but Establishment Christianity is OK with the Status Quo of the Oligarchic Plutocracy Pyramid System over us with the MONEY flowing to the minority at the top of the Pyramid.
Could that be because the top US Christian Preachers live the lifestyle of the rich and famous with their mansions and private jets?
There is no excuse! No one can say they didn't know about Israel's Genocidal massacre and murder of defenceless women and children in Gaza. WE see it on TV almost every Day not covered by US MSM like they cover the US WAR with Russia over Ukraine.
The Justice of God requires all the nominally Christian Societies, the US, CanaDa and Europe, to go through what the Palestinian People in the West Bank and Gaza are going through because of OUR SILENCE in the US & CanaDa so that the minority of powerful politicians hear the cry and finally stopping it. Up to now, it is only the Trump Administration that could stop it in 24 hours!
The Great Flood on the US 4th of July in Texas, was Nature warning the US and the World Today, Humankind has come full circle these 4,440 years after the Time of Noah and the 1st Great Flood.
The Bible History is clear. The Great Flood came because of the CORRUPTION AND VIOLENCE of Humankind, as it still is Today!
As a kid I was most impressed by the only time Christ was violent. He became violent when he saw usury. our "rentier society" is really a usury society.
As a kid I wrote a shot essay saying Jesus was a socialist. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you...he was very much against a system of the advantaged taking advantage of the less advantaged. 55 years later it still sticks.
The issue was the Priests at the HQ of the Jewish Religious Establishment made a deal with certain Merchants to work a Shopping Mall out of Temple Property.
In those Days, no matter where Jews lived in the World, they had to make a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem like Muslims make a Pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Money Changers took in coin from other parts of the World, exchanging it for Temple Currency with which to buy the merchandise given to the Priests to offer up to God for so many reasons. That merchandise was much more expensive than the same thing bought in the Markets off Temple Property. The People were trained, only the best must be offered up to God.
When the Temple Guards and Priests confronted Jesus, his reply is the 1st reference to the COMMON ERA of Christ.
Speaking Truth to Power, he said, 'The House of my Father is a House of Prayer for ALL NATIONS and you have made it into a Den of Thieves!'
Thanks for the shout out, Bill. And for this: “we need a lot more profiles in courage to counter the profiles in pusillanimity produced and elevated within a corrupt system.” 😂
The major Jewish Prophet Isaiah saw this in the Israeli Jewish People some 2700 years ago;
'In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
JUDGMENT is turned away backward, and JUSTICE stands far off: for TRUTH is fallen in the street, and EQUITY cannot enter.
Yea, TRUTH fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no Judgment. Isaiah 59
Another good piece, and yes, worth reemphasizing, this: "The short answer is we need a lot more profiles in courage to counter the profiles in pusillanimity produced and elevated within a corrupt system." More profiles in courage. More selflessness. Like all change, we know it must begin with our selves.
In addition to taking inspiration from those folks and that site, Bill, i take great inspiration from You and Your work. You have been and continue to be a Beacon in a time of growing and deepening Darkness.
This piece has my vote for the Most Important Piece You have posted to BV since i’ve been onboard. And i look forward to it getting national and even international distribution and the attention that it deserves.
Having said that, permit me to challenge the first two points You made:
* Regarding “Israeli interference in America’s elections and governance.” As i have said many times before, Israel is now and has ever been a Strategic and Tactical Forward Operational Base for first the British and then the American Empires’ military, economic, and political interests [as in domination] in that part of the world with all its fossil fuel and other natural resources; and its strategic and tactical geographic proximity to, first, the Russian Empire, and then the USSR, and now Russia.
What interferes with American elections and governance is not Israel, but the American Empire’s intent to control that part of the World. And the desire to keep the MICIMATTT suitably employed and profitable.
* Regarding what is the grimmest fact about America ~ today, 305 days before its 250th birthday next July 4 ~ : It is not its government’s support of genocide in Palestine.
As i have also said many times before, that grimmest fact is that:
~ This Nation is as close to a fully operational and functional authoritarian, autocratic, plutocratic, oligarchic, patriarchal, totalitarian Dictatorship as it has ever been in its 249+ year history; including the Great Depression/New Deal/World War II era of the last century, and the Civil War the century before.
~ And, that these past 225 days of TRUMP 2.0 have been a masterfully planned and executed Psychological Warfare Operation to determine just exactly how able and willing the American Peoples are to accept ~ and to just get on with the rest of their lives in ~ a Dictatorship.
With respect to Israel, I both agree and disagree. Israel, if it was once a forward operating base for British or U.S. interests, has become something more than that now. The power of AIPAC in U.S. politics is considerable; just look at the reception Bibi gets whenever he comes to DC. Another factor is evangelical/dispensationalist ideology, which sees Israel as critical--the linchpin--to Christ's return. Mike Huckabee comes to mind here; also Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House. The two Mikes are rabid supporters of Israel--driven by their religious ideology.
Dictatorship--Not openly so. We won't have a Hitler or a Stalin. We will have what we have now--a sham democracy with sham elections. The oligarchs, the corporations, the moneyed, they are the real rulers or dictators.
It's proven that the U.S. government doesn't listen to us. It listens to the Big Donors, the powerful. It doesn't serve us, it serves them. It answers to them. No one put it better than George Carlin: It's a big club, and you're not in it. And the government simply doesn't care about us at all--at all. Unless we start causing real trouble--in which case the government does care and will act to suppress you.
Sorry for the delay responding, Bill; had first an iNet connectivity problem, and then a couple of boat issues that required my full attention Tuesday and Wednesday.
Regarding Israel: i, too, will agree and disagree with Your assessment. First of all, Israel still IS The American Empire’s tactical and strategic FOB in the Middle East; that has not changed. Remember the old ditty back in GHWB’s day that “Everybody wants to go to Baghdad; Real Men want to go to Tehran”? And have wanted to since 1979?
In 2025, the Road to Tehran runs thru and flies out of Tel Aviv.
And while the power of AIPAC is definitely considerable, which other elements of America’s Ruling Political Caste’s Deep State also benefit from AIPAC’s influence? Let’s start with the MICIMATTT and America’s National “Security” Panopticon. How much money have those folks made thanks to Bibi and Da Boyz’s venture into Gaza? And then consider how much America’s Big Oil element of that Deep State would benefit from having a new Shah in Iran.
Regarding a Dictatorship sometime soon: What would it take for America to get its very own Hitler or Stalin, and their kind of complete totalitarian Tyranny? Another 9/11? Another Pandemic? Another 2008esque “Too Big To Fail” financial “¢risi$” leading to what pundits are already calling “The Greater Depression”?
If America’s Ruling Political Caste decides that it wants to have a Hitlerian- or Stalinist-Dictatorship, who and or what is going to stop it? The American Peoples? And how? Like they stopped The Forever War that followed the first 9/11?
In any event and as i have noted before: My guess is that a significant number of Americans would accept and support a Dictatorship, as long as it was her or his guy or gal who was the Dictator.
How many Americans would Love to see Bernie Sanders as Dictator For Life, able to do whatever he wanted to do with the stroke of a not merely “Presidential,” but a “Supreme Leader’s” pen?
And by the same token, how many would love to see Trump doing that? Even more than he already is. Note that after all the Bullshit of Trump 2.0's first 227 days, his Approval Ratings still stand in the mid-40%s.
All of which leads me to nominate as The Most Important Questions that every American still capable of thinking for her or himself need to ask themselves, their families and loved ones, friends and neighbors, colleagues, cohorts, and compeers:
1. Do You agree that the United States is on the edge of a precipice, and that a full blown, bottom line, bullet-hits-the bone Dictatorship is very possible in America’s near future?
2. If You don’t agree with that assessment: Can You explain Why?
3. If, on the other hand, You Do agree with that assessment: What ~ if anything ~ can be done to prevent that Dictatorship from happening? Or is it already too late to stop it?
4. If it cannot be stopped and in fact happens, what would be the most appropriate and effective reaction and response of those who oppose the Dictatorship?
5. If that Dictatorship CAN be confronted, combatted, conquered, and eliminated, what system of National Government and Governance would replace it? The same one America has now, that enabled TRUMP 2.0 to happen in the first place; but just with different names, faces, promises, proposals, and agenda? Or something different?
6. Do You agree that a significant number of Americans ~ and a number of people who are socially, economically, and/or politically “significant” ~ would very probably welcome a Dictatorship; as long as it was her or his guy or gal who was the Dictator?
7. Will the United States of America survive to celebrate its 250th Birthday on July 4, 2026, 305 days from today, September 2, 2025?
I like The Moody Blues 'Knights in White Satin' because of this in The Revelation of Jesus Christ: And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Revelation 19
It's been a long time, but that 1976 release by the Moody Blues as I was hitch hiking through some 45 US States to find the Spirit of '76, probably inspired me in 1981, to hitch hike some 5400 KMs round trip from Ottawa, Ontario to WhiteHorse in the Yukon, to draw attention to the rider on the White Horse and the army not in white satin, but fine linen, and succeeded in having The WHITEHORSE STAR publish it for posterity with the header 'Showmanship not his style' and posted in my latest article: https://rayjc.com/2025/08/13/us-dollar-image-of-the-beast/
Beautiful article, Bill. Small acts are within our power and they do work to open hearts and minds.
Hello Aunty Jean... I liked point #7....
The end of the US empire is near. The debt at some point will bankrupt us; the SCO meeting may be seen in the future as the event that marked the last phase of the US hegemony. The timing is uncertain - but Hemingway was likely correct: two ways - gradually, then suddenly.
Neither of the two major political parties, or their candidates, or their Presidents, can change what is coming. All of them have brought us to this point - and what's to come. Perhaps a future historian will note they were all the grotesque mediocrities that arise in late stage empires.
All we can do is hold onto our humanity, along with those going through what comes. And that means finding that humanity in people - scared and frightened of what's occurring just like us - who we've been told are 'them - whether they wear red hats or have pink hair.
It's taken 49 years, Tom, but this line, "The end of the US empire is near." is the spirit of the letter published by The Kansas City Times September 13, 1976 unfolding in the World Today: “He came to town for the Republican National Convention and will stay until the election in November TO DO GOD'S BIDDING: To tell the World, from Kansas City, this country has been found wanting and its days are numbered [...] He gestured toward a gleaming church dome. “The gold dome is the symbol of BABYLON,” he said.” [...] He wanted to bring to the Public’s attention an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a War with Russia.”
That 1976 FUTURE is NOW with the Revelation of the details GENERALLY unfolding in the spirit of the letter.
The World is waking up to see Americans may hasten “its days are numbered” part of the 1976 Vision, and waits with bated breath.
To make it perfectly clear, I have nothing to boast about that Spirit of the letter unfolding in OUR Generations, other than being a Messenger in 1976 with the Door opened to have it as an historical Newspaper record with the benefit of hindsight!
Like everyone else, I wonder what Tomorrow will bring?
Ray, in 1976, my sub was getting ready to deploy to the Med and I had the duty - so I missed driving up to Boston with some other guys to watch the Boston Pops 4th of July concert. But they spoke on their return about how great it was, and the celebration of the country's 200th birthday.
The country had withdrawn from the catastrophe of Vietnam; Tricky Dick had resigned; and Jimmy Carter was interviewed in Playboy (along with Barbi Benton as the centerfold). It became the time of power suits, the most toys win, and disco.
Unfortunately, not everyone could see what you tried to write in your letter - or understood Carter's 'malaise speech' in 1979 - that the road we were on would lead us to ruin.
Now, a half century later - after the tragedies, war crimes, destruction of the environment, and the loss of hope for the generations that followed ours, we have reached the end of that road that we were warned about.
Well said Bill, and thanks especially for the Moody Blues link! And Aunty Jean's comment reminded me of a quote that has gotten me through times of political despair as well:
"If you have thought you were too small to make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito".
Great article Bill. We need to unite the public on the left and right against the elites that have devastated our country. We not only need publicly funded elections with no elite "contributions", we need true publicly run media, rather than the CON. You can't fix this country as long as the "news" is just corporate/military propaganda. We need something much stronger than the fairness doctrine, we need an honesty in news establishment that constantly monitors journalism to ensure that no propaganda sneaks in. Finally, we need to bring back Eisenhower's 91% tax rate at the top to stop the gambling casino that Wall Street has become (and no more overseas tax havens). In other words, we need to undo what the Powel memorandum dictated way back when.
Yes, great point about the CON. Too many people still think the MSM is somewhat fair and balanced. Or they just pick the silo they like (MSNBC for Dems, Fox News for Repubs).
The sad part is that the news, at least to some extent in the past, acted as a watchdog on government and corporate excess. But now, they act as the gatekeepers of the narrative, and they are the watchdog that beats back public protest whenever it rises. They now just serve their CON employers, who pay their salaries. Think of how the CON treat any kind of protests now, from Occupy Wall St. to Palestine protests. They now perform the exact opposite function that people think they do.
WJA - Since I've been onboard with Bracingviews (what, a year now? dunno...), I'd say this rates as one of your top pieces (I think among our online intersections is Clif Brown's site and his courage and determination).
As to one of the seven "Ds," despair, a few years ago a book came out "Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism" (interesting the inclusion of the last three words) by two economists, Anne Case and Angus Deaton https://deathsofdespair.princeton.edu/about (my copy is some box in the basement waiting to be unpacked since the house was renovated). It's chilling. We're a society not only feeding off the world at large ("American interests abroad") and the environment, but also on its own, at some point there's a terminus to that, The End, Fini. Our response to that existential threat, or certainty thereof...? Of course, cut taxes!
I can't recall the circumstances, but a few years ago I came across something called the Victims of Communism Foundation or something like that. Of course it turns out to be a vanity project of a bunch of self-satisfied Right wing ideologues convinced of God's blessings upon them, connected enough at the time to the Dumbya (mal)administration (quelle surprise!) I think to get some federal money, at least a proclamation from Bush fils, for a "Memorial to the Victims of Communism" monument to their hubris in, of course, overly monument-populated Washington, D.C.
I don't exactly recall what their toll was, 120 million victims since the Russian Revolution?, I just don't remember. But in light of Case and Deaton's book, it got me to thinking, how many victims of capitalism have there been since its inception, and as especially practiced since the end of WWII, turbocharged the end of the Cold War. My visceral sense is that it's on the order of several multiples, if not geometric progressions, on the number attributed to communism. Of course there'll never be an analogous monument in D.C. or anywhere else in this country.
The point? The existing parties conform to the scam, no new party will be allowed to come into existence. The $1+ trillion Pentagon budget tells us all we need to know. Its steady increase at the expense of a civilized existence will culminate in use of the ultimate weapon in the ultimate expression of capitalism, private equity, that being the neutron bomb - kills people - hence no need for social spending - and spares property, the game "Monopoly" writ large.
Oddly enough I am energized by all this, not in the sense of "knowing that he's about to hand in two weeks concentrates a man's mind powerfully," not in the sense of thinking matters can be reversed, but more along the lines of I'm gonna take as many of those bastards along with me when I go. So I'm doing my bit, here and there, to do just that - I won't tout the particulars, nowhere near what Clif Brown has been doing - but something, at least thus far enough to annoy the malevolent powers that be, to afflict the comfortable. There's satisfaction to be found in that.
The USA is an Augean Stable that has been in need of a thorough cleaning out for more than a century. There is no „Hercules“ in sight who can accomplish that feat. Those wo have tried are more like Sisyphus. Nothing will change until the country suffers a major national and existential catastrohe at home.
Hello Karl... That may be coming Soon.... DJT is accelerating his Campaign of Mass Destruction as DJT's End Nears...
"Americans, in the main, are against mass killing (at least, I hope we are), but what does it matter when all 100 senators take money from AIPAC and the Trump administration is rabidly pro-Israel? “Our” government isn’t ours; the man who gets what he wants with the loudest applause is Bibi Netanyahu. Talk about foreign interference in America’s elections and governance!" No kidding all of the divisions and distractions that Bill writes about are caused by concentrated wealth/power.
It would be too radical too un-American of me to suggest putting limits on private wealth. The root cause of overreach and underreach.
If we limited private wealth to 5 or 6 million (a high limit more than enough to more than afford the good old American materialistic dream) but ended an individual's ability to hoard tens of millions or billions think of the overreach denied by that limit and think of the housing health care shared infrastructure that money no longer hoarded and loaded over us could afford us. How completely un-American of me.
But how could someone then own two yachts, a 400-foot one and then a "little" one (maybe 75-100 foot) to service the big yacht?
This is America, dammit! I need a private yacht the size of a destroyer! :-)
Exacly, Bill! The whole system is based on the advantaged taking advantage of the less advantaged. The Israeli Lobby has mastered this system like no other organized money groupings of concentrated weath.
In a MONEY DRIVEN World, the existence of $Billionaires is a CRIME against HUMANITY!
Christianity doesn't even question why Christ said HARDLY EVER will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven? Christ doesn't ban rich people but Establishment Christianity is OK with the Status Quo of the Oligarchic Plutocracy Pyramid System over us with the MONEY flowing to the minority at the top of the Pyramid.
Could that be because the top US Christian Preachers live the lifestyle of the rich and famous with their mansions and private jets?
How can a private jet fly through the eye of a needle, Ray?
MONEY is not the root of ALL EVIL, but the LOVE of MONEY over People is.
Jesus' parable of the separation of the sheep from the goats at the end of this Human Experiment is all about your question, Bill.
I wrote about the experiment in this article: https://rayjc.com/2025/05/01/the-israeli-genocide-in-gaza-has-diminished-our-common-humanity/
There is no excuse! No one can say they didn't know about Israel's Genocidal massacre and murder of defenceless women and children in Gaza. WE see it on TV almost every Day not covered by US MSM like they cover the US WAR with Russia over Ukraine.
The Justice of God requires all the nominally Christian Societies, the US, CanaDa and Europe, to go through what the Palestinian People in the West Bank and Gaza are going through because of OUR SILENCE in the US & CanaDa so that the minority of powerful politicians hear the cry and finally stopping it. Up to now, it is only the Trump Administration that could stop it in 24 hours!
The Great Flood on the US 4th of July in Texas, was Nature warning the US and the World Today, Humankind has come full circle these 4,440 years after the Time of Noah and the 1st Great Flood.
The Bible History is clear. The Great Flood came because of the CORRUPTION AND VIOLENCE of Humankind, as it still is Today!
As a kid I was most impressed by the only time Christ was violent. He became violent when he saw usury. our "rentier society" is really a usury society.
As a kid I wrote a shot essay saying Jesus was a socialist. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you...he was very much against a system of the advantaged taking advantage of the less advantaged. 55 years later it still sticks.
The issue was the Priests at the HQ of the Jewish Religious Establishment made a deal with certain Merchants to work a Shopping Mall out of Temple Property.
In those Days, no matter where Jews lived in the World, they had to make a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem like Muslims make a Pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Money Changers took in coin from other parts of the World, exchanging it for Temple Currency with which to buy the merchandise given to the Priests to offer up to God for so many reasons. That merchandise was much more expensive than the same thing bought in the Markets off Temple Property. The People were trained, only the best must be offered up to God.
When the Temple Guards and Priests confronted Jesus, his reply is the 1st reference to the COMMON ERA of Christ.
Speaking Truth to Power, he said, 'The House of my Father is a House of Prayer for ALL NATIONS and you have made it into a Den of Thieves!'
You can be sure they didn't like hearing that!
The rest is History or His Story!
With the trend moving to a cashless digital Society, even the rich would no longer able to hide their wealth.
Thanks for the shout out, Bill. And for this: “we need a lot more profiles in courage to counter the profiles in pusillanimity produced and elevated within a corrupt system.” 😂
The major Jewish Prophet Isaiah saw this in the Israeli Jewish People some 2700 years ago;
'In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
JUDGMENT is turned away backward, and JUSTICE stands far off: for TRUTH is fallen in the street, and EQUITY cannot enter.
Yea, TRUTH fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no Judgment. Isaiah 59
Another good piece, and yes, worth reemphasizing, this: "The short answer is we need a lot more profiles in courage to counter the profiles in pusillanimity produced and elevated within a corrupt system." More profiles in courage. More selflessness. Like all change, we know it must begin with our selves.
Great article. Deception is the fuel for disintegration and decline. Dystopia is delicious and divine . . . if you're deranged.
My middle name is 'D'.
It's a pretty letter. In fact, it's delightful! A smile tipped on its side. Or is that a frown?
In addition to taking inspiration from those folks and that site, Bill, i take great inspiration from You and Your work. You have been and continue to be a Beacon in a time of growing and deepening Darkness.
This piece has my vote for the Most Important Piece You have posted to BV since i’ve been onboard. And i look forward to it getting national and even international distribution and the attention that it deserves.
Having said that, permit me to challenge the first two points You made:
* Regarding “Israeli interference in America’s elections and governance.” As i have said many times before, Israel is now and has ever been a Strategic and Tactical Forward Operational Base for first the British and then the American Empires’ military, economic, and political interests [as in domination] in that part of the world with all its fossil fuel and other natural resources; and its strategic and tactical geographic proximity to, first, the Russian Empire, and then the USSR, and now Russia.
What interferes with American elections and governance is not Israel, but the American Empire’s intent to control that part of the World. And the desire to keep the MICIMATTT suitably employed and profitable.
* Regarding what is the grimmest fact about America ~ today, 305 days before its 250th birthday next July 4 ~ : It is not its government’s support of genocide in Palestine.
As i have also said many times before, that grimmest fact is that:
~ This Nation is as close to a fully operational and functional authoritarian, autocratic, plutocratic, oligarchic, patriarchal, totalitarian Dictatorship as it has ever been in its 249+ year history; including the Great Depression/New Deal/World War II era of the last century, and the Civil War the century before.
~ And, that these past 225 days of TRUMP 2.0 have been a masterfully planned and executed Psychological Warfare Operation to determine just exactly how able and willing the American Peoples are to accept ~ and to just get on with the rest of their lives in ~ a Dictatorship.
Thanks, Jeff.
You are very welcome, Bill. And Thank You for BV and all of Your work.
So may i ask:
~ Do You agree with my assessment of Israel?
~ Do You agree that a Dictatorship is a distinct possibility in America' future?
With respect to Israel, I both agree and disagree. Israel, if it was once a forward operating base for British or U.S. interests, has become something more than that now. The power of AIPAC in U.S. politics is considerable; just look at the reception Bibi gets whenever he comes to DC. Another factor is evangelical/dispensationalist ideology, which sees Israel as critical--the linchpin--to Christ's return. Mike Huckabee comes to mind here; also Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House. The two Mikes are rabid supporters of Israel--driven by their religious ideology.
Dictatorship--Not openly so. We won't have a Hitler or a Stalin. We will have what we have now--a sham democracy with sham elections. The oligarchs, the corporations, the moneyed, they are the real rulers or dictators.
It's proven that the U.S. government doesn't listen to us. It listens to the Big Donors, the powerful. It doesn't serve us, it serves them. It answers to them. No one put it better than George Carlin: It's a big club, and you're not in it. And the government simply doesn't care about us at all--at all. Unless we start causing real trouble--in which case the government does care and will act to suppress you.
Sorry for the delay responding, Bill; had first an iNet connectivity problem, and then a couple of boat issues that required my full attention Tuesday and Wednesday.
Regarding Israel: i, too, will agree and disagree with Your assessment. First of all, Israel still IS The American Empire’s tactical and strategic FOB in the Middle East; that has not changed. Remember the old ditty back in GHWB’s day that “Everybody wants to go to Baghdad; Real Men want to go to Tehran”? And have wanted to since 1979?
In 2025, the Road to Tehran runs thru and flies out of Tel Aviv.
And while the power of AIPAC is definitely considerable, which other elements of America’s Ruling Political Caste’s Deep State also benefit from AIPAC’s influence? Let’s start with the MICIMATTT and America’s National “Security” Panopticon. How much money have those folks made thanks to Bibi and Da Boyz’s venture into Gaza? And then consider how much America’s Big Oil element of that Deep State would benefit from having a new Shah in Iran.
Regarding a Dictatorship sometime soon: What would it take for America to get its very own Hitler or Stalin, and their kind of complete totalitarian Tyranny? Another 9/11? Another Pandemic? Another 2008esque “Too Big To Fail” financial “¢risi$” leading to what pundits are already calling “The Greater Depression”?
If America’s Ruling Political Caste decides that it wants to have a Hitlerian- or Stalinist-Dictatorship, who and or what is going to stop it? The American Peoples? And how? Like they stopped The Forever War that followed the first 9/11?
In any event and as i have noted before: My guess is that a significant number of Americans would accept and support a Dictatorship, as long as it was her or his guy or gal who was the Dictator.
How many Americans would Love to see Bernie Sanders as Dictator For Life, able to do whatever he wanted to do with the stroke of a not merely “Presidential,” but a “Supreme Leader’s” pen?
And by the same token, how many would love to see Trump doing that? Even more than he already is. Note that after all the Bullshit of Trump 2.0's first 227 days, his Approval Ratings still stand in the mid-40%s.
All of which leads me to nominate as The Most Important Questions that every American still capable of thinking for her or himself need to ask themselves, their families and loved ones, friends and neighbors, colleagues, cohorts, and compeers:
1. Do You agree that the United States is on the edge of a precipice, and that a full blown, bottom line, bullet-hits-the bone Dictatorship is very possible in America’s near future?
2. If You don’t agree with that assessment: Can You explain Why?
3. If, on the other hand, You Do agree with that assessment: What ~ if anything ~ can be done to prevent that Dictatorship from happening? Or is it already too late to stop it?
4. If it cannot be stopped and in fact happens, what would be the most appropriate and effective reaction and response of those who oppose the Dictatorship?
5. If that Dictatorship CAN be confronted, combatted, conquered, and eliminated, what system of National Government and Governance would replace it? The same one America has now, that enabled TRUMP 2.0 to happen in the first place; but just with different names, faces, promises, proposals, and agenda? Or something different?
6. Do You agree that a significant number of Americans ~ and a number of people who are socially, economically, and/or politically “significant” ~ would very probably welcome a Dictatorship; as long as it was her or his guy or gal who was the Dictator?
7. Will the United States of America survive to celebrate its 250th Birthday on July 4, 2026, 305 days from today, September 2, 2025?
I like The Moody Blues 'Knights in White Satin' because of this in The Revelation of Jesus Christ: And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Revelation 19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6xMOTjLIaY
It's been a long time, but that 1976 release by the Moody Blues as I was hitch hiking through some 45 US States to find the Spirit of '76, probably inspired me in 1981, to hitch hike some 5400 KMs round trip from Ottawa, Ontario to WhiteHorse in the Yukon, to draw attention to the rider on the White Horse and the army not in white satin, but fine linen, and succeeded in having The WHITEHORSE STAR publish it for posterity with the header 'Showmanship not his style' and posted in my latest article: https://rayjc.com/2025/08/13/us-dollar-image-of-the-beast/