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Title: A Hard Rain
Source: [None]
URL Source: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/10 ... s-howard-kunstler/a-hard-rain/
Published: Oct 8, 2019
Author: James Howard Kunstler
Post Date: 2019-10-08 10:24:06 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 422
Comments: 17

A lot of readers (some of them former readers now) have been angrily twanging me by email for writing about the three-year Resistance effort to un-do the 2016 election. I did not vote for Mr. Trump (or Mrs. Clinton) but I resent the coup mounted to overthrow him. I object to the bad faith and dishonesty of the Resistance. I object to the criminal misconduct among the federal bureaucracy, and the mendacity of its partners in the news media, and the hysteria they continue to generate — at the expense of other matters that concern our future.

The political disorder spooling out is the political expression of the long emergency that the nation faces as it finally encounters the limits to growth we were warned about decades ago. The techno-industrial phase of history is ending, and we are left only with inadequate fantasies for coming to terms with it and moving forward. The dynamic relationship between affordable energy supplies and the operations of money roils at the core of this predicament. They are undoing each other and the result will be a contraction of human activity. The big question we refuse to face is how to cope with contraction.

Beyond the ongoing orchestrated coup stands a reality-optional political Left consumed by serial hysterias, uninterested in truth, steeped in social despotism, and apparently willing to do anything to gain power. We should be very concerned with what they intend to do with that power. As they attempt to redistribute wealth, they will make the unhappy discovery that the wealth itself is subject to the wholesale contraction underway. The overvalued “assets” representing “money” hoarded by the “wealthy” will turn out to be figments of a runaway debt crisis. We have already debased the operations of banking, and the tokens that banks issue — currencies and securities — levitate over an abyss.

We already have plenty of evidence for what the Left will do to the principle of political liberty. Their shibboleths of “diversity” and “inclusion” really mean shutting down free speech and telling everybody how to think. They are less interested in “social justice” than in plain coercion, the pleasure they take in pushing people around. What’s worse is that they want to use government as the instrument for enforcing their will. I object to that not just on principle but because government itself will be subject to the same contraction affecting everything else. It simply won’t be able to compensate for all the other losses. Can we downscale its activities coherently, or will we make that journey violently, in some sort of civil war?

The Left seems to be opting for civil war. It is surely underway among branches of government and the administrative bureaucracy I call the Deep State. Barack Obama, John Brennan and others set the intel and police apparatus against Mr. Trump and the war goes on in the latest reckless campaign of “whistleblowers” who are no such thing, but rather agents provocateurs of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The Democrats in congress play a dangerous game with this as they attempt to engineer a non-impeachment impeachment — that is, without a vote by the whole House. To allow that vote would be a move to allow the opposition to participate in issuing subpoenas and seeing evidence, and the Democrats are bent on to preventing that. That ploy will provoke the White House to ignore their subpoenas and demands for documents on the principle that this mode of “Impeachment” is not legitimate.

The machinations of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff in this latest “whistleblower” affair pulsate with skullduggery. Are we to suppose that they will march out one “whistleblower” after another whose identity — or very reality — will remain secret through these proceedings? This is the sort of thing you get in Spanish inquisitions and soviet show trials. Until recently, all Americans had very firm objections to kangaroo courts and star chambers where the common-law safeguards of due process are thrown out the window. If the standoff goes to the Supreme Court, we’ll surely get yet another crusade to disqualify Justice Kavanaugh.

The Democratic Party is doing everything possible to destroy the legitimacy of these institutions — staring with elections themselves. The origins of the RussiaGate hoax will demonstrate that the party itself was behind “interference” in the 2016 election, and enlisted the help of several foreign governments in doing so. That is why they are so desperate to keep the level of hysteria amped to the max. The day may be not far off when a great and chilling silence falls over this mob as they look to the sky and see the indictments raining down.

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#1. To: Ada, 4 (#0) (Edited)

The origins of the RussiaGate hoax will demonstrate that the party itself was behind “interference” in the 2016 election, and enlisted the help of several foreign governments in doing so. That is why they are so desperate to keep the level of hysteria amped to the max.


December 9, 2016: Intel Report ordered by Obama re: Alleged Election Hacking/Interference by Russia

January 5, 2017: High-level Oval Office meeting - Obama, Biden, Clapper, Brennan, Comey, Yates, Rice, DHS Sec Jeh Johnson

January 6, 2017: Intel Report press release re: Alleged Election Hacking/Interference by Russia | Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections

January 6, 2017: DHS Sec Jeh Johnson declares Elections = Critical Infrastructure (i.e. alleged Hacking/Interference = an Act of War)


Commiecrats moving 5 days later to codify their Russiagate narrative as "the law" before Trump was inaugurated as President:

Legislation 01/11/2017: Text - S.94 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Counteracting Russian Hostilities Act of 2017 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

TITLE I—COUNTERING RUSSIAN CYBER INTRUSIONS

SEC. 102. FINDINGS. [In date order]

Congress makes the following findings:

(2) On April 1, 2015, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13694 (80 Fed. Reg. 18077; relating to blocking the property of certain persons engaging in significant malicious cyber-enabled activities), which authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, to impose sanctions on persons determined to be engaged in malicious cyber-hacking.

(3) On July 26, 2016, President Obama approved a Presidential Policy Directive on United States Cyber Incident Coordination, which states, “certain cyber incidents that have significant impacts on an entity, our national security, or the broader economy require a unique approach to response efforts”.

(1) On October 7, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated, the “U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations. The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts.”. The statement concluded that “only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities”.

(4) On December 29, 2016, President Obama issued an annex to Executive Order 13694, which authorized sanctions on the following entities and individuals: [read at the site]

(5) On January 6, 2017, an assessment of the United States intelligence community entitled, “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections” stated, “Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the United States presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the United States democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.”. The intelligence community “did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election”. The assessment warns that “Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the U.S. Presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against U.S. allies and their election processes”.


[This legislation didn't get passed.]


Note: Of the allegedly stolen cyber-docs, the first media-hyped publications were exactly what the DNC and John Podesta would most likely not object to being "in the news": 1. the opposition research on Donald Trump by DNC associate, A. Chalupa (Ukrainian) and 2. Podesta's suggested Color Revolution against the Catholic Church.

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"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC

GreyLmist  posted on  2019-10-08   22:41:13 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: GreyLmist (#1)

Thanks for the timeline.

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken

Lod  posted on  2019-10-08   22:47:46 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: Lod (#2) (Edited)

Thanks for the timeline.

You're welcome. : ) There are involvements in Russiagate/Spygate with connections to the Atlantic Council (a NATO oriented think-tank) and there are connections of Clinton-contemporaries at Oxford University, some of which intersected again during the Clintonian administration of the White House and beyond. A. Chalupa (Ukrainian) has the distinction of connecting at all 3 of those points + to a bomber named Kimberlin, who is also linked to someone else involved in Russiagate/Spygate with Clintonian connections to Oxford and the White House [4um Refs. here and here]. Excerpt from the Daily Caller article: Kimberlin now works on various voters’ rights initiatives, including in Ukraine.

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"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC

GreyLmist  posted on  2019-10-09   3:12:06 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Ada, my friends at 4UM (#0)

Washington D.C. is a social disease and the only cure for it is abstinence. Continued intercourse with D.C. will only result in the participants being fucked continually until finally falling into a near comatose state wherein reality is something unattainable. This state of being will result in an unnatural death at some point due to a semi-trance-like existence in a world where the authorities and their elite handlers are hell bent on destroying the planet by perpetual wars that demand continual and ever increasing taxation that have been making slaves of the general populations around the world for-fucking-ever !

The cure for voting and involving one's precious life in the mad hatters Boston Tea Party is simple: Quit fucking around with the perverts in D.C. and everywhere else !

Ephesians 5:11King James Version (KJV)

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. "

The best thing about old age is that it doesn't last forever.

noone222  posted on  2019-10-09   6:20:45 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: noone222 (#4)

Washington D.C. is a social disease and the only cure for it is abstinence.

This all goes back to FDR in 1933. FDR is the root of all the evil we suffer from today. He caused the Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917 to be Amended which made the people the enemy of the government.

He abrogated the gold standard and forced people to turn in their gold and gold certificates. The smart ones saw thru the scam and kept their gold for their posterity. Most of the blind sheep obeyed.

The U.S. debt grows continually and Fort Knox is empty of gold but for 90% pure from melted coins. The FED took the gold as collateral on the debt. It is in the sub basement of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. There was even a movie made about it, one of the Die Hard flicks.

I could go on, but what would be the point? ;)

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke

BTP Holdings  posted on  2019-10-09   6:49:56 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: BTP Holdings (#5)

I could go on, but what would be the point? ;)

Ya know, man, I think we humans take it for granted that our "duty" is to conform to a system that we were most likely accidentally born into. (Some say we volunteer for this bullshit on the other side of the veil but I tend doubt it).

I'm not claiming that this life is without value because it most definitely is worth the experience, but my claim is that the experience is being manipulated from the very start. And as an example of my point I'll reference personal experience.

I am currently working for a well to do gentleman that happens to be a 32nd degree Mason. He has accumulated a significant amount of material wealth that never satisfies his desire to accumulate more even though he is approaching the end of his existence on this earth and cannot take it with him. I'm sure he gets a certain amount of pleasure and enjoyment from his exploits and material gains. But how will he feel when he has to admit his mortality.

He thinks along the same lines as most others his age and the conversations that he and his associates/acquaintances have are all materialism light. They all quote Rush Limbaugh or Bill Is'Raeli without having the inclination to ponder anything beyond the insignificant. I conclude that our upbringing and the general environment within which we mature surely and greatly impacts our outlook on life and how we participate or don't. I believe we get programmed to not give a real shit about things that should matter especially with respect for all of our neighbors.

The cookie cutter educational system formulates how we act out. Our station in life and how we think of others is also manipulated by what we're told about others. And since it feels so good to be patted on the head by our educators many of us ignore the total hypocrisy wherein we reside, we form opinions of others based upon what someone else told us we should or should not be, and in the end a dog eat dog mentality is easily formed, and the ability to easily judge someone else as a bum because they are cut from a different cloth makes it easy to just ignore them.

In the end I have to ask myself which is worse: Having huge regrets that we have to die and don't get to keep our shit, or relax take it easy and be glad you don't have to haul all of that shit around !!!

My point is that the world we live in has been coached to forfeit civility and spirituality for materialism. This alone allows for society to be managed by allowing the people a small material success in order to have them accept the total corruption of those supposed to be their dedicated leadership.

We buy into their claims of academic superiority and leadership qualities every election cycle only to be disappointed 30 days later when the do something outrageously criminal or ignorant. Then they claim an oversight or mistake or someone else did it ...

I should quit this rant ... but I have to ask if anyone can tell me how every country on the earth can be broke or bankrupt ? Are there no winners ? There are sure a lot of losers.

Ephesians 5:11King James Version (KJV)

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. "

The best thing about old age is that it doesn't last forever.

noone222  posted on  2019-10-09   8:51:33 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: noone222 (#6) (Edited)

I should quit this rant ... but I have to ask if anyone can tell me how every country on the earth can be broke or bankrupt ? Are there no winners ? There are sure a lot of losers.

I no longer worry about going to hell.

I'm trying to figure out a way to escape it.

(edit) Shoot, almost all the news anymore brings to mind the song by Peter Gabriel, "Red Rain."

Upon reflection, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" seems appropriate also. Wish you were here, Doug.

The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long. - Dr. Eldon Tyrell

Godfrey Smith: Mike, I wouldn't worry. Prosperity is just around the corner.
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)

Esso  posted on  2019-10-09   19:14:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: Esso (#7)

I no longer worry about going to hell.

I'm trying to figure out a way to escape it.

I get your drift for sure !!!

Ephesians 5:11King James Version (KJV)

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. "

The best thing about old age is that it doesn't last forever.

noone222  posted on  2019-10-09   20:02:31 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: noone222 (#8)

Check edit.

The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long. - Dr. Eldon Tyrell

Godfrey Smith: Mike, I wouldn't worry. Prosperity is just around the corner.
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)

Esso  posted on  2019-10-09   20:09:09 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: Esso (#7)

Esso, are you in Indiana ? I have close family in that State, but really cannot handle the humidity.

Ephesians 5:11King James Version (KJV)

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. "

The best thing about old age is that it doesn't last forever.

noone222  posted on  2019-10-09   20:19:04 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: Esso, 4 (#7)

a decent cover with lyrics

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken

Lod  posted on  2019-10-09   20:27:11 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: All (#11)

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken

Lod  posted on  2019-10-09   20:29:34 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: All (#12)

here's one, actually two, that i really enjoy

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken

Lod  posted on  2019-10-09   21:04:46 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#14. To: noone222 (#10)

Esso, are you in Indiana ?

Yeah, Fort Wayne.

The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long. - Dr. Eldon Tyrell

Godfrey Smith: Mike, I wouldn't worry. Prosperity is just around the corner.
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)

Esso  posted on  2019-10-09   23:26:54 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Ada (#0) (Edited)

Beyond the ongoing orchestrated coup stands a reality-optional political Left consumed by serial hysterias, uninterested in truth, steeped in social despotism, and apparently willing to do anything to gain power.


@ Post #1 - Timeline

@ Post #3 - Connections


Archiving additional resources of relevance re: Russiagate/Spygate


Nunes on the importance of exposing real origins of Russia probe - YouTube, 7.75 minutes | Published on May 14, 2019 by Fox News

California Rep. Devin Nunes weighs in on the FISA abuse scandal, Steele dossier, and unreliable informants that sparked the Russia investigation.

Notes: Papadopoulos exculpatory evidence ; opposition research ; no Russian Consulate in Miami ; FBI, Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS - Steele Dossier is really just Clinton Opposition "Research" ; Democrats poisoned with "Russiagate" lies and fraud ; FISA and renewals fraudulent 4x for a year - fraudulently Spying on Americans each time for a full year of listening to phone calls and reading emails


[Book: Spygate] Dan Bongino - Obama, Mueller and the Biggest Scam in American History - YouTube, 37 minutes | Published on Nov 22, 2018 by TJ Singh

Notes: Plan A - Weaponizing Intel, illegal spying: "About" queries ; 12:20 Bob Hannigan GCHQ/British NSA resignation ; Plan B - Crossfire Hurricane, legal spying, FISA and fake evidence ; 15:38 FISA - Zero evidence - use 2 hands to make a zero because using 1 is called a "white power hand signal" ; 16:46 Steele Dossier already written 11 years ago - April 17, 2007 WSJ/Wall Street Journal article, authors: Glenn Simpson and his wife, Mary Jacoby ; an article on Russian influence in Washington: "How Lobbyists Help Ex-Soviets Woo Washington" re: Paul Manafort, et al. - used as a recycled script w/Trump's name falsely inserted ; Michael Cohen, Prague - Cohen name mixup ; Plan C - Cleanup on Aisle 4, Brennan and Hannigan meeting ; John Carlin signed off on FISA warrant - was Bob Meuller's Chief of Staff ; Meuller's Enron Team, headed by Andrew Weismann - lead lawyer Catherine Rummler, Obama's White House counsel ; Lisa Monaco ; Rod Rosenstein - Tenex case, 2015 or so - precursor to Uranium One re: Russia and Iran, same people involved, Bob Mueller FBI Director ;; 30:30 Papadopoulos ; Gorka - Is it enough for the right person to become AG/Attorney General or not? If it isn't, what more needs to be done for Justice to happen? ;; 36:32 How to Change the Media - If you donate to any colleges or endowments, paperclip a dollar to your donation saying. "This is my last [donation] dollar until you get some Conservatives in your School of Journalism."

From the Comments:

"IT’S TIME TO CALL THESE PEOPLE WHAT THEY REALLY ARE ‘COMMUNIST MARXIST’!!!"

"These crimes warrant punishment to the absolute fullest extent of the law. If they were here now, how do you think Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Franklin, Mason...would deal with the crisis we are in? You know how. We cannot allow the tyranny of the Globalist media to dictate how we govern our country any longer."


How Lobbyists Help Ex-Soviets Woo Washington by Glenn R. Simpson and Mary Jacoby | WSJ.com | Updated April 17, 2007 [Paywall blocked]


Who Is Glenn Simpson, Man Entangled in Two Russia Scandals? by Ken Dilanian | nbcnews.com | Updated July 27, 2017

Simpson helped write the Trump-Russia dossier, the one compiled by a former British intelligence officer [Christopher Steele] ... in a less well known role, Simpson has worked for several years on a cause dear to the heart of Vladimir Putin — investigating the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a tax accountant whose death in prison helped prompt Congress to pass a set of sanctions in his name. Simpson believes he uncovered information contradicting the account of the Magnitsky case generally accepted by the U.S. government. ... Simpson, who declined to comment for this story, has a long history of investigating corruption and influence in and around Russia. For example, the 2007 front page story that mentioned Manafort was headlined, " How Lobbyists Help Ex-Soviets Woo Washington."


Report: Russia 'Dossier' Based on 10-Year-Old Wall Street Journal Articles by Joel B. Pollak | Breitbart | 21 Dec 2017

Lee Smith of Tablet magazine has traced the origins of the Russia “dossier” — the Democrat-funded opposition research project that may have laid the foundations for the ongoing Russia investigation — to several Wall Street Journal articles that appeared in print a decade ago.

Smith’s article, “Did President Obama Read the ‘Steele Dossier’ in the White House Last August?”, suggests that the information compiled by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, with funding from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, could have been repackaged as genuine U.S. government intelligence and presented to President Barack Obama on that basis as his administration began investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Smith recounts how the “dossier” likely prompted the surveillance and investigation of aides to Donald Trump by the Obama administration, and efforts to delegitimize the incoming administration.

He notes:

[I]f a sitting president used the instruments of state, including the intelligence community, to disseminate and legitimize a piece of paid opposition research in order to first obtain warrants to spy on the other party’s campaign, and then to de-legitimize the results of an election once the other party’s candidate won, we’re looking at a scandal that dwarfs Watergate—a story not about a bad man in the White House, but about the subversion of key security institutions that are charged with protecting core elements of our democratic process while operating largely in the shadows.

But the real news in Smith’s well-researched article is that the information compiled by Fusion GPS in the dossier might have relied heavily on earlier reporting done by the firm’s founder about Russian lobbying in the U.S.

Smith writes:

A Tablet investigation using public sources to trace the evolution of the now-famous dossier suggests that central elements of the Russiagate scandal emerged not from the British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s top-secret “sources” in the Russian government—which are unlikely to exist separate from Russian government control—but from a series of stories that Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby co-wrote for The Wall Street Journal well before Fusion GPS existed, and Donald Trump was simply another loud-mouthed Manhattan real estate millionaire.

Simpson and Jacoby co-wrote a Journal article in April 2007, “How Lobbyists Help Ex-Soviets Woo Washington.” ... Smith points out that Fusion GPS had few sources within Russia. Nellie Ohr, who also worked with Fusion GPS and happened to be married to a senior official in Obama’s Department of Justice, had not lived in Russia for decades. [Even] Christopher Steele, the former British spy who was hired to work on the dossier, probably had few good contacts. Simpson’s earlier Journal reporting was probably his best resource. ... So the entire Russia investigation may not be based on actual intelligence at all, but on reporting that is ten years out of date.


Did President Obama Read the ‘Steele Dossier’ in the White House Last August? by Lee Smith | tabletmag.com | December 20, 2017 [Wayback Machine copy @ web.archive.org]
https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/251897/
obama-steele-dossier-russiagate

[Recommendations: Start reading the article at about the mid-point of paragraph 13 to skip the condoning of Paul Manafort's targeted vilification for his "political incorrectness" re: the overthrow of Ukraine's government and President, Yanukovich; etc. Or: the 4 sources listed below are for further context and comparison on those issues, as needed (but are also aslant with bias to some extent):

1. Paul Manafort | Lobbying career - Wikipedia

2. Michael Flynn | Consulting firm - Wikipedia

3. Understanding FARA through Flynn’s Very Late Paperwork - Enigma.com

4. American Israel Public Affairs Committee | Controversy and criticism - Wikipedia]

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"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC

GreyLmist  posted on  2019-10-10   14:36:50 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: Esso (#14)

I do recall discussing some of the more negative issues in Indianapolis back in the day !

Ephesians 5:11King James Version (KJV)

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. "

The best thing about old age is that it doesn't last forever.

noone222  posted on  2019-10-10   22:15:26 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#17. To: noone222 (#6)

I have to ask if anyone can tell me how every country on the earth can be broke or bankrupt ? Are there no winners ? There are sure a lot of losers.

That Old Rice-Grains-On-The-Chessboard Con, With a New [Auditing] Twist [of Grand Theft Bankster sorts] - NPR

Once upon a time, says the science writer David Blatner, there was this con man who made chessboards for high-end clients — in this case, a king.

The craftsman was good; his chessboards were better than beautiful. The king, he knew, loved chess. So he hatched a plan to trick the king into handing over an enormous fortune. His plan? He figured, "This king is not too good at math."

Pic: The craftsman and his chessboard.

So when the craftsman presented his chessboard at court, he told the king,

"Your Highness, I don't want money for this. Or jewels. All I want is a little rice."

"Hmm," thought the king, who was a con man himself. "I've got rice. How much rice?"

Pic: The king contemplating the chessboard.

"All I want," said the craftsman, "is for you to put a single grain of rice on the first square, two grains on the second, four on the third, eight on the fourth, and so on and so on and so on, for the full 64 squares."

"I can do that," said the king, not thinking. And he ordered his granary to pay the man for the chessboard.

Well, that turned out to be more than a little difficult. The first few squares on the board cost the king one grain, then two, then four ... by the end of the first row, he was up to 128 grains.

In the second row, things got out of hand. By the 21st square he owed over a million grains; by the 41st, it was over a trillion grains of rice — more rice than he, his subjects or any king anywhere could afford.

He'd been had.

Or had he?

Pic: The king and his rice.

He was, after all, a king. He knew a thing or two about negotiating.

"I will pay you," he told the craftsman. "But before you receive the money, just to be sure you are getting what you asked for, I'd like you to count each and every grain I give you."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," said the craftsman.

"Oh, it is necessary," said the king. "I wouldn't want to cheat you."

It takes one second to count a grain of rice. To count the number of grains he'd been promised, it would have taken the craftsman a half-trillion years, about 42 times the age of our universe, to complete his count. The king wouldn't pay till the count was done. The craftsman quickly realized the count would never be done. His con was counterconned.

The moral here? Kings may forget their math some of the time, but they rarely forget math all of the time. That's why they're kings.

Victory Pic: The king sits in front of his bag of rice.


David Blatner includes this old tale — told briefly — in his new book, Spectrums: Our Mind-boggling Universe From Infinitesimal to Infinity.

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"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC

GreyLmist  posted on  2019-10-11   5:02:39 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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