Kryptonite, war crimes, and the USA

In today's world, the United States is the preeminent superpower and has no rival, or series of rivals, whatsoever.  Further to the point, the United States, alone amongst all the civilized nations of this world, places itself consistently above international law and thereby above international treaties and agreements that apparently do not ever apply adversely against the United States, but are so applied to other nations.  Imagine though, an alternate universe or perhaps a parallel world, in which some sort of substance such as kryptonite is utilized against the United States, in which thereby none of its mighty weapons of war are capable of being fired or utilized, whatsoever; and subsequently the United States as a sovereign nation, must surrender to those forces that have the use of that kryptonite.

So then, inside this power vacuum, a consortium of countries get together to decide what to do about this situation in regards to the United States.  These countries, consisting of China, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Venezuela, and Cuba recognize that there is very little value in destroying the United States, but rather are cognizant of its great worth, and thereby decide that the best and fairest policy is to have a trial, specifically, dealing with the war crimes of the United States since World War II, addressing in particular, those individuals that are the alleged war criminal perpetrators.

The trial is thereupon known as the Washington DC War Crimes Trial and it is held within the Supreme Court building of that city.  Warrants for the arrest of specific military personnel of the highest level, are issued, as well as being issued for the heads of various governmental departments, such as the CIA, Homeland Security, National Security Agency and the like; in addition, warrants for the Secretary of the Defense, and the Secretary of the State, former and active are issued, and finally warrants are issued for the President, former and active.  The sheer amount of names so charged, is enormous, and the consortium of countries, prosecuting such, are diligent in the adding or subtracting of such names as actionable or mitigating information comes to their attention.  Additionally, in the knowledge that justice delayed is justice denied, this consortium of countries eventually reaches the point, in which the trial must begin.  And in fairness to those so accused, each is entitled to legal counsel in order to fairly answer the charges each is accused of.

The theme of the Washington DC War Crimes Trial becomes obvious from the very start, which is that certain specific people within the United States must be held accountable for their war crimes as well as crimes against humanity.  Those crimes cover such areas as the deliberate and premeditated bombing of civilian populations, the extraordinary rendition of persons from their native country, the torture of prisoners, the rape of civilians, the murder of civilians under the guise of combat, and so and so forth. In fact, the opening statement by the lead prosecution attorney, hauntingly echoes the exact same words used by the lead prosecutor Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trial,  of which Jackson said "The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish, have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because it cannot survive their being repeated;" in which the lead prosecutor at the Washington DC War Crimes Trial adds to those words, "Yet, they have been repeated, and repeated by a great nation, that knew what was right but deliberately did that which was wrong, because it believed it would never be held accountable; of which it is our sacred duty to thereby hold those bad actors accountable, so that all of humanity can progress to becoming fully civilized, fair, and with  the sure knowledge that mankind's good laws apply equally to all."

At the conclusion of that trial, most were convicted, though some were acquitted; and of those that were found guilty, most were hung, though some were not.

When the community becomes a company town

The United States has many small communities in which the good functioning of some of those small communities is very dependent on just one primary employer, or just one primary business type.  In other words in some communities, there is one primary business type or main employer that provides the bulk of the good paying and stable jobs to that community, and on the basis of that primary business type or main employer, everything else that makes up that community basically falls into place.  That is, the income that is generated through those paychecks of those directly employed by that primary business type or main employer, has ripple effects, felt throughout the community in the sense of the infrastructure thereby created in order to support those that are making that income and spending such on housing, vehicles, food, education, roads, parks, and so on and so forth.  This thus signifies that as long as that primary business type or main employer is doing well, then the community as a whole is also doing well, and while no community should turn down a good business enterprise desiring to locate within that community, it is vital to recognize that when the foundation of a given community is based solely upon that primary business type or main employer, that if that particular dynamic does change for the worse, it will often be devastating for that community.  Further to the point, those that are in the catbird's seat will have, undoubtedly a lot of power in regards to the seminal decisions made in that community of which those decisions are going to be far more often than not, supportive of that which holds the power, and thereby have very little to do with any sort of true democratic process.

The very first thing that any small community should do when they are successful in having a major employer locate in their community, is to try to leverage up that success, by soliciting other companies to come into their town, so that the community thereby is not wholly dependent upon or mainly dependent upon just that one employer type or business.   Additionally, the more viable companies that are located within a smaller community, not only presents more opportunities for those that are denizens of such, but helps to disperse the power that these companies have, by virtue of the fact, that there is more than one company in town.

The demise of many a small community, has come about when a given industry has, for instance, maxed out the natural resources within that town, or has made the decision to outsource jobs that use to be domestic to overseas facilities, or has simply made bad business decisions that did not keep that company competitive -- as well as all those things that are similar to these.  Once that primary employer is gone from a community, the entire infrastructure within that community is in play, as to whether or not it is sustainable -- for without that steady stream of good income, the game has surely changed, and virtually always for the worse.

To be overly dependent upon any one person, or any one company, or any one business enterprise, is never going to be prudent; and those in small communities, need to better understand, that the diversification of their employment base is necessary in order to better position their community to be both vibrant as well as to be sustainable.

Saying and doing should be in harmony

As it has been said, "Actions speak louder than words," and further to the point, it is those actions, that determine the integrity of those words so spoken.  This signifies that when corporations, governments, and people speak about matters of importance, we should hold those very entities accountable for those words so spoken in regards to whether or not their subsequent actions are found to have been in conformance to those words and those sentiments.

Unfortunately, there are far too many occurrences in which the subsequent actions to commitments previously made are wholly inadequate, in which the probable two main reasons why this is so, is firstly because some of those making those promises while having good intentions to do so, end up not staying the course for whatever reason, as well as possibly having an anemic follow through; and the second most common reason is that those making that commitment to begin with, had absolutely no intent of following through on it, so that their statement of what they were going to accomplish, was deceptively made in the prior knowledge that they weren't going to do such a thing, and in far too many cases, nobody holds them accountable to it.

Whether it is lack of follow through, or whether it is those that are disingenuous in their words, it is important for the general public and individuals to do their part to hold those that promise one thing but don't deliver, accountable.  After all, misdirection and deception is part and parcel of wars and governments, as well as quite frankly, far too many human relationships.  We would see far less of this, if each of us was more attentive to what is really being said by others in the first place, and secondly if we then took the time to determine whether or not those words were coming into fruition or not, and if not, call those pertinent institutions to account.

It would be nice if people and institutions were more often true to their word, and, in particular, those words of positive intent and good, for that would be beneficial for society.  On the other hand, when those people and institutions are not true to their word, then they should be seen for what they really are, and thereby exposed as to what their character really is; for those that say one thing, but end up doing another thing of which that other thing is of lesser value, or of no value, or is detrimental in its design, are hypocrites; made worse by the fact that their intent in their original declaration was probably deliberately false so as to disguise what they really are and what they truly represent.

The truth of the matter is that our character is primarily based upon our actual actions and deeds, of which, those actions and deeds should be consistent to those declarations previously made.  To the degree that this is true, we are in harmony between what we say and what we do; and to the degree that this is not true, this is at best, a display of our lack of comprehension of the degree of difficulty to accomplish such, as well as our apparent lack of successful drive and determination to overcome such; or it is a deliberate deception made for our personal benefit to take advantage of those that we can fool, or hope by our words to fool.

The white and black doll test

Back in 1947, two psychologists ran a test on black children ages thee to seven, utilizing four dolls, of various degrees of gradations of color, in which, as reported by naacpldf.org, "A majority of the children preferred the white doll and assigned positive characteristics to it."  This amazing result from this study was utilized in the epic argument in the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, which undoubtedly contributed to that Supreme Court seminal decision that racial segregation was in and of itself, prejudicial and damaging to those subject to that segregation.

One might think that in this more enlightened time that a white and black doll test would clearly not still show prejudice and favoritism from white and black children, taking such a test.  In fact, in 2010, CNN ran such a test, with conditions in harmony with that original white and black doll test, in which, as reported by cnn.com, "white children have an overwhelming white bias, and black children also have a bias toward white."

The fact, that after the ratification of the 14th Amendment, in 1868, with additionally the landmark federally sponsored Civil Rights laws subsequently passed, which specifically were enacted to forbid racial discrimination, along with all persons that have any real sensibility already being cognizant that skin color has not ever, and cannot ever be what determines the character of a person, but rather is irrelevant to such; that children, who are far less inclined to hide their true feelings behind false fronts, are shown to have in the 21st century more positive feelings towards those that are white, in comparison to those that are not, regardless of their own race, must be seen to be: wholly disappointing.

The above is proof positive that America is still the white man's land, of which just being born white is an inborn advantage over those that are not white, irrespective of any other conditions.   This thus signifies that in every enterprise of merit, be it housing, education, justice, or opportunity, that the white man is in the superior position, simply based on the salient fact that they are white.  So that, the egalitarian promise that America is supposed to represent, does not exist; nor does any of its other promises of being integrated, fair and equal, or of meritorious opportunity, and so on, exist.  

The bottom line is that until America is able to demonstrate through its non-biased tests, that every vestige of the superiority of the white man has been erased from the minds and thoughts of its people, of all colors, and of all backgrounds, then the white man will continue to reap the awards and the benefits that the white man has not fairly sowed.  This would surely indicate that all programs, such as the Affirmative Action program, and the like, that are constructed so as to make good on promissory notes yet unfilled, must be part and parcel of the American way of being, in order to appropriately rectify not only previous wrongs, but wrongs that are integral to American life as it is still being experienced, today.  

It is not ever good enough, to espouse noble thoughts and to have noble goals, if the structure within that nation, is corrupt to begin with; especially when such is further compounded when that nation never establishes thoroughly the comprehensive effort needed to properly correct those foundational faults.  While one may give America credit for becoming a melting pot of so many different peoples, it still sees life far too frequently through the distorted prism of the white man, which is the very reason why the United States of America, is in reality, a country divided, and not united.

Doctrine of Discovery

As in most everything, it is the victors that write the history.  So then, when the western hemisphere of the Americas, was discovered and thereupon developed by those Europeans that crossed the vast Atlantic ocean, beginning in the late 15th century, they so discovered that this was a vast continent, consisting of North, Central, and South America, previously unknown by that European people.  This American continent was populated by the indigenous people that made up that continent, but since it was not those indigenous people that sailed that Atlantic Ocean to Europe, and thereupon "discovered" Europe, but rather it was the other way around, this thus made those Europeans the "discoverers" of that continent.  Further to the point, while the Europeans that sailed across that ocean were vastly outnumbered by those indigenous people, they brought with them powerful instruments of war, in addition to their superior overall knowledge and learning in regards to mathematics, language, reading, writing, science, and jurisprudence.  This thus meant that the indigenous people, rightly or wrongly, for the most part, recognize these Europeans as being in significant ways, more advanced than them.

Additionally, the mindset of the Europeans was that the people that made up the lands of the Americas, were considered to be heathen, pagans, and the like, of which therefore it was the European right as well as its duty to civilized that which was considered to be uncivilized, through whatever means those Europeans best saw fit.  The intent, was never to work in conjunction with the native peoples, but was always about either assimilation, at best, or the conquering of those native peoples.  Further to the point, there was a Papal Decree thereupon issued in 1493, which basically built the template of what became known as the Doctrine of Discovery.  That doctrine, enforced by the European monarchies, signified under the aegis of Christianity, but really under the guise of such, that Europe would be the masters of these newfound lands, of which, the legacy of the American continent, is proof positive that this is indeed what happened.

So then, to the dismay of indigenous peoples throughout the western hemisphere, their land, no longer was their land, and their self-determination was no longer their determination, but they became in most aspects, a conquered peoples, with their lands and livelihood torn asunder from their hands.  This meant that indigenous peoples did not have a meaningful voice in the government foisted upon them, and they were subsequently shunted aside, killed, divided, suffered unduly from European illnesses, or were forcefully removed onto barren reservations, and thereby left with little resources to sustain themselves.

As they say, to the victors go the spoils, of which, many a people have lost their lands and their identity not fully comprehending that a battle once commenced , warranted or not, understood or not, formal or not, will result in there being only one victor.  So too, as the Doctrine of Discovery, led the Europeans to claim the western hemisphere as their own; recognize that the same general principle is applicable to any one nation that conquers another, of which the most basic point of going to war, is to take, usually unjustly, from one people what is theirs, to thereby reap their wealth and riches as your own without having properly paid, earned or labored for such.  All of the above basically signifying, that he who wields the biggest sword in the most effective manner, fair or foul, is he who wins.

Help is always needed, so help

Far too many people find themselves getting overwhelmed from time-to-time in regards to the complexities, disappointments, and tragedies that this world presents, on a seemingly daily basis.  While all of this may seem to be way too much; the secret to addressing these tribulations really comes down to not being overly grandiose but rather dealing with such on a much smaller and personal basis, in which the objective is for each person to do their part to provide needful help, where they can, and as often as they can for others, that are suffering or hurting, unduly.

Too  many people tend to be mistaken in their belief that their seemingly insignificant positive actions don't amount to all that much; but it is in those little positive actions, committed time and time again, that lend itself to making communities and civilizations better, for all.  This signifies that anytime that we can provide a helping hand to someone in need; we should do our part to do exactly that.  After all, anytime that we do our part, we are helping to make things better, and anytime that we fail to do our part; we are not contributing in areas in which our contribution is needed.

Life is almost never about the need for us to do magnificent and generous things on some sort of epic scale, but rather has a lot more to do with doing the little small things that will help ourselves as well as others in the making of our communities, better places to live and to grow in.  Further, more people need to take to heart, their definition of what being a good neighbor really is all about.  For some, they take this in its most literal meaning, which signifies, that they have an obligation to be a good neighbor to their actual physical neighbor, of which, if they do this, at least it can be said they are doing something of merit for someone else.  That said, the real principle of being a good neighbor, is the same principle about being a good Samaritan, which is that when we see someone that is in need, we are provided with the opportunity to be of service to that other; in particular, a person that we don't even individually know, of which those that do so, are true to that which really matters.

But no matter as to whether we do all we can do for others in need or not, it is in the actual doing, that we are able to provide help to others, and every deed done for others, is providing the help that will in its own way, make for better communities and for a better world, and every little bit does help.  While each of us can moan about the upsetting dramas in life that we come across far too often, recognize that those that help in their own way, are being heroic, and those that are heroic are the very people that help to make this world more bearable, more tolerable, more livable, and more loving.

Fiscal stupidity leads to insolvency

The United States government has not had a budget surplus since 2001, and does not project to have a budget surplus, let alone a balanced budget, anytime in the short foreseeable future.  In fact, based upon how massive the deficits are continuing to be, for whatever given reasons, spurious or not, the present government does not appear to have any intention to balance its book, ever.  While having a budget deficit, sometimes is necessary in order to preclude or ameliorate a recession, or in times of war, or other valid reasons; for the most part, most of the deficits so run, come down to feckless and lying politicians that refuse to tax the very entities that can easily afford to pay far more in taxes, as well as this government not being prudent in the allocation of how the people's money is spent.

To the degree that the government, sees their expenditures of money as something that they need not necessarily concern themselves about, is the degree that the way that things are being conducted presently, will not soon change.  The great hypocrisy that this government has foisted upon the public, is the belief that this government, can continue to run deficits, indefinitely; when for a certainty, there will come a time, when that money so being borrowed will have to be borrowed at an appreciably higher interest rate, or that those that are the creditors to such massive deficits, will impress upon these United States, conditions that will force the United States to get its fiscal house in order, in which those that will suffer under those conditions, are the very people that make up this country.   However, what is so unfair about this picture, is that those that will carry most of that fiscal load upon their shoulders are, to a very large extent, not going to be those that are retired, but rather those that are in the prime of their lives, and will have to do all of the heavy lifting, in order to conceivably right this ship.

The great shame of this government is that it lacks the courage to tax those that it should tax at a much higher rate, which are the richest and most powerful people and corporations, within this nation.  Further, it refuses to have the present generation, tighten its belt, so as to live within its means, thereby putting off until tomorrow, what should forthrightly be dealt with today.   After all, spending other people's money is always a pretty darn easy thing to do; whereas, getting people to pay their fair share for that spending, requires consistency, fairness, transparency, and determination. 

It would be one thing if all these deficits so being run at the present time, all had a grand purpose behind such: for instance, in the creation of a nation with good healthcare, good education, good housing, good job opportunity, and good infrastructure for all segments of that population.  That, in and of itself, would be sensible, and would be a prudent decision to make on behalf of the people.  Instead, America, has done virtually none of these things, and appears to have the mindset, that the only real business in America is for the most powerful and richest people and corporations in America, to cheat the tax system, to thereby cheat their government, and for that government to subsequently sell the illusion to the people that all is well, when such systemic fiscal deficits are indicative that all is surely not.

Future expected returns for domestic stocks are minimal

Public companies that are listed on the stock market are traded Monday through Friday.  Over the very long term, publically traded stocks have a distinct tendency to go up, of which, some of that has to do with inflation, some of that has to do with the underlying growth, value, and earnings of a given stock, some of that has to do with interest rates as well as other monetary policies, and some of that just comes down to speculation.  Although, there are pundits that claim that the market is "efficient," in the sense that since there are buyers as well as sellers for every given stock, and the pertinent information in regards to the economy and a given company, is public knowledge, than their belief is that the subsequent price of the stock, clearly reflects such.  Yet, if this was really true, stocks wouldn't rise and fall as much as they do, especially when on most days, there really isn't much actionable information going on in regards to a specific stock.  Further to the point, anyone or any institution that opens up a brokerage account, are not controlled in regards to their decision making process as to whether a stock is "fairly priced" or not, and hence many stocks can be priced at a price range that doesn't match all that well with the fundamentals of that stock.

A case in point, is that the USA stock market as of 2020, is in most of its indexes at an all-time high, or has hit that high this year, which given the fact that the GDP of the United States has been in a low-growth phase for over a decade, doesn't make a lot of sense, to begin with.  Further to the point, the United States, will have a significant negative growth rate for 2020, so that, when the economy is shrinking, and because the unemployment has risen tremendously, it would seem, even with very low interest rates, and other mitigating factors, that the stock market should reflect that profit margins along with growth rates are being impacted in aggregate, in a negative manner.  

The error that many investors make in regards to the purchase of common stock is to not readily understand very well what they have purchased.  While it is true that as a common shareholder, they have a minute ownership percentage in a given company, the value of those shares, might not have a lot to do with the true intrinsic worth of a given company, and instead have a lot more to do, with projections of growth and value that are often very problematic.  Again, when a given country's yearly GDP is 2.5% or thereabouts, but the stock market is consistently returning around 8-10%, yearly, then that would seem to indicate that the pricing of those stocks being traded in aggregate, is not consistent to what is really happening in the economy in reality.

So then, as might be expected, when stocks appear to be overvalued per most metrics, then the expected future return of those stocks, are going to be minimal, because those stock prices have gotten ahead of their reasonable underlying worth, via speculation, that has been too overly optimistic or too greedy.  History, is replete with speculation upon speculation, that have done exceedingly well, only to at some later point, collapse.   After all, when there are too many sellers, and there aren't any willing buyers, prices go down until some sort of equilibrium is reached.

All should pay their fair share in property taxes

County governments are absolutely dependent upon the collection of taxes from their constituents in order to properly take care of its responsibilities in regards to police services, fire services, street lights, hospitals, schools, sanitation, storm water and the like.  One of the most important taxes, if not the most important, because of its usual consistency is the collection of real estate property taxes, from residential homes, apartments, farms, land, manufacturing plants, corporate retail offices, corporate retail stores, and the like.  Basically, everything within the county that is located on land, can be subjected to county property taxes, but there are, as in most everything, exceptions to that rule. For instance, most non-profits such as universities and churches are not subject to a real estate property tax, so that these institutions are basically being subsidized by the people and by those corporations that do pay their fair share of those taxes.

When it comes to the paying of real estate property taxes, the general rule of thumb of how much a given entity will pay is the fair market value of that property in that given fiscal year, subject to pertinent exemptions, set aside for senior citizens, or military veterans, or as in a homestead exemption.  Also, in fairness to real estate property owners they are permitted to dispute and to appeal against the county Assessment authorities, when their reasoned opinion of the fair value of their property indicates such; and in particular when they have compelling evidence that would indicate that value should be materially lower. 

All of the above seems to be rather straightforward, but anytime that county governments are dealing with corporations, and especially corporations of meaningful size; that is, of worth in the multimillions, and even multibillions, those corporations are going to have a strong tendency to want to see that they don't pay more than what they feel that they should pay for property taxes and the like; which is why they thereby petition county governments as well as any other pertinent governmental officials and departments to purposely get themselves special consideration so that they do not have to pay what might be considered to be a fair property tax rate, but rather are provided with a reduced rate instead, perhaps because of their undue influence upon governmental officials, or their uncanny ability to get tax set asides and thereby preferential tax treatment.

As a matter of course, how much a given homeowner pays in property taxes, is a public record.  So then, in consideration of the importance as well as the personal expense in the paying of those taxes it would seem that all historical records in regards to the payment of those same taxes for corporations should be readily available for not only governmental officials to see and to, as necessary, justify; but of equal importance, for the general public to see, so that they can better understand as to whether or not they are actually paying more than their fair share in property taxes, and therefore carrying much more weight upon their already burdened shoulders, especially as compared to those multimillion and multibillion dollar corporations.  For we should not forget, when certain entities are accorded special discounts to what should be fairly applied in a fair manner to all, then those that are not accorded those same sorts of similar discounts, will end up paying more than their fair share, perhaps a lot more.

The Free Speech Movement and true freedom of speech

Back in the 1960s, the top administrators at the University of California campus at Berkeley, decided that they no longer would benignly tolerate their students in their soliciting for funds as well as in the recruiting of members to what were perceived to be radical organizations, on campus.  They therefore took the step to call in the campus police to place a graduate student under arrest for violating these conditions, of which, the upshot was that in the heyday of what would become civil unrest, protests against the Vietnam war and the like, is that the students rose up to protect not only that particular student's arrest, through the staging of a spontaneous sit down, but also made it their point to begin staging student protests, and eventually to initiate a student strike against the administration of Berkeley.  The result of this student uprising was soon enough the victory of those students in achieving the relief on the restrictions of free speech on campus, as well as being left alone in regards to political activity on campus, by consent of those administrators. 

While this was an important victory for free speech, and for therefore the freedom to express ideas outside the mainstream of America, it was to a very large extent, never really about true freedom of speech, but rather had a lot more to do, with those students being able to express their viewpoint, to the exclusion of other orthodox or conservative viewpoints.  In other words, the campus revolt was never really about free speech, but really was about the students perception that they did not have a fair format to express what they believed to be of importance to them, of which such was considered by many outsiders to be radical viewpoints as well as unorthodox political views, and of which mainstream media had chosen for the most part to effectively ignore this dissenting voice.  To the degree, that when it comes to free speech, that one side has clearly not had a fair opportunity to express their viewpoint and to propagate their beliefs to the public that they are trying to reach, it makes sense to thereby provide them with a wide avenue to do exactly that, especially as a means to make rectification for such being unfairly suppressed by the orthodoxy and media mouthpieces of the day.

However, as much as liberals may denigrate conservatives and their viewpoint, and vice versa, each side has an absolute legitimate right, in this land of freedom and liberty, to express what they desire to express, via their Constitutional  right to free speech.  This so indicates that so many of today's left leaning campuses, have chosen to deliberately silence all those that oppose their  particular ideology, seemingly not recognizing that by silencing those others that have a fundamental right to express their opinions and viewpoints; that they are, in fact, propagating the belief that the only appropriate speech that matters, is that which is in harmony with their own ideals and beliefs, which does not make for a free and open society, but rather does that very opposite of such.

True freedom of speech, is never about each member of society having to march to the very same beat of the prevailing drum of the times, but rather consists of the open and healthy debate between people, which allows for the give and take of open conversation and communication, so that we as a people, can learn and grow from one another, and thereby produce a better whole from the diversity of the many.

Warrantless searches

In order for any people to be considered to be free, they must at a minimum, be secure within their own person, and their own property, from unreasonable searches and seizures from the state.  In those cases in which a home search is conducted, the policing arm of the state is required to have obtained a judicial warrant specifying the location to be searched and the specific things to be seized.  The above is part and parcel of the 4th Amendment to our Constitution, but even if this was not specifically spelled out by that Amendment to that Constitution, recognize that a person can never consider themselves to be free and at liberty, if the state apparatus through its policing arm, is able to at their discretion, search and seize, whatsoever that they so desire, with or without notice, at anytime and at any place that they so please.

While, police will decry the unfairness of them always having to get a warrant, specific to the place, people, and items to be seized, under all circumstances, and thereby put forth examples of why they should be able to circumvent such by indicating the exigency of certain dynamic situations; the truth of the matter is, if the Justice department will not do their fair part in staying the overreaching hand of the police, or if both of these institutions, simply agree that in certain specific situations, the police are permitted to do whatsoever that they so desire to do, per their discretion, alone; then the people within that country cannot be considered to be free.  Further to the point, such warrantless searches are seldom arbitrary, but rather are often instigated by those that work hand in glove with the well placed and powerful, so that some are accorded special privileges which none shall ever dare tread upon; whereas the general public is forever in danger of having their most basic rights subject to abuse at anytime, in which they have no recourse to such an abuse.

This signifies, that there is absolutely no point in believing or saying false words, claiming that this country is the land of liberty and freedom, when the very police who are sworn to serve and to protect the general public, are performing their duties in a manner which is inimical to specifically that; for these police rather are primarily serving and protecting those that actuate them in particular actions that they thereby take that will or will not be tolerated and supported by those that they answer to.  When any police department is effectively utilized as an oppressive cudgel to keep certain people in line, at the behest of those that want to keep the masses, in their place; as well as to demonstrate as necessary, that nobody is safe, then that country is certainly not free, nor are the people at liberty, but rather this distinctly represents what is the epitome of a police state.

To the degree that the justice department turns a blind eye, or implicitly encourages, police departments throughout this land to exercise warrantless searches, and no-knock searches, per their discretion, then the people are never going to be safe, and should rightly fear that they have nowhere to turn for justice; signifying that the highest law of this land is effectively a dead letter.

The coin of the realm

The coin of the realm for the United States of America, is its Federal Reserve note, colloquially known as the dollar bill, of which, this currency has degraded over time into becoming just a fiat currency.  In other words, there isn't anything backing the dollar bills in existence other than the trust that people and institutions place into it, as well as the inherent backing by "the full faith and credit" of the United States government.  Not too surprisingly, fiat currencies, have a very strong tendency to become less valued over time, which is why today's dollar bill does not have even close to the value of its predecessor dollar bill, that was previously part of the gold standard, and was severed from such in 1971. So that as of 2020, it takes as reported by dollartimes.com, $6.46 to equate to what the value of a $1.00 was back in 1971.  This so indicates, that those that hide their money under their mattress, or fall asleep, akin to a Rip Van Winkle with money in their pocket, are not going to be too happy, upon their realization that dollars do not well hold their value over time.

The fact that the United States government essentially monopolizes what is made to be currency in this country puts them in the catbird seat of utilizing that currency for the primary benefit of those that are knowable about future interest rates, the velocity of that money in circulation, and the strength of that currency vis-a-vis other global currencies, of which that knowledge materially benefits those that know of these things, in the sense of being able to profit immensely from it.  Further to the point, those institutions which are aware that a given currency is going to be, for instance, devalued in comparison to a basket of other currencies or to a particular currency, are in the commanding position to profit, handsomely from that knowledge.  This so indicates that when it comes to the coin of the realm, that a given country's currency is far too valuable of a commodity for those that should not know, which are typically considered to be the general public, what those that are the arbiters of that money do know, beforehand.  In other words, those that control or have massive influence upon the issuance and value of money have zero interest in fairly sharing that wealth or being fair with the general public when it comes to that money, because part of the way that they maintain their power, influence, and wealth is by gaming the system, so that they thereby receive unearned riches from their inside access to all that is pertinent in regards to that currency.

So then, in a construct in which the general public must out of necessity utilize the coin of the realm for all of their transactions, they are perpetually in a very vulnerable position to having that which they have so long worked and labored for, becoming devalued, literally overnight, and thereby what would appeared to have been so secure, actually becomes not.  This signifies that fiat currencies are an ever present danger to the general public and to the degree that the general public can mitigate such, by thereby storing their wealth into things that are tangible and have a strong tendency to hold their value, such as land, real estate, equipment, and precious metals, they should prudently consider doing exactly that.

United we stand, divided we fall

Mankind's greatest delusion is to see the world only from an  exclusive self consciousness, and not to take into account, that this world is filled with millions upon millions of other inhabitants that have the very same unalienable rights as each of us does; no more and no less.  So that, the very first lesson to learn is never going to be that each one of us is egotistically special, in the sense, that we are above others; but rather, that each one of us has been created by the very same hand, and are not only equally entitled to the same fruits, but are always forever equal in the eyes of our Creator, without exception.

This thus signifies that the only real race for mankind is for mankind to truly become united as one, for we are all of the same common cause.  The separation that we often perceive in regards to others, is a tragic false construct which has to be overcome if we are to ever have lasting peace, in which those that have the most progress to make, are the ones that stumble over the simplest of differences, such as the color of our skin, or our place of origin, as these most basic of traits have absolutely nothing to do with the character of our person.  Further to the point, those that are quick to judge others are always going to be those that believe that shortcuts and snap decisions are somehow part and parcel of what makes for good discernment, when this can never be so. 

Each one of us is truly a work in progress, of which, the first step in the continuance of good progress, is when interacting with other people to do so in a manner that wishes the betterment and good of that other, for to not be able to see the equal validity and the humanity of the other person, is to misconstrue others into categories, such as superior or inferior, which incorrectly diminishes either our own worth or theirs.  Certainly, this is not an easy mindset to grasp; yet, it is a fundamental truth that must be acknowledged, for mankind has suffered again and again, from misjudging their own selfish importance at the direct expense of their neighbor's importance.

The very motto of the United States is the Latin phrase: e pluribus Unum, which translated means: "out of many, one."  This signifies that the very purpose of these United States, is for all the many people that have come into this country from all over the world, and hence from a multitude of backgrounds and cultures to be recognized as equally valid members of these United States, in which the abiding principle of this country is for all of these people to become united as one people under the same flag, with the same unalienable rights, of which all are equally entitled to the same attributes of  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

To the degree that we feel oneness with our own family and our very close friends, we must also be more than willing to put forth the same sort of dynamic effort to encompass more and more people into what would thereby become our ever widening circle, for that is what we are called to do, for we all are in the very same world, together.

Getting away with murder

America is a very violent nation, that literally stands alone in comparison to every other western nation, in the amount of its citizens that are murdered each year, of which the proximate cause of all these murders besides the fact that America is filled with enclaves of impoverished people that are in hopeless situations, is to a large extent because of the sheer amount of firearms in the hands of their population, of which firearms are extremely lethal in what they are meant to do.  One might think, as bad as that is, that because the murder rate in America is so high, that at least the sheer amount of practice involved in resolving murders would now be close to the art of perfection; especially in consideration that with all the high-technology advances of law enforcement over recent years and in conjunction with the vast improvements within forensic science over the years, that America, alone amongst all other western nations, would lead in the clearance rate of those being charged with the crime of murder.  Regrettably, that assumption is clearly false, in which as reported by freethink.com, "In 1965, the nationwide clearance rate for homicide was 91%; in 2017, it was just over 61%," which is absolutely appalling, and indicates that those that murder other people have a 39% of not even ever been charged with the crime of murder, let alone convicted of such.

In consideration, that murder is the wrongful taking away of another person's life, one would think that this particular crime would be a very high priority for police departments in conjunction with justice offices to see that such would be resolved at not only a very high rate, but done in an expeditious and thorough manner.  Rather, it would seem that though a whole lot of people are being murdered, that the police and justice departments are so often seemingly clueless about who has done it, and subsequently can't even find a suspect in nearly 40% of the cases of murder.  While the reasons why this is so may be myriad, one would say that the fundamental reason why murder clearance rates are abysmally low in America, comes down to the salient fact that police and justice departments are to a very large extent, not trusted and not seen as being of merit by significant portions of the population and that those police and justice departments to their discredit, often do not know the constituents in many communities that they are sworn to serve and to protect.

When certain communities are essentially seen as nothing more than areas for the police to make easy arrests for basic victimless crimes, such as prostitution, drug usage, and vagrancy, in which, those officers along with the justice department are interested in nothing more but coerced plea bargains, and easy convictions, in which they have no apparent qualms about disrupting communities, because they have the power to do so, those that make up that community, even when they are suffering from real crimes being committed against them, such as robbery, larceny, and murder, will not readily come forward to the police or justice departments, because they have consciously decided that there is no good upside to doing so, for nothing positive will occur by buying into a system that has essentially criminalized those that are poor, disenfranchised, ill educated, and lacking in good opportunity.

So that, murders in America, have low clearance rates, because there are far and away too many communities that have no legitimate police protection, whatsoever; and view those police officers that enter into their communities as nothing more than a common enemy to all.

As a tree is known by its fruit, so is a system by its results

Each country and every civilization in its own way, wants to be considered to be on the right way and on the correct path for the benefit of their fellow countrymen.  Further to the point, life consists to a certain natural degree of comparisons, one country to another, one thing to another, in which the object of the exercise, apt or not, is to determine as to which country is doing better than another in regards to things that are often measurable, such as income, wealth, incarceration, education, achievements, healthcare, justice, social activities, and so on and so forth.  The point of such an exercise is to compare, fairly, one system to another, and from that comparison to thereby determine the success of a given system, by the fairest possible standard, which typically would consist of the tangible results of a particular system.

Additionally, there is a very valid reason as to why societies should be concerned about the results of the systems that they live under, because only by the careful evaluation of those results, is it possible, to make adjustments to those systems in order to thereby achieve better and subsequently the preferred results.  To not do so, means that the powers to be, don't really care about results, per se; but rather simply care more about maintaining their power, or their position, at the expense of making necessary adjustments to the system by learning from the application of such in the real world, as not everything that appears good on paper or in theory, works out as expected, in reality.

This thus signifies, that any country, that within its founding of such, or the principles that actuate such, which are based around such noble ideals such as freedom, liberty, equality, justice, fairness, tranquility, and the pursuit of happiness, of which these all are desired on the behalf of promoting the general welfare for the people, should be fairly judged by the outcome of those promises made from that government of, by, and for the people.  This then is the true test of any system, for that system which promises great benefits, should be adjudged by whether or not those benefits do occur, as well as by the overall fairness and distribution of those benefits throughout the entire population.  From those results, good or bad, that system should be evaluated, for that is the truest test of such.

So that, any country or civilization, believing it to be a great country or civilization, should be objectively judged by the results of their system and thereby the outcome of that system as propagated throughout its entire population; of which, those systems that are truly successful will only be those systems that have results that faithfully reflect such.  This thus means, that all the noise about the greatness of certain countries and specific civilizations, really comes down to not what those at the very top have to say and show, but rather how those that are the forgotten, the forsaken, and the disenfranchised, are being treated within those countries in the here and now; for that is the true measure of any good system, for these systems that do not fairly aid their weakest members have yet to yield and will not yield the grand bountiful harvest that all are equally entitled to.

Quotas, overtime, and "collars for dollars"

Public servants cost the taxpayer's money, and police officers are public servants; so fiscally concerned citizens should be concerned about how much police officers are costing them in the real world, alongside whether or not the officers are actually conducting themselves in a manner which is in the true interest of the public good.  In point of fact, on a given day, there are all sorts of arrests of citizens for all sorts of alleged crimes, from the arrest of people for the pettiest of crimes, or even worse, trumped up charges of a crime, to crimes of real import.  In the scheme of things, from a public safety standpoint, it would make a lot more sense that arrests be made of people that are actually harming others, or harming property, as compared to arresting people that are essentially committing "crimes" that are victimless.  Unfortunately, though, because of the way the system is structured, we find that the desire for extra pay and the implementation of unofficial quotas can upset the sensibility of even the best of public servants, because police officers and those that manage them are prone to desire to "game" the system, for their own benefit, because as in most things, money matters.

That is to say, in the incarceration facilities and justice departments that are part of the system, they have a constant need for inventory, and those being arrested are the very first process in keeping that inventory, fresh.  Further to the point, police officers are well aware that it behooves them to concentrate their arresting activities upon those that have the least representation in a given community, which thereby signifies that they overly target their arrests upon the poor and disenfranchised.  Additionally, police officers know that if they don't consistently bring in a certain amount of arrests or tickets on a given shift or workweek, that they will not only have to answer for that shortfall in their unofficial quota, but may suffer directly from their lack of doing their part by subsequently having their shift hours changed to something far less desirable, as well as being susceptible to the receipt of a poor evaluation score, negating therefore their opportunity to advance or even to maintain their job.  Also, police officers know that the easiest way to augment their pay is to make arrests, especially near the end of their shift, in order to thereby garner overtime by the process of taking their "collar" through the procedures and paperwork that each arrest so necessitates.  This perverse incentive means that police officers have a strong bias to arrest those that have no voice, not really because these people are a clear and present menace to society, but mainly because there is good money to be had, by that overtime, and a timely arrest makes for easy money.

If, justice departments, actually were more concerned about doing what is right by their community, they would make it their point to concentrate their resources against those criminal activities that actually have an adverse material impact upon their communities, and rather than arresting citizens for drug possession and victimless crimes, would see to it, that it would be of far better service to that community, to address these non-desirable activities through  proactive social services and the like.  Instead, we have police departments that spend far too much time arresting those that by their arrest aren't going to make that community any safer, in which the taxpayer's pay for this, without getting anything that would approach fair value; nor is good justice rendered, for that matter.

"For civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized”

The above quotation comes from the inestimable Rod Serling, from his ground breaking TV series, The Twilight Zone. That statement is apropos of today's society as it was just as applicable when it was first aired in 1961.  It would behoove mankind to recognize that civilization cannot ever be successfully built upon lies, bombs, discrimination, hate, and all things of this same ilk, for each of these bad traits has in common, that they are destructive in nature.  Rather, for civilization to really take hold, the people that make up those communities must behave in a manner which demonstrates that they are first and foremost, sensible, as well as caring, empathetic, considerate, and desiring from their heart, the good for the other, which are all traits that are constructive in nature. 

We then find, that those communities that lack the tangible beliefs and assets of a constructive nature, are not really civilized societies, though they may well have some of the civilized components that are necessary to create that civilized society.  Nobody ever said that it would be easy to become civilized, for mankind has proven to have a rather nasty tendency to impulsively or to rashly strike out against others, and in particular against others, that thwart their particular desires and unbending will.  The very first way to correct something such as that, is to recognize the truth of the statement, that we all are in this together; and thereby come to the sensible recognition that civilizations in order to be civilized must learn better how to compromise, to be more accommodating, to listen, and to truly put themselves in the shoes of the other, in which by doing such, the sooner that community will transform itself into being civilized.

Each of us learns from example, and too often examples place in front of virtually all of us, especially in the way that we interact with one another, demonstrates that to a depressingly high degree, that what we see or claim as being civilized, really is not; but rather has a lot more to do, with submission by one party to another, and thereby the use of power by  the prevailing party to get their way, in which this injustice, writ large, is not right, and is not a component of how a vibrant civilized society comes into existence.

In point of fact, to become civilized is something that requires all parties to that society, being meaningful members of it; in which those members of that society have a specific doctrine in place, that is sound and liberating in its principle, and is applicable equally to each member of that society.  Further, that society must be of the people, for the people, and by the people, in which the highest law of that land is natural law, as contrasted to corrupt law.  These conditions are necessary in order to build the foundation that great civilizations are created from, and from that sound foundation, there will be built by the words, deeds, and hands of those people, justice and peace on earth, along with good will to all of mankind.

He who has the capital, has the power

Each one of us, has an abiding desire, to pull their own weight and to earn income, of which for most Americans, this is accomplished through labor.  There are exceptions to this of which, for instance, some that are handicapped are unable to work, in addition to there being some people that perform work that they do not receive direct monetary compensation from, such as housewives or those that do charitable work without compensation; and then there are those that because of their economic privilege in life, do not need to work, because they either have inherited money, or have enough money to make even more money from that money, through things such as passive investments, such as stocks or bonds, or by virtue of more active investments, such as having equity in a company that employs people that work for them.

To the degree that those that employ that capital, fairly negotiate with their workers so that there is a fair sharing of the profits so generated, this then is good.  To the degree that workers are outright exploited, and the finances of a given company are opaque as well as being skewed to provide the lion's share of the benefits and monies to those in the highest management positions, this is not good.  Also, anytime that those that provide capital, such as banks, or people, or a consortium of stockholders that create a given company, in which those providing the capital, lift nary a finger to actually produce anything of value, but basically stipulate that the value of what they are providing is that capital, alone; of which a significant portion of the value and worth of that company becomes the domain of these investors of capital, then there is something fundamentally wrong about that.

In other words, too many of those that bring capital to the table, appear to, more often than not, to benefit from simply putting that capital to use, and thereby to reap the easy rewards from simply having money, to make more money.  Further, because money is necessary in order to purchase items and goods that are required for people to function and to live, those that are able to dictate the terms of how much compensation, and the conditions of such employment, to those that have little or no money but a need to be gainfully employed, are utilizing their capital as a form of economic power to benefit primarily themselves.  While, it is true that those seeking employment are free to look at a multitude of places for that employment, in reality, beggars are not in a real good position, to be choosers. 

Further to the point, there are many good people, that have specific talents and a good work ethic, but lack the necessary capital to create their own business or workplace, in which in order to get that capital, they must thereby seek a loan, of which the parties so loaning that money, are in essence, piggybacking their payback from the sweat of the brow of the person, so diligently working.   This doesn't mean that those providing capital deserve no compensation, for they are risking money; but rather what this so indicates is that the price for that money so being loaned, should never be predatory, but should rather be reasonable, and that he who earnestly labors, is certainly entitled to have a reserved seat at the table of success.

There is a time to fight

To believe that in this world that there are moral absolutes, that never changed, because those absolutes need not ever take into consideration the circumstances, the intricacies, or the reality of a given situation, is to simplify life in such a manner and to such a degree, that human beings with souls apparently are really no more than basic binary machines, meant to simply select either yes or no, and do so without any nuance, whatsoever.  This should be seen as a false construct, in which, those that always take the letter of the law, somehow believing that by doing so, that they are honoring the true embodiment of that law, should realize, instead, that this is a tragic error, in reality.

Unfortunately, there is way too much violence and fighting in this world, of which, much of that violence and a lot of that fighting is not for social justice or for anything of positive merit, but often has a lot more to do with satisfying the selfish or wrong desires of the other in a manner in which one party is imposing their will upon another.  This type of violence and blood-thirsty fighting serves no good purpose, yet, despite all of mankind's great leaps in progress, seems to be systemic throughout the world, and it is especially disappointing, that western nations, and in particular, the United States of America, are so often bellicose in their attitude as well as in their lust for violence, thereby setting a poor example on a nationwide level, but also serving to set a bad example for the very people that make up that nation.

Yet, it must be said, that there is a time to fight, of which fighting has its place.  For instance, when the southern confederacy unjustly fired upon Fort Sumter, and insisted by their actions and by their words that the south had the right to secede from that Union, and further that therefore all that was owned by the federal government for the consortium of people that made up these United States, that were located upon southern confederacy soil would be duly confiscated by that confederacy; this was a position that was materially wrong and in violation of the highest law of this land, its Constitution.  

These United States could have permitted the southern states to secede from the Union, and thereby to simply let them go about their business, but having done nothing to interfere with that peculiar institution, slavery, and in recognition that Lincoln's highest duty was to honor that Constitution, the Union did so fight.  The whole point of that fighting, was never to completely vanquished the south, or to seek revenge upon the south, but rather to conclusively defeat that which was the prevailing reason for that rebellion, that which put the lie to the Declaration of Independence, and was untrue to the Christian spirit that all are equal in God's law, and thereby it was determined that slavery would be eradicated from this land, forever; so that a new birth of freedom would arise from the ashes of this war.

There is a time to fight, physically, morally, and righteously; of which our very objective should be first and foremost to demonstrate by our words and by our deeds that we are willing to cooperate and to do our part to see that we become united in conscious recognition that we are all in this world together, and that therefore we are all interconnected, without exception; in which our overarching harmonious goal should be worthy of the faith and freedom so graciously provided to us by our Creator.

Black and white, justice and injustice

America has made significant strides against overt racism, in which, with the exception of small enclaves of racists who typically are not part of any meaningful power structure, we find that in today's society racism in any of its myriad forms, is frown upon by most good people, as at a minimum, for being in bad style, and out of touch with the enlightened standards of the day.  This doesn't mean that there still isn't racism, as of course there very well is, it just signifies that conspicuous racism is not tolerated in normal society; whereas, racism done by indirect, deceptive, and underhanded means, is still quite prevalent.

However, in consideration that major corporations of all types have taken into their highest executive offices, more and more frequently, people that are non-white; as well as in the halls of our highest governmental offices, we find that even there, people that are non-white have had significant positions, even including the President of the United States; all of this combined does indicate the validity of the point, that America is far more racially inclusive than it previously once was, which not only sets a meaningful good example for its citizens, but also helps to demonstrate that America is progressive in the way that it carries itself.

Yet, despite this progress, there is an incredible amount of debilitating stress within America, which indicates that not all is right.  The reason that this is so is that while America has become far more open in accepting people that are non-white as equally entitled to the benefits and opportunities of this country, what has not really changed, is that this country, so often in its implementation of justice, is fundamentally, unjust.  In other words, while there will continue to be racial tensions within America for the foreseeable future, what is actually occurring has less to do with black vs. white, and a lot more to do with the tension of justice vs. injustice.

That is to say, just about any civil protest, really comes down to the protest, being about the wrong things which are permitted to occur by those that are the governing bodies, as well as those administrating justice, all in conjunction with the boots on the ground of the policing done by this country in distinct contrast to those that are living within a construct in which quite obviously they are being dealt with in a manner which is fundamentally unjust, unequal, and inimical to the very liberating principles of the founding documents of this great nation. So that, the reality of the situation is that because there is so much systemic injustice in this the land of what is supposed to be fair and equal, and of justice, equally applicable to all; is that the people that are on the wrong end of injustice, are not forever going to tolerate being denied that which is rightfully theirs as a citizen of this country, especially one that has been defined as being of, by and for the people.

As it has been said, where there is no true justice, there will be no abiding peace, no matter the chains and punishments so meted out upon those that merely point out the inconvenient truth of the matter.  All of this signifies that till this country learns to be just in all that it says and does, that there will be no lasting peace, for a land without justice, is land that is not free.