Propaganda is an Offensive Weapon

Propaganda is a tool. As such, it's neither good nor bad. It only becomes bad in the hands of bad people. However, the people most interested in propaganda are people with a lust for power, which makes propaganda more commonly connected to evil than to good. We get the impression that propaganda is evil, that we must protect ourselves from it, and never resort to using it ourselves.

But a defensive strategy towards propaganda is ineffective at best. Constantly trying to find lies hidden in stories is not getting us anywhere, especially if we don't have a clear world view against which we can define truth.

To defend ourselves against propaganda, we need to have our own world view because propaganda promotes world views. Without a solid world view of our own we're powerless against it. Our world view becomes whatever the most effective propaganda tells us that it is.

When done well, propaganda forms an ubiquitous set of ideas that together form a consistent whole. This becomes in turn the dominant world view of society. There may be lies everywhere. But they fit so neatly together that the overall impression is truth. Even smart people can end up believing that democracy is freedom, that the state is us, that politicians have our best interest at heart, and so on.

However, to be truly effective, our word view must not only be consistent. It must reflect the truth, and this is where nature, aka God, comes in on the side of those who want to stand up to the evils propagated through state sanctioned propaganda.

Armed with a good world view, we can do more than just defend ourselves against propaganda. We can use the tool ourselves to promote the better world view.

My particular world view is anarchy based on Christian values. I believe that the golden rule is all we need for a functioning legal system, and that Jesus was right. There's no conflict between the teachings of Jesus and my world view.

An interesting aspect of Jesus' teachings is that he lays out the path forward when it comes to the spread of his message. He tells us how to use propaganda to promote Christian ideas. He tells us to focus on love, hope and faith. This optimistic message should be promoted wherever we go.

To defend ourselves against evil, we must never accept narratives that demoralize our efforts. Defeatism should be countered and ignored. Such ideas are for losers. They are not for us.

Our message should focus on everything good, including personal success. We need to be the person we'd like to see in the world. But the message must never be about us. We're not successful due to some personal cleverness. Rather, our success is due to our world view.

Furthermore, success isn't limited to material gains or power. That's part of the lie that we aim to expose. Any kind of personal victory is a success. Overcoming an illness is just as much a success as a fine career. Being content in our lives is better than being constantly striving for more material wealth.

The point of our propaganda isn't to come across as better or more wealthy than we are. That would be lying. Our propaganda should be truthful. Step one is therefore to live the lifestyle that we promote, and to apply our chosen world view in all our affairs. Only then does it makes sense to study Edward Bernays's Propaganda and similar texts for useful insights into how propaganda works.

Liberty

Never Think, Talk or Act in Terms of the Common Good

Politicians like to think of themselves as representatives of the common good. They invoke some cause or other that requires everyone to make a sacrifice. We have to pay taxes, follow rules of various kinds, and generally do as we're told. It's good for society, they say. Or they point to the children or old people, or some other group.

This was on full display during the virus scare. We were told to lock down, wear masks and take experimental drugs, all for the common good. If anyone asked specifically what it was all about, we were told that it was for grandma's sake. To disobey was tantamount to murder.

The folly of this is becoming increasingly obvious in retrospect. However, most people think the error lies in the misidentification of the common good. They don't realize that the very idea of a common good is where the error lay. This is evident in the way things continue to be discussed.

An example of a topic that's rarely talked about in any other context than the common good, we have money in the context of monetary policies. I have yet to see anyone discuss this without invoking some common good like society or nation.

People will argue for or against the gold standard without ever mentioning their own personal preference. They cite the need of policy makers to be flexible, or the need for credit to stimulate economic activity. Rarely, if ever, does anyone argue the point from a personal perspective. Yet, this is precisely the way we need to look at things if we aren't going to be duped by some central banker or other.

The question we have to answer for ourselves is whether we would prefer to be paid in gold or in paper money. Do we prefer to use gold or paper money when budgeting and accounting? Is gold better than paper money when it comes to judging long term price fluctuations?

If we answer these questions honestly, the only reason we'll come up with in favour of paper money is that everyone else is using it, so we have to use it ourselves. But that's not an argument for anything. It's merely a statement of facts.

The only correct way to think about society is to ask ourselves what's in it for us. If there's no benefit to us, why go along with some scheme or other?

This attitude will cause many to react in horror. However, this is only due to ignorance as to what it means to act in our own self interest. Fair trade is in our interest because it benefits both parties in the transaction, so self interest doesn't exclude us from productive cooperation in society. Sinful activities result in trouble for ourselves, so such activities are not pursued when we have our best interest at heart.

The only acts we exclude ourselves from when we refuse to think in terms of the common good are those that impact negatively on ourselves for some perceived benefit to someone else. To refrain from such harmful actions towards ourselves isn't immoral. It's the only rational way to act.

Some will at this point bring up the "trolley car dilemma". This is a favourite among politicians who like to think of themselves as constantly at the levers of this kind of machine. However, the problem has a solution that has nothing to do with the common good.

When having to choose between saving one or saving many people, we'll instinctively choose to save as many as possible. This isn't due to some abstract ethical ideal. It's because we like to have as many friends as possible. By saving a bunch of people, rather than saving just one, we end up with more friends.

This response will elicit all sorts of outrage. However, we can respond to this quite easily. We can counter the question by asking what they themselves would do if it was their spouse who was the single person in danger. We can further inform them that we intend to share their answer with their spouse.

Trolley car dilemma

By Original: McGeddon Vector: Zapyon - This SVG diagram includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this icon:, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Losing Control

It's been my impression for a while that Iran, rather than the US, is most in control of Iraq, and this impression is now strengthened with the latest news out of Bagdad. The green zone is under attack. The US embassy may have to evacuate. If so, we're looking at more than just an embarrassment for the US.

If the US pulls out of Bagdad, the US army will have to leave as well. That will include army units stationed in Syria. With no US presence in Syria, Iran gains full control, not only of Iraq, but Syria and Lebanon as well.

That would be horrible news for Israel. They will do everything they can to get Iran off its doorstep. That includes going to war against Iran. However, that's only possible with US support, and the hawks in Washington are struggling to keep the public excited about the prospect of such a confrontation.

Meanwhile, US friendly forces in Tripoli are under pressure. Libya may also rid itself of US ties, and this will only serve to embolden people in other places where the US have a foothold. Moral support for the US is waning, and anti-American's are getting the upper hand.

We have a situation similar to what happened to the Soviet Union after they pulled out of Afghanistan. Moral support for the communists evaporated, and the empire crumbled into a myriad of independent states. It took decades for Russia to get back on its feet again.

This is what happens when the leaders of an empire get preoccupied with policies that only serve to lower morale within their territorial borders. People wake up to the moral decay. The enthusiasm for the regime wanes, both abroad and internally. When things fall apart at the periphery, the reverberations are felt at home, sometimes strongly enough to shake things up in ways that were unimaginable only years prior.

Joe Biden

By The White House from Washington, DC - V011013DL-0556, Public Domain, Link

The Immensity of Nature

My cousin in Norway has a six year old daughter. She's currently sick with pneumonia. Both her lungs are infected.

While sad, this doesn't come as a surprise. The girl has been constantly sent to the hospital for even the smallest of ailments. Pictures of the girl have often been with her mask on. She got her vaccine shot some four months ago, just to be on the safe side.

This is the sort of over-protection that leads to serious illness, and we're finally there.

The girl will recover. I have no doubt about that. She's a strong and healthy looking girl. Nature has provided well for her. It's her parents that are posing a threat to her health.

Interestingly, her parents are no imbeciles. My cousin is a professor of psychology at the University of Oslo. His wife is also a doctorate. There's no lack of intelligence. However, there's clearly a lack of faith in nature's ability to fix things.

This lack of faith is everywhere these days. There are the technocrat buffs who refuse to believe that anything but manmade structures are safe. Then there's the gloom and doom gang who are convinced that all the technocrat buffs will die.

They are both wrong, of course. Nature is immense, and modern science is not nearly as advanced as the technocrat buffs believe. However, nature is also pro-life. People can take an awful lot of poison and still end up fine. A lack of faith in nature doesn't mean that nature itself will give up on us.

Only one thing is certain. Nature will surprise and delight us. It will also scare us and humble us. Those with faith in nature will be rewarded, and those who repeatedly go against nature will meet God in some uncomfortable way.

To be on the right side of this division, we need to have faith in nature. Hope and love goes a long way too. Once again, it turns out that Jesus had it right.

Jesus

By Carl Bloch - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdd6dZPU3nrHUoYjTuN9VNudnSwm6_ckL4my_jNr9y0jQXOkTeF5lzEN7RsSyiIlatLoriO91OkOEHrVvJ3bToCcmcjVcgQ76Ios4s0OCGS2ivlOP2i3K8L1rG1Svqv2EdEDnGRpLzOC-/s1600/Sermon_on_the_Mount_Carl_Bloch.jpg and Carl Bloch, p. 313, ISBN 9788798746591, Public Domain, Link

A Walk in the 5th Empire

We went for a walk along the river Douro today; down where the river meets the Atlantic. The area is called Foz, which means river outlet in Portuguese.

Half our walk was along the river. The other half was along the Atlantic. Our destination was a seaside restaurant where we sat down for lunch.

The sky was thinly overcast. Temperatures were neither too hot nor too cold.

There were people everywhere enjoying the day just as much as we were.

That's when it struck me once again how miniscule the state is relative to the immensity of nature and voluntary cooperation.

Everywhere around us, people were engaging in peaceful and voluntary interactions. The state was nowhere to be seen. It might as well have been non-existent.

That's not to say that I don't recognize the fact that an orderly town requires some sort of central organization. The parks, roads and other infrastructure are all organized by the town hall. However, a stateless society isn't necessarily without any central organization. It too will have institutions dedicated to the well functioning of towns and neighbourhoods.

My point is that there was nothing about our surroundings that told us that we were not in the 5th Empire; that mythical place where all interactions between people are purely voluntary. Hence, we were de-facto in the 5th Empire, and so was everyone else.

The state is just as much a fiction as the 5th Empire, so there's no reason to believe that one exists but not the other. In fact, the 5th Empire is way bigger than the state, because the state only exists when we're dealing with force. That's typically only when we're forced to pay our taxes, or forced to play by some rule or other that has nothing to do with the golden rule.

The 5th Empire on the other hand exists whenever the state is non-existent, and with the state nowhere to be seen along the banks of the river Douro, or along the Atlantic, our Sunday walk was spent in this voluntary society.

The same can be said for everyone else. They too were in the 5th Empire, and all their dealings with others were inside it as long as no-one insisted on bringing the state into their affairs.

For all the pessimism that exists related to our freedoms, reality shows us over and over again that we are free most of the time. The state has agents in various strategic positions, but they are far from ubiquitous.

The 5th Empire is huge in comparison. It operates everywhere with no need of force. Most of our lives are spent in voluntary arrangements. Only rarely are we confronted with the state.

Once there's a general awareness of this, the state can be replaced by voluntary organizations, because everything worth doing can be done voluntarily and without force.

But we don't have to wait until everyone wakes up to this fact. Once we ourselves are aware of the world as it really is, we can arrange our affairs in such a way that we hardly ever have to deal with the state.

Our success will in turn inspire others to do the same, and the state will fade away as a consequence.

View of Porto and Gaia towards Foz

No-one can Stop a Rising Tide

It appears that big pharmaceutical corporations aren't as immune to litigation as many think. If it can be proven that such a company lied to the government, its protection is rendered invalid, and they become wide open for litigation. Furthermore, the proof of fraud doesn't have to come from government. Any citizen can initiate an investigation and present proof based on that. However, this particular point is currently being disputed. Pfizer is trying to throw out a lawsuit of this kind based on the fact that the plaintiff is a civilian.

I wouldn't get my hopes up too much when it comes to our chances of toppling big pharmaceutical corporations based on this kind of legal actions. Nor is there going to be any monetary compensation for damages any time soon. There are simply too many hurdles to cross for this to amount to anything material in the foreseeable future. Those who fell for the fraud aren't likely to see any kind of compensation in their lifetime. Nor are any of us going to see the end of big corporate giants ruling the world.

Pay-outs will be few and far between if they ever materialize. If one or more of the corporations go bankrupt, they will simply be sold onto new owners, and continue their business unaffected. Corporate law covers everyone's back. Not a single person will be held responsible for anything. However, there's nevertheless a silver lining.

The chances of pulling off a similar stunt as what was sprung on us by government back in 2020 are getting slimmer for every story of this kind. People wake up to the sinister soulless darkness that was let loose, and they will increasingly turn to nature, aka God.

Trust in government was boosted by their evil scam. But the cost is already becoming apparent. Not even the US armed forces are able to retain their reputation. People are waking up to the fact that government is merely an extension to corporate power, and does nothing to safeguard anyone.

A fascinating aspect of this is how different the forces of evil operate as opposed to the forces of good. Evil is always on a tight schedule. There's a frantic intensity about its scheming. The aim is to bamboozle people into compliance. There are traps everywhere, and people get tricked into them.

By contrast, good operates on grand timescales, and its weapon is nature itself. People get in trouble. They get sick. They die. The ugly truth becomes apparent. There's a growing awareness of the evil that has taken hold of those who rejected nature in favour of some manmade quackery. The snake oil salesmen themselves become nervous. They meet God in various ways. Some fall over and die after having themselves taken the concoction. Others discover to their horror what the snake oil is doing. They also discover that the world is waking up to their evil ploys.

Only those who put all their trust in nature, aka God, have been able to sleep soundly through the sort of nightmare that has been unleashed on us. Those who lost faith in nature, and trusted in man made quackery instead, are no longer feeling so sure of themselves. Those who saw opportunity in the evil, and leapt at it with open arms are even more in trouble.

The tide is rising, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. 

Albert Bourla

By World Economic Forum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vOjSYFsz4M, CC BY 3.0, Link

Vaccine for Omicron Variant Ready for Rollout in September

The original plan was to have the vaccine for the Omicron variant ready in March. That would have been a great move by the pharmaceutical corporations, because nature would have worked in their favour. With few people catching viruses during summer, they could have taken credit for the improvements. However, their hundred day plan was too tight, even by warp speed standards. The rollout is going to happen in September rather than March.

This is far from ideal for the snake oil sales team. Not only is Omicron last season's variant, fall and winter is flu season. The vaccine rollout is going to coincide with an uptick in cases as well as the emergence of some new variant. Only the most fearful will fail to notice the uselessness of the vaccine.

Another problem is the rollout's implications when it comes to vaccine status. Only those vaccinated with the Omicron version will be considered fully vaccinated. Everybody else are back to square one. They are no more vaccinated than the unvaccinated.

With less than half of everybody vaccinated, it becomes impossible to reintroduce the sort of draconian measures that we've been seeing. With only the most fearful up to date with their vaccine status, there can be no discrimination based on vaccine status, and a major selling point for the vaccine disappears. The ploy to keep us perpetually boosted is whimpering into nothing, precisely as predicted a year ago.

Liberty

The Great Vaccine Pivot

Someone decided to include a chapter about vaccine hesitancy in one of the latest school books in Norway. The chapter is painting the sceptics in a bad light. However, I doubt that the chapter will produce the sort of discussions that the authors had in mind.

I can imagine students pointing out that an uncle died suddenly, that a brother had a heart attack or that their sister had irregular periods. There will be all sorts of stories in support of the sceptics.

I'm sure of this because many of those who were positive towards the vaccine only a few months back are now denying ever having told people to take the experimental drug. There also appears to be an effort brewing to pin the debacle on Trump. If successful, the school book authors will come across as rabid Trump supporters.

There's a great pivot taking place when it comes to the vaccine narrative. A few decades down the road, it will be generally accepted that the rollout was a fascist ploy to win an election for Trump.

Fascism is best defined as state and corporations working closely together, so it won't be difficult to describe the vaccine rollout as an example of this.

There will be concerted effort to put the blame squarely at Trump's feet. However, the pharmaceutical industry is going to have a hard time avoiding the fact that there were billions of US taxpayer's money transferred into their accounts.

Only time will tell how well they manage to blame Trump for the fiasco.

Meanwhile, increasing numbers of people will distance themselves from the debacle. No-one will admit to their part in the ploy. Hence, vaccine mandates and mask mandates are unlikely to return any time soon, because pushing for such measures will only serve to incriminate the perpetrators.

The good news is that the rats are in disarray. They are scurrying all over the place, too busy to deflect blame from themselves to impose more misery on us.

All we need to do in order to keep the pressure up on the vermin is to note every now and again that there are excess deaths since before the vaccine rollout, that the state and corporate pharmaceuticals worked hand in hand like true fascists, and that someone must take responsibility.

The longer we keep them scrambling for cover, the longer we can enjoy our newly regained liberties.

Notable deaths according to Wikipedia

Rats Leaving a Sinking Ship

This is a story that FBI agents and Facebook censors might want to read carefully before starting another day at the office. The question they should ask themselves are why the top brass is suddenly distancing themselves from the hard work done by lower level operatives. Who exactly are they going to hang when the sinking ship goes down?

Censorship is a slippery tool. Like a snake, it has a tendency to turn around and bite its operator. History is full of examples of this. Censors may have a few good years, but tend to end up miserable and despised. Some may even find themselves pointed to by their own bosses. It's rarely the top brass that end up swinging.

When the CEO of Facebook decides to spill the beans, he's setting himself up as a target to those he's betraying. However, the man is no idiot. He must have calculated that this is the smarter move. For all the dangers he's now risking, keeping his mouth shut would have been more dangerous.

Similarly, it's interesting to see how the top brass in FBI wastes no time pointing fingers at their subordinates. This isn't the behaviour of people in control of a situation. This is the behaviour of rats leaving a sinking ship, and only idiots stay on board when the captain is looking for a seat in the life boats.

By Facebook, Inc. - http://en.facebookbrand.com, Public Domain, Link

846 Cases of Monkeypox in Portugal

A total of 846 cases of Monkeypox have been registered in Portugal as of August 24. This translates to about 5 new cases per day over the last week. This is the smallest number registered since the spread of the disease stalled in July:

• July 1 - 415 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• July 7 - 473 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• July 13 - 515 cases - about 7 new cases per day
• July 20 - 588 cases - about 10 new case per day
• July 27 - 633 cases - about 7 new cases per day
• August 3 -710 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• August 10 - 770 cases - about 9 new cases per day
• August 17 - 810 cases - about 6 new cases per day
• August 24 - 846 cases - about 5 new cases per day

Assuming a hospital stay of no more than ten days for the infected, there should be no more than 50 active cases of Monkeypox in Portuguese hospitals at the moment.

Pride flag

By Gilbert Baker (Vector graphics by Fibonacci) - SVG based on this image, Public Domain, Link

Blinking First

EU's strategy against Russia is to keep sanctions in place until Putin blinks. The strategy is to stay calm longer than Putin can endure, so political leaders are out in force with their warnings about this winter being tough for everyone. Macron has told the French that the age of abundance is over. German leaders are telling people to skip showers and clean themselves with wet towels instead. The English are being told to prepare for a cold winter.

The assumption is that Europeans care enough about Ukraine to make sacrifices at home. However, nobody cares much about Ukraine, and no-one is motivated for a significant cut in their standard of living.

This is starting to dawn on some politicians. One German MP has suggested complete capitulation to Russian demands. He sees no alternative to accepting Russian terms related to their second gas pipeline.

Such a move would solve all the problems facing Europeans this winter. The age of abundance will return as if by magic. The only ones holding this back is a handful of sadistically inclined individuals, and this fact is becoming increasingly apparent. Come this winter, someone will blink. However, that someone isn't likely to be Putin.

Emmanuel Macron

By EU2017EE Estonian Presidency - Tallinn Digital Summit. Welcome dinner hosted by HE Donald Tusk. Handshake, CC BY 2.0, Link

46,000 Cases of Monkeypox Worldwide

It's August 25, and we have close to 46,000 cases of Monkeypox worldwide. This is 1,000 less than predicted eight days ago based on an assumption that the outbreak has stalled at 1,000 new cases a day.

This is cause for optimism, because it indicates that the world is following a trajectory similar to Portugal, where new cases are becoming fewer.

The worldwide number of patients with Monkeypox currently in hospitals can be estimated to be 8,750 based on an assumption that patients are released within 10 days.

If we hover around 875 new cases per day for the next eight days before going lower, we can make the following projection going forward:

• July 24 - 17,500 cases, 700 new cases per day, 7,000 inpatients
• August 1 - 24,000 cases, 750 new cases per day, 7,500 inpatients
• August 9 - 32,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients
• August 17 - 39,000 cases, 875 new cases per day, 8,750 inpatients
• August 25 - 46,000 cases, 875 new cases per day, 8,750 inpatients
• September 2 - 53,000 cases, 875 new cases per day, 8,750 inpatients
• September 10 - 59,000 cases, 750 new cases per day, 7,500 inpatients
• September 18 - 65,000 cases, 750 new cases per day, 7,500 inpatients

Pride flag

By Gilbert Baker (Vector graphics by Fibonacci) - SVG based on this image, Public Domain, Link

A Different Kind of Extravagance

It appears that I may unwittingly have been part of a game of chicken with my older brother when I laid out a plan for an extravagant family get together in and around Porto. Everything was planned and ready to go when he backed out with a lame excuse. When I suggested I'd go on my own to Oslo instead, he leapt on it, and so did my two other brothers.

The extravagant week in Portugal has been cancelled. Instead, I'm going to Oslo, where I'll stay with family. The cost of this is a fraction of what we'd be paying for the original plan. It's the frugal alternative, and probably the right choice given how prices of energy, food and other everyday expenses are likely to go up this winter.

This is not a good time to spend lavishly on luxuries, even for those who can afford it. However, there's another way to show off.

I have the luxury of time that I can waste in ways that others can only dream of. 

My younger brother is a successful architect. As a consequence, he has plenty of cash available for consumption. But he has little time. He can't take a week off merely because he feels like it. That sort of luxury is reserved for my older brother and I. My twin brother is his own boss and almost as free to decide when to take time off.

That makes my architect brother the least free of us, and I'm rubbing his nose in this fact by taking 10 days in Oslo with no other plans than to stay with my parents and visit family and friends. However, I'm not making any big deal out of this. My reason for going isn't to show off. I'm not that petty minded.

I'm looking forward to my stay in Oslo. I haven't seen my parents or brothers in two years, and I'm curious to see how my adult children are doing. I also have some friends I'd like to see.

The social status aspect is merely an aside. It's nice to know that I have at least some things that my brothers may envy.

Wasting time on my balcony

Putin's Energy Pivot

Of all commodities, none is as important as energy, because all other commodities depend on it. Without an abundance of cheap energy, there can be no cheap fertilizers, and no cheap food. There can be no cheap metals, no affordable cars, no factories. Modern society would grind to a halt.

This is no new insight. Geo-politics is built on it. The dollar is tied to oil for the express purpose of control. The idea being that those who control the price of oil control the price of all things. Financial markets in the West have thus grown powerful to the point that just about all the resources of the world are dependent on the dollar. However, a series of self inflicted wounds have weakened the West's grip on the world's commodity markets.

A combination of climate hysteria and Russia paranoia has allowed Putin to get control of the price of natural gas in Europe.

The result has been skyrocketing energy prices, with natural gas and electricity leading the way. This has in turn put pressure on energy dependent industries. Metal produces are cutting down on production. It makes more sense to sell energy hedges than continue production. Some factories are permanently shut down because of stubbornly low metal prices relative to the price of energy.

The financial markets that used to control the price of all commodities are still in control of metal prices. But this is of no help without a corresponding grip on energy. All that's achieved is a mispricing of metals relative to energy, with a corresponding decline in production.

Pretty soon, there will be a shortage of metals, and prices will explode higher. But it won't be the metal producers in the West that get to take advantage of this future price hike. The benefit will be reserved to those with access to cheap energy, and it will be up to Putin to pick those winners.

Putin's plan is simple. Having taken control of energy prices, he can now pivot other industries in under his control. Fertilizers are already there, and metals are following suite.

Once metals are under Russian control, manufacturing follows. Putin will be able to dictate where in the world manufacturing will take place. This privilege which used to belong to the West is now on its way to Russia, all thanks to ill conceived policies based on hysteria and paranoia.

Greta Thunberg

Eco-anxiety - By Anders Hellberg - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

The Ukrainian Special Agent

Russian FSB has identified an Ukrainian special agent as the perpetrator of the assassination attempt on one of Putin's advisors. Taken on face value, this should mean that revenge will be wrought on state agents in Ukraine. However, the Russian announcement may be a red herring.

The agent may be a fiction created by the Russians. If so, the message is that the Russians don't care who did it, and that the retaliation will be against a target of their own choosing.

Only time will tell which one of it is. If there's a targeted retaliation against the agent and/or her boss, we can conclude that the agent was real and that nothing more elaborate should be read into the story.

However, if there's no retaliation in Ukraine relatively shortly, we can conclude that the agent is a fiction. If so, we'll have to look for other seemingly unrelated events to figure out what the Russians may be up to.

Some high ranking officer in the West may have an accident. Done correctly, this will seem unrelated, but will carry a clear message to the people behind the attack in Russia. Those going after Putin's inner circle are playing with fire.

Mark Esper with Jens Stoltenberg

By U.S. Secretary of Defense - 200212-D-AP390-6107, CC BY 2.0, Link

A Ten Year Old Anarchist

My youngest son in Norway has been an anarchist his whole adult life. His two older siblings are both libertarian leaning, but not anarchist. That's all right by me. One out of three isn't bad, especially when considering how demonized the philosophy is.

However, it now looks like I have another little victory here at home in Porto. My ten year old son has just connected the dots that I've been laying out for him. He too is now an anarchist, and it isn't because he doesn't know any better. He's genuinely happy to have learned at an early age that we don't have to accept the idea that some have the right to rule over us.

My boy is also adopting my positive attitude towards Christianity. I'm not sure he fully understands the doctrine, but I've pointed out that it's fully compatible with being an anarchist. Jesus never invoked any other authority than God, nor any law beyond the golden rule. Early Christians were anarchists. They didn't bow to the Romans.

So my son is now a Christian anarchist, at least in his mind. Eager to check this out in the wider world, he posted a comment on Tik Tok, saying something about anarchism.

The reactions were mainly positive. One commenter posted that anarchy doesn't mean no rules. It means no rulers. It's possible to have rules without also having rulers.

It appears that there's a widespread acceptance and understanding of anarchy among the young.

The conditions are ripe for liberty. The damage that lockdowns and mandates have done to people's respect for authority is likely to drive a pivot in that direction. If kids as young as my son are opening their eyes to the great potential of anarchy based on Christian values and norms, we might see a great shift over the coming two generations.

Everyone is by now aware of the horrors that centralized governments can inflict. Everyone has a personal experience with it. They also know a number of victims. Trust in government is therefore on the decline. People will be increasingly open for alternatives. When decent kids like my son shares their views, friends will be influenced.

Liberty

Assassination Attempt on Putin Advisor

Someone tried to kill a Putin advisor the other day. They failed. Instead of killing the advisor, they killed his daughter. However, it doesn't matter whether they killed the right person or not. The message is clear. Someone wants to escalate the conflict in Eastern Europe to include assassinations of political leaders. If that someone turns out to be a high ranking officer or politician in a country hostile to Russia, we can expect to see some kind of retaliation. However, as I pointed out in March, Putin better think long and hard about taking the bait. Once assassinations are included in war tactics, things can quickly turn ugly for the political elite on both sides of the conflict.

As for likely targets, should Putin decide to cross the Rubicon, my analysis from June still holds. Unpopular and largely obscure western leaders may start dropping dead under mysterious circumstances. If so, we'll know that Putin has determined the assassination attempt on his advisor to have been instigated in the West rather than in Kiev.

Vladimir Putin

By Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, Link

The Devil Possesses Those who don't Believe in Him

Only about 10% of people were able to see through the virus hoax. The rest fell in line and did what they were told. Hence, we got 90% vaccination rates where people generally do as they're told. The reason vaccination rates are lower other places isn't necessarily due to any greater insight into the hoax, but more due to apprehension and suspicion towards authority.

We can conclude that only 10% of people are awake to the evils that have been let loose in the world. The rest are ignorant and many are complicit in their ignorance. The number of individuals who are both aware of the evil and on the side of this evil is so small that it can be ignored.

The ones who are complicit in the hoax are almost all ignorant of the evils they are supporting. The proof of this lies in the fact that most of them are themselves vaccinated. Very few, if any, vaccine pushers are unvaccinated.

All of this has been revealed to us over the last two years. The fact that many fell in line with the official narrative was not unexpected. However, that it would be as many as 90% came as a surprise. The sudden appearance of hobby fascists and other minions was also a surprise. We didn't expect people to so thoroughly enjoy the situation, to the point of suggesting that the unvaccinated should be rounded up and exterminated. But some were so eager to fall in line with the evils unleashed that they shamelessly shared such thoughts on social media platforms.

It's fair to say that some were possessed by the idea that something had to be done to the non-compliant. Many thought themselves virtuous in expressing such thoughts. They thought they were the good guys, yet they were most definitely on the side of evil.

The reason for this may lie in an assumption prevalent in society these days. Namely that neither God nor the devil exist. Everything is mere pragmatism, and if the unvaccinated pose a supposed danger to others, why not isolate them?

This is what we get when God is left out of the picture. People stop believing that God, aka nature, is superior to what's merely man made. They also stop believing in evil, aka the devil. Good intents based on pragmatism becomes synonymous with being good, and this belief opens a door for evil to enter.

Once people stop believing that evil exists as a force in nature, they let themselves wide open to it. Full of good intentions, they call their family and friends, insisting that everyone takes the experimental drug. They demonize the unvaccinated as selfish and a danger to society. If we don't offer up our children to the experiment, we're not good members of society.

Before we know it, a large portion of the population are possessed by the idea that we must all give sacrifice to the greater good, also known as Molech.

Offering to Molech

By Charles Foster - Illustrators of the 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us http://associate.com/photos/Bible-Pictures--1897-W-A-Foster/page-0074-1.jpg, Public Domain, Link

Frugal for Everyday Life and Extravagant for Parties

One of my ancestors was a very rich man. So much so that his wealth lives on today, spread over hundreds of individuals who have him as an ancestor. He in turn had learned a thing or two from his ancestors.

His grandfather had a partner who went bankrupt due to excessive consumption. The moral and mental decay that came with overconsumption was frightening to behold. It left a lasting impression on the rich man's grandfather, and may have been the inspiration for his repeated mantra:

Nøysom til hverdags og storslått til fest

Which is Norwegian for "Frugal for everyday life and extravagant for parties".

The man lived in a mansion. He wasn't timid or modest. Quite the opposite. He was something of an eccentric show off. However, he was always frugal in his daily dealings. Extravagance was reserved for parties.

The lesson learned from the overconsumption by an ancestor's partner wasn't to stay away from extravagance entirely, but to reserve it for special occasions. This became a rule that was passed down through generations. Constance and William practiced it, and so do I.

The rule has two immediate advantages. It makes parties all the more enjoyable because they contrast all the more with everyday life, and it saves us money.

It should be noted that parties in Norway back in the days often lasted a few days. The parties my ancestor was referring to would today be considered get together events. Friends and family would hang around a few days at his residence, and they would be treated to all sorts of luxuries.

The impression left on his guests would be that of great wealth and generosity, which could in turn be used in business dealings. The man was at one point able to procure a loan from the king of Sweden based on the good impression the king had of him after having stayed a night or two at his place.

The rule yields an optimum return on investment. Not only does it give us a sense of luxury at parties while saving us money in the daily, it yields a lasting impression on everyone invited.

Having gone through a long frugal period myself, I've made a point of treating my family and myself to some luxury consumption every now and again. But I've stayed away from extravagance because my finances haven't been able to support it. However, things have improved, and we're upping our game a notch.

My wife and I rented a luxurious place out in the country for a week. We invited my adult kids in Norway over to the place. We bought plenty of beer, fine wines, and good food.

The arrangement was a great success, and I got a strong feeling my kids see me in a different light. No longer am I the father that threw in the towel and hid away in Portugal. I'm increasingly the patriarch. My wife is increasingly the lady of the house. Our ten year old son is very much impressed.

My parents and my brothers are coming down to Portugal in September, and I'm planning a repeat. We can afford it. This year looks set to be the year that my wife and I rise a notch or two in social standing among my peers.

Constance and William

Av Gustav Borgen – Norsk Folkemuseum: image no. NFB.49970, via digitaltmuseum.no., Offentlig eiendom, Lenke

810 Cases of Monkeypox in Portugal

A total of 810 cases of Monkeypox have been registered in Portugal as of August 17. This translates to about 6 new cases per day over the last week. This is the smallest number registered since the spread of the disease stalled in July:

• July 1 - 415 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• July 7 - 473 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• July 13 - 515 cases - about 7 new cases per day
• July 20 - 588 cases - about 10 new case per day
• July 27 - 633 cases - about 7 new cases per day
• August 3 -710 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• August 10 - 770 cases - about 9 new cases per day
• August 17 - 810 cases - about 6 new cases per day

Assuming a hospital stay of no more than ten days for the infected, there should be no more than 60 active cases of Monkeypox in Portuguese hospitals at the moment.

Pride flag

By Gilbert Baker (Vector graphics by Fibonacci) - SVG based on this image, Public Domain, Link

Refusing to Report Good News

Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the current Monkeypox outbreak. It saw the day of light in the early days of the outbreak and is managed by people with sufficient resources to spend much of their days maintaining it.

This in itself is suspicious. It indicates that someone has been willing to set aside money for this project. This in turn indicates that there's an agenda related to the page.

However, things aren't going the way the backer would have liked them to go. This is evident from the way data is presented. Some things aren't being reported on as thoroughly as they should. Graphs and charts aren't being updated. Instead, we have a lot of grisly pictures. This is hardly a sign of objective reporting.

The graphs that aren't updated are the ones that would have shown that the spread of Monkeypox has stalled. The disease is no longer spreading exponentially. Yet, this good news isn't mentioned with a word. The data isn't being logged in such a way that we can see it without keeping track of the numbers ourselves.

Wikipedia can't randomly make up data without ruining its reputation. However, they do present things in ways that are slanted towards whatever their backers want them to say. In the case of Monkeypox, the backers are trying to scare us into doing something silly. They want us to take a newly developed vaccine that happened to be ready for production a few weeks before the outbreak of the disease.

The Wikipedia page is little more than a sales pitch for the vaccine. However, the data they present can still be trusted. We just have to keep track of it ourselves.

Wikipedia

CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Interpreting Data

During WW2, data was gathered related to airplanes coming back from combat missions. Among the things they recorded was the damage sustained by the airplanes. Bullet holes and parts ripped off of planes were noted down. This data was in turn fed back to the engineers who used it to make improvements.

At first glance, the data seemed to suggest that improvements should be made wherever damage was recorded. However, that would've been the wrong interpretation. The data received was from the survivors. All the damage recorded was non-fatal. It was the areas where the returning planes had no damage that needed to be improved because those were most likely to be the fatal regions. The engineers went ahead and improved those areas, and lives were saved.

On a similar note, I recently came across a study that ranked mortality rates relative to how many shots of vaccines people have taken. It showed that no shot at all is the most healthy situation. Unvaccinated people don't die in excess numbers relative to 2018 and 2019. However, the most unhealthy situation wasn't two shots and boosted, nor was it two shots an no booster. It was those with one shot only that were the most likely to meet God prematurely.

We might from this conclude that there's something unhealthy about taking one shot only. However, that's ignoring the fact that those who get an adverse effect from the vaccine often get this after the first shot. Most of the people who took only one shot were already sick. It's therefore no mystery that these people also die in greater numbers.

Those getting a booster are those who didn't get an adverse effect from the first two shots. These people have a high tolerance for the vaccine, and we get that the boosted people are the least likely to die early, second only to the unvaccinated. But this distribution changes over time.

The data shows single shot individuals to have high initial mortality rates. However, this fades. A year into the experiment, single shot mortality rates are on par with boosted individuals. The people who got ill have recovered or died, leaving a relatively healthy group of individuals for continued studies.

Spitfire

By Airwolfhound - commons.wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

39,000 Cases of Monkeypox Worldwide

It's August 17, and we have close to 39,000 cases of Monkeypox worldwide. This is 1000 less than predicted eight days ago based on an assumption that the outbreak has stalled.

This is cause for optimism, because it indicates that we've reached a steady state similar to what happened in Portugal in July. The disease has found an equilibrium in which the number of people cured matches the number of new cases. The worldwide number of patients with Monkeypox currently in hospitals can be estimated to be 8,750 based on an assumption that patients are released within 10 days. That's 1,000 fewer than we had eight days ago.

Assuming that this steady state persists, and that we'll hover around 1,000 new cases per day, we can make the following projection going forward:

• July 24 - 17,500 cases, 700 new cases per day, 7,000 inpatients
• August 1 - 24,000 cases, 750 new cases per day, 7,500 inpatients
• August 9 - 32,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients
• August 17 - 39,000 cases, 875 new cases per day, 8,750 inpatients
• August 25 - 47,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients
• September 2 - 55,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients
• September 10 - 63,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients

Pride flag

By Gilbert Baker (Vector graphics by Fibonacci) - SVG based on this image, Public Domain, Link

Is Albert Bourla Vaccinated?

Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla has caught Covid. This despite being fully vaccinated and twice boosted.

But is this really true? Albert Bourla was hesitant taking the vaccine. He preferred to let older people try it out first. Albert must also have been aware of Pfizer's internal reports on their vaccine, none of them very positive.

Some have concluded from this that Albert Bourla is neither ill nor vaccinated. It's all a sales pitch. He feigns illness to gain sympathy. He claims he's vaccinated to thwart rumors to the contrary. He tells everyone that his symptoms are mild. The vaccine has in this way saved him from serious illness.

It's by now well known that the vaccine doesn't prevent illness. Nothing much is lost by admitting this. The real sales pitch in all of this is merely that the vaccine makes symptoms less severe.

However, I'm not convinced by this conspiracy theory. I don't see it as unthinkable that Albert Bourla is as vaccinated as he claims. The reason for this is that I've seen many skeptics decide to get vaccinated after a few months. Albert's initial apprehension may have faded, much like that of many others. Constantly telling people how great his medicine is may also have influenced him.

Albert Bourla

By World Economic Forum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vOjSYFsz4M, CC BY 3.0, Link

Hunger Stones

There's a drought in parts of Europe at the moment. Hunger stones are appearing in various rivers. These stones appear whenever a river has unusually little water in it. They have carvings on them. Usually a message of some sort and one or more dates. However, their appearance is neither as unusual or as ominous as it may appear.

The only thing we can read from the hunger stones is that droughts have happened regularly up through the ages. We're not looking at something unusual. The drought is not proof of global warming or an ice age. As for famine, such events are hardly ever related to the climate.

Famine happens when there's both crop failure and political instability preventing people from importing food. There's always a bumper crop somewhere. Trade fixes the problem. It's only when politicians sweep in with some idiotic plan or other that we get famine.

Hunger stone in Pima

By Sastognuti - selbst fotografiert bei Niedrigasser vor wenigen Tagen, Public Domain, Link

The 5th Empire - Don't Join Libertarian Country Projects

The 5th Empire is not a country, it's an awakening. The largest political unit in the empire is the family. Everything beyond that is governed through voluntary contracts. Hence, no country is needed. All that's needed is for people to join together in peaceful exchange based on libertarian principles.

This being said, it matters a lot what sort of culture exists in the communities we choose to live in. If the culture is libertarian leaning, we live in a good place. If the culture is violent and abrasive, we're best served by moving somewhere else. But there's no point in going beyond this.

Libertarian country projects never come to anything for reasons that are enumerated in this article by TDB. However, he doesn't mention the main reason why country projects fail, which is the fact that countries are fundamentally anti-libertarian. Countries are political constructs that lay claim to territory owned by others. It's a flawed way to look at the world. It assumes the necessity of constructs beyond families and private contract laws.

Anyone tempted to join a libertarian country project should first consider the alternative laid out in my book, now revised and updated. It lays out practical measures that anyone can take without doing anything drastic. The 5th Empire is open to anyone, and requires no registration or public announcement. It's a mind-set, and there's no territory associated with it beyond the private properties owned by the individuals who adhere to it.

Liberty

770 Cases of Monkeypox in Portugal

A total of 770 cases of Monkeypox have been registered in Portugal as of August 10. The numbers are growing linearly, rather than exponentially, as can be seen from the following data:

• July 1 - 415 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• July 7 - 473 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• July 13 - 515 cases - about 7 new cases per day
• July 20 - 588 cases - about 10 new case per day
• July 27 - 633 cases - about 7 new cases per day
• August 3 -710 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• August 10 - 770 cases - about 9 new cases per day

Assuming a hospital stay of no more than ten days for the infected, there should be no more than 90 active cases of Monkeypox in Portuguese hospitals at the moment. The situation has been stable in Portugal since early July, with little sign of increase or decrease. If the situation persists Monkeypox will become a rare treatable STD confined to the Pride community.

Pride flag

By Gilbert Baker (Vector graphics by Fibonacci) - SVG based on this image, Public Domain, Link

32,000 Cases of Monkeypox Worldwide

It's August 9, and we have close to 32,000 cases of Monkeypox worldwide as predicted eight days ago.

This is cause for optimism, because it indicates that we've reached a steady state similar to what happened in Portugal in July. The disease has found an equilibrium in which the number of people cured matches the number of new cases. The worldwide number of patients with Monkeypox currently in hospitals can be estimated to be 10,000 based on an assumption that patients are released within 10 days.

Assuming that this steady state persists, we can make the following projection going forward:

• July 24 - 17,500 cases, 700 new cases per day, 7,000 inpatients
• August 1 - 24,000 cases, 750 new cases per day, 7,500 inpatients
• August 9 - 32,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients
• August 17 - 40,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients
• August 25 - 48,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients
• September 2 - 56,000 cases, 1,000 new cases per day, 10,000 inpatients

Pride flag

By Gilbert Baker (Vector graphics by Fibonacci) - SVG based on this image, Public Domain, Link

710 Cases of Monkeypox in Portugal

A total of 710 cases of Monkeypox have been registered in Portugal as of August 3. The numbers are growing linearly, rather than exponentially, as can be seen from the following data:

• July 1 - 415 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• July 7 - 473 cases - about 10 new cases per day
• July 13 - 515 cases - about 7 new cases per day
• July 20 - 588 cases - about 10 new case per day
• July 27 - 633 cases - about 7 new cases per day
• August 3 -710 cases - about 10 new cases per day

Assuming a hospital stay of no more than ten days for the infected, there should be no more than 100 active cases of Monkeypox in Portuguese hospitals at the moment. The situation has been stable in Portugal for a month, with little sign of increase or decrease. If the situation persists Monkeypox will become a rare treatable STD confined to the Pride community.

Pride flag

By Gilbert Baker (Vector graphics by Fibonacci) - SVG based on this image, Public Domain, Link

Notable Deaths in July

With July behind us, we now have another month of notable deaths to analyse.

July 2022 saw 701 deaths, which is well below July 2021 with 794 deaths, but still well above July 2019 with 634 deaths:

• 571 in July 2018
• 634 in July 2019
• 825 in July 2020
• 794 in July 2021
• 6xx in July 2022

July is a month that tends to see relatively high death rates among those younger than 70 years of age. This is probably due to accidents related to summer activities. July 2022 was different than normal in this respect, with 22.8% of deaths among those younger than 70 years of age, which is in line with what we had in July 2021 when travel restrictions were at their most intrusive. Relative to young people, this July saw an unusual high death rate among the elderly:

• 25.74% in July 2018
• 23.97% in July 2019
• 25.94% in July 2020
• 22.76% in July 2021
• 22.82% in July 2022

Using a severity formula that divides old deaths by 10 and multiplies young deaths by 4 we get the following:

• 630 in July 2018
• 656 in July 2019
• 917 in July 2020
• 785 in July 2021
• 694 in July 2022

July 2022 came in at 694, which is a big improvement over July 2020 with 917, but still substantially higher than 2018 and 2019 with 630 and 656 respectively.

Notable deaths according to Wikipedia

Here are the numbers:

---

July 2022:

• 20s = 7 = 1.00%
• 30s = 13 = 1.84%
• 40s = 19 = 2.71%
• 50s = 44 = 6.28%
• 60s = 77 = 10.98%
• 70s = 153 = 21.83%
• 80s = 214 = 30.53%
• 90s = 153 = 21.83%
• 100+ = 21 = 3.00%

Total = 701; Younger than 70 = 22.82%

July 2021:

• 20s = 6 = 0.75%
• 30s = 12 = 1.51%
• 40s = 23 = 2.89%
• 50s = 50 = 6.29%
• 60s = 90 = 11.32%
• 70s = 174 = 21.89%
• 80s = 263 = 33.08%
• 90s = 156 = 19.62%
• 100+ = 21 = 2.64%

Total = 794; Younger than 70 = 22.76%

July 2020:

• 20s = 7 = 0.85%
• 30s = 12 = 1.45%
• 40s = 23 = 2.79%
• 50s = 71 = 8.61%
• 60s = 101 = 12.24%
• 70s = 190 = 23.03%
• 80s = 236 = 28.61%
• 90s = 168 = 20.36%
• 100+ = 16 = 1.94%

Total = 825; Younger than 70 = 25.94%

July 2019:

• 20s = 5 = 0.79%
• 30s = 18 = 2.84%
• 40s = 22 = 3.47%
• 50s = 35 = 5.52%
• 60s = 72 = 11.36%
• 70s = 125 = 19.72%
• 80s = 197 = 31.07%
• 90s = 149 = 23.50%
• 100+ = 11 = 1.74%

Total = 634; Younger than 70 = 23.97%

July 2018:

• 20s = 10 = 1.75%
• 30s = 14 = 2.45%
• 40s = 16 = 2.80%
• 50s = 38 = 6.65%
• 60s = 69 = 12.08%
• 70s = 130 = 22.77%
• 80s = 175 = 30.65%
• 90s = 98 = 17.16%
• 100+ = 21 = 3.68%

Total = 571; Younger than 70 = 25.74%

Wikipedia

CC BY-SA 3.0, Link