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Bread, Circuses, & Bombs - Decline Of The American Empire
Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,
“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: Bread and Circuses.” – Juvenal – Satire (100 A.D.)
Roman satirist and poet Juvenal was displaying contempt for a degraded Roman citizenry that had shunned civic responsibility, shirked their duties of citizenship within a republic, and had chosen to sell their votes to feckless politicians for assurances of bread and circuses. Rather than govern according to noble principles based upon reason, striving for public policies that led to long term sustainability and benefitting the majority of citizens, politicians chose superficial displays and appeasing the masses utilizing the lowest common denominator of "free' food and bountiful spectacles, pageants, and ceremonies in order to retain power.
The Roman Empire’s decline stretched across centuries as the gradual loss of civic virtue among its citizenry allowed demagogues to gain power and barbarians to eventually overrun the weakened empire. While the peasants were distracted with shallow exhibitions of palliative pleasures, those in power were debasing the currency, enriching themselves, and living pampered lives of luxury. The Roman leaders bought public approval and support, not through exemplary public service, but through diversion, distraction, and the satisfaction of base immediate needs and desires of the populace. Satisfying the crude motivations of the ignorant peasants (cheap food and entertainment) is how Roman politicians bought votes and retained power. Free wheat, circus games, and feeding Christians to lions kept the commoners from focusing on politicians pillaging and wasting the empire’s wealth.
History may not repeat exactly because technology, resource discoveries, and political dynamics change the nature of society, but it does rhyme because the human foibles of greed, lust for power, arrogance, and desire for conquest do not vary across the ages. The corruption, arrogance, hubris, currency debasement, materialism, imperialism, and civic decay that led to the ultimate downfall of the Roman Empire is being repeated on an even far greater scale today as the American Empire flames out after only two centuries. The pillars of western society are crumbling under the sustained pressure of an immense mountain of debt, created by crooked bankers and utilized by corrupt politicians to sustain and expand their welfare/warfare state. Recklessness, myopia, greed, willful ignorance, and selfish disregard for unborn generations are the earmarks of decline in this modern day empire of debt, delusion and decay.
“Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence – those are the three pillars of Western prosperity. If war, waste, and moneylenders were abolished, you’d collapse. And while you people are over-consuming the rest of the world sinks more and more deeply into chronic disaster.” – Aldous Huxley – Island
Rome was eight and a half centuries old when Juvenal scornfully described the degenerative spiral of the Roman populace. Still, the Western Empire lasted another three centuries before finally succumbing to the Visigoths and Vandals. The far slower pace of history and lack of other equally matched competing nation states allowed Rome to exist for centuries beyond its Pax Romana period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity, which lasted for two centuries. Prior to becoming an empire, the Roman Republic was a network of towns left to rule themselves with varying degrees of independence from the Roman Senate and provinces administered by military commanders. It was ruled, not by Emperors, but by annually elected magistrates known as Roman Consuls. The Roman citizens were a proud people who had a strong sense of civic duty and made government work for the people.
During the 1st century B.C. Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies and civil wars, while greatly extending their imperial power beyond Italy through military conquest. After the assassination of Julius Caesar and the ascension of Augustus to emperor in 27 BC, after a century of civil wars, Rome experienced an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity. During this era, the solidity of the Empire was furthered by a degree of societal stability and economic prosperity. But it didn’t last. The successors to Augustus contributed to the progressive ruination of the empire. The repugnant reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero reflected the true nature of the Roman people, who had relinquished their sovereignty to government administrators to whom they had granted absolute powers, in return for food and entertainment. It was the beginning of the end.
The American Republic began as a loose confederation of states who ruled themselves, with little or no direction from a central authority. The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781 by all 13 States, limited the powers of the central government. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers. Implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures. After winning the war for independence from England, the U.S. Constitution, which shifted power to a central authority, was ratified in 1789. The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, was passed in 1791 with the purpose of protecting individual liberties and insuring justice for all. Their function was to safeguard the citizens from an authoritarian federal government. These imperfect documents would benefit and protect the rights of the American people only if applied by moral, just, incorruptible, noble, honorable leaders and enforced by an educated, concerned, vigilant citizenry.
As with the Roman Empire, the quality of leadership has rapidly deteriorated over the last two centuries and now wallows at disgustingly low levels. These leaders are a reflection of a people who have abandoned their desire for knowledge, responsibility for their lives, work ethic, belief in freedom and the U.S. Constitution. The Juvenal of our times was H.L. Mencken who aptly and scornfully described the citizenry in 1920 as an ignorant mob who would eventually elect a downright moron to the presidency. He was right.
“The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre—the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.
The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” – H.L. Mencken
A Republic was formed 225 years ago, as opposed to a monarchy, by men of good intentions. They weren’t perfect, but their goals for the new nation were honorable and decent. Ben Franklin had his doubts regarding whether we could keep a republic. He had good reason to doubt the long-term sustainability of this experiment. Freedom is not something bestowed on us by men of higher caste. We are born into this world free, with the liberty to live our lives as we see fit, the opportunity to educate oneself and the freedom to succeed as far as our capabilities and efforts allow. Only a self-reliant, virtuous, moral, civic minded people are capable of enjoying the fruits of freedom. Once corruption, self-interest, greed, and dependency upon government bureaucrats for sustenance become prevalent, the populace seeks masters who promise safety and security in return for sacrificing essential liberty and basic freedoms.
The country has defeated foreign invaders, withstood financial calamities, endured a bloody civil war, benefitted immensely from the discovery of oil under its soil, became an industrial power, fought on the winning side of two world wars, and since 1946 has become the greatest imperial empire since Rome fell to the barbarians. Over the course of our 225 year journey there has been a gradual relinquishment of the citizens’ sovereignty and autonomy to an ever more overbearing central government. Lincoln’s unprecedented expansion of Federal government authority during thwe Civil War marked a turning point, as state and local rights became subservient to an all-powerful central authority. Individual liberty has been surrendered and freedoms forfeited over a decades long insidious regression of a once courageous, independent, self-sufficient citizenry into a mob of cowering, willfully ignorant dependents of the deep state.
From the inception of the country there has been a constant battle between the banking interests and the common people. Bankers have used fraudulent fractional reserve banking to speculate for their own benefit, made risky loans, and created every financial crisis in the country’s history. The profits from excessive risk taking are retained by the bankers. The inevitable losses are borne by taxpayers with the excuse that the financial system must be saved and preserved. The storyline never changes. The beginning of the end of the American Empire can be pinpointed to the year 1913, only 124 years after its inception. Private banking interests captured the monetary system of the empire with the secretive creation of the Federal Reserve. The power of the central state was solidified with the implementation of the personal income tax, allowing politicians to bribe their constituents with modern day “bread and circuses”, paid for with money taken at gunpoint from them by the central state. We are now nothing but the hollowed out shell of a once noble Republic.
A century of central banking and heavy taxation of the people by bought off politician puppets has coincided with a century of war, depressions, currency debasement, overconsumption, obscene levels of consumer debt, trillions of excessive debt financed government spending, hundreds of trillions in unfunded entitlement liabilities, and a persistent decline in standard of living for the masses due to Federal Reserve manufactured inflation. We have failed to heed the lessons of history. We have repeated the blunders committed by the Romans.
The American Empire will not be murdered by an external force because it is too busy committing suicide. The moneyed interests, corporate oligarchs and their hand-picked politician front men see themselves as conquering heroes. Their colossal hubris and arrogance is only matched by the ignorance, gullibility, quivering fear of bogeymen, and susceptibility to propaganda of the general populace. The Wall Street bankers and feckless politicians are not gods, they are only men. Death is the great equalizer for emperors and peasants alike. The only thing that remains is your legacy and whether you positively impacted the world. It can be unequivocally stated that those in power today are leaving a legacy of despair, destruction, and debt.
Empires are born and empires die. The American Empire will not be sustained for eight centuries, as the swiftness of modern civilization, nuclear proliferation, religious zealotry, and sociopathic leadership ensures we will flame out in a blaze of glory before reaching our third century. The spirit of independence, idealism, self-reliance, entrepreneurship, knowledge seeking, advancement, and goodwill towards our fellow citizens that marked the height of our fledgling country has succumbed to a malaise of government dependency, cynicism, living on the dole, financial Ponzi schemes, willful ignorance, materialism, delusion, and myopic self-interest. The moral decline of the American populace has been reflected in the deteriorating quality of leaders we have chosen over the last century. Prosperity was taken for granted and no longer earned. We abdicated our civic responsibility to corrupt financiers and power seeking politicians. As time has passed, the ruling elite have grown ever more powerful and wealthy, at the expense of the peasantry. These sociopaths see themselves as god-like emperors, on par with the vilest of the Roman emperors.
Historians will mark 1980 as another turning point, when the nation capitulated to the financiers and ceded control of our destiny to Wall Street bankers, the military industrial complex, and globalist billionaires. The final deformation from a productive society built upon savings, capital investment, and goods production to a borrowing, gambling, and consumption society built upon debt and profiteering by powerful corporate and banking interests had commenced. The peak of this warfare/welfare state insanity was reached in 2000 and the road to decline and decay is now littered with the figurative corpses of a gutted middle class and the literal corpses of men, women and children across the globe, killed during our never ending imperial conquests. The ruling elite sense the futility and foolishness of their folly, but their insatiable appetite for wealth, power, triumph and glory blind them to the destructive consequences of their actions upon the nation and their fellow man. Power and dominion over others is a powerful aphrodisiac for our current day emperors and self-preservation at all costs is their mantra.
While they bask in their perceived triumph and glory, achieved through rigging the financial and political systems in their favor, they should heed the faint whisper in their ear that all glory is fleeting.
“For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.” – George S. Patton, Jr.
The decline of the Roman Empire can be attributed to a number of supportable hypotheses, which have been documented by historians over time. They include:
- Perpetual warfare depleted the treasury and wasted the manhood of the empire. The use of mercenary armies eventually led to the sacking of Rome by the very armies they had employed.
- Military overexpansion and spending resulted in resources being diverted from technological advancement, maintenance of the civil infrastructure, and worthwhile investments to support economic growth.
- Excessive welfare spending, oppressive taxation and currency debasement widened the gap between rich and poor, resulting in discontent, mistrust and rebellion.
- The emergence of an all-powerful centralized authoritarian government ruling by mandate, racked by corruption, and kept in power by bribing its subjects with promises of bread and circuses.
- Emperors and Senators became oligarchs and their conspicuous consumption provided proof of their corruption and decadence. The widespread corruption and incompetence of its leadership led to a waning in civic pride among the citizens.
- The decline in productive commercial and agricultural industries due to high taxes on producers, used to support the military empire, contributed to the circumstances that allowed barbarian invasions to succeed.
- The moral decay of the people was caused by the influx of slave labor from conquered territories, resulting in a decline in middle class work ethic, and the subsequent rise in the level of citizens on the dole. An economy based upon slave labor precluded a middle class with buying power.
In Part Two of this tale of two empires, I’ll document the parallels between mistakes made, eternal human foibles, military misfortunes, financial misconduct, and moral decay, that denote the decline of the Roman and American Empires.
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This is why I moved to Thailand/Asia
Yeah, like it'll be so much better there when everything comes crashing down.
MOLDY BREAD, SPORT CIRCUSES and 9/11 BOMBS
Jesus H. Christ Quinn! ... more of your wordy, and mindless gibberish.
This simplistic "Junk History" contributes nothing and only serves to feed simplistic and lazy minds of those, like you, who refuse to understand 9/11Truth.
It is time for you to Re-Think 9/11 & WTC 7!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CLfkJOYLIU
The AmeriKlan Empire will not be murdered by an external force because it and people like you are too busy publicly committing intellectual suicide.
You are a reflection of the MORONIC DENIAL of a people who have abandoned their desire for scientific knowledge and to take actual responsibility over their own political lives.
Once again you FAIL miserably the 9/11 Litmus Test!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21pPpYw_axQ
Glubb had it right in 'The Fate of Empires'.
Decline is here and now. Wonder to whom we hand over the keys of the kingdom?
The worsening economy is forcing their hand. A new war must be used as an excuse for it.
"As with the Roman Empire, the quality of leadership has rapidly deteriorated over the last two centuries and now wallows at disgustingly low levels."
Yeah yeah. Can we give the Kenyan his next Nobel peace prize already? We're burning daylight here. There are bombs to drop and dollars to print.
You insult the great Roman despots by using our present day puppets as their visages. At least they seized power for themselves - not like today's leaders who are chosen by the hidden hands for the gullible citizenry to "elect". Every time one of us pulls the lever for one of these establishment traitors, OUR OWN picture should be the one presented as the villain.
Government ages all societies until they collapse and die.
The unfortunate thing is that government is soon reborn to repeat the process.
Repost:
Maybe I'll bring the Govt down on me for saying this, but there are larger issues in play:
- Integrity in Government, Original Regulation was in response to Robber-Baron Monopolies, Regulation Capture is where people with money, power & influence pay, bribe, or offer career advancement to government officials for their influence and support for documents
- Jobs are down, Wages are down, Savings are Down, Wealth of US Middle Class is down, it is a break down in the education system to have young people say that education is too expensive, Culture has broken down to equal just corporate culture as parents must work, parents just manage their kids like human resources, ... we no longer get to know our kids & don't help to see that they have normal relationships and don't look to see how they respect themselves OR Understand Themselves OR How they relate to other kids and adults and learning...
- Today marks the high point in US Middle Class Wealth and the Top for their Strength, this means this is the last chance for Revolutionary changes in Federal Government, In Simplifying Income Taxes, In simplifying Accounting, In simplifying Financial Instruments, and in ending the crazy stuff that caused the 2008 Global Financial Crisis
- The US Ideal is gone, The Vision is Gone, the basis of USA's Unique Freedom & Liberty & Equality is gone as the US Constitution is pushed aside by Presidential Signing Orders and Everything that the US Congress Does or signs
- Militarism is up, Violence is accepted, Women are now part of the Male Culture of Tough and Violent
---
- Everyone Agrees that the USA Joining World War I was a big mistake and possibly a huge PR Campaign, I agree with this... War doesn't pay off for anyone even if you claim the high ground by saying your smart bombs reduce Civilian Casualties
- facts seem to indicate that Bankers operate behind the scenes to promote war, war loans, war debts, payments to Defense Contractors of which they are investing, and today we have Contractor Logisticians, Contractor Mercenaries, Contractor Armies, and it is big Business
---
- You gotta talk about the loss of small businesses, there is even federal legislation to favor small businesses, but the system is working against the small business
- Systemic Analysis does help greatly in understanding the USA, it seems that you can't understand the media or rumors and grasp the USA's Problems... You see that the US Government is made up of many systems... and many systems can be called "Broke" as they fail for their intended purpose,... this is very important as this means we need "Federal Commission or Inspections" to bring out the facts,... after all we Tax payers are footing the bill for systems that don't work and actually support corporate Subsidies, awards to giant corporations, and... well a kind of Fascism
“Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence – those are the three pillars of Western prosperity. If war, waste, and moneylenders were abolished, you’d collapse. And while you people are over-consuming the rest of the world sinks more and more deeply into chronic disaster.” – Aldous Huxley – Island
FUUUUCK... it's always depressing to read truth written long ago...
I'm no optimist. But I actually see America getting back on her feet. Corruption in China is through the roof. Fuel costs are high throughout the world. The dollar is still the king. Manufacturing just might make a comeback. I wouldn't write-off Uncle Sam just yet.
It [the State] has taken on a vast mass of new duties and responsibilities; it has spread out its powers until they penetrate to every act of the citizen, however secret; it has begun to throw around its operations the high dignity and impeccability of a State religion; its agents become a separate and superior caste, with authority to bind and loose, and their thumbs in every pot. But it still remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men.
- H.L. Mencken
For sure. USA inc. is a piss-ant compared to the Roman Empire.
More of the Circus!
Check out the bread!
"…the number of staff as of September 30, 2013, which was 347; and total salary expenditures from March 2010 through fiscal year 2013, which were $79.8 million."
Average salary per person = $229,971.
I already appropriated the 'keys to the kingdom' so that you could not hand them over to anyone else. In brief, I stole them like a 'thief in the night', SUCKERS!
At least he escaped the free shit army horde. That alone is worth the price of leaving imo.
How do you know it won"t ? and; and this is no small thing; as soon a you leave this "blessed land" a great weight falls off your shoulders and you begin to feel the psychic benefits of, of, well, freedom; for lack of a better word.
"These imperfect documents would benefit and protect the rights of the American people only if applied by moral, just, incorruptible, noble, honorable leaders and enforced by an educated, concerned, vigilant citizenry."
Ha! If only! Or as Madison said, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary."
Instead, let's deal with us humans as we actually are — generally well-meaning and sociable, with a propensity to "truck, barter, and exchange," as Adam Smith well said — but just as prone to immoral, corruptible, ignoble, dishonorable, unconcerned, and malicious behavior, the concentration of which is what not only rules our world but could very well end it:
http://www.barefootsworld.net/nockoets0.html
You can run but you can't hide
Yeah; good idea. I just wanted t o say, that actually t he Roman Empire was a hell of lot more impressive than this American "whatever it is".
pedophilian fucker
The Pep Boys. I thought there were only 3.
Another of the MANY quasi socialist "libertarian" authors who always want to include Reagan with those other cocksuckers.
Reagan was a great American. No doubt. His heart, I believe, was in the right place. However, he was surrounded by vermin.
And it wasn't long before the Bush clan attempted to kill him. Just one of those coincidences that the would-be assassin's family were good friends with the Bushies.
BINGO! Someone gets it. Yes. Daddy Bush was supposedly around Dallas on the day JFK got it and he came up with a weak alibi. The hotel ballroom in LA was crawling with See Eye Aye operatives and freelancers the night RFK got it. I did not like the Kennedys but they appeared to anger the NWO-Deep State espcially Jack's silver certificate
The Bushes, Clintons and Obama are all See Eye Aye ops. The Clintons and Bushes are best buddies too. The word is Reagan's Alzheimers was a prion not real Alzheimers.
Nixon's downfall? Tarriffs. The See Eye Aye gave the files and info to their puppets at Wash Post and Ben Bradley. Another phony somewhat false flag. Nixon was a choir boy compared to Obama and the Clinton plus the Bush klan.
More on silver certificates: The USA issued silver certificate bills for 5 months and then JFK was dead.
http://www.rense.com/general44/exec.htm
On June 4, 1963, a little known attempt was made to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the government at interest. On that day President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve. Mr. Kennedy's order gave the Treasury the power "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." This meant that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury's vault, the government could introduce new money into circulation. In all, Kennedy brought nearly $4.3 billion in U.S. notes into circulation. The ramifications of this bill are enormous.
Nixon was a choir boy compared to Obama and the Clinton plus the Bush klan.
Explain that at a cocktail party. I have tried. Not to good of a response. I felt like Justin Bieber backing up the Beatles.
Y'all forgot to mention the $85B (if I remember the amount correctly) Bank of America bailout that Bush Sr. gave the bank a few years back when it was close to bankruptcy. Brother John was absolutely correct that BAC was going down in flames, but then Bush Sr. showed up and ruined his prediction. The whole thing was on the hush and totally under the radar, until it involved MIC funds. Then word started to leak.
Quinn perplexes me. He seems intelligent, but perhaps not wise. Ah, whatever.
They just stare at you like you're crazy; reciting verifiable facts doesn't do any good, either; because they don't know any facts and they're far too lazy to actually check up on any. i didn't start out as a hermit, but I pretty much ended up that way by default; only have about three people I can t alk to.
Same here. Pretty hopeless. I have no doubt that if I bring up this new Iraq War they will just say "Obama was stuck with this". He could start a nuclear war and they'd still say it was Bush. They cannot see the continuum.
O O
^ *blink*
___
better to just agree with the comments about the "global warming" and nod. Especially, if you want to get invited back for some reason.
+1 you nailed it
I always felt that he looked like someone who knew he'd been duped but couldn't quite figure out by whom, and why.
He was an actor.
All presidents are deliverers of lines in a way that makes Joe Public go along with what is, in fact, criminal activity.
Think Obama isn't an actor??!!
Good actors have to memorize lines. Obammie needs to read them. He sucks all around.
I didn't say O was a good actor, now, did I?
Same applies to Reagan.
The real problem is the audience's lack of critical thinking skills
"I didn't say O was a good actor, now, did I?
Same applies to Reagan.
The real problem is the audience's lack of critical thinking skills."
Obozo may read his lines off a teleprompter, but he agrees with every word written by his staff of far-left, dictatorial Marxists.
Illogicalman knows all about a lack of critical thinking skills.
Funny there's still so many that worship him and think that Barry is the messiah.
Imagine how many thought the same of Hitler.
You raise a good point, Yogi. I never worshipped Reagan. However, I do respect that man and his memory despite his faults. I think a lot of the warm feelings I have for the man are out of nostalgia as well. Memories for a time that are long gonn and will never return. Sure, there have been advances in social justice and the like since Reagan...however, they have been counter balanced by extreme deficits in personal freedoms. Ironic, eh?
ironic ? Very. he did a lot of good for screwy reasons; a lot of his presidency was ironic.
Yeah; millions, to be precise.
They shot him in order to shut him up, America was never meant to be an empire, but what the fuck do you know. Truth is we took the poison pill a long time ago (100+ yrs). PS- all is not lost, we can rekindle ourselves.
America was never meant to be an empire.
Yet, here we are and Elvis is pushing 250 pounds looking and pushing for meds.
Our Constitution, which limited governments power over us for the first time in history and defined our inherent human rights, needed to be destroyed by the global powers. Fuck them, they don't know who's in charge.
Colonel Tom Parker is in charge and the American legend is about to die in the shitter.
Legend? The only thing that distinguishes people are their thoughts. The idea of liberty and a Republic has been around much longer than America, it started in ancient Europe, we just happen to be the last ones who've manifested it into a document.
Legend? Contract.
What is the consideration for this contract that is offered to the people? Nothing? Well, then it is not really a contract is it? Yet, here we are fondling over a document which can and has been effectively been destroyed.
Contract? that's for peasants who expect something, not for people that rule themselves. Contract is, don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you.
Not to worry.
In the spirit of Col. Tom there will be someone waiting at the bottom the shitter to collect the merch and sell it back at a profit.
Col. Tom is American business interests. China cleans up the shitter and sells garbage back to American fan base.
Economic Blues is the Key of Greed.
I wonder if any Chinese agents ever made it at William Morris?
Hell...they probably bought the agency last week with PIN money
There you go, talking about countries as if they have some meaning other than a way to divide up the herd into easily manageable groups that can be played off against each other while the controllers steal people's efforts and labour.
"There you go, talking about countries as if they have some meaning other than a way to divide up the herd into easily manageable groups that can be played off against each other while the controllers steal people's efforts and labour."
There you go, pretending that you don't push your leftist controllers agenda with every libtard post that you make.
labour instead of labor? Illogicalman must be one of the lazy English trolls on the government dole.
Reagan was a paid spokesmodel. He was our first Marquee president, the man of the headlines, while decisions were made else where. Too bad Hinkley didn't use a .45
He was our first Marquee president.
No. Showing off the merchandise is part of the job.
Too bad Hinkley didn't use a .45
Reagan would have ninja slapped them out of the air.
Do a little research regarding Reagan and McCarthy's activities during the 'Red Scare'
Yes, he was surrounded by vermin, but he decided to join them rather than oppose them.
"Do a little research regarding Reagan and McCarthy's activities during the 'Red Scare'
Yes, he was surrounded by vermin, but he decided to join them rather than oppose them."
Only a brainwashed leftist libtard like illogicalman would post shit like that.
Reagan was surrounded by vermin all right--Hollywood was dominated by far left Marxists who wanted to destroy the country just like it is now. The only difference now is that they got their corrupt Muslim Marxist dictator elected to the White House.
Reagan started out being a liberal Democrat and union man. The fight against the Hollywoood Stalinist machine was waged at first by anti-Communist liberals and social-democrats like Reagan.
Reagan was a great American. No doubt. His heart, I believe, was in the right place.
Reagan, whatever his vices or virtues, was a pleb, not an aristocrat. That made him more like *us* than the others, at least in his basic inclinations and temperment.
He did not go to an Ivy League school like our 4 recent See Eye Aye puppets.
But his mind was misplaced.
Just goes to show ya; the heart is pretty important. eh?
He would have been a near great President had he been elected in 1976 rather than 1980. He was getting too old by 1980.
Reagan (and/or his administration) is one of the reasons we are now an imperialist, warfaring nation. And, Nixon belongs up in that picture board too since he (and/or his administration) was instrumental in debasing our currency.
It's easy to idealize the past and think somehow these guys weren't as bad as the guys now.
I wouldn't read too much into it. When this thing comes down (which will likely take mere decades vs. the centuries it took in ancient times), nitnoid details like that won't matter much.
Three centuries...for the western empire to fall. So, two more centuries left of the Fed! SP 1.000.000, baby!
Things only fall apart when enough people know things are FUBAR
In ancient Rome I think the bit rate at which information propagated was a little lower than it is now.
The speed at which information moves is what will determine how fast shit falls apart.
True. However, people were from a sturdier stock back then. So, I guess is it is a battle between bits and balls.
They were little short creatures who lived to be 30 years old.
Don't confuse them with the dwarves in LOTR.
There really are quite a few out there exactly as you describe. They somehow pretend to be libertarians but their socialist souls always come through,
Who banned our machine guns?
What a libertarian!
I imagine it was Congress. Hard to veto that stuff with the media shoving it down society's throat. Not a good political act, but given the circumstances....
They're not banned, you just have to pay the tax to own them ;)
tru dat
No. The machine gun registry was closed. Nothing can be added to it. Civilians can currently only buy from what is already in the registry. Supply and demand dictates that the price is now tens of thousands of dollars plus the stupid little tax. Nevertheless, you cannot buy a new one and this is essentially a ban. A ban signed by Reagan.
The Great Republican Reagan Circlejerk™ continues.
Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) was given wide latitude on the enforcement of regulations pertaining toFederal Firearms License (FFL) holders.[citation needed] Allegations of abuse by ATF inspectors soon[when?] arose from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and some FFL licensees.[citation needed]
A February 1982 report by a Senate subcommittee that studied the Second Amendment said:
The report also said that 75 percent of ATF prosecutions were "were aimed at ordinary citizens who had neither criminal intent nor knowledge, but were enticed by agents into unknowing technical violations." It suggested that reform of federal firearms law such as proposed in S. 1030 "would be largely self-enforcing" and "would enhance vital protection of constitutional and civil liberties of those Americans who choose to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms."[1]
The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 (FOPA) addressed the abuses noted in the 1982 Senate Judiciary Subcommittee report. Among the reforms intended to loosen restrictions on gun sales were the reopening of interstate sales of long guns on a limited basis, legalization of ammunition shipments through the U.S. Postal Service (a partial repeal of the Gun Control Act), removal of the requirement for record keeping on sales of non-armor-piercing ammunition, and federal protection of transportation of firearms through states where possession of those firearms would otherwise be illegal.[2] However, the Act also contained a provision that banned the sale of machine guns manufactured after the date of enactment to civilians, restricting sales of these weapons to the military and law enforcement. Thus, in the ensuing years, the limited supply of these arms available to civilians has caused an enormous increase in their price, with most costing in excess of $10,000. Regarding these fully automatic firearms owned by private citizens in the U.S., political scientist Earl Kruschke said "approximately 175,000 automatic firearms have been licensed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (the federal agency responsible for administration of the law) and evidence suggests that none of these weapons has ever been used to commit a violent crime."[3]:85
The gun rights movement lobbied Congress to pass the FOPA to prevent the abuse of regulatory power — in particular, to address claims that the ATF was repeatedly inspecting FFL holders for the apparent purpose of harassment intended to drive the FFL holders out of business (as the FFL holders would constantly be having to tend to ATF inspections instead of to customers).
The Act mandated that ATF compliance inspections can be done only once per year. An exception to the "once per year" rule exists if multiple record-keeping violations are recorded in an inspection, in which case the ATF may do a follow-up inspection. The main reason for a follow-up inspection would be if guns could not be accounted for.
Has anyone seen Henry Bowman?????
PLEASE???
It's open season on the Sheep with all out PsyOp, False Narratives & Propaganda. I will kindly explain to the posters what exactly the Smith Mundt Act was?
On July 2, a little noticed “reform” passed in January went into effect. The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, passed as part of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, will allow the CIA to flood America with more government propaganda.
Enactment of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act underscores the fact the CIA no longer pretends to honor its charter and refrains from flooding the media with government propaganda. “The evaporation of Smith-Mundt and other provisions to safeguard U.S. citizens against government propaganda campaigns is part of a larger trend within the diplomatic and military establishment,” ace reporter Michael Hastings wrote in May, 2012, more than a year before his assassination.
http://www.infowars.com/cia-will-now-openly-propagandize-americans/
They've been openly propagandizing for a long time. Way before this act.
Laws are meaningless if they are not enforced.
Keeps coming back to the number of people who let others do the thinking for them, because thinking requires too much effort and cuts into TV time.
Take part as little as possible.
Why is it that every day now or seems like it that there's an article on ZH about the decline of American empire or decline of any emplire as if empires are suppose to be a good thing? the irony here is unbelievable. SMH.
Pointing out that the present empire is falling apart doesn't necessarily imply that they are a good thing.
Better to look at each thread on its own merits rather than condemn the whole site.
Just a thought.
Analysis is not advocacy.
HFS
Acceptance of a thing doesn't mean you have to like it.
So what's this year's hot Halloween costume? ISIS warrior?
Dangerous, I would think.
Safer to go wrapped in a Ukrainian False Flag. You should at least get some chocolate!
Yep, holding a dripping pumpkin head in one hand and a rubber knife in the other.
Soon to be on the shelves in the local Walmart.
More specifically, it's Lindsey Graham's gay ISIS warrior with a micro nuke strapped to his dick and the safety word 'Wet Start'
After "Claudius", I suspect we'll get "Hillarious".
I like it, "Hillarious" that is. Not a fake like either. A real like. A real human like.
The use of mercenary armies eventually led to the sacking of Rome by the very armies they had employed.
Let us hope this happens to the NWO Really liked the article.
So it is said that history repeats itself....I say that the same strain of Zionist evil bastards keep trying the same thing over and over throughout the ages.
Which is worse, zionists or fake muslim terrorists?
Fake muslim zionists.
You seem to be assuming they are not one and the same.
Checked CNN, they are in full wet your pants mode. Releasing terror warnings, about exploding clothes and tooth paste bombs, all current threats. Also FBI releases hightened warning, be on the look out for lone wolf attacks. No shit, I heard it this afternoon. They also claim 400 ISIS KIA's with Zero civilian casualties. Generals giving glowing press conferences on the war victories, with dire warning of ISIS threats to the homeland.
This is already a case of Back to the Future. Where is Bush, instead I see Black Face on the podium.
America is once again happy and settled into a war in which we just bomb and bomb away. Circuses will go on as planned. More of the same in the dying days of Imperial America. Debt and money printing is all that back the imperial war machine, King Dollar allowing printing to replace wealth creation and profit driven trade surplus. China feeds consumers cheap shit, and government welfare now pays wages for half of all Americas. The only real jobs are in government and the military/industrial/spy/cop complex.
For real about the good jobs, especially if one simply includes Google/Facebook/Microsoft etc. into the spy complex.
Total the amount squandered on the wars since 9/11 and imagine that money spent on our country or, god forbid, given back to the taxpayers. We'd have an economic renaissance going on. They've literally bankrupted and destroyed us.
exploding clothes and tooth paste bombs; too funny. Once again, it's like the National Onion. When they stopped teaching plain geometry in school they really set something in motion. That's the subject that requires you to learn how to think. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
I've heard Hillary is currently paralysed from the neck up! Still hasn't stopped the last half dozen or so from entering office. And her muscly cunt is still ripe for a three way dildo.
Looks like she suffers from paralysis of the Moral, ethical and honesty parts of her brain.
The criminal and corrupt parts seem to be working overtime, to compensate.
Thought I'd leave the 'muscly' part well alone!
And Who to be NERO
Chook Governer Manson of California.
Live just north of Boston, never seen things so "frantic", everyone grabbing what they can before it collapses. Many of the folks I talk to are stressed out and barely getting by. News says all well except for the boogieman coming in form of ISIS or other CIA sponsored groups. The folks that are not stressed out are nearing retirement, house paid off, no debt and have gov pension . We are heading for a shit storm of epic proportions and many have no idea its coming, they just update FB and head to the local mall to load up on Chinese made junk.
Live just north of Boston, never seen things so "frantic", everyone grabbing what they can before it collapses. Many of the folks I talk to are stressed out and barely getting by. News says all well except for the boogieman coming in form of ISIS or other CIA sponsored groups. The folks that are not stressed out are nearing retirement, house paid off, no debt and have gov pension . We are heading for a shit storm of epic proportions and many have no idea its coming, they just update FB and head to the local mall to load up on Chinese made junk.
YEP!... At this point my kingdom for an "Augustus"!!!
"By God, we got'em on the run..." General George Custer and President BO Plenty.....
Yeah i'm shit scared and only leave the house during the 5 times a day prayers.
Zero is the fucking Nero
We need more powerful prose like this. It's so prescient. Is it too late to find our way home?
I recently found myself thinking about the decline or collapse of great empires and realized that it is often hard to predict when or how their demise will occur. One sign of the end is a massive growth in crony capitalism and corruption. Many analogies can be taken from this idea, the empire need not be great and timing is always hard to correctly gauge.
The signs of decline may be everywhere but that does not guarantee the end is near. As the foundation crumbles away it is not uncommon for those in power to extend their rule by many tricks and changing the rules in order to gain a new lease on life. More on the subject of how empires collapse in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-empires-collapse.html
Speaking of "Bread & Circus"...
Just ask yourselves how they will back out of this one after 13 years of this shit if we should have another 9/11 after they just reinvaded both Countries using the doctrine of preemption?...
At lease those Roman Emperors weren't puppets like those US President.
How do you know? Where is your evidence? I would love to hear from anyone out there who does.
This is the most fascinating account of the history and inner workings of the Illuminati I have ever heard. Highly credible. Their plans for WWIII in order to rule the world. Everything makes sense after you hear this. Well worth a listen. Ties everything together. Recorded in 1967 but more relevant than ever.
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/index.cfm
only rated 4 stars due to the injection of modern presidents into the mix. GWB Caligula? Give me a break, maybe BJ Clinton. However, other presidents have had more imperial and dangerous strains in their governance than most of these picks. Woodrow Wilson, FDB, LBJ, Lincoln, Clinton and Obama. GWB wasn't a narcissist bent on ruling without the consent of the Legislature.
There are rumors circulating about George the Junior, also.
Wow. H.L. Menken really had it figured out.
O'Vommit Bin Launching is the perfect president to preside over the collapse of the American empire.
Say what you want about the Romans, their Gods were a lot cooler than the ones we have today who's basic tenant seems to be if your not one of us your against us, one could even be forgiven for thinking that today individuals misuse peoples gullible beliefs for the accumulation of power for themselves, but then....nah, that could never happen, people would see through that in a second.
Just so I'm clear - the USA is now conducting combat operations INSIDE a sovreign nation (Syria). Did Syria bless off on this? Did our congress?
One of the problems in waking people up to the unfolding catastrophe of decline of the Roman Empire and of the British and now American Empires, is that the declines, followed by eventual collapse and implosion, doesn't happen during the life span of one person. It happens over numerous generations.
That creates a mindset in people whereby they spend their own short lives focused on working out how they can make enough money to survive comfortably, and in so doing ignoring the progressive decline that's going on around them. If that includes taking the bread & circuses, so be it. Thus, the decline that occurs in any single year is not too great or frightening and doesn't scare the horses into panicking and taking action to arrest it. As long as they get through their allotted 70 years, that's all that really matters to them.
That may be true for many people but I am a parent. I care about the future. Where are all the parents? Is everyone out there so addicted to to the latest gadgets that they would throw the next generation under the bus just so they could keep up with the Jonses? I mean on your death bed are you going to mourn over not having every new iphone and designer shoes? Who cares about that stuff- the brainwashed- that's who. Look around- people are driving cars they can't afford, obsessed with gadgets that cost a ton. I mean I understand consumption is 70% of our economy and we would take a hit if people cared more about the future but why keep filling the pockets of those at the top. Take your money out of the banks- go to a credit union. Vote with your dollars. Hold civic meetings that focus on education and what it means to be a member of a republic. No one is going to save us. No party or leader. The only way to save oursleves from the coming mob rule once we collapse is to organize from the bottom up. Neighbor helping neighbor. Start organizing.
You pretty much got all the right adjectives and adverbs about current Amerika. You did leave out one important concept; the utter abandonment of the rule of law.
www.traderzoo.mobi
Except for the little guy-the average citizen.
The slightest infraction and the law will come down like a ton of bricks!
An interseting parellel of the barbarian invasion taking place on our southern border and the "slave" labor.
ISIL was under your bed. Be greatful to the great fudgepacker for saving your worthless little life once again. sham war for sham voters sham wow!
Jim Quinn has got to be the world's most miserable dude.
I can't seem to vote lately so my vote down will be the following comment. Why is he the world's most miserable dude? Is it because he is nearly alone in facing the reality that is available for all to see but few have the guts to do so? I personally think most Americans intentionally shield themselves from these truths because they are emotionally and intellectually weak. These truths hurt no doubt but what is truly the tragedy is the willful self deception going on in America. If more people had the guts to face these truths maybe something could be done. I find the lack of organized effort to change the course of the country deplorable. If someone knows a group or groups attempting to face these truths head on and take action post it here. Name calling and racist comments seem to be the most common types of comments. Certainly these types of comments will keep the authorities amused and perhaps keep you from getting a visit or auditted by the IRS but step up. If you haven't anything to offer to combat the unfolding scenario then don't waste your time. I have children and I would at least like to think I tried. I have no interest in taking up arms. What I think everyone on this site is capable is running a weekly meeting discussing these observations. What is wrong with a civic meeting or commenting at a city council? I am not going to shrug my shoulders and say that is just the way it is. So Zero Hedge commenters become educators- many of you have the ability.
Meh, it's a bit of a stretch. Imperialism, yes the US has it in spades. But the comparisons between presidents and emporers falls short. Reagan didn't have the military or political mind of Julius. Comparing Bush 1 to Augustus is like comparing Gallager (the comedian) to Albert Einstein. Bush 2 was corrupt, careless, and dumb, but not even half as depraved as Caligula.