Conspiracy – Red Wave Press

FEMA’s Real Purpose: Suppressing Americans and Preventing Civilian Organization

Brandon Smith — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 14:02:16 +0000

(Alt-Market)—The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was founded on April 1^st, 1979 under the Jimmy Carter Administration during the height of a nearly decade long stagflationary crisis and the Iranian oil crisis. Under Executive Order 12127, its stated goal was to centralize all disaster related efforts under a single top-down entity. Specifically, FEMA ended the more localized Civil Defense Agency, which was focused on community based emergency response, and it federalized all disaster coordination under a single top-down system controlled by the Oval Office.

FEMA was eventually placed under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, creating even more centralization. The reason for FEMA according to the government is to aid Americans during and after a national level disaster event; anything from earthquakes to hurricanes to terrorist attacks.

That said, it should also be noted that FEMA was officially created on April Fool’s Day.

The true purpose of FEMA has long been obscured but some disturbing truths have been exposed in the past. The declassification of a program called Rex 84 (tied to Operation Garden Plot) revealed that FEMA was working directly with the Department of Defense on a hypothetical strategy to round up and detain large numbers of civilians considered a “threat to national security.” In other words, FEMA was to act as a tool for helping suppress civil disturbances, it was not necessarily designed to help Americans in times of need.

This was likely always the intent behind the founding of FEMA, but George H.W. Bush and Oliver North are cited as the men that truly militarized FEMA in the early 1980s. The goal to establish a mechanism for controlling domestic political dissent and suspending constitutional freedoms was exposed not long after FEMA’s founding. Oliver North was visibly enraged when the subject was broached in a congressional hearing during the Iran/Contra scandal.

It should be mentioned that the REX 84 documents do not list FEMA as a primary agency in control of civil disturbance response. This is where the accusations of “conspiracy theory” usually come from – FEMA is not the end-all-be-all agency in charge of locking down American rebellion. In fact, FEMA’s role is strangely ambiguous and is not clearly defined. All that is known is that they are indeed an element of Operation Garden Plot and have participated in REX exercises.

There’s no denying that the secrecy around civil disturbance programs is pernicious and suggests that there is far more going on than our own government cares to admit. To uncover FEMA’s real intent all we have to do is examine how they behave.

The recent Hurricane Helene disaster and FEMA’s handling of the response across the East Coast echos the agency’s crimes after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. Their emergency “aid” is used as a cloak to hide efforts to actually STOP communities from helping each other and preventing outside civilian funded supplies from reaching affected residents in need.

Desperate residents during Katrina were treated like prisoners rather than citizens, gun confiscation took place in many areas and some people were shot for trying to leave locked down neighborhoods. (As a side note – this is why you should NEVER let anyone confiscate your firearms, especially if those people are sent by the government)

CNN reported in 2008 that FEMA confiscated at least $85 million in donated goods and prevented them from reaching Katrina disaster victims. This included clothing, bedding, food and medical supplies. They stored these materials for years and then GAVE AWAY the supplies long after Katrina was over. FEMA claimed the supplies were “in excess to their needs.” This report and all related articles now seem to be missing from CNN’s archives.

We just witnessed a repeat of this behavior from FEMA and the affiliated agencies within their oversight. We saw local EMS being advised to prevent civilians from helping their communities. Supplies were once agaun being blocked, people with drones were being told not to help find survivors, people with helicopters are were threatened for helping save survivors and little aid reached Helene victims for weeks. Elon Musk’s Starlink was even been prevented from providing satellite internet services to affected regions until the story went national and the Department of Transportation was forced to address the problem.

It’s Katrina all over again, and FEMA always seems to have excuses.

But why? You would think that with an election only weeks away Biden and Harris would be jumping at the chance to look competent and useful. Instead, they did nothing other that offer a $750 relief check to survivors (which might help people survive for a week) and then referred people to federal programs which take many months to benefit from.

I argue that this is all deliberate. FEMA and the federal government at large are still using Operation Garden Plot-like protocols with two goals in mind…

First, they are trying to acclimate the populace to the idea that civilians can’t help themselves and that they should do nothing. They do this by constantly interfering with civilian efforts and disrupting donations. If civilians are working on their own to save US communities from calamity then they might one day realize they don’t need the Federal Government for anything. The establishment NEEDS people to believe that they can’t survive without government aid and protection. Luckily, at least in the aftermath of Helene, it seems that many communities are working on their own to fix the situation.

If civilians start doing things for themselves, the establishment machine becomes obsolete.

Second, I suspect FEMA is testing the waters to see how much they can get away with. Katrina was a clear beta-test for martial law disguised as an emergency response. Katrina was Garden Plot and Rex-84 realized. They want to see what Americans will put up with. Helene is yet another opportunity for these agencies to apply overt control and see if Americans will conform or rebel.

If FEMA is truly sincere in their efforts to help Americans they certainly don’t act like it. The criticism surrounding Helene is ramping up and FEMA’s indignant attitude towards their own failures in unacceptable. They should be punished for failing in their duties. That is assuming they are actually failing.

Maybe they consider the tragedy of government inaction surrounding Helene a success? The underlying point is, when disaster comes your way, it’s not enough to merely count FEMA out as a source of aid. That’s obvious. But you will also have to consider the possibility that the agency will work directly against you and your neighbors should you try to help yourselves.

If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch. Learn more about it HERE.

Coincidence or Not, the Storms Mark the Beginning of the Most Impactful Days for America

JD Rucker — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 22:01:40 +0000

Throughout our relatively short history as a nation, events have marked turning points that not only impact Americans but the world as a whole. The signing of the Declaration of Independence, Civil War, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and Covid are five of the world-changing events that mark our history.

We’re in the middle of another one.

The world will change on (or around) Election Day, 2024. It is on this day that it will be declared whether the United States will continue to exist as an exceptional nation or if our time as the world’s beacon of hope has come to an end.

That is not hyperbole. As I have noted in my writing and on my show, we will not remain intact if Kamala Harris is installed as President of the United States. To use a boxing analogy, we have already been weakened with an onslaught of body blows under the Biden-Harris regime. The Globalist Elite Cabal will be able to easily land a haymaker if Kamala takes the reins. It will be sudden and it will be final.

That’s why the timing of TWO “storms of the century” is conspicuous. I’m willing to accept a small percentage chance that it’s just a coincidence. But there are two theories that seem far more likely; at least they do with my “conspiracy theorist” mentality.

The one that’s getting the most traction in such circles is that the storms were manipulated by human/demonic forces. As I discussed on yesterday’s show, the technology is available to at least take an existing or forming hurricane and amplify it as well as point it in a rough direction. Such technology was in the hands of our government and likely other nation’s governments for decades, albeit in more primitive forms. What have they developed since the 1940s and Project Cirrus?

If this is happening, we must wonder why. There are those who believe it’s simply to disrupt the election by allowing “looser” voting rules in important states like North Carolina and Florida. If Kamala Harris were to “win” those two states, she’d almost certainly “win” the election.

Others believe it could simply be the ultimate distraction to keep the news cycle busy while they engage in… something. I don’t want to believe that this is the case because it means the powers-that-be will kill scores and displace millions over something petty like the news cycle.

Whether that’s happening now or not, I’ve long-believed that such things happen regularly, to the point that I’m not sure the second “assassination attempt” on Donald Trump wasn’t staged to cover up the bombshell whistleblower affidavit highlighting the Harris campaign colluding with ABC News before the debate. That story dropped on schedule but before it could get any attention, a dude with a rifle was caught without getting a shot off.

Probably coincidence.

The other theory is the one that should both thrill and terrify us the most. What if God is sending these massive storms to punch us in the nose ahead of our demise? I’d love to hope they’re a pair of warning shots and that brighter days are ahead, but considering how much we deserve judgment, I wouldn’t bet on it.

Solar activity that some theorize can amplify storms has been in play since right around the storms started, particularly Milton. It’s not a theory you’ll hear much about on either corporate media or alternative media because it denies the man-made narrative from both sides. Conspiracy theorists want to blame DARPA. Leftists want to blame climate change. Neither side wants to attribute any of this to the Sun, especially as a method through which God could be acting against America.

As usual, the cause doesn’t change our own actions very much. Regardless of what’s causing the storms, we need to do what we can to help those who are impacted. We must also be mindful of attempts to use the chaos from the storms to steal the 2024 election, advance the climate change agenda, or both.

Whatever happens with the storm, we are officially in political crunch time. But it’s not just a political battle. This is a fight for America’s future. The soul of our nation will be fundamentally changed by this election. Kamala Harris represents the end while Donald Trump represents, at the very least, a delay in our collapse. The stakes have never been greater in our lifetimes.

I’ll be talking about this on today’s episode of The JD Rucker Show at 6pm Eastern.

Until then, here are some links of the day…

Is Milton Man-Made?

JD Rucker — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 23:57:28 +0000

Chances are pretty strong that this is all just one big coincidence, that two of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the United States in modern history happened less than two weeks apart a month before the most important presidential election of our lifetimes.

Then again, who believes in coincidences? We discussed on today’s episode of The JD Rucker Show.

Did Hurricane Milton Have Help in Suddenly Becoming One of the Most Powerful Storms in History?

Michael Snyder — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 16:14:41 +0000

(End of the American Dream)—This normally doesn’t happen. During regular times, a hurricane is not supposed to go from Category 1 to Category 5 in less than a day. At this moment, the roads out of the Tampa Bay area are absolutely jammed with vehicles as local residents attempt to get out of the path of the coming storm.

We literally just witnessed one of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, and now we are being told that Hurricane Milton could also be one of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history. So what in the world is going on here?

When I woke up on Monday morning, I was shocked to learn that Hurricane Milton had developed into a Category 5 storm with sustained wins of 160 mph…

With winds of 160 mph, Milton has strengthened into the second Category 5 hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Beryl was the first storm to reach Category 5 status, doing so while it was traversing the Caribbean Sea in early July.

Milton was only a tropical storm on Sunday morning, but winds ramped up at a tremendous pace, spiking from 60 mph to 160 mph in just 28 hours. Additionally, an abundance of lighting has been flashing around the eye of Milton, an indication that it could still be strengthening.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Just a few hours later, it was being reported that Hurricane Milton had sustained winds of 175 mph…

Hurricane Milton has grown into an explosive Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175 miles per hour, just two days after it developed in the Gulf of Mexico, forecasters said Monday.

The hurricane was expanding and intensifying quickly Monday while tracking eastward over warm Gulf waters, with the latest growth happening much faster than forecasts suggested. Milton is expected to bring life-threatening conditions to parts of Florida, potentially as early as Tuesday.

Milton’s winds surged to 175 mph Monday, exceeding the threshold for Category 5 by a significant margin, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center. The storm’s wind speeds more than doubled in the last 48 hours.

Of course that wasn’t the peak either.

Just a little while ago, we were told that Hurricane Milton now had sustained winds of 180 mph…

Hurricane Milton strengthened to a Category 5 powerhouse Monday, driving sustained winds of 180 mph as it rolled across the Gulf of Mexico bound for what could be a devastating crash Wednesday along Florida’s already storm-battered western coast.

The National Hurricane Center said on its 5 p.m. advisory that Milton had reached those rare wind speeds, three hours after warning the hurricane had “explosively” intensified to 175 mph.

Come on now.

This isn’t supposed to happen.

Especially in October.

On Monday alone, the storm’s winds increased by 90 mph.

That is nuts!

One meteorologist was literally “on the verge of tears” as he discussed how powerful this storm was becoming…

Meteorology expert John Morales was on the verge of tears as he reported on what is to come for Florida live on NBC6.

‘It’s just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped– ‘ Morales said before pausing, visibly emotional.

‘It has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours,’ he continued. ‘I apologize. This is just horrific.’

A lot of people have been searching for “Category 6 hurricane” on Google, and USA Today published an entire article that speculated that a “hypothetical Category 6” could soon be added to the scale that we use to measure storms…

The rapidly developing hurricane that shows no signs of stopping won’t technically become a Category 6 because the category doesn’t exist at the moment. But it could soon reach the level of a hypothetical Category 6 experts have discussed and stir up arguments about whether the National Hurricane Center’s long-used scale for classifying hurricane wind speeds from Category 1 to 5 might need an overhaul.

This is a “once in a century” storm, but of course we just witnessed a “once in a century” storm.

It is so difficult to project exactly where large hurricanes will go, but right now forecasters are telling us that Hurricane Milton is heading straight toward the Tampa Bay area…

Milton is aiming directly for the Tampa Bay area—one of the state’s largest metro areas and home to more than 3 million people.

The Tampa Bay area has seen its fair share of hurricanes, but the storms typically do not strike the region directly from the west from the Gulf of Mexico, instead traveling north along the coast, as seen in the paths of Hurricane Ian in 2022.

AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter called Milton’s trajectory “unusual and extremely concerning.”

This is the kind of storm that can rip the roof right off a home and send trees hurtling through the air like missiles.

If Tampa takes a direct hit, the damage could be absolutely catastrophic.

According to one local meteorologist, this storm has the potential to be “the worst natural disaster in modern history for Florida”…

Hurricane Milton will be the worst disaster that Florida has ever seen, a longstanding weatherman has warned.

David Hartman, who works for WAPT in neighboring Mississippi, wrote: ‘Sadly, this is shaping up to the worst natural disaster in modern history for Florida.’

If you live in the Tampa Bay area, please leave.

At a press conference on Monday, one Florida official was literally begging people to evacuate…

Speaking at a press conference Monday alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state’s director of emergency management, Kevin Guthrie, urged those in the Tampa Bay area to evacuate.

“I beg you. I implore you,” Guthrie said. “Drowning deaths due to storm surge are 100% preventable if you leave.”

This storm was not supposed to become this powerful.

So what happened?

There are some people that are placing the blame on our changing climate, but others are pointing out that man-made tools can cause apocalyptic weather events as well.

For example, earlier this year “cloud-seeding” was being blamed for producing “the heaviest rain ever recorded” in the United Arab Emirates…

The United Arab Emirates is today attempting to dry out after the heaviest rain ever recorded in the desert nation caused utter chaos – but there are suspicions the horrific flooding in Dubai and elsewhere may have been self-inflicted.

The typically scorching UAE heavily relies on cloud-seeding – a technique which sees aircraft fire salt flares into clouds to speed up condensation and induce rainfall – to provide its groundwater.

Flight-tracking data analysed by the Associated Press showed one aircraft affiliated with the UAE’s cloud-seeding efforts flew around the country on Sunday.

This technique has been used all over the world for decades, and in my opinion it should be completely banned.

According to CBS News, scientists have also been working on a way “to aim a high-energy laser beam into clouds to make it rain or trigger lightning”…

For many Americans who wished they could change the weather — whether it be in the Northeast during this past winter or in drought-stricken California — researchers may have found a way to aim a high-energy laser beam into clouds to make it rain or trigger lightning.

The existence of condensation, storms and lightning are all due to the presence of large amounts of static electricity in the clouds. Researchers from the University of Central Florida and the University of Arizona say that a laser beam could activate those large amounts of static electricity and create storms on demand.

By surrounding a beam with another beam that will act as an energy reservoir, the central beam will be sustained for greater distances than previously possible. The secondary beam will refuel and help to prevent the dissipation of the primary beam, which would break down quickly on its own.

Ultimately, there are lots of ways that the weather can be manipulated.

At this stage, we just don’t know what has caused Hurricane Milton to experience “explosive” growth.

But what we do know is that this storm is extremely dangerous, and it is anticipated that it will make landfall some time on Wednesday…

Time is running out for Floridians to prepare for Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane on Wednesday evening. Stores across central Florida, including those in Orlando, are already running out of bottled water and other essential supplies.

“We are preparing … for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma,” Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said, according to The Associated Press. In addition to all of Fort Myers Beach, mandatory evacuations have been issued for all mobile and manufactured homes in areas near Tampa Bay. AccuWeather is predicting storm surge will reach 10 to 15 feet along a long area of the Florida coast surrounding Tampa Bay.

Needless to say, the Tampa Bay area is not the only area that is being threatened.

So far, a state of emergency has been imposed in 51 of Florida’s 67 counties by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis already placed 51 of the state’s 67 counties under a State of Emergency, and on Monday, President Joe Biden approved the state’s pre-landfall emergency declaration request, which now authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures.

A lot of people will attempt to ride this storm out.

Some will survive, and others will not.

We have never had two storms of such destructive power hit us so close together.

But what we are going through now is nothing compared to what is coming.

As I have been warning for years, historic natural disasters are going to be happening one after another.

We set a record for “billion dollar disasters” last year, and I am sure that we will set another record this year.

This is our “new normal”, and things are only going to get even more crazy from this point forward.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

They Are Lying to You About Hurricane Helene

Michael Snyder — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 23:05:30 +0000

(The Economic Collapse Blog)—After what we have just witnessed, how will anyone be able to trust those that are running the country ever again? Hurricane Helene’s extremely unusual journey left an immense trail of destruction that was more than 500 miles long, and there are many communities that were completely and utterly wiped out.

Authorities are telling the mainstream media that only a few hundred people died, and so that is what the mainstream media is telling us. But those that are on the ground in the areas that got hit the hardest are telling us a completely different story.

For example, one woman in Asheville, North Carolina says that thousands of people are missing and that there are still “bodies hanging from trees they haven’t gotten to yet”…

Asheville, North Carolina woman says the media is lying about the de*th toll from Hurricane Helene, says the real number is much higher than 200.

The TT user says cold trailers are overflowing with bodies.

“If you go to certain backroads, you will still find bodies hanging from trees they haven’t gotten to yet,” she posted.

“I don’t think people understand that 500+ people are de*d. Thousands more missing.”

Another local woman is claiming that there are more than 900 bodies at a local hospital in Asheville which still have not been identified…

There are reports that Mission Hospital in Asheville North Carolina was told today, that they will be the morgue for body recovery. As of a few days ago, there were reports of 900+ bodies at the hospital that haven’t been identified.

There are also reports of babies and children washing up in the river, and more reports of bodies in trees.

An insurance agent Hana’s teammates went to drop off supplies in Asheville and set up relief tents yesterday. While setting up they saw four babies, three children as well as adult bodies that were recovered from the mud and trees.

National guard member Breona Bryant has also mentioned that they are seeing dead children. Those doing rescue operations are traumatized and many survivors of the storm are suffering from survivors guilt.

Please keep in mind that Asheville is just one of the cities that was absolutely devastated by this storm.

There are hundreds of others that are dealing with dead bodies as well.

In South Carolina, an elderly couple that was embracing one another during the storm was killed when a large tree suddenly crushed their house…

An elderly couple, killed in South Carolina when a large tree fell on their home during Hurricane Helene, were found embracing each other in their bed, their grandson said. He is among hundreds of residents across six Southeastern U.S. states mourning the loss of their loved ones. The death toll surpassed 230 late Saturday.

The couple, identified as Marcia, 74, and Jerry, 78, from Beech Island, South Carolina, died as the hurricane raged outside, with winds strong enough to snap branches and uproot trees, The Associated Press quoted their grandson, John Savage, as saying.

It is going to take a very long time for emergency workers to recover all of the dead bodies.

As I shared with my core supporters on Friday, a group of FEMA executives were overheard discussing the fact that “a couple zeros” should be added to the current death toll that is being given to the public.

In Tennessee, the town of Erwin is just gone. I do not know if there were any survivors.

At this hour, there are millions of people living in parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee that are still waiting for help.

In a part of North Carolina that was hit particularly hard, one woman says that she still has not seen a single person from either the state government or the federal government yet…

As the communities within Yancey and Mitchell counties are rural, assistance has been slow to enter into those areas given the lack of road and bridge access. In fact, Emily tells me the communities there are mainly sheltered in place and she’s not seen anyone from state or federal gov’t.

Emily has been able to set up Starlink at the Newdale fire department in Burnsville to establish communication in coordinating emergency services — but more Starlink systems and supplies for that area will be needed for those communities and soon.

There are vast numbers of people that do not have access to clean water right now, and the governor of North Carolina is admitting that his state has never experienced anything like this…

As recovery missions and repairs continue in North Carolina more than a week after Hurricane Helene carved a path of devastation through the western part of the state, the state’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called for more resources to bolster the relief effort and likened the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s mark on Louisiana in 2005.

“This is unlike anything that we’ve seen in this state,” Tillis told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday morning. “We need increased attention. We need to continue to increase the surge of federal resources.”

When it is all said and done, I believe that the total damage caused by Hurricane Helene will greatly exceed the total damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

I am entirely convinced that we just witnessed the greatest natural disaster in modern U.S. history, and according to the Wall Street Journal many homeowners that had their houses destroyed will be extremely disappointed when they try to file insurance claims…

Homeowners are rushing to file insurance claims after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction across six states. Many of them will likely be left empty-handed.

Property insurers in recent years have hollowed out coverage and sharply increased rates to make up for steep underwriting losses driven by natural disasters. Owners of homes and businesses slammed by Helene could be in for a nasty shock when they check the small print of their policies.

“Insurers have become significantly tougher on hurricane claims,” said Rick Tutwiler, a claims adjuster for property owners based in Tampa, Fla. “We’ve moved to an era dominated by exclusions, diminishing coverages, and even harsher policy terms.”

A number of people have asked me if this disaster will have a dramatic impact on the upcoming election.

Without a doubt, voters in some conservative areas of North Carolina will be faced with difficulties…

Officials in North Carolina warned that voting in some parts of the battleground state might be impacted due to Hurricane Helene’s impacts.

During Helene, critical infrastructure in large swaths of western North Carolina and especially parts of the Appalachian Mountain areas were damaged or totally destroyed.

“There may be polling places impacted by mudslides, there may be polling places inaccessible because of damaged roads, and there may be polling places with trees that have fallen on them,” Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, told NPR on Tuesday.

In November, voting in some of the most rural parts of North Carolina could be way down because of this storm.

But the overwhelming backlash to the extremely poor federal response to this emergency could give a boost to the Republican ticket all over the nation.

So we shall see what happens. Meanwhile, another major hurricane is poised to hit central Florida.

According to Fox Weather, it is being projected that Hurricane Milton could be “the worst in over 100 years for parts of west-central Florida”…

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene struck Florida’s Big Bend, Milton is threatening to do the same, but given the state’s distinctive coastline, the angle of landfall could allow the new storm system to be the worst in over 100 years for parts of west-central Florida.

The area is certainly storm-weary, having recently experienced impacts from Helene, Debby, Ian and Idalia. However, the FOX Forecast Center warns that the unique angle of approach makes the situation similar to what emergency managers have dreaded but prepared for over decades.

All the way back at the beginning of this year, I warned my readers that this would be a banner year for natural disasters.

It is expected that Hurricane Milton will become a Category 3 storm before it comes ashore in the Tampa Bay region…

Florida’s west coast is preparing for a potentially massive evacuation ahead of a strike from Milton, which rapidly intensified into a hurricane on Sunday.

The Tampa Bay region, still reeling from massive coastal flooding from Helene —its worst hurricane in a century — remained in the crosshairs of Milton, a small but fast-strengthening storm expected to become a major Category 3 hurricane before it bulldozes the Gulf Coast.

What a nightmare.

Much of the state is still trying to recover from Hurricane Helene, and now another “life-threatening” storm is on the way…

Tampa Bay could see tropical storm-force winds as early as Tuesday. There could be a “risk of life-threatening impacts” including storm surge, wind and flash flooding along parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 a.m. advisory. Heavy rainfall is expected ahead of the storm on Sunday and Monday, which could be “at or near major hurricane strength” before landfall.

Nightmarish storms are just one element of “the perfect storm” that is now upon us.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

We have been getting pummeled by historic natural disaster after historic natural disaster, but what we have already been through is not even worth comparing to what is ahead.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Hidden Agendas: Beware of the Government’s Push for a Digital Currency

John W. and Nisha Whitehead — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 12:56:36 +0000

(Rutherford)—The government wants your money. It will beg, steal or borrow if necessary, but it wants your money any way it can get it.

The government’s schemes to swindle, cheat, scam, and generally defraud taxpayers of their hard-earned dollars have run the gamut from wasteful pork barrel legislation, cronyism and graft to asset forfeiture, costly stimulus packages, and a national security complex that continues to undermine our freedoms while failing to making us any safer.

Americans have also been made to pay through the nose for the government’s endless wars, subsidization of foreign nations, military empire, welfare state, roads to nowhere, bloated workforce, secret agencies, fusion centers, private prisons, biometric databases, invasive technologies, arsenal of weapons, and every other budgetary line item that is contributing to the fast-growing wealth of the corporate elite at the expense of those who are barely making ends meet—that is, we the taxpayers.

This is what comes of those $1.2 trillion spending bills: someone’s got to foot the bill.

Because the government’s voracious appetite for money, power and control has grown out of control, its agents have devised other means of funding its excesses and adding to its largesse through taxes disguised as fines, taxes disguised as fees, and taxes disguised as tolls, tickets and penalties.

No matter how much money the government pulls in, it’s never enough (case in point: the endless stopgap funding deals and constant ratcheting up of the debt ceiling), so the government has to keep introducing new plans to empower its agents to seize Americans’ bank accounts.

Make way for the digital dollar.

Whether it’s the central bank digital currency favored by President Biden, or the cryptocurrency being hawked by former President Trump, the end result will still be a form of digital money that makes it easier to track, control and punish the citizenry.

For instance, weeks before the Biden Administration made headlines with its support for a government-issued digital currency, the FBI and the Justice Department quietly moved ahead with plans for a cryptocurrency enforcement team (translation: digital money cops), a virtual asset exploitation unit tasked with investigating crypto crimes and seizing virtual assets, and a crypto czar to oversee it all.

No surprises here, of course.

This is how the government operates: by giving us tools to make our lives “easier” while, in the process, making it easier for the government to crack down.

Indeed, this shift to a digital currency is a global trend.

More than 100 other countries are considering introducing their own digital currencies.

China has already adopted a government-issued digital currency, which not only allows it to surveil and seize people’s financial transactions, but can also work in tandem with its social credit score system to punish individuals for moral lapses and social transgressions (and reward them for adhering to government-sanctioned behavior). As China expert Akram Keram wrote for The Washington Post, “With digital yuan, the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] will have direct control over and access to the financial lives of individuals, without the need to strong-arm intermediary financial entities. In a digital-yuan-consumed society, the government easily could suspend the digital wallets of dissidents and human rights activists.”

Where China goes, the United States eventually follows.

Inevitably, a digital currency will become part of our economy and a central part of the government’s surveillance efforts.

Combine that with ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) initiatives that are tantamount to social media credit scores for corporations, and you will find that we’re traveling the same road as China towards digital authoritarianism. As journalist Jon Brookin warns: “Digital currency issued by a central bank can be used as a tool for government surveillance of citizens and control over their financial transactions.”

As such, digital currency provides the government and its corporate partners with a mode of commerce that can easily be monitored, tracked, tabulated, mined for data, hacked, hijacked and confiscated when convenient.

This push for a digital currency dovetails with the government’s war on cash, which it has been subtly waging for some time now. Much like the war on drugs and the war on terror, this so-called “war on cash” has been sold to the public as a means of fighting terrorists, drug dealers, tax evaders and even COVID-19 germs.

In recent years, just the mere possession of significant amounts of cash could implicate you in suspicious activity and label you a criminal. The rationale (by police) is that cash is the currency for illegal transactions given that it’s harder to track, can be used to pay illegal immigrants, and denies the government its share of the “take,” so doing away with paper money will help law enforcement fight crime and help the government realize more revenue.

According to economist Steve Forbes, “The real reason for this war on cash—start with the big bills and then work your way down—is an ugly power grab by Big Government. People will have less privacy: Electronic commerce makes it easier for Big Brother to see what we’re doing, thereby making it simpler to bar activities it doesn’t like, such as purchasing salt, sugar, big bottles of soda and Big Macs.”

This is how a cashless society—easily monitored, controlled, manipulated, weaponized and locked down—plays right into the hands of the government (and its corporate partners).

Despite what we know about the government and its history of corruption, bumbling, fumbling and data breaches, not to mention how easily technology can be used against us, the shift to a cashless society is really not a hard sell for a society increasingly dependent on technology for the most mundane aspects of life.

In much the same way that Americans have opted into government surveillance through the convenience of GPS devices and cell phones, digital cash—the means of paying with one’s debit card, credit card or cell phone—is becoming the de facto commerce of the American police state.

At one time, it was estimated that smart phones would replace cash and credit cards altogether by 2020. Since then, growing numbers of businesses have adopted no-cash policies, including certain airlines, hotels, rental car companies, restaurants and retail stores. In Sweden, even the homeless and churches accept digital cash.

Making the case for a digital wallet, journalist Lisa Rabasca Roepe argues that there’s no longer a need for cash. “More and more retailers and grocery stores are embracing Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay,” notes Roepe. “PayPal’s app is now accepted at many chain stores including Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, Home Depot, and Office Depot. Walmart and CVS have both developed their own payment apps while their competitors Target and RiteAid are working on their own apps.”

So what’s really going on here?

Despite all of the advantages that go along with living in a digital age—namely, convenience—it’s hard to imagine how a cashless world navigated by way of a digital wallet doesn’t signal the beginning of the end for what little privacy we have left and leave us vulnerable to the likes of government thieves, data hackers and an all-knowing, all-seeing Orwellian corpo-governmental state.

First, when I say privacy, I’m not just referring to the things that you don’t want people to know about, those little things you do behind closed doors that are neither illegal nor harmful but embarrassing or intimate. I am also referring to the things that are deeply personal and which no one need know about, certainly not the government and its constabulary of busybodies, nannies, Peeping Toms, jail wardens and petty bureaucrats.

Second, we’re already witnessing how easy it will be for government agents to manipulate digital wallets for their own gain in order to track your movements, monitor your activities and communications, and ultimately shut you down. For example, civil asset forfeiture schemes are becoming even more profitable for police agencies thanks to ERAD (Electronic Recovery and Access to Data) devices supplied by the Department of Homeland Security that allow police to not only determine the balance of any magnetic-stripe card (i.e., debit, credit and gift cards) but also freeze and seize any funds on pre-paid money cards.

In fact, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it does not violate the Fourth Amendment for police to scan or swipe your credit card. Expect those numbers to skyrocket once digital money cops show up in full force.

Third, a government-issued digital currency will give the government the ultimate control of the economy and complete access to the citizenry’s pocketbook. While the government might tout the ease with which it can deposit stimulus funds into the citizenry’s accounts, such a system could also introduce what economists refer to as “negative interest rates.”

Instead of being limited by a zero bound threshold on interest rates, the government could impose negative rates on digital accounts in order to control economic growth. “If the cash is electronic, the government can just erase 2 percent of your money every year,” said David Yermack, a finance professor at New York University.

Fourth, a digital currency will open Americans—and their bank accounts—up to even greater financial vulnerabilities from hackers and government agents alike.

Fifth, digital authoritarianism will redefine what it means to be free in almost every aspect of our lives. Again, we must look to China to understand what awaits us. As Human Rights Watch analyst Maya Wang explains:

“Chinese authorities use technology to control the population all over the country in subtler but still powerful ways. The central bank is adopting digital currency, which will allow Beijing to surveil—and control—people’s financial transactions. China is building so-called safe cities, which integrate data from intrusive surveillance systems to predict and prevent everything from fires to natural disasters and political dissent. The government believes that these intrusions, together with administrative actions, such as denying blacklisted people access to services, will nudge people toward ‘positive behaviors,’ including greater compliance with government policies and healthy habits such as exercising.”

Short of returning to a pre-technological, Luddite age, there’s really no way to pull this horse back now that it’s left the gate. To our detriment, we have virtually no control over who accesses our private information, how it is stored, or how it is used. And in terms of our bargaining power over digital privacy rights, we have been reduced to a pitiful, unenviable position in which we can only hope and trust that those in power will treat our information with respect.

At a minimum, before any kind of digital currency is adopted, we need stricter laws on data privacy and an Electronic Bill of Rights that protects “we the people” from predatory surveillance and data-mining business practices by the government and its corporate partners.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, the ramifications of any government having this much unregulated, unaccountable power to target, track, round up and detain its citizens is beyond chilling.

The War on Food and the War on Humanity: Platforms of Control and the Unbreakable Spirit

Colin Todhunter — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 09:48:19 +0000

(Off-Guardian)—Max Weber (1864-1920) was a prominent German sociologist who developed influential theories on rationality and authority. He examined different types of rationality that underpinned systems of authority. He argued that modern Western societies were based on legal-rational authority and had moved away from systems that were based on traditional authority and charismatic authority.

Traditional authority derives its power from long-standing customs and traditions, while charismatic authority is based on the exceptional personal qualities or charisma of a leader.

According to Weber, the legal-rational authority that characterises Western capitalist industrial society is based on instrumental rationality that focuses on the most efficient means to achieve given ends. This type of rationality manifest in bureaucratic power.

Weber contrasted this with another form of rationality: value rationality that is based on conscious beliefs in the inherent value of certain behaviour.

While Weber saw the benefits of instrumental rationality in terms of increased efficiency, he feared that this could lead to a stifling “iron cage” of a rule-based order and rule following (instrumental rationality) as an end in itself. The result would be humanity’s “polar night of icy darkness.”

Today, technological change is sweeping across the planet and presents many challenges. The danger is of a technological iron cage in the hands of an elite that uses technology for malevolent purposes.

Lewis Coyne of Exeter University says:

We do not — or should not — want to become a society in which things of deeper significance are appreciated only for any instrumental value. The challenge, therefore, is to delimit instrumental rationality and the technologies that embody it by protecting that which we value intrinsically, above and beyond mere utility.”

He adds that we must decide which technologies we are for, to what ends, and how they can be democratically managed, with a view to the kind of society we wish to be.

A major change that we have seen in recent years is the increasing dominance of cloud-based services and platforms. In the food and agriculture sector, we are seeing the rollout of these phenomena tied to a techno solutionist ‘data-driven’ or ‘precision’ agriculture legitimised by ‘humanitarian’ notions of ‘helping farmers’, ‘saving the planet’ and ‘feeding the world’ in the face of some kind of impending Malthusian catastrophe.

A part-fear mongering, part-self-aggrandisement narrative promoted by those who have fuelled ecological devastation, corporate dependency, land dispossession, food insecurity and farmer indebtedness as a result of the global food regime that they helped to create and profited from. Now, with a highly profitable but flawed carbon credit trading scheme and a greenwashed technology-driven eco-modernism, they are going to save humanity from itself.

The world according to Bayer

In the agrifood sector, we are seeing the rollout of data-driven or precision approaches to agriculture by the likes of Microsoft, Syngenta, Bayer and Amazon centred on cloud-based data information services. Data-driven agriculture mines data to be exploited by the agribusiness/big tech giants to instruct farmers what and how much to produce and what type of proprietary inputs they must purchase and from whom.

Data owners (Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet etc.), input suppliers (Bayer, Corteva, Syngenta, Cargill etc.) and retail concerns (Amazon, Walmart etc) aim to secure the commanding heights of the global agrifood economy through their monopolistic platforms.

But what does this model of agriculture look like in practice?

Let us use Bayer’s digital platform Climate FieldView as an example. It collects data from satellites and sensors in fields and on tractors and then uses algorithms to advise farmers on their farming practices: when and what to plant, how much pesticide to spray, how much fertiliser to apply etc.

To be part of Bayer’s Carbon Program, farmers have to be enrolled in FieldView. Bayer then uses the FieldView app to instruct farmers on the implementation of just two practices that are said to sequester carbon in the soils: reduced tillage or no-till farming and the planting of cover crops.

Through the app, the company monitors these two practices and estimates the amount of carbon that the participating farmers have sequestered. Farmers are then supposed to be paid according to Bayer’s calculations, and Bayer uses that information to claim carbon credits and sell these in carbon markets.

Bayer also has a programme in the US called ForGround. Upstream companies can use the platform to advertise and offer discounts for equipment, seeds and other inputs.

For example, getting more farmers to use reduced tillage or no-till is of huge benefit to Bayer (sold on the basis of it being ‘climate friendly’). The kind of reduced tillage or no-till promoted by Bayer requires dousing fields with its RoundUp (toxic glyphosate) herbicide and planting seeds of its genetically engineered Roundup resistant soybeans or hybrid maize.

And what of the cover crops referred to above? Bayer also intends to profit from the promotion of cover crops. It has taken majority ownership of a seed company developing a gene-edited cover crop, called CoverCress. Seeds of CoverCress will be sold to farmers who are enrolled in ForGround and the crop will be sold as a biofuel.

But Bayer’s big target is the downstream food companies which can use the platform to claim emissions reductions in their supply chains.

Agribusiness corporations and the big tech companies are jointly developing carbon farming platforms to influence farmers on their choice of inputs and farming practices (big tech companies, like Microsoft and IBM, are major buyers of carbon credits).

The non-profit GRAIN says (see the article The corporate agenda behind carbon farming) that Bayer is gaining increasing control over farmers in various countries, dictating exactly how they farm and what inputs they use through its ‘Carbon Program’.

GRAIN argues that, for corporations, carbon farming is all about increasing their control within the food system and is certainly not about sequestering carbon.

Digital platforms are intended to be one-stop shops for carbon credits, seeds, pesticides and fertilisers and agronomic advice, all supplied by the company, which gets the added benefit of control over the data harvested from the participating farms.

Technofeudalism

Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece, argues that what we are seeing is a shift from capitalism to technofeudalism. He argues that tech giants like Apple, Meta and Amazon act as modern-day feudal lords. Users of digital platforms (such as companies or farmers) essentially become ‘cloud serfs’, and ‘rent’ (fees, data etc) is extracted from them for being on a platform.

In feudalism (land) rent drives the system. In capitalism, profits drive the system. Varoufakis says that markets are being replaced by algorithmic ‘digital fiefdoms’.

Although digital platforms require some form of capitalist production, as companies like Amazon need manufacturers to produce goods for their platforms, the new system represents a significant shift in power dynamics, favouring those who own and control the platforms.

Whether this system is technofeudalism, hypercapitalism or something else is open to debate. But we should at least be able to agree on one thing: the changes we are seeing are having profound impacts on economies and populations that are increasingly surveilled as they are compelled to shift their lives online.

The very corporations that are responsible for the problems of the prevailing food system merely offer more of the same, this time packaged in a genetically engineered, ecomodernist, fake-green wrapping (see the online article From net zero to glyphosate: agritech’s greenwashed corporate power grab).

Elected officials are facilitating this by putting the needs of monopolistic global interests ahead of ordinary people’s personal freedoms and workers’ rights, as well as the needs of independent local producers, enterprises and markets.

For instance, the Indian government has in recent times signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Amazon, Bayer, Microsoft and Syngenta to rollout data-driven, precision agriculture. A ‘one world agriculture’ under their control based on genetically engineered seeds, laboratory created products that resemble food and farming without farmers, with the entire agrifood chain, from field (or lab) to retail in their hands.

This is part of a broader strategy to shift hundreds of millions out of agriculture, ensure India’s food dependence on foreign corporations and eradicate any semblance of food democracy (or national sovereignty).

In response, a ‘citizen letter’ (July 2024) was sent to the government. It stated that it is not clear what the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will learn from Bayer that the well-paid public sector scientists of the institution cannot develop themselves. The letter says entities that have been responsible for causing an economic and environmental crisis in Indian agriculture are being partnered by ICAR for so-called solutions when these entities are only interested in their profits and not sustainability (or any other nomenclature they use).

The letter poses raises some key concerns. Where is the democratic debate on carbon credit markets. Is the ICAR ensuring that the farmers get the best rather than biased advice that boosts the further rollout of proprietary products? Is there a system in place for the ICAR to develop research and education agendas from the farmers it is supposed to serve as opposed to being led by the whims and business ideas of corporations?

The authors of the letter note that copies of the MoUs are not being shared proactively in the public domain by the ICAR. The letter asks that the ICAR suspends the signed MoUs, shares all details in the public domain and desists from signing any more such MoUs without necessary public debate.

Valuing humanity

Genuine approaches to addressing the challenges humanity faces are being ignored by policymakers or cynically attacked by corporate lobbyists. These solutions involve systemic shifts in agricultural, food and economic systems with a focus on low consumption (energy) lifestyles, localisation and an ecologically sustainable agroecology.

As activist John Wilson says, this is based on creative solutions, a connection to nature and the land, nurturing people, peaceful transformation and solidarity.

This is something discussed in the recent article From Agrarianism to Transhumanism: The Long March to Dystopia in which it is argued that co-operative labour, fellowship and our long-standing spiritual connection to the land should inform how as a society we should live. This stands in stark contrast to the values and impacts of capitalism and technology based on instrumental rationality and too often fuelled by revenue streams and the goal to control populations.

When we hear talk of a ‘spiritual connection’, what is meant by ‘spiritual’? In a broad sense it can be regarded as a concept that refers to thoughts, beliefs and feelings about the meaning of life, rather than just physical existence. A sense of connection to something greater than ourselves. Something akin to Weber’s concept of value rationality. The spiritual, the diverse and the local are juxtaposed with the selfishness of modern urban society, the increasing homogeneity of thought and practice and an instrumental rationality which becomes an end in itself.

Having a direct link with nature/the land is fundamental to developing an appreciation of a type of ‘being’ and an ‘understanding’ that results in a reality worth living in.

However, what we are seeing is an agenda based on a different set of values rooted in a lust for power and money and the total subjugation of ordinary people being rammed through under the false promise of techno solutionism (transhumanism, vaccines in food, neural laces to detect moods implanted in the skull, programmable digital money, track and trace technology etc.) and some distant notion of a techno utopia that leave malevolent power relations intact and unchallenged.

Is this then to be humanity’s never-ending “polar night of icy darkness”? Hopefully not. This vision is being imposed from above. Ordinary people (whether, for example, farmers in India or those being beaten down through austerity policies) find themselves on the receiving end of a class war being waged against them by a mega-rich elite.

Indeed, in 1941, Herbert Marcuse stated that technology could be used as an instrument for control and domination. Precisely the agenda of the likes of Bayer, the Gates Foundation, BlackRock and the World Bank, which are trying to eradicate genuine diversity and impose a one-size-fits-all model of thinking and behaviour.

A final thought courtesy of civil rights campaigner Frederick Douglass in a speech from 1857:

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

Conspiracy – Red Wave Press

FEMA’s Real Purpose: Suppressing Americans and Preventing Civilian Organization

Coincidence or Not, the Storms Mark the Beginning of the Most Impactful Days for America

Trending Articles

Nightmare at Asheville: A Terrifying Hurricane Helene Story…

All America’s Problems Are Leftist Problems

Data Shows Oregon Prescribed Kids Puberty Blockers 613% More per Capita Than CA

Kamala Won’t Explain How She Accessed Arizona Students’ Info After Scandal

Defending Retirement Savings at Top of Mind for Mature Trump Supporters Ahead of Election

Milk Wars: Marjorie Taylor Greene Takes Side In Raw Milk Debate

Tim Walz Put Abortions Up to Birth Into Law in Minnesota, Now He’s Lying About it

Watch: MAGA Pac Has Already Turned Kamala’s “The View” Gaffe Into a Pro-Trump Ad

Fact Check: Kamala Harris Falsely Claims Donald Trump ‘Would Terminate the Constitution’

FBI Says It Has Arrested Afghan Man Who Was Planning US Election Day Attack on Large Crowds

Arizona Legislators Open Investigation Into “Illegal” Breach of College Student Data by Harris Campaign

60 Minutes Edits Harris to Make Her Sound Intelligent

Dr. Phil Travels to North Carolina and Finds Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse Is Putting FEMA to Shame

Harris on How She Differs From Biden: ‘Not a Thing That Comes to Mind’

Study on the Massive Benefits of Reading the Bible Shows Why We Need to Be Putting It in as Many Hands as Possible