(we suffered some kind of a 'spot evaporation' of text in this posting overnight. Not really clear how or why. We have repaired the missing text and hoist again the howls of the wolf back upon the crest of the hill outside the camp of the enemy.)
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We have a lot of people on the radio who hold views that are concurrent or in agreement with us. Glen Beck is one of those, although we find ourselves more "in concurrence" than "in agreement" very frequently. There were two points yesterday that wobbled way out of bounds, although Glen seemed happy to be wrong.
In his desire to ever-emphasise the need to buy gold and silver, he tends to hype points that suggest that to-morrow there will be a complete collapse of the economy of the entire Milky Way Galaxy. He urges that, since everyone will die instantly, his listeners should and must be prepared by owning gold and silver coin and bullion. It would help to have six or seven hundred tonnes of MRE packaged food stored in an inflatable Liberty Safe as well.
Glen also advises that the Russians are raiding the banks in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and Vladivostok, clearing their accounts, and generally going through their Metternich Moment. Soon, 1,000,000 ruble bills will be used to light cigarettes, and the name of the newly denominated bill will be the Russian Rubble. But, somehow, this present economic collapse falling upon Ivan Ivanovich, again, is going to circle the world like the domino daisy chain, and cause a Planetary Economic Collapse, requiring the legalisation of child consumption and dietary dogs and culinary cats.
The problem for Glen, and by the way...the Honourable Mr. Putin....is that Russia's GNP, especially now with the "rubble" at 62 for a dollar, puts Putin's place at or near the level of Argentina in terms of GNP. The "rubble" has declined by better than 90% against even the crippled American dollar since the turn of the century, and that even follows a severe "adjustment" of the Russian currency at the beginning of the "Putin Era".
Russia's place in the ranking of national economies is below Mexico, and Mexico has only 60% of the population of Russia. Russia's GNP is less than that of the Republic of Texas....and Texas has a little less than 20% of the population of Russia. Russia is embarked on three or four military campaigns with almost no fuel in spite of having a lot of oil.
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| Russian Bear Su-95 long-range bomber __________________________________________________________ |
Some of these campaigns are faux, such are the flying of the beat up old Su-95 bombers around, in, or near the airspace of European, American, and Japanese territory. We recall how a Russian "tour ship" became trapped by ice in Antarctic coastal waters during a visit last Summer (Antarctic Summer). Various rescue vessels tried to extract the ship, including an Aussie boat, and a Red Chinese icebreaker, but finally it was an American Coast Guard ice-breaker that freed the larger Russian "tour ship".
Out point is that Russia is hard pressed to even decisively invade and remove the eastern Ukraine and incorporate that tract into the Russian sovereignty. Crimea was one thing, but the Ukraine was a little more complex. The Monopoly Board Countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia need to be concerned, as well as Finland, but all are doing better economically than Russia at this time.
My opinion is that Russians, in spite of their Orthodox Christian background, are essentially people without souls. The loss in the Russo - Nippon War to the heavily outnumbered, outgunned, out-war-shipped Japanese was a humiliation. The murder of the Romanoff Dynasty, and the senseless losses caused by bad leadership in the Red Army during World War II, the utter collapse of the command economic model and central planning for everything approach developed a nation very similar to the worst of America's central city disasters. Russian criminal activity, Russian Mafia entrenchment and involvement in arms trafficking, human trafficking, drugs, extortion, all manners of violence, and general human sludgery exceeds all save the Red Chinese in the Underworld of Darkness.
Out point is that Russia is hard pressed to even decisively invade and remove the eastern Ukraine and incorporate that tract into the Russian sovereignty. Crimea was one thing, but the Ukraine was a little more complex. The Monopoly Board Countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia need to be concerned, as well as Finland, but all are doing better economically than Russia at this time.
My opinion is that Russians, in spite of their Orthodox Christian background, are essentially people without souls. The loss in the Russo - Nippon War to the heavily outnumbered, outgunned, out-war-shipped Japanese was a humiliation. The murder of the Romanoff Dynasty, and the senseless losses caused by bad leadership in the Red Army during World War II, the utter collapse of the command economic model and central planning for everything approach developed a nation very similar to the worst of America's central city disasters. Russian criminal activity, Russian Mafia entrenchment and involvement in arms trafficking, human trafficking, drugs, extortion, all manners of violence, and general human sludgery exceeds all save the Red Chinese in the Underworld of Darkness.
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Next, Beck made a good point about the wobbly-knee'd reaction to the bluster of tyrants about a fairly poor movie that pokes fun about an even worse mentally defective, unqualified, pompous little baggage who styles himself as something important on the world stage. The cocky, swaggering chubby dictator of North Korea is proof that, at times, the inmates do run the insane asylum.Beck reached back to the earliest moments of bellicosity in Europe when Curly, Larry, and Moe literally made one of the best slapstick comedic routines in film history, making fun of the Axis Powers and exposing their motives. The Three Stooges, mind you.
He even pointed out that the famous commie, and statutory rapist, Charlie Chaplin had enough muster to make a lengthy movie and eloquent soliloquies directly condemning the guilty in a way that they could not have failed to hear. Would that he had included Uncle Joe Stalin in the Choir of Shame.
But, Beck was either not aware of, or just failed to mention, perhaps the best of the Hollywood thumb in the eye to the Axis thugs. The tip of the spear was Jack Benny, of all people, who excelled in his role in this farcical comedy, tinged in dark seriousness, and laden with import. It was not the Jack Benny with whom we became familiar in later years, or even the pre-WW II golden-age of radio. Although this movie was a comedy with great servings of sarcastic overtone, it dealt with humour about a very macabre and tragic matter.....that matter being Adolf Hitler and his plans and people.
Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Robert Stack, and a genuinely high-powered group playing in supporting roles, pulled off this bit of the popular culture in such a way that exposed them to assassination and/or other reprisals. The movie's director, Ernst Lubitsch, was especially leading with his chin, but did so without any reservation.
We remember the various Christian clerics in Europe who pinned on the gold Star of David to their lapels and garments when the orders went out require the Juden to so mark themselves. When asked, the clerics would respond with a variation of, "If one must identify himself in such a way, then suddenly we all become Jews. We all can become victims of this madness."
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More later. We are trying to warm up and become productive and thoughtful, but the little grey cells just don't seem to run longer than 20 minutes at a time. We sincerely appreciate the time, attention, and patience of all OROGs.
El Gringo Viejo
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