US

Spiritual fornication

Jesus Christ was officially enthroned in Rome at the time when the Empire was on its slippery road to disintegration. The United States of America, today’s Rome, braces itself for the enthronement of Waheguru, a Sikh God. Sapienti sat.

This is not a one-time event in the Western world. What we are witnessing is a psychological change of epic dimensions. Ancient Rome was the superpower of the then world, at least the world around the Mediterranean, the world encompassing most of Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. The area controlled by Rome covered in today’s political and administrative terms: (in Europe) England, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, all former Yugoslav republics, Romania, Greece, (in Northern Africa) Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, (in Asia) Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, the Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. A formidable empire.

It was an empire because it was aggressive. It was an empire because it was technologically and economically advanced. It was an empire because it believed in its mission and its exceptionalism – because it believed Romans were the chosen people – and last but not least because Romans believed in their history, in their heroes and in their gods. There were no real rivals to Rome’s power. Germanic or Slavic tribes? Iranian or Persian monarchs? Greek philosophers? Phoenician or Carthaginian merchants? They were all subjugated, vanquished or turned into servile clients of the Roman state, whether Rome was a republic or an empire.

We all know that this Rome, this empire, this superpower, this magnificent culture, efficient military machine, productive economy, functional administration, advanced technology, awe-inspiring arts and literature, all of this slowly but surely went under. Why? Rome was subverted from the inside: Rome’s power was successfully challenged by a small and alien religious sect that refused to bow to Rome’s gods and patiently and stubbornly imposed on Rome its own faith. These were – yes, you are right – Christians. The mechanism of change was simple: on the one hand Romans were losing their faith, their faith in their gods and their faith in their exceptional mission, while on the other Christians – very few at inception – clung to their faith firmly, ready to pay with their own life for it, and eager to proclaiming it whenever and wherever they could. It was a gradual religious – ideological – spiritual (take your pick) – psychological takeover. Rome collapsed because Romans stopped being Romans. Yes, there are a number of explanations why Rome fell, with economic factors usually coming to the fore, but economy is really second to the collective psyche: economy collapses when there is no spirit of entrepreneurship, when there is no work ethic, when pleasure seeking supplants the call of duty, where hedonism destroys the family. As a result, oikophobia, a psychological reversal of xenophobia, kicks in. Oikophobia means self-loathing. As such, oikophobia entails the denunciation of age-old values and an embrace of foreign cultures, with the most alien being regarded as the most attractive, as the most desirable.

The same is happening to today’s Rome, to the United States of America. The country was founded by white Christians and it continued as such for roughly two centuries. The whites were for the large part of Germanic origin (the English and Germans) while the Christians were of Protestant persuasion. It was a country of proud WASPs – White Anglo-Saxon Protestants – who excluded from among themselves Catholics (even though they were white) not to mention Blacks or Indians, Chinese or Jews, whose tiny communities made their way into the United States. The famous Ku Klux Klan was all about preserving the WASP culture, the WASP identity, the WASP exceptionalism and mission. The Irish, the Italians, the Poles as papists were looked down on although they were naturalized; Indians did not have American citizenship till 1924, while Blacks did not enjoy equal rights well into the 1960s. All this was about to change, just like in ancient Rome. There appeared factors, there emerged forces that gnawed at the the roots of American WASP identity. They gnawed at the roots and proved to be eventually successful. Americans began to lose their faith in their exceptionalism, in their mission, in their superiority, eventually and above all – in their God, in their Christian God. Other faiths have wormed their way onto American soil and have become to make inroads into American culture, subverting the dominant role of Christianity. Along the lines of the Overton window, Christian values were gradually eroded, ridiculed, relativized to eventually become void of their meaning. The change has swept across the board and engulfed even the Republican Party, which is viewed as right-wing, as the one that upholds traditional values. This party is a good example of the profound psychological change that is taking place inside the American nation.

Donald Trump claims to be a Christian, a protestant Christian. His third (and current wife) Melania (of Slovenian descent) was baptized a Catholic. So far so good. Yet, Donald Trump’s daughter married a Jew and converted to Judaism with the full approval of her father. She describes the conversion as the most exciting and beautiful adventure of her life. That’s how much Donald Trump and his family care about their Christian faith.

Donald Trump has selected his future vice president – J D Vance. What do we know about him in terms of his beliefs? We know that a few years earlier J D Vance converted to Catholicism, the faith old-time WASPs would have frowned upon to say the least. Still, it is a faith of the white man, still it is Christian, still it is a specifically European creed. So much, so good. J D Vance, however, has a Hindu wife, Usha Chilukuri. Their wedding ceremony included Christian and Hindu rites.

The encroachment of Hinduism on American culture does not stop here. Former (and maybe future) President Donald Trump and J D Vance have been attending political rallies in the run-up to the November 5, 2024 presidential election, and these rallies are enriched with… a Sikh blessing delivered by a republican politician, Harmeet Dhillon, who using such opportunities invokes Waheguru – Wonderful God (in Sikhism) – with all the (at least nominally Christian) WASPs obediently listening and letting the alien enchantments sink in. Such a ceremony wouldn’t have taken place in a genuinely Christian Europe a few centuries back when people were burnt at the stake for much less. Today…

Harmet Dhillon (above) invokes a foreign god while Americans (below)

fornicate with him the way ancient Israelites sometimes did 

Today a Muslim is mayor of London and of many other cities in the Western world (are there Christian mayors in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, or Turkey, or, or, or?) while for a couple of years we’ve had a Hindu Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. You need only to answer the question if such things were thinkable even fifty years back.

Today the Catholic Pope willingly embraces foreign gods, be it at a ceremony in Canada, where underwent a religious rite conducted by an Indian shaman, or straight in the Vatican Gardens or in Saint Peter’s Basilica, where the Pope worshipped an Amazon goddess. A shocking sight to all preceding Christians, with barely anybody from among though faithful raising their eyebrows nowadays. Yet, Jorge Bergoglio only walks in the footsteps of the lay and mostly atheist Europeans who – like it happened in Davos – willingly embraced foreign spirits enthused into them by an Indian female shaman.

Psychology decides everything. Religion is a manifestation of collective psychology. Ideology is a manifestation of collective psychology. The Soviet Union fell not because it was conquered nor even because its economy was – as it is said – ineffective. Cuban or North Korean economies are said to be even worse and the two small countries are still alive and kicking. The Soviet Union – an atomic superpower and the state that was a successful rival of America in outer space – fell because its communist elites stopped believing in communism. So long as they believed in it – rightly or wrongly, it does not matter – that long they were self-assured and bellicose. They did not tolerate any other ideology on their turf – be it capitalism or Christianity. Why? Because they believed in the righteousness of communism and the backwardness and harmfulness of any other ideology. Christians did the same when they were (dominant) Christians: they did not tolerate any other religion on their turf. Tolerance was not practised. When did tolerance begin to be practised? Ah, yes, at the moment when Christians began doubting the righteousnesses and the exclusiveness and the exceptionalism of their faith. Once they let themselves be told that all faiths are more or less equally valid, they began a slippery slope of towards the end of their existence. It did not happen overnight, of course. Just as Rome was not built in a day, so Rome was not annihilated in a day. Christianity, communism – take whatever collective psyche you please – takes time to rot. But once the process sets in, it is unstoppable and leads straight to a total collapse.

Consider the parallels: ancient Roman temples were turned into churches, today’s Christian churches across Europe are being turned into mosques; erstwhile communists turned to capitalists. Five hundred years ago Columbus went on a journey to explore the unknown world on a ship that was named Santa Maria; when nominally Christian America was sending man to the moon, the spacecraft bore the name of the pagan god Apollo. Icons of the change in the collective psyche.

Think back to history and remember the role of women in the change of the collective psyche. Not the feminists of all shades. These are making coffins for their own civilization. Think about all those Hindu and Jewish and Muslim wives of white, nominally Christian men. It is through women, through wives and mothers – not husband-less and mostly childless feminists – that civilizations change, that the collective psyche undergoes a change, that children and grandchildren are raised in a different cultural code. Who was it in the Roman Empire that brought about the change? Empress Helen, Saint Helen, mother to Emperor Constantine. She first became Christian, her son followed suit. Remember Princess Olga, Saint Olga of ancient Rus’? She first let herself be baptized; though her son remained pagan, her grandson – Vladimir – accepted Christianity and along with him the whole of Rus’. It was because of that that he went down in history as Vladimir the Great. The same story repeated itself across many European nations. Wives, mothers, grandmothers induced the collective psychological change of epic dimensions.

Watch the video coverage showing the rallies during the time when the participants receive the “blessing” from Waheguru. Let us reiterate it: for the most part the participants are Christians, yet they accept another god’s blessing, they – as the Bible puts it in the strongest of terms – fornicate with another god, they transgress the very first commandment: Thou shalt not have other gods before me. You may be an atheist or religiously indifferent and yet what is stated above is not a religious statement. It is a statement of life. You either stick to a creed – conviction – identity – or else you drift freely to be tossed about by troubled waters or be suppressed by those who firmly stick to their creed – conviction – or identity. Donald Trump, J D Vance, Jorge Bergoglio, the participants of the World Economic Forum and all their followers have surrendered their identity, their uniqueness to foreign gods, hence they are all as good as conquered, subjugated, obliterated.

London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, is an observant Muslim, Great Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer is neither an observant Christian, nor a Christian in any sense of the word. His wife, however, and mother of his children (remember the role of wives and mothers) is religiously Jewish. The crosses of St George (England), St Andrew (Scotland), and St Patrick (Ireland) that make up the Union Jack, the national flag of the United Kingdom, are becoming or have already become empty symbols of the once Christian realm. The same can be said about the whole of the West. The West is undergoing a profound psychological change: its indigenous populations have lost the faith of their ancestors, its imported populations stick to the faith of their forefathers. Biological reality coupled with or compounded by the huge collective psychological change will inevitably entail the final and irreversible collapse of the civilization of the white man. White feminists are hellbent on hammering the final nail in the coffin of their own world. Their very few daughters (few, because feminists refuse to multiply) will be forced to fornicate with dominant males of different faiths and different biology. The feminists numerous granddaughters (numerous, because dominant non-white males are going to have a lot of offspring) will barely resemble their feminist grandmothers. That’s what fornication with foreign gods translates into in practical terms. Let us say it again: it is not a religious statement when you warn a nation not to have other gods before the one that is theirs.

The Chosen People had their God and that God dictated to them as the first commandment: do not fornicate with other gods. Every time they fornicated with other gods, they were severely punished. Scripture says that God punished the Chosen People. You do not need to be a believer: they were punished by themselves once they cut themselves off from their roots. That’s a provable psychological and historical phenomenon. It applies to all nations. You either drive on the left or the right side of the road. No diversity of rules is admissible because it is not feasible without causing a tremendous catastrophe. Allowing for having two gods is but a transition period before the old God is removed altogether and the new one is enthroned. It has never been otherwise, it will never be otherwise. Is America going to be Made Great Again with the help of Waheguru? Please…

The US economy ahead of the elections

The biggest surprise on the financial markets this year is that inflation is continuing. While investors had hoped not long ago for 4 interest rate cuts by the Fed this year, there are now only 3, and with a significant delay. This underpins the thesis we have often expressed that central banks do not fully understand the dynamics of the current inflation. The indicators suggest that parts of the economy, such as real estate and the automotive sector, are struggling with high interest rates, while other sectors, such as the defense industry, the semiconductor industry, the AI industry and the manufacture of anti-obesity drugs, are experiencing a boom. So, after the pandemic, due to new IT technologies and the war in Ukraine, a two-speed economy has emerged, where monetary policy is more difficult, as supporting the weak parts of the economy can go hand in hand with persistent inflation, which is more costly for companies.

Investors try to glean from the Fed’s statements the level of future interest rates (i.e. how much the money – the loans – will cost businesses in the future). It is often the case that the worse the situation in the economy is, the higher share prices rise as investors hope that in response to weak economic data, the Fed will cut interest rates to stimulate the economy. Just yesterday (July 3, 2024) we had an example of this: the ISM index for the service sector collapsed and – excluding the Covid-19 pandemic – fell to its lowest level in almost 15 years. And Wall Street hit record highs in response.

So investors believe this two-speed economy will continue to work. Meanwhile, fiscal spending in the US is unsustainable in the long term and current government bond yields are increasing government spending related to debt, taking away funds for citizen welfare and infrastructure. The US government has to deal with the risk of an economic slowdown or risk letting inflation run high for longer. So the scenario is: whether Democrats or Republicans win, they will have to increase spending (read: inflation), which will cause the Fed to perhaps raise interest rates even higher.

Investors need to understand that the real killer for stocks is recession, not inflation. Yes, I know that the examples, such as the behavior of the stock markets in Turkey or Argentina, clearly show that high inflation need not be a particular problem for equities in the long term. But one day the moment will come: even large companies will not be able to generate higher profits in the face of expensive loans, high taxes and wages. On that day, it will no longer be worth putting money into shares. Even in the USA.

What a choice!

By a guest author.

Is this supposed to be a leading nation, a torch of democracy, a superpower, the place on earth where millions are flocking to? Good heavens! The debate held between former President Donald Trump and President Incumbent Joe Biden has made a depressive effect. The country – or a nation, as Americans love to say, though a nation they are not, rather a motley of peoples and races and creeds – that claims to have the best economy the best political system, the largest number of Nobel Prize winners, the best scientists and technicians, the best universities, the best this and the best that, that country has put forward two men to run for president, neither of whom is someone I would like to follow even if paid for. Neither appears to be a man under whom I would ever like to serve; neither inspires, neither instills admiration or awe or respect; neither grabs my attention in any positive way. Watching and listening to the debate was a huge waste of time. Bland, uninspiring, predictable guys, with nothing whatsoever to say, with nothing to impress the audiences, with nothing whatsoever to propose.

Not that they are exceptions in the long line of American presidents and presidential candidates. Most of their recent predecessors were as bland, unimaginative and uninspiring as they make them. Be it He-Clinton or She-Clinton, be it Obama or Kamala-the-laughing-Harris… Some have taken credit and continue to take credit for being female or non-white, the first female or the first non-white holding such a high post… as if that were the most important thing about leading the allegedly best country the world has seen. What a shame, what an embarrassment, what a humiliation! Leaders of much, much smaller countries – think of Robert Fico (pronounce: FEE-tsaw) of Slovakia or Victor Orbán of Hungary – are far, far better, smarter, cleverer, more prudent, and better educated. Unfortunately, a Fico or an Orbán with their common sense and education are not at the helm of a superpower but at the helm of the superpower’s vassal states. What a pity! If we could but trade Fico or Orbán for the likes of Biden, Trump, von der Leyen, Macron, Scholz, Stoltenberg… Sadly, that’s not what we can do. Sadly, we are forced to suffer the policies of the loons and morons with their religion of climate change, war on Russia, ever more pandemics, ethnic replacement and their contempt for human biology (like when individuals can decide what sex they are) and sound morals (like when yesterday’s shame is today’s pride and the other way round).

But you know what? People are still viewing America as the Mecca of the world, as the Promised Land, while Americans (in fact a concoction of nations and races and creeds and – to be up to date with terminology – the many genders) are still envied and somehow regarded as a chosen people. And this chosen people, this exceptional people are now divided over which of the two embarrassments will lead the fifty states towards the abyss. Watching the two guys – Donald and Joe – I just could not help thinking about the many emperors of ancient Rome: those, too, were for the most part disappointing in any respect and by any measure. The empire was big and yet it was inevitably on a crash course with the external and internal forces that were about to smash it, disrupt it, make it into nothing. And still, and despite all that, even long, very long after the Empire had collapsed, the many nations regarded it as a wonder of wonders: the so-called barbarians modelled the administration of their kingdoms that arose on the ruins of ancient Rome on that of the Roman Empire and continued to use Latin – the Roman Empire’s language – for centuries after the demise of the Empire. Among the dead languages Latin used to be the most alive. The same fate waits English, whose vocabulary is – what an omen! – for the most part Latin, including such common words as tent, tender, money, castle, street, city, human, treat, language, animal, apply, delete, record, intelligent, army, suggest, support, sex, gender… – the list is unending.

Consider also how American public and administrative institutions along with some of the most famous symbols are modelled on ancient Rome with the words like capitol, senate, the phrases e pluribus unum (=one [state] from many [states]), or novus ordo seclorum (=a new order of the ages) and annuit coeptis (= he favoured the commencement) that appear on the Great Seal of the United States and the dollar banknote. The United States with its many military bases around the world (more than eight hundred) make one think about the Roman legions also scattered around yesteryear’s world, while the form of the American republic seems to be evolving towards a dictatorship and then… monarchy. You don’t believe it? Rest assured these processes are already under way. You haven’t noticed? Not easy to notice. Such changes take time. They seem to happen quickly only when viewed through the pages of a historical book. There, you turn another page and the political system has changed or a war has been won or lost or a country has been conquered. In reality it all takes time which makes the changes imperceptible to the common man. 

Of the 300 million inhabitants, some of whom have graduated from the famed Ivy League, this world’s leading democracy has been able to roll out an octogenarian and almost an octogenarian with little or nothing to say. But then why should we wonder? A Biden or a Pelosi, an Obama or a Clinton have been almost all their adult lives in politics. They are no scholars or scientists, no real entrepreneurs or thinkers. They have been focused on making their careers and – especially – on making money. Accordingly, they are capable of changing their mind as often as required by the circumstances and they only care about their image. The speeches that they make – or rather read – are the usual stuff prepared by other people. They have learnt how to smile and how to wave hands; they have learnt how to play up to the audience by saying sweet little nothings; they have been groomed to be what they are and they have been paid for it. They are prisoners of the system and their ambitions. Just as it was in ancient Rome. All those emperors, dictators, generals and senators with their petty interests and warped psyche, with their conspiracies and civil wars, with making their weight felt at the expense of the smaller countries. And the same populace around them, then and now, demanding bread and Olympic games, or cheap gas and Hollywood-like entertainment. Roman gladiators have been replaced with Super Bowl players while Roman self-pride (we are the best in the world) has been replaced with American self-pride (we are the world’s best).

The world’s leading democracy! Dear me! Just listen to them candidates, to the content of their statements, to the mutual accusations! Glean the information from their speeches and from the media about the several millions of aliens entering the United States and occupying it piece by piece, and confront it with the pathetic declaration of the need to stop Russia because otherwise it will… occupy Europe! What if Russians decided to do it the way those millions of aliens are doing every year, settling in the United States and feeding on it? Would such occupation be palatable?

One can only wish the big United States had a Viktor Orbán or a Robert Fico! The world would be a nice place to live. Just imagine a debate between a Viktor Orbán and a Robert Fico, will you? You’d taste common sense and it would be a pleasure to listen to. Sadly, our choice is between a total globalist and a semi-globalist; between two peace-loving leaders of the best ever democracy who nonetheless cannot extricate the United States from wars and conflicts; our choice is between someone who has already during his term been undermined by his administration and someone who during his term is being controlled by his administration. What a choice!

Restaurants offering free dishes

Every historical epoch or age has its religion. It may be a religion par excellence with a god or gods and a devil or devils, with a belief in afterlife, final judgement, reincarnation and what not. Such is not the only form a creed may take. Religions also assume forms of ideologies: apart from the beliefs in the otherworldly reality, man has also believed and continues to believe in the set of assumptions – laws – principles of his own making. Man’s strict observance of them transforms ideologies into religions. Humanity has had a number of such non-religious religions. This are socialism or enlightenment, human rights or the rights of the citizen, ecologism or globalism, with the list being by no means exhausted. One of the tenets of the last mentioned religions is the belief in the advantageousness of open borders. The argument is that man ought not to be restricted in his movement around the globe, that we are all one human race and hence citizens of the world.

The argument is false on a number of counts. For one, there are many natural borders of which language and culture are the most powerful in separating and dividing groups of people. Language itself makes runaways from one nation to another or one cultural region to another feel very much ill at ease. Hence, geographical or administrative borders merely reflect reality. It is very often recklessly repeated that nationalities only came into existence in the 19th century, but that’s not true. When you consider the borders of the medieval kingdom of France or England or Bohemia or Sweden, they somehow more or less overlap with the territory inhabited by the French the English or the Czech. The many German dukedoms and principalities along with kingdoms were still… German rather than mixtures of German and Italian or French nations. Sure, occasionally each of those political entities contained some ethnic minorities, but these were ethnic minorities and if they were bog enough, they sooner or later separated. The managers of the world seem not to be aware of all it. Also, the managers and ideologues of the world let themselves be seduced by their wishful thinking. But then who are they? Geniuses? But we are diverging.

Be it as it may, the concept of having open borders has been preached by today’s intellectuals as a kind of new commandment that has been etched into stone. The concept, however – just like about anything that has been born in the brains of the ideologues – is false and its falsity is glaring to anybody with common sense. What do we mean?

The Western countries have not merely opened their borders – doors – wide for anyone to come. That in itself would not be all that bad. After all, we have shops and restaurants and offices open for anybody and there is no problem with it. The Western countries have made it obligatory on themselves to provide for anybody who turns up with food and clothing and medical care and what not. The Western countries have not merely turned themselves into restaurants – offices – cinemas where anybody can come in and order something… in return for money. The Western countries turned themselves into such a type of restaurants – offices – cinemas where anybody who turns up is given food and beverages without having to pay for them. That’s the glaring falsity of the open borders ideology. It is not – let us reiterate it – that the restaurants are open: those restaurants have been turned into troughs regularly replenished with free-of-charge food, and naturally they act as magnets. Tens and hundreds of thousands flock to those troughs because why shouldn’t they?

Another falsity of the open-borders ideology consists in the fact that the Western ideologues provide the incomers with all the life necessities redistributing the wealth that is produced by of the host countries. It is not that the residents or prime ministers or the enlightened intellectuals give supplies to the needy from outside the Western world: it is that they take it away from their own citizens and redirect it to the aliens. Yes, the citizens of the host countries being brain-washed by the decades-long propaganda are generally in favour of aiding the aliens but herein lies yet another falsity. The citizens pay taxes and their governments funnel some of the money to the arrivals. Imagine now that not a penny is taken away from the citizens for the aid for the arrivals, but each citizen is asked to share voluntarily some of his income with all those Afghans, Somalis, Nigerians and Moroccans. How many people do you think – even among those who have been brainwashed – would support day in, day out the perfect strangers and how much money would they assign to the needs of the newcomers? It is one thing to have your money spent by the government when you have no say, and quite another to regularly and voluntarily deplete your bank account and transfer the money to aliens, especially those you are afraid or scared of every time you pass them by in the street of your town or city. How many helpers would we have under such conditions?

In other words, imagine running a restaurant and… having its door open to anybody who pleases to enter and… serving them all the dishes they wish without being paid for it! I dare say you wouldn’t like to do it even if you had money to burn. Especially – let me repeat it – if you were afraid or scared of your “guests”.

The legal case of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidency

On May 20 Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidential term expired, which poses a very interesting legal and political case. Russia does not recognize Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s authority any more. Which is not a malicious act on her part. The argument is that any agreement, accord, whatever signed by someone who simultaneously is not the head of a country entails grave political problems. Any next president of Ukraine may either feel bound by the agreement that Ukraine entered into with Russia under the presidency of Volodymyr Zelenskyy or may renege on it as signed by someone who did not have the legal authority to act as the country’s leader. Why should the Kremlin even bother to consider any talks with Zelenskyy if such is the case?

As of now, the West recognizes Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s power despite the expiry of his presidential term of office. Yet, the same legal case might be used by the diplomats in Washington, London, or Paris in any later development of events in Ukraine. They, too, might one of these days make a statement that they do not feel bound to honour any international settlement signed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy if only such a political move suits their purposes.

As is known, it is the interaction of the real military and economic factors that are at the disposal of the international players that matters. Diplomacy is merely a reflection of those real factors. Hence, if the West feels coerced to enter into an unfavourable settlement with Russia over Ukraine, it may intentionally make Volodymyr Zelenskyy sign it with the hindsight that the settlement is going to be revoked the moment the balance of powers tilts in the West’s favour. The fact that the legality of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidential authority is questionable might be viewed as a wild card in any future diplomatic dealings between the West and Russia if the latter agrees to honour Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s signature.

At present, Ukrainian jurisprudence might recognize the current Ukrainian leader as the country’s legitimate president. That may change overnight. Particular legal provisions can be construed to mean whatever pleases the powerful. We all know that.

Transgender Day of Visibility

Jeez… not that this day of Transgender Visibility is celebrated for the first time, but still. It all began in 2009 with the blessing from both Obama and Biden, then vice-president. Among the initiators was one Rachel Crandall Crocker, an attractive (see pic) activist of the movement that has invaded the minds of the Western civilization. In 2014, the day was observed around the globe. Then in 2021, President Joe Biden proclaimed March 31 as a Transgender Day of Visibility. This – 2024 – year it coincided with Easter Day. What a clash! 

The President’s Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024, reads, among others, that:

Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation [and because] they help America thrive [t]hey deserve, and are entitled to […] the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves. [Sadly] extremists are proposing hundreds of hateful laws that target and terrify transgender kids and their families — silencing teachers; banning books; and even threatening parents, doctors, and nurses […]. These bills attack our most basic American values: the freedom to be yourself, the freedom to make your own health care decisions, and even the right to raise your own child. It is no surprise that the bullying and discrimination that transgender Americans face is worsening our Nation’s mental health crisis, leading half of transgender youth to consider suicide in the past year. At the same time, an epidemic of violence against transgender women and girls, especially women and girls of color, continues to take too many lives. […] All of these attacks are un-American and must end. No one should have to be brave just to be themselves.

Notice that the said cases of suicide are offhandedly explained as caused by the hostile attitude of Americans with normal sex conduct towards those with sexual deviances, and not a thought is spared for the other explanation, namely that the high suicide rate is caused by the psychological confusion of not knowing which sex you are, but who cares? 

Notice also how the president pontificates from on high and from the bottom of his magnanimous heart that all he wants to protect is the right to be… yourself. Tear-jerking . Yet, we all know what the president and the paymasters of his clique mean by being yourself: you may choose to be transgender, but you must not choose to be an advocate of the interests of white Americans. In this case the rules of self-determination need not apply: the usual selectivity in the omnipresent newspeak of the present day that we have long been accustomed to, but never mind.

The American head of state continues in the same document:

Now, therefore, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility. I call upon all Americans […] to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.

Some ostentatious pomp it is, is it not?! “I call on all Americans to eliminate violence and discrimination” as if attacks on people with abnormal sexual proclivities were part and parcel of American everyday reality rather than rising crime rates and a feeling of insecurity caused by the weakening of the police and open borders policy.

Towards the end of the document, the president says:

Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

You might know that Joe Biden is not merely a Christian but a Catholic. Catholicism is regarded by some as the strand of Christianity that is strictest in its moral demands. Catholic or no Catholic, the Christian Holy Bible does not beat about the bush when it comes to homosexuality, so Biden as a Christian and a Catholic, while invoking “the year of our Lord” (Jesus Christ is meant… yet?), should have had a moment of reflection, a moment of doubt, a moment of recollection of the following passage (emphasis added):

[Because t]hey exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator,[…] God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.

Romans 1:26–27, New American Bible, Vatican site.

It may be that Joe Biden does not know his Bible; it may also be that he has theologians explaining the whole passage away, shedding a new light on it, as is practised nowadays with almost anything and everything regarding moral values: rather than being abolished or ridiculed, they are reinterpreted, deconstructed and construed to mean whatever pleases the managers of the world.

How could a Catholic president square his Transgender Day of Visibility coinciding with Easter Day this year? We may rest assured that the president’s conscience is not troubled in the least and that his theologians have told him that (i) St Paul did not really mean what he supposedly meant, (ii) that some of the apostles were transgender people (especially St John, who reclined on Jesus’ bosom/breast/next to Jesus – as the many translations have it – as evidenced in John 13:23), and that (iii) transgender people are our neigbours (in the religious sense of the word) and neighbours ought to be loved, which after all is the highest precept of Christian morality (second only to the love for God). Never mind all the other intricacies of the Holy Writ: Americans will not challenge such a theological claim, certainly not publicly, especially in the time when they are full aware that non-compliance with the new normal may cost them dearly in terms of their professional careers. It is not Jesus Christ, nor the pope, nor the Vatican, nor your local church community, nor your (Catholic or Protestant) priest, who are commonly feared nowadays: it is the likes of Rachel Crandall Crocker, whose denunciation will surely land you up in deep trouble and bring upon you the strongest, most severe societal condemnation or worse.

Through such decisions the world finds out what American values are at present. All transgender people in all countries either already know or will soon know that they can flock to the American fold and seek protection there against their oppressive governments that have not yet recognized this basic human right – a right to be yourself.

Look forward to the April issue of Gefira. We deal with the role of transgender people worldwide in American politics.

FED is not playing fair – can it go bankrupt?

The most important central bank in the world, the US Federal Reserve (FED), recently presented its financial report, which shows that it had a substantial loss of USD 114 billion last year. Why such a large loss for the FED? To explain this, one should first distinguish between two aspects of the central bank’s activities.

Firstly, the FED holds large quantities of US bonds, which in turn yield interest. Of course, in this case, this interest is income for the central bank. It is worth noting that since the FED began buying bonds on a large scale in 2008, interest rates have also risen considerably
Secondly, the Federal Reserve allows commercial banks and various types of funds to hold money in an account at the central bank. At the same time, it pays a certain amount of interest on these funds, which depends primarily on the level of interest rates.

Well, between 2022 and 2023, there was a series of interest rate hikes in the US. Eventually, a level of 5.5% was reached. This meant that the FED had to pay 5.5% interest to banks and funds (and there were a lot of them) that wanted to keep their money in a central bank account.

So on the one hand, the Fed still held a similar amount of bonds in 2023, for which it received interest rates close to the 2022 level (i.e. much lower than this 5.5%). On the other hand, it had to pay much higher interest rates to commercial banks or money market funds. This resulted in the loss.

You may ask: What happens when a central bank suffers a loss? From a purely financial point of view: Nothing significant happens. It is assumed that this loss will be covered by future profits. In the context of a central bank, it is difficult to talk about bankruptcy, especially as central banks can create gigantic amounts of money under the current system.
Gefira is critical of the monetary policy of central banks, but for completely different reasons. No one from the central bankers is commenting on the following questions:

1) Is it fair that the central bank only rescued and wants to rescue selected financial institutions simply because they operate on a large scale?

2) Is it normal for these institutions (especially banks) to hold their reserves at the central bank and safely receive a few percent interest in return?

3) What’s more – is it fair that unprofitable companies are kept alive by the central bank printing money, which in turn makes it more difficult for new companies to enter the market?

4) Is it good for the economy that unprofitable zombie companies are kept afloat in this way, which otherwise – in the real free economy – should have gone bankrupt long ago?