This Is The Number One Challenge That Americans Believe They Are Facing In 2025; Charlie Kirk story; Doug Casey on Whether Charlie Kirk’s Death Could Be America’s Franz Ferdinand Moment
This Is The Number One Challenge That Americans Believe They Are Facing In 2025
“We sure have seen a lot of really crazy things happen so far this year. But in the minds of most Americans, there is one crisis that far outweighs everything else. As I have been documenting for years, our standard of living has been collapsing as the cost of living has risen must faster than our incomes have.
As a result, 67 percent of U.S. workers are now living paycheck to paycheck.
We are in the midst of the worst cost of living crisis in modern history, and Statista has found that Americans consider it to be the biggest challenge that they are facing by a very large margin…
Those results are stunning.
The cost of living won this survey in a blowout, but that shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us.
There are countless videos on social media where ordinary Americans are complaining about how oppressive the cost of living has become. Zac Rios has compiled some of the most poignant videos that have been posted lately, and when you watch them back to back it really is heartbreaking…
[Here in Birmingham, Alabama I see car lots completely full with little activity. Inflationary price rises from paying for wars, the military industrial complex and on and on results in borrowing credit by the U.S. from the Fed created out of thin air. - JRD]
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Doug Casey on Whether Charlie Kirk’s Death Could Be America’s Franz Ferdinand Moment
by Doug Casey
“Franz Ferdinand” can refer to the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, whose 1914 assassination triggered World War I, or to the Scottish indie-rock band named after him. The Archduke was the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his death at the hands of Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo sparked a global conflict. The band, fronted by singer Alex Kapranos, rose to fame with their 2004 self-titled debut album and is known for hits like “Take Me Out”. - JRD]
“The official story surrounding Charlie Kirk’s assassination has been eclipsed by the flurry of information that something bigger and more nefarious could be at play.”
“Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and journalist Max Blumenthal have made serious claims about powerful donors who were displeased with Kirk in the days before his death.
What do you make of all this?
Doug Casey: First, let me say that I was only marginally familiar with Charlie before this. I wasn’t his market, and he was just a name. And even now, all I really know is snippets of his speeches. I could go back and listen to his podcasts. But what he actually said or believed isn’t that important. What’s important is what people think he said or believed. The Wokesters clearly hate him.
From what I can tell, he seems like a decent, sincere guy—well-read, thoughtful, well-intentioned. But I’m automatically suspicious of anyone who’s been out trying to change the world since age eighteen.
Has anyone assisted him in his quest?
My understanding is that most of his funding, which was substantial, came from Zionists. He was always a huge fan of the Republican Party.
That’s understandable in that it’s a better alternative than the completely toxic Democratic Party. I presume he supported Israel because it’s ethnically European, has always presented itself as a US ally, and evangelical Christians believe it will play a part in immanentizing the eschaton.
All we know, however, is what we see and hear in the media. And Charlie was a media phenomenon. But, it’s said, he was changing his views towards Israel. He was feeling controlled by them and felt threatened. Some say that Israel took him out because he was going off the reservation and questioning their party line. Independent thinkers are dangerous and unwelcome in the world of realpolitik.
I don’t, however, think Tel Aviv arranged his shooting. Not because they’re loath to assassinate anyone who might be a threat; they do that promiscuously, anywhere in the world. Rather, because the risk of getting caught would be humongously out of proportion to any possible gain.
If I were writing a screenplay, I’d probably finger a radical coterie in the White House. Charlie’s death could create a martyr, energize “the base” against the Left, and justify lots of new laws.
So who done it?
At least since JFK, for the last 60 or so years, almost all of the assassinations and mass murders in the US have been indeterminate. Sure, they all have cover stories. In the case of JFK, was Oswald the killer? I’ve always doubted that. With RFK, was Sirhan Sirhan his killer? There’s a lot of doubt about that. The circumstances of MLK’s assassination were equally murky.
The numerous school shootings have been blamed on everything but prescription psychiatric drugs, which were almost universally used by the miscreants.
The 2017 mass murder of 61 and wounding 850 by “high stakes gambler” Steven Paddock in Las Vegas? I’d say the odds of any truth in that cover story are Slim and None. And Slim’s out of town.
What really happened on 9/11? It’s obvious that we have nothing like the whole story, starting with the fact that all three destroyed buildings collapsed in their own footprints, including Building 7, which wasn’t hit by a plane.
We don’t know who killed Charlie Kirk, and maybe we never will. Why weren’t his security scanning the roofs of nearby buildings? Or using a drone to do so? They haven’t found the bullet that’s supposed to have killed him. That’s odd. It couldn’t possibly have been a .30-06, as is widely alleged. Even if it wasn’t a hollow-point, the entrance wound looks quite small and neat. And initial word from the autopsy is that there’s no exit wound. It’s said he was wearing body armor that deflected the bullet. Under his T-shirt? Ridiculous.
There are many unanswered questions. I suspect most of them will remain unanswered, or the media will parrot fatuous answers that somebody fabricates, as they have with the numerous other recent instances of political or ideologically driven violence. The broad public is incapable of critical thinking. They believe what the Authorities tell them. And even if they’re suspicious, nobody wants to chance being labeled a “conspiracy theorist.”
In any event, there’s a good chance Charlie will serve as a catalyst, like John Brown did in 1859. I expect that there will be other events like this.
International Man: What struck you most about the reaction to Charlie Kirk’s reported death—both from the Right, who saw it as a devastating blow, and from parts of the Left, where some responses seemed dismissive or even celebratory?
What does that tell us about where the country is right now?
Doug Casey: It’s been obvious to me for the last 10 years—maybe much more, I’ll have to check past letters—that the US is heading towards a breakup. It’s uncertain whether it will be peaceful or violent. But one thing is for sure: the Red and the Blue people increasingly hate each other. And people with very different philosophical and moral beliefs can’t, and shouldn’t, inhabit the same political entity, especially when a powerful government is bankrupt, corrupt, and untethered.
One takeaway is that you can forget calls for “unity.” They’re nonsensical and impossible. The other takeaway is that “democracy”, now more than ever, is just a charade.
I’ve always felt that modern democracy was just mob rule dressed up in a coat and tie. But at this point, so-called democracy is about grabbing as much of the trillions of dollars of spoils that the US government dispenses every year as possible—and gaining control of the apparatus of the State to oppress the other guy. Forget about the “loyal opposition.” These people hate each other.
Washington’s debt binge… endless money printing… growing political unrest… it’s all pushing America toward an unavoidable crisis. When the system breaks, those without a Plan B could lose everything.
But there’s a smarter path forward.
Don’t get caught unprepared. Discover the proven Plan B that shows you how to secure a second passport, open an offshore bank account, and protect your freedom before it’s too late.”
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