7th Jun 2022

The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse (Revelations), revealed by Name

From Wikipedia: Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals. The Lamb of God/Lion of Judah opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (often referred to as the Four Horsemen) are figures in the Christian religion, first appearing in the Old Testament's propheticBook of Zechariah and in the Book of Ezekiel, where they are named as punishments from God. They later appear in the New Testament's final book, Revelation, an apocalypse written by John of Patmos.

In John's revelation, the first horseman rides on a white horse, carries a bow, and is given a crown – he rides forward as a figure of Conquest

Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it (George W Bush) had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. — Revelation 6:1–2 New American Standard Bible

From Wikipedia: George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and son of former president George H. W. Bush, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 as part of the Republican Party.

On July 25, 2000, Bush surprised some observers when he selected Dick Cheney – a former White House chief of staff, representative and secretary of defense – to be his running mate. At the time, Cheney was serving as head of Bush's vice-presidential search committee. Soon after at the 2000 Republican National Convention, Bush and Cheney were officially nominated by the Republican Party.

The CIA has been accused of deliberately leaking classified information to undermine the 2004 election.

In his 2004 bid for re-election, Bush commanded broad support in the Republican Party and did not encounter a primary challenge. He appointed Ken Mehlman as campaign manager, and Karl Rove devised a political strategy.[83] Bush and the Republican platform emphasized a strong commitment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,[84] support for the USA PATRIOT Act,[85] a renewed shift in policy for constitutional amendments banning abortion and same-sex marriage,[84][86] reforming Social Security to create private investment accounts,[84] creation of an ownership society,[84] and opposing mandatory carbon emissions controls.[87] Bush also called for the implementation of a guest worker program for immigrants,[84] which was criticized by conservatives.

2008 financial crisis

In December 2007, the United States entered the longest post–World War II recession,[95] caused by a housing market correction, a subprime mortgage crisis, soaring oil prices, and other factors. In February 2008, 63,000 jobs were lost, a five-year record,[120] and in November, over 500,000 jobs were lost, which marked the largest loss of jobs in the United States in 34 years.[121] The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in the last four months of 2008, 1.9 million jobs were lost.[122] By the end of 2008, the U.S. had lost 2.6 million jobs.

Bush has said he believes that global warming is real[160] and has noted that it is a serious problem, but he asserted there is a "debate over whether it's man-made or naturally caused".[161] The Bush Administration's stance on global warming remained controversial in the scientific and environmental communities. Critics have alleged that the administration[162] misinformed the public and did not do enough to reduce carbon emissions and deter global warming.

Nearly eight million immigrants came to the United States from 2000 to 2005, more than in any other five-year period in the nation's history.[174] Almost half entered illegally.[175][unreliable source?] In 2006, Bush urged Congress to allow more than twelve million illegal immigrants to work in the United States with the creation of a "temporary guest-worker program". Bush also urged Congress to provide additional funds for border security and committed to deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexico–United States border.[176] From May to June 2007, Bush strongly supported the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was written by a bipartisan group of Senators with the active participation of the Bush administration.[177] The bill envisioned a legalization program for illegal immigrants, with an eventual path to citizenship; establishing a guest worker program; a series of border and worksite enforcement measures; a reform of the green card application process and the introduction of a point-based "merit" system for green cards; elimination of "chain migration" and of the Diversity Immigrant Visa; and other measures. Bush argued that the lack of legal status denies the protections of U.S. laws to millions of people who face dangers of poverty and exploitation, and penalizes employers despite a demand for immigrant labor.[178] Bush contended that the proposed bill did not amount to amnesty.

Midway through Bush's second term, questions arose whether Bush was retreating from his freedom and democracy agenda, which was highlighted in policy changes toward some oil-rich former Soviet republics in central Asia.

Bush signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty with Russia. He withdrew U.S. support for several international agreements, including the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) with Russia.

The September 11 terrorist attacks were a major turning point in Bush's presidency. That evening, he addressed the nation from the Oval Office, promising a strong response to the attacks. He also emphasized the need for the nation to come together and comfort the families of the victims. Three days after the attacks, Bush visited Ground Zero and met with Mayor Rudy Giuliani, firefighters, police officers, and volunteers. Bush addressed the gathering via a megaphone while standing on rubble: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."

On October 7, 2001, U.S. and British forces initiated bombing campaigns that led to the arrival of Northern Alliance troops in Kabul on November 13.

Beginning with his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address, Bush began publicly focusing attention on Iraq, which he labeled as part of an "axis of evil" allied with terrorists and posing "a grave and growing danger" to U.S. interests through possession of weapons of mass destructio

More than 20 nations (most notably the United Kingdom), designated the "coalition of the willing" joined the United States[258] in invading Iraq. They launched the invasion on March 20, 2003. The Iraqi military was quickly defeated. The capital, Baghdad, fell on April 9, 2003. On May 1, Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq. The initial success of U.S. operations increased his popularity, but the U.S. and allied forces faced a growing insurgency led by sectarian groups; Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech was later criticized as premature.[259] From 2004 until 2007, the situation in Iraq deteriorated further, with some observers arguing that there was a full-scale civil war in Iraq.[260] Bush's policies met with criticism, including demands domestically to set a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq. The 2006 report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by James Baker, concluded that the situation in Iraq was "grave and deteriorating". While Bush admitted there were strategic mistakes made in regards to the stability of Iraq,[261] he maintained he would not change the overall Iraq strategy.[262][263] According to Iraq Body Count, some 251,000 Iraqis have been killed in the civil war following the U.S.-led invasion, including at least 163,841 civilians.

Syria sanctions

Bush expanded economic sanctions on Syria.[306] In 2003, Bush signed the Syria Accountability Act, which expanded sanctions on Syria. In early 2007, the Treasury Department, acting on a June 2005 executive order, froze American bank accounts of Syria's Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Electronics Institute, and National Standards and Calibration Laboratory. Bush's order prohibits Americans from doing business with these institutions suspected of helping spread weapons of mass destruction[307] and being supportive of terrorism.[308] Under separate executive orders signed by Bush in 2004 and later 2007, the Treasury Department froze the assets of two Lebanese and two Syrians, accusing them of activities to "undermine the legitimate political process in Lebanon" in November 2007. Those designated included: Assaad Halim Hardan, a member of Lebanon's parliament and current leader of the Syrian Socialist National Party; Wi'am Wahhab, a former member of Lebanon's government (Minister of the Environment) under Prime Minister Omar Karami (2004–2005); Hafiz Makhluf, a colonel and senior official in the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate and a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; and Muhammad Nasif Khayrbik, identified as a close adviser to Assad.

There were calls for Bush's impeachment, though most polls showed a plurality of Americans would not support such an action.[359] The arguments offered for impeachment usually centered on the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy,[360] the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq, and alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions.[361]RepresentativeDennis Kucinich (D-OH), who had run against Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign, introduced 35 articles of impeachment on the floor of the House of Representatives against Bush on June 9, 2008, but SpeakerNancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared that impeachment was "off the table".

Accusations of war crimes

In November 2011, a war crimes tribunal of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission, established by Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, reached a unanimous conclusion that Bush and Tony Blair are guilty of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and genocide as a result of their roles in the Iraq War. The proceedings lasted for four days, and consisted of five judges of judicial and academic backgrounds, a tribunal-appointed defence team in lieu of the defendants or representatives, and a prosecution team including international law professor Francis Boyle.

From Christian Science Monitor: From the beginning, Mr. Bush made it clear that the war on terror extended wherever terror showed itself or found sanctuary. This included the Philippines, Indonesia, and Yemen, among others. He grouped Iraq, Iran, and North Korea in an "axis of evil" and vowed to produce a regime change in Iraq.

He wants to be seen as a liberator as well as a conqueror. In September, Bush in effect told the UN to help the US against Iraq or it would do it alone. Later, preceding the Security Council vote, he was more conciliatory.

Bush even asserts the right to act preemptively. This is something the US was careful to avoid even during the cold war, when the danger was greater.

William the Conqueror King of England 26th Great-grandfather to George W. Bush 43rd U.S. President

Film-maker Michael Moore recently wrote a letter to President George W Bush about his first year as President. The letter is called “Hail George, Conqueror of Evildoers.”

Red Horse

From Wikipedia: When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it (Barack H Obama), it was granted to take peace from Earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. — Revelation 6:3–4NASB 

The rider of the second horse is often taken to represent War[3] (he is often pictured holding a sword upwards as though ready for battle[26]) or mass slaughter.[1][8][27] His horse's color is red (πυρρός, pyrrhos from πῦρ, fire); and in some translations, the color is specifically a "fiery" red. The color red, as well as the rider's possession of a great sword (μάχαιρα, machaira), suggests blood that is to be spilled.[4] The sword held upward by the second Horseman may represent war or a declaration of war, as seen in heraldry. In military symbolism, swords held upward, especially crossed swords held upward, signify war and entering into battle.

From Wikipedia: Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːkhuːˈseɪnoʊˈbɑːmə/ (listen)bə-RAHKhoo-SAYNoh-BAH-mə;[1] born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American president of the United States.[2] A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.

Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.[146] Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.[147] In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history.[148] He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well.

On January 16, 2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regarding gun control.[225] He urged Congress to reintroduce an expired ban on military-style assault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings, impose limits on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales, pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the appointment of the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for the first time since 2006.[226] On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.[227] In a 2016 editorial in The New York Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed "common-sense gun reform" to women's suffrage and other civil rights movements in American history.[228]

In 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.[229] Following the 2013 global surveillance disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as unpatriotic,[230] but called for increased restrictions on the NSA to address violations of privacy.

The Bush and Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury. These guarantees totaled about $11.5trillion, but only $3trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.

In 2011, Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen which targeted and killed Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki was an American imam suspected of being an Al-Qaeda organizer and supporter. Awlaki became the first U.S. citizen to be targeted and killed by a U.S. drone strike without the rights of due process being afforded. The killing lead to significant controversy and may have increased Awlaki's influence. His teenage son and young daughter, also Americans, were later killed in separate US military actions, although they were not targeted specifically.[324][325]

In March 2015, Obama declared that he had authorized U.S. forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis in their military intervention in Yemen, establishing a "Joint Planning Cell" with Saudi Arabia.[326][327] In 2016, the Obama administration proposed a series of arms deals with Saudi Arabia worth $115billion.

On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date;[345] this took place in July 2011. David Petraeus replaced McChrystal in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.

On Obama's orders, the U.S. military took part in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone,[369] including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.[370][371][372] Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector.[373] Some Representatives[374] questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.[375][376] Obama later expressed regret for playing a leading role in the destabilization of Libya, calling the certain situation there "a mess."[377] He has stated that the lack of preparation surrounding the days following the government's overthrow was the "worst mistake" of his presidency.

In 2012, Obama authorized multiple programs run by the CIA and the Pentagon to train anti-Assad rebels.[382] The Pentagon-run program was later found to have failed and was formally abandoned in October 2015.[383][384]

In the wake of a chemical weapons attack in Syria, formally blamed by the Obama administration on the Assad government, Obama chose not to enforce the "red line" he had pledged[385] and, rather than authorize the promised military action against Assad, went along with the Russia-brokered deal that led to Assad giving up chemical weapons; however attacks with chlorine gas continued.

After Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014, military intervention in Syria in 2015, and the interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,[422] Obama's Russia policy was widely seen as a failure.[423]George Robertson, a former UK defense secretary and NATO secretary-general, said Obama had "allowed Putin to jump back on the world stage and test the resolve of the West", adding that the legacy of this disaster would last.

Obama's presidency ended on January 20, 2017, upon the inauguration of his successor, Donald Trump.

From NBC News: White House postpones Biden trips to Saudi Arabia and Israel

A group of relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks wrote to Biden this week saying that if he travels to the kingdom, he must raise issues of “accountability” over alleged ties between some of the 9/11 hijackers and Saudi officials.

From CBS News: Newly released video shows 9/11 hijackers with alleged Saudi intelligence operative

While President Biden signed an executive order last fall to declassify 9/11 evidence, the families of some 9/11 victims say they had to go through the British courts to get records and videos seized two decades ago from an alleged Saudi government operative that have never been public until now.

From CBS News: Saudi Arabia, home to 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers, is keen to show how much has changed

As the United States prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, the Biden administration is reviewing Saudi Arabia's connection to that landmark day. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

From the New York Post: How US covered up Saudi role in 9/11

... After he met on Sept. 13, 2001, with President Bush in the White House, where the two old family friends shared cigars on the Truman Balcony, the FBI evacuated dozens of Saudi officials from multiple cities, including at least one Osama bin Laden family member on the terror watch list. Instead of interrogating the Saudis, FBI agents acted as security escorts for them, even though it was known at the time that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

From NBC News: FBI releases declassified document into Saudi 9/11 links after Biden order

The document, which is heavily redacted, provides a summary of an FBI interview in 2015 with a man who had regular contact with Saudi nationals in the U.S. The man aided Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, the first hijackers to arrive in the U.S., once they arrived in the country.

From USA Today: New FBI documents link Saudi spy in California to 9/11 attacks

That story now appears to be false. The alleged aviation official was really a Saudi spy who reported directly to a Saudi prince who happened to be the kingdom’s influential ambassador in Washington and a close friend of President George W. Bush and other top U.S. government officials.

From ABC News: Were Israelis Detained on Sept. 11 Spies?

The arresting officers said they saw a lot that aroused their suspicion about the men. One of the passengers had $4,700 in cash hidden in his sock. Another was carrying two foreign passports. A box cutter was found in the van. But perhaps the biggest surprise for the officers came when the five men identified themselves as Israeli citizens.

From Winter Watch: The FBI’s ‘Dancing Israelis’ Investigation Reveals Israeli Foreknowledge of 9/11

You’ve probably heard the 9/11 story of the “dancing Israelis.” You may even recall that most mainstream media at that time treated the story — if they covered it at all — as though it was a distasteful rumor or “canard”. Trump even made a dishonest implant reference to “dancing Arabs” in New Jersey that day.

Attorney General John Ashcroft personally signed off on the detainees’ release. Upon entering the private sector as a lobbyist and consultant in 2005, the Israeli government became one of Ashcroft’s first clients

Another leg of the investigation showed the presence of Urban Moving Systems (UMS) and Israeli nationals out near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a “plane” was alleged to have crashed. An interview with the owner of UMS revealed no deliveries outside of New Jersey.

The investigation turned up another Israeli New Jersey based “moving” outfit with direct links to one alleged “hijacker.”

From the Times of Israel: Church of England vicar who shared article blaming Israel for 9/11 faces removal

The complaint against Sizer included a 2006 meeting with Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, a senior member of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, and his sharing of an article in 2015 titled “9/11: Israel did it.” In the post on the article, Sizer wrote, “is this antisemitic? If so, no doubt I will be asked to remove it. It raises many questions.”

From Haaretz: Report: Netanyahu Says 9/11 Terror Attacks Good for Israel

The Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv has reported that Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly said the September 11 attacks have been good for Israel. Netanyahu said, “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq.” Netanyahu then reportedly said that these events “swung American public opinion in our favor.” Netanyahu’s comments came during a conference at Bar Ilan University.

From Counter Punch: The CIA and 9/11

One of the most fascinating snippets on the latest Nixon Watergate-era tape to be released to the public, the same tape that contains an 18-minute erasure and anti-Semitic remarks, was a brief, unexplained comment by Nixon on what a fraud the Warren Commission had been.

From Rense: Italy Ex-President - CIA And Mossad Ran 9-11

In March 2001, Gladio agent Vincenzo Vinciguerra stated, in sworn testimony, "You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple: to force the public to turn to the state to ask for greater security."

From Newsweek: CIA and Saudi Arabia Conspired to Keep 9/11 Details Secret, New Book Says

The authors of a new book on 9/11 hope to refocus public attention on the cover-up. Thoroughly mining the multiple official investigations into the event, John Duffy and Ray Nowosielski find huge holes and contradictions in the official story that 9/11 was merely "a failure to connect the dots."

From L.A. Times: President Obama, who hoped to sow peace, instead led the nation in war

Before he took office in 2008, Barack Obama vowed to end America’s grueling conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his second term, he pledged to take the country off what he called a permanent war footing.

From Anti-War: Trump and Democrats Both Promise End to ‘Forever Wars’

With November approaching, the Democratic Party and President Trump have released plans for future policies, and both sides are calling for an end to Washington’s seemingly never-ending wars in the Middle East.

From Wikipedia: Peace dividend

Peace dividend was a political slogan popularized by US President George H.W. Bush[1] and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the light of the 1988–1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, that described the economic benefit of a decrease in defense spending. The term was frequently used at the end of the Cold War, when many Western nations significantly cut military spending such as Britain's 1990 Options for Change defence review.

From Peace Dividend: 1992 … The Promise

For America itself, freed from the burden of military competition with the Soviet Union, it was suggested that the country and its citizens would be the beneficiaries of a “peace dividend”. All that money that had been going to making war machinery and keeping the military on high alert against the threat of annihilation, could now be directed to a renewal of the American Dream and making America truly the greatest nation in history.

Unfortunately, there were other powerful individuals who had a different idea.

But the empire builders — what we now refer to as the neoconservatives or ‘neocons’ — weren’t going to take a back seat. They had a plan. It wasn’t even a secret plan. It was published on the internet and in political journals as the Project for the New American Century, and in books such as The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski. America was declared the “exceptional” nation, chosen by destiny to lead the world into the new era of Pax Americana.

The strategy of the warmongers was simple. If you don’t have an enemy, create enemies. If you don’t have a war, start one or two or as many as you can handle at any given time. There are always some bad people out there. But the list of enemies even included former friends. We used to give Osama bin Laden millions in military aid. We funded Saddam Hussein, even provided him with chemical weapons so he could gas his own people. We had a black site deal with Syria and used to hire their security guys to torture people. We hated Gaddafi, then we were okay with Gaddafi, then we hated him again and had him killed. We loved Russia during the 90s when our capitalists were looting the country. Now we hate them. So we overthrew the legitimate government of Ukraine to drive a wedge between Russia and Europe. Putin is a new Hitler! The neocons do whatever it takes to panic the American public and fire up the war machine.

To get an insight into how ruthless and brazen the neocons became during the George W. years, just watch this video of General Wesley Clarke talking about the war plans circulating in the Pentagon, orders handed down from the White House.

Seven countries, Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, then finally Iran — this list should sound very familiar — all targeted for overthrow.

It was exactly what Dwight Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address as president:

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.”

To get us to go along with their self-serving and sociopathic agendas, they lied to us, took hundreds of billions — trillions — of our tax dollars under completely false pretenses, then wasted our money buying military junk we don’t need to fight wars that never had to have happened.

The peace dividend was buried under mountains of debt and dead bodies.

From Forbes: What The End Of The ‘Peace Dividend’ Will Mean for Americans

In his State of the Union address, President Biden highlighted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and how the US and its NATO partners have coalesced to stop Russian aggression. However, he stopped short of indicating what a lengthy conflict would mean for Americans.

While investors currently are focused on the near-term impact of the invasion on the global economy and markets, the experience of the Cold War suggests it will also have significant long-term repercussions.

In December, he signed a $768 billion defense policy bill that represented a 5% increase in military spending. However, it was nearly $50 billion larger than his original request, as both Democrats and Republicans believed Biden’s proposal was insufficient to counter military advances by China and Russia. Now, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Republicans and some Democrats are likely to call for a larger allocation.

The bottom line is that a renewed cold war would have two adverse consequences for Americans. First, it would heighten the need to scale back social programs in order to fund increased military outlays. Second, it would make it more difficult to rein in inflation and would ultimately imply higher interest rates.

Black Horse

From Wikipedia: When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it (Donald J Trump) had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine." — Revelation 6:5–6 NASB 

The third Horseman rides a black horse and is popularly understood to be Famine, as the Horseman carries a pair of balances or weighing scales (Greek ζυγὸν, zygon), indicating the way that bread would have been weighed during a famine.[4][29] Other authors interpret the third Horseman as the "Lord as a Law-Giver," holding Scales of Justice.[36] In the passage, it is read that the indicated price of grain is about ten times normal (thus the famine interpretation popularity), with an entire day's wages (a denarius) buying enough wheat for only one person (one choenix, about 1.1 litres), or enough of the less nutritious barley for three, so that workers would struggle to feed their families.

Thus, it is probably a fact that with the approach of the Apocalypse, the most necessary food will rise in price greatly and the wages earned per day will be enough only for the minimum subsistence for the same day and nothing more.

Of the Four Horsemen, the black horse and its rider are the only ones whose appearance is accompanied by a vocalization. John hears a voice, unidentified but coming from among the four living creatures, that speaks of the prices of wheat and barley, also saying "and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine". This suggests that the black horse's famine is to drive up the price of grain but leave oil and wine supplies unaffected (though out of reach of the ordinary worker). One explanation for this is that grain crops would have been more naturally susceptible to famine years or locust plagues than olive trees and grapevines, which root more deeply.[4][29]

The statement might also suggest a continuing abundance of luxuries for the wealthy, while staples, such as bread, are scarce, though not totally depleted;[29] such selective scarcity may result from injustice and the deliberate production of luxury crops for the wealthy over grain.

From Wikipedia: Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

Trump's political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist. He won the 2016 United States presidential election as the Republican nominee against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton while losing the popular vote,[a] becoming the first U.S. president with no prior military or government service.

In December 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The bill had been passed by both Republican-controlled chambers of Congress without any Democratic votes. It reduced tax rates for businesses and individuals, with business tax cuts to be permanent and individual tax cuts set to expire after 2025, and eliminated the Affordable Care Act's individual requirement to obtain health insurance.[238][239] The Trump administration claimed that the act would either increase tax revenues or pay for itself by prompting economic growth. Instead, revenues in 2018 were 7.6 percent lower than projected.

Trump is the only modern U.S. president to leave office with a smaller workforce, by 3 million, than when he took office.

Trump rolled back more than 100 federal environmental regulations, including those that curbed greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, and the use of toxic substances. He weakened protections for animals and environmental standards for federal infrastructure projects, and expanded permitted areas for drilling and resource extraction, such as allowing drilling in the Arctic Refuge.[248] Trump aimed to boost the production and exports of fossil fuels;[249][250] under Trump, natural gas expanded, but coal continued to decline.

Trump dismantled many federal regulations on health, labor, and the environment, among other topics.[255] Trump signed 14 Congressional Review Act resolutions repealing federal regulations, among them a bill that made it easier for severely mentally ill persons to buy guns.

Under Trump, the federal government executed 13 prisoners, more than in the previous 56 years combined and after a 17-year moratorium.[280] In 2016, Trump said he supported the use of interrogation torture methods such as waterboarding

From 2018 onwards, Trump deployed nearly 6,000 troops to the U.S.–Mexico border,[307] to stop most Central American migrants from seeking U.S. asylum, and from 2020 used the public charge rule to restrict immigrants using government benefits from getting permanent residency via green cards.[308] Trump has reduced the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. to record lows. When Trump took office, the annual limit was 110,000; Trump set a limit of 18,000 in the 2020 fiscal year and 15,000 in the 2021 fiscal year.

On January 27, 2017, Trump signed Executive Order 13769, which suspended admission of refugees for 120 days and denied entry to citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days, citing security concerns. The order took effect immediately and without warning.

In April 2018, the Trump administration announced a "zero tolerance" policy whereby every adult suspected of illegal entry would be criminally prosecuted.[324] This resulted in family separations, as the migrant adults were put in criminal detention for prosecution, while their children were separated as unaccompanied alien minors.

Trump actively supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen against the Houthis and in 2017 signed a $110 billion agreement to sell arms to Saudi Arabia,[378] In 2018, the USA provided limited intelligence and logistical support for the intervention.[379][380] Following the 2019 attack on Saudi oil facilities, which the U.S. and Saudi Arabia blamed on Iran, Trump approved the deployment of 3,000 additional U.S. troops, including fighter squadrons, two Patriot batteries, and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump supported many of the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[382] Under Trump, the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel[383] and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights,[384] leading to international condemnation including from the United Nations General Assembly, the European Union and the Arab League

U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan increased from 8,500 in January 2017 to 14,000 a year later,[387] reversing Trump's pre-election position critical of further involvement in Afghanistan.[388] In February 2020, the Trump administration signed a conditional peace agreement with the Taliban, which called for the withdrawal of foreign troops in 14 months "contingent on a guarantee from the Taliban that Afghan soil will not be used by terrorists with aims to attack the United States or its allies" and for the U.S. to seek the release of 5,000 Taliban imprisoned by the Afghan government.[389][390][391] By the end of Trump's term, 5,000 Taliban had been released, and, despite the Taliban continuing attacks on Afghan forces and integrating Al-Qaeda members into its leadership, U.S. troops had been reduced to 2,500.

In October 2019, after Trump spoke to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, U.S. troops in northern Syria were withdrawn from the area, and Turkey invaded northern Syria, attacking and displacing American-allied Kurds in the area.[398] Later that month, the U.S. House of Representatives, in a rare bipartisan vote of 354 to 60, condemned Trump's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, for "abandoning U.S. allies, undermining the struggle against ISIS, and spurring a humanitarian catastrophe"

After an Iranian missile test on January 29, 2017, and Houthi attacks on Saudi warships, the Trump administration sanctioned 12 companies and 13 individuals suspected of being involved in Iran's missile program.[401] In May 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 agreement between Iran, the U.S., and five other countries that lifted most economic sanctions against Iran in return for Iran agreeing to restrictions on its nuclear program.[402][403] Analysts determined Iran moved closer to developing a nuclear weapon since the withdrawal.

In 2017, when North Korea's nuclear weapons were increasingly seen as a serious threat,[410] Trump escalated his rhetoric, warning that North Korean aggression would be met with "fire and fury like the world has never seen".[411][412] In 2017, Trump declared that he wanted North Korea's "complete denuclearization", and engaged in name-calling with leader Kim Jong-un.[411][413] After this period of tension, Trump and Kim exchanged at least 27 letters in which the two men described a warm personal friendship.

The Trump administration "water[ed] down the toughest penalties the U.S. had imposed on Russian entities" after its 2014 annexation of Crimea.[422][423] Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, citing alleged Russian non-compliance,[424] and supported a potential return of Russia to the G7.

Trump's public statements on COVID-19 were at odds with his private statements. In February 2020 Trump publicly asserted that the outbreak in the U.S. was less deadly than influenza, was "very much under control", and would soon be over.[469] At the same time he acknowledged the opposite in a private conversation with Bob Woodward. In March 2020, Trump privately told Woodward that he was deliberately "playing it down" in public so as not to create panic.

In September 2019, the Trump administration terminated United States Agency for International Development's PREDICT program, a $200 million epidemiological research program initiated in 2009 to provide early warning of pandemics abroad.[482][483] The program trained scientists in sixty foreign laboratories to detect and respond to viruses that have the potential to cause pandemics.

In April 2020, Republican-connected groups organized anti-lockdown protests against the measures state governments were taking to combat the pandemic;[514][515] Trump encouraged the protests on Twitter,[516] even though the targeted states did not meet the Trump administration's own guidelines for reopening.[517] In April 2020, he first supported, then later criticized, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's plan to reopen some nonessential businesses.[518] Throughout the spring he increasingly pushed for ending the restrictions as a way to reverse the damage to the country's economy.

During the 2016 presidential election campaign, American Media, Inc. (AMI), the parent company of the National Enquirer,[542] and a company set up by Trump's attorney Michael Cohen paid Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film actressStormy Daniels for keeping silent about their alleged affairs with Trump between 2006 and 2007.[543] Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to breaking campaign finance laws, saying he had arranged both payments at the direction of Trump to influence the presidential election.

Breaking with precedent, Trump filed to run for a second term with the FEC within a few hours of assuming the presidency.[618] He held his first re-election rally less than a month after taking office[619] and officially became the Republican nominee in August 2020.

At 2 a.m. the morning after the election, with the results still unclear, Trump declared victory.[637] After Biden was projected the winner days later, Trump said, "this election is far from over" and baselessly alleged election fraud.[638] Trump and his allies filed many legal challenges to the results, which were rejected by at least 86 judges in both the state and federal courts, including by federal judges appointed by Trump himself, finding no factual or legal basis.

Concern about a possible coup attempt or military action

In December 2020, Newsweek reported the Pentagon was on red alert, and ranking officers had discussed what they would do if Trump decided to declare martial law. The Pentagon responded with quotes from defense leaders that the military has no role to play in the outcome of the election.[656]

When Trump moved supporters into positions of power at the Pentagon after the November 2020 election, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and CIA director Gina Haspel became concerned about the threat of a possible coup attempt or military action against China or Iran.

From HuffPost: Research Paper: Turkey-ISIS Oil Trade

The sale of oil products by ISIS garners about $500 million/year. The US led multinational coalition has pledged to destroy ISIS. Its strategy includes depriving ISIS of financial support. Allegations abound that Turks are engaged in oil trade with ISIS. Additionally, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family are allegedly implicated. Erdogan takes these charges seriously. He promised "to vacate his post of Turkey's presidency if the claims are substantiated by concrete evidence."

From Wikipedia: Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American investigative journalist and political writer.

Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. During the 1970s, Hersh covered the Watergate scandal for The New York Times and revealed the clandestine bombing of Cambodia. In 2004, he reported on the U.S. military's mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. He has also won two National Magazine Awards and five George Polk Awards. In 2004, he received the George Orwell Award.[6]

Hersh has accused the Obama administration of lying about the events surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden and disputed the claim that the Assad regime used chemical weapons on civilians in the Syrian Civil War.

During one journalism conference, Hersh claimed that after the Strait of Hormuz incident, members of the Bush administration met in Vice President Dick Cheney's office to consider methods of initiating a war with Iran. One idea considered was staging a false flag operation involving the use of Navy SEALs dressed as Iranian PT boaters who would engage in a firefight with US ships. According to Hersh this proposed provocation was rejected.

In September 2013, during an interview with The Guardian, Hersh commented that the 2011 raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden was "one big lie, not one word of it is true". He said that the Obama administration lied systematically, and that American media outlets were reluctant to challenge the administration, saying "It's pathetic, they are more than obsequious, they are afraid to pick on this guy [Obama]".[35] Hersh later clarified that he didn't dispute Bin Laden's death in Pakistan, and rather meant that the lying began in the aftermath of bin Laden's death.[36]

On May 10, 2015, Hersh published the 10,000-word article "The Killing of Osama bin Laden" in the London Review of Books (LRB) on the fourth anniversary of the Abbottabad raid that killed bin Laden (Operation Neptune Spear). It immediately went viral, crashing the LRB website.

On December 8, 2013, the London Review of Books published "Whose Sarin?", an article rejected by the New Yorker and Washington Post.[52][53][54] Hersh wrote that the Obama administration had used "cherry picked intelligence" to try to justify a military strike against Syria after the Ghouta chemical attack and had ignored evidence the Syrian rebels could also have obtained Sarin gas. The White House denied the allegations made in the article,[53][55] and a number of Syria and chemical weapons experts were critical of the article.[53][56]

On June 25, 2017, Welt am Sonntag published Hersh's article "Trump's Red Line".[57] This had been rejected by the London Review of Books.[58][59] He said there was a split between the U.S. intelligence community and president Donald Trump over the alleged 'sarin attack' at the rebel-held town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib on April 4, 2017: "Trump issued the order despite having been warned by the U.S. intelligence community that it had found no evidence that the Syrians had used a chemical weapon".

Pale Horse

When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a pale horse; and he who sat on it (Joe Biden) had the name Death; and Hades (Kamala Harris) was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. — Revelation 6:7–8 (New American Standard Bible) 

The fourth and final Horseman is named Death. Known as Θάνατος (Thanatos),[44] of all the riders, he is the only one to whom the text itself explicitly gives a name. Unlike the other three, he is not described carrying a weapon or other object, instead he is followed by Hades (the resting place of the dead). However, illustrations commonly depict him carrying a scythe (like the Grim Reaper), sword,[45] or other implement.

The verse beginning "they were given power over a fourth of the earth" is generally taken as referring to Death and Hades,[29][52] although some commentators see it as applying to all four horsemen.

This fourth, pale horse, was the personification of Death, with Hades following him, jaws open and receiving the victims slain by Death. Death's commission is to kill upon the Earth with all of the four judgements of God—with sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts. The deadly pale and livid appearance displays a hue symptomatic of approaching empire dissolution.

Famine, the inevitable consequence of carnage and oppression, which demolished the present crop as well as the hope of future harvests, produced the environment for an epidemic of diseases, the effects of scanty and unwholesome food.

The succession of civil wars and invasions will cause much suffering, disorder and crime, which will bring the empire into a state of moral lethargy from which it will never recover.

The Four Horsemen are the first in a series of "Seal" judgements. This is when God will judge the Earth, and is giving humans a chance to repent before they die. Which is followed by a global dictatorship under the Antichrist and the rest of the plagues.

The Book of Zechariah twice mentions colored horses; in the first passage there are three colors (red, speckled/brown, and white),[80] and in the second there are four teams of horses (red, black, white, and finally dappled/"grisled and bay") pulling chariots.[81] The second set of horses are referred to as "the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world."[81] They are described as patrolling the earth, and keeping it peaceful. It may be assumed by some Christian interpretation that when the tribulation begins, the peace is taken away, so their job is to terrify the places in which they patrol.

In Ezekiel 14:21, the Lord enumerates His "four disastrous acts of judgment" (ESV), sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, against the idolatrous elders of Israel. A symbolic interpretation of the Four Horsemen links the riders to these judgments, or the similar judgments in 6:11–12.

From Wikipedia: Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (/ˈbaɪdən/BY-dən; born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under Barack Obama and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.

In 2017, Obama awarded Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction.

In 1993, Biden voted for a provision that deemed homosexuality incompatible with military life, thereby banning gays from serving in the armed forces.[103][104][105] In 1996, he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, thereby barring individuals in such marriages from equal protection under federal law and allowing states to do the same.[106] In 2015, the act was ruled unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Elected to the Senate in 1972, Biden was reelected in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008, regularly receiving about 60% of the vote.[108] He was junior senator to William Roth, who was first elected in 1970, until Roth was defeated in 2000.[109] As of 2020, he was the 18th-longest-serving senator in U.S. history.

In the mid-1970s, Biden was one of the Senate's strongest opponents of race-integration busing. His Delaware constituents strongly opposed it, and such opposition nationwide later led his party to mostly abandon school integration policies.[111] In his first Senate campaign, Biden had expressed support for busing to remedy de juresegregation, as in the South, but opposed its use to remedy de facto segregation arising from racial patterns of neighborhood residency, as in Delaware; he opposed a proposed constitutional amendment banning busing entirely.

Biden was a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He became its ranking minority member in 1997 and chaired it from June 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009.[133] His positions were generally liberal internationalist.[92][134] He collaborated effectively with Republicans and sometimes went against elements of his own party.[133][134] During this time he met with at least 150 leaders from 60 countries and international organizations, becoming a well-known Democratic voice on foreign policy.[135]

Biden voted against authorization for the Gulf War in 1991,[134] siding with 45 of the 55 Democratic senators; he said the U.S. was bearing almost all the burden in the anti-Iraq coalition.[136]

Biden became interested in the Yugoslav Wars after hearing about Serbian abuses during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991.[92] Once the Bosnian War broke out, Biden was among the first to call for the "lift and strike" policy of lifting the arms embargo, training Bosnian Muslims and supporting them with NATO air strikes, and investigating war crimes.[92][133] The George H. W. Bush administration and Clinton administration were both reluctant to implement the policy, fearing Balkan entanglement.[92][134] In April 1993, Biden spent a week in the Balkans and held a tense three-hour meeting with Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević.[137] Biden said he had told Milošević, "I think you're a damn war criminal and you should be tried as one."

In 1999, during the Kosovo War, Biden supported the 1999 NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia.[92] He and Senator John McCain co-sponsored the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution, which called on Clinton to use all necessary force, including ground troops, to confront Milošević over Yugoslav actions toward ethnic Albanians in Kosovo

Biden was a strong supporter of the War in Afghanistan, saying, "Whatever it takes, we should do it."[143] As head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said in 2002 that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was a threat to national security and there was no other option than to "eliminate" that threat.[144] In October 2002, he voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, approving the U.S. invasion of Iraq.[134] As chair of the committee, he assembled a series of witnesses to testify in favor of the authorization. They gave testimony grossly misrepresenting the intent, history, and status of Saddam and his secular government, which was an avowed enemy of al-Qaida, and touted Iraq's fictional possession of weapons of mass destruction.

Biden has made several false or exaggerated claims about his early life: that he had earned three degrees in college, that he attended law school on a full scholarship, that he had graduated in the top half of his class,[163][164] and that he had marched in the civil rights movement.[165] The limited amount of other news about the presidential race amplified these disclosures[166] and on September 23, 1987, Biden withdrew his candidacy, saying it had been overrun by "the exaggerated shadow" of his past mistakes.

In September 2019, it was reported that Trump had pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Biden and his son Hunter Biden.[315] Despite the allegations, no evidence was produced of any wrongdoing by the Bidens.[316][317][318] The media widely interpreted this pressure to investigate the Bidens as trying to hurt Biden's chances of winning the presidency, resulting in a political scandal[319][320] and Trump's impeachment by the House of Representatives.

Beginning in 2019, Trump and his allies falsely accused Biden of getting the Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin fired because he was supposedly pursuing an investigation into Burisma Holdings, which employed Hunter Biden. Biden was accused of withholding $1billion in aid from Ukraine in this effort. In 2015, Biden pressured the Ukrainian parliament to remove Shokin because the United States, the European Union and other international organizations considered Shokin corrupt and ineffective, and in particular because Shokin was not assertively investigating Burisma. The withholding of the $1billion in aid was part of this official policy.[321][322][323][324] The Senate Homeland Security Committee and Senate Finance Committee, led by Republicans, investigated allegations of wrongdoing by the Bidens in Ukraine, ultimately releasing a report in September 2020 that detailed no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden, and concluded that it was "not clear" whether Hunter Biden's role in Burisma "affected U.S. policy toward Ukraine".

On February 4, 2021, the Biden administration announced that the United States was ending its support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. In his first visit to the State Department as president, Biden said "this war has to end" and that the conflict had created a "humanitarian and strategic catastrophe."[372] On February 25, the Biden administration "struck a site in Syria used by two Iranian-backed militia groups in response to rocket attacks on American forces." This marked the first known action by the military under Biden.

Biden told migrants, "Don't come over." He said that the U.S. was arranging a plan for migrants to "apply for asylum in place", without leaving their original locations. In the meantime, migrant adults "are being sent back", Biden said, in reference to the continuation of the Trump administration's Title 42 policy for quick deportations.[378] Biden earlier announced that his administration would not deport unaccompanied migrant children; the rise in arrivals of such children exceeded the capacity of facilities meant to shelter them (before they were sent to sponsors), leading the Biden administration in March to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help manage these children.

In May 2021, during a flareup in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Biden expressed his support for Israel, saying "my party still supports Israel" amid disagreement from some Democrats.[386] In June 2021, Biden took his first trip abroad as president. In eight days he visited Belgium, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. He attended a G7 summit, a NATO summit, and an EU summit, and held one-on-one talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

American forces began withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2020, under the provisions of a February 2020 US-Taliban agreement that set a May 1, 2021, deadline.[402] By April 2021, the State Department was urging American civilians in Afghanistan to leave as soon as possible.[403][404] The Taliban began an offensive on May 1. As late as July, American intelligence assessments estimated Kabul would fall to the Taliban months or weeks after the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.[405][406] By early July, most American troops in Afghanistan had withdrawn.[381] Biden addressed the withdrawal in July, saying, "The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely."

After warning for several weeks that an attack was imminent, Biden led the U.S. response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, imposing severe sanctions on Russia and authorizing over $1 billion in weapons shipments to Ukraine.[458][459][460] On April 29, Biden asked Congress for $33 billion for Ukraine,[461] but lawmakers later increased it to about $40 billion.[462] During his May meeting with the Quad, Biden characterized Putin's actions as aiming to extinguish a culture by obliterating schools, churches and museums.[463] In his commencement address to the 2022 United States Naval Academy class, he said, "Not only is [Putin] trying to take over Ukraine, he’s literally trying to wipe out the culture and identity of the Ukrainian people. Attacking schools, nurseries, hospitals, museums, with no other purpose than to eliminate a culture."

From Business Insider: India and Egypt are working to swap wheat for fertilizer and other goods to ease potential food shortages

Egypt is one of the world's top wheat importers and faces a particularly dire situation — potential food shortages and social unrest. The country has also explored talks with the United Arab Emirates, European countries, and the US for ways to ease any potential food shortages, according to Bloomberg. 

From International Business Times: Food Crisis Fuels Fears Of Protectionism Compounding Shortages

A growing world food crisis is precipitating protectionist moves by countries which are likely to compound the problem and could lead to a wider trade war, business leaders and policymakers at the World Economic Forum said.

In a sign of the escalating squeeze on food supplies and rising prices, a government source told Reuters that India could restrict sugar exports for the first time in six years to prevent a surge in domestic prices.

Meanwhile Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil exporter, will remove a subsidy on bulk cooking oil and replace it with a price cap on the raw materials for local refiners.

"We were facing an extraordinary food crisis before Ukraine, food costs, commodity prices, shipping costs were already doubling, tripling, quadrupling," David Beasley, Executive Director for the United Nations World Food Programme, said.

The number of people "marching to starvation" has risen from 80 million to 276 million over the last four to five years, Beasley told Reuters in an interview in Davos.

MYSTERY BABYLON or The Great Satan

Revelation 17:5 reads, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

  • Revelation 17:1-3 “…Come hither; I will show unto you the judgment of the great WHORE that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed FORNICATION, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her FORNICATION. 3 …I saw a WOMAN sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy… 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON the great, the MOTHER OF HARLOTS and abominations of the earth.”

From Politico: Pelosi playing defense on torture

Nancy Pelosi didn’t cry foul when the Bush administration briefed her on “enhanced interrogation” of terror suspects in 2002, but her team was locked and loaded to counter hypocrisy charges when the “torture” memos were released last week.

Many Republicans obliged, led by former CIA chief Porter Goss, who is accusing Democrats like Pelosi of “amnesia” for demanding investigations in 2009 after failing to raise objections seven years ago when she first learned of the legal basis for the program.

“As soon as the president made the decision to release [the memos], I was telling people that the Republicans were going to come after us, saying she knew about it and did nothing,” said an adviser to Pelosi (D-Calif.), speaking on condition of anonymity. “And I’m sure we’re going to get hammered again when they release all those new torture photos,” the person said.

From N.Y. Times: Obama Moves to Bar Release of Detainee Abuse Photos

President Obama said Wednesday that he would fight to prevent the release of photographs documenting abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by United States military personnel, reversing his position on the issue after commanders warned that the images could set off a deadly backlash against American troops.

The administration said last month that it would not oppose the release of the pictures, but Mr. Obama changed his mind after seeing the photographs and getting warnings from top Pentagon officials that the images, taken from the early years of the wars, would “further inflame anti-American opinion” and endanger troops in two war zones.

Several left-leaning groups, which had been fierce critics of the Bush administration, said they were stunned by the decision. Human Rights Watch called it a blow to transparency and accountability. And Mr. Romero, the executive director of the A.C.L.U., suggested that the Obama administration was “covering up not only for the Bush White House, but for itself.”

From the Nation: Mitch McConnell’s Freighted Ties to a Shadowy Shipping Company

Before the Ping May, a rusty cargo vessel, could disembark from the port of Santa Marta en route to the Netherlands in late August, Colombian inspectors boarded the boat and made a discovery. Hidden in the ship’s chain locker, amidst its load of coal bound for Europe, were approximately 40 kilograms, or about ninety pounds, of cocaine. A Colombian Coast Guard official told The Nation that there is an ongoing investigation.

The seizure of the narcotics shipment in the Caribbean port occurred far away from Kentucky, the state in which Senator Mitch McConnell is now facing a career-defining election. But the Republican Senate minority leader has the closest of ties to the owner of the Ping May, the vessel containing the illicit materials: the Foremost Maritime Corporation, a firm founded and owned by McConnell’s in-laws, the Chao family.

Though Foremost has played a pivotal role in McConnell’s life, bestowing the senator with most of his personal wealth and generating thousands in donations to his campaign committees, the drug bust went unnoticed in Kentucky, where every bit of McConnell-related news has generated fodder for the campaign trail. That’s because, like many international shipping companies, Chao’s firm is shrouded from public view, concealing its identity and limiting its legal liability through an array of tax shelters and foreign registrations. Registered through a limited liability company in the Marshall Islands, the Ping May flies the Liberian flag.

McConnell’s ties to the Chaos go back to the late 1980s, when James Chao began donating to the senator. In 1993, McConnell married James’s daughter, Elaine Chao, a Republican activist and former Reagan administration official who would later serve as secretary of labor in the George W. Bush cabinet. James Chao emigrated to the United States from Taiwan, and founded the Foremost Maritime Corporation upon settling in New York. The company has grown significantly over the years, from acting as maritime agent during the Vietnam War to controlling a fleet of approximately sixteen dry-bulk cargo ships in operation today.

Foremost acts as a shipping agent, purchasing vessels made primarily in China and coordinating shipment of commodities. Records reviewed by The Nation reveal that Foremost transports corn, chemicals and other goods to cities throughout the world. The company has offices in New York and Hong Kong.

Some of the goods shipped by Foremost echo themes of the McConnell campaign. At a Young Professionals Association of Louisville event this month, McConnell stressed his opposition to carbon dioxide limits imposed by the federal government that would impact the domestic coal market. He argued that such efforts would be fruitless given the role of coal in developing countries and the rising coal trade. Foremost ships routinely transport coal from ports in Australia and Colombia, countries with cheap coal, for export to Asia and Europe.

The firm, however, leaves a faint online trace. Foremost’s website FMCNY.com is blank. Records and court documents obtained by The Nation show that the ownership of the company’s vessels—with names such as Ping May, Soya May, Fu May and Grain May—is obscured through a byzantine structure of tax entities. Most of Foremost’s vessels are flagged in Liberia, which ensures that crew members of Foremost’s ships work under Liberia’s maritime labor laws, which critics note allow for intimidation in the workplace and few protections for labor unions. In addition, a Liberian “flag of convenience” allows ship owners to pay lower tonnage taxes than ships that fly the US flag. Maritime companies have increasingly used the Marshall Islands to register their vessels. The jurisdiction boasts of “no taxation, lax regulation, and no requirements for disclosure of many corporate details—even to the United States government,” according to a report in World Policy Journal.

The recent seizure of cocaine on a Foremost coal ship came as authorities in Colombia have stepped up anti-drug trafficking enforcement in the region. The Nation spoke to Luis Gonzales, an official with the Colombian Coast Guard in Santa Marta, who told us that the Ping May’s crew were questioned as part of an ongoing investigation, but that no charges have yet been filed. His team found the cocaine in forty separate packages.

Contacted by telephone, a representative of Foremost said he is “obviously going to have no comment on this one.”

McConnell has benefitted in many ways from his relationship with his in-laws.

The Republican Senate minority leader’s personal wealth grew seven-fold over the last ten years thanks in large part to a gift given to him and his wife in 2008 from James Chao worth between $5 million and $25 million (Senate ethics forms require personal finance disclosures in ranges of amounts, rather than specific figures). The gift helped the McConnells after their stock portfolio dipped in the wake of the financial crisis that year, and ensured they could pay off more than $100,000 in mortgage debt on their Washington home.

The generous gift made McConnell one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, with a net worth averaging around $22.8 million, according to The Washington Post’s review of his financial disclosures.

McConnell has positioned himself over the years as a tough on drugs politician. In 1996, McConnell was the sole sponsor of the Enhanced Marijuana Penalties Act, a bill to increase the mandatory minimum sentencing for those caught with certain amounts of marijuana. A press release noted that his bill would make “penalties for selling marijuana comparable to those for selling heroin and cocaine.”

From Salon: A Return to Permanent War Is Here: First It Will Bankrupt America, Then Destroy It

The United States, as the near-unanimous vote to provide nearly $40 billion in aid to Ukraine illustrates, is trapped in the death spiral of unchecked militarism. No high speed trains. No universal health care. No viable COVID relief program. No respite from 8.3% inflation. No infrastructure programs to repair decaying roads and bridges, which require $41.8 billion to fix the 43,586 structurally deficient bridges, on average 68 years old. No forgiveness of $1.7 trillion in student debt. No addressing income inequality. No program to feed the 17 million children who go to bed each night hungry. No rational gun control or curbing of the epidemic of nihilistic violence and mass shootings. No help for the 100,000 Americans who die each year of drug overdoses. No minimum wage of $15 an hour to counter 44 years of wage stagnation. No respite from gas prices that are projected to hit $6 a gallon.

The permanent war economy, implanted since the end of World War II, has destroyed the private economy, bankrupted the nation, and squandered trillions of dollars of taxpayer money. The monopolization of capital by the military has driven the US debt to $30 trillion, $6 trillion more than the US GDP of $24 trillion. Servicing this debt costs $300 billion a year. We spent more on the military, $813 billion for fiscal year 2023, than the next nine countries, including China and Russia, combined.

Democrat or Republican. It does not matter. War is the raison d'être of the state. Extravagant military expenditures are justified in the name of "national security." The nearly $40 billion allocated for Ukraine, most of it going into the hands of weapons manufacturers such as Raytheon Technologies, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, is only the beginning. Military strategists, who say the war will be long and protracted, are talking about infusions of $4 or $5 billion in military aid a month to Ukraine. We face existential threats. But these do not count. The proposed budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in fiscal year 2023 is $10.675 billion. The proposed budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is $11.881 billion. Ukraine alone gets more than double that amount. Pandemics and the climate emergency are afterthoughts. War is all that matters. This is a recipe for collective suicide.

READ MORE: On U.S. Foreign Policy, the New Boss Acts a Lot Like the Old One (The New York Times)

The two ruling parties have been bought by corporations, especially military contractors. The press is anemic and obsequious to the war industry. Propagandists for permanent war, largely from right-wing think tanks lavishly funded by the war industry, along with former military and intelligence officials, are exclusively quoted or interviewed as military experts. NBC's "Meet the Press" aired a segment May 13 where officials from Center for a New American Security (CNAS) simulated what a war with China over Taiwan might look like. The co-founder of CNAS, Michèle Flournoy, who appeared in the "Meet the Press" war games segment and was considered by Biden to run the Pentagon, wrote in 2020 in Foreign Affairs that the U.S. needs to develop "the capability to credibly threaten to sink all of China's military vessels, submarines and merchant ships in the South China Sea within 72 hours." 

Liberals are cheerleading the war in Ukraine. At least the inception of the war with Iraq saw significant street protests. Ukraine is embraced as the latest crusade for freedom and democracy against the new Hitler. There is little hope, I fear, of rolling back or restraining the disasters being orchestrated on a national and global level. The neoconservatives and liberal interventionists chant in unison for war. Joe Biden has appointed these warmongers, whose attitude to nuclear war is terrifyingly cavalier, to run the Pentagon, the National Security Council and the State Department.

Since all we do is war, all proposed solutions are military. This military adventurism accelerates the decline, as the defeat in Vietnam and the squandering of $8 trillion in the futile wars in the Middle East illustrate. War and sanctions, it is believed, will cripple Russia, rich in gas and natural resources. War, or the threat of war, will curb the growing economic and military clout of China.

These are demented and dangerous fantasies, perpetrated by a ruling class that has severed itself from reality.

Its economic decline, with China's manufacturing 70% higher than that of the U.S., is irreversible. War is a desperate Hail Mary, one employed by dying empires throughout history with catastrophic consequences. "It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable," Thucydides noted in "The History of the Peloponnesian War."

There is a deep loathing among the public for these elitist Ivy League architects of American imperialism. Imperialism was tolerated when it was able to project power abroad and produce rising living standards at home. It was tolerated when it restrained itself to covert interventions in countries such as Iran, Guatemala and Indonesia. It went off the rails in Vietnam. The military defeats that followed accompanied a steady decline in living standards, wage stagnation, a crumbling infrastructure and eventually a series of economic policies and trade deals, orchestrated by the same ruling class, which deindustrialized and impoverished the country.

The opposition to permanent war should have come from the tiny progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which unfortunately sold out to the craven Democratic leadership to save their political careers.

Do yourself a favor. Think for yourself. Be your own person. Question everything. Stand for principle. Champion individual liberty and self-ownership where you can. Develop a strong moral code. Be kind to others. Do no harm, unless that harm is warranted. Pretty obvious stuff...but people who hold these things in their hearts seem to be disappearing from the earth at an accelerated rate. Stay safe, my friends. Thanks for being here.

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