USG: Who’s the Boss?

Of, by, and for the people? Come on. Biden’s not even in charge. [The Rude Awakening] November 13, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( USG: Who’s the Boss? [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Pam, Micah, and I were thumbing through YouTube this weekend when we came upon a video that played all the theme tunes and openings of popular 80s TV series. Oh, those were the days when America was the undisputed best place on earth to live: no Scandinavian ifs, Swiss ands, or Australian buts. When I hear those tunes, I don’t so much get misty-eyed as I sink into a lethargic melancholy remembering my unsurpassed youth. No worries, pain, or grief. The worst I had as a child was a rare case of boredom. I thought money grew on trees - and thanks to the Greenspan Fed, that was partially true. Merely owning a house in the New York Metropolitan Area gave everyone an economic bump, though we paid for that with higher consumer product prices. In the short term, my parents also benefitted from the Reagan tax cuts, not knowing what hell they would unleash in Congress twenty years down the road. We didn’t talk much about politics in those days because the difference between Democrats and Republicans was paper thin. It was “How much more or less do you want to give to the welfare state?” That was about all the difference there was. But now, there’s a chasm between not just the left and right wings but between the rulers and the ruled. The APEC Conference in San Francisco has proven that. San Francisco, 2008 The only time I ever visited San Francisco was in July 2008. I thought it was a magnificent place. It was the only time in my life I seriously looked back and thought I had made a mistake by going into banking and not technology. From what I can remember, the streets were no dirtier than New York’s, and the general vibe of the place was energetic and lively. The food was excellent, and the general geography of the city lent it a beauty rarely seen in metropolitan areas. Like Sydney, Istanbul, and Venice, San Francisco benefits greatly from the surrounding seascape. I hired a car and drove around the entire Bay Area, visiting Palo Alto and Stanford’s campus, among other things. I remember getting a sunburn on my left arm from driving. It surprised me, as the weather wasn’t all that hot. I finally understood what people told me about SF’s “microclimate.” Since then, the city has descended into chaos. Crime is ludicrously high and not prosecuted. There’s poop all over the streets. Drug use is through the roof. Or is it? “Joetempkin” Villages First, what’s a Potemkin Village? Potemkin Villages are a facade. They're fake settlements built only to impress. The term originates from a legend about Grigory Potemkin, a Russian minister who supposedly built impressive but hollow village fronts along the Dnieper River in the late 18th century. He did this to deceive Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea and Ukraine, making it seem like the area was more developed than it actually was. The story might be more myth than reality, but it stuck because it's a great metaphor. Today, we use "Potemkin Village" to describe any situation where someone's trying to make something look better or more successful than it really is, often to deceive onlookers or higher-ups. It's all about appearances over substance, creating a shiny surface to cover up something less impressive underneath. So I laughed heartily when I saw this tweet from Styxhexenhammer66: [tweet from Styxhexenhammer66] Credit: [@Styxhexenhammer666]( How about this one? [Credit: @WizardSX0 tweet] Credit: [@WizardSX0]( Former Navy Seal [Robert J. O’Neill]( chimed in: Now is the time to visit San Francisco. The homeless were herded out like cattle and the streets are spit-shined. The communists are hosting communists. [@fightoracle]( tweeted: Says it all right here folks. Trump was at UFC with Uncle Dana, Kid Rock and Tucker Carlson. Crooked Joe Biden in San Francisco wining and dining a communist dictator who unleashed the China virus on the world. And finally, from [Collin Rugg]( REPORT: The San Francisco homeless population has "miraculously" gone missing as President Biden & Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet in the liberal city. Remarkable! The typical drug addicts & homeless who wander the city like zombies have disappeared as 20,000 people are expected to visit San Francisco thanks to the APEC summit. The New York Post says sources have told them that the homeless are being "herded" out to other areas of the city. "They started clearing the tents earlier this week and there is definitely a lot more police presence," said one resident. The resident also explained that the city appeared to have the capability to do this all along but they refused. "They’ve cleared out the tents that were near the Moscone Center on Howard Street, which tells me the city had the capability to do this all along... We need a permanent solution." Another resident said: "They are just essentially herding the problem around but offering no long-term solutions." "I don’t know if these tents will be in physical view during APEC, but it will be virtually impossible to eliminate all of that." Clown city for a clown president. So they could’ve cleaned up the city long ago but chose not to… but you knew that already. What gives? [[A.I. Supplier]: $100 Billion Sales Surge Coming?…]( Nvidia’s little-known supplier is set for a [$100 BILLLION sales explosion]( …and it’s thanks in part to this mysterious device you see here: According to our research… This $100 billion sales boom could even turn this little-known supplier… …into the [the next trillion-dollar stock](. To see how to take advantage of this little-known supplier – before it’s $100 billion sales surge —— [go here now.]( [Click Here To Learn More]( Emperor Pooh Bear Calls the Shots Here’s what I think happened. China and the US find themselves on the opposite side of every divide in the world today. - The G7 versus BRICS - Ukraine versus Russia - Israel versus Palestine And of course… - Taiwan versus China This is a disaster… for both sides. So, some sort of compromise must be reached. It’s a disaster for China because, like the Russians though they do, the Russians don’t have a big enough middle class to buy all those Chinese goods. And while Southeast Asia has picked up much of that slack, the Chinese still need America. And America still needs China’s manufacturing capacity. Because as much as America would love the Mexicans to nearshore everything, Mexico just doesn’t have Chinese capacity. And, well, Democrats are Commies these days anyway, and the Chinese can’t risk Trump getting back in. It’s not so much that Trump can permanently hurt China, so much as hit China in a sweet spot that’ll paralyze them for years. Hence, the meeting between Biden and Xi will give Biden the closure he needs to exit stage left and Gruesome Newsom the legitimacy he needs concerning foreign policy. (Opening the California border doesn’t quite qualify.) Wrap Up San Francisco got a makeover, so Gavin Newsom’s pearl city doesn’t look like shit on Chinese television. President Xi needs a Biden successor he can deal with, and it looks like Newsom is the guy. Remember when America used to “yea” or “nay” other country’s leaders? Well, welcome to the 21st century. Have a great week! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening X (formerly Twitter): [@seaniechaos]( In Case You Missed It… The Terrorist Attacks of 2025 [Sean Ring] SEAN RING I hate to be the bearer of dire news on a Friday. But after last night’s GOP debates, I’m pretty sure 2025 will be a year to forget. And it won’t be Putin’s fault. Nor Emperor Pooh Bear. It’ll be the American and European electorates, once again, acting as turkeys voting for Christmas. Let me elaborate. Yesterday, Turin Pam and I had a few free hours yesterday, so we drove to Turin to eat lunch and shop. [Barrati and Milano] We sat in Baratti & Milano, a lovely old-style café just off the Via Po. You may recognize the name from their excellent chocolates. Their café is lovely; you can forgive yourself if you feel like you’re in Vienna. (Turin, whose Royal family was the Savoy, had quite a few connections to the Habsburgs. They seem to have enjoyed a similar style.) Pam and I shared the tuna with tartare and egg with fondue for starters. She ate the guinea fowl for her main course, and I ate the veal. Molto delicioso! We ended our excursion with perhaps the best chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted. During the meal, I received a message from M, an old acquaintance of mine. Though he no longer lives there, I met M through friends in Hong Kong at the Captain’s Bar in the Mandarin Oriental. We drank beers out of their old pewter tankards for a delightful evening. Like me, he’s an American expat who’ll never return to live in America. M is a quant - one of the brilliant numbers traders - who used to work at the same old defunct bank as I did. However, we didn’t know each other then. Last month, I noticed he listed his yacht for sale. I told Pam, “Look darling, M is selling his yacht for more than our farmhouse!” We giggled. M messaged me asking about moving US pensions offshore. Immediately, my alarm bells were ringing. If this brilliant guy is asking about this, perhaps he thinks the poop will hit the fan soon. He wrote: Between the population cull from covid, mass govt debt, and multiple wars I would say soon. There are not enough working people to support anything. Grow your own food. I mentioned Europe was in as much trouble as America. He wrote: Yep. No sure things anymore. While I share M’s pessimism, it got me thinking. We’re walking into a storm, but we’re a whole year away. Here’s why. [TIME-SENSITIVE: A “Second Wave” Of Inflation Is Coming]( During the 1970s, inflation lasted for years and came in three separate waves. Each wave was far worse than the last. [Today, the same exact thing is happening again.]( Is the price of food, gasoline, housing and more about to skyrocket even higher? [== > Get ready for “Inflation’s Second Wave.” Click here now to see my urgent warning.]( [Click Here To Learn More]( The Porous Southern Border Before I rip America over its southern border, I want to remind you that I watched this movie before. It was 2015 in Europe when Angela “Mutti” Merkel let in 2,000,000 migrants who were dressed up as Syrian refugees. It was insanity. In a 2021 Rude piece titled “[Mutti’s Legacy Continues to Divide]( I wrote: We headed to Kos Town [on the Greek Island of Kos, just 45 minutes from Turkey] a few days early to make sure we knew where the ferry terminal was. And there, we saw what happens when a country is unprepared for mass migration. [pub] [pub] Credit: Sean Ring I took both pictures on September 8, 2015, and it says so on my iCloud account. Mutti Muffed It When you’ve got your feet on the ground, however unintentional that may have been, you see what a disaster Angela Merkel’s policy was. On August 31, 2015, Merkel had announced, “Wir Schaffen Das.” It translates to “We’ll manage this.” But only 29% of those migrants were Syrian refugees. And that, my friends, is the problem. Open borders mean no borders at all. And who bears the cost of that? Not the government. But the populace. Unfortunately, Joke Biden took a page out of Mutti’s playbook. And again, the Mexicans, like the Syrians in Europe, weren’t the problem. It’s everyone else who sees the government’s weakness (or plan) and exploits it. Let’s see what’s happening on America’s southern border. According to Pew Research: [Total border encouters chart] Credit: [Pew Research Center]( Not only are Mexicans no longer the majority crossing into America, but most are single men. [Single adults have driven Migrant encounters] Credit: [Pew Research Center]( Do you think any of these guys are members of Hamas or any other group with the intent to harm Americans? Let’s get back to that. Israel-Hamas Connection I understand entirely that Israelis want to get their own back for the Hamas attack that deliberately (and stupidly) targeted civilians. It’s unforgivable. I also feel for Palestinians who had nothing to do with this but are targeted under the “Well, they voted for Hamas” policy. (Imagine the same approach applied to all Americans for Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria, among others.) But what I expect from elder statesmen is poise and calm and calls for peace. And the only person we’ve got that from is Dominique de Villepin. If the name is vague, he was France’s prime minister under Chirac, who opposed America’s invasion of Iraq. If you’re wondering why he isn’t getting any press, [he’s embarrassed the world’s diplomatic corps over the past few weeks](. Here’s the end of his first interview: Israel has a right to self-defense, but this right cannot be indiscriminate vengeance. And there cannot be collective responsibility of the Palestinian people for the actions of a terrorist minority from Hamas. When you get into this cycle of finding faults, one side's memories clash with the other's. Some will juxtapose Israel's memories with the memories of the Nakba, the 1948 catastrophe, which is a disaster that the Palestinians still experience every day. So you can't break these cycles. We must have the strength, of course, to understand and denounce what happened, and from this standpoint, there's no doubt about our position. But we must also have the courage, and that's what diplomacy is... diplomacy is about being able to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And that's the cunning of history; when you're at the bottom, something can happen that gives hope. After the 1973 war, who would have thought that before the end of the decade, Egypt would sign a peace treaty with Israel? The debate shouldn't be about rhetoric or word choice. The debate today is about action; we must act. And when you think about action, there are two options. Either it's war, war, war. Or it's about trying to move toward peace, and I'll say it again, it's in Israel's interest. It's in Israel's interest! Compare that to the numbskulls in last night’s debate. Last Night’s GOP Idiocy My God, it must be nice to be Nikki Haley. She’s never been to war. She’ll never go to war. And if she wins the presidency, it’s not like her kids will be sent to the front lines. Vivek Ramaswamy was right to call her “Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels.” For the unfortunately short Ron DeSantis, he got caught in this crossfire as well. [The Wall Street Journal]( painted it like this: Growing global disorder thrust foreign policy to the forefront of this debate, and it is quickly separating the men from . . . the woman. Donald Trump caters to the “America first” contingent, vowing to end the Ukrainian war in 24 hours and reward Vladimir Putin’s onslaught against civilians with whatever land Russia has seized up to now. Mr. Ramaswamy goes further left, resurrecting a 1930s-style isolationism that envisions abandoning even allies like Israel and that smears Ukrainians as “Nazis.” The more vivid contrast on Wednesday’s stage was between Ms. Haley’s unwavering support for Ukraine and Israel—her clear vision of a “strong America” that “prevents wars”—and Ron DeSantis’s clear desire to duck the whole topic. The problem is that if peaceful Trump gets convicted, Haley may be the President. She crushes Biden even more than Trump. And I think she’d thump Governor Gruesome if he’s the Democratic frontrunner. But the problem isn’t so much her convictions as her rhetoric. She’s not an impartial peace broker and can never claim to be if she’s elected President. And that means all those folks who came through the southern border already - and will continue to do so throughout 2024 - will have no qualms about setting off bombs. But the Mexicans… no, not them. Here’s a special report from the [Daily Caller]( Federal officials are warning that members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hezbollah could be crossing through the southern border, according to an internal Oct. 20 memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The San Diego Field Office Intelligence Division of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sent the memo warning that due to the war between Israel and Hamas, there could be encounters of terror-tied individuals who are seeking to travel to or from the Middle East via transit across the southern border. Hamas, PIJ, and Hezbollah, all of which are U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, have been committing attacks on Israel in a war that began with a surprise attack on hundreds of civilians on Oct. 7. So now you’ve got a couple hundred thousand single men crossing the border of unknown origin who may be the very terrorists you’re antagonizing. Not a good plan. Wrap Up The Rude’s Four Pillars of Financial Freedom are to have a second passport, start an online business, get a bit of crypto, and get in shape. In short, get and stay mobile. If you’re in an American or European city, the invading army is already here, lying dormant until the right moment to attack. It’s incumbent upon you to be able to move quickly. Luckily, you’ve got another year of Joke Biden before the attacks start. All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. 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