Xi Jinping's speech at Davos boiled down to: The world has no choice but to do business with China, and if you want to do business with China, you need to stop criticizing our tyranny and questioning our lies about the

The liberty and mobility granted to average people by cheap gasoline and home energy is absolutely infuriating to socialist central planners. They need you people to stop moving around so much. You keep scuttling their glorious five-year plans.

I worked late into the night on Election Day 2016. I remember the shocking news of Trump's victory reaching Clinton campaign headquarters, her supporters howling in anguish and sobbing. Many of those images have been sarcastically memed over the years since that night.

The worldwide movement toward "limited authoritarianism," already well under way but dramatically accelerated by the coronavirus, is driven by the elite consensus that ordinary people cannot be trusted with so much freedom.

"Limited authoritarianism" is the best phrase for what the elite have in mind. They have decided that a growing list of topics are simply off the table. Consensus has been reached, and no further input from voters will be permitted on those topics.

This is a natural consequence of the progressive ideology, which is inherently authoritarian, although it peddles itself in the early stage with lots of jibber-jabber freedom and liberty. Progressives by definition believe that the growth of the State can never be reversed.

Every time the State grows - taking more money from the private sector, issuing regulations, criminalizing activities that used to be free - it is declaring that the people can no longer be trusted to make certain decisions. This is the inescapable logic of statism.

You can't be trusted to spend that dollar wisely, so the State will take it from you. You can't be trusted to make those decisions about your health care, so the State will make them for you. You can't be trusted to sell your own labor, so the State will control employment.

Our pretensions to civilization have become very thin. Political violence was legitimized last year and is spreading wildly now. "Might makes right" is clearly the only "principle" behind freedom of speech. That's why Chinese Communists will never be censored by Big Tech.

When every "principle" becomes nothing but a ruthless exercise of power, it's not surprising that a growing number of people conclude they must demonstrate some sort of power in order to be taken seriously. Violence is the crudest exercise of power.

A well-run civilization makes it clear *universally* that violence is absolutely unacceptable. Giving free passes for irresponsible rhetoric and destruction to groups favored by the dominant political ideology of the State undermines that message.

We must also people peaceable means of expressing themselves and controlling their own lives, to relieve the pressures that can lead to violent outbursts and other forms of lawlessness. The less healthy discourse and freedom of action you have, the more pressure builds up.

It's dangerous when large numbers of people begin drawing the conclusion that might makes right, that laws and principles bend easily for those who have the political strength to bend them. Might makes right is the code of anarchy and barbarism, the antithesis of civilization.

The coming year will see Biden Democrats walking slowly through a vast field of small businesses exhausted by the battle with the coronavirus, shooting any who can still move. Big Tech will hold a pillow over the faces of those who cry out too loudly.

The destruction of the independent American middle class is one of the highest policy goals of the hard Left. It is finally at hand, thanks to the coronavirus and its political aftershocks. A year ago, they could not have dreamed they would get such a perfect kill shot.

A true middle class has economic interests that run counter to command economics, confiscatory taxation, centralized power, and other features of socialism. It also has the numbers to protect those interests at the ballot box. Of COURSE the Left hates it and wants to subdue it.

Small business is the vital engine of middle class prosperity, and the specific enemy the Left hates the most. Small business owners - and their sharpest, most ambitious employees - place a high value on capitalist freedom and competitiveness. They know the value of a dollar.

The small business experience is defined by the atmosphere of competitiveness that statism and socialism are sworn to destroy. Local enterprises appear quickly in response to demand that cannot easily be seen by distant central planners. Entrepreneurship requires agility.

210126 KYUNGSOO V-LIVE

Kyungsoo: Hi, I've been discharged from the military. To thank EXO-Ls, I started a V-Live~ I was discharged safely! I think y'all would have a lot of things you're curious about in my 1.5 years in army, it's a little awkward (doing this) but I'll try!

Kyungsoo: There's really a lot of things that I want to eat, as there are fixed menus in the military. I had lots of food made by Mum, I ate lots! Although things are tough now, I don't know how to say this but let's gain strength together and defeat this difficult time!

Kyungsoo: As for activities, there is a production called 'The Moon', it would be good if you could anticipate! There's a lot of things I wanted to try while in the military, like Guitar, I'm in the midst of taking lessons too.

Kyungsoo: There is music that I wish to try, so I'm planning hard to bring them to everyone! I read all the letters while in the military and I spent a lot of time reading them all- thank you so much! I'm really proud, and while reading them I felt really happy <3

New World Order vision revealed by Denmark Paliament Member

[THREAD] #NWO #Agenda2030 #BuildBackBetter #TheGreatReset #TheFourthIndustrialRevolution #WEF

Ida Auken, Denmark's Parliament member and World Economic Fund member reveals a dystopian Orwellian future where your brain

(1) is monitored at all times and hooked into the 'Cloud'.

Where small groups of people 'who got upset with the political system', rebelled against it, and live outside of it.

This was posted on the World Economic Fund website but I think has since been taken down.

(2) It is entitled - 'Welcome To 2030:

I Own Nothing.

Have No Privacy And Life Has Never Been Better' -

(3) Conspiracy theorists and tinfoil hat wearers rejoice.

You have been right all along.

Well maybe not a time for rejoicing..

Economist George Gammon gives a good summary of this in this video in the first 10 minutes.

Ida's statements begin at around 3m 12sec:

(4)

#Navalny is facing TWO court hearings today; one is happening now. I'm listening to his speech. He's trying to explain: he was not hiding from the court; he was in a coma. The whole thing is so absurd that it is impossible to comment. In a nutshell: they just want him locked up.

It is clear that the verdict will not be overturned. He will go to serve 2.8 years or more in a penal colony. His allies are locked up under home arrests w/o the Internet. People are silenced. Honest and brave people have lost again.

Navalny's last word #1: "I give the last word so frequently. This trial will end now; there will be the second [today]. And there, too, I will say my last word. If someone decides to publish my last words, it will be a thick book..."

"Probably, this is a sign the power sends me, “Look, we can turn this judicial system any way we want. What are you doing? I'm not the only one who sees this and... people imagine that it can happen to them, too..."

Navalny speaks of his newly found faith and says that he experiences "satisfaction" and doesn't regret returning to Russia." He did the right thing and followed the commandment "blessed are those hungry for righteousness, for they will be satisfied"

1. TLDR: What will it take for Pakistan to pressure the Taliban into a ceasefire? Pressure, concessions, clear priorities, & ultimately cooperation from Pakistan. A very tall order.

2. Many Afghanistan policy proposals require some action by Pakistan. But as usual there is a disconnect where Washington believes it can demand Pakistan "do more" without providing much in return and Islamabad thinks half-measures will suffice. It is a destructive dance.

3. Pakistan helped bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Doha but stopped there & instead opted to tacitly support the Taliban’s bargaining position to enter into a ceasefire only after further concessions from Kabul & US troops leave.

4. The Taliban are overplaying their hand by delaying talks & escalating violence, while Pakistan is underplaying its hand by refusing to add pressure.

5. Why won’t Pakistan further pressure the Taliban?
- What’s in it for me? (sensitive to "do more")
- Less influence over current TB leadership.
- Scared of blowback from sectarian groups, TTP (so they say).
- Some sympathy for group.