Here it is for any of you who feel the same way:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7uBY7Ti0g2nNroNJOS7zo9?si=KRSIYwLKRjmdwePk1pIHnA
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7uBY7Ti0g2nNroNJOS7zo9?si=KRSIYwLKRjmdwePk1pIHnA
The Shitshow Macro Weekly Prep Podcast for Monday February 3, 2025 is out:
Domestic Politics:
-Things on the domestic front are still moving quickly and bigly. There is much wailing & gnashing of teeth out of DC, expectedly.
--One may imagine that it’s because even though they’ve had time to brace and prepare post-election, the “stay behind resistance” strategy of Trump 1.0 is being cut off at the knees at a rapid pace.
--Here’s a great point made by Sundance from CTH made in the article linked below: the POTUS has plenary authority to DECLAS anything he sees fit to.
--His entire 1st admin was spent telling people to DECLAS the SpyGate and RussiaGate files (including Crossfire Hurricane), and he went through myriad people at multiple positions who were unwilling or unable to follow through on that order from the Chief Executive.
--It seems one of the major (easily expected) resistance strategies was to stall his cabinet appointees. Based on the rapid pace at which things are moving, that seems to be an ineffective strategy.
theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/02/0…
-For those who understand how things really work, the Trump admin moves at the end of the week & over the weekend seem to be some of the most significant so far.
--Rubio has shut down USAID and folded it into the State Department, as well as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) - which even the founder and later directors admitted is nothing more than a CIA front that uses NGOs to enact foreign policy objectives.
--Many of the censorship operations (domestic and abroad, as well as ops abroad focused on domestic censorship here at home using foreign vassal states) have come through these orgs.
--The Rosetta Stone of understanding this has always been one of the few who has been able to not only unravel the tangled web, but also explain it, @MikeBenzCyber . If you didn’t take my advice previously to watch his interview on Rogan, please do so now:
open.spotify.com/episode/7uBY7T…
-Trump made good on his promise to his constituency for the Day 1 pardons of J6ers, but it doesn’t seem his focus and work on this issue is anywhere nearly done.
--The end of the week also saw many FBI agents, management, and DOJ prosecutors involved in this fired, demoted, and having investigations into their own actions - including withholding Brady evidence and grossly misconstruing a white collar crime (Enron) law.
--An article from @Hillsdale came out this weekend that covers some of the big questions that still abound about J6, what it really was, and why so many big questions are still unanswered.
--While this misses some of the big ones (CapPo officer perjury & Biden pardons, the FBI agents who admitted they found no evidence of Oath Keepers pre-coordination, the gallows builder, Pink Beret, Scaffolding Man, who tore down the signs & perimeter fencing while Trump was still speaking, etc), this is a great 101 for those who haven’t really dug into just how fraudulent the mainstream narrative presented was:
imprimis.hillsdale.edu/what-we-know-a…
-We have seen several instances of Federal employees in different agency head positions who have resigned rather than comply with the new administration. One of which was the census director, which is very interesting given the many (also unanswered) questions about the current apportionment of elected officials.
--One of the few who has been laser-focused on this and many election questions for quite some time is @RealSKeshel (Captain K), and he offers some insights into why that individual may have abruptly resigned rather than comply or answer questions:
skeshel.substack.com/p/census-direc…
-Between the shutting down of cut outs & fronts, taking control of the Treasury spending mechanism, icing out activists, and others, many progressives have chosen to go with the talking point that, “nobody voted for this.”
Domestic Politics:
-Things on the domestic front are still moving quickly and bigly. There is much wailing & gnashing of teeth out of DC, expectedly.
--One may imagine that it’s because even though they’ve had time to brace and prepare post-election, the “stay behind resistance” strategy of Trump 1.0 is being cut off at the knees at a rapid pace.
--Here’s a great point made by Sundance from CTH made in the article linked below: the POTUS has plenary authority to DECLAS anything he sees fit to.
--His entire 1st admin was spent telling people to DECLAS the SpyGate and RussiaGate files (including Crossfire Hurricane), and he went through myriad people at multiple positions who were unwilling or unable to follow through on that order from the Chief Executive.
--It seems one of the major (easily expected) resistance strategies was to stall his cabinet appointees. Based on the rapid pace at which things are moving, that seems to be an ineffective strategy.
theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/02/0…
-For those who understand how things really work, the Trump admin moves at the end of the week & over the weekend seem to be some of the most significant so far.
--Rubio has shut down USAID and folded it into the State Department, as well as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) - which even the founder and later directors admitted is nothing more than a CIA front that uses NGOs to enact foreign policy objectives.
--Many of the censorship operations (domestic and abroad, as well as ops abroad focused on domestic censorship here at home using foreign vassal states) have come through these orgs.
--The Rosetta Stone of understanding this has always been one of the few who has been able to not only unravel the tangled web, but also explain it, @MikeBenzCyber . If you didn’t take my advice previously to watch his interview on Rogan, please do so now:
open.spotify.com/episode/7uBY7T…
-Trump made good on his promise to his constituency for the Day 1 pardons of J6ers, but it doesn’t seem his focus and work on this issue is anywhere nearly done.
--The end of the week also saw many FBI agents, management, and DOJ prosecutors involved in this fired, demoted, and having investigations into their own actions - including withholding Brady evidence and grossly misconstruing a white collar crime (Enron) law.
--An article from @Hillsdale came out this weekend that covers some of the big questions that still abound about J6, what it really was, and why so many big questions are still unanswered.
--While this misses some of the big ones (CapPo officer perjury & Biden pardons, the FBI agents who admitted they found no evidence of Oath Keepers pre-coordination, the gallows builder, Pink Beret, Scaffolding Man, who tore down the signs & perimeter fencing while Trump was still speaking, etc), this is a great 101 for those who haven’t really dug into just how fraudulent the mainstream narrative presented was:
imprimis.hillsdale.edu/what-we-know-a…
-We have seen several instances of Federal employees in different agency head positions who have resigned rather than comply with the new administration. One of which was the census director, which is very interesting given the many (also unanswered) questions about the current apportionment of elected officials.
--One of the few who has been laser-focused on this and many election questions for quite some time is @RealSKeshel (Captain K), and he offers some insights into why that individual may have abruptly resigned rather than comply or answer questions:
skeshel.substack.com/p/census-direc…
-Between the shutting down of cut outs & fronts, taking control of the Treasury spending mechanism, icing out activists, and others, many progressives have chosen to go with the talking point that, “nobody voted for this.”
--If one were being accurate rather than political, this is in fact precisely what the majority of Americans voted for. That’s how democracy works, by definition.
--The wailing and gnashing of teeth have caused many to comment that this reaction makes it seem like we’ve never actually had a real transition of power before, wherein the elected administration is allowed to take control of the Executive branch and all of its functions to enact what it was voted in to do.
--Of quite a few takes on this matter, one by @Partisan_O was my favorite: “Who knew that civilian control of the government was such a revolutionary idea?”
-After meeting with Secretary Rubio, the Panamanian President has announced that they will not be renewing their deal with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
--I cannot express what a big deal this is.
--If you didn’t read or listen to the previous Shitshow Macro China Part 2: US Invasion & Encirclement, here’s your chance to get caught up on why this is so big:
open.substack.com/pub/robertplew…
--Here’s the Panamanian President’s comments, via @MatthewFoldi :
x.com/MatthewFoldi/s…
War/Military:
-Zelensky gave an interview which was released over the weekend in which he said only $75 bn of the $177 bn sent by the US to UKR was actually received by them.
--‘Member on Friday how we talked about the scuttlebutt that an investigation was started to track where the money ended up? This will be interesting to watch. Shared via @CollinRugg :
x.com/CollinRugg/sta…
-Reports from the RUS foreign ministry (so take it with a grain of salt) that UKR launched HIMARS rockets into Kursk this weekend, killing RUS citizens that the UKR MIL had forced into camps there (located in former boarding schools).
-Secretary of State Marco Rubio returned from his trip to Venezuela at the end of last week with 7 Americans who had been held hostage, and an agreement from Maduro that he would take back those who had illegally entered the US.
--Most Americans had no idea we had citizens held hostage in VZ, because our media is garbage.
-The USMIL coordinated with the Somali GOV and smoked an ISIS attack planning leader in Somalia over the weekend.
theepochtimes.com/world/us-strik…
-France has now completed its total military withdrawal from the African nation of Chad.
sofx.com/france-complet…
Science/Health:
-It seems that a handful of US Senators failed to “read the room” of public sentiment regarding the MAHA movement and RFK Jr’s cabinet appointment to HHS.
--Highly-engaged MAHA members began to dig, and they uncovered some pretty ugly truths about the funding behind those senators who most vehemently opposed - or at least put on the act as if they did - Kennedy’s confirmation.
--Here are some receipts. Follow the money.
armstrongeconomics.com/wp-content/upl…
-As we go through this apokalypsis and ugly truths are revealed, it’s fairly likely that the Coof and shots are some of the things that are ripe for quite a few truths to be told about.
--In case you missed it due to lack of medical knowledge, the media’s blatant lies about it, or the social media censorship about anyone who mentioned it, the HCQ debacle is a significant one.
--Hydroxychloroquine was considered safer than Tylenol for 70 years, even by the FDA, until Trump mentioned that it showed potential benefit in treating the Coof. Then the propaganda began labeling it as dangerous and censoring/banning anyone who disagreed.
--Here’s @drsimonegold giving a little bit of the background:
x.com/drsimonegold/s…
Markets/economics:
-Trump did enact the tariffs on Canada (25%), Mexico (25%), and China (10%) this weekend (they begin to take effect on Tuesday). He also closed the de minimis loophole, which has been grossly misused so this is a good thing for American companies, especially manufacturers.
--People who don’t understand math or economics can’t seem to understand why the disparity in amounts (25% for 2 but 10% for China).
--It’s likely due to the trade volume.
theepochtimes.com/us/trump-signs…
--The wailing and gnashing of teeth have caused many to comment that this reaction makes it seem like we’ve never actually had a real transition of power before, wherein the elected administration is allowed to take control of the Executive branch and all of its functions to enact what it was voted in to do.
--Of quite a few takes on this matter, one by @Partisan_O was my favorite: “Who knew that civilian control of the government was such a revolutionary idea?”
-After meeting with Secretary Rubio, the Panamanian President has announced that they will not be renewing their deal with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
--I cannot express what a big deal this is.
--If you didn’t read or listen to the previous Shitshow Macro China Part 2: US Invasion & Encirclement, here’s your chance to get caught up on why this is so big:
open.substack.com/pub/robertplew…
--Here’s the Panamanian President’s comments, via @MatthewFoldi :
x.com/MatthewFoldi/s…
War/Military:
-Zelensky gave an interview which was released over the weekend in which he said only $75 bn of the $177 bn sent by the US to UKR was actually received by them.
--‘Member on Friday how we talked about the scuttlebutt that an investigation was started to track where the money ended up? This will be interesting to watch. Shared via @CollinRugg :
x.com/CollinRugg/sta…
-Reports from the RUS foreign ministry (so take it with a grain of salt) that UKR launched HIMARS rockets into Kursk this weekend, killing RUS citizens that the UKR MIL had forced into camps there (located in former boarding schools).
-Secretary of State Marco Rubio returned from his trip to Venezuela at the end of last week with 7 Americans who had been held hostage, and an agreement from Maduro that he would take back those who had illegally entered the US.
--Most Americans had no idea we had citizens held hostage in VZ, because our media is garbage.
-The USMIL coordinated with the Somali GOV and smoked an ISIS attack planning leader in Somalia over the weekend.
theepochtimes.com/world/us-strik…
-France has now completed its total military withdrawal from the African nation of Chad.
sofx.com/france-complet…
Science/Health:
-It seems that a handful of US Senators failed to “read the room” of public sentiment regarding the MAHA movement and RFK Jr’s cabinet appointment to HHS.
--Highly-engaged MAHA members began to dig, and they uncovered some pretty ugly truths about the funding behind those senators who most vehemently opposed - or at least put on the act as if they did - Kennedy’s confirmation.
--Here are some receipts. Follow the money.
armstrongeconomics.com/wp-content/upl…
-As we go through this apokalypsis and ugly truths are revealed, it’s fairly likely that the Coof and shots are some of the things that are ripe for quite a few truths to be told about.
--In case you missed it due to lack of medical knowledge, the media’s blatant lies about it, or the social media censorship about anyone who mentioned it, the HCQ debacle is a significant one.
--Hydroxychloroquine was considered safer than Tylenol for 70 years, even by the FDA, until Trump mentioned that it showed potential benefit in treating the Coof. Then the propaganda began labeling it as dangerous and censoring/banning anyone who disagreed.
--Here’s @drsimonegold giving a little bit of the background:
x.com/drsimonegold/s…
Markets/economics:
-Trump did enact the tariffs on Canada (25%), Mexico (25%), and China (10%) this weekend (they begin to take effect on Tuesday). He also closed the de minimis loophole, which has been grossly misused so this is a good thing for American companies, especially manufacturers.
--People who don’t understand math or economics can’t seem to understand why the disparity in amounts (25% for 2 but 10% for China).
--It’s likely due to the trade volume.
theepochtimes.com/us/trump-signs…
-If you are unfamiliar with de minimis and how it has been exploited to undercut US manufacturers, here’s one of the best follows on logistics and supply chains that there is, Huntsman (@maphumanintent ) on just how big this is:
x.com/maphumanintent…
-People who don’t know how anything works have received their marching orders to complain about the tariffs, without understanding the domestic purposes of them.
--I’ll include a chart in the show notes shared by @zerohedge showing how much the USGOV revenues increased under Trump’s 2018-2019 tariffs.
-A summary of the BOJ’s January meeting shows that they were mulling more rate hikes this year - if you’re part of the Yen carry trade and didn’t learn your lesson the first time…best of luck.
-The major US market indices are all down heavily as of this writing (Sunday evening).
-This is the market being skittish, but here’s how it’s likely to shake out:
--Traders are worried about the US firms that shipped manufacturing overseas and now have to pay tariffs to sell those products in the US.
--As with the massive repatriation of capital that occurred in Trump 1.0, the firms will get smart and fire up plants in the US again, quickish.
--There will be some market wobble as firms have to start paying American wages to Americans again to make their products, but the supply/demand equilibrium along the price axis will soon be found.
--In the end, we (America and Americans) will win.
-Crude oil is still elevated, but not changed much, at $73.78
-Gold is higher, at $2,830.30, although its march higher has been offset by the USD appreciation against the CAD, Euro, and Peso that occurred.
-Current currency pairs that are moving:
--EUR/USD: 1.0231 (nearing parity)
--USD/JPY: 155.7630 (JPan PM visiting Trump next week, I bet this will be a topic)
--USD/GBP: 0.8142 (moved up from the 0.80 range it's been in)
--USD/AUD: 1.6316
--USD/CAD: 1.4723
--USD/MXN: 21.2138 (also up from the 20 range it's been in)
-BTC is back down to $96,325.13
Geopolitics:
-NATO Secretary Marc Rutte agreed publicly with Trump on Sunday and has called on Denmark to begin negotiations with Trump for Greenland.
--Lol.
-For those who haven’t been paying attention to what’s been going on in South Africa, the nation (led by an outright Marxist) now has more race-related laws on its books than it did during apartheid.
--They have been slaughtering the native-born farmers (Boers) for quite a few years, and the gov there now wants to officially seize all of their land.
--Note: this has been attempted several times before on the continent, and always leads to famine & food riots pretty quickly.
--Although this has been going on for years, Trump today (Sunday) made a public comment about the land seizures and that no more US aid would go to the country if it continues.
Conspiracy-y:
For those who are new to seeing these Shitshow Macro posts (now that the US State Dept censorship orgs have been defunded and my posts finally get out into the wild a bit), this section (Conspiracy-y) is meant to be a “tongue in cheek” title for things that are labeled as conspiracy theories but seem to be quite legit.
As such, there are a lot of pro-statists right now losing their collective minds about the USAID and NED being shuttered, along with their hyper-progressive NGOs and other orgs that taxpayers were funding.
Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber ) has been going very hard in the paint on the censorship orgs getting US State Dept funding for quite some time. He is one of the few who not only unraveled the tangled and nefarious web that was woven there, but he can explain it in a way that anyone can understand.
He’s going gangbusters on all the dirty deeds these orgs have been up to lately. Peruse his timeline if you are of the same opinion as me that it’s better to learn the blunt-force ugly truth than continue to be fed beautiful lies:
x.com/MikeBenzCyber
x.com/maphumanintent…
-People who don’t know how anything works have received their marching orders to complain about the tariffs, without understanding the domestic purposes of them.
--I’ll include a chart in the show notes shared by @zerohedge showing how much the USGOV revenues increased under Trump’s 2018-2019 tariffs.
-A summary of the BOJ’s January meeting shows that they were mulling more rate hikes this year - if you’re part of the Yen carry trade and didn’t learn your lesson the first time…best of luck.
-The major US market indices are all down heavily as of this writing (Sunday evening).
-This is the market being skittish, but here’s how it’s likely to shake out:
--Traders are worried about the US firms that shipped manufacturing overseas and now have to pay tariffs to sell those products in the US.
--As with the massive repatriation of capital that occurred in Trump 1.0, the firms will get smart and fire up plants in the US again, quickish.
--There will be some market wobble as firms have to start paying American wages to Americans again to make their products, but the supply/demand equilibrium along the price axis will soon be found.
--In the end, we (America and Americans) will win.
-Crude oil is still elevated, but not changed much, at $73.78
-Gold is higher, at $2,830.30, although its march higher has been offset by the USD appreciation against the CAD, Euro, and Peso that occurred.
-Current currency pairs that are moving:
--EUR/USD: 1.0231 (nearing parity)
--USD/JPY: 155.7630 (JPan PM visiting Trump next week, I bet this will be a topic)
--USD/GBP: 0.8142 (moved up from the 0.80 range it's been in)
--USD/AUD: 1.6316
--USD/CAD: 1.4723
--USD/MXN: 21.2138 (also up from the 20 range it's been in)
-BTC is back down to $96,325.13
Geopolitics:
-NATO Secretary Marc Rutte agreed publicly with Trump on Sunday and has called on Denmark to begin negotiations with Trump for Greenland.
--Lol.
-For those who haven’t been paying attention to what’s been going on in South Africa, the nation (led by an outright Marxist) now has more race-related laws on its books than it did during apartheid.
--They have been slaughtering the native-born farmers (Boers) for quite a few years, and the gov there now wants to officially seize all of their land.
--Note: this has been attempted several times before on the continent, and always leads to famine & food riots pretty quickly.
--Although this has been going on for years, Trump today (Sunday) made a public comment about the land seizures and that no more US aid would go to the country if it continues.
Conspiracy-y:
For those who are new to seeing these Shitshow Macro posts (now that the US State Dept censorship orgs have been defunded and my posts finally get out into the wild a bit), this section (Conspiracy-y) is meant to be a “tongue in cheek” title for things that are labeled as conspiracy theories but seem to be quite legit.
As such, there are a lot of pro-statists right now losing their collective minds about the USAID and NED being shuttered, along with their hyper-progressive NGOs and other orgs that taxpayers were funding.
Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber ) has been going very hard in the paint on the censorship orgs getting US State Dept funding for quite some time. He is one of the few who not only unraveled the tangled and nefarious web that was woven there, but he can explain it in a way that anyone can understand.
He’s going gangbusters on all the dirty deeds these orgs have been up to lately. Peruse his timeline if you are of the same opinion as me that it’s better to learn the blunt-force ugly truth than continue to be fed beautiful lies:
x.com/MikeBenzCyber
X (formerly Twitter)
Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) on X
Executive Director, @FFO_Freedom. Former State Dept Cyber. Author of the unpublishable monstrosity, Weapons Of Mass Deletion.
White Pill:
It was mental giant @VDHanson who first turned me on to the idea of the “Trump archetype,” a repetition of that story that has existed throughout all of written human history. The broken and imperfect hero, the “high plains drifter,” the vagabond who rambles into town one day and is driven to clean things up and remove the bad actors in the way that the locals don’t have the spine to do.
Part of this archetypal story is that the drifter, once the “house has been cleaned” is quickly shunned by the townspeople. He stepped up to do what they could/would not, and they were grateful for a moment, but quickly turn their backs on him when normalcy returns.
Hanson, in this theory, imagined that the past 4 years were the end of the story. I thought he was correct for a time, but now I’m beginning to think that this story is actually just beginning.
And that, for everyone who thought that Trump v1.0 was too timid and didn’t make due on his promise to “drain the swamp,” looks like it’s a very good thing and a massive White Pill.
Macro takeaways/lessons for the week:
-The end of last year certainly felt like the Act 2, part 3 “Oh Lord, why hast thou forsaken me” part of the story arc in which the end seems nigh and there is no way out of “the badness” to many Americans.
--Now, the various elements of the Deep State, in its many forms and in places that most didn’t expect to get cut out/cleaned up, is being given its walking papers. All of the very worst people are frothing mad, and that is an indication that things are going swimmingly.
-Tariffs, Panama turning away from China, and having a US border again certainly seem like the Monroe Doctrine is back in effect. The US is one of the few nations on the planet that can self-sustain, and we are taking back our sphere of influence here in the Western hemisphere, it seems
-Those silly bastards to our North and South really think they can survive a trade war with the US, not taking the above into account. I don’t believe this fallacy will be allowed to sustain itself for very long.
Implications:
The host needs to be free of parasites and in full operational capacity to realize and maximize its potential. We seem to be in the beginning stages of both of those processes, and that implies that something truly exceptional is being built here once again.
The Weekly Read (Monday):
I’ve recommended this previously, and I just finished reading JFK and the Unspeakable towards the end of last week. If you’ve not read it, I cannot recommend it more highly. The number of analogs between JFK’s term and the time that we find ourselves right now is pretty remarkable.
His death marked the end of the American High period. For those who took me up on my previous recommendation and read The Fourth Turning, you recognize that term, and that it was at the opposite end of the 80-year saeculum that we seem to be ending (the “fourth turning” of the 20-year ages within the saeculum).
Fourth turnings are always marked, throughout human history, by times of chaos and turmoil. They often come to the point, as we seem to have been in quite recently, that there is a real fear of total societal destruction in one way or another (nuclear war was just one option on the table).
The other option is that society figures and works things out, and rather than destruction it emerges into the next “turn of the wheel,” which is right back into the “High” that is marked by innovation, increases in societal advances, cohesion, unity, and many other things.
Reading those two books together (JFK and the Unspeakable and The Fourth Turning) gives one an incredible perspective about where we are right now on the timeline as a nation, in a way that not much else will. The links to both are below, and I suggest reading them both, together:
JFK and the Unspeakable
amazon.com/JFK-Unspeakabl…
The Fourth Turning
amazon.com/Fourth-Turning…
Links mentioned in the show:
Intro & Outro music: Blind by Mike Amabile and Run Over Twice
open.spotify.com/track/6SG99nL3…
It was mental giant @VDHanson who first turned me on to the idea of the “Trump archetype,” a repetition of that story that has existed throughout all of written human history. The broken and imperfect hero, the “high plains drifter,” the vagabond who rambles into town one day and is driven to clean things up and remove the bad actors in the way that the locals don’t have the spine to do.
Part of this archetypal story is that the drifter, once the “house has been cleaned” is quickly shunned by the townspeople. He stepped up to do what they could/would not, and they were grateful for a moment, but quickly turn their backs on him when normalcy returns.
Hanson, in this theory, imagined that the past 4 years were the end of the story. I thought he was correct for a time, but now I’m beginning to think that this story is actually just beginning.
And that, for everyone who thought that Trump v1.0 was too timid and didn’t make due on his promise to “drain the swamp,” looks like it’s a very good thing and a massive White Pill.
Macro takeaways/lessons for the week:
-The end of last year certainly felt like the Act 2, part 3 “Oh Lord, why hast thou forsaken me” part of the story arc in which the end seems nigh and there is no way out of “the badness” to many Americans.
--Now, the various elements of the Deep State, in its many forms and in places that most didn’t expect to get cut out/cleaned up, is being given its walking papers. All of the very worst people are frothing mad, and that is an indication that things are going swimmingly.
-Tariffs, Panama turning away from China, and having a US border again certainly seem like the Monroe Doctrine is back in effect. The US is one of the few nations on the planet that can self-sustain, and we are taking back our sphere of influence here in the Western hemisphere, it seems
-Those silly bastards to our North and South really think they can survive a trade war with the US, not taking the above into account. I don’t believe this fallacy will be allowed to sustain itself for very long.
Implications:
The host needs to be free of parasites and in full operational capacity to realize and maximize its potential. We seem to be in the beginning stages of both of those processes, and that implies that something truly exceptional is being built here once again.
The Weekly Read (Monday):
I’ve recommended this previously, and I just finished reading JFK and the Unspeakable towards the end of last week. If you’ve not read it, I cannot recommend it more highly. The number of analogs between JFK’s term and the time that we find ourselves right now is pretty remarkable.
His death marked the end of the American High period. For those who took me up on my previous recommendation and read The Fourth Turning, you recognize that term, and that it was at the opposite end of the 80-year saeculum that we seem to be ending (the “fourth turning” of the 20-year ages within the saeculum).
Fourth turnings are always marked, throughout human history, by times of chaos and turmoil. They often come to the point, as we seem to have been in quite recently, that there is a real fear of total societal destruction in one way or another (nuclear war was just one option on the table).
The other option is that society figures and works things out, and rather than destruction it emerges into the next “turn of the wheel,” which is right back into the “High” that is marked by innovation, increases in societal advances, cohesion, unity, and many other things.
Reading those two books together (JFK and the Unspeakable and The Fourth Turning) gives one an incredible perspective about where we are right now on the timeline as a nation, in a way that not much else will. The links to both are below, and I suggest reading them both, together:
JFK and the Unspeakable
amazon.com/JFK-Unspeakabl…
The Fourth Turning
amazon.com/Fourth-Turning…
Links mentioned in the show:
Intro & Outro music: Blind by Mike Amabile and Run Over Twice
open.spotify.com/track/6SG99nL3…
Tariffs Work
(Chart won't display on X but is in the original Sub post)
(Chart won't display on X but is in the original Sub post)