It’s 7 am. Who’s Running America Right Now?

Joe Biden is on a permanent vacation. Who’s steering the ship? July 11, 2024 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( It’s 7 am. Who’s Running America Right Now? SEAN RING Dear Reader, The House Oversight Committee has issued subpoenas to three top White House aides to find out who’s actually running the country right now. Because even [George Clooney believes it’s time for Biden to step aside](. And if George Clooney thinks that, then it must be true. Of course, [The Donald had to jump in on]( Social]( So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act. He's turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are. What does Clooney know about anything? He uses the Democrat 'talking point' that Biden, the WORST President in the history of the United States, has 'saved our Democracy.' It’s all too much. The Democrats are indeed like rats on a sinking ship. With that said, Good Night and Good Luck is a fabulous movie. However, how Clooney received the Kennedy Center Honor for his career is beyond me. Well, it helps to be a sycophantic leftist in a leftist’s administration, of course. All this shits me to tears because Biden has been losing it for decades and never, ever should have darkened the door of the Oval Office. Of course, Clooney supports his team like the other Hollywood Air Heads. A more critical question is, “Where was Congress when Potatohead Biden set the world on fire?” How can you cover up his mental dullness for three and a half years? Biden has been about as sharp as a marble! Let’s get back to the pertinent question: who’s running America right now? Bureaucracies and Their Momentum A bureaucracy is a system of administration with a hierarchical structure, a clear division of labor, rules, and regulations, and an impersonal approach to decision-making. For some reason, Max Weber, a prominent sociologist, thought bureaucracy was a rational and efficient organization essential for managing complex societies. I disagree with Weber because bureaucracy’s costs far outweigh its benefits. In government, bureaucracy is supposed to ensure that policies are implemented consistently and services are delivered uniformly across different regions and populations. However, a bureaucracy's efficiency is also its Achilles' heel. The structures that should enable systematic and predictable administration lead to rigidity and resistance to change. This is where the concept of momentum comes into play. Momentum in government refers to the drive and speed with which policies and reforms are enacted and implemented. A government with high momentum is proactive, rapidly adapting to new challenges and opportunities. In contrast, a government with low momentum becomes sluggish, bogged down by procedural red tape and an aversion to risk. Unfortunately, momentum, whether high or low, takes on a life of its own. And that’s what ultimately runs a country – not the politicians themselves. So the answer to the question, “Who’s running America?” isn’t the President, but the globular Leviathan itself! According to [Axios]( Driving the news: Oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed First Lady Jill Biden's top aide Anthony Bernal, deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, and senior adviser Ashley Williams, according to the letters. All three are low-profile but very influential inside the White House, Biden officials have told Axios. Comer asked for the aides to respond by July 17 and requested they sit for closed-door interviews later this month. He also cited a recent Axios report about Bernal and Tomasini having access to the first family's residence — a situation that White House residence staff found unusual since political staffers often don't have such access. What they're saying: In each letter, Comer writes that the committee is "concerned" that each official is "one of several White House staffers who have taken it upon themselves to run the country while the President cannot." The ghost of Edith Wilson just sat up! But it’s not just the aides that make this work. It’s the idiots, too! [< New Intel > Strange and Powerful AI Project Revealed]( Jim Rickards was recently passed some urgent new intelligence involving a $10 million A.I. project… That could have a massive and direct impact on your life. Everything you need to know is in this 2-minute AI briefing. [Click Here To Play His Urgent Message Now]( Useful Idiots Like Clooney I don’t mean to question Clooney’s IQ, though anyone who voted for Biden should take a Mensa test just for a big laugh. However, Clooney was undoubtedly a “useful idiot,” according to Stalin’s definition of the term. A “useful idiot” is an individual who, without realizing it, furthers the goals of a cause or ideology that ultimately undermines their interests or values. The term gained popularity during the Cold War to describe Westerners who supported Soviet policies, often without fully understanding or acknowledging the oppressive nature of the Soviet regime. Uncle Joe Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until he died in 1953, leveraged "useful idiots" in the West. Stalin's regime invested heavily in propaganda efforts aimed at the West. This included cultural exchanges, the dissemination of pro-Soviet literature, and funding organizations and publications promoting a favorable view of Soviet policies. Westerners who fell for this propaganda were considered "useful idiots." Many of these individuals were motivated by ideals such as anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, and the desire for social justice. Sound familiar? Stalin cleverly framed Soviet policies as aligning with these ideals, thus especially attracting Western intellectuals who downplayed the repressive aspects of Stalinist policies, such as purges, forced collectivization, and the Gulag system. Stalin's regime also manipulated influential Western figures, like writers, artists, and political activists. These individuals were often invited to the Soviet Union, given carefully curated tours, and subjected to intense propaganda. Upon returning home, they would write glowing reports about the Soviet experiment, inadvertently serving Soviet interests. The most prominent example of a “useful idiot” is American journalist Walter Duranty, whose reporting from Moscow for The New York Times downplayed the severity of the Ukrainian famine (Holodomor), misleading public opinion about the true nature of Stalin's policies. As Nietzche might have said, “Useful idiots muddy the waters to make them seem deep.” Wrap Up The White House’s lights are on, but the President isn’t home. The Leviathan, which is the US government, runs itself (potentially into the ground). Useful idiots like George Clooney have spent the last four years covering up for Joke Biden. The House of Cards is tumbling down. Will Kamala Harris take his place? If the Democrats enact the 25th Amendment, does that mean he wasn’t ever fit to be President? If the Democrats leave Biden to run, will that mean disaster at the polling station? Stalin also said, "It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes." I’ll believe a Trump win when Rachel Maddow cries into my television screen. All the best, Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening X (formerly Twitter): [@seaniechaos]( Rate this email Like Dislike Thanks for rating this content! Looks like something went wrong. Please try to rate again. In Case You Missed It… The Houthis are Inflationary! BYRON KING Let’s talk about inflation, with a focus on the Houthis in Yemen, the people who have been shooting missiles at cargo ships and tankers that transit through the Red Sea. It may all seem far away, but this whole mess costs you money. A Quick Geography Lesson Long ago, an old Navy instructor explained that war is God’s way of teaching geography to Americans. With that in mind, let’s set the stage for what we’ll discuss using a map of the Middle East: Familiar, yes? There’s much familiar geography here, right? Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf, Iran, Israel, the Red Sea, etc. Obviously, suppose you want to transit from the Indian Ocean area or South Asia region into the Mediterranean Sea. In that case, you must transit past Yemen, through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, and vice versa if you’re going from West to East on the return journey. Beware Flying Missiles Since November 2023, as you may know, Yemen’s Houthis have been shooting missiles at Western ships, especially any that have anything to do with Israel. This reflects Houthi support for people in Gaza, the area subject to Israeli reprisals since shortly after the Hamas attack of October 7 last year. According to the Houthis, if a ship is owned by Israelis or carries cargo to/from Israel, it is subject to attack. British cargo ship sinking in Red Sea after Houthi missile strike. Courtesy: Al Jazeera. Until recently, neither Yemen nor its indigenous Houthis were considered a significant military power, although they are hard people, tough as nails. Over several years during the 2010s, Houthis fought Saudi Arabia's armed forces to a standstill over border regions. It’s also fair to say that most Houthi military equipment is a collection of older stuff, scavenged from all over. However, when it comes to the higher ends of combat power, Iran has provided anti-ship missiles to the Houthis along with targeting systems, intelligence, and likely more than a few… ahem… “trainers” to help operate the equipment. Yemen Houthis display anti-ship missiles. GlobalSecurity.org. It’s worth noting that many of the types of missiles the Houthis use are old designs, about 1960s era, from the days of the Soviet Union and later China. But these are new-built items, now manufactured in quantity in Iran. And despite the technology DNA being relatively old, these Iranian/Houthi missiles work just fine to hit civilian ships. Definitely, they can kill you. Indeed, despite age and technical pedigree, even modern naval defense systems must work at the top of their collective game to identify and track these kinds of fast-moving weapons, let alone shoot them down. On affected East-West cargo routes, and to avoid getting shot, many ship owners and captains understandably have steered clear of Yemen and the Red Sea transit because even ships that have nothing to do with Israel have been targeted. Since late 2023, the number of ship transits through the Red Sea has declined dramatically by about 80%, according to tracking data maintained by PortWatch, a shipping organization located at Oxford University. Transits through the Red Sea have declined dramatically. PortWatch/Oxford University. [Exposed: Democrats’ Secret Plan to Keep Trump Out of the White House]( Former advisor to the CIA, the Pentagon and the White House Jim Rickards just released… [This shocking new video exposing Democrats’ secret plan to keep Trump out of the White House…]( Even if he wins the election. [Click Here To Learn How To Prepare]( This is All Getting Expensive According to one analyst with whom I recently spoke, about 40% of even U.S.-bound cargo containers (those 40-foot beasts you see on ships and eventually rail cars and trucks) pass through the Red Sea on their way from Asia to North America, so this is not “just” a problem for Europe and the Mediterranean region. Meanwhile, none of this comes cheap. The long reroute around Africa to avoid Houthi missiles adds much time, distance, fuel burn, and more to the transit between Asia and Europe, let alone the U.S. and Canada. Avoiding the Red Sea requires time, distance, fuel, and more. Courtesy BBC. Every large cargo or tanker ship that diverts from the Red Sea and sails around Africa (see above) runs up about another million dollars per one-way voyage just in fuel, according to a recent report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. Plus, add the increased costs for labor, insurance premiums for war risk, and general delays due to possible weather events in the Atlantic. And all these diversions add up to serious money. There is a long list of cost elements to rerouting ships, but the bottom line is more expensive goods when those containers finally reach the port of destination. Every container, or other form of cargo, has spent more time at sea, racked up more energy burn, and all manner of general overhead related to the sea voyage. And you will pay that cost when you buy imported goods at the store, whether it’s T-shirts from Sri Lanka or television sets from China. Iran’s Economic War Against the West Let’s also mention the military costs to the U.S. Navy and warships of other friendly nations, for patrolling the now-dangerous waters adjacent to Yemen. Their role is to track and, if necessary, shoot down Houthi missiles aimed at friendly ships, or even conduct strikes against Houthi launch sites. In a manner typical of wartime operations, the cost equation is highly imbalanced. For example, a U.S. Navy ship might launch two antiaircraft missiles that cost, say, a million dollars each, to shoot down an anti-ship missile that Iran built for, say, $100,000. Then again, that’s the idea because Iran is waging an economic war against the West – certainly against Israel – via its proxies in Yemen. As stated another way, Houthis has no indigenous missile-manufacturing industry; there are no factories to make parts and components, let alone fabricate sophisticated aerodynamic shapes, engines, warheads, etc. Almost all their weapons come from Iran, and it’s a “just in time” combat logistics process in which Iran-associated ships smuggle weapons into Yemen by night. A few days later, these devices are being set up and launched. Over the past seven months, several ships have been sunk by Houthi missiles, and many more damaged. Ships have experienced death and injuries to the crew, often as not, individuals hailing from developing nations like the Philippines or India, people with nothing to do with Israel or any other Western country. In essence, Iran is costing the West serious money in terms of threatening cargo ships and tankers, additional expenses to defend the seaways or reroute voyages, and extra costs for goods that finally make it to their destination. So, buying things that made that extra-long voyage is coming out of your wallet. Halfway through 2024, there’s no good, workable military solution to the Houthi missiles. If it were possible to bomb the other side into submission, that would have happened by now; the U.S. and Britain tried hard with air power, without success. At the same time, despite all the missiles and bombs, there’s no true “state of war” between the U.S. and anyone; not Yemen or the Houthis, nor against Iran. Yet every side has significant combat power deployed in the region, and everybody routinely fires hot weapons. All this, while the global economy of commercial trade bears significant costs to avoid expensive ships and cargoes getting blown up and sunk. It’s a strange state of affairs that will not end absent near-miraculous developments on innumerable diplomatic fronts. This is another way of saying that this literally explosive state will continue well into the future. And again, you’ll pay for it on numerous levels, so be prepared to be surprised in many ways. That’s all for now. Thank you for subscribing and reading. Best wishes, Byron W. King Contributing Editor Rude Awakening ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2024 Paradigm Press, LLC. 1001 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. 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