Amalfi: post "vacation" insights

Returning home can be the best part of an extended vacation

If you have been following along with this Substack, you are probably aware that Jill and I recently returned from about ten days visiting Rome, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast while berthed in a 160-foot yacht, courtesy of a close friend. This friend has helped the liberty movement in so many ways but has chosen to remain relatively anonymous. He has not sought any publicity or personal recognition for his quiet but consistent contributions. But he is not the only one, there are many, many supporters in this movement who have helped financially at critical junctions to keep it going.

The generosity and commitment of support from both those that subscribe to this Substack and a couple of donors have been critical in enabling Jill and I to carry on in this fight - despite the slings and arrows, as well as to write and publish our book “Lies My Gov't Told Me: And the Better Future Coming”. These donors have allowed us and other freedom fighters to travel and speak throughout the western world and to give testimony to many world leaders. They have been very involved in quiet behind-the-scenes assistance to many of the “resistance” leaders and organizations in a multitude of ways. Their shared goals have included enabling the “resistance” to fight the erosion of rights and liberties which have characterized the dysfunctional globalized “public health” response to release of an engineered respiratory coronavirus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

What most of you probably also do not know is that this has been one of a series of trips over the last two years in which a variety “resistance” thought leaders, authors, and the courageous publisher of the “Skyhorse” label have been brought together in a floating salon/authors workshop to discuss strategies, tactics, philosophy, and all things related to the COVIDcrisis. Having the space to discuss, write and think without distraction has been a huge gift.

Much of what Jill and I write and have written during the last two years has been influenced by these wide ranging discussions with authors, intellectuals and thought leaders from around the world, and this latest trip was yet another chapter in this saga. The essays published on this substack over the last week and a half were conceived and written while embedded in this author and thought leader community, and judging by subscriber responses, many of you have enjoyed the resulting work products.

But like all good things, each of these floating salons eventually come to an end, and the participants return to their homes and everyday life. Returning home from an extended trip like this one creates a great opportunity to reflect on what has been learned, and also to see the beauty and value in one’s own life, community, and surroundings. Which is the core theme of today’s essay.

As often happens, Jill and I woke early today, still a bit timeshifted, and surrounded by needy dogs convinced over the prior week that they had been abandoned. After completing the AM rituals of feeding said hounds and extracting caffeine from ground and roasted beans, discussion turned to “lessons learned” and counting our blessings.

Italy: diet, debt and corruption

By way of reflected lessons learned, one relates to diet and Italy. I think I have now eaten enough pasta and gelato to last me for quite a while. Yes, Italian food is one of the pillars of western culinary excellence. The boat originally put out from Naples, the origin of one of the world’s most popular foods (Pizza), and the oxtail pasta we sampled while in Rome was absolutely fantastic! But in general, Italy seems to be feeding its population on a diet dominated by wheat, and seems to have very little quality beef. Yes, pork, seafood, cheese, eggs, wine and sugar-laden desserts, but beef is generally not what’s for dinner. And my impression was that the Italian mainstream diet reflects an inconvenient truth that Italians are increasingly impoverished; the nation is straining under a financial debt load controlled by central banks and the Brussels-based European Union.

As I often warn, debt frequently leads to a form of indentured servitude for both individuals and nations, coupled to a ratcheting deterioration of personal and/or national stability and sustainability. Despite its beautiful face and warm, generous people, my impression is that Italy is suffering at the hands of the paired devils of globalist-controlled banks and a corrupt government that has largely become one with the modern Italian Mafia. Debt and corruption often seem to go hand in hand, and Italy’s plight should be a wake-up warning for the USA. But returning here to the States, living so close to DC and its “Intelligence Community” praetorian guard, its Corporatist-Administrative State leviathan, the elected federal Uniparty politician caste, its infestation of beltway bandit “contractors”, and the complete capture of a previously independent press, I see no signs of awareness of the clear and present danger to independence, autonomy, and integrity.

Returning back to beef.

While traveling, I received a call from our local custom slaughterhouse that the quarter carcass of local Virginia grass-fed beef kindly donated to us by Drs. Brooke and Ann Miller of Ginger Hill Angus had completed its time on the hook, had been processed into various cuts and quite a bit of hamburger, frozen, and was ready to be picked up and paid for. Dr. Brooke Miller is both my personal physician (who successfully guided me through post-vaccine and long COVID recovery using a modified FLCCC treatment plan), as well as one of the leading US Black Angus breeders. When I first came to him, I was over 190 pounds and climbing, and my blood work showed clear signs of a chronic inflammatory state as well as pre-diabetes. In addition to medical management of my COVID/vax related symptoms, he strongly recommended a change of diet towards avoiding carbohydrates (like pasta) and sugar (gelato….) and focusing on non-processed foods including beef. Acknowledging the conflict of interest, despite having been vegetarians for over three decades, Jill and I took his advice and completely shifted our diet.

When we were both attending the University of California (Davis and San Diego), we were taught (propagandized?) that vegetarianism the most ethical dietary choice. Cows, pigs, and chicken as protein-rich food sources were relatively high on the food chain, and inefficiently consumed grain before converting it to food-grade protein. Clearly, the ethically (and politically) correct choice was to eat “lower down on the food chain” by avoiding animal protein and relying on plant-based products. Hence the dominance of soybeans, corn, wheat, Monsanto/GMOs, corn/beet derived sugar and big ag food processing. Because overpopulation and the moral obligation for wealthy America to feed the world. Makes sense, right?

Except nothing is ever so simple, despite the naive reasoning of those who always seem to purport to know what is best for the “World” and the rest of us poor ignorant deplorables. As a consequence of this type of simplistic thought, since the 1960s we have lived through resulting decimation of the small family farm, which often relied on small-scale beef, dairy, chicken (including eggs), and pork production to make ends meet. And in the wake of the destruction of the family farm we saw the decimation of small town America and the core values which stabilized American culture and politics, yielded a diversified self-sufficient economy, and maintained the spirit of freedom-loving innovative problem solving and work ethic which made the USA the envy of and model for the world.

Pork, chicken and egg production have all fallen to the “get big or get out” push to massive industrial assembly line agriculture. Ethics took a back seat. Have you ever looked into what pork and chicken factory farming is really like? Ethical management of livestock is considered a cost inefficiency to be eliminated. And what of the enabling intensive cropping of soybeans, corn, wheat, Monsanto/GMOs, corn/beet derived sugar and resulting big ag food processing? This model has required intensive use of pesticides, herbicides, and petro-based fertilizer which has stripped the rich topsoil of the American great plains and other former highly-productive lands of its micronutrients and overall ability to sustain crops. All over the western world, farmers have been locked into a downward spiral of indebtedness to a variety of predatory financial parasites that feed on their labor and work product while forcing high-productivity practices which destroy the long term value and sustainability of their lands. And now the apex predators of this system, represented by their guild/trade union organization called the “World Economic Forum” (and its “United Nations” allies and acolytes) are calling for this damaged land to be taken away from farmers and placed into a naive version of primitive fallow reserve where it can become reforested. Or used by the same corporate/financial apex predators to build profitable fifteen minute cities, depending on location and whim.

What could possibly go wrong? How about the four horsemen of the apocalypse; religious deception (for example Klaus Schwab, Yuval Harari and transhumanism), war, famine, and pestilence for starters.

Which brings us back to cattle, beef, and sustainable farming practices. When Jill and I were young students, cattle were singled out as a bad model because they are too high on the food chain. But most cattle eat and thrive on grass from healthy pastures, and I am not aware that grass is a human feedstock. And historically, the Great Plains of North America were developed and sustained over millennia by grazing animals- Elk, Bison, Antelope, and various species of Deer. The hooves of these animals gently loosen soil, their teeth clip rather than uproot the grasses, and their manure enriches the soil and its essential microbial, worm and insect cohabitants. Cattle are not the problem for sustainable farming, they are an essential part of the solution. A solution which has supported humanity and human civilizations for thousands of years, across all habitable continents. So why don’t the self-appointed globalist overlords appreciate cattle farming as a key solution to regenerative, sustainable farming? Why do they make absurd claims about global CO2 levels and the farts of cows? Good question. Doesn’t make sense. Which is usually a strong indicator that there is a hidden agenda behind this type of propaganda.

Cattle farming is one of the last bastions which has been able to resist industrialization. Perhaps they don’t like cattle and cattle farmers because they are hard for them to consolidate and control. One of many hypotheses.

Italy and much of Europe has mostly lost the ability to produce sufficient high quality beef for human consumption. American beef, largely produced by smaller farmers, is the best in the world. Support your local farmer. Eat grass-fed beef. And by the way, it may make you healthier and help you and others to overcome weight gain driven by sugary, highly processed foods and an over reliance on a carbohydrate-rich grain-based diet.

Regarding Marriage and Long-Term Partnerships

Over the last year, since publishing our book on Government lies, Jill and I have had an active discussion focused on what theme(s) we should develop for our next publication effort. Since destroying our longstanding consulting business, we have been forced to jump into the dark and threatening waters of writing for a living. And to our great surprise, the water is fine! One easy answer to the “what next” question is to collect and edit all of the writing we have done focusing on propaganda, psy-ops, and fifth generation warfare, and that book is coming along nicely - in large part due to Jill’s efforts during this recent “vacation” in which she has pulled together and structured our many relevant essays from this substack. Stay tuned for that one.

But we keep coming back to discussing a more difficult but probably more important book. A literary effort focused on building the logical and practical case for committing to long term marriage and partnership. A book combining a bit of “why” with lessons learned and benefits gained from what will soon be 45 years together as a married couple.

Reflecting on our close cooperation as essay editors/authors during this recent “vacation” over coffee this AM, we realized how much our written work product benefits from functioning as a long-standing team of equals. During our wedding vows, I read an essay from Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” - the chapter on Marriage. Although reading this essay has, at times, become a trite stereotype, it was done with sincerity and commitment. Over time, I think our marriage has come to embody the vision described in this passage.

Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

There are so many forces at play in present society, and particularly since the mid 20th century, that have become aligned against trad (traditional) marriage. Of course war has always acted to tear couples apart. After World War II, the new industrial age (and its industrialist elites) needed a mobile workforce, available for rapid deployment to man new industries, cities, factories. Willing and able to leave small towns and extended families to meet the needs of the new age, and to relocate and reside in a flexible new suburban model for family life. A model where one suburban residence is readily exchanged for another. This was sustainable in part because of the enormous post-war dividends which flowed from the rest of the world into the United States. A new Imperium enabled by a more subtle colonialism and backed by dominant and expanding military/industrial might.

A modified version of the old trad marriage remained at the core of this new social model. Tammy Wynette’s 1968 hit “Stand by your man” embodied the ethic. “Behind every great man there stands a great woman.” Maintaining the trappings and appearance of monogamous trad marriage were what mattered, but the need to repeatedly relocate to one suburb or another separated nuclear families from their traditional local networks of extended family, sustaining relationships and role models. And then there was the bomb, the ever present bomb and associated constant fearporn. And four successive high profile political assassinations - JFK, MLK, Malcom-X and RFK.

And with this came the wave of “Baby Boomer” youth that was force fed a massive red pill called the Viet Nam War; disillusion and disaffection with resulting social disruption became the norm. Propaganda served up by the Intelligence communities’ Operation Mockingbird yielding a constant stream of government lies. The birth control pill, combined with the celebration of individualized narcissistic self-pleasure proved too much for monogamous long term commitments already strained to the breaking point by the new mobile suburban lifestyle.

The anthem (and Overton Window) moved from Wynette’s “Stand by your man” to Steven Stills’ “Love the one your with”. Divorce rates skyrocketed. Like Humpty Dumpty, American culture became so fragmented that it became impossible to reassemble. And trad marriage increasingly became an anachronism. Young people of both biological sexes were taught to defer forming long term dyads because they needed to hedge their bets. Everyone needed to have their own career, because the idea of functioning as a long term team and being able to rely on a partner was an unrealistic fantasy. Better to play the field, experience multiple partners before “settling down” in late 20s or early 30s after completing university undergraduate education and embarking on a personal “career”. And the rich benefits and long term dividends of personally committing to that ideal of a lifetime of loving commitment and partnership, in which each supports the other, were jettisoned in a mad blinding blizzard of separateness, isolation, and narcissism. And then came feminism and all of the other “isms” to complete the formal division and shattered fragmentation of the national culture into a million separate interest groups.

Somehow, Jill and I found each other at a young age during the echoing cultural revolution reverberations which swept ‘70s central coast California. Surrounded and buffeted by a variety of storms, not the least of which was rejection by my parents, we hung on to each other, and got married at a time when I did not even have a job (the priest at the Episcopal church offered me a job sweeping the floors). With the active support of her “trad” extended British immigrant family, we managed to work through the challenges which all young couples face; get an education, raise two boys, and survive the pressures and repeated relocations typical of todays abusive “soft money” untenured academic life. Despite all of the pressures and barriers to working together as a couple (j’accuse nepotism!!), we managed to continue working as a team in both our home and work life, eventually transitioning to building and operating a small business together. Which, in days of yore, had always been one consistent model for married, committed couples. Small shopkeepers, small farmers, always centered around long term marriages and their extended families.

As we look back, and also take a look around at the friends and peers which now surround us, we see many couples like us. Survivors of the 60s and 70s “cultural revolution” that have managed to build and sustain long term partnerships, and are now reaping the dividends. A peace and centeredness grounded in trust, security, and shared sense of purpose. A creativity and productivity which springs from two minds and bodies working together, rather than individually, over decades.

I suggest that these couples represent a new post-modern form of trad marriage. Tempered by the fires of the cultural upheavals and stresses of post-WWII industrial and post-industrial realities. No longer “Stand by your man”, and “Behind every great man there stands a great woman.” Long term couples walking side by side, celebrating and gathering the rewards from the growth - as individuals and as a team- of stable committed monogamy.

Returning from our brief stint away from farm, dogs, horses, podcasts, “tyranny of the urgent” and the distractions of our daily lives, we have been able to look back over our intensive collaborative writing during this “vacation” and collect our thoughts concerning these long term monogamous, committed marriages and couples which surround us. Maybe, just maybe, these successful dyads may serve a key role in developing and rebuilding a healthier American culture, as opposed to the shattered and seemingly hopelessly divided one which now surrounds us.

The old order is dying, consumed by hate, strife, corruption, and a massive federal debt. The post-WWII political, social and economic models are not sustainable, no matter how much propaganda, censorship, psy-ops and thought control is deployed. It is our job to construct a new way of being as Americans. I suggest that commitment to post-modern yet “trad” marriage can play a key role in helping build a better future for all of us.

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