10/12/11 Paris, France – This empire thing…it’s going to be fun.
In the Roman collosseum, for example, the emperor got to decide who lived and who died. He put his thumb up…and the gladiator was spared. Thumbs down…and it was the coup de grace.
He could also issue death warrants for anyone — even his own family. Claudius did so on his own wife (she had it coming…).
And now…is it so different? Emperor Obama issues death warrants…no trial…no charges…no evidence…no muss, no fuss. Thumbs down. Then, zoom…kapow…a drone takes out the target.
Some commentators were outraged when Obama murdered two US citizens. Shouldn’t there be some due process of law, they wondered? Isn’t that was a ‘government of laws, not of men’ is all about?
But the critics should relax and enjoy the show. The best part is still ahead. It shouldn’t be too long before people in the US itself are targeted. They will be called ‘domestic terrorists.’ No evidence will be supplied. Providing evidence would compromise national security!
The first targets will be shadowy, marginal people. Then, the killers will become bolder. They will target better known people, who will be charged with being “traitors.” That is always the charge; one that is almost impossible to refute. Media critics. Rival politicians. Troublesome family members. Once the emperor, oops…president…with his death panel…can decide who lives and who dies, it is only a matter of time until many more people are killed.
And who will complain? Not the millions on food stamps…disability…unemployment… Not those with subsidies and fat tax breaks. Not those who got bailouts…or those with military contracts. Not government employees…or retirees on Social Security. Not the zombies; they know which side their bread is buttered on.
Even those who are not supported by the government directly will dare not speak out against it. Who knows; they might be the next targets.
Regards,
Bill Bonner,
for The Daily Reckoning
Bill Bonner
Since founding Agora Inc. in 1979, Bill Bonner has found success and garnered camaraderie in numerous communities and industries. A man of many talents, his entrepreneurial savvy, unique writings, philanthropic undertakings, and preservationist activities have all been recognized and awarded by some of America's most respected authorities. Along with Addison Wiggin, his friend and colleague, Bill has written two New York Times best-selling books, Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt. Both works have been critically acclaimed internationally. With political journalist Lila Rajiva, he wrote his third New York Times best-selling book, Mobs, Messiahs and Markets, which offers concrete advice on how to avoid the public spectacle of modern finance. Since 1999, Bill has been a daily contributor and the driving force behind The Daily Reckoning. Dice Have No Memory: Big Bets & Bad Economics from Paris to the Pampas, the newest book from Bill Bonner, is the definitive compendium of Bill’s daily reckonings from more than a decade: 1999-2010.
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I might try to hack into that list and adding a few names of people who have been bugging me. Watch out InvestorsFriend.
SOMEONE (okay Bill) has maybe been reading a bit too much history. This ain’t ancient Rome. (Too bad, becasue the scenario described would indeed be amusing to watch)
Bill, this country has already killed domestic terrorists on trumped-up charges. Wounded Knee and Waco. The precedent was set even way back at Wounded Knee.
Waco was just a modern day test case. The Fed couldn’t believe how outraged the country was over Waco. Burning children to death never goes over very well, but their the gov and can’t be expected to know this.
This time the terrorists aren’t sympathetic to the Constituion, but Muhammad. They will gain no sympathy from the public and Terror War on U.S. citizens will continue unabated.
God bless America.
I hope you are wrong. I also hope for a change in the whitehouse.
Our leaders have allowed thousands of non-dissenting innocents to die at a preventable Pearl Harbor, sent 10′s of thousands to die in Vietnam, justified by an overblown Gulf of Tonkin situation, and killed a few thousand of our own through the controlled demolition/attack on the WTC towers on 9/11/2001.
All to rally folks around the flag!
We truly do live in the Evil Empire.
TIF is the only voice of reason on this bored. His writings are all we need to guide us with our investment decisions.
Phelps is probably onto something there. You’ll know the current era has been fully digested by historians when they label Timothy McVeigh as a sort of late 20th century patriot and modern day Nathan Hale who was simply a little ahead of his time.
Russians kill their journalists. Westerners torture and kill people in the name of freedom and safety. Somehow, I do not feel safer.
Bill, I was absolutely shocked when I read this essay! I can’t believe you actually wrote this. As smart as you are, sometimes you just sound like a lunatic.
Were the Roman Emperors with their death warrants different than our President and his kill list? Of course they were…name me a Roman Emperor who won a peace prize!
The emperor was called Domitian, and he was awarded the prize by Calgacus, a British leader of the resistance. In his own words, as quoted by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus:
“solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant” – they make a desert, and call it peace.
These words would make a fitting epitaph for the American Empire, don’t you think?
Let’s hope Bill finds a bunker before the drones are out.
Speaking of bunkers, where is the Mogambo Guru? Safely hidden within his?
I’m pretty sure that this was first shown on the television series, The Event before it was cancelled. The acting president ordered in a drone strike on the former head of the NSA because he knew that the president was working for the aliens.
Sounds like a logical progression. You, Bill Bonner, are my favorite voice of reason in an otherwise crazy world.
This site is reporting his retirement. Not sure how true it is. If it is true, a good-bye would have been nice.Good luck Mogambo
http://www.mogamboguru.com
“You’ll know the current era has been fully digested by historians when they label Timothy McVeigh as a sort of late 20th century patriot and modern day Nathan Hale who was simply a little ahead of his time.”
Don’t laugh, it could and probably will happen.
So long Mogambo!
Brian, I agree with you. You could add the sinking of the Lusitania, and many other events. Dust off the old history books and you find there’s nothing new under the sun.
Phelps is right. Americans only get outraged when white people (like those in Waco) die. As long as it’s black- or brown-skinned people getting murdered in cold blood, without evidence or warrant, no one cares, even if the victim is an American citizen by birth.
(I wonder if Missouri Boy Phelps will mourn when my Raiders annihilate his Chiefs in a few weeks in Oakland. Campbell is going to send a few drone strikes of his own into the KC endzone.)
Anyone who calls himself Jethro is allright in my book, even if he is a Raiders fan. I never mourn and my Chiefs always have a brighter tomorrow, in my mind anyway. Your QB is as inconsistent as ours so it should be a good game. You guys are physical – i’ll give you that. Haley’s boys better be prepared. Sorry folks, now back to the markets.
Let’s face it. Bill is right.
Some guy in an office in Washington can just blow people up, including citizens of his own country, anywhere in the world, at any time, for reasons he need neither explain, nor even disclose.
We–the US, the West, the whole world–have got ourselves a big problem.
There is lots of history about this sort of stuff. It’s all bad. It’s the sort of stuff that once upon a time would make people cross the Atlantic to try something new.
Hope you’re feeling awfully exceptional. We’re gonna need all the exceptionalism we can get.
It was actually the Nobel “Rest In” Peace Prize that was given to Barack Obama.
“It’s the sort of stuff that once upon a time would make people cross the Atlantic to try something new.”
You bet, Roland. Although in my case, it made me cross the Pacific, from Pittsburgh to Singapore. Best move I ever made.