Hey Mark,

Yep, this is the best email addy. Was hoping to resurrect the old group. I know, fat chance.

Flattered you sometimes take time to read my stuff!

As far as the “Deep State,” A.K.A. the Administrative State — which, as an auditor, you were part of for awhile — that meme originally came to fame as a result of this article – – –

Essay: Anatomy of the Deep State | BillMoyers.com

The Costs of War: Amer... Best Price: $1.99 Buy New $13.46 (as of 08:00 UTC - Details) It wants to live for itself (salaries, benefits, etc.) and mostly because of a very active “Capture Theory,” evolves to serve the money, which counts on it to continue being the money. Especially pernicious is the MilitaryIndustrialCongressionalComplex branch in cahoots with the CIA substructure – – –

“Now, as nearly as I can make out, those fellows in the CIA don’t just report on wars and the like, they go out and make their own, and there’s nobody to keep track of what they’re up to. They spend billions of dollars on stirring up trouble so they’ll have something to report on. They’ve become … it’s become a government all of its own and all secret. They don’t have to account to anybody.” –President Harry S. Truman (who created the CIA) Truman Was Right About the CIA

Because government survives on exacted tax money with no market controls, as Reagan quipped, “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program.” Which explains why Uncle Scam just gets bigger and bigger and has morphed, evolved, and mutated into That Thing That’s Living in Washington D.C.

As far as Putin’s motivations go — and a few other significant things —

Putin’s Valdai Speech: Multipolar Future Has Arrived and Russia is Here to Stay

James Rickards on Putin, Ukrainian Nukes, Economic Warfare, Gold and Trump’s Trial

“Off topic, you won’t remember this but———- You once told me ‘The Past Doesn’t Exist.’ I never had the chance to ask you why not? Since then I read that Albert Einstein along with most physicists like yourself believe your statement about the past. It has to do with how we define time. That was a pretty interesting read.” –MARK

Bet it was. Send a link! Capitalism the Unknown... Ayn Rand Best Price: $18.96 (as of 12:02 UTC - Details)

Well, strange as it seems, the consensus is that time is basically a psycological phenom and not only doesn’t the past exist but neither does the future. Only the present — which has one foot on a banana peel.

Then again, physics has gotten really strange lately, ever since we’ve been forced to take quantum theory seriously by experimental evidence.

Nonetheless, well before quantum theory, there’s this sage observation from an early and emminently credentialed physicist – – –

We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so. –Blaise Pascal

So, especially with all of the above, maybe “Be Here Now!” is particularly good advice – – –

HERE for updates, additions, comments, and corrections.

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The Best of L. Reichard White