Ancient Middle Eastern saying: “Beware Qataris Bearing Gifts” There is some uncertainty amongst this week’s coterie of High Viziers advising his Esteemed Eminence King Donald the Bigly, of Gilead, regarding an appropriate name for his recent magnificent gift. Some say that it should be called Pegasus, the Flying Qatari Horse, whereas others prefer Dumbo, The Flying White Elephant. Current odds seen to be on Dumbo. ### Share this: * Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * * Click to print (Opens in new window) Print * Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email *

Assume that you were the world’s richest psychopath, hell bent on acquiring all the wealth in the world. Where would the best place be to look for more wealth? Not the poor people, you already have all the wealth they ever created, no, the best place to look would be the world’s second most wealthy person, or the third or fourth or fifth, etcetera etcetera. Now, suppose that you were the world’s second richest person & you are seeing the world’s richest person, the most successful psychopath, potentially seeking *your* hard grafted grift, they who now own the Unites States Federal government & all its resources & what’s more with a direct line to the world’s foremost expert on poisons, Vladimir Putin I would think that this most interesting of times is a very good time not to be rich. Last rich person standing then gets the honour of being guillotined by the people. * * * ### Share this: * Bluesky * Mastodon * * Print * Email *

## Smoke & mirrors obscuring smoke & mirrors You think that the mass media & that nasty evil old goat Murdoch are using smoke & mirrors to make you vote for their evil candidates who are owned by psychopathic billionaires like Murdoch, rather than for those nice people who will make everything better for you again? The evil Wizard of Oz hidden behind the curtain manipulating the world Not so, good people. The evil wizard behind the curtain is hiding from you the fact that it doesn’t matter a damn *who* you vote for in an otherwise free & fair election, scrupulously scrutinised by free & fair independent people, the system will ensure that someone who is owned by those psychopathic billionaires will rule you. Both the major parties & most of the smaller ones are already owned by the evil billionaires, you are just choosing their puppet for them. The alternative to this is not democracy, that is long gone, decades gone, but rather, them being forced into an overt coup, as they have chosen for some psychopathic “reason” in America now. Things are so much easier for everyone when they can pretend democracy & still get almost everything their way by installing a government that the people think are their choice to govern for them. Coups are so messy & unpredictable, only a fool would opt to have one unless they had no choice. Tragically they appear to presently be run by fools, without the wit to appreciate the 99.99% that they already owned, they had to go for that extra 0.01%, at such a cost for everyone. * * * ### Share this: * Bluesky * Mastodon * * Print * Email *

<p class="">The <a class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://relph.org/friends/tag/fascist/" original-href="https://relph.org/tag/fascist/" rel="tag">#fascist</a> oligarchs who have just executed a coup in the USA, did so by the power of the money which they acquired from the people.<br/>Not one cent of that did they earn, but using it they have gained access to the infinite funds that the state can create from the nation’s resources.</p> <p class="">They want the lot &amp; now they have it.</p> <p class=""><a class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://relph.org/friends/tag/politics/" original-href="https://relph.org/tag/politics/" rel="tag">#politics</a> </p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <div class="activitypub-follow-me-block-wrapper wp-block-activitypub-follow-me" data-attrs='{"selectedUser":"site","friendsVisibility":"","profileData":{"name":"My World","icon":{"type":"Image","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/relph.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cropped-Kooky2.jpg?fit=512%2C512&amp;ssl=1"},"webfinger":"relph.org@relph.org"}}'></div> <div class="wp-block-friends-follow-me"><form method="post"> <p class="">Enter your blog URL to join my network. <a href="https://wpfriends.at/follow-me">Learn more</a></p> <div><input id="_wpnonce" name="_wpnonce" type="hidden" value="b9897a33a1"/><input name="_wp_http_referer" type="hidden" value="/what-do-they-want-everything/"/><input name="friends_friend_request_url" placeholder="https://example.com/" type="text"/> <button>Follow this site</button></div></form></div> <ul class="wp-block-social-links is-layout-flex wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex"></ul> <p class=""></p> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-bluesky"><a class="share-bluesky sd-button" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-3958" href="https://relph.org/what-do-they-want-everything/?share=bluesky" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky"><span>Bluesky</span></a></li><li class="share-mastodon"><a class="share-mastodon sd-button" data-shared="sharing-mastodon-3958" href="https://relph.org/what-do-they-want-everything/?share=mastodon" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Mastodon"><span>Mastodon</span></a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://relph.org/what-do-they-want-everything/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li class="share-print"><a class="share-print sd-button" data-shared="" href="https://relph.org/what-do-they-want-everything/#print" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to print"><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a class="share-email sd-button" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself." data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-nonce="ed0126e6cf" data-email-share-track-url="https://relph.org/what-do-they-want-everything/?share=email" data-shared="" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20What%20do%20they%20want%3F%20-%20Everything&amp;body=https%3A%2F%2Frelph.org%2Fwhat-do-they-want-everything%2F&amp;share=email" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend"><span>Email</span></a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div>

<p class="">Humanity is fast approaching a pinch-point. </p> <p class="">Interesting times for any one or any thing capable of appreciating interesting times that survives it.</p> <div class="wp-block-friends-follow-me"><form method="post"> <p class="">Enter your blog URL to join my network. <a href="https://wpfriends.at/follow-me">Learn more</a></p> <div><input id="_wpnonce" name="_wpnonce" type="hidden" value="73cdd4847b"/><input name="_wp_http_referer" type="hidden" value="/interesting-times/"/><input name="friends_friend_request_url" placeholder="https://example.com/" type="text"/> <button>Follow this site</button></div></form></div> <div class="activitypub-follow-me-block-wrapper wp-block-activitypub-follow-me" data-attrs='{"selectedUser":"site","friendsVisibility":"","profileData":{"name":"My World","icon":{"type":"Image","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/relph.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cropped-Kooky2.jpg?fit=512%2C512&amp;ssl=1"},"webfinger":"relph.org@relph.org"}}'></div> <ul class="wp-block-social-links is-layout-flex wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex"></ul> <p class=""></p> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-bluesky"><a class="share-bluesky sd-button" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-3953" href="https://relph.org/interesting-times/?share=bluesky" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky"><span>Bluesky</span></a></li><li class="share-mastodon"><a class="share-mastodon sd-button" data-shared="sharing-mastodon-3953" href="https://relph.org/interesting-times/?share=mastodon" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Mastodon"><span>Mastodon</span></a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://relph.org/interesting-times/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li class="share-print"><a class="share-print sd-button" data-shared="" href="https://relph.org/interesting-times/#print" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to print"><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a class="share-email sd-button" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself." data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-nonce="c3ac0b4582" data-email-share-track-url="https://relph.org/interesting-times/?share=email" data-shared="" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Interesting%20Times&amp;body=https%3A%2F%2Frelph.org%2Finteresting-times%2F&amp;share=email" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend"><span>Email</span></a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div>

<p class="">There is a name for those things, concepts, that *everyone knows*, they are called *myths*.</p> <p class="">Go ahead, be the first person in your neighbourhood to prove your existence, by doubting one of them.</p> <p class=""></p> <div class="activitypub-follow-me-block-wrapper wp-block-activitypub-follow-me" data-attrs='{"selectedUser":"site","friendsVisibility":"","profileData":{"name":"My World","icon":{"type":"Image","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/relph.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cropped-Kooky2.jpg?fit=512%2C512&amp;ssl=1"},"webfinger":"relph.org@relph.org"}}'></div> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__supports-newline wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions"> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__container is-not-subscriber"> <form accept-charset="utf-8" action="https://wordpress.com/email-subscriptions" data-blog="218160435" data-post_access_level="everybody" data-subscriber_email="" id="subscribe-blog" method="post"> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__form-elements"> <p id="subscribe-email"> <label class="screen-reader-text" for="subscribe-field" id="subscribe-field-label"> Type your email… </label> <input class="no-border-radius" id="subscribe-field" name="email" placeholder="Type your email…" required="required" style="font-size: 16px;padding: 15px 23px 15px 23px;border-radius: 0px;border-width: 1px;" title="Please fill in this field." type="email" value=""/> </p> <p id="subscribe-submit"> <input name="action" type="hidden" value="subscribe"/> <input name="blog_id" type="hidden" value="218160435"/> <input name="source" type="hidden" value="https://relph.org/everyone-knows-that/"/> <input name="sub-type" type="hidden" value="subscribe-block"/> <input name="app_source" type="hidden" value=""/> <input name="redirect_fragment" type="hidden" value="subscribe-blog"/> <input name="lang" type="hidden" value="en_US"/> <input id="_wpnonce" name="_wpnonce" type="hidden" value="c35861b63b"/><input name="_wp_http_referer" type="hidden" value="/everyone-knows-that/"/><input name="post_id" type="hidden" value="3902"/> <button class="wp-block-button__link no-border-radius" name="jetpack_subscriptions_widget" style="font-size: 16px;padding: 15px 23px 15px 23px;margin: 0; margin-left: 10px;border-radius: 0px;border-width: 1px;" type="submit"> Subscribe </button> </p> </div> </form> </div> </div> <p class=""></p> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-bluesky"><a class="share-bluesky sd-button" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-3902" href="https://relph.org/everyone-knows-that/?share=bluesky" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky"><span>Bluesky</span></a></li><li class="share-mastodon"><a class="share-mastodon sd-button" data-shared="sharing-mastodon-3902" href="https://relph.org/everyone-knows-that/?share=mastodon" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Mastodon"><span>Mastodon</span></a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://relph.org/everyone-knows-that/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li class="share-print"><a class="share-print sd-button" data-shared="" href="https://relph.org/everyone-knows-that/#print" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to print"><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a class="share-email sd-button" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself." data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-nonce="8db1512450" data-email-share-track-url="https://relph.org/everyone-knows-that/?share=email" data-shared="" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Everyone%20Knows%20That&amp;body=https%3A%2F%2Frelph.org%2Feveryone-knows-that%2F&amp;share=email" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend"><span>Email</span></a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div>

1: Government Debt Thoughts on reading David Graeber's "Debt: The First 5,000 Years" It is one thing to imagine, to contrive, a long distant past that fits one's myths to explain one's hypotheses, quite another to impose one's ideas on a current world where such ideas are daily disproven by reality.But that is what politicians and mainstream neoliberal economists do. The history they claim, of the use of money historically developing natively from barter in 'primitive' societies, in […]