Part 2:

War is not a foregone conclusion or a national necessity. Each successive occupant of the White House only needs you to believe that in order to centralize the power of an increasingly imperial presidency, stifle dissent, and chip away at what remains of civil liberties.

- Danny Sjursen, retired US Army officer, The Pence Prophecy: VP Predicts Perpetual War at the West Point Graduation

Whenever I mention direct democracy, a certain segment of the population always comes back with a very negative knee-jerk reaction. Since this response tends to center around several concerns, today's post will dig into them and explain how such pitfalls can be structurally addressed.

Minority Protection

The first thing that worries people is a fear there will be no protections for minority populations within such a system. Take the U.S. for example, where approximately 80% of the population lives in urban areas and only 20% in rural. If we moved to a system where direct popular vote played a meaningful role in deciding the majority of issues, rural populations would lose out every single time. It would end up being an oppressive system for people who live in less populated areas and would tear up the U.S. even faster than is happening now.

I definitely think this sort of thing is a problem, but people misunderstand what I mean when I discuss direct democracy. Fundamentally, I'm a firm believer that governance should be radically decentralized compared to what it is today. America is a great example of a good idea gone completely off the tracks.

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. That is the point at which the negation of Catholicism and the negation of Liberalism meet and keep high festival, and the end learns to justify the means.

- Lord Acton

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

- Buckminster Fuller

If you've read anything I've written over the past several years, you'll be acutely aware of my belief that human civilization is currently in a major transition period between two great paradigms of world history. The old world we all grew up in no longer works for most people, yet is being relentlessly propped up by the powerful and their minions who benefit from its parasitic and destructive nature. Despite their best efforts, a system so poisonous, decrepit and corrupt cannot and will not last. At this stage, it's little more than a Potemkin village fraud barely kept standing courtesy of increasingly intense deception, manipulation and the sheer will of those who profit handsomely from it.

By stating we're in the transition period, I want to make it clear I believe things are very much already being disrupted and altered beneath the hood of a world which appears indistinguishable from what it was a decade ago on a superficial level. Specifically, I think there are two core aspects of human existence that will be completely transformed in the years to come. First, within the monetary and financial systems that define how commerce, savings and entrepreneurship function. The emergence and continued momentum of Bitcoin offers evidence that disruption in this realm is already very much underway, albeit still in its infancy. The second realm I expect will experience massive transformational change relates to forms of human governance. We've barely scratched the surface on this one, but nascent signs have started to appear, and I suspect a push towards political systems more defined by direct democracy will become increasingly common in the years ahead. I've spent many hours writing about the financial and monetary system, so today's piece will focus on what appears to be coming with regard to human political evolution.

Authorities removed 136 dogs from a house in a gated community in Southern California on Thursday. The owners of the mansion have been cited for animal cruelty.

The Orange Police Department received an anonymous tip about animal cruelty at the home, according to Sgt. Phil McMullen, the department's public information officer.

Police arrived at the home at about 2:30 p.m. local time and were let inside the home by the owners.

Orange police said they found "approximately 100 animals, ranging anywhere from puppies to elder dogs in various stages of medical issues."

Orange County Animal Care was called and they began removing the animals from the home wearing hazmat suits and masks.

For an increasing number of Danes camping is the only accommodation they can afford due to factors such as mortgage default, divorce, or other circumstances.

Denmark is seeing a growing trend in campsites becoming places of permanent residence, TV2 reported.

Of approximately 100 campsites in Denmark that are open all year, almost half, 47, have people living in them all year round, which means a doubling in the last decade.

According to Danish camping regulations, it is not permitted to have a permanent residence at a campsite all year round. During the winter period, which formally lasts from 1 November to 28 February, you are allowed to spend a maximum of 20 days at a time in your caravan.

Hearing is latest stage in possible extradition of WikiLeaks founder to US

Julian Assange was too ill to appear by video link for the latest hearing in relation to his possible extradition to the US, lawyers for the WikiLeaks founder told a court.

The hearing was the first since 2 May, when lawyers for the US government began pressing its case to extradite him to face trial for what they described as one the largest compromises of classified information in history.

However, his solicitor Gareth Peirce told a judge at Westminster magistrates court in London on Thursday that Assange was too ill to appear by video link from prison. The date for the next hearing was confirmed as 12 June.

The lack of pollinating insects in some areas of fruit production in China has forced producers to pollinate their fruit trees by hand.

In these areas, the excessive use of pesticides and the lack of a natural habitat put an end to all the pollinators that inhabited the ecosystem.

There is increasing awareness of insects and other pollinating animals for agriculture worldwide; In fact, in the long term, they are basically the only ones responsible when it comes to growing food and without them agriculture could collapse.

There are simple solutions to avoid their collapse. Studies in Europe and North America have found that it is possible to increase the population of pollinating insects by planting strips of wild flowers near crops and leaving patches of natural vegetation, such as trees and forests. These practices can also increase the population of natural predators, decreasing the need to use pesticides.

When you're sad or stressed, do you have someone you can reach out to in confidence for help? A new survey suggests millions of Americans may be forced to bottle up their emotions and secrets when it comes to having someone to confide in.

The survey, commissioned by the counseling service BetterHelp, found that a quarter of the 2,000 adults questioned didn't have someone to privately turn to for their their private struggles or thoughts. Seven in ten participants admitted that when sharing their feelings with a co-worker, friend, or romantic partner, they tend hold back their true feelings. And a staggering 90% of participants say they downplay their emotions so they don't burden or worry a loved one.

The study segmented the participants by age. On the whole, participants between the ages of 18 and 30 are much more withdrawn than participants over 50 years old when discussing potentially anxiety-inducing topics like finances, job stress, parents and family, or other friends, with a partner.

It's been nine months since police claim 19-year-old Sarah Wilson allegedly got a hold of a gun and killed herself in police custody while her hands were cuffed behind her back. Since then, her mother has been grieving and also crying foul after police are sticking by the story and refuse to release any information.

As TFTP reported at the time, Wilson allegedly committed suicide on July 25, 2018, during a traffic stop near the intersection of Berkley Avenue and Wilson Road, according to the Chesapeake Police Department. According to police, while handcuffed with her hands behind her back, Wilson was able to acquire a Taurus Judge handgun, place it in her mouth, and pull the trigger.

Dawn Wilson, Sarah's mother has since come forward to speak out about the inconsistencies in the case.

The recent deadly crash-landing of a Sukhoi Superjet-100 was a result of the poor state of Russia's aviation industry, with pilots lacking qualification and outdated safety regulations, the country's Prosecutor General said.

Since 2017, 550 commercial pilots have suspended and 160 flight certificates annulled in the country after prosecutorial inspections, Yury Chaika told MPs, as he appeared before parliament on Wednesday.

"The issue of dedicated training of pilots still remains a pressing one," he warned. Many aviation training centers lack qualified teachers and hardware to operate effectively. Two such centers could not properly train pilots and had to be shut own. There were also cases of aviators taking to the skies after incomplete training programs, the Prosecutor General said.

The state aviation safety program hasn't been updated in Russia since 2008 and doesn't meet the international requirements anymore, he pointed out. There's also no one in government specifically tasked with overseeing this program and how it's being implemented.

Even though we are told the economy is doing great, all the evidence shows that main street Americans are struggling more and more every day. A recent report claimed that the costs of goods have risen to the point that 25% must use debt to pay for necessities, such as food.

According to a new Experian report that came out last week, Americans have an average of $6,506 in credit card debt. But some expenses are weighing much more heavily on the credit cards of the average American...

Necessities, like food and rent, are being put on credit cards. A full 23% of Americans say that paying for basic necessities such as rent, utilities, and food contributes the most to their credit card debt, according to a new survey of approximately 2,200 U.S. adults that CNBC Make It performed in conjunction with Morning Consult. Another 12% say medical bills are the biggest portion of their debt. Medical bills additionally likely contribute to the purchases of food on a credit card.

This news isn't shocking unless you believe the mainstream media's glorification of the false "recovery" we've experienced since the Great Recession of a decade ago. American households have taken on historic levels of debt, which will crush them in the next economic downturn.