Reclaim the Rainbow 🌈 Genesis 9:11-17 https://fountain.fm/episode/DSHDwPcxucG0cSMsA8Bl

An old lady in the store just said to me "Hi handsome." When you're old, you can just say what you feel! 😄

> "Imagine: > > No income tax or IRS. Americans were free to keep 100 percent of their income, and there was nothing the federal government could do about it. > > No Social Security or welfare state. People took care of their own retirements out of the money they saved over their lifetimes from not having to pay income taxes. Those seniors who were unable to take care of themselves relied on children or voluntary charity. > > No Medicare or Medicaid. No government provision of healthcare. > > No Federal Reserve or paper money. Gold coins and silver coins were the official money, as established by the Constitution. Thus, no government-induced inflation or debasement of the currency. > > Minimal immigration controls. Millions of immigrants flooded into the United States, adding to the enormous surge in economic prosperity. > > No national-security state — i.e., no Pentagon, CIA, or NSA. No state-sponsored assassinations, coups, or regime-change operations. Instead, a limited-government republic with a minimally sized army. > > No foreign wars, except the Spanish American War that statists foisted onto America in 1898. > > No sanctions, embargoes, or blockades. > > No drug laws or drug war and therefore, no drug lords, drug cartels, or drug-war violence. > > No regulation of economic activity, including minimum-wage laws. > > Virtually no occupational-licensure laws. > > Hardly any public-school systems and mandatory-attendance laws. Education was mostly a voluntary seeking process rather than a mandatory cramming process. > > One fact is undeniable: This was the most unusual and the freest — from an economic standpoint — period of time in the history of man. It was also the most prosperous and the most charitable period that mankind had ever seen." What America was like, ca. 1870-1910

The Future of Freedom Foundation

A Great Documentary on the Gilded Age – The Future of Freedom Foundation

I just finished watching a great documentary series entitled The Men Who Built America, which involves my favorite period of time in history — ar...

#TodayILearned that movable-type printing was originally developed in Korea centuries before the Gutenberg press. #TIL #Korea https://fountain.fm/episode/qOtukUG3NwrNmnMXEXFZ

#TodayILearned that the Department of War recently re-categorized the LDS religion as not #Christian. Shout out to Nostrich @Christopher Gillespie who produces this podcast. #TIL https://fountain.fm/episode/9wgbqONXk2I4onZDo5zi

#TodayILearned the US government once considered detonating a nuclear weapon on the moon, to beat the Soviets from doing it first. And Carl Sagan was involved. https://fountain.fm/episode/D4ulPQLcFUePV5VzQGxj The US #GovtIsTheProblem #TIL

This is a famous trial I would have liked to have witnessed. Perhaps there are still radio recordings available and I know there is the movie "Inherit the Wind", which I have yet to see. Apparently the trial was a national spectacle. Vendors outside the courtroom were selling hamburgers rebranded as "Monkey Meat"😄 William Jennings Bryan led the prosecution and offered a $100 reward (in 1925 dollars) to anyone in the audience who would stand up and admit to being descended from an ape! 😂 Derek "Doc" Carter, a blind mountain man who resided in the Blue Ridge Mountains, came to the trial and, despite his disability, challenged anyone who dared to best him in biblical knowledge. 🤣 Clarence Darrow called Bryan to the witness stand and rigorously examined him with questions designed to make Bible believers look foolish. When Bryan planned to do the same the next day to Darrow, to press Darrow as hard as possible on the flaws of his secular worldview, Darrow and his client and conceded guilt and asked the court to end the trial to save time. Evolution and secularism were spared any similar scrutiny. Bryan's fundamentalist viewpoint was the only one that had to defend itself on the stand before the world.

Fountain: Podcasts & Music

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More • The Scopes Monkey Trial • Listen on Fountain

Tell me your favorite episode for the 6th anniversary show! In 1925, a small-town Tennessee courtroom became the stage for one of the most famous t...

> "...in the ancient world free citizens didn’t usually pay taxes. Generally speaking, tribute was levied only on conquered populations. This was already true in ancient Mesopotamia, where the inhabitants of independent cities did not usually have to pay direct taxes at all. Similarly, as Moses Finley noted, “Classical Greeks looked upon direct taxes as tyrannical and avoided them whenever possible.” Athenian citizens did not pay direct taxes of any sort, though the city did sometimes distribute money to its citizens, a kind of reverse taxation—either directly, as with the proceeds of the Laurium silver mines, and indirectly, through generous fees for jury duty or attending the assembly. Subject cities, however, did have to pay tribute. Even within the Persian Empire, Persians did not have to pay tribute to the Great King, but the inhabitants of conquered provinces did. The same was true in Rome, where for a very long time Roman citizens not only paid no taxes but had a right to a share of the tribute levied on others, in the form of the dole—the “bread” part of the famous “bread and circuses.” --David Graeber, *Debt: The First 5000 Years* (2014), ch. 3 #TaxationIsRobbery #WeAreNotFree #bookstr

A look at the dystopian nightmare coming our way, brought to you by A.I., digital cash, digital I.D., and technology...

Life in 2030: The Rise of the Permission Society

Most people will not wake up one morning and find that the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, or any other global institution has taken over...

#TodayILearned West Germany paid billions of dollars in reparations to #Israel for the Holocaust. The two nations signed a historic pact called the [Reparations Agreement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_Agreement_between_Israel_and_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany) (also known as the Luxembourg Agreement) on September 10, 1952. Under this treaty, West #Germany agreed to pay the state of Israel and Jewish organizations to help resettle Holocaust survivors and compensate for stolen property. [1, 2, 3, 4] The agreement was highly unusual because neither country existed during World War II. It marked a major step in West Germany's effort to rejoin the global community. [5, 6, 7, 8] ## 💰 What Was Paid West Germany paid a massive sum of money over a 12-year period, which entered into force in 1953: [1, 9, 10] * 3 billion Deutsche Marks ($7 billion today) was paid directly to the state of Israel. [9] * Goods, not cash, made up most of these payments. West Germany sent steel, ships, machinery, and trains. This helped build Israel's early economy and infrastructure. [9, 11, 12, 13, 14] * 450 million Deutsche Marks went to the [Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany](

Claims Conference

History - Claims Conference

A history of the Claims Conference since its founding in 1951 and the formation of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

This group distributed the funds to help individual Jewish survivors living outside of Israel. [1, 9, 15] * Indemnification laws were also passed by West Germany to give monthly pensions directly to individual survivors for their trauma and loss of livelihood. [1, 9] ## ⚖️ The Controversy The deal was deeply controversial in both nations and sparked fierce public debates. [4, 16] * In Israel: Many citizens were furious about accepting what they called "blood money" from the "land of the murderers". Massive protests and violent riots broke out. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion argued that the young, financially broke nation desperately needed the funds to house half a million poor refugees. [9, 17, 18, 19] * In West Germany: Chancellor Konrad Adenauer faced pushback because the German public was not consulted. Many regular Germans felt they were the victims of the war and did not want to send money away. Adenauer pushed the deal forward to fix Germany's international image. [8, 11, 18, 20] * In East Germany: The communist government of East Germany completely refused to participate. They denied any responsibility for Nazi crimes and never paid reparations to Israel. [5, 21, 22] ## 🔄 Ongoing Payments The 1952 agreement was just the beginning. The German government continues to negotiate with the Claims Conference to this day. Over the decades, Germany has paid more than $90 billion in total to survivors worldwide, and billions are still paid out every year from the German federal budget. [3, 15, 23] [1] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_Agreement_between_Israel_and_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany) [2] [https://www.reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5pd4qy/were_financial_reparations_to_israel_for_the/) [3] [https://www.bbc.com](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22707483) [4] [https://www.sun-sentinel.com](https://www.sun-sentinel.com/events/#!/details/paying-for-the-holocaust-the-controversial-reparations-agreement-between-israel-and-west-germany-and-the-plot-to-kill-adenauer/9737091/2022-01-13T15) [5] [https://www.ebsco.com](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/diplomacy-and-international-relations/germany-agrees-pay-reparations-israel) [6] [https://academic.oup.com](https://academic.oup.com/book/26106/chapter/194116376) [7] [https://www.jpost.com](https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-734910) [8] [ [9] [https://americangerman.institute](https://americangerman.institute/2019/11/the-september-1952-reparations-agreement-between-west-germany-and-israel-the-beginning-of-a-remarkable-friendship/) [10] [https://remember.org](https://remember.org/guide/facts-root-aft-lib-aft) [11] [https://jacobin.com](https://jacobin.com/2020/11/postwar-west-germany-support-israel-whitewashing) [12] [https://www.history.com](https://www.history.com/articles/poland-wwii-reparations-germany) [13] [https://www.nytimes.com](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/04/world/israel-s-ties-with-germany-elude-us-jews.html) [14] [https://www.thedial.world](https://www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-3/holocaust-reparations-wassenaar-agreement) [15] [https://www.claimscon.org](https://www.claimscon.org/about/history/) [16] [https://www.reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ub3ql2/what_level_of_support_did_west_german_citizens/) [17] [https://www.reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/1k64t91/our_honor_shall_not_be_sold_for_money_our_blood/) [18] [ [19] [https://www.independent.ie](https://www.independent.ie/world-news/germany-marks-70-years-of-compensating-holocaust-survivors/a/133468462.html) [20] [https://www.lockdownuniversity.org](https://www.lockdownuniversity.org/lectures/1177-abomination-of-abominations-the-germany-israel-reparations-controversy/transcript) [21] [https://www.israelhayom.com](https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/01/31/before-capitol-riot-there-was-the-1952-knesset-insurrection/) [22] [https://www.latimes.com](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-13-mn-1205-story.html) [23] [https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de](https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/laenderinformationen/israel-node/israel-228212) [Source: Google Gemini](

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#TIL

Today's episode might interest some of our #Orthodox brethren as it concerns the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." I don't know though, icons, a material thing, seem to be given a little too much importance... https://fountain.fm/episode/UM8vOBgFHRs8DwnNdfUu

Those of us who partake... 😉

> "The Quran’s treatment of #Jesus also surprised me. He is treated with more dignity in the #Quran than most Christians realize. He is born of a virgin, confirmed by the Quran. He performs miracles, confirmed by the Quran. He is called the Word of God and a spirit from God. He is listed among the greatest of the prophets. The Quran states explicitly that he was sinless. I found that striking. Muhammad, by contrast, is told in the Quran to seek forgiveness for his sins. Jesus is not. The text treats their moral standing differently, and it does so in Jesus’ favor, and most Muslims I have spoken to have never noticed that." View quoted note →

Excellent piece on the #Quran and Muhammad! This author has done what I have tried and failed to do on a few occasions, and that is read the entire Quran. I recommend it to every #Muslim and anyone trying to understand what Muslims believe.

I read the entire Quran, all the Hadiths, and the Sira. Here is what I found.

I want to tell you how this started, because it matters for everything that follows.

#Islam

I'd love to see a #Christian version of this, and a Taoist version of this. I'm sure there'd be some overlap. View quoted note →

> "Trump's accelerating squeeze on Cuba > > "The Trump administration is bracing for the potential collapse of Cuba's totalitarian government as early as this summer, and has war-gamed new military response plans in case the island descends into chaos, reports Axios. > > "President Trump will keep pushing economic sanctions to try to strangle the regime in Havana in a slow-motion constriction." https://fountain.fm/episode/e1YER8Y93zf4Xg3V2lsm

Doug Casey makes the point that the so-called American Civil War was not a civil war fighting for control of the U.S. government, rather it was a war of secession. I'm going to start calling it the War of Secession. You've got to start calling things what they are. It could be argued that the American Revolutionary War was not really a revolution, it was actually a war of secession from the British Empire. Therefore, we could call it the first war of secession, which would make the so-called Civil War the second war of secession. The first war was successful, of course, and the second was unsuccessful. https://fountain.fm/episode/NRRpoOz0MIL8KVfW8teu

The U.S. is now in it's 4th (or 5th) Republic. This episode is a nice little history lesson. During World War I, and with the creation of the FBI, the United States became a police state. After World War II, with the creation of the CIA, the NSA, and the Pentagon, the United States became a national security state. With the passage of the Patriot Act, after September 11, 2001, the United States became a surveillance state... https://fountain.fm/episode/yzPvDSRLxnRuIM2D6i7G

I just saw a bumper sticker that read: "Drive carefully. There is no heaven." I might be more inclined to believe there is no heaven if there has never been anybody testifying to have seen it or been there. But we do have such testimonies. So I guess you just have to decide whether you will believe them or not.