'Empire of Corruption' - A Conversation with Karen Kwiatkowski

[TheCeejReturns]

You used my hood ornament analogy! YAY! It's getting around!

[Ahijab]

How much of a role did the Zionist play in 9/11 and how much influence and power do they have in U.S. affairs today?

[broeman]

@Ahijab I wouldn't say the Zionism (not Judaism) per se have power, but it founded the idea of neo-conservatism (which I have a hard time understanding has anything to do with american conservatism, so it must be a kind of New-Speak), which is predominant in both the major parties in the US.

[salo73]

we all know what is good in life, free choice, non violence, simple stuff, humanity is about to go through puberty,

[pretorious700]

You would never know it by her rambling thought processes, but this lady is a great writer.

[jasrogg]

911 was an inside job Until Stef stops being intellectually dishonest about 911 he will never see the true light.He hates Gov but wont accept there participation in an event that only benefited them.No other entity benefited from 911.Only govt connected ones

[scramblethink]

-A beautiful woman, even thou I can´t see her!

[Zerafinel]

What a brilliant person, what a brilliant interview :)

[Iseeyoursoul]

How many innocent people died for their lies? And condoleezza, cheney and bush are still scott free sipping gin.No "heroic" police officers are bringing them to jail for war crimes. They're too busy collecting taxes for the empire, too busy committing crimes themselves.

[ehpl]

How do we change any system for the benefit of the people and the planet when the most manipulative violent psychopaths always kill their way to the top? Is this some sort evolutionary dead end right now? Do we need to back up and take the other turn- the one that doesn’t have us following these lunatics like lab rats.

[MabusZero]

7 people think a world without government would devolve to a bad mix of Mad Max and Waterworld directed by Fulci.

[PolakFury]

@MabusZero I want a minimized version of that somewhere lol like replace a Disney land location with that idea haha

[aether777]

Universal Slavery Association...

[pretorious700]

We invade other countries because a lot of people are getting rich doing it. They pull the strings, they make the decisions. There is no moral consideration at all anymore. The president is irrelevant, congress out of the loop, the justice department totally compromised. Reality in America 21st century.

[drew335533]

This wonderful person seems to get on more tangents then you Stef. Didn't think it was possible.

[TonyUnplugged]

Why pay a U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel to manage the ice cream stand when you can pay a contractor to perform "non-essential" tasks ?

Military personnel get extra money to house their families, move their families around the world, etc. We should be using contractors for positions that are "non-essential" support roles. Tax payers cover military personnel from womb to tomb if they "put in" 20 years and qualify for pay and healthcare retirement benefits.

[TeamLibertyExpress]

When I was a kid, the US flag represented Superman, justice, Niel Armstrong, freedom, NASA, quality products, Evil Knievil, etc. Now it represents BLOOD, nothing more, nothing  less.

Okay, well corruption too.

[NYatheist]

@TeamLibertyExpress To me the Stars and Stripes will always fly proudly because I think we played the pivotal role in winning WW2. What would the world be like right now if the axis powers had won and Adolf Hitler could have carried on without opposition? So the USA government makes some decisions that have serious consequences for many people, but if you would prefer China being the leading world power, which it appears it will be, then move to China now and be prepared. In other words........

[NYatheist]

@NYatheist ...words, as world powers go, the USA is a lot less harmful than the many others in human history. Once you realize that the way the world works, there will always be powerful nations, you just have to hope they have some benevolent tendencies, and I think the USA does. We are far from perfect, but life in the USA provides some of the best standards of living that any humans have ever known. So I'm happy to stand by my country, and would never want to do otherwise anyway.

[deadlizard64]

"Bombing the living f.......... heck out of them"

lol that was great

[NAVYGOLDEIGHTFOUR]

Terrific conversation.

I got out of the navy 2 pay grades lower and a decade earlier than Karen retired from the air force, but her story really resonates with me. She really is the right combination of access, experience, and common sense to help advance liberty.

As usual, another outstanding post.

[i2aymond]

This is going to be so good my sugar has already spiked.

[prussell66]

Obama is worse than Bush in my view, base upon the hypocrisy alone. With Bush, you KNEW you were getting a globalist, fascist scumbag. With Oh-Bomb-Ya, they either completely ignore the reality of their actions or they gloss them over with words like "humanitarianism." Death is death. Lies are lies and the new boss is the same as the old boss, he just reads the telescreen better.

[mussimike]

Mind meld! We all need to promote these discussions if truth is our goal. Thank you both for this fascinating look under the hood.

[deadman12078]

We were loaning the CCCP money and sending them food to keep them afloat.

[barrywilliamsmb]

Thanks Stef and Karen.

Good to hear that all is well in the military industrial complex.

[ZARBONZARBON]

stefan for president!

[irrelevanthuman]

@ZARBONZARBON i think you missed the entire point of this channel

[fakeham]

The free market is unsustainable.

[Sivels]

@fakeham If you say so, it must be true... Geez, I'm so glad you've told me how wrong I am... Who needs reason and evidence, proof, right?

[fakeham]

@Sivels

The free market requires expansion and growth and doesn't take the carrying capacity of the earth into account so by definition it is unsustainable. If there is any system in the economy where money is loaned out at interest, the money supply will inflate and growth is required to deflate the currency. And it is quite hilarious to hear you talk about proof when you have accepted the anarcho capitalist ideology with no proof whatsoever that it works in the real world.

[Sivels]

@fakeham "If there is any system in the economy where money is loaned out at interest, the money supply will inflate and growth is required to deflate the currency." what a** did you pull that out of? What's the empircal or logical backing on that claim? You're just making a bunch of b*llsh*t assertions.

Anarchy works, because we're living everyday without central planners telling us how.

[fakeham]

@Sivels

"You're just making a bunch of b*llsh*t assertions."

"Anarchy works..."

Now that is hypocrisy.

[Moragauth]

@fakeham Aw, is baby getting angry?

[fakeham]

@Moragauth

Way to be a trolling douche.

[fakeham]

@Sivels

And I guess I was assuming that there would be fractional reserve banking because is the easiest way to make a lot of money in banking and since there is no law to stop it, banks would end up doing it.

[Moragauth]

@fakeham How would they sustain FRB without a central bank to bail them out/coordinate the system? When you're not forced to use a currency it is much, much easier for a bank to go bust, especially if deposits are withdrawn from it and its notes greatly discounted to signify risk in holding them.

[Moragauth]

@fakeham Prove that it doesn't do so. How does interest relate to money supply inflation? What is the proof that statism "works", then? It's had thousands of years to prove itself. it's an abject fucking failure.

[Houshalter]

@fakeham Yes, resources are finite. That makes capitalism "unsustainable" how?

Also, there are several examples of anarcho capitalism in history, and many more limited examples showing how specific functions could work. But even if there weren't any, just because an idea hasn't yet been tried in the real world does not make it automatically wrong. The status quo is not right by default. You can use the same argument against almost every idea and movement in history!

[GtheMVP]

@Houshalte I always love the resources are fininte thingy. When the market runs out of a certain resource, something different will take its place. THis only becomes a problem when a central group has the monopoly on a certain resource, and doesn't allow for something new to replace it quick enough.

I never understood people using finite resources as justification for collectivism, like socialism, communism, the Venus Project lol. Individual empowerment drives innovation, not central planning

[iPetrify]

@GtheMVP I'm not going to attack you because you bring up a valid point, I do agree that something else will take its place. But in a way, the world governments do own a monopoly. Everything we do revolves around oil.

[GtheMVP]

@iPetrify Yeah, gov't has the monopoly for sure, that's what I'm referring to. It's a tool we need to neuter, if not remove. Banksters and corporations dominate the political system, we've let it become far too easy for small groups to rule over us. It's madness lol :)

[fakeham]

@GtheMVP

Yeah, come back when you find an alternative resource to substitute for water...

And also, do you mind to back up your claim that individual empowerment drives innovation because just about all of psychology disagrees with you there.

[GtheMVP]

@fakeham There's plenty of water, fresh and salt. There are many ways to convert salt water into drinking water, better techniques for converting salt to fresh will emerge.

History is on individual empowerment's side, the US became the incredibly wealthy it was because people weren'y shackled with heavy gov't burdens. Poverty was on the decline before welfare and other social programs

China/INdia 300 million escape poverty in 20 years because they've adopted freer market principles -facts

[GtheMVP]

@GtheMVP FU typos!! :D

[fakeham]

@GtheMVP

Of course there is plenty of water, that is not the problem, the problem is that the watersheds are polluted so that when it rains, the otherwise clean water goes through the same polluted water ways and becomes contaminated. Sure we could desalinate ocean water but that is just a bandaid fix, we can't just fuck shit up and then expect technology to save our asses, besides, humans are the only things that drink water so unless you plan to ration water out to the animals that won't work

[pretorious700]

@fakeham I hope you meant humans "aren't" the only "things" that drink water.

[fakeham]

@pretorious700

Yes, that is what I meant.

[fakeham]

@GtheMVP

China (I assume you mean Hong Kong) and India have decreasing poverty b/c they are built on the backs of other third world countries.

[Houshalter]

@fakeham wow. Could you come up with a more blatant zero sum fallacy?

[fakeham]

Can you come up with a causal relationship to prove that the decrease in poverty is due to freer market principles and not something else? If not than my claim is just as true.

[Houshalter]

@GtheMVP maybe, maybe not, but if a resource is finite, then no economic system is going to change that. Oil can be used here now, it can stay in the ground forever, or you can conserve it for future use. Why a central planner supposedly has the right to make that decision for 300 million people he doesn't even know is beyond me.

[arcanekrusader]

@fakeham so what.

[fakeham]

@arcanekrusader

:O

Do you not understand the ramifications of that premise? If something is unsustainable, it is not sustainable and ergo, is doomed to failure. For instance, if my entire society is based on oil and I am using that oil faster than it is created by the earth, at some point, the oil is going to produce less than I need and there will be mass economic collapses and famine, hence is the nature of the peak oil problem we are facing currently.

[rayme4raw]

@fakeham Which country has the free market?

[fakeham]

@rayme4raw

No country has ever had a free market in the sense of anarcho-capitalism but the US has come close during the Industrial Revolution at which point we coincidentally destroyed the environment beyond all reason.

[fakeham]

@Sivels

What? How did you get all of those bullshit strawmen out of that quote? Humans obviously have to use resources to survive but we don't have to exploit them. It is sad that you see pollution as just a violation of property rights, are you then proposing that humans make the entire earth their property? B/c that's the only way that would work. I define destroying the environment as making watersheds undrinkable and blowing up mountains to get coal so that we can poison our own air.

[Moragauth]

@fakeham Pollution is solely a violation of property rights be they in person or external assets. Hence why I asked is it an unqualified good i.e. one which takes overriding concern over other goods.

[fakeham]

@Moragauth

The earth is our planet and we need it to survive so I would say that it over rides all other concerns, what good is economic growth if the next generation won't have enough clean drinking water to survive? And once again, you need to quit thinking of the world as just and conglomeration of people's property, it really is quite arrogant.

[Houshalter]

@fakeham yes, every scarce resource is property. The earth is not a being that can own property, and any economic system even worth considering has to fundamentally serve human beings and human interests, not abstract semi-religous goals.

[fakeham]

@Houshalter

I'm sad to hear that you think that. And if you think the free market, or any monetary system for that matter, serves human interests than you are sadly mistaken. What natural law is your property right concept based on? What gives you the right to come upon a piece of land and say that it is yours to do with as you please? It was there long before you were. It's yours just b/c you say so or b/c you signed a piece of paper? And I can't go where I want b/c it's someone else's?

[Houshalter]

@fakeham all resources are finite, and when demand for those resource rises above the actual supply, that creates scarcity, and disputes can arise about their use. Therefore, we need property rights.

[fakeham]

@Houshalter

That is a complete non sequitur. Who protects these rights and what makes you think that property rights solve the stated problem? They obviously do not, people steal today all of the time even with property rights.

[Houshalter]

@fakeham And that is a complete strawman. How the property rights are enforced is a seperate issue entirely of whether they are a prefferable system or not. Without some kind of property rights, how do you decide how a plot of land gets to be used when two or more people want to use it for their own ends? Whoever ultimately makes the decision is exercising a claim to that plot of land higher than anyone elses, essentially the definition of property.

[fakeham]

@Houshalter

It is not a strawman, you are suggesting that we use a system of property rights which has been proven to not work. And if property rights do not work, there really is no point in having them in the first place. They especially won't work if there is no way to enforce them.

[Houshalter]

@fakeham it has not been "proven to not work". It's never even been tried except in small amounts where it worked great. And of course you can enforce it. Statism has been proven not to work. Every time it has been tried it lead to corruption, war, collapse, a small elite having power over the rest of the population, massive misallocation of resources, etc. If that is your end, then maybe statism is a good idea, otherwise it's the worst system possible.

[fakeham]

@Houshalter

And some examples are.......?

And once again, you are assuming that I am a statist.

[Moragauth]

@fakeham How did the Industrial Revolution (where governments routinely IGNORED property rights of those aggrieved by pollution) even come remotely close to anarcho-capitalism? It had much more economic freedom than today, yes. Moreover, is a "pristine" environment an unqualified good?

[fakeham]

@Moragauth

Well anarcho capitalists always seem to tout the Industrial Revolution as an explosion of economic growth as a result of it being close to a free market and if they can argue that point I think it is also fair to argue that environmental damage is also a result. And what do you expect people to do when their property is polluted? Go and blow up the factory? And YES a pristine environment is good, do you shit on your kitchen table?

[Moragauth]

@fakeham Because it was all that in many respects (which is not to say the government did not intervene in some very significant ways), however where pollution damages were directly related to property owners you should be aware government courts had a habit of ignoring claims because to award damages would be to impede the progress of industry according to them. "Environmental damage" is by contrast a very loose term.

[ashane77]

@fakeham

Yeah, good thing we have govts that make sure there is no pollution, anywhere, anytime...

Depleted uranium munitions...consumption of vast amount of oil...blowing up nukes for fun...

Yeah...

[fakeham]

@ashane77

You are assuming that I am a statist...I'm either with you or I'm with the terrorists, right?

[ashane77]

@fakeham

Yes.

[rayme4raw]

@fakeham We can fix the environment in most areas, except Japan. Nuclear power will collapse along with all the Fiat Currencies since it was never economically viable. But you are right, if there is still a free market out there, it's probably in the black market doing business behind government controls.

[justintempler]

Thanks Stef great interview

[rjc071]

Articulate? Maybe, but informed no. Case in point, none of us ever thought that the only way the Cold War was going to end was through a conventional war or nuclear exchange. By 1986 is was clear to us that it would only be a matter of time before the USSR would no longer be able to "keep up," as it were. Our intel was good, our human resource access the best in over 25 years.

I really don't care if she is a "she", or if she was an O-5. Her assessment is off the mark in more ways than 1.

[Joe11Blue]

@rjc071 Clearly, she had been clear when she stated that the Military expected it to end in that fashion, and that others had expected it to end with them collapsing. Her rank and position has a major factor in her knowledge in this premise.

You have to remember that the what the Pentagon expects, and what everyone else expects is never the same. The Pentagon work's on the premise of worst-case scenario.

[rjc071]

@Joe11Blue "Clearly, she had been clear...?" Perhaps clear in giving her opinion, and elaborating upon what she then thought or thinks she knows, but there is a difference between fact versus opinion, and as clear or as articulate as she might have been she is far from being an expert on the subject, let alone credible in terms of depth or breadth.

[Joe11Blue]

@rjc071 I absolutely love how you based your entire argument on pointing out her lack of credibility or factual grounds without offering any of your own. An O-5 is in charge of operation's in most of the Military. If she worked in the department's that she stated, she would have been in the Pentagon. That gives credibility to her statements. Unless you know something about how the Military operates that I don't. I will have to chalk you as a troll.

[mansson111]

someone in my public service department was allowed to commit 2 violent offences before his position became untenable lol. One thing that public servants like to say is - 'well if I went to the private sector I could earn 100% more with my paper qualifications' -Shame they rarely fuck off and prove this.

[rayme4raw]

@mansson111 I did some contract work where I worked along side government workers. It was amazing. I remember two ladies in the Central Registration office where parents go to register their kids for school (prison). These idiots would b*tch for 6 hours a day that they had too much work and then they would work for two hours. I could fire both of them and hire one private worker to do their job.

[mansson111]

@rayme4raw tell me about it. People are so protected in government it's literally every man and women for himself. There is no team play - don't ever ask for help; it's just seen as 'trying it on'. People in our office and can perhaps average 3-4 hours talking a day. I mentioned it to my manager who said - 'it's stressful job for them so they have to blow of steam - WTF how about getting on with their work.

[rayme4raw]

@mansson111 :) In my tax paying privately owned job, the manager has an unspoken rule that we can talk for maybe 2 mins before they come around to break up the discussion. The only problem that I have with privately held jobs is that management often times sees their employees as replaceable. In that scenario the employee is no better than a slave.

[rayme4raw]

@mansson111 When my dad went to work for the post office, he only did it for 6 months. On his first day, he was given a bag of mail to deliver. He took that bag of mail, delivered it and came back to the office at noon. His boss asked him what he was doing. My dad said that he was done delivering the mail. The guy turned beet red & told my dad that tomorrow, he was to deliver the mail and not come back until 4PM. LOL

[mansson111]

@rayme4raw lol my kind of job. I don't know whether to be scared to amused. I call what goes on at work 'happy fun times' - just wonder when it will come to an end. The tabloids and OK magazines litter the office lol. I am asked to carry out inappropriate work just to meet targets - fully endorsed by the manager who is a micro-controlling freak who has a bee in his bonnet since rarely do people come and seek his sagacious and paternal advice. All show and no substance. People don't care.

[rayme4raw]

@mansson111 You're right, my last job, the management were micro-management freaks. The sad thing was that they would always try to deny that they were micro-management freaks. No one felt respected & stupid mgmt would ask us over & over again why we didn't come to them with our problems. A recent poll showed that 80% of Americans would switch jobs if they felt that they could find another one. The key reason for that is that they don't feel respected.

[RogueSwordThesco]

@mansson111

Only by lobbying the government, if ever the case

[marypoppins2009]

It is fabulous to hear this articulate woman...and she represents a military background, and we have some prejudice in that direction....time to change

our rigid opinions of those who are in the military!!

[DuncanL7979]

@marypoppins2009 nope. look at the pictures of killed civilians and military posing and smiling. They are sub human animals until proven otherwise like this woman.

[pretorious700]

@DuncanL7979 Until you have experienced combat, you have no idea about the stress involved. This doesn't excuse barbaric behaviour, some people can take the stress and maintain civility, many cannot. I agree that a small percentage of young people in the miltary are sociopathic, probably in a same or approximate percantage to the general population.

[DuncanL7979]

@pretorious700 It's really stressful so therefore its okay to unwind a bit and brutally kill some civilians and take some nice pics for the photo album to maybe show the grand kids one day? THAT IS NO EXCUSE. If you don't understand the value of human life and the gravity of war conditions then stay the fuck out and stick to the call of duty video games. We can't be sympathizing with these freaks, it is NOT patriotic it is the worst use of tax payer resources possible and unimaginably evil.

[mansson111]

@DuncanL7979 better than the nonsense from person below you. Well said on all accounts.

[mansson111]

@DuncanL7979 A good idea would be to hand them over to the afghans - then they would know the meaning of stress. These animals should consider themselves lucky that they are being prosecuted by their own state instead.

[rayme4raw]

@pretorious700 It's estimated that 1% of men are sociopaths and 3% of women. Most of them can pass for normal at first glance. It took me years to realize that 3 or 4 of upper management at my job were sociopaths. Needless to say, I was let go because they couldn't turn me into a brown noser. Sociopaths are scary as hell once you realize that they are out there. Thank god it's such a small percentage of the population, sadly, they are probably in the top levels of our government.

[pretorious700]

@rayme4raw Sociopath+combat stress=really messed up people to give weapons to.

[mike6459]

obama doesn't want a bullet lodged into his skull like our last peace president...so perpetual war full steam ahead

[Anothercoilgun]

Yes government jobs pay good. Remember people satan pays well.

[Anothercoilgun]

1 hour 12 minutes and 43 seconds!

[marypoppins2009]

Thanks Stephan....we appreciate all that you do!

[ZedAlfa273]

Karen Kwiatkowski gives excellent commentary in the 2005 Eugene Jarecki documentary film "Why We Fight". The film is a must see.

[MYNAMEISFRANKENSTEIN]

hello humans

[unclesamfatg]

@MYNAMEISFRANKENSTEIN first comment?

[MYNAMEISFRANKENSTEIN]

@unclesamfatg they give my life meaning