It’s Impossible to Overstate How Terrible Mike Pompeo Is

When the director of the CIA, an unelected public servant, publicly demonizes a publisher such as WikiLeaks as a “fraud,” “coward” and “enemy,” it puts all journalists on notice, or should. Pompeo’s next talking point, unsupported by fact, that WikiLeaks is a “non-state hostile intelligence service,” is a dagger aimed at Americans’ constitutional right to receive honest information about their government. This accusation mirrors attempts throughout history by bureaucrats seeking, and failing, to criminalize speech that reveals their own failings…

Words matter, and I assume that Pompeo meant his when he said, “Julian Assange has no First Amendment freedoms. He’s sitting in an embassy in London. He’s not a U.S. citizen.” As a legal matter, this statement is simply false. It underscores just how dangerous it is for an unelected official whose agency’s work is rooted in lying and misdirection to be the sole arbiter of the truth and the interpreter of the Constitution.

– From Julian Assange’s Washington Post opinion piece: The CIA Director Is Waging War on Truth-Tellers like WikiLeaks

What’s most unique about Mike Pompeo isn’t the fact he’s a terrible human being, it’s the fact he’s so transparent and shameless about it. This became crystal clear last April when I read the transcript of a speech he gave at UAE-funded think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

I covered Pompeo’s commentary in detail in the piece, The American Empire Under Donald Trump Has Become Increasingly Desperate, Dangerous & Insecure, but let’s revisit in case some of you missed it the first time around.

First, he falsely characterized Wikileaks as a hostile non-state intelligence agency (despite lauding it during the election), and then used this false categorization to launch an attack on the First Amendment.

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Interview With Andy Hoffman – Bitcoin, Crypto Assets and Decentralization

As most of you surely know by now, I believe a positive future for humanity requires a total displacement of the current centralized, authoritarian, and hierarchal paradigm. I believe decentralized, peer-to-peer, trustless systems will play an instrumental role in bringing about a much more free, honest and transparent system that will lead to immense human … Read more

A Thanksgiving Message

On this special day for families across these United States, I want to share the timeless words attributed to Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh, which I’ve shared with readers on many past Thanksgivings. Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand … Read more

The Generational Wheels Are Turning

“The electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles.”

— Oren Harari

If you only read my stuff sporadically, you might be surprised to hear that I’m actually quite optimistic about the future. The main reason I compose articles highlighting all the frauds, corruption and absence of ethics within our current paradigm isn’t to fill you with fear and dread, but to create awareness. Ignorance is not bliss, and I believe a deep appreciation about how completely broken and opaque the current way of doing things is can provide the spark of inspiration and determination necessary to create a new and much better world

As I’ve stated many times previously, it wasn’t until Bitcoin emerged and I started to understand the implications of it, that I became very encouraged about the future. Prior to that, I saw humanity living under a terminal, predatory system that would eventually consume itself, but I couldn’t see a plausible roadmap toward a better tomorrow. Bitcoin proved to me that not only did such a path exist, but the infrastructure for this better future was being built right in front of our eyes.

I first started writing about the revolutionary implications of Bitcoin in the summer of 2012, and looking back five years later I’m filled with an overwhelming sense of awe and appreciation for all that’s been achieved. While the optimist in me always thought we might get to where we are today, to see it actually happen is nothing short of extraordinary. The incredible energy and global talent that’s entered this space over the past several years brings a gigantic smile to my face. It truly is an idea whose time has come, and the more the concepts of decentralization and trustless systems infect the global consciousness, the more unstoppable they become. I think we’re already there.

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Liberty Links 10/7/17

If you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit our Support Page. How America’s Biggest Bank Paid Its Fine for the 2008 Mortgage Crisis—With Phony Mortgages! (Read and share, The Nation) Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Cases for Years (Blockbuster piece from The New York Times) Hollywood’s Loud Silence … Read more

Open the Books Reports – 63,000 Illinois Public Employees Earn Over $100,000 Per Year

Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of OpenTheBooks.com, has written an interesting piece over at Forbes detailing some of the enormous salaries being paid by taxpayers to Illinois public sector employees.

Here are a few excerpts from the piece, Why Illinois Is In Trouble – 63,000 Public Employees With $100,000+ Salaries Cost Taxpayers $10B:

Illinois is broke and continues to flirt with junk bond status. But the state’s financial woes aren’t stopping 63,000 government employees from bringing home six-figure salaries and higher.

Whenever we open the books, Illinois is consistently one of the worst offenders. Recently, we found auto pound supervisors in Chicago making $144,453; nurses at state corrections earning up to $254,781; junior college presidents making $465,420; university doctors earning $1.6 million; and 84 small-town “managers” out-earning every U.S. governor.

Using our interactive mapping tool, quickly review (by ZIP code) the 63,000 Illinois public employees who earn more than $100,000 and cost taxpayers $10 billion. Just click a pin and scroll down to see the results rendered in the chart beneath the map.

Here are a few examples of what you’ll uncover:

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How to Build a Creative Renaissance – Decentralize or Die (Part 4)

Man cannot do without beauty, and this is what our era pretends to want to disregard. It steels itself to attain the absolute and authority; it wants to transfigure the world before having exhausted it, to set it to rights before having understood it. Whatever it may say, our era is deserting this world.

– Albert Camus

The first three parts of this series largely focused on how decentralization is necessary in the political realm and should be applied more aggressively to governing structures. I believe moving to such a model is no longer just a quaint option, but absolutely required if we want to expand human liberty and build more voluntary, ethical and sane communities. That being said, decentralization can and should be applied to as many aspects of life as possible.

Most humans live completely unfree lives. Whether its parents, schools, religion or ultimately employers, far too many of us are told from birth what to think and what we can and cannot say. Interestingly enough, the older we get, the more restricted our speech seems to become. Ironically, while we have more mediums for expression than ever before with the internet and social media, increasing numbers of people are too afraid that their bosses might see what they wrote to actually express themselves publicly. This is one reason why anonymity is so incredibly important online, and must be preserved at all costs, but that’s another topic.

I am of the view that we are enriched as a society if people are empowered to speak their minds freely in the public square without fear of dire consequences, such as being fired and not being able to feed your family. If you’ve been reading me over the past couple of weeks, you’ll be familiar with my push to move Liberty Blitzkrieg into a reader-supported project in the coming years, but I want to explain my thought process a bit more and how it relates to decentralization.

From day one, I was very hesitant about launching a donation drive on this website. In fact, it wasn’t until three and a half years of writing (at the very end of 2015), that I officially sent out a post detailing contribution options and created a support page. There are many reasons for this, but at the root of it were my own hangups. I consider myself a fortunate person and am far from being in dire straights, so the idea that someone would sacrifice money they might really need to support my work made me feel very uncomfortable. Nevertheless, in the past year and a half, hundreds of you have voluntarily donated to the site, which led to a direct shift in my attitude and impacted the direction of my work in many important and, in my view, beneficial ways.

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A New Way to Support Liberty Blitzkrieg – Launching Patreon



Before I get started, I want to thank everyone who has donated to Liberty Blitzkrieg over the years. I’ve been very encouraged by the generosity and kindness of so many people from all over the world. I’ve received contributions from readers in many different countries, including the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and more. I try to send a personal thank you note to everyone, but I’m definitely behind schedule and I apologize if I haven’t reached out to you recently. You are greatly appreciated.

There is absolutely nothing more gratifying and empowering than reader-supported work, which is why I want to move more and more in that direction. Those of you who have been reading me for years have probably noticed a bit of a change in the website over the course of 2017. That change has been intentional. Whereas I used to try to put up as much content as possible, I am now only publishing one post per day. By centering my focus in this manner, I’ve been able to publish far more proprietary and thoughtful content, while avoiding the temptations of clickbait chasing. I think this strategy has resulted in some of the best work I’ve ever created, and I would like to continue to focus my time and energy in this way.

Seeing so many of you make one-time donations freed me up and permitted me to stop obsessing about how many page views I was generating. These donations, in addition to the wonderful partnerships I have with several businesses/organizations, put me in a position where I felt more able to focus on quality over quantity. To take things to the next level, I want to move further away from having third party corporate behemoth ad networks on my site, and Google Adsense is the really big one.

This desire has inspired me to launch a Patreon page, where readers can pledge a certain dollar donation per month and the site will take care of the rest. I know that some readers feel awkward about making a small one-time donation of only $5, but would gladly give $5 every month. Patreon is the perfect medium for this sort of donor, and has been recommended to me on several occasions.

My initial goal is to reach $1,000 per month, and I recognize this could take a while. To provide a bit of an incentive, I have pledged to remove all Google Adsense ads from my site once the $1,000 per month threshold is reached. I will not be offering any rewards to patrons at first, but if it proves successful, this is certainly something I will consider doing in the future.

If you have any interest in learning more about this new option to support my work, please check out my Patreon page.

When you go to support, you’ll see a default like this below. You can change the dollar value to whatever you want.

Meanwhile, absolutely nothing will change about the site. All content will remain free, and support will be completely voluntary. I am simply adding another option for those of you who are inclined to contribute.

If Patreon isn’t your thing, and you prefer to donate via Bitcoin, cash, check or PayPal, all of those options remain available. If you are interested in donating via another crypto coin, let me know and I will consider it.

Details are below:

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Liberty Links 6/10/17

If you appreciate our work, and want to contribute to genuine, independent media, consider visiting our Support Page. Must Reads Sorry Dems, Comey’s Words Too Weak to Impeach Trump (I completely agree with this analysis, The Hill) How The Intercept Outed Reality Winner (Errata Security) Max Blumenthal Grills Progressive Rep. Jamie Raskin about Russia Allegations (Must watch, Congress is … Read more

Exciting Personal News

In case you’re wondering why I haven’t posted over the past couple of days, I recently became a dad for the second time with the birth of our beautiful new baby daughter! The whole family is now back home together, and it’s a very special, joyous and busy time for all of us.

Things will be a bit different for me for a while as my wife and I get used to juggling two young children, but with so much craziness going on in the world, I’ll do my best to keep the content coming.

Thanks to all of you for your readership and continued support over the years!

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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