There’s a reason Bilderberg Group attendee Jeff Bezos’ cute little voice-activated gizmos have been priced so extremely cheaply… to get them into as many houses as possible as quickly as possible. No one has been able to explain to me how these aren’t creepy big brother spy devices to get sheeple (who have been conveniently programmed by watching years of Jetsons cartoons as a kid to think anything futuristic is cool with no potential drawbacks) on the smart grid Internet of Things… no matter how obvious the Orwellian nightmare warning signs are.

Recently it came out that police can retrieve the voice data from anyone’s Echo. And if people honestly believe that thing is only recording voice commands and not every ambient conversation or even sound happening within range, then I’m going to have to go get a thesaurus because the words gullible and naïve just simply aren’t going to cut it here.

Now it has come out that Alexa, the Amazon voice assistant that “lives” inside the Echo, is ordering stuff people didn’t even want. Recently six-year-old Dallas resident Brooke Neitzel asked Alexa the super vague, “Can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?” So Alexa didn’t just order the Neitzel’s a dollhouse, it ordered them a $170 KidKraft Sparkle mansion dollhouse, along with four pounds of sugar cookies (which the kid also admittedly “talked to Alexa” about). Alexa apparently has expensive taste, go figure.

The Huffington Post cheerfully reported that Brooke’s family is now “whispering more around Alexa”. Great. So they paid to place a low-level AI in their house that they are now forced to whisper around? No, that doesn’t sound creepy at all. Welcome to the future. If things are already this screwed up, I think I’ll take a pass on those flying cars, thanks.

Major retail chains such as Sears and Macy’s are closing stores and laying off workers, but I didn’t think that Wal-Mart would be feeling the pain as well.  Unfortunately, that is precisely what is happening.  USA Today is reporting that approximately 1,000 jobs will be cut at Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas by the end of this month… Walmart’s plan to lay off of hundreds of employees is the latest ripple in a wave of job cuts and store closures that are roiling the retail industry.

The world’s largest retailer is cutting roughly 1,000 jobs at its corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, later this month, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak about it. The company is saying that these cuts are necessary because Wal-Mart is always “looking for ways to operate more efficiently and effectively”.  But something doesn’t smell right here.  You don’t get rid of 1,000 employees at your corporate headquarters if everything is just fine.

Meanwhile, there are signs of trouble out on the west coast as well.  The Los Angeles Times is reporting that there is going to be a new round of engineering job cuts at Boeing… Boeing Co has internally announced a new round of employee buyouts for engineers companywide, including in Southern California, and warned that layoff notices will follow later this month to engineers in Washington state, where the company has a large presence. Management did not cite a target for the number of projected job cuts.

Legba Carrefour, an organizer for DisruptJ20, told Reuters Wednesday that her group planned predawn blockades and disruptions during the evening inaugural balls on top of the protests during the actual inauguration. It was then made clear that this is not about peacefully protesting but rather part of a larger attempt to literally steal the election.

“Some 300 DisruptJ20 volunteers will work to mobilize demonstrators for a series of protests the group has dubbed the ‘Festival of Resistance’,” reported Reuters. “We are not in favor of a peaceful transition of power, and we need to stop it,” Carrefour continued. “I can safely say that some groups are likely planning actions that might result in arrest scenarios”.

The group has posted a manifesto on their website that also reveals that they are planning widespread civil disobedience and possible illegal actions. Calling on “all people of conscience” to shut down the event, the group's website even indicates that they believe they may be able to stop Trump’s ascension to the presidency all together.

Amazingly, DisruptJ20 is not the only hard left group openly planning what seems to be mass riots, as another radical group, backed by former terrorist Bill Ayers, is also planning a massive disruption. The group includes leftist activists, entertainers, artists, professors, writers, and at least one known terrorist and has launched what amounts to a sort of soft coup attempt in America with their release of a full page New York Times ad and accompanying website that lays out a concrete plan to prevent Donald Trump from ever taking office. In other words, this is a direct attempt to steal the election from both Trump and the American people.

Germany, along with much of Western Europe, has four major domestic problems:

(1) an unsustainable welfare state,

(2) low birth rates,

(3) a large and growing Muslim population that has not assimilated to Western values, and

(4) a cowardly political class that will not even acknowledge that the combination of these problems is destroying Europe from within.

It is not too late for Germany to turn things around. In 1945, Germany’s problems were far worse than today. It was a devastated country. Millions of Germany’s working age men were killed in the war, approximately 20 percent of Germany’s housing was destroyed, and economic output in 1947 was only a third of what it was in 1938.

Twenty years after the war, the West German economy was the envy of Europe. The Soviet-dominated East Germans had to build the Berlin Wall because 3 million of their citizens fled to West Germany from 1948 to 1961.

For decades, Germans have elected a number of great leaders. For many Americans, it is difficult to be critical of a German politician because even the most incompetent and/or corrupt German leader looks great compared to Hitler. Which in the end makes Angela Merkel’s failure a tragedy of awful proportions.

My hope is that all of their efforts will turn out to be a big flop, but it is important to understand that these groups are well funded, highly organized and extremely motivated.  The election of Donald Trump has been perhaps the single most galvanizing moment for the radical left in modern American history, and they are working very hard to turn January 20th into a major political statement.

Of course it is easy to imagine how all of this could spiral wildly out of control.  If Trump cracks down on these protests really hard in an attempt to restore law and order, that could end up sparking a dramatic backlash against his “police state tactics”.  And if the protests become even bigger and more violent, Trump could respond by cracking down even more harshly.

Let us hope for some really cold weather in DC at the end of January so that as many troublemakers as possible get discouraged and stay home.  Violent protests, blockades and riots aren’t going to solve anything, and they could easily open fresh wounds in a nation that is becoming more divided with each passing day.

Ongoing “gasolinazo” protests in Mexico over a 20 percent rise in gas prices have led to over 400 arrests, 250 looted stores, and six deaths. Roads are being blockaded, borders closed, and government buildings are being sacked. Protests have remained relatively peaceful overall, except for several isolated violent acts, which activists have blamed on government infiltrators. The few mainstream news reports that have covered the situation blame rising gas prices but fail to examine several other factors that are pushing Mexico to the brink of revolution.

The narco-state, or as Mexican activists say, “el narco-gobiero,” is a term used to describe the open corruption between the Mexican government and drug cartels. Much like the US, the Mexican government is susceptible to corporate influence. It just so happens that the most influential corporate entities in Mexico are drug cartels — and it's hard for the government to reign in entities that fund and infiltrate it. Similar to the phenomenon of “regulatory capture,” the Mexican government is at least partially funded and co-opted by drug cartels. This festering problem is an underlying factor in the current civil unrest in Mexico.

The general feeling of helplessness in the face of narco-state corruption and economic insecurity is not going away with the next election or protest, and wealth inequality in the country is beyond remedy. Mexico is ripe for revolution. Whether it's triggered now by the gas gouging and subsequent inflation or in the near future, it's coming — and we should be talking about it.

The role is central to securing Nato manpower and equipment for certain EU missions organised under so-called "Berlin-plus" arrangements. Among the countries seeking to exploit the potential reshuffle is France, The Times reported, claiming Paris sent an unofficial delegation to Washington last autumn to convince US officials that French armed forces were better placed than their British counterparts to be America’s special ally in Europe after Brexit.

The French team “were at pains to point out how useful the French military could be as an ally and their track record in getting things done in troublespots where the US was not as strong as it wished to be”, a source with knowledge of the September mission told the newspaper. “They also pointed out that, after Brexit, they would be the only EU country with this capability.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesman told the newspaper: “We will continue to play a leading role in European security. This includes providing Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander for Europe.”

“Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t matter, or like you don’t have a place in our American story — because you do,” she said. “Know that this country belongs to you, to all of you. From every background and walk of life. If you or your parents are immigrants, know that you are part of a proud American tradition … that has made us the greatest country on Earth.”

Religious diversity is “not a threat to who we are,” she said, “it makes us who we are.” On the campaign trail, Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the US and spoke about requiring them to register. “Whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh … I want our young people to continue to learn and practice those values with pride,” the first lady said.