Many of the Roman holidays were recast as Christian. For example, December 25th, Christmas was the feast day of the Roman sun god Sol. Like Labor Day, such holidays gradually evolve, and people initially forget what they were all about. Thus, the Romans were celebrating Sol, but really it had become just a holiday, so they renamed it Christmas.

Pope Gelasius I (492-496) replaced the Roman celebration of Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day.  Valentine’s Day appears to have been merely a substitute for a cruder Roman Lupercalia holiday at the time called Lupercalia, promoting health and fertility, which would, at times, perhaps become more sexual. There were no gifts or chocolates being handed out. As for the heart, that seems to have evolved from a seed of a plant used for birth control.

The main product of Cyrene and the city of Barce at this time was the silphium plant. This was the main source of prosperity were agriculture and animal husbandry. Horses could graze in the less fertile areas, where the silphium plant grew wild. Silphium juice’s value for pregnancy prevention brought great wealth to this region. The historian Pliny tells us that it was a veritable cure-all; it is said to have had hundreds of medicinal and cosmetic uses. It was used to treat everything from chills to fevers. Hippocrates tells us that it could be used as a poultice or to soothe the stomach. Cooks also used the plant in their recipes.

However, this plant was used as a type of birth control. Indeed, medical evidence from classical antiquity informs us that it was the drug of choice for contraception. The Greek physician Soranus of Ephesus suggested taking a dose of silphium “the size of a chick-pea” once a month, both to prevent conception and “destroy any already existing.” The ancient abortion pills.

It is also believed that the seed of this plant is where we get the image of love and the heart.

It was so widely used that it is now extinct.

The last surviving plant was said to have been given to Emperor Nero.

QUESTION: Why are you not at Dubai’s annual World Governments Summit? I have seen you walking out of the central bank in Abu Dabi. Are they just another Davos? If they do not invite you, something is wrong.

JFG

ANSWER: I am not part of that crowd. Yes, they are more of the establishment Davos-like gathering. They are not interested in reality. They certainly do not want to hear me talk about capital flows and the sovereign debt crisis on stage for the world to listen to. What we discuss in private meetings is not for general mass publication. As I have said, this is a confidence game. What they put on is just a dog-and-pony show. You do not air out your dirty laundry in public. It takes a crisis for that to happen. What Musk is doing is that, and perhaps what he accomplishes is far more than merely closing down agencies. He is exposing the corruption, which is what 2032 is all about. These gatherings are pretending nothing is wrong, and they are in control

An economist has made headlines for suggesting that Canada unite with the European Union bloc. Could Canada become the 28^th member state? Absolutely not.

The very idea that Canada would consider joining the European Union and abandoning the Canadian dollar for the euro is sheer economic insanity. To throw away its sovereignty and monetary independence in favor of the European Union—an entity in economic decline—would be a move that history would mark as an outright betrayal of the nation’s future.

The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 prohibits non-European nations from joining. Article 49 known as the Treaty of the European Union or the Treaty of Lisbon states that EU membership is for EU nations. Canada, geographically and economically, is tied to the United States and North America. Morocco put this treaty to the test in 1987 when it requested membership. The European Council ruled that Morocco was simply not a European country. Canada, like Morocco, cannot point to French ties as a reason to be considered European, nor would most Canadians want to.

For decades, I have warned that the European Union is nothing more than an authoritarian construct designed to strip nations of their sovereignty under the false pretense of economic unity. The reality is the opposite—nations that have joined the EU have lost control over their economies, their tax policies, and even their ability to govern in their own national interests.

If Canada were to abandon the Canadian dollar and adopt the euro, it would hand over control of its economic fate to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels who have already driven Europe into negative growth with failed policies.

The inability of these nations to control their own currency has led to permanent economic stagnation. The European Central Bank (ECB) dictates monetary policy for the entire eurozone, and it does so based on Germany and France’s needs, not the broader interests of individual member states. Canada would absorb the debt of other nations in addition to its own debt that has been rising C$878 per second.

Unlike the Canadian dollar, which is backed by Canada’s ability to print money and manage its own monetary policy, the euro is a debt-backed currency. The entire EU system is built upon the forced cooperation of nations with vastly different economic structures, which is why it has failed to produce real economic growth.

Capital would flee Canada as investors would see even the mere request of membership as a sign that the government had no long-term strategy. Canada is already struggling with high taxation, an ousted prime minister, and has become deeply involved in every globalist alliance from NATO to the United Nations. By tying itself to Europe, Canada would not only lose investment but would push corporations and wealth holders to relocate to the US where monetary policy is more predictable.

There are countless reasons why consumers are reluctant to switch to electric vehicles, with pricing consistently listed as a top concern. Western governments have warned that they will ban fossil fuel vehicle production in the not-so-distant future to meet emissions targets despite lacking the infrastructure or demand for EVs. Every government is hoping that consumers will purchase their new EVs domestically but no one has been able to compete with Chinese EV manufacturing.

China has pumped over $230 billion into its growing EV sector since 2009. Batteries account for around 40% of the total cost of EVs, and companies like BYD are able to maintain low prices are they own the supply chain to create these batteries from the raw materials to the finished packs. BYD has announced that its newest line will cost as little as $9,555, a price no other EV manufacturer has been able to provide.

Additionally, the company has installed its “God’s Eye” driver-assistance system in three models priced under 100,000 yuan ($13,688), providing users with an autonomous driving experience. Yale Zhang, managing director at Automotive Foresight, compared BYD’s developments to DeepSeek, which was developed to compete with ChatGPT at a fraction of the price. “Technology does not need to be high-end and they can fight a price war here,” he stated.

This is especially dire news for Germany and, therefore, Europe, as its auto industry continually declines. Lawmakers refuse to back away from their climate pledges and are forcing manufacturers to make a premature switch without any demand. Volkswagen plans to close at least three factories by 2027 due to declining sales amid the country’s exigency to eliminate fossil fuels, and China has been eyeing their vacant facilities. Germany abandoned economic objectives for climate change objectives and believes it must reduce carbon emissions by 65% within a 5-year period, followed by an 88% reduction into 2040 before meeting gas net neutrality in 2045. China has no such restrictions.

China’s own auto industry grew 156% over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023 after exporting 4.14 million vehicles last year. China is not adhering to the climate change agenda, and those same regulations derived from fictional data are not strangling China’s energy-dependent sectors. Tariffs are preventing the Chinese from offloading EVs to the West.

Even with the 100% tariffs placed on Chinese autos by Canada and the US, this vehicle is far cheaper than any other available EV. These vehicles would be incredibly popular in the West, but rest assured they will find a way to prevent them from being imported or even street legal.

A congratulations is in order for newly appointed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. RFK secured his position in a 52-48 Senate vote on party lines, aside from Mitch McConnell who broke ranks and attempted to block Kennedy’s nomination. It is peculiar to see who is scrambling to flee before the war on public health begins.

Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak suddenly resigned from his position as principal deputy director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) days before Kennedy was appointed. Tabak was the second-in-command behind Anthony Fauci during the entire COVID era. The GOP investigation into the origins of COVID found that Tabak was part of a sensitive phone call with Fauci and NIH Director Francis Collins in which they schemed to publish a scientific paper to “prove” COVID was not created in a lab – let alone a lab he helped to fund.

Tabak “[dealt] with all of the messy or intractable problem[s]” and was “often… the fall guy when things [went] sideways,” Jeremy Berg, former director of NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, said on social media following news of Tabak’s resignation. “Larry has shoveled so much s— over the years that he would have been well qualified to work behind the elephants in an old circus.”

The left-wing media is in a frenzy. NBC News , for example, called Kennedy a “ high-profile anti-vaccine activist, known for spreading misinformation.” The media is warning that Kennedy will have oversight over Medicare and Medicaid and are leaving an ominous impression that he will somehow infringe on these programs.

Who will lose? Make America Healthy Again not only targets the known players like Big Pharma but food manufacturers also have much to lose. RFK Jr. would like to change the nutrition guidelines and force the FDA to adhere to stricter guidelines whereby Americans cannot be fed literal poison. “I look forward to working with the more than 80,000 employees at HHS to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth,” Kennedy said.

This win is more solidified proof that the people are pushing for change. Millions were spent in an attempt to block Kennedy from entering the HHS. Every news publication has labeled him a conspiracy theorist who the people should fear.

Back to Mitch McConnel – open evidence shows that numerous pharmaceutical companies have been lining his pockets. Pfizer donated $1 million to the Kentucky Republican Party, connected to McConnel.  Abbive, Eli Lily,  Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Sanofi, Novo Nordisk, Celgene, Sunovion, and Allergan have all donated to McConnell’s past campaigns, Super PACS, or an affiliated fundraising committee. They’ve all been bought out and it is public record.

The insanity over the U.S. inflation data illustrates just how braindead analysis has become. The price of eggs grabbed a lot of headlines – up 15%. But supply shortages are to blame for that surge – avian flu kills chickens. Raising interest rates will not stop the bird flu. The Fed cannot do anything about that. Raising interest rates would only make inflation rise, not decline. Like the former Biden Administration, the analysis seems to have no common sense anymore. Inflation = economic growth, which is inherent in all systems and is distinguished from hyperinflation when the confidence in government collapses. Deflation = economic contract and decline. So, are we to fear inflation and cheer asset depreciation?

No correlation shows rising inflation is bearish for the economy. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Deflation takes place during bear markets, and interest rates decline – not rise. It seems that the analysis has been turned upside down thanks to Keynesian Economics. What is really taking place is the expectation that inflation is up, regardless of the cause, so the Fed will be angry and raise rates to punish us for our speculation and investments, which have nothing to do with the price of eggs.

Interest rates decline during recessions or depressions. Yet these mindless analysts just mouth the standard lingo without ever examining whether what they are saying is true or false. It makes me embarrassed to even be an analyst, The myths these people put out are just stupid. Mainstream media will NEVER interview me because I would challenge what they say. OMG – we can’t have that!

In January 1990, I was named economist of the decade for the ’80s. I was asked if I would debate the top economist from the Bank of Canada. When he started comparing the GDP and CPE of one country to another, I would say you can’t do that because they all have different formulas for their statistics. He became so frustrated that he lost his cool and said he was sick and tired of us Americans coming to Canada to tell them what to do. I was then asked if I would debate the top economists on national TV in Australia. I said sure. They all declined.

The Australian did at least explain why rates would fall in Australia against all the analyses of the various economists. That led a number of them to contact me and opened their mind to looking at economics from a different perspective of capital flows.

Now we have these Democrats screaming Trump will cause inflation with his tariffs. Not even for a single moment did they ever consider their endless hatred and warmongering against Russia was inflationary. They put sanctions on Russia, stole their reserves, and then dared to call it Putin’s inflation.

Instead of admitting that sanctions on Russia sent inflation higher worldwide, Democrats were pushing to have people arrested for putting Biden stickers on gas pumps—”I Did That.” The Democrats were transforming the law into a weapon not just to discredit Trump but against anyone discrediting Democrats. Accordingly, law enforcement in Democratic regions was pursued to bring charges against people putting stickers on gas pumps, ranging from vandalism to defacing private property or even the destruction of private property in a desperate attempt to silence freedom of speech. But it’s only a sticker, right? Not when it goes against the Democrats.

The Democrats released one of the most debatable politicians on Capital Hill; they sent in “the Schumer.” Thus, Trump’s tariffs are inflationary for his billionaire friends. Still, Biden’s sanctions were Putin’s inflation and for national security but did not help the energy industry give the Democrats more money for their campaign. Big Pharma also made it mandatory to get a vaccine or lose your job. When has Schumer ever cared about the people rather than retaining power for life? There is over a 2-mile homeless camp in Marin, California, since people lost their jobs thanks to Biden’s mandated vaccines.

Where was Chuck Schumer when his city locked businesses down preventing them from earning income, but did not do the same for their real estate mogul who kept charging rents? They destroyed countless small companies, and one of the lifelong places Mama Leone’s that my parents took me to is gone. Thank you, Schumer, for protecting small businesses and protecting your real estate friends for the donations.

They had the audacity to call any billionaire who supported Trump an oligarch while handing medals to the most notorious George Soros, who has now been exposed as using USAID money to fund revolutions as in Ukraine.

Did USAID also funnel money to Soros to try to prevent the BREXIT vote in Britain? We are lied to with statistics, theories, and covert use of taxpayer money to manipulate the very seats of power to further this Marxist agenda worldwide. Seems like they took up Khruschev’s old object of spreading Marxism to the world. Guess they were closet supports of his agenda afterall.

Only 10 of the 195 nations on board for the Paris Agreement have met the February 10, 2025, deadline to release their “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs). These NDCs are presented as detailed blueprints for how nations will continue cutting emissions to meet each five-year global stocktake (GST) goal. The problem is that 95% of nations have no plan in place.

The Paris Agreement began ten years and trillions of dollars ago, but no noticeable progress has been made. The United Nations admitted back in 2019 that the Paris Agreement or Accord was destined to fail. Even if every pledging nation met 100% of the UN mandates, they would still fall 2/3 short of meeting their targets. They admit that even if every country involved in those accords complied with their pledges between now and 2030, temperatures would still rise by 3 degrees Celsius by 2100. It is astonishing that nations continue to buy into this agreement that is destined to fail because the targets were created with no regard for naturally occurring weather cycles.

Yet, 195 nations agreed to continue tackling this losing battle. The GST is split into three phases: data collection, technical assessment, and consideration of outputs. Governments and climate scientists have compiled over 170,000 pages spanning over 252 hours of meetings and the final advice from the United Nations is always the same – nations are failing to meet their objectives.

Of the 10 nations who complied with the latest deadline, the US and UK were the only G7 nations to submit plans. The US submitted its plan before Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement. This is yet another example of how the US has been funding globalist initiatives.

Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Switzerland, Uruguay, Andorra, Ecuador and Saint Lucia also met the deadline, but the UN has warned that the UAE, Brazil, and Switzerland have plans that are “not compatible” with meeting the 1.5C target by 2035. The UN said that the UK is potentially on the right track if it agrees to INCREASE SPENDING to help other nations meet their goals, a role formerly filled by the US.

“Without dedicated efforts to ramp up finance, you’re not going to achieve the triple [renewable] energy target, so that’s definitely something that needs to be reckoned with in the global stocktake outcome,” the Centre for Science and Environment told Carbon Brief.

Anyone can make a pledge and pander to the climate social justice warrior crowd. That does not mean they intend to follow through. The pressure is placed on the nations who can pay up and are expected to cover the costs for others. Numerous nations who have been touting their lofty climate goals like Australia and Canada plan to release their GST plans after elections as it a bargaining chip. The goal can never be achieved but that will not prevent the United Nations from squeezing every last cent out of member nations.

Project Veritas revealed that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deliberately gave away BILLIONS in funds prior to Trump taking office. “Now it’s how to get the money out as fast as possible before they [Trump Administration] come in … it’s like we’re on the Titanic and we’re throwing gold bars off the edge.” – Brent Efron, EPA Advisor.

There is still outrage surrounding the elimination of the EPA. People do not realize just how much money this agency blew through on absolutely nothing. Biden admitted that the Inflation Reduction Act, the most expensive spending package in US history, was about CLIMATE CHANGE at its core and had nothing to do with inflation. Those at the EPA called the act “Biden’s climate law” and were eager to spend the proceeds. Efron told an undercover journalist that they were preparing to spend the money as quickly as possible right up until inauguration day.

The EPA was aware that Trump would likely eliminate their impractical agency. “We gave them [nonprofits] the money because… it was an insurance policy against Trump winning. Because they aren’t [a government agency], they’re safer from Republicans taking the money away,” he said. The EPA awarded nonprofits between $50 and $100 million EACH toward the end of Biden’s presidency.

The Biden Administration effectively permitted this agency to “throw gold bars” off the edge of the Titanic and needlessly spend public funds. All of these investigations lead to the same conclusion. The government provides nonprofits with a large sum and those agencies then funnel the money to smaller agencies, whether its related to climate change or funding terrorism. This is precisely why Trump attempted to freeze all federal funds upon taking office.