Following Trump’s disastrous midterm defeat, which Trump insisted it was a “glorious victory”, whereby folks believe is likely due to the fact that he is everything most Americans despise – A spineless SHILL for the corporate élite and most important of, Israel and the Deep State.

Guess folks see Trump as nothing more than MEFA (Make Élite Great Forever) instead of MAGA – that Trump is a “traitor” who takes order from the top 1% élite, and he has also sold Americans down the river (Read: Israel & the military-industrial complex MIC)… In short, nothing nationalist, much less American first.

The question is why do media outlets still go after him (if it’s true that he is actually a puppet for the globalists)?

Perhaps as the saying goes: “You can’t stand on two boats.”? In another word, you either be a nationalist, or be a globalist. There is no place for “hybrid” political animal?

In a related note, Gordon Duff raised an interesting question recently: –

Do Loan Sharks Run America?

Everyone knows America is bankrupt, $21 trillion in debt, adding a trillion a year to that figure under Trump’s voodoo economics. Yet, America is on not just a massive military buildup, but expanding its global military presence at levels not seen since the end of World War II.

Seriously, is America controlled by an international cabal of “loan sharks?”

Everyone knows America’s military is beaten, worn down, “in over its head” in Afghanistan, defeated time and time again every time America has entered a battlefield, every conflict since Korea and Vietnam.

Is a game “afoot” as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would say of his fictional hero, Sherlock Holmes? What is America’s game? “We shall see,” quoting Dr. Watson, Doyle’s fictional “sidekick.”

America under Trump is escalating military confrontations with Russia and China. Global arms races are ramping up as former conventions limiting weapons are tossed aside and even the militarization of outer space is “on the table.”

Why now? Who can win when war can only mean planetary destruction? Can it all simply be fake? Let’s examine these questions and more. We begin with a look at the world we were dealt with the end of the Cold War.

You see, the old paradigms of endless vigilance, endless conflict, great standing armies, economies dependent on irrational defense posturing, not only exist, they define our era.

In order to inject a tone of reality, we must reject, out of hand, the post 9/11 “global war on terror” as contrived. America’s behavior in Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, the CIA’s “ham handed” puppeteering of al Qaeda and ISIS is inexcusable as even third-rate drama.

The Syrian and Russian people aided by Iran and Hezbollah put an end to that neocon farce though Washington and Tel Aviv haven’t yet gotten the message.

Now, something else is going on, a different war, certainly in some ways a world war but one where defining winning and losing isn’t going to be easy. The losers won’t be hanged after fake war crimes tribunals, there will be no occupation armies, no treaties redefining the world map under the watchful guise of Europe’s ancient banking masters as we saw twice during the 20th century.

There will be no world wars, there are no enemies like in the past, no rival royal families, no real democracies left to oppose imaginary tyranny, it’s all memory, nothing more.

Replacing it, and war continues, not just as before but as never imagined, is something very different. Analysts tell us about war as economics, about “globalism” and the new low and medium intensity conflicts that break all the old rules.

Analogous to this is the same old fake “white hat vs black hat” or “East vs West” struggle, as though a real NATO, long a shadow of its former self, and a “communist bloc” still existed. Before that, two world wars killed off generations based on similar coalitions, struggles for world resources overtly, always something darker underneath, hypocrisy, propaganda, leaving the root causes for conflicts unknowable.

There is another question that, though never asked, as we so often note, must be addressed. How can a bankrupt nation keep borrowing and yet keep falling further and further in debt? Why would America’s currency be the world’s primary vehicle of trade, America’s trade protocols the world’s standard when America herself is unable to manage affairs at home?

Were one to examine the visible currency reserves banks claim to hold, including the US Treasury certificates held by three dozen nation states to varying degrees, the wherewithal to underwrite the drowning American economy simply doesn’t exist.

The money isn’t there, no bank has it, no government could, would or should invest in America, so who is paying for America’s war on the world?

Moreover, what if, and this is where we move into more “unspoken ground” as it were, those who underwrite America’s debt, including and especially the trillion-dollar military budget, were those who rig the elections, bribe the congressmen, compromise the corrupt “perfumed princes of the Pentagon, to quote Colonel David Hackworth, what if?

There, we’ve done it, we are looking under rocks for secret cabals, treading on ground that has given way under veritable armies of academics and experts who had trod the same paths we do now.

This opens another door. If America can’t exist as it does, a “fake democracy,” without secret infusions of cash that can’t possible exist under known economic principles, where do we go from here?

One method is to watch, to observe, look for patterns and ask the age-old question, “que bono,” who benefits? Is it a cabal of oil companies and bullet makers?

Then we look at the scope of America’s military moves, pushing NATO into Georgia and Serbia, perhaps to Armenia and Afghanistan. We see new American bases in Poland and Romania, Belarus targeted, Marines in Norway.

Drone bases now dot the African Sahel. American bases dot Syria and American carrier battle groups, all funded with “impossible money” from unknow sources, prowl the seas challenging any and all and we still ask the same question, who benefits?

What resources need to be controlled? What political movements need to be stifled? What tyrannies need to be replaced with an “American branded” version?

After speculation, we must return to what we know, what we observe, what can be safely assumed. We see American confronting China and Russia. What is clear to the most casual observer is how blatantly America is pushing both nations to redirect national resources toward defense.

America generally assumes that the Soviet Union was crushed by Ronald Regan’s massive military spending spree. Reagan’s weapon systems generally never materialized. A trillion dollars was spent on “Star Wars” yielding nothing. America is still two decades behind Russia in missile interception.

The result of the financial collapse of the Soviet Union may well have been a hidden collapse of the US. It is almost as though a bill has become due, but the date of collection has been put off as long as Americans are willing to die in wars around the world on behalf of the international cabal of “loan sharks” who seem to be pulling the strings.

Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War that has worked on veterans and POW issues for decades and consulted with governments challenged by security issues. He’s a senior editor and chairman of the board of  Veterans Today, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”

Speaking of loan sharks, here are…

14 of The Most Notorious Mafia Loan Sharks

The following mafia loan sharks were infamously world-renowned for committing the most violent and heinous acts when owed money.

Without further ado, we present to you the most violent and notorious mafia loan sharks in history.

Anthony Salerno

Often seen chomping on an expensive Cuban cigar and wearing a stylish fedora, “Fat Tony” was the underboss to the Genovese family. His primary operations included gambling, numbers rackets, and loan sharking. His overall illegal operations grossed his empire over $50 million annually, including his loan shark business. Salerno died of stroke at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. He was 81 years old.

Anthony Spilotro

Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro was an enforcer for the Chicago Outfit–a mafia family with headquarters in Chicago and Los Angeles. He was a lethal enforcer that ensured the Mafia got their cut of casino profits, otherwise called “the skim”. He also had a loan sharking business on the side. The actor Joe Pesci portrayed Spilotro in the blockbuster movie Casino. Spilotro was a known terrorizer and had made a lot of “noise” in Vegas, and thus, was targeted by mafia bosses alike to “take a hit”. It was later confirmed that he was strangled, beaten, and buried alive at a cornfield in Illinois.

Bobby Baccalieri

Bobby Baccalieri is a fictional character on the hit HBO series The Sopranos. Although often quite shy and reserved, Bobby was the right hand man of Junior Soprano and eventually turned underboss. He ran a successful illegal money lending operation. While this character is only fictional, we felt it worthy to include in this list.

Fiore Buccieri

Fiore Buccieri was a dangerous predatory lender working for the Chicago Outfit. He was dubbed “The Lord High Executioner” by authorities and was the top enforcer and personal bodyguard for Sam “Momo” Giancana. Buccieri was known for sending his thugs to employment offices to pass out “loan officer” cards. Whilst many loan sharks and crime outfits viewed the unemployed as unprofitable prospects, Buccieri managed to instill such fear in his “borrowers”, that they would often rob or kill just to pay his dues. He died of cancer in 1973.

Frank Calabrese Sr.

Frankie Breeze–as he was oherwise known– was a made man for the Chicago Mafia. He ran large loan sharking and illegal gambling operations for the Chicago Outfit. Calabrese often told his thugs to “do whatever it takes” to collect on umpaid loans. This often resulted in borrowers losing their car, home, business–and in extreme cases–their lives. In 1995 Calabrese and other members were charged with federal crimes and sentenced to 118 months in federal prison. He later died on Christmas Day of 2012 from long term medical problems.

Gennaro Langella

Known as Gerry Lang, he was the acting boss of the Colombo crime family. As a youngster, he quickly rose through the ranks and “proved” himself. He supervised many labor, extortion, and illegal lending operations. Infamously known as an arrogant and ruthless loan shark. He is currently serving a life sentence at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. His expected release date is September 2, 2052.

Vincent Dominic “Jimmy” Caci

Vincent Dominic “Jimmy” Caci, a Captain in the Los Angeles crime family, was active as a loan shark in Palm Springs and Las Vegas up until his death in August 2011 at the age of 86. He ran a multitude of illegal bookmaking and loan sharking operations that made upwards of $1 million per week.

Frank Decicco

“Frankie Cheech” was the underboss for the Gambino crime family in New York City. He is infamously known for the public assasination of the family’s boss, Paul Castellano. When collecting bookmaking or illegal lending payments, Decicco was known–and not afraid–to use violence to get his point across. He was eventually killed in a car bombing intended for him and Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. John Gotti was not present and Decicco was killed instantly.

Nicholas Calabrese

Brother of Frank Calabrese Sr. Known for using physical violence to collect debts in the name of the Chicago Mafia. He was later indicted and charged with operating bookmaking and loan sharking rackets. He eventually testified against his brother Frankie. He is set to be release from prison in 2013, although he may never live life as a free man. It was reported that the Chicago Mafia has a hit out on him.

Ruthless SOB and Loan Shark | Mad Sam Destefano

Known to authorities as the “worst torture murderer the United States has ever seen”. A member of the Chicago Mafia, Destefano was a notorious loan shark and psychopathic killer. He became one of the first loan sharks in Chicago and was the most successful, according to rumors from the Chicago Mafia. He often enjoyed it when debtors couldn’t pay up. When this happened, he would take them into his torture chamber in his basement, where he would torture victims fro days and ultimately kill them. He was so sadistic, that he foamed at the mouth with exasperation as he killed them.
He was eventually killed by a fellow mobster.

Nick Marangello

Known as “Nicky Cigars”, he was the underboss for the Bonnano crime family. He operated a loansharking and booky operation in Brooklyn and Manhattan that netted the family millions of dollars per year. He died on December 30, 1999.

Nicky Licata

The “Old Man” was the boss of the Los Angeles crime family from 1967 until 1974. Licata owned apartment buildings, barrooms, and other commercial business establishments. His illegal operations included being a prosperous bookie and loan shark operating out of Burbank, CA.
He died in October of 1974.

Sam Battaglia

“Teets”, as he was known, was a loan shark to be reckoned with. His brutal ways were known far and wide, as many people–even those in the Chicago Mafia–were deathly afraid of him. In fact, along with a multitude of dangerous crimes he committed, he was suspected of at least 7 homicides. He died in September of 1973.

William Daddano Sr

“Willie Potatoes” was a high profile, lethal enforcer for the Chicago Outfit. He was very similar to Sam Destefano in that he experienced pleasure in torturing his victims. It’s noted that he often times tortured victims by using a blow torch and ice picks on them for hours before killing them. One of the Chi-Town Mafia’s most ruthless killers.

These 14 Mafia loan sharks were ruthless and would stop at nothing to collect debts. The Mafia is not the only outfit that takes advantage of those in financial need. Additionally, there are white collar lending criminal enterprises such as… Wall Street Banksters?