What Would A Democratic Presidency Really Change?worldblee , Oct 31 2020
17:02 utc |
1
Pepe Escobar is as pessimistic about a Harris (Biden) administration as I am. The incoming
foreign policy team would be the return of the
blob that waged seven wars during the Obama/Biden administration:
Taking a cue from [the Transition Integrity Project], let's game a Dem return to the White
House – with the prospect of a President Kamala taking over sooner rather than later.
That means, essentially, The Return of the Blob.
President Trump calls it "the swamp". Former Obama Deputy National Security Adviser Ben
Rhodes – a mediocre hack – at least coined the funkier "Blob", applied to the
incestuous Washington, DC foreign policy gang, think tanks, academia, newspapers (from the
Washington Post to the New York Times), and that unofficial Bible, Foreign Affairs
magazine.
A Dem presidency, right away, will need to confront the implications of two wars: Cold
War 2.0 against China, and the interminable, trillion-dollar GWOT (Global War on Terror),
renamed OCO (Overseas Contingency Operations) by the Obama-Biden administration.
The Democratic White House team Escobar describes (Clinton, Blinken, Rice, Flournoy) would
be an assembly of well known war mongers who all argue for hawkish policies. The main
'enemies', Russia and China, would be the same as under Trump. Syria, Venezuela, Iran and
others would stay on the U.S. target list. U.S. foreign policy would thereby hardly change
from Trump's version but would probably be handled with more deadly competence.
But Escobar sees two potential positive developments:
In contrast, two near-certain redeeming features would be the return of the US to the
JCPOA, or Iran nuclear deal, which was Obama-Biden's only foreign policy achievement, and
re-starting nuclear disarmament negotiations with Russia. That would imply containment of
Russia, not a new all-out Cold War, even as Biden has recently stressed, on the record,
that Russia is the "biggest threat" to the US.
I believe that Harris (Biden) will disappoint on both of those issues. The
neoconservatives have already infested the Harris (Biden) camp. They will make sure that
JCPOA
does not come back :
Last night on an official Biden campaign webinar led by "Jewish Americans for Biden", and
moderated by Ann Lewis of Democratic Majority for Israel, two prominent neocon Republicans
endorsed Biden, primarily because of Trump's character posing a danger to democracy. But
both neocons emphasized that Biden would be more willing to use force in the Middle East
and reassured Jewish viewers that Biden will seek to depoliticize Israel support, won't
necessarily return to the Iran deal and will surround himself with advisers who support
Israel and believe in American military intervention.
Eric Edelman, a former diplomat and adviser to Dick Cheney, said Trump's peace plan has
fostered an open political divide in the U.S. over Israel, ...
Eliot Cohen, a Bush aide and academic, echoed the fear that Israel is being politicized.
...
...
Cohen and Edelman opposed Obama's Iran deal, and both predicted that Biden will be hawkish
on Iran.
...
"There will be voices" in the Biden administration that seek a return to the Iran deal, but
the clock has been running for four years, and we're in a different place, he said. And "it
will be hard [for Biden] not to use the leverage that the sanctions provide in part because
Iran is not abiding by a lot of the limits of the nuclear agreement They're about three,
maybe four months away from having enough fissile material to actually develop a nuclear
weapon."
For lifting the sanctions against Iran the Harris (Biden) administration will demand much
more than Iran's return to the limits of the JCPOA. Iran will reject all new demands, be they
about restricting its missile force or limiting its support for Syria. The conflict will
thereby continue to fester.
The other issue is arms control. While a Harris (Biden) administration may take up Putin's
offer to unconditionally
prolong the New-START agreement for a year it will certainly want more concessions from
Russia than that country is willing to give. Currently it is Russia that has the upper hand
in strategic weapons with already deployed hypersonic missiles and other new platforms. The
U.S. will want to fill the new 'missile gap' and the military-industrial complex stands ready
to profit from that. The New-START prolongation will eventually run out and I do not see the
U.S. agreeing to new terms while Russia has a technological superiority.
Domestic policies under a democratic president will likewise see no substantial
difference. As Krystal Ball remarked,
here summarized from a Rolling Stone podcast:
But even with a Biden win, Ball doesn't think it will mean much for policy.
"My prediction for the Biden era is that very little actually happens," says Ball.
"Democrats are very good at feigning impotence. We saw this in the SCOTUS hearings as well.
They're very good for coming up with reasons why, 'oh those mean Republicans, like we want
to do better healthcare and we want left wages, but oh gosh, Mitch McConnell, he's so
wiley, we can't get it done.'"
'Change' was an Obama marketing slogan to sell his Republican light policies. A real
change never came. The Harris (Biden) administration must be seen in similar light.
I therefore agree with the sentiment with which Escobar closes his piece :
In a nutshell, Biden-Harris would mean The Return of the Blob with a vengeance.
Biden-Harris would be Obama-Biden 3.0. Remember those seven wars. Remember the surges.
Remember the kill lists. Remember Libya. Remember Syria. Remember "soft coup" Brazil.
Remember Maidan. You have all been warned.
Posted by b at
16:45 UTC |
Comments (183) I have been trying to set the expectations for my deluded Democratic,
pro-tech industry, pro-security state friends and colleagues who think they are
forward-thinking progressives but actually just hate Trump as emblematic of non-college
educated blue collar types they prefer not to associate with. Biden himself said it, "Nothing
will change," and Obama deported many more people in his first term than Trump has to pick
but one issue. There will be no M4A, little change in foreign policy, no major stimulus for
workers, etc. But since the face in the White House will have changed, they will convince
themselves that America has changed and it was all thanks to them...
One major change I expect to see is that BLM protests will fade into the background if
Harris/Biden is elected. Without the need to pressure an administration the elites want to
get rid of, there won't be the funding and energy to sustain it. But America will continue on
the same downward trajectory and the same divisions will still exist with no remediation in
sight.
Really, so what? You have a choice between chaotic anarchic corruption, and organised
professional corruption. Is it not better to have the calm, predictable, version - at least
you know what you're getting. In any case I am not sure Biden would be able to go back to
launching new wars so easily. The US gives the impression of being over-stretched as it is.
It seems clear that Biden will win. This means that the possibility of a serious military
confrontation with Russia is more likely than it would be with a Trump win. In any Biden
cabinet Michelle Flournoy will have a major voice. She would have likely become Hillary's
Secretary of Defense. In August of 2016 Flournoy wrote a major foreign policy article
advocating a 'no fly' zone over Syria. That would have meant that the US military would have
been obliged to prevent the Russia airforce from operating in Syrian skies (even though, the
Syrian government had invited the Russians to be there). No one really knows if Flournoy
would have been given authority to carry out such insanity had Hillary won, but the
consequences of such insane policy are easy to imagine.
But without much doubt, a Biden administration will have Susan Rice and Michelle Flournoy
in very high policy positions. Given that Biden is rapidly descending into dementia and
Kamala Harris seems utterly clueless, US government foreign policy will very likely be led by
a Rice/Flournoy collaboration in the coming years. Of course, China has become a much bigger
player in the last four years. Maybe those fools around Biden will be distracted by China and
they avoid war with with Russia. In either case it looks like very dangerous times
ahead.
Trump was always for me about controlled demolition of the empire.
Putin will not tolerate another ramping up of hostilities in the MENA.
I believe, just as in 2016, open military confrontation with Russia hangs in the
balance.
It is believed here and elsewhere that Russia and China are working hand in hand and
lockstep to thwart the empire.
They may be trade allies but they are not bed fellows.
Russia will always do what is in its own interest and will be beyond reproach from China
come a last-minute attempt for it to talk down hostilities btw Ru and U.S.A.
I hope those peddling the narrative that all is theater and a mere globalist game to keep
the peons entertained are correct.
But I fear the stupidity and egoism of man far more than I do their love of money and life
of luxury.
The JCPOA's "snap back" provisions etc. prove that Obama never intended JCPOA as a long term
agreement in the first place. The issue was always how long it would suit, not how long it
would take for the US to. Nor is the US going to forego it's support for a colonial assault
on the Middle East, aka Israel, any more than England will give up Gibraltar.
That said, there really is a policy debate between attacking Russia first or attacking
China first or simultaneously attacking both. The thing is, the conflict will continue after
any election. Since the Democratic Party isn't a programmatic party but a franchise operation
of Outs, there will be zero unanimity within the Democratic Party and not even a clean sweep
of the national government will resolve the dispute, which will be waged with exactly the
same panic-mongering, paranoid cries of treason, barely subdued hysteria at the prospect of
the lower races overtaking the God-given rights of the US government to exercise imperium
(right to punish, particularly with death, originally) over humanity, and so on. The same
ignorant vicious halfwits who were convinced Clinton Foundation was worse than the Comintern
infiltrating innocent America made assholes of themselves. They'll just do it again over
Biden, but with different made up excuses.
Domestically, there will be real differences, albeit some will still consider them
entirely minor. There will be less emphasis on military officers masquerading as civilian
officials; more emphasis on actually having competent officials who are even confirmed by the
Senate; somewhat larger infrastructure investment; somewhat less deliberate destruction of
government capacity to deliver services; slightly greater emphasis on keeping money valuable
by limiting government spending, with smaller increases in military spending, slightly
greater taxes, and only limited support to state governments going bankrupt, bankrupt
unemployment and pension funds; a few restrictions on mass evictions; no separation of
families in ICE prisons; open appeals to racism will cease. There will not however be any
Medicare expansion, nor will there be a radically progressive federal income tax, not even a
new bankruptcy law, nor will there be even political reforms like direct popular election of
the president or even reform of the judiciary. There may be a minimum wage increase to $15
per hour.
One note: The idea that any president will honor any deal to step down or that a president
can be forced down is refuted by history thus far. All theories that Biden is scheduled to be
terminated are silly. Or worse, attempts to race bait Harris (note the ones who like to call
her by her first name.) The influence exercised by Obama in getting Biden the nomination
shows that if Biden is in any sense a puppet, he's Obama's puppet. Fixating on Harris instead
is foolish even as some sort of amateur conspiracy mongering. No matter what Obama thinks,
the inauguration will sever all puppet strings.
Can't say I'm convinced by all these threats of wars. They didn't do a No-Fly Zone in
Syria when they could, e.g. 2013. The reason it was not done is that it was too difficult to
do, and required too vast a military investment. Situation remains true today. You'll find
most of Biden's prospective wars fall in the same category.
The US self-declared "progressives" are horribly dumb people, no matter their degrees and
"intellectual" professions. Stupidity is the illness (weakness) of the societal immunity
system. The Blob of the parasitic class is the pestilence that thrives on the immune weakness
of the US society. Not happy with mine, then find a better metaphor.
I repeat myself from before, US presidents change, US policy (Mayhem Inc.) does not.
Nether on Russia, Syria, Iran, Venezuela ..., nor on China. If Trump loses, I will miss only
the potential duel at the OK Corral between Trump and the Blob/Swamp. If Trmp wins, I am
buying popcorn.
@Laguerre #7
I would argue the failure of a "no-fly" zone in Syria was more due to united UN (Russia and
China) opposition plus the Russia airbase in Tartus rather than any policy changes in the US.
It's everywhere. And matched by Democratic Party ineptitude, fake "resistance", and
generally lax attitude (spurred by a false sense of security due to polling numbers that
can't be relied upon).
That's why I'm predicting a Trump landslide - including winning the popular vote.
The Deep State wants a 'Glorious Leader' type that can lead the country against Russia and
China.
KB has it right the demodogs will have better PR but nothing will change. The only thing I
hope they do is fully throw the u.s. govt behind stopping the virus and even that will be
hard do to many stupid people.
Trumpster and the swamp all he did was change the cruel animals in it and biden will
change it back to the other cruel animals that were there before.
It is hard to tell what will change if the Democrats win because they have flip flopped on
policies so many times that you don't know what they really stand for.
Are they going to ban fracking or not?
Are they going to end the oil industry or not?
Are they going to pack the Supreme Court or not ?
Are they going to implement the Green New Deal or not ?
Are they going to encourage immigration or not ?
Are they going to tear down the Wall?
Are they going to defund the police or not?
Other than #OrangeManBad what do they actually stand for ?
Jonathan Pie lays it out quite nicely https://youtu.be/IdnHfYbr1cQ
The one issue that is critical is that it is clear than Biden will not make it full term.
His mental faculties are deteriorating rapidly. He might just make it over the goal post line
but just barely.
Therefore the real question is what will Kamala Harris do?
Russia has a lead in strategic weapons that the US will not be able to catch up with.
Hence the US emphasis on nuclear weapons to bridge the gap. Russia has successfully thwarted
the empire on several occasions. How will the empire struck back ? (So as not to lose
credibility with allies and vassals alike)
They are going to reduce government subsidies for fracking
And encourage the oil industry's ongoing retooling to other energies
They are going to expand the SCOTUS to 13 seats in keeping with the number of Circuit
Courts
They are going to implement environmental legislation and policies
They will hopefully try to adopt a comprehensive policy on immigration and naturalization
They will abandon The Wall project as pointless
They will review the role of the police in dealing with situations where a social worker or a
psychologist (with police escort) might better be able to handle the situation
Kamala Harris will keep an active and high profile as she is being groomed to run in
2024
I agree that trajectory in foreign policy will be the same. I think a Trump administration
would tend to entrench into the bureaucracy the xenophobic nationalists. This is in contrast
to the neoliberal nationalists that make up the Democrat side of the foreign policy clique.
In practice the latter ends up carrying water for the neocons, so the difference from the
global perspective, the perspective of those on whom the bombs fall, is academic.
Domestically, however, I don't think we can say there's no significant difference. At some
point far down the road, there will be a more meaningful internal political struggle in the
US. Talking about when the $$ printing power runs out, so several presidential cycles from
now at the very earliest, maybe many decades away.
The out-groups targeted by xenophobic nationalism will shift by then - either black or
hispanic people will necessarily be included into the Republican party, and the divide may be
more a matter of religion or nationality than race, but the overall idea will be the
same.
No matter the details, it would be better to go into that conflict without giving the
right-wingers a big head start. I think we should admit that Trump does accelerate the
process. Maybe readers outside the US take some pleasure in the chaos produced by this, but
for anyone actually planning to live within the US, who also objects to unrestrained
nationalism, there actually is a pretty high price to pay for peeling off the mask of phony
benevolence off of the de-facto imperialist foreign policy.
'b' half the truth isn't the truth, no doubt you'l get round to the other half. It's
conspicuous !
In these times focusing on what might happen if we get Biden, is biased.
What in your view might happen if we get trump ?
Given his track record.
Much more relevant I feel.
@Malchik #16
Well, kid, I will guarantee that 2/3rds of what you say will happen with a Biden win, won't
happen.
I am particularly struck by your assertion that "super predator" Biden and "Lock 'em up"
Harris will do anything to rein in police misbehavior. That is pure fantasy.
As for fracking: the subsidies were primarily by banksters in the form of loans and have long
since ended. Nobody believes fracking is going to be a profitable business for at least a
decade.
The only objection I have with supporting Trump's reelection from a non far-right viewpoint
is that you would essentially be supporting an anti-democratic process: Trump is certainly
going to lose the popular vote. Deserving or not, Biden does represent the absolute majority
of adult America. By supporting Trump, you're essentially speaking in the name of the
interests of a small redneck aristocracy (of circa 77,000 in size, according to the 2016
election results) in the Rust Belt and Western Pennsylvania. You are supporting white
supremacy those rednecks undoubtedly support - wanting you or not.
In my opinion, it's time for the non far-right of the USA to start thinking seriously
(specially if you're one of the twelve socialists in the country) in Third Party vote. Yes,
you won't pick up the fruits immediately, but at least you're build up a legacy for the
generations to come to try to change the landscape.
Now, of course, very little will change with Biden-Harris. But this has a good side, too:
it shows the American Empire has clearly reached an exhaustion point, where the POTUS is
impotent to the obstacle posed by China-Russia. Putin has already publicly stated he doesn't
care who's next POTUS; China has already stated what the USA does or decides won't mean shit.
Maybe the rising irrelevance of the POTUS is good in the greater scheme of things - or, at
least, it gives us new, very precious, information about the core of the Empire.
Is b really suggesting Trump is more peaceful than Biden?
The notion that Trump is fundamentally different than Biden or Hillary or Obama or Bush is
specious. They are all on Team Deep State, which serves the monied class.
And the pretense that the Deep State is divided or partisan is equally laughable.
Strange that so many smart people fall for the shell game behind the 'Illusion of
Democracy'. Is it so difficult to see the reshuffling of deck chairs and entertaining
diversions that pass for "US politics"?
Biden will bring fresh blood to the Presidency, just you watch.
But seriously, things have been changing very rapidly all of my life, and accelerating as
we go. I don't see that the political/managerial classes here are up to the job of managing
that change, have shown any aptitude for it or understanding of it in the past either. They
remain focussed on their depraved personal ambitions and demented interpersonal disputes. So
no change in the midst of lots of change is what I expect, time to keep an eye out and
consider ones options.
By supporting Trump, you're essentially speaking in the name of the interests of a small
redneck aristocracy (of circa 77,000 in size, according to the 2016 election results) in
the Rust Belt and Western Pennsylvania. You are supporting white supremacy those rednecks
undoubtedly support - wanting you or not.
Jesus but that is an ignorant comment. Michael Moore explained 4 years ago why Trump will win
the election (2016) https://youtu.be/vMm5HfxNXY4
div> @vk #21
You said:
The only objection I have with supporting Trump's reelection from a non far-right
viewpoint is that you would essentially be supporting an anti-democratic process: Trump is
certainly going to lose the popular vote.
The United States has a Constitution and was designed as a Republic.
"Democracy" as in majoritarian rule was explicitly designed against by the Founding
Fathers.
Thus your criticism is utterly irrelevant. Until the Electoral College system is changed by
Constitutional Amendment, or the United States of America is overthrown by a revolution, all
this talk about "majoritarian demos rule" is purely partisan nonsense.
Note also that the 48 states which are "first past the post" are all disenfranchising the
minority views. I 100% guarantee that a European style ranked vote system would see far more
minority votes be submitted than the present systems.
Deserving or not, Biden does represent the absolute majority of adult America. By
supporting Trump, you're essentially speaking in the name of the interests of a small redneck
aristocracy (of circa 77,000 in size, according to the 2016 election results) in the Rust
Belt and Western Pennsylvania. You are supporting white supremacy those rednecks undoubtedly
support - wanting you or not.
Wow, thanks for showing your "deplorables" views. Anyone against the "right"
and "proper" Democrat sellouts to pharma, tech and enviro must be rednecks. It is precisely
this view that galvanized the vote against HRC in 2016.
The only objection I have with supporting Trump's reelection from a non far-right viewpoint
is that you would essentially be supporting an anti-democratic process: Trump is certainly
going to lose the popular vote.
The United States has a Constitution and was designed as a Republic.
"Democracy" as in majoritarian rule was explicitly designed against by the Founding
Fathers.
Thus your criticism is utterly irrelevant. Until the Electoral College system is changed by
Constitutional Amendment, or the United States of America is overthrown by a revolution, all
this talk about "majoritarian demos rule" is purely partisan nonsense.
Note also that the 48 states which are "first past the post" are all disenfranchising the
minority views. I 100% guarantee that a European style ranked vote system would see far more
minority votes be submitted than the present systems.
Deserving or not, Biden does represent the absolute majority of adult America. By
supporting Trump, you're essentially speaking in the name of the interests of a small
redneck aristocracy (of circa 77,000 in size, according to the 2016 election results) in
the Rust Belt and Western Pennsylvania. You are supporting white supremacy those rednecks
undoubtedly support - wanting you or not.
Wow, thanks for showing your "deplorables" views. Anyone against the "right" and
"proper" Democrat sellouts to pharma, tech and enviro must be rednecks. It is precisely this
view that galvanized the vote against HRC in 2016.
The notion that Trump is fundamentally different than Biden or Hillary or Obama or Bush is
specious.
That's not actually true.
Biden has 47 years of track record to rely on.
HRC, ditto.
Bush is umpteenth generation Bush in government (100 years plus).
Obama was groomed through Harvard, community organization and Senate position as a servant of
the oligarchy.
Trump is a billionaire and 2nd generation wealthy, but he neither shares the views of the
oligarch classes - his historical behavior is clear proof of that - nor is he predictable as
the other 4 are.
If presented with a neocon view - all 4 of the above would 100% agree.
Trump? 85%.
That is a difference albeit absolutely not world changing.
Pure BS.
Giving health care to 20 million poor Americans ain't nothing to sneeze at. Adding pre
existing conditions save millions of lives. That's why the right despises Obama so much. How
dare he give money to those free loaders!
lets show what the republicans have done for poor Americans besides taking more needex
money from them and giving it to their rich buddies.
and No, Democrats cannot do anything if they don't control the Congress. They should have
done it 2 years ago but since all they were doing was scream RUSSIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! at
the top of their lungs,the people turned their backs on them.
Bullshit article.
The Democrats are not going to end fracking. It is doomed to collapse without their help. A
Wall Street Journal study revealed a remarkable fact that few Americans know; From 2000-2017
fracking companies spent $280 billion more to extract fracked oil and gas than they received
in revenue. Fracking is nothing more than a massive Ponzi scheme predicated on the constant
issuing of debt and stock. Fracking wells deplete quickly. There is a constant need for more
expensive drilling. The remaining areas that will be fracked have less productive wells. Much
of the debt fracking companies have issued is back loaded while the well's production is
front loaded. There simply isn't going to be enough revenue generated to meet debt
obligations. What made the scheme possible was the artificially low interest rates created by
the Federal Reserve. There was a demand for yield that drove investment into debt of dubious
quality. A crash is inevitable.
Biden will bring fresh blood to the Presidency, just you watch.
I am curious why you think so.
Biden is nothing, if not a creature of habit (of obedience to his corporate masters).
Biden likely NSC: Tony Blinken. Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy NSC under Obama.
Susan "Bomber" Rice?
John Kerry?
Sally Yates? The one who signed the FISA warrants based on the Steele Dossier (based on 2
drunkard Russians in Malta mad at being fired)
Michael Bloomberg?
Jamie Dimon?
The only "fresh blood" in this group is the teenage blood they inject to try and remain
young.
Elizabeth Warren, were Biden to appoint her as Treasury Secretary, *would* constitute fresh
blood.
The likelihood of the Senator from MBNA appointing her to that position is zero.
I would love to be wrong in that instance, but it ain't gonna happen.
What is trumps legacy so far ?
Let's call that -- - 'The Crimes Of Donald Trump'
Well he has legitimised cold blooded murder.
Ditto racism.
Run roughshod over national laws and conventions. -- Invading an embassy. Assange, koshogie
murder, white helmit chlorine attack false flag. Funding and arming by US of Isis.
Corporate mansloughter by virus.
Interference in numerous country's internal politics.
Allowing Israel to interfer take over US politics.
The above are a few that comes to mind.
Have we done away with law and order ?
Feel free to add to my 'Crimes of Donald Trump' list.
In a word normalisation.
I hope you are right that the US will avoid war in Syria because they would lose. I was,
on the other hand, very impressed that Flournoy was advocating that no fly zone in August of
2016. It was on the basis of her article at that time I fled the US Democratic Party. I knew
it was bad before, but it suddenly became clear how Hillary would lead us int WWIII.
We've talked at moa about how policy doesn't change much between Democrat and Republican
Administrations. And we've talked about the Illusion of Democracy.
That each President has a different personality as well as different priorities and
challenges during their time in office doesn't indicate any fundamental difference in how we
are governed.
And Hillary Clinton wants to be Secretary of Defense in a Biden administration. Not only
would the world be in trouble I could see her using the DOD internal hit teams to go after
her domestic enemies. They will make 8 years of Bush junior look like a Disneyland vacation.
It will be similar to the many unsolved murders of Weimar Germany.
That was sarcasm, I knew it was going to cause trouble, sarcasm never works on the web
unless you add a /sarc tag or something, I guess I feel a bit perverse today.
But to be serious, any attempt to predict what comes next here must rely on the idea that
the future will be like the past, we extrapolate in other words, from various trends that we
pick out. We can expect Biden to remain who he has been in the past, politicfally he's a
hack, what we know of Harris does not suggest any principles to speak of either, so I feel
more like I want to pay attention to what's coming than trying to predict what they is going
to do or not do. That likely depends on "contingencies" just as in the past.
#23 - "I don't see that the political/managerial classes here are up to the job of managing
that change, have shown any aptitude for it or understanding of it in the past either."
This is a highly relevant observation. For some time the character and intellectual scope
of the political/managerial sectors in the West have been noticeably mediocre, and will
likely continue as such for the foreseeable future. The necessary reforms of capitalism were
vetoed decades ago, ensuring that productive energies would gradually dissipate. For the last
decade all the West has had to offer the rest of humanity is neoliberal austerity, colour
revolutions, and armament contracts. This is a journey towards an eventual hollowed-out
self-imposed isolation, a process the political/managerial sectors are actively encouraging
and supporting without realizing it at all.
Interesting to see how the kayfabe vocabulary of Dim propaganda infects everyone's thought
and speech. Including b's:
"'Change' was an Obama marketing slogan to sell his Republican light policies."
Republican my eye. Democrat policies, period. A party founded, maintained and run to
implement the ruling class empire and war agenda, just like the Repucrats.
As if Obama was some kind of exception. Ditch this language.
usa is the major unknown;
China and Russia don't need to physically war - they are winning at PR around the globe.
Even tiny Cuba has greatly better creds!
usa needs to be a people who truly and consistently respect their allies.
Which comes back to usa being the major unknown.
'Cept for warmongering.
"All of us who spent careers in the military were raised on the notion that you lead by
example, and President Trump has been the antithesis of that in dealing with this
pandemic," said Charles "Steve" Abbot, former commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet and deputy
Homeland Security Adviser. "Instead of taking steps that I would call 'Crisis Management
101,' President Trump shirked his duty to the nation by failing to provide the central
leadership necessary to get our arms around the problem, and he continues to mislead the
entire nation about this terrible threat. The result of that failure of leadership was that
his administration committed an unrelenting string of missteps, and the American public has
lost trust in what the president tells them."
The sixth Fleet is Europe, so "this terrible threat" must be Russia, which is the natural
enemy of the DNC/AtlanticCouncil/NATO unlike Trump the 'Putin-lover.'
And more on anti-Russia, from the article:
President Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton said earlier this year that
Trump had repeatedly raised the issue of withdrawing the United States from NATO, and
warned of "a very real risk" that Trump would actually follow through in a second term.
Nicholas Burns, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and the number three official at the
State Department, put it this way: "Every modern president since Harry Truman has viewed
our commitment to democratic allies around the world as sacrosanct, because for half a
century those alliances have been a key source of American power." He noted that a
dissolution of NATO is at the top of Russian President Vladimir Putin's wish list. "Under
President Trump we have walked away from that global leadership, and, as a result, trust in
the United States has plummeted even among our closest friends. That's done enormous
damage."
This is a journey towards an eventual hollowed-out self-imposed isolation, a process the
political/managerial sectors are actively encouraging and supporting without realizing it at
all.
Posted by: jayc | Oct 31 2020 19:18 utc | 37
I've been sort of fascinated by that for some time, back when I was young we were still
smart enough to know we had to compete with the USSR, and that we therefore had to develop
our human capital. And we did pretty well for a couple decades, but then after VietNam they
stopped doing that and choose the present "system" instead. Thus abandoning their long-term
ability to compete, the source of their power in the first place. Banana republics do not
compete well. Decadent.
But you have to give credit to the Russians and the Chinese too, their achievements are
impressive by any standard. Our enemies, the ones who have survived, have all proved their
mettle.
Can be, can be, no expectations in Biden / Harris. Nevertheless, Tronald is definitely not
the lesser evil. His foreign policy is also heading for a clash with China, and things are
not going well with Russia either. The warmongering anti-Iran axis has his support, the war
in Yemen continues, he won't leave Syria alone, his extremely Israel-friendly attitude
increases the danger of war. Everything that is suspected of being left-wing in South America
is strangled.
In addition, he has an encouraging effect on all the fascists of the world, his disastrous
ecological policy, his negative influence on the treatment of the Corona crisis, his general
dislike of multilateral organizations and treaties on which the weaker states of the world
are compulsorily dependent. Overall, he exerts an extremely negative influence on the entire
globe. He should be disposed of.
He will lose the elections, but what happens then is open.
The claim that support for minority rule isn't purely partisan BS is yet another lie. The
moral principle in countermajoritarianism like the Founders' is that democracy cannot be
allowed to threaten property. Except of course property before democracy, before liberty,
before humanity is a vile and disgusting tenet that shames everyone so lost to common
decency. The defense that a piece of parchment, a law, makes things moral and righteous and
that even opposition is somehow wrong is an offense against common sense. By that standard,
the Thirteen, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were the end of freedom in America!
It's one thing to have a mind deranged by rabid hate of your perceived social superiors,
but to openly uphold vulgarity is merely snobbery inverted. It is a mean and small minded
vice, always, and never a virtue. The Access: Hollywood tape was proof of vulgarity but to
defend it as not being proof of a crime but as a positive good is vicious. Vicious is not a
synonym for "bad ass." Or if it news, then "bad ass" is a horrible insult.
And, speaking of deranged minds, Wilson was felled by a stroke and Reagan was felled by
Alzheimer's, yet they did not fall from power. Quite aside from the question of how anyone
could decide who is battier, Trump or Biden, Biden will never be replaced by Harris for
incapacity short of a coma.
A very cogent analysis by b. But I believe the return of the Blob may not be as ominous as
feared.
The dangerous component of the Blob's collective fantasy is the confrontation against
China and Russia. As late as 4, 5 years ago the prevailing sentiment among Americans, the
masses and the elites alike, was one in which The Empire's might was still considered
unquestionably dominant and unchallenged. There was penchant for dressing down both China and
Russia, and the clumsy maneuvers of the Blob's operators (Obama/Clinton/Bolton/Rice et al)
were wholeheartedly supported even if contemptuously regarded for their clumsiness. That
sentiment has evaporated, especially after Chinese and Russian military parades as well as
American's numerous own infrastructure project failures along with abject performances of
Boeing jets and Zumwalt class destroyers. The COVID19 pandemic adds salt to injury.
There is an issue with self confidence now, up and down the hierarchy within the American
society, perhaps with the lone exception of Trump's rednecks.
So, the Blob may return with a vengeance but their political capital may be rather meager.
They will be all mouth and little substance, as would Trump's prospective second term.
I do not always agree with the opinion of the Saker, but in this matter I tend to support him
and can only quote from one of his recent articles :
And, in truth, the biggest difference between Obama and Trump, is that Trump did not start
any real wars. Yes, he did threaten a lot of countries with military attacks (itself a
crime under international law), but he never actually gave the go ahead to meaningfully
attack (he only tried some highly symbolic and totally ineffective strikes in Syria). I
repeat – the man was one of the very few US Presidents who did not commit the crime
of aggression, the highest possible crime under international law, above crimes against
humanity or even genocide, because the crime of aggression "contains within itself the
accumulated evil", to use the words of the chief US prosecutor at Nuremberg and Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Robert H. Jackson. I submit that just
for this reason alone any decent person should choose him over Biden (who himself is
just a front for "President" Harris and a puppet of the Clinton gang). Either that, or
don't vote at all if your conscience does not allow you to vote for Trump. But voting
Biden is unthinkable for any honest person , at least in my humble opinion.
I am surprised by people who are of the opinion that half-dead Biden, suffering from
obvious dementia, is better. If only not Trump.
In 2016, Hilary, in fact, openly stated that she was going to use the so-called 'nuclear
blackmail' against the Russian Federation. And there was no guarantee that this crazy old
witch, having become president, would not have pressed the very button that launched nuclear
missiles at Russia. Four years ago, the choice was between an insane sadistic misanthropist
who could actually start a nuclear war, and a "dark horse" businessman with the illusory
prospect of some improvement in relations between the two strongest nuclear powers. I do not
want to drag in religion and the intervention of higher powers here, but it may not be at all
accidental that Trump snatched victory from the witch. Maybe we avoided a nuclear war.
Yes, now both options are bad. But of the two evils, it is better to choose the lesser,
which, of course, Trump is.
two near-certain redeeming features would be the return of the US to the JCPOA, or Iran
nuclear deal, which was Obama-Biden's only foreign policy achievement, and re-starting
nuclear disarmament negotiations with Russia. That would imply containment of Russia,
not a new all-out Cold War , even as Biden has recently stressed, on the record, that
Russia is the "biggest threat" to the US.
What? Funny. I thought it was Obama (read Democrats) who started this new Cold War. Just
to remind - It was Obama who made the decision to deploy missiles in Poland and Romania,
which are a direct threat to Russia. It is Obama & Co who are responsible for the
Ukrainian coup, which, in fact, became a trigger for the total deterioration of relations
between Russia and the West. It was Obama who began the unprecedented expropriation of
Russian diplomatic property in the U.S. and the expulsion of russian diplomats. It was under
Obama that "the doping scandal" was organized against Russia. And so on and so on...
Trump just continued what Obama had started. It is strange that Pepe Escobar does not
understand this.
If Iran and/or Venezuela get their oil back on the market, that will cause an oil price crash
that would "end fracking." It can't survive oil much under $50/barrel over a long term.
An oil price crash would also effect the larger energy market, making solar and wind less
competitive, even though their direct competition is really coal rather than oil.
Huge and powerful constituencies don't care about Iran or Venezuela, but care very much
about oil prices staying high. They make common cause now, and will under Biden too.
Well, having given deep consideration to the question and the current advanced state of
malady in the USA - I will leave it to Vic as he has summarised the position with minimum
fuss - here.
Enjoy this sharp witted, all encompassing 4 minute rant from inside the asylum. I would
shout the bar for all with this one.
Biden is an old man. He is a tired man, if not now, then in six months. He has already told
wealthy donors that nothing will change. He has no record of leadership. He has no record of
achievement, unless you count floating to the top. He will be the establishment's model
'status quo, do-nothing Democrat.
Biden will preside as a figurehead legitimizing the shenanigans of the blob, Wall Street,
and the US Chamber of Commerce, and Big Oil. Heck, I doubt that he will even override many of
Trump's executive orders, except for the token bone thrown to his delusional supporters.
Harris will be as much a figurehead as Biden. She is utterly unprepared. While she is
likable enough, she lacks gravitas and "credibility," which, she will be convinced, can be
established only by bombing a few wogs back to the Stone Age.
Both will serve as placeholders until Trump 2.0 arrives in 2024. Elites will sufficiently
sabotage the economy until then to assure that Trump 2.0 with neocon values is elected in
2024.
the usa is an approaching train wreck and no amount of persuading one side or the other is
going to change any of this... the world is moving on and rightfully so... no one wants to
get down into this... the swamp and fake news is permanent at this point...until the whole
system implodes - this is what we have in store.. vote for trump or biden - it matters not...
one is a slower motion move then the other - but the end result is the same... there is no
way out... sorry... on the other hand it is beautiful and sunny here where i live... life
goes on outside this political circus called the usa presidential election..
Posted by: c1ue | Oct 31 2020 18:50 utc | 26
I do not agree with you on 99.8% of wordly affairs BUT this comment you wrote is pure
gold!!
Even on the other side of the Atlantic ocean @ the western edge of Europe us reading types
know the difference.
And it annoys me just as much as it seems to annoy you how few people know that the US of
terror is a republic and NOT a democracy😂🥴
By the way, people who are truly interested in seeing the Democratic Party removed as an
obstacle to a true people's party (no one else here wants a workers' party) the very best way
to split the national party would be a clean sweep of House, Senate and Presidency followed
by enough treasonous shenanigans by Trump to arouse mass resistance. (Genuinely treasonous as
in subverting the republic by force, fraud and violence, not in the half witted definition of
dealings with foreigners so popular around here.) Biden et al. would split the Democrats
rather than enact a popular program---which would be left because the when the masses begin
to move they always march left.
Also by the way, Bloomberg is continuing his bid for a hostile takeover of the Democratic
Party, aping the media version of Trump's hostile takeover of the Republic (NOT A DEMOCRACY!)
Party.
"Change' was an Obama marketing slogan to sell his Republican light policies. A real change
never came."
I was calling Obama "Bush Lite" during his first campaign. Anyone who read his foreign
policy platform would have to agree. And the *only* reason he negotiated the JCPOA was
because he needed at least one foreign policy win for his eight years - and he knew it would
be torn up by whoever came after him, either Clinton or Trump. But he needed it for his own
narcissistic view of his "legacy".
People forget that Obama wrote the leaders of Brazil and Turkey in 2010 prior to their
negotiation with Iran for a deal, listing the points of a deal he would accept. Clinton
pooh-poohed the idea that those leaders could get a deal. After a marathon negotiation
session, they got it. The US then dismissed the deal 24 hours later, prompting Brazil's
leader to release the Obama letter to establish that Obama was a liar.
"Change You Can Believe In" - "Make America Great" - only morons believe in campaign
slogans - or the people who utter them.
"The other issue is arms control. While a Harris (Biden) administration may take up Putin's
offer to unconditionally prolong the New-START agreement for a year it will certainly want
more concessions from Russia than that country is willing to give."
Russia has made it abundantly and repetitively clear that they are not doing INCREMENTAL
DEFEAT any more - there are no concessions to make - they no longer do supine acceptance of
UKUSAi rights to dominate, subvert or belligerently mass arms at their advancing borders.
Why would any country concede to the incessant belligerence of the west? They must have
lead in their drinking water to be that dumb!
The concession must come from the aggressor, the colour revolution fomenter, the incessant
smearer and hate propagandist - the west.
A Harris/Biden Presidency lacks those attributes (perhaps lacks any attributes of
goodwill) and a Trump Presidency is no different.
The narcissistic personality disorders run the USA - the asylum inmates are in charge, not
the elected leaders. And the elected leaders are morons or wholly captive klutzes.
Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 31 2020 17:36 utc | 7 They didn't do a No-Fly Zone in Syria when
they could, e.g. 2013. The reason it was not done is that it was too difficult to do
Obama tried *six times* to start a war with Syria. First he submitted *three* UNSC
Resolutions with Chapter 7 language in them. Russia and China - burned by the US over Libya -
vetoed those. Then Obama was within hours of launching an attack on Syria in August, 2013. He
only stopped when he got push-back from Congress and then Putin outmaneuvered him by getting
Assad to give up his chemical weapons. Then in fall, 2015, Obama was talking no-fly zone yet
again. Putin again outmaneuvered him by committing Russian forces to Syria. Then sometime in
2016 - I forget the exact month - there was a news article saying Obama was having a meeting
on that Friday to discuss no-fly zone yet *again*. That Tuesday or Wednesday, the Russia
Ministry of Defense issued a statement that anyone attacking Syrian military assets would be
shot down by Russia. On Friday, Obama pulled back and said there wouldn't be a no-fly
zone.
So it was Russia, primarily, that was the reason Obama didn't not succeed *six times*
trying to start a war with Syria.
"Biden will bring fresh blood to the Presidency, just you watch."
YES. thank you for the clarifying statement, as that is exactly what I expect too. Harris
/Biden blood spattered globe again. Or a Trump spattered equivalent. No socialism for the
USA.
We went from snarling Cheney Wars to shiny happy Obama wars to snarling Trump wars now back
to shiny happy Biden wars to... Forever War is obviously bi-partisan.
But perhaps with Great Depression 2.0 coming this Dark Winter in order to stave off civil
war and/or revolution they'll throw resources to much needed infrastructure projects,
diminish to a slight degree the supremacy of the for-profit healthcare industry through a
laughable but better than nothing 'public option' and make some baby steps toward avoiding
climate catastrophic.
The change is marginal. And probably meaningless. Hope is just another word for nothing
left to lose.
Those 77,000 - purely because of location - overcame 3 million+ votes. That's the
equivalent of giving those 77 thousands the right to vote 40 times each.
Are you in favor of censitary vote?
--//--
@ Posted by: c1ue | Oct 31 2020 18:50 utc | 26
Yes, but at the end of the day, Hilary Clinton got 3.6 million votes more than Donald
Trump.
You're telling everybody you're in favor of censitary vote in opposition to one person,
one vote, just because you don't want an ideological enemy of yours to win. This is still
liberal - but you would have to dig to the early liberal thinkers (Locke, Tocqueville etc.)
to find such reactionary and elitist opinion.
Even by liberal standards today censitary vote is already considered outdated/reactionary.
Concretely, you're defending the interests of a blue collar elite of the north-midwest, who
number on the dozens of thousands, in detriment to more than half the voting population. It
is what it is: you can't fight against mathematics.
--//--
@ Posted by: Down South | Oct 31 2020 18:47 utc | 25
So what? Fuck Michael Moore. If Michael Moore told you to jump off a cliff, would you do
it? He's not the guardian of the absolute truth, he's just a random guy with an opinion.
Michael Moore can defend a mythical blue collar America how much he wants to - it doesn't
change the fact this America doesn't exist anymore. America is, nowadays, the land of the
petit-bourgeois, the land of the small-medium business-owners (a.k.a. zombie business-owners)
, of the New York financial assets owning middle class "coastal elites", of the influencers,
of Kim and Chloe Kardashian, of Starbucks, Amazon and Apple, of the billionaire tied to Wall
Street. That's the true America, want it.
America will never be blue collar again. The insistence of turning America blue collar
again will destroy the American Empire. They will be the Gorbachevs of the USA.
Obama tried *six times* to start a war with Syria. First he submitted *three* UNSC
Resolutions with Chapter 7 language in them. Russia and China - burned by the US over Libya
- vetoed those. Then Obama was within hours of launching an attack on Syria in August,
2013. He only stopped when he got push-back from Congress and then Putin outmaneuvered him
by getting Assad to give up his chemical weapons. Then in fall, 2015, Obama was talking
no-fly zone yet again. Putin again outmaneuvered him by committing Russian forces to Syria.
Then sometime in 2016 - I forget the exact month - there was a news article saying Obama
was having a meeting on that Friday to discuss no-fly zone yet *again*. That Tuesday or
Wednesday, the Russia Ministry of Defense issued a statement that anyone attacking Syrian
military assets would be shot down by Russia. On Friday, Obama pulled back and said there
wouldn't be a no-fly zone.
So it was Russia, primarily, that was the reason Obama didn't not succeed *six times*
trying to start a war with Syria.
Thank you, it seems that your succinct statement should be included as an auto response
macro to every laguerre post. They never stop their blathering those AI CPU's. My take is
that they are a retro definition of the term interrupt .
I remember you as being a reasonably sane contributor but atm you have a serious case of
TDS. Are you seriously trying to tell us that the last 4 years of US media foaming at the
mouth about Trump (Russia-gate, Trump supporters being 'white supremacists' and egging on a
race war) were all a plot to get him re-elected? I mean seriously? WTF? What the hell would
they do if they wanted him removed?
Now I know I have been very very harsh on trump and his supporters of late. Please forgive me
! It's what we call 'tough love' I do have a heart, dispite all of America's crimes against
the rest of the world. I did hope that the US at the last moment would come to it's senses
and turn it's back on trump. Alas ! I fear not. Really sad, I'm sorry.
But for the rest of the world including myself, we can only watch with fascination and relief
as America destroys itself from within. My heart goes out to the inocent.
I fear trump supporters are in for a -- --
Pyrrhic victory (spelt correctly) I recommend googling the word.
Adolph Hitler rose to power with similar glory and power unbridled. Just as trump now !!
Then what ?
Dresden!!
Think on.
Why is it so hard to believe? The media needs a heel and they actually prefer Trump to
remain in office. Maybe on the ground level you have a lot of regular old liberals, but the
upper echelons of the media (and holding companies) are all about keeping the ratings bonanza
going. Another Trump term but with Democrat control of Congress would be like manna from
heaven to them. Matt Taibbi is one writer who has chronicled the phenomenon since before
Trump ever got elected. Here's a more recent piece. Let me know if it's paywalled and I can
copy/paste. CNN
chief has an ethical problem.
On JCPOA, The Nation had a quote from one of Biden's foreign policy advisers to a group of
Jewish campaing donors saying all sanctions on Iran will remain intact unless they return to
full compliance. I agree that it will not be as simple as that given political reality, but
Biden was closely involved in its negotiation and likely has some ownership of it.
I expect there to be a false flag attack by "Iran" to throw sand in the gears if
re-implementation looks likely, or perhaps an Israeli attack on Lebanon. Best plausible
outcome is Iran keeps its current level of cooperation, and a Biden admin looks the other way
on sanctions violationsw.
Are you seriously trying to tell us that the last 4 years of US media foaming at the mouth
about Trump (Russia-gate, Trump supporters being 'white supremacists' and egging on a race
war) were all a plot to get him re-elected? I mean seriously? What the hell would they do if
they wanted him removed?
_____________________________________________
Of course it was all phony and designed to not ring true, which benefits Trump by giving him
credibility with the voters.
The whole idea behind trump is the same as with Reagan he is portrayed as the outsider doing
battle against the corrupt and powerful Washington swamp. Trump is Reagan on steroids. But it
is all phony both Reagan and Trump are one of the powerful elites and their opposition by the
left wing media is designed to give them credibility with voters.
Remember that half of the corporate controlled media loves Trump and sings his praises
daily. It is only half the corporate media that is attacking Trump the other half is showing
its viewers blacks that strongly support Trump and solid evidence that Russiagate is pure
bullshit.
As for what the media would do if they really wanted to bring Trump down. They would
attack him on real issues instead of phony ones that actually strengthen trump's
credibility.
"What Would A Democratic Presidency Really Change?"
The same thing it always changes, absolutely nothing except who accepts the bribes from
the elite.
As long as the American people stay asleep they will continue with the "American DREAM"
until they suddenly wake up inside their newly constructed corporate industrial zone. The
prison industrial complex is the model society if you're an elite.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone, don't get so caught up in this sham (s)election that
you ruin what little freedom you have left.
Berlin's Madame Tussauds has put Donald Trump's wax figure into a
dumpster . Is this normal behavior by a museum? Is this not "an interference in the
democratic processes of the United States"? Or is it okay because the Germans are doing it?
(But God forbid if a Russian or an Iranian criticizes a U.S. presidential candidate publicly
ahead of the election.) Have similar performances been staged against Bush, under whom the
U.S. intelligence agencies manufactured claims of Saddam Hussein preparing to use weapons of
mass destruction, which the U.S. "free" media printed almost in unison without any criticism,
leading to an invasion that killed 650,000
Iraqis ? When a visitor beheaded Adolf Hitler's figure in 2008, the same museum
had this to say :
Madame Tussauds is non-political and makes no comment or value-judgement either on the
persons who are exhibited in the Museum or on what they have done during their lifetime.
I guess starting a war that resulted in deaths of 26,000,000 million Soviets -- most of
them Russians -- is not nearly as bad as being a rude person who has once recommended in
private grabbing women by their genitals.
You are clearly over-thinking this, clutching at straws to justify supporting the other
side. Remember the saying "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the
American people". Whoever wins the election is going to be faced with major unrest, the worms
are clearly not going back in the can. There are easier ways to get someone re-elected.
Trump is clearly at least as toxic as any of them wrt foreign policy, however he is not a
globalist and that is his major sin in their eyes.
@ Maureen O # 45 In 2009, Biden tried very hard to convince Obama not to surge 30,000 more troops into
Afghanistan.
Perhaps he was successful? . . . Obama actually surged 70,000 troops into Afghanistan,
raising Bush's 30K to 100K+. That got Mr Hope & Change the Nobel Peace Prize.
We should remember there were 6 UNSC against Iran, and one of them under Chapter 7 ( the
most dangerous), before JCPOA. We should keep in mind there are gang of 5 + 1( 5 in UNSC +
Germany) coalition behind 6 resolutions.
From Iran's eye, Imperialism was, combination of these 5 in the club, and their collateral
and vassals ( Germany, Japan, etc). The master of JCPOA, caught the opportunity to put a
wedge into the body of the club, and it worked perfectly. America is mad cutting her own
arteries, out side the club. Trump or Biden are not different in this regard, America needs
some one to understand the depth of the wound and retreat immediately, before too much
hemorrhage. And such person ( or group ) is not in horizon. Let it die by her own
wounding.
Thank you for that Philip Giraldi report. The descent into madness from the raucus sounds
of the echo chamber. Where does a revolution start?
First they need to dismantle their media concentration across the spectrum of "news"
including all media forms.
Second they need to send their journalists through the same cultural revolution cycle as
was done in the China and other countries where people go to different work supporting the
growth of their communities for a five to ten year separation from the craft of journalism.
Listen to the people and sweat alongside them in their labour to survive.
Sure there is much more but the echo chamber must surely be demolished at
commencement.
I believe back in August 2013 after a CW attack in East Ghouta, east of Damascus, wrongly
blamed on the Syrian govt that Obama was preparing to enforce his no-fly zone threat. Then
the UK parliament voted not to support such a threat, Obama hesitated and then Putin saw his
opportunity and posted an opinion in the New York Times. That ultimately stopped the US from
going ahead with the attack.
I'm sure British MPs have since been forced to "come to their senses".
I linked to and commented upon Pepe's article when it was published by Asia Times a
few days ago, and I don't see any reason to add to it as b echoes much of my sentiment. What
I will do is link to a brief item by Chinese scholar Zhang Weiwei, professor of International
Relations at Fudan University, "How
China elects their political leaders" , which seems very appropriate at this moment in
time:
"China has established a system of meritocracy or what can be described as 'selection plus
election'. Competent leaders are selected on the basis of performance and broad support,
through a vigorous process of screening, opinion surveys, internal evaluations and various
types of elections. This is much in line with the Confucian tradition of meritocracy. After
all, China is the first country that invented civil service examination system or the 'Keju'
system....
"Indeed, the Chinese system of meritocracy today, makes it inconceivable that anyone as
weak as George W. Bush or Donald Trump could ever come close to the position of the top
leadership. It's not far-fetched to claim that the China model is more about leadership
rather than the showmanship as it is in the West. China's meritocratic governance challenges
the stereotypical dichotomy of democracy versus autocracy. From Chinese point of view, the
nature of the state including its legitimacy, has to be defined by its substance, that is,
good governance, competent leadership and success in meeting the people's needs."
Zhang Weiwei is the author of a very important book some may have heard about and even
read, The China Wave: Rise Of A Civilizational State , of which an open preview can be
read here . Also, the professor gave a talk at the German Schiller Institute related to
the above book and the BRI project, which can be read
here .
I've commented several times that China's political-economic system is far superior to the
Parasitic Neoliberalism that's destroying the West. China's success suggests very strongly
that we listen and closely observe while not taking heed of what any Western source has to
say about China.
I'm all for sending the entire Australian news media into a cave for 5 - 10 years. Maybe
in 10,000 years archaeologists investigating the cave will be wondering whether fossil
remains there denote a species of human more primitive than those found in Liang Bua cave on
Flores Island in Indonesia. :-)
Can you elaborate on this funding you referred to for BLM protests? What is your evidence
that it was actually funding street protests? Are you referring to the national corporate
BLM? If so, what does that have to do with leaderless protests in the streets?
From February 13 to February 15, 1945, during the final months of World War II (1939-45),
Allied forces bombed the historic city of Dresden, located in eastern Germany. The bombing
was controversial because Dresden was neither important to German wartime production nor a
major industrial center, and before the massive air raid of February 1945 it had not
suffered a major Allied attack. By February 15, the city was a smoldering ruin and an
unknown number of civilians -- estimated between 22,700 to 25,000–were dead.
Dresden and other cities held magnificent collections of human posterity. Cities of
science - of intellectual excellence and endeavour within europe. Cities of humans associated
with brilliant minds doing the work of human understanding and progress.
Sure Hitler's imbecile adventures ably funded by global private finance capitalism and a
hatred of communism led to war that ultimately led to the vengeful destruction of great
cities and great store houses and museums of this earth of mankind.
Hitler did not bomb Dresden.
Germans were proud of their science and their knowledge and storehouses and museums.
Europe shared in that pride in excellence as did many throughout the world.
Those first shells falling on Berlin TWO months after the demolition of cities of science
and archeology and human history. NOT cities of military significance.
I think of Vietnam
I think of Iraq
I think of Korea
I think of China
I think of Japan
Bombed by UKUSA. So lets not obsess with a dead nazi comrade, lets open our eyes to the
live nazis.
I think Biden will win this presidency, and win it fairly easily. It will become apparent
early on that the Biden Administration intends not only to turn the heat up on Russia, but
will continue Trump's aggression towards China. There may be a feint towards renewing JCPOA,
but it will not be fulfilled, and aggression towards Iran will not abate either.
The Mighty Wurlitzer of pro-war propaganda is again spinning up in anticipation. The
Atlantic and the Economist have been busy comparing Chinese Policy towards it's Muslim
citizens with the Holocaust...Russia, Russia, Russia!!! which never went away is again being
amped up.
But, this isn't 2016. Four years has given China and Russia time to further modernize
their militaries. Iran has developed its missile and drone programs to the point that a
conflict with Israel will result in mutual destruction. In 2016 USA/NATO had the military
advantage, but that is now gone, and the balance shifts further by the day. I almost feel
sorry for Biden, as he will be the one taking the blame when the economy collapses and
America gets their asses handed to them. Hopefully it doesn't go nuclear, but I am not very
optimistic.
With the NeoCon infestation capturing the Democratic Party, the media, and a big chunk of
the Republican, it is only a matter of time before they get their way. Short-sided parasites
as they are, this time they will kill their host. If humanity survives, a new multi-polar era
may emerge.
Uncle tungsten @ 84
Please re-read my heart felt comment. It was sincerely ment. To many here think this is just
fun and speculation.
But this is real, the USA have the same misguided sense of infalalabilty now, that the German
public hand then.
Did we learn nothing from world war 2 ?
Please don't belittle my urgent warning.
This is not a game. Perhaps re read my comment. Respect
Naw, you're not reading me right. Did you check out the Taibbi piece? He has numerous
others over the past 4 years. Also see Les Moonves and other corporate media executives'
statements on Trump during that same time period. I acknowledged that the rank and file among
the media class is largely woke, liberal and pro-Biden (and very anti-Trump), but they don't
call the shots and you're not looking at the situation with enough attention to details. It's
the little things that give it away.
Ever heard the saying "there's no such thing as bad publicity"? A brand like Trump's has
been clearly demonstrated to benefit immensely from the negative coverage. The media are
hated by Trump's followers and the people who watch the media hate Trump. So what does that
tell you? Compare CNN and MSNBC ratings during Trump's term to Obama's. They know that hate
sells and they never call Trump out for his ACTUAL bad behaviors (other than COVID and ACB, I
guess) while they focus on meaningless nonsense, thus distracting the public from the
bi-partisan corporate dominated graft going on and the Empire's ongoing wars and sanctions
programs abroad. Very rarely if ever will you read or hear about the hundreds of thousands of
people who have died due to American sanctions on Iran or Venezuela. Why is that? Because top
brass at the corporate media outlets support it. They cheered when he launched the missiles
at Syria.
Someone did a study or analysis on the amount of air time given to Trump versus the
Democrat primary and it wasn't even close. He plays them and his supporters like a fiddle,
too. SNL had him on NBC when he was running against Hillary. Some argue that this might have
been due to the same mindset that Hillary's team was alleged to have had. Namely, that Trump
would be the EASIEST candidate for her to beat and he had no chance, so he was harmless as a
threat. I don't think it's that complicated. They know what gets ratings.
Yeah, occasionally they'll make a peep about the environment or jobs, but like the
Democrats in Congress and "Intelligence" Community's Russia and Ukraine witch
hunts/impeachment they intentionally ignore the types of actions that DO justify
investigations and impeachments. Do you honestly think that the Democrats thought Trump would
be removed from office for the bogus "whistle blower" charges they ginned up? Of course not -
the Senate was never going to go along with it and it wasn't exactly secret, even over here
across the pond it was obvious.
As far as him not being a globalist - he's not exactly anti-globalist when it comes to
policy, but why would that matter to the corporate media? Again, it's the corporate big wigs
and majority shareholders who make the calls and the reporters, editors and personalities on
TV know how to toe the line without being told explicitly. Now, if you want to talk Silicon
Valley and the social media giants, I'm with you - they are actively trying to help Joe
Biden. But take another example - the Hunter Biden laptop story. Social media giants censored
it, but it isn't like it's not being talked about non-stop by the MSM and newspapers. They
just don't talk about what was IN the emails or photos, leaving some of their viewers/readers
curious to go find out for themselves.
I didn't read jinn's comment in detail, but I'm definitely not trying to make points that
justify voting for Biden; but I stand by my points - I'm just pointing out what's REALLY
going on with all of the "negative" coverage of Donald Trump in the corporate mainstream
media. At the end of the day, the corporate MSM upper brass doesn't really care who gets
elected, but they also understand that having a "heel" (from the pro wrestling world) and
"bad guy" to always go after on crap that's ultimately meaningless, makes it easier to sell
the hate and drive ratings and subscriptions.
Uncle tungsten @ 84
Please re-read my heart felt comment. It was sincerely ment. To many here think this is
just fun and speculation.
But this is real, the USA have the same misguided sense of infalalabilty now, that the
German public hand then.
Did we learn nothing from world war 2 ?
Please don't belittle my urgent warning.
This is not a game. Perhaps re read my comment. Respect
Respect and apology in return Mark2. I jumped the gun.
Yes, the sense of infallibility infuses the bloodlust of the UKUSAi.
With any luck humanity will be spared their obscene and lunatic 'reprisal mania' that has
rotted their minds. I somehow doubt that.
And I share your fear.
That said though - I am ever the optimist. There are many warrior clans of past decades
that have made delightful blunders and ended up on the block instead of on the grog in the
opponents bars. Time will tell.
I believe it is time for the great people of South America to shake off these barnacles on
the arse of humanity once and for all.
Sorry I got a little long winded in my last reply. I think this response will make my
position easier to interpret.
You asked: " What the hell would they do if they wanted him removed?"
The answer to that question is the same as the answer would be if you asked what the
Democrats in Congress would (have) do(ne) if they really wanted to remove him from office.
They would actually investigate and attempt to prosecute a litany of possible crimes rather
than silly, simplistic accusations from a "whistleblower" that anyone with a IQ over 100
could see was not going to work.
Maybe you're right and I'm wrong, and Americans really are that stupid. It wouldn't
necessarily conflict with what I've seen and heard from Democrat supporting relatives and
social media contacts. A lot, if not most of them STILL believe that there was collusion
between Trump and Russia. It was like my conservative friends and relatives for about a
decade after the Iraq war - they were CONVINCED that we DID find WMDs and that the US media
had somehow hidden it.
@vk #65
It is striking how you still refuse to acknowledge the reality of the law.
The United States is not a majoritarian democracy.
In fact, there is not one single country in the entire world that is a majoritarian
democracy.
If the law were changed via the methods already written, tried and true, then I guarantee
that there would be a lot more voters in the minorities of both red and blue states.
As it is, the only partisan here is your and the Democratic party's whining about how they
have more popular votes, much as the talk about packing the Supreme Court, etc etc.
If ultimately the existing laws of the land are merely an impediments to anyone doing
whatever they have the power to do, then there is no law.
Uncle @ 90
Thanks for that. I feel we are in full agreement !
To perhaps clarify to those less astute than you.
My comment @ 68 points out the law of unintended consequence. The majority of Americans don't
want war, riots, poverty and distruction. They want to keep there families safe.
The comparison being the same can be said for Germans prior to the war, they weren't evil as
portrayed in history they simply made the same mistake the US is about to make. With the
consequence of there country devistated. A dreadful mistake voting for the wrong man, whipped
up by a false sense of superiority !
Don't do it.
Half of America won't tolerate it.
Free quarters of the rest of the world won't. By voting trump you vote for your own
distruction.
I would rather vote for a donkey, never mind Biden.
You are clearly over-thinking this, clutching at straws to justify supporting the other
side.
__________________________________________
What other side???
I'm guessing you are accusing me of supporting trump but who knows maybe you think I'm
supporting Biden. Either way it is stupid of you to project your "side" based logic onto
others. Do you really think it is impossible to analyze without first taking a side?
As it is, the only partisan here is your and the Democratic party's whining about how they
have more popular votes, much as the talk about packing the Supreme Court, etc etc.
Thank you, I liked that retort to vk. Can I distort your point that while the Demonazis
delude themselves in more popular votes - the Repugnents have more of the un-popular votes.
The deeply corrosive nonsense being shouted into the demonazi echo chamber is truly dangerous
to the point that they will generate a standing wave resonance and collapse the entire
building. Trouble is we will then have to endure an 11/11 to compete with their absurd 9/11
and - we'll never hear the end of it. :))
James
I share one bottle of wine a month. I don't do drugs, but thanks for asking.
I note you don't ask the 'right wing' to step a way'
But if the truth is hurting you. Perhaps you ought ?
Have a peaceful night.
I remember you as being a reasonably sane contributor ...
Thanks!
= ... but atm you have a serious case of TDS.
No. I'm neither for nor against Trump. I see him as a symptom of the system who has joined
(possibly long ago) Team Deep State (the managers of the Empire). If it wasn't Trump, it
would be some other media-savvy guy that can con the people.
= Are you seriously trying to tell us that the last 4 years of US media foaming at the
mouth about Trump (Russia-gate, Trump supporters being 'white supremacists' and egging on a
race war) were all a plot to get him re-elected?
IMO Trump's economic nationalism and zenophobia were very much planned. As was the failure
of the Democrats to mount any effective resistance. They pretend to hate Trump so so
much but shoot themselves in the foot all the time.
Russiagate was nothing more than a new McCarthyism. That works well for the Deep State
both internationally and domestically. Any dissenter is called a "knowing or unknowing"
Russian asset.
Background: I've written that Trump was meant to beat Hillary. The 2016 election was a
farce. Sanders and Trump were friendly with the Clintons for a very long time. Sanders was a
sheepdog (not a real candidate) and Hillary threw the race to Trump. Trump is much more
capable at what he does than Hillary would've been.
I mean seriously? WTF? What the hell would they do if they wanted him
removed?
If the Deep State wanted him removed (but they don't) they would find a reason to invoke
the 25th Amendment. They have positioned people to do this, if necessary. For example: VP
Pence was a friend of McCain (who was a 'NEVER TRUMP'-er); Atty General Barr is close to the
Bushes and Mueller ('NEVER TRUMP'-ers); CIA Dir. Gina Haspel is an acolyte of John Brennan
(you guessed it, a 'NEVER TRUMP'-er).
=
MarkU @Oct31 23:18 #76
...he is not a globalist and that is his major sin in their eyes.
He's not anti-globalist as you seem to suggest. He's even bragged about his business
dealings with Chinese, Arabs, Russians - pretty much any group with money.
Trump and the Deep State - the true Deep State, not the pretended partisan off-shoot
- are EMPIRE-FIRST (and have been for decades). You can see this in what Trump has done
globally. USA just wants a bigger cut of the action because they have to do the 'heavy
lifting' of taking on China and Russia.
<> <> <> <> <> <>
I know that my cynical perspective must generate a lot of cognitive dissonance in many
readers. But I don't see any other way to rationally explain Deep State actions and the
history that has brought us to where are today.
The numbers are there for everybody to see: Trump won with 3 million + votes below Hilary
Clinton. That is not democracy in any sense of the word unless you go back to the more
traditional forms of liberalism of the 16th-19th centuries. Those are the numbers, not my
opinion.
Besides, I think you're not getting the irony of your position: the situation in the USA
has gotten so degenerated that you're hanging by a thread - a thread you put on a golden
pedestal and claim is the salvation of the Empire (the electoral college). Where did I see
this? Oh, yes - the War of Secession of 1861-1865, when the slave states were already
outnumbered 6 to 1 by the northern states. They kept their parity artificially for decades,
until the whole thing suddenly burst up in the war (a war where they were crushed; no chance
of victory at all).
So, the problem isn't in the system per se, but the pressure the ossification of the
system is building up. When they seceded, the confederates genuinely thought they were the
true inheritors of the liberal thought, the slave states being the most perfect manifestation
of freedom; the same situation is building up today, albeit, obviously, on a much milder
scale (there's no California gold this time, just the good ol' race to the bottom).
--//--
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 1 2020 2:25 utc | 95
I agree with you: the end of the electoral college (with it, any form of district vote)
will give a chance for the conservatives (Republicans) to win back, for example, California
(which has 40-46% of the popular vote). But it will also give the Democrats Texas (Dallas +
Houston regions already make almost 50% of the population of the state and are Democratic
bastions). It will also open the gates for third parties to flourish (avoiding a situation
like Bernie Sanders, who had to affiliate to the Democrats).
Either way, it will give the American people and government a more honest, precise picture
of the state of the nation. Or are you willing to live a perpetual illusion of "coastal
elites vs heartland deplorables" forever (which, by the way, only fuels up secession as the
only solution)?
The myth of HIQ whitemen....
--------------------------------------
Caitlin[for prez]johnston
Russia gate morphes seamlessly into China gate without missing a beat.
One hiq white man opines, oh so innocently
IN Russia gate, they were quoting only anon, nameless witness.
This time its different, we've real witness testifying on teevee , in Tucker
[fuck China] Carlson show, no less !
The poor dear was referring to an 'ex CIA' [see, an insider, wink wink ] telling
Tucker [fuck CHINA] Carlson ....
Psssst, many dem were CCP trojans !
ROFLAMO
oR that HUnter BIden buddy whatshisname again, who told Tucker [fuck China] Carlson oh so
solemnly,
'Yes , I think the BIdens were compromised by the chicoms'
OMFG ! BIden is CCP'S man !
What happen if Biden get into the WH and immediately bomb Shanghai.?
Well half of gringos , the Trumpsters, would scream,
'Why isnt BIden bombing Beijing already, well BCOS we all know he's Xi's man in Washington'
!
The dems, eager to clear their potus name, would implore earnestly,
'Hey BIden, you should invade Beijing RIGHT now, show them repuc we are just as tough, no,
even better in showing the chicoms who's the boss around here.
What a devious brilliant way to get a bi partisan support for more
wars.
BI partisan ?
That practically cover 99% of HIQ gringos. hehehhehehhe
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me hundreds of times.........
Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop contained a 'treasure trove of top-secret material,
including his father's private emails and mobile phone numbers,' and was protected by the
password "Hunter02", according to the
Daily Mail .
The younger Biden's MacBook Pro was full of 'classic blackmail material' between
compromising sexual material and the private information of not only the Bidens, but also Bill
and Hillary Clinton.
Hunter's passport, driver's license, social security and credit card numbers were also on
the laptop, which revealed that he spent $21,000 on a 'live cam' porn website (while claiming
he was too broke to pay his stripper baby-mama child support?).
Via the Mail :
The material, none of which was encrypted or protected by anything as basic as two-factor
authentication, includes:
Joe Biden's personal mobile number and three private email addresses as well as the
names of his Secret Service agents;
Mobile numbers for former President Bill Clinton, his wife Hillary and almost every
member of former President Barack Obama's cabinet;
A contact database of 1,500 people including actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Coldplay singer
Chris Martin, former Presidential candidate John Kerry and ex-FBI boss Louis Freeh;
Personal documents including Hunter's passport, driver's licence, social security card,
credit cards and bank statements;
Details of Hunter's drug and sex problems, including $21,000 spent on one 'live cam'
porn website and 'selfies' of him engaging in sex acts and smoking crack cocaine;
The article does not that while Hunter may have used his family name to boost deals with
Chinese and Ukrainian firms, there is nothing implicating Joe Biden in any wrongdoing (just a
massive like that he 'never spoke with Hunter' about his business dealings).
"'It's a data breach and dangerous to have this type of material floating around," one
former police commander told the Mail . "For someone prominent, there is not only a risk of
great reputational damage but also a risk of blackmail should the material fall into the wrong
hand s."
Hunter's laptop was filled with 11 gigabytes of material covering the period from when his
father was Vice President, to when Hunter dropped it off at a Mac Store in Wilmington,
Delaware. wee-weed up , 10 hours ago
"What laptop?" -- MSM
Macho Latte , 10 hours ago
The Progs are now using the MSM to broadcast the Biden corruption scandal so that they can
use it to justify elevating Queen Kam El Tow to POTUS very soon after the Biden inauguration.
He'll be gone before April 1. Queen Kami will give him a pardon within minutes of seizing
power. All investigations into the Criminal Elite will be disappeared and all evidence will
be destroyed.
Progs don't take a dump, son, without a plan.
- Admiral Painter
systemsplanet , 9 hours ago
FBI was planning on using Hunter's laptop as Biden's control file.
ImGumbydmmt , 5 hours ago
And they are BOTH (Hunter and Hitlery) still walking out and about the world as free
people.
Sessions?
Barr?
Durham?
Wray?
Riiiiight.
ballot box?
Cartridge box is all thats left folks
Kan , 4 hours ago
Clinton crime family is still doing the 501.3c TAX dodge for trillions of dollars from the
gates foundation and over 100 universities in the jUSSA.... many other fun things.
BaNNeD oN THe RuN , 9 hours ago
Exactly, plus there is no way that the NSA did not have the IP and MAC address of every
computer that had ever downloaded every email to and from Hunter Biden. The "Big Guy" had
been on the Senate Intelligence Committee and already knew this which is why he insisted on
verbal directions only.
What "voters" don't fully understand is that elected representatives are the first line of
"useful idiots" for deep state.
BGen. Jack Ripper , 10 hours ago
The FBI and CIA are the real national security nightmare
Vivekwhu , 10 hours ago
Spot on! Good luck in claiming back the US Republic from these traitors at the top. This
must start this Tuesday or it is all done for.
Macho Latte , 9 hours ago
Too many people succumb to the psychological warfare that has been raging against us for 5
decades. It is very difficult to break free from the indoctrination regardless of
intelligence or education. The backbone of the DemonRat organization is a very strong emotion
that overcomes all logic and reason. It is HATE. Today it is called by the gentle name of
Identity Politics. Nevertheless, it is still a hate based psychological manipulation. Women
need to hate men. Blacks need to hate everyone. Whites need to hate themselves. Everybody
needs to Hate Trump.
Argon1 , 5 hours ago
They have power, they are corrupt, but such things are not absolute. Which is why people
are made examples of in law (pour encourager les autres ), but enforcement is minimal. Number
of Federal employees 2 million, population 330 million, number of FBI employees 35,000 of
which we can say only a 3rd will be available some are office staff, sick and others have
long term commitments. So these riots would have meant FBI would have been deployed even if
not used etc or would have been at the Mexican border since the wall closing has allowed a
much tougher border regime.
Proudly Unaffiliated , 6 hours ago
As represented by FBIbook and DNCIA.
LetThemEatRand , 10 hours ago
Countdown to charges being brought against everyone who ever possessed the hard drives....
Certainly more likely than anyone with the last name Biden getting in trouble. MSM has
already declared that there is no evidence that Joe had any involvement in Hunter's business
deals, which is demonstrably false. There's the "Big Guy" emails; there's the fact that these
foreign entities kept paying Hunter millions for his "name," and they would not have
continued to do so if they were getting nothing in return; there's the fact that Bobulinksi
has proof that Joe attended meeting with Hunter's employers; and that's just scratching the
surface with what we know now.
ponchoramic , 10 hours ago
The laptop/ hard drives were abandoned for more than 90 days, transffering ownership to
the shop owner, by law!
hashr_syndicate , 2 hours ago
@ Caloot
Crack is not purified, it is just changed to a base form which lowers it melting point
allowing someone to smoke it, hence the term free base. Smoking allows for a faster uptake
into the body giving more or a rush. The only way you can get the same rush with coke is to
shoot it up. The closest you could come your statement of it being true is to perform an
acid/base extraction by turning it into crack and then filtering contaminants and then using
an acid to drop the carbon back off and returning it to cocaine.
cabystander , 6 hours ago
To quote Schumer (+/-): the intelligence agencies have six ways from Sunday of getting
you.
That can be extended to the Government, in general. In spades.
Gobble D. Goop , 9 hours ago
Apparantly, C. Wray has an interest in keeping the laptop suppressed:
"This has all been debunked and we're not going to dignify it by responding to it."
- The Democrat News Media Complex
Floki_Ragnarsson , 9 hours ago
The FBI has NEVER had America's interests at heart. Ruby Ridge ring a bell?
invention13 , 9 hours ago
No, the FBI has it's own interests at heart. I would love to see the files that J. Edgar
had on everyone in Washington.
edotabin , 9 hours ago
Why are you surprised? You are dealing with a culture so corrupt, so rabid, so evil....
These people smell worse, are dirtier than and are harder to remove than than 6 months of cat
urine in an abandoned house.
Anyone who has dealt with cat urine in abandoned and severely neglected houses knows how
extensive the steps required are to remove the rot/stench.
Hint: When you open the doors and windows and run outside, you can still smell it 30-40
yards away. I've even had to use a jackhammer at an angle to chisel it out from the concrete
slab.
TBT or not TBT , 7 hours ago
The D after the name is the tell. It's a party of racketeers, pervs and grifters seeking
more power. The very best of them are merely amoral cynical AF Machiavellians.
Vivekwhu , 10 hours ago
And the FBI kept all this secret while Trump was being impeached over a phonecall to the
Ukrainian president? Why? So they could blackmail and control another US President, as in
this vile corrupt Biden creature, when he was quietly elected next week? This is the only
possible explanation for Wray and his band of corrupt leaders.
Just how rotten is the FBI, uh, the premier law enforcement agency in the world???
radical-extremist , 9 hours ago
"We'll be prepared to issue comments on Hunter Biden's laptops after the election. For
right now our focus is on dangerous white supremacist militias and hate crime hoaxes."
- C. Wray, Director of the FBI
J J Pettigrew , 9 hours ago
And why did Christopher Wray sit on this for ten months?
Comey protected Hillary
Wray protects Biden
novictim , 9 hours ago
"'It's a data breach and dangerous to have this type of material floating around," one
former police commander told the Mail . "For someone prominent, there is not only a risk of
great reputational damage but also a risk of blackmail should the material fall into the
wrong hand s."
Show of hands:
Who thinks that the CCP spy chief that the Bidens were in business with did not already
have all of this blackmail material?
The Bidens kept the secrets from the USA and even screwed that up. But the Ukrainians,
Russians and Chinese Communist Party had all of this all along. That is why China Joe is such
a great alternative to Trump for them. China Joe is totally and completely compromised and
millions have already voted for him. Which would be funny if not for the insane Deep State
that also seems to be owned by the Communists.
radical-extremist , 9 hours ago
Biden is in no way compromised because any evidence the CCP goes public with will never be
reported on, except by maybe Fox News.
cjones1 , 9 hours ago
Mueller was FBI Director when both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden were committing national
security violations and money grubbing, "pay to play" diplomacy - 2012 election interference
by the IRS, etc., too!
This "Deep State" complicity in and enabling of such corruption runs several levels deep
in our intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
J J Pettigrew , 7 hours ago
Comey protected Hillary
Wray protects Biden
and as luck would have it...both Democrats.
And the attacks on the GOP elected President...fake and falsified with the assistance
of......
those who protected Biden and Hillary.
Remarkable for an apolitical entity such as the FBI.
Shut. It. Down. , 9 hours ago
Stripper mama's lawyer needs to file a subpoena for access to the hard drive.
No telling what assets Hunter was hiding while trying to weasel out of child support.
Should be good for another couple mil.
LetThemEatRand , 10 hours ago
Note that the FBI investigation into Hunter is for "money laundering," as opposed to
anything involving public corruption or influence peddling. That tells me that they are
carefully avoiding anything that would involve Joe. And we all know that a year or two from
now or whenever this story settles down, there will be a page 8 newspaper article about how
the FBI found insufficient evidence of any criminal activity by Hunter to justify
charges.
They keep using the same script, and it always ends in a twist ending involving anyone
you've ever heard of doing nothing wrong other than "poor judgment."
quanttech , 8 hours ago
Biden values - bomb children in countries that never attacked us. tell supporters they're
organic, grass-fed love bombs.
Trump values - bomb children in countries that never attacked us. tell supporters we're
withdrawing from the wars while INCREASING the bombings.
American values - duuuuuuuh i dont care as long as inocent children are being bombed.
duuuuuuuh i'm so sad they cancelled keeping up with the khardashians. duuuuuuuuuuuh i need a
chicken sandwhich but i'm too fat to get out of my lazyboy duuuuuh
SummerSausage , 9 hours ago
CIA trailed Hunter to brothels and drug dens when he was overseas. They knew.
Foreign countries sucked electronic information off Hunters computers and phones when he
was overseas. They knew.
Jill and Joe kept Hunter away from children. They knew.
Kerry's step son was in business with hunter. They knew.
Obama spied on everybody. He knew.
American media covered up for Hunter & Joe for years. They knew.
Looks like normal Americans were the last to know.
J S Bach , 9 hours ago
"There is not only a risk of great reputational damage but also a risk of blackmail should
the material fall into the wrong hands."
Yep... and with this knowledge... ANYONE who votes for Joe Biden is a traitor to this
country whether they like it or not.
From Dante's "Inferno"...
The ninth (deepest) circle of hell is reserved for traitors...
"9). Treachery: The deepest circle of Hell, where Satan resides. As with the last two
circles, this one is further divided, into four rounds. The first is Caina, named after the
biblical Cain, who murdered his brother. This round is for traitors to family. The second,
Antenora -- from Antenor of Troy, who betrayed the Greeks -- is reserved for
political/national traitors. The third is Ptolomaea for Ptolemy, son of Abubus, who is known
for inviting Simon Maccabaeus and his sons to dinner and then murdering them. This round is
for hosts who betray their guests; they are punished more harshly because of the belief that
having guests means entering into a voluntary relationship, and betraying a relationship
willingly entered is more despicable than betraying a relationship born into. The fourth
round is Judecca, after Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Christ. This round is reserved for
traitors to their lords/benefactors/masters. As in the previous circle, the subdivisions each
have their own demons and punishments."
Not to take all of this literally, but it shows the wisdom of our ancestors and the
intense acrimony they felt towards this most nefarious act.
freedommusic , 7 hours ago
Imagine what was on Weiners laptop.
So let's review boys and girls.
The FBI now has Anthony Weiner's and Hunter Biden's laptops.
If Law enforcement and the DOJ do NOT do the jobs they swore an oath to, then who does
that leave to uphold the Constitution and Rule of Law?
Chew on that for a moment...
jeff montanye , 7 hours ago
don't forget seth rich's phone and laptop never looked at by either the d.c. police or the
fbi.
corruption in washington d.c. is like the hindus' turtle akupara on the back of a larger
turtle, on the back of . . .
Christopher Wray is directly implicated in the laptop emails. He recieved a 14% stake in
Rosneft shares. Arrest everyone in DC and get some rope.
OpenEyes , 8 hours ago
Yes, it's coming out that Wray was actually on the other side of the table in Hunter's
negotiation for his Chinese "chairman" in the deal to buy into the Russian energy company.
Wray was working for the law firm representing the Russian energy company (he made millions
there before coming into the FBI). Not only was Wray aware of the crime, he was a player in
that deal. No wonder the laptop, and all other evidence, has sat untouched in a dark vault at
the FBI for almost a year.
I'm hoping that Trump fires Wray, Haspel and Barr on Wednesday regardless of the election
outcome. Then I'm hoping that Wray is facing an indigtment before Christmas.
Floki_Ragnarsson , 9 hours ago
What REALLY sinks the Bidens is having to account for all of that cash that they a) never
paid taxes on and b) Potato Head Joe NEVER declared on his financial disclosure forms as
required by law!
BinAnunnaki , 8 hours ago
They both go to jail for not registering under FARA.
Just like Michael Flinn
OllieHalsall , 9 hours ago
Giving evidence to a criminal organisation like the FBI is like asking Joe Biden to
babysit your 11 year old daughter.
You wouldn't do it would you!
American2 , 9 hours ago
Immediately, ask for Bill Clinton, or Jeffery Epstein as his replacement.
Someone Else , 8 hours ago
Landslide for Trump!
desertboy , 9 hours ago
Anybody who could think the Biden's would be played by the CCCP in China business dealings
is a conspiracy theorist.
And everyone knows Joe Biden is too smart to be co-opted by his son in his dealings,
anyway.
(straight-face delivery)
Nunny , 9 hours ago
Bada-bing
UnicornTears , 9 hours ago
"Never underestimate Joe's ability to screw things up"
The MagicNegro
Ision , 9 hours ago
I wonder if Hunter ever held a government job, or appointment, which involved the handling
of classified information? I have no idea.
But, exactly how did Hunter get TS information on his computer?
No matter. The National Security Act of 1947 applies. Since it does, multiple felonies
have been committed. How many people are involved in the commission of these felonies,
besides Hunter?
Just like Hillary's illegal servers...the existence of which automatically gives rise to
dozens of felonies...Hunter's felonies are automatic with the existence of ANY TS classified
information, found outside of officially controlled, and authorized, locations.
If anyone planned to deliberately deliver such information to unauthorized individuals,
additional felonies are involved.
There is simply no excuse, or defense.
I say this as a former NSA field agent. It appears Hunter should be in prison, along with
Hillary.
MTGOPLAYER , 9 hours ago
According to the FBI, as long as his intentions were pure, no crime was committed.
vasilievich , 9 hours ago
I can't begin to describe how shocked and angry I am - and I've been involved to the
extent of risk to my life.
I've had one US Army person say to me: You were in...!?
Invert This MM , 7 hours ago
The crime families like to keep together. There are pictures on the laptop of Hunter doing
Malia Obama. Her cocaine riddled credit card was in the picture. Hunter has a tattoo of the
Finger Lakes on his back. That region is suspected of being an area heavy into child
trafficking. These people are sick.
9.0onthericterscale , 9 hours ago
Demlibs keep screeching out 'Russia Russia Russia!' like they have Tourettes Syndrome.
They can't help it anymore .It's so far past the point of meaningfulness you gotta feel
sorry for the little +ards.
Mzhen , 9 hours ago
Hunter took three laptops to the repair shop. And they were all wet . Which appears to
indicate a deliberate attempt by someone to destroy the data. Before there were second
thoughts. This period of time coincided with the final breakup with Hallie.
almostnuts , 9 hours ago
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Hmmmm. Hiding assets from child support, all those cozy names with phone
numbers attached, passport info, ss info, 21,000$ in **** sites. This isn't going to well huh
Robert? Anyhow the fbi has you covered, but your drug habit is going to kill you because you
are a liability to a lot of people, places, and things. From now on Robert i'd beware of
pretty women in a foreign land and don't sleep in the same place every night. You may be well
connected, but you're marked for disposal. Tah, tah, be reading about you.
DavidJoshimisk , 7 hours ago
So if I understand this correctly.........Hunter and Jim Biden were front men for the
Biden Family operations and the Big Guy was calling the shots. So...Obama and the FBI knew
nothing of this? Seems unlikely.
Oilwatcher , 10 hours ago
Dude must be baked hard all the time to go off and leave data like that at a repair shop
instead of coughing up an $80 repair bill.
Anonymous IX , 10 hours ago
Exactly.
"Baked hard" + arrogance (with having always gotten away with no consequences for all his
illegal/immoral actions in the past).
Sometimes the powerful and mighty fall hard. Evidently, we're in one of those epoches. He
may suffer very little criminal action against him, but he'll never recover...nor will the
Bidens...from a scandal of this magnitude and distasteful revelations.
ponchoramic , 10 hours ago
He probably hates his Pop. I think it's in some of his texts. Def the blacksheep of
family. Prob why he was on drugs in the first place.
HUNTER Biden rented a pricey Los Angeles mansion for a party and allegedly "broke his
sober streak" after fighting with his new wife weeks ago, according to a new report. Joe
Biden's son ...
glasshour , 8 hours ago
The Bidens are compromised.
Detain. Interrogate. Jail.
OpenEyes , 9 hours ago
It's coming out that Wray was actually on the other side of the table in Hunter's
negotiation for his Chinese "chairman" in the deal to buy into the Russian energy company.
Wray was working for the law firm representing the Russian energy company (he made millions
there before coming into the FBI). Not only was Wray aware of the crime, he was a player in
that deal. No wonder the laptop, and all other evidence, has sat untouched in a dark vault at
the FBI for almost a year.
I'm hoping that Trump fires Wray, Haspel and Barr on Wednesday regardless of the election
outcome. Then I'm hoping that Wray is facing an indigtment before Christmas.
OpenEyes , 8 hours ago
And Fauci too. God, I hope he gets rid of that slime-ball.
Hunter Biden's Story Could Help Hillary Clinton To Become Vice President
The recently revealed business deals of Hunter Biden will strongly influence politics after
an eventual Joe Biden win in tomorrows election.
On October 15 the New York Post published a story on Hunter Biden based on data from
a laptop Joe Biden's son had left with a repair shop. The Biden family has not disputed that
the laptop or the data on it is genuine. Next to
the porn on the laptop there were thousand of emails which
describe shady deals with a (now defunct) large Chinese energy company , CEFC.
Twitter , Facebook and other media
like the Intercept tried to prevent the distribution of the story. They falsely
claimed that the information was 'hacked' or unproven. The censorship inevitably made the story
more prominent and increased the number of people who learned of it.
A week after the NY Post story ran Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of
Hunter Biden,
went public with further allegations against him:
Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, said Wednesday night that he
can confirm details regarding his overseas business dealings, including that a reference to a
"Big Guy" in a May 13, 2017 email did, in fact, refer to Democratic presidential nominee Joe
Biden.
In a lengthy statement, Bobulinski identified himself as the CEO of Sinohawk Holdings, a
firm he described as "a partnership between the Chinese operating through CEFC/Chairman Ye
and the Biden family." He added that Hunter Biden and James Gilliar, another business
associate, brought him on as CEO of the venture.
"Hunter Biden called his dad 'the Big Guy' or 'my Chairman,' and frequently referenced
asking him for his sign-off or advice on various potential deals that we were discussing,"
Bobulinski said. "I've seen Vice President Biden saying he never talked to Hunter about his
business. I've seen firsthand that that's not true, because it wasn't just Hunter's business,
they said they were putting the Biden family name and its legacy on the line."
A number of outlets have each carried various snippets of the whole story of Hunter Biden's
very profitable dealings with foreign companies. That has created a confusing picture. Stephen
McIntyre, who has done useful investigative research on climate change, Russiagate, and the OPCW shenanigans in Syria, has
thankfully created a 19 pages long
timeline with all the Biden-China evidence that has so far seen the daylight. He
writes:
The Biden family was involved in two major Chinese deals:
a carried stake in Bohai Harvest Partners Investment Fund. Their interest in this deal
began in 2013. Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and James Bulger each had 10% interests. This
fund is still active. Bobulinski was not involved in this deal.
a second deal initiated in 2017 in which the Bidens received $5 million from Chinese
energy company CEFC and/or its officers. CEFC had, in a short period, become a huge company
and, even more quickly, disintegrated. This second deal was the one involving Patrick Ho,
who was arrested in Nov 2017 in US for corruption, Gongwen Dong and its chairman Ye
Jianming, who was arrested in China and/or disappeared in March 2018.
Nearly all of the interesting texts and emails from 2017 and Bobulinski's information
are limited to this second deal. These were only a small fraction of sleazy transactions by
Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and associates. Concurrent with this affair were transactions in
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russia as well as participation in major frauds by John Galanis and
Jason Sugarman in which Archer (but not so far, Hunter Biden) have been convicted. The texts
and emails have been released in a piecemeal and disorganized way. In this article, I'll
attempt to re-assemble a narrative of events for the CEFC affair.
...
Another timeline of the Hunter Biden affairs with slightly different material
has been collected by Seamus Bruner and John Solomon. They write:
The New York Post
broke news last week that Joe Biden himself may have benefited from his son's dealings.
The Post quoted a cryptic message from one of Hunter's partners, saying that "10 [percent]
held by H for the big guy?" The recipient of that message, Tony Bobulinski, says "there is no question"
that "H" stands for Hunter and the "big guy" is Joe Biden.
We gain further insight into the operations of Biden Inc. in emails provided to us by
Bevan Cooney, a former business associate of Hunter Biden. Cooney, who is currently in prison
for his role in the Indian Bond Scheme that is sending Hunter Biden business partner Devon
Archer also to jail, shared 26,000 emails that show what Hunter's role was in their business
ventures. The Biden name was considered "currency" for their foreign business ventures, and
was a "direct pipeline" to the Obama-Biden administration. Deals involving Hunter benefited
from the "Biden lift," the help that the name would provide in overseas dealings.
What might the Bidens' foreign benefactors have expected in return for all this largesse?
We can't say. But some may see a correlation between that foreign money and Joe Biden's
policy posture toward the sources of that money.
Stephen McIntyre has promised to update his timeline with the material revealed by the other
authors. As McIntyre is always diligent in his work his timeline can be taken as an
authoritative source.
While I am still digging through the above collections here my first thoughts on why these
matter.
The facts show that Hunter Biden and other traded on and profited from Joe Biden's position
by selling his 'influence' to foreign companies. It is likely that Joe Biden at least
indirectly also profited from that work.
A federal judge named Joe Biden as a possible "witness" along with his son Hunter in a
criminal fraud case last year that ended in the convictions of two of Hunter's business
partners, according to little-noticed court documents. The Democratic presidential
candidate's appearance on a witness list casts new doubt on his claims he knew nothing about
his son's shady business dealings.
As revenge for Russiagate the Republicans will use the affair to their utmost advantage.
There are only two ways for Joe Biden to prevent Republicans and independent media from
further digging into the affair and all the potentially illegal issues it reveals.
If Joe Biden loses the election the scandal will likely vanish as soon as he retreats
from the public view.
If Joe Biden wins the election the scandal will fester until he resigns.
The second case is especially interesting. Vice President candidate Kamala Harris has been
groomed by Hillary Clinton's inner circle since
2017 :
The Democrats' "Great Freshman Hope," Sen. Kamala Harris, is heading to the Hamptons to meet
with Hillary Clinton's biggest backers.
The California senator is being fêted in Bridgehampton on Saturday at the home of
MWWPR guru Michael Kempner, a staunch Clinton supporter who was one of her national-finance
co-chairs and a led fund-raiser for her 2008 bid for the presidency. He was also listed as
one of the top "bundlers" for Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, having raised $3
million.
Should the somewhat demented Joe Biden leave 'for health reasons' soon after he has been
sworn into office Kamala Harris would become President. She then could use the 25th Amendment
to select Hillary Clinton as the new Vice President.
If, after a Biden win in the election, Hillary Clinton supporters in the liberul media stop
censoring the Hunter Biden affair or even start to further expose it we can be sure that such a
scheme is on the verge of being implemented.
Posted by b on November 2, 2020 at 19:07 UTC |
Permalink
Bingo. The Clintons are never too far away from all political shenanigans that go on in the
US. They and their cohorts were called the Southern Mafia for a reason.
A Joe Biden impeachment if guilty of payouts from China would be a victory of our
system of checks and balances. Still not voting for Trump.
Steele Dossier update I read that the primary source for Steele was Ms. Galkina,
basically a nobody creating fiction for pay and not a 'a high ranking Kremlin official'. Does
this mean that the Trump Shills like Don Jr, Hannity, Ingraham, et al will stop calling it
Russian misinformation sent to the Democrats to attack Donald Trump?
It explains why they chose Joe Biden as presidential candidate even though he is clearly not
up to the job. He is to be the expendable Trojan horse through which some very unpalatable to
the public people will gain power they otherwise would not have been able to.
This should worry those who will vote for Biden. What they are voting for and what they
are going to get is not the same thing.
Useful clarity, b, as always.
Not sure I can agree that Republican reps will drag this into the light post election.
My impression was that they didn't go into Ukraine defense at impeachment was that the
campaign finance / money laundering / influence peddling gravy train there, as elsewhere,
probably, was and is bipartisan.
I can buy everything B is saying, but who exactly will investigate President Biden if D's win
both Houses of Congress?
Bill Barr could start an investigation, if one has not already been started, but
government moves slowly so it is hard to see the Trump administration bringing charges before
Biden is sworn in.
But if Hillary wants to throw Biden under the bus after the election, well she could
probably do so.
The best arguments against life extension science are people like Clinton, Biden, and Pelosi.
Imagine them as speaker or senator or Supreme Court justice for the next 1000 years.
Wouldn't the 25th amendment be the desired method of transferring power to Harris? Although
it has always struck me a wee bit odd that the computer repairman called the FBI after making
a copy, which in turn he gave to Rudy Giuliana. Do all computer repairmen have Rudy on speed
dial by any chance? Sadly the weird of the whole scenario is very Clintonian. How long til an
Arkancide or two happens. Can't the Clintons just go away for good?
The democrats will investigate and kick Biden out. The democrats knew all along that this
stuff about Biden was real but they had no chance to win with the other losers. So, the order
was given to the others to drop from the race and let strawman Biden beat Bernie. If Biden
gets elected, they will bring all his dirt up, impeach him and govern from the shadows
through Kamala who has no principles and questionable character (e.g., slept with Willie to
move her career up).
Or maybe Harris poisons Biden to speed things up and invites Micky Mouse to become her vice
president.
Come on B, this is really clumsy, below your standard. We all know that Biden is corrupt,
but we also know that Tronald is even more corrupt, that he is a fascist who has filled every
post in his administration with the most disgusting reactionary you can find in the country.
And that means something. The man belongs to scrap iron. One cannot reject the bad in favor
of the even worse. That is irrational.
Yes, this has been hinted on by my local conservative radio host since Pelosi introduced
legislation re: removing unfit presidents about a month ago.
It was always about removing Biden, if he were elected, not Trump.
Biden has never struck me during his whole campaign of a genuine interest in the
presidency.
It has always seemed more like he was doing it begrudgingly for "the cause."
Contrast this to the emotion Trump exhibited during his 2016 run when he gripped and
nearly ripped his notes in anger after a debate with Hillary Clinton ended. Or how he sat
stone-faced during Obama's speech during a white house correspondence dinner where Obama tore
into Trump and the audience roared with laughter. Trump just stared right back.
These are pieces any sane person can put together with the understanding that these men
are all still subject to egoism and revenge. It is not all elites against us as some
simpletons wish to boil it down to. It is much more subtle and so you must use discernment
and study their tells and what gives their true desires away.
Hillary is so unlikely to have authored the Foreign Affairs article. Staff work. Whose staff?
Uninteresting to pursue. Other than that appearance Hills has been very quiet. Suspiciously
quiet. Could be that Obama or whoever succeeded in shutting her up, that would have been
daunting and just plain hard. Better bet is her health is failing.
In short, Mark Simon took initiative and gave $10,000 to a guy called
Crhistopher Balding , an associate professor at Beijing University and late moved to
Vietnam on Fulbright Scholarship, to prepare and disseminate the "Aspen dossier"
detailing supposed Chinese influence ops targeting the Biden family basing an the
"info/disinformation" from a supposed Swiss investigator Martin Aspen.
After NBC article exposes Martin Aspen is actually an AI-created persona, Jimmy Lai, who
depends on the support from USG to continue his anti-China activities in HK, publicly
distance himself from the whole operation, and his trusted lieutenant Mark Simon, a possible
CIA agent, announced his resignation from Apple Daily after Balding exposed his involvement.
Detail
here
Okay, sleazy and yet very normal (one might say habitual) corruption in a US political
family. But by 2017, Joe Biden was out of office, and there is nothing that suggests that he,
rather than his repulsive son, was profiting before that.
The stake in the Bohai Harvest Partners Investment Fund (2013) does not name Joe Biden as an
investor at all.
This may be why the FBI, the media, and even Glenn Greenwald in his article, say that
there is nothing in this pile of dog crap that implicates Joe Biden at this point.
All very plausible, all very Byzantine and decadent. The "United States of America" is in the
midst of decay and breakup, which will occur no matter who is "elected" or otherwise gains
power, legally or militarily. It is only a question of which "gang in power" -to use Murray
Rothbard's phrase- is running your successor state.
According to The New Yorker, in June 2013, "[Jonathan] Li, Archer, and other business
partners signed a memorandum of understanding to create the fund, which they named BHR
Partners, and, in November, they signed contracts related to the deal. Hunter became an
unpaid member of BHR's board but did not take an equity stake in BHR Partners until after
his father left the White House →".
The Aspen Dossier was peddled by Balding to right wing websites, which then first
published in mid-Sept and now got the momentum.
The notion that the Democrats will allow their party name to be associated with a deposed
Democrat President seems more than far-fetched.
Far more likely is that the "investigation" will drag on long enough to fade from public
view, then quietly pardon everyone.
This Biden to Harris to HRC seems much more like a plot for a fantasy/spy novel.
Meanwhile...we are being distracted by the Huntergate ...an autum of terror in being
prepared in Europe...
At least 150 private military contractors have been transported to Europe on
Pentagon-chartered flights over the last weeks, including from Benghazi, #Libya via #Malta
to Sofia, #Bulgaria
Harris could simply resign some weeks after Clinton II gets the VP, Harris could do so for
any reason but if it was me writing the script I would cook up some mumbo jumbo about "clean
slate", "not yet ready", "for the sake of blah-blah" and so on.
That way Harris can come back and fill the gap between Clinton II and Clinton III (no
prizes for guessing who).
Not that I don't think the US won't be gone long before that can happen or won't be in a
civil war if any of it does or maybe from Biden or the "election" alone.
I agree with many here: looks like a typical political elite family corruption (Roman-style
corruption).
But I have a theory: with Reagan's hegemony (1980-1992), the old Democrat elites were
wiped out. The Democratic Party came near to extinction, the USA almost becoming a
single-party nation. Reagan looked invincible, the consensus he commanded among the American
people incontestable. He easily elected his successor (George H. W. Bush).
The Democrats were reborn, like a Phoenix, thanks to a huge transformation: the rise of
the so-called "Southern Democrats". This newly-born faction, much more conservative, had one
clear leadership: Bill Clinton, from Arkansas.
Bill Clinton then surprisingly won against George H. W. Bush and got extremely lucky: he
got the USSR in tatters, ready for the sack. The ransacking of the Soviet Sphere marked the
only time after the post-war miracle (1945-1974) when the USA registered a trade surplus
(+38%).
This ransacking, in my theory, generated the rise of a new set of families of a new
Democrat elite. All of then are vassals to the Clinton family (as we can deduce from the de
facto fusion between the Clinton Foundation and the DNC), but each got the right to a piece
of the ex-Soviet cake. Victoria Nuland, for example, got the telecommunication industries of
the ex-Yugoslavia through her husband. My guess is the Bidens are part of this new, "Southern
Democrat" elite, hence their casual connections with ex-Soviet states and mafias.
Everything must have been done quickly and hastily, as Bill Clinton wasn't able to elect
his successor (Al Gore). This realization that "time was short" may explain the apparent
amateurish partition of the ex-socialist cake by those families. Hence the laptop
episode.
The Obama phenomenon may be easily explained: the crisis of 2008 prompted Wall Street to
enter the field because they needed the bailout (Bush's Congress blocked the bailout in
November 2008, putting the Texan on his knees) to pass as soon as January 2009. Hilary
Clinton was senator for New York (you cannot be elected in NY without Wall Street's consent),
so it wasn't that she was in any position to rig the DNC at that moment. Penny Pritzker
somehow convinced Wall Street moguls Obama (senator from Illinois, USA's second financial
center) was the better candidate to the task. Even then, Hilary competed with Obama, and
there were primaries, so the process wasn't as smooth as many alt-rightists like to tell us
today. Plus, Hilary was still young, so she had time: she may have calculated Obama would be
left to clean the shit from the crisis and she would reap the economic recovery as his
successor; that Obama survived and easily got reelected is merely one of those windfalls of
destiny.
Anyhow, the fact is that Obama disappeared after his second term and the Clintons came
back to the forefront of the Democratic Party. This is an indication he was more of a detour
on the party's project, the Southern Democrats never really losing grip. I don't think the
Bidens are, therefore, part of Obama's entourage, but of the Clinton's.
- When I read that Hillary Clinton has put out a job application then I almost want Trump to
win the presidential election of 2020.
- There was one person who said that the choice between Clinton and Trump (in 2016) and Biden
and Trump (in 2020) was the choice between having typhoid and having cholera.
Its aim is to use Shanghai FTA to covert Chinese Yuan to dollar to invest overseas.
(Somehow, I personally doubt this kind of funds could be used by rich Chinese tycoons and
corrupt officials to shift their illegal gains out of China.)
Obviously, it looks rather nepotism, but isn't it the fact that lots of relatives of the
American (Chinese, European, Japanes, etc.) politicians have been doing these kind dubious
business deals all the time?
"Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall
nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of
both Houses of Congress," Section 2 of the amendment explains.
Penny Pritzker? Where do you come up with this stuff? She's a nasty piece of work all
right but that she moved Wall Street or played kingmaker is just absurd.
Penny couldn't even manage basic South Side real estate swindles without buckets of help.
Including from Obama. Who has a long family pedigree and outranks Pritzkers in every way.
I read that the primary source for Steele was Ms. Galkina, basically a nobody creating
fiction for pay and not a 'a high ranking Kremlin official'. Does this mean that the Trump
Shills like Don Jr, Hannity, Ingraham, et al will stop calling it Russian misinformation
sent to the Democrats to attack Donald Trump?
You might have missed this, but it has been established by U.S. scientists that Russians
are not animals. Russians is a giant fungal mycelium that may form animal mimic fruiting
bodies colloquially known as "Russian individuals". Thus, while it may appear to you that
Galkina is a separate organism, in reality "she" is a mere outgrowth of Russians. Any action
taken by "her" is an action of the entire organism. That is why any time a Russian fruiting
body misbehaves, the sanctions are imposed on the entire mycelium. Hope this helps.
Suddenly , some of the woke liberals and MSM journos start to doubt the corrupt Chinese
billionaire Guo Wengui aka Miles Kwok, a fugitive, and MSM's mostly beloved master of Chinese
"leaker", is working for CCP(!) and begin to expose his undemocratic behavour:
I think Biden was chosen, because no one wanted him, as a 'consensus candidate' against
Bernie Sanders. Sanders is a much more existential threat to the 'establishment' than Donald
Trump. And yeah, sheep dog etc. the point is the ideas behind Sanders - to begin mitigation
of corporate power - is the enemy.
Hillary Clinton? If the plan is to seal the deal for a third party movement to actually
rival the two-party monopoly, then good plan.
Yeah, no doubt they suckered Hunter, then saved the laptop for October while making up a
story for how they got it. I have always felt - I won't say thought - that the whole story
stunk, it was just too convenient, the timing too perfect, the scandal too juicy, and Trump
is a vindictive person, it's payback. Perhaps they enhanced the contents a bit too. If there
is an investigation, it could be interesting.
B's prediction that Joe Biden being pushed out early during his first term as President,
either because of Hunter Biden's scandals or his own worsening dementia, to be replaced by
Kamala Harris as President who would then nominate The Klintonator as her VP, will depend on
Biden winning the Presidency.
The way the election seems to be going - I have seen some news that an Australian news
reporter in the US, monitoring the news polls and speaking to people, is confused because
while the polls predict a Biden win, the majority of the people he talks to (I presume he
travels quite a lot and speaks to people of very different backgrounds and communities) are
voting for Trump - the results may be very close, they will depend on votes coming from US
voters casting votes overseas or mail-in votes, the Electoral College voting may be very
close and I hazard that the final result may not be known until December.
Plenty of time then for both Democrats and Republicans to accuse each other of stalling on
the results, for fighting to break out all around the nation, and cities to try to enforce
lockdowns to the extent of calling in the military. Perhaps when civil war breaks out,
someone will propose some kind of unity government, Congress in its panic will agree and
somehow The Klintonator manages to wangle her way into the Presidency or a position as
Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State.
here is a post from someone at sst - jersey jeffersonian - quoting from a website... i don't
know if or how much of this is true, but it goes with all of this..
"It seems now that Chris Wray's FBI was sitting on the Hunter Biden laptop, too.
And probably, beyond permitting the whole impeachment farago to plow ahead by hiding
evidence supportive of President Trump's actions, or lack thereof, in Ukraine, because
certain activities in which Wray had been involved earlier might come back to haunt him. Here
is a passage quoted from James Kunstler's blog post of this morning on this point:
"...here's a strange Swamp sidelight to all this: CEFC's main exploit during the Biden
hook-up years was the purchase of a 14 percent stake in Russia's oil-and-gas giant, Rosneft,
to help China circumvent US sanctions on Russia's oil sales. Guess who was one of the lawyers
working for Rosneft: Christopher Wray, just before he became FBI director. And guess who has
been sitting on Hunter Biden's laptop since at least December of 2019. Oh, the FBI. And guess
what else: the Rosneft files have since been deleted by Mr. Wray's old law firm, King and
Spalding."
Recall here Biden's negotiations with the head of CEFC, Ho Chiping, to establish a
humongous LPG facility in Louisiana (see the referenced blog post for more information)."
here is the website link as well for the specific quote - The Awful Reckoning
When the last serious dispute about who had won a presidential election occurred, in 1876,
they had four months between the election and the inauguration of the new president to
resolve the matter, and then the dispute was only resolved at the last moment, just before
the inauguration date.
Now, with the inauguration date moved back from March to December, they will have
considerably less time to resolve a dispute.
The Blob will dominate the USA foreign policy, no matter who wins.
Notable quotes:
"... I've commented several times that China's political-economic system is far superior to the Parasitic Neoliberalism that's destroying the West. China's success suggests very strongly that we listen and closely observe while not taking heed of what any Western source has to say about China. ..."
"... The executives and majority shareholders of the CIA/NSA infiltrated corporate news media don't care whether Trump wins, and in fact often prefer it. ..."
"... Those guys are just part of the polarization narrative tearing the country apart. The hatred is real but there is acting involved, especially with Olbermann. These commentators feel that this polarization narrative is giving the country what it wants and it drives ratings. Schiff is just a first class liar ... ..."
"... Obama was just put in the pipeline as one of their possible future candidates for president. They have a stable of these people being mentored. Clinton was one as well. I bet Harris is one as well. ..."
"... I think they hate the Trumper so much because he he was in some else's stable. Possibly the controllers from campus in Tel Aviv. Different stable, same horse shit. ..."
"... Election of president = false flag iperation. The purpose is to fund the private media with advertising revenue paid for by consumer taxpayers. ..."
"... The rest of the world knows that the US is not agreement capable, it does not matter for Iran one bit what happens on November 3rd. ..."
"... I understand the rationale behind Trump's policies. But my conclusion is exactly the opposite: his attempt to stop the disintegration of the American Empire is accelerating the disintegration of the American Empire, not averting it. ..."
"... The key here is to understand that that's not how the American Empire should work. The USA continues to deindustrialize at an accelerated pace under Trump; Wall Street was never stronger than under Donald Trump; American debt was never higher. And now, unemployment is as high as during the 1929 era. ..."
"... The American Empire is the American Empire precisely because it doesn't need to produce anything it needs except defense. It prints money in order to siphon wealth from the rest of the world, enriching its economy while impoverishing the rest. That's the only way the Empire can function - any other way will result in its destruction. ..."
"... Obama ran on Hopey-Changey and on his projected charm, actually glib con-man gab. Worked wonderfully, imagine getting the Nobel Prize because you had a dead-beat Dad who was from Kenya and you scored B+ for public speaking? Argh. (The real reason: killing will continue, the status quo is preserved..) ..."
"... That Trump would win in 2016 was obvious as soon as he became a candidate. He was the cartoon contrast of Obomber - white, fat, orange, tall, R vs. D, outspoken, strident, clumsy (vs. the smooth-talking con), opinionated, stupid, and outrageous in a way. Click bait and viewer bait for the MSM - but not for no reason. ..."
"... To pretend that Trump is some special Peacemaker, trying oh so hard to overcome deep state resistance to rolling back empire, is Trumpism. Escobar is always there. Trump must be understood as a leading creature of the swamp himself. Trying so hard just as Obama was trying so hard. ..."
"... The relative scores settled terribly are more a matter of opportunity than ruthless efficiency. Though it is true that "success" requires dialing it back a bit, and having the likes of Bolton around is a way of ensuring either that nothing gets done, or we all end up ashes. Trump managed to axe Bolton on time, that time. ..."
I do agree with you both that the anti-Trump hysteria has probably worked for him to
some extent but I really don't believe that is a four year long plan, it is too much of a
stretch to believe that the likes of Olbermannn and Schiff are consciously working for him.
American politics really is that toxic, remember the stuff about Obama's birth
certificate.
I also agree that Trump might actually have the support needed for a landslide win, not
so much because of the vilification but because of the arson and looting imo. A lot of
Trump supporters are keeping their heads down atm (and who can blame them) However, now it
is my turn to make a prediction. I predict mass unrest on polling day. it is well accepted
that the majority of the Democrat voters (fraudulent or not) are going to vote by post.
Conversely most Trump supporters are likely to vote in person on the day (or try to at
least)
I expect a concerted attempt to disrupt the polls by people who know that it will
disproportionately affect the Trump vote. I expect violent clashes (with both sides trading
blame) and a result that will please nobody. The worms are not going back into the can.
if I am wrong then I will be big enough to say so on the first appropriate thread on
this site, fair enough?
Zhang Weiwei is the author of a very important book some may have heard about and
even read, The China Wave: Rise Of A Civilizational State, of which an open preview can
be read here. Also, the professor gave a talk at the German Schiller Institute related to
the above book and the BRI project, which can be read here.
I've commented several times that China's political-economic system is far
superior to the Parasitic Neoliberalism that's destroying the West. China's success
suggests very strongly that we listen and closely observe while not taking heed of what
any Western source has to say about China.
I just paused by their tavern to see what elixirs of despair or mirth they have on offer
today. Pour a strong drink comrades and scroll through the cellar. Always worth a
visit.
If Biden is not much different from Trump then why does "the blob" portray Trump as
the Beelzebub? Posted by: m | Nov 1 2020 6:01 utc | 112
Because he's the heel and none of the negative coverage they give him sticks, most often
on purpose. Don't mistake their serious tones and somber pronouncements for genuineness.
It's not. The executives and majority shareholders of the CIA/NSA infiltrated corporate
news media don't care whether Trump wins, and in fact often prefer it.
I am aware of the fact that corruption is rife in both parties. I saw the link to the
Biden bus incident, deplorable yes but hardly on the same scale as the massive rioting,
looting and intimidation of the BLM movement, they didn't actually burn down half the
neighborhood did they. Organized voting obstruction will largely be confined to swing
states for obvious reasons. I made my predictions, we will see.
Just to be clear, I don't even live in the US, I am British. If I did live in the US I
wouldn't vote for either party, I'm not a 'lesser of two evils' kind of guy. To be frank I
am viewing events in the US with considerable trepidation, I regard what happens in the US
as a window into the likely future of the UK and the rest of Europe. I fear that a nuclear
war may well occur sometime in the near future, quite possibly by accident owing to the
continual cutting of warning times, mainly by the US. A very powerful nuclear armed country
convulsed by civil unrest is a very dangerous entity, I fear the worst and so should we all
imo.
Anyway thank you for being polite and civilised and for including actual information
with your replies.
OT..I just read this translation from a Russian link...most agreeable as a counterpoise to
Exceptional Nation nuttiness:
"Construction of the industrial complex, where high-speed trains will be produced,
began in the Urals. In five years, Russia will have a domestic rolling stock for the VSM
- high-speed highways. Moreover, the level of localization of production is stated at
80%, which means additional orders for the Russian industry."
I do agree with you both that the anti-Trump hysteria has probably worked for him
to some extent but I really don't believe that is a four year long plan, it is too much
of a stretch to believe that the likes of Olbermannn and Schiff are consciously working
for him. American politics really is that toxic, remember the stuff about Obama's birth
certificate.
Those guys are just part of the polarization narrative tearing the country apart.
The hatred is real but there is acting involved, especially with Olbermann. These
commentators feel that this polarization narrative is giving the country what it wants and
it drives ratings. Schiff is just a first class liar ...
As far as Obama's birth certificate, since his mom was a CIA officer using the Ford
Foundation as cover during the murder of millions of leftists in Indonesia, I am sure she
took time out to make sure he was born on US soil. All that stuff about him growing up on
embassy row in Indonesia while the left was being slaughtered is carefully taken out of the
story. Not his fault but it was quite a slaughter of humans and we know her employer was
deeply involved. Going into the Indonesian villages to do studies. Really, studies and
observations. They used to call it SOG groups.
Obama was just put in the pipeline as one of their possible future candidates for
president. They have a stable of these people being mentored. Clinton was one as well. I
bet Harris is one as well.
I think they hate the Trumper so much because he he was in some else's stable.
Possibly the controllers from campus in Tel Aviv. Different stable, same horse
shit.
I think they hate the Trumper so much because he he was in some else's stable. Possibly
the controllers from campus in Tel Aviv. Different stable, same horse shit.
Because the FBI's evidence cleaner/tamperer division's mandate will be greatly expanded,
as will the powers of the Silicone Valley Tekkies to more comprehensively throttle public
free speech on electronic media, that the deep state's Invisible Hand disapproves of.
Trump is about controlled demolition of the empire NemesisCalling @ 5.
B summarized the style differences very well. But failed to mention the greater problem.
3 votes at polls every four years is not democracy<= no American is in charge of any
thing the USA does.
the layers in the global power stack (each nation state the same):
layer 1: global franchisor sets rules of play; establishes goals <=local nation
state franchisees must obtain to remain in power.
Layer 2: oligarch <= national (wall street beneficiaries who use their wealth to
conform national outcome consistent with global powers).
Layer 3: copyright y patent monopoly power constitute 90% of corporate Assets.
Layer 4: think tank and other private orgs
public<= layer 5: 527 elected government <= a tool to regulate members of
public
Layer 6: Intergov Bureaucracies limit and direct elected power to global goals.
public<= layer 7: the 340,000,000 members of the media regulated public
layer 8: stop and go economic system control
layer 9: media controls info environment & public narrative (many
techniques)
all layers but 5 and 7 are contained within an envelop of privately owned control
freaks.
Election of president = false flag iperation. The purpose is to fund the private
media with advertising revenue paid for by consumer taxpayers.
Article II and amendment 12 clearly deny American people any say in who is to be the P
and VP of the USA.
Agree with Nemesiscalling, since 1947, standing orders from Layer 1<= demo the
American excellence; deny superior economic power to average Americans . standing orders
<=homogenize the world and standardize its governance.
American lifestyle and quality of life is indifferent to who the media puts into the
white house.
by c1ue @ 26 said it best "Anyone against the "right" and "proper" Democrat sellouts to
pharma, tech and enviro must be rednecks. It is precisely this view that galvanized the
vote against HRC in 2016." the method used by the public layers is reflected here, it is
called divide and conquer.
B reviewed the elements and factors that maintain the division of the masses..
On the absence of a real left in the US ( is all right and more right..)and of a real
program which could include real changes that could make any difference in people´s
lives, on that what matters is political technology and communication based on demonizing
the other candidate which translates in deep polarizing of societies with unexpected
unknown consequences..
" If Trump were re-elected for another four years, it would be a real calamity and
armed conflicts could even break out by the most radical groups, so that the country
could be paralyzed "
"The ideological profile and policy of the United States is that of the president and,
each one, even if they are from the same party, has maintained quite different political
lines throughout history", says Rafael García, professor of International
Relations at the USC. For this reason, he affirms that, in North America, "there is no
strong party structure, but rather that the party acts as an electoral structure and it
is on the candidates of each moment that certain policies are formed."
DEMOCRATS VS. REPUBLICANS. So much so that, as the professor explains, "the
ideological configuration of the parties in the 20th century changed radically". On the
one hand, he alludes to the fact that the Democrat, "in historical terms, was the party
of the southern states, when they faced each other in the Civil War; racist states, which
lasted until the 1920s ". Precisely, the political scientist indicates that "it was
shortly before when the change took place, with the Roosevelt presidency, that he decided
to change the configuration of the Democratic party as a result of the crisis of 29".
On the other hand, the Republican party, he points out, "was that of the union, that
of the northern states, championed by Lincoln; the abolitionist party and that of the
blacks ". So how did these changes come about until today? Rafael García
points to "a consequence of the political strategies that the presidents embodied at
all times, not because there was an ideological line behind each party ."
TRY TO ASSIMILATE THE AMERICAN MODEL TO THE EUROPEAN. For Rafael García, the
Spaniards, when speaking of US politics, "make a mistake in translating our political
structures" to those there. In other words, "in Europe the duality between left and
right is widely assumed and we unconsciously transfer it to US policy." "That is a
complete error" , sentence.
And it is that there " there is neither right nor left, there is right and more
right ", affirms the professor. Which means that there does not exist and did not
exist a historical labor-union party as such. In fact, the transmutation that is usually
made from the democratic party to 'social democratic' is not correct . For
García, Biden embodies "a more moderate man than the crazy Trump, but that does
not mean that he has some kind of relationship with a left-wing thought ."
RIGHT AND RIGHT. "A multimillionaire gentleman, absolute representative of the
establishment" (referring to Biden), and "a traditional gentleman, more conservative"
(referring to Trump) ". "Although Biden is a Democrat, who perhaps holds stronger
principles and is hopeful, identifying him with the left is still a long way from
reality," he says. Therefore, it is denied that the Democrats are the American left
and the Republicans the right .
THE CAMPAIGN LACKS PROGRAMMATIC INTEREST. For the USC political scientist, the US
electoral campaign lacks interest: "It is absurd, it seems like a disqualification
competition in which a political or government program is not exposed ." And every
time Spain is also getting closer to that model of disputes.
"We are Americanized, in the sense that the weight of the parties is also
being diluted in Spain in favor of the candidatesThese advisers are responsible
for the growing division that is taking place in Western society ," he says.
THE GOVERNMENT IN THE HANDS OF POLITICAL ADVISORS. In Rafael García's opinion,
the decision margin "is shrinking", that is, "the autonomy capacity of governments to
make decisions is smaller, and they are conditioned ". So, what is the difference, in
practice, in management, between PP and PSOE? "Little thing, in the end, little thing,"
he asserts.
That is why " that little thing can not be said to the voter, but must be mobilized
with a degree of identification, unconditional adherence, so that it can be recognized in
a brand ." And what is this transformation of Spanish politics due to? The professor
is clear about it: " It is a translation of commercial marketing techniques to
politics." Thus, a marketing advisor must "build customer loyalty" and a political
advisor should build voter loyalty .
Now, if there are no significant differences between the two options, how to
achieve it? "Through a demonization of the opposite and the creation of a hostility that
is dangerous, because the divisions to which society is returning are irreconcilable
." In this way, García believes that " it is the work of political advisers
who, apart from the difficulties that exist in societies, which are many, polarize them
when it comes to building and mobilizing a faithful electorate, to the point that they
make no difference what the party says or what the leader says ".
In the United States, as evidenced by this expert, "it does not matter if Trump
does the atrocities he does, or if he said in the previous campaign that he could murder
a person on Fifth Avenue in New York without anything happening to him ." This,
transferred to the Spanish sphere, "assumes that the party can do any outrage: fraud,
embezzlement, illegal financing ...". "That is something we are seeing, whatever party it
is, but for the faithful voter it does not matter, because their party will continue to
be so and will continue to listen to the channel and read the newspaper that supports
it," he says.
THE ELECTORAL RESULT WILL BE EXTENDED OVER TIME. "I have no idea nor do I want to make
forecasts, but I consider that Trump is a calamity and that if he were there for four
more years it would be an absolute calamity ", says Professor García. However,
" there is a state of opinion that fears that the result of these elections will be
complicated and that there will be challenges, so that the end result will be a
diabolical process of recount, county-by-county challenges, repetitions in certain
districts. .. a real madness that can last several months ", he warns, something
that," with this polarization trail, it is not known how it could end. "
" I am referring to the outbreak of armed conflicts; These people have weapons,
radical groups, some of them crazy and who can shoot themselves in a demonstration, doing
outrages as part of the institutional paralysis in which the country can be plunged
", he asserts.
This is how people, like those at SST, who lied about the real difference amongst
Democrats and Republicans in real effective changes of policy, shouting to the four winds
that "the Communists are coming", when they are not, and this way spread hatred and
division amongst the US society as if there was no tomorrow so that to conserve their "tax
cut", could end witnessing the total destruction of the US, not only as "Empire" ( a
process already in march before Corona-fear and 2020 electoral process, a construct of
decades of lying the electorate for the greed of a minority...), but also as a nation
state. All these people who, holding privileged insider knowledege of the funtioning of the
state as former insiders, should be held accountable for their willing and conscious
participation in the build up of the social and economic disastaer to come....
Forecast at the end of the article posted and quoted above:
The future: Institutional paralysis
··· An institutional paralysis like the one that can come
after 3-N "could already occur in 2000, in the elections between George Bush Jr. and Al
Gore, but the latter accepted the results even though they were open to challenge, and
that it avoided institutional collapse".
··· However, "now it does not seem that either of the two
candidates is going to have a gesture of these characteristics, with which, if doubts
already appear, it will not only be in the State, but the final collapse may be extremely
long and with unimaginable consequences ", indicates Professor García. "It seems
to me that the United States has a terrible situation ahead ", he sentenced.
A scene of Game of Thrones which could summarize 2020 US election campaign, that it
was based on throwing dirty to each other....But who has the real "power", not the
"government"?:
@ Posted by: Down South | Nov 1 2020 7:04 utc | 122
I understand the rationale behind Trump's policies. But my conclusion is exactly the
opposite: his attempt to stop the disintegration of the American Empire is accelerating the
disintegration of the American Empire, not averting it.
The key here is to understand that that's not how the American Empire should work.
The USA continues to deindustrialize at an accelerated pace under Trump; Wall Street was
never stronger than under Donald Trump; American debt was never higher. And now,
unemployment is as high as during the 1929 era.
The American Empire is the American Empire precisely because it doesn't need to
produce anything it needs except defense. It prints money in order to siphon wealth from
the rest of the world, enriching its economy while impoverishing the rest. That's the only
way the Empire can function - any other way will result in its destruction.
Trump's ideology will destroy the American Empire. It will collapse under a wave of
hyperinflation, skyrocketing unemployment, shortage of goods and collapsing economic
output.
The manufacturing sector saw 17,000 jobs added after four months of flat activity. This
followed a strong run of an average of 22,000 manufacturing jobs added every month in
2018 and 15,800 per month in 2017. Those gains followed two weak years that saw 7,000
manufacturing jobs lost in 2016 and only 5,800 per month added in 2015.
In the last 30 months of President Obama's term, manufacturing employment grew by
185,000 or 1.5%. In President Trump's first 30 months, manufacturers added 499,000 jobs,
expanding by 4.0%. In the same 30-month time span during the mature, post-recovery phase
of the business cycle, some 314,000 more manufacturing jobs were added under Trump than
under Obama, a 170% advantage
As Trump is going to win (provided the usual conditions pertain, fraud is not over the
normal levels, and the whole sh*t-story doesn't end up in the courts or fought out on the
streets, whereupon no reasoned predictions can be made), speculation about Biden as Prez.
is a waste of time.
The last part of the Pepe piece in b's post, which gives reasons to not vote Biden, my
take.:
Obama ran on Hopey-Changey and on his projected charm, actually glib con-man gab.
Worked wonderfully, imagine getting the Nobel Prize because you had a dead-beat Dad who was
from Kenya and you scored B+ for public speaking? Argh. (The real reason: killing will
continue, the status quo is preserved..)
Anyway, the ACA was a damp squib, it didn't solve anything, and depending on pov was in
effect a gift to Mega Insurance or was just 'lame' or as often, 'favored some over others'
etc.
Then the Financial Crisis hit. The Obama admin. didn't prevent it (one might argue they
couldn't not sure) and it didn't 'repair' as far as the ppl were concerned. Banks and Some
Big Cos were bailed out - millions of homeowners were tossed to the curb by Banks. Child
poverty, hunger, increased; wages weren't upped, health stats got worse No need to go on -
this provoked tremendous anger. The 2010 elections saw big R gains, 2014 they took the
Senate, iirc.
(Who cared about foreign parts like Ukraine, Syria? is what I'm saying.)
That Trump would win in 2016 was obvious as soon as he became a candidate. He was
the cartoon contrast of Obomber - white, fat, orange, tall, R vs. D, outspoken, strident,
clumsy (vs. the smooth-talking con), opinionated, stupid, and outrageous in a way. Click
bait and viewer bait for the MSM - but not for no reason.
DT's electoral promises were both opportunistic and more profound: like fire-brand
preachers of old, Build The Wall - MAGA - i.e. pledging a return to the past (see, again
the opposite of Barry, who hoped for the future) -- Stop the wars, undo past mistakes (Dems
don't run on anti-war..!), and, most important:
Drain the Swamp. The Deplorables are not ordinary ppl, but criminals in positions
of power. By putting this forward, Trump became a mirror of the ppl, part of them.
Imho, Trump's record (null or abysmal or whatever depending on pov) is not enough for
rejecting him in favor of loathed "failed" policies of the past - Clinton gang, Biden a
part of it, Obama, etc. (By US voters I mean.)
but see Kiza 8, gottlieb 63, dave 72, Jack, others, >> no difference.
...Bringing the supply chain back to the US and re-industrialising the US isn't going to
happen overnight or even in a couple of quarters. Just like the process to de-industrialise
didn't happen overnight. But that the process has started, it is undeniable, and will only
pick up pace when he wins a second term.
4 new Trafalgar polls came out for 10/29: Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Michigan. Trump
expanded his lead on Biden in Florida and Michigan vs. Trafalgar's earlier October
polls:
FL from +2.3% Trump to +2.7%
MI from +0.6% Trump to +2.5%
Trump did worse in Nevada and AZ: AZ from +4% Trump to +2.5%.
Nevada polled +2.3% Biden
Once again: the question is if Trump outperforms vs. MSM polls. If he repeats anywhere
near his 2016 - he will win.
Trump can only win again if the establishment/deep state is once again exceptionally
overconfident and asleep in the control room. They have numerous ways of swinging the
election at the last hour, from pre-hacked Diebold paperless voting machines to hanging
chads to simply having their operatives scattered around the nation throw ballots away and
fabricate the tallies. Oddly enough this extreme carelessness is still possible. The
establishment/deep state have not yet come to terms with what caused their plans to blow up
in 2016 and really do seriously believe that Russia had something to do with it, even
though they have no idea what Russia might have actually done to wreck their expected
electoral blowout by Clinton. They also think that part of the problem was that Trump
wasn't vilified harshly enough (they wanted the election to at least appear competitive),
and they think they have that covered this time around. It could be that the over-the-top
hysteria from the TDS victims has them overestimating the anti-Trump sentiment, though.
Still, the establishment/deep state screwing up exactly the same way twice in a row
doesn't seem likely. Even so, their profound incompetence continues to astonish, so maybe
we will once again get treated to the delightful spectacle of crowds of middle class faux
left dilettante snowflakes melting down.
It not hard to see why big pharma despises Trump. They stand to lose a lot of
money. My health stock investment has almost doubled during Trump's tenure.
vk @158 - Not acreage - but based (until Andrew Jackson, hardly any principled person's
prez) on PROPERTY VALUE. JUST as in the good ol' UK. Yep - despite NPR folks believing
otherwise (clealry never visited a history book) - the aristo controlled (in what way
really different?) Britain was actually a "democracy":, and was so from Magna Carta on...
Of course it was a, how to say, constrained, constricted "democracy," but then so was the
original one in Athens. Those who count as THE Demos - always been a matter for property
holder concern... So in GB - male, 21 and over and owning a property of a taxable (always
this, huh) value of a certain sum. Ensured that the hoi polloi males over 21 couldn't vote
- and for the exact same reasons, I do not doubt, as the intentions behind the Electoral
College construct by those less than admirable FFs. Gotta prevent the vast masses of the
population - the great unwashed, "the bewildered herd" in Hamilton's verbiage I do believe
- from having the ability to grab (well, they knew all about blood-letting theft of land,
after all, didn't they?) that sacred "property." (Sacred, surely 'cos owned by the
equivalent of the Murican aristos.)
@Down South #159
It shouldn't be surprising. Actual doctors and nurses are, by and large, really great
people. They don't want to turn away anyone.
The poorest in America can't afford health care - even the middle class can't really as
testified to by the millions of bankruptcies caused by medical expenses. Hospitals thus
were losing large sums of profit treating people who simply could not pay.
Obamacare threw many (not all) of those people onto health insurance company plans by
having the government pay the health insurance premium and then having the existing health
insurance customers pay via increased premiums - all this on top of the ongoing health care
profiteering. That's why Obamacare should really have been called "No Health Insurance
Company or Hospital Left Behind".
The existence of Obamacare also distracts people from the real problem: actual
affordable health care - which every other nation in the world except the US has, entirely
due to national health care.
I've posted this before - I will post it again.
In 2006, I left the semiconductor software industry on my own because I disagreed with
management decisions to outsource all jobs to India rather than change their fundamentally
flawed business model. Semiconductor software companies are the only part of the design
chain that charges by software license rather than per part made - this was great in the
early days of semiconductors but is a disaster when the industry consolidates to 5 large
multinational but US based companies.
In 2007, I experienced a retinal detachment right after my COBRA ended. I paid $35,000
in cash to get that fixed - including a 5 hour total elapsed journey through a hospital
which included a 1 hour surgical room occupancy and 1 hour of recovery time. In the door at
6:30 am and waiting for a taxi at 12:30 pm. The UCSF doctor that attended to me (and did a
great job to be clear) said his fee out of all that was $1200.
The following year, some cells stirred loose by the corrective surgery landed on my
now-attached retina and started reproducing. Instead of coughing up another $35K (or more),
I chose to fly to Australia, consult with the best eye doctor recommended by the Royal
Opthalmological Society of Australia and New Zealand.
That doctor's office was literally a light year more advanced than UCSF - supposedly one of
the premier teaching hospitals in the US. I pay him AU$5000 - US$4000 at the time, plus
another AU$800 for the hospital visit. The Sydney Eye Hospital gave me the choice of
staying a 2nd night (I stayed 1 night because I was at the end of the queue for the day, as
a foreigner), for free, including meals and medications administered on site.
I paid literally 1/7th the price in AU vs. the US - an Australia is not a 3rd world
country. The doctor got paid 3.5x in absolute terms. The service I received was immensely
better. Even including travel costs: flight plus 2 weeks in AU (which I was vacationing),
the overall cost was still 1/5th of my US experience.
That opened my eyes (literally) to just how fucked up the US system is.
@Don Bacon #165
Stock price doesn't bear any short term correlation with profits.
Just look at Tesla, Uber and what not.
Health care sector profits have increased disproportionately since Obamacare:
CFR report on health insurance company profits
Since ACA implementation on January 1, 2014, health insurance stocks outperformed the
S&P 500 by 106 percent.
You're right. The early liberals - specially from the American South - loved to compare
themselves with the Athenian Republic. The rationale is that the existence of slaves
enabled them to enjoy unparalleled freedom. Black slaves were frequently compared with
helots when the problem of slave revolts appeared (with the pro-abolitionists evoking the
figure of Spartacus). The South considered itself freer than the North in the USA - it was
only after their destruction in 1865 that the tide turned and the North became,
retrospectively, the paragon of liberal freedom.
In Europe, England was considered the ultimate free nation. Even American liberals
(including Benjamin Franklin) built up their legitimacy on being of English stock
(Anglo-Saxon race). With time, liberals begun to legitimize their hegemony with a worldwide
racial hierarchy - hence the definition of American democracy as Herrenvolk Democracy
("Master race democracy").
And yes, the original liberals considered the Glorious Revolution of 1688 as their birth
date - not the French Revolution of 1789 (which they condemned as illiberal, or "radical").
The founders of neoliberalism (Hayek, Mises, etc. etc.) put 1870 as the apex of liberalism,
which they tried to revive.
Escobar writes: "In contrast, two near-certain redeeming features would be the return of
the US to the JCPOA, or Iran nuclear deal, which was Obama-Biden's only foreign policy
achievement"
Anyone who actually thinks this is either ignorant or moronic. Biden will absolutely
require Iran to limit their ballistic missiles before "rejoining" that then-altered deal.
Iran will never let this happen. Thus the deal is essentially dead [as far as US
involvement goes, which the other parties should ignore]. MOA notes this as well.
I don't know why though MOA refers to Escobar at all here though. The ignorance
demonstrated in the above quote should be enough to disqualify such a person from any
discussion about Biden, Iran, etc. and to also ignore anything else such a person claims.
You might as well quote a schizophrenic you meet down by the river for his take on Iran and
the JCPOA. Might as well learn sign language and ask the chimps at your local zoo what they
think about it.
You are not the only American who is doing it. They have even developed a term for it -
medical tourism:
With rising healthcare costs in the US and the rise of health tourism destinations that
offer quality and affordable healthcare perked up by a beautiful travel experience,
Americans are scampering to book appointments with healthcare providers far away from
home. Yearly, millions of patients travel from countries lacking healthcare
infrastructure or less advanced in a particular area of medical care to countries that
provide highly-specialized medical care.
Noirette @161: " Drain the Swamp. The Deplorables are not ordinary ppl, but
criminals in positions of power. By putting this forward, Trump became a mirror of the ppl,
part of them."
True enough, and as even the bunny claims, this was part of the act. But those who think
Trump's upset victory in 2016 was part of the plan need to offer up a better explanation
for why those criminals in positions of power would want to kneecap themselves with public
exposure. The rationale has to be extraordinarily critical and of huge value to the elites
because that price of exposure has been monumentally damaging to them.
Keep in mind that one of the most important (if not the most important) aspects
of US presidential elections is the "electoral mandate" . Far more important than
specific campaign promises is the general tone of the campaign. If a winning candidate had
campaigned on ending wars, bringing jobs back from abroad, and fighting corruption in
government, this isn't just an indication that the public wants something done about these
issues. First and foremost it forces an acknowledgement that these are indeed major issues
that the public wants to be part of the national discourse that the capitalist mass media
tries to control. Allowing these issues to become part of the national discourse is
diametrically opposed to the interests of the power elites. They do not want these issues
to even be discussed, much less addressed by the state.
So why would they intentionally force these issues into the forefront of national
discourse? That is, after all, what Trump's victory did, despite the establishment's best
efforts to distract with "Russia! Russia! Russia!" and "Racism, sexism and
pussy-grabbing, oh my!" . These issues were already smoldering below the surface due to
Sanders' campaign, so why would the elites want them fanned into flames?
Answer: They didn't. As much as the issues that the winner campaigns on getting elevated
in priority by the "electoral mandate" , the loser's issues get diminished. Trump
was supposed to lose, and lose bigly, and in the process the things he campaigned on were
supposed to be crushed down to objects of ridicule by the corporate mass media. Trump's
resounding defeat was supposed to signal that Americans rejected Trump's "conspiracy
theories" about some fictitious "deep state" that only existed in Trump's
imagination, burying the suspicions that the election fraud committed against Sanders
aroused. Trump being ignominiously trounced was supposed to allow the mass media to say
that Americans unequivocally voiced their opposition to ending war and their support for
intervention in Syria, clearing the way for Clinton's "no fly zone" . Trump being
utterly humiliated in the polls was supposed to decisively demoralize the
"deplorables" , convincing them with finality that there will never again be
good-paying blue collar jobs and that they are just disposable relics, while at the same
time crippling their resistance to the social engineering of "identity politics" ;
social engineering that I should point out is even more ill-conceived and incompetently
executed than the 737MAX MCAS system.
Trump was supposed to lose and take those issues with him to the dustbin of history.
It is important to understand this point because it clarifies who our enemies really are
and helps us to understand how they view the world.
Ancient Athens excluded from power slaves and resident foreigners (metics). Also women in
the families of male citizens, although one could argue that they had virtual
representation through the male citizens in their families. So also for the children in
citizens' families, although they would have full rights once they reached adulthood. The
adult male citizens who had full political rights were about 20 percent of the population
of Attica.
And even the poorest citizens had much more political power than average citizens of
today's so-called democracies have today. They could attend and vote in the Assembly, they
could be chosen by lot to serve in such bodies as the Council and juries, and to serve in
most offices. And for doing all these things there was pay, so that poor citizens had
particular motivation to participate, which they did. Just read Aristophanes. No wonder
most rich Athenians hated the system.
Again, you are mistaken. I am getting tired of correcting you.FoxNews drug their heels
when it came to supporting DJT in 2015 until it was clear that the majority of
conservatives actually wanted DJT as their candidate.
It was at that point that business-smartz kicked in and they had to acknowledge that
they must throw their weight behind the Trump ticket lest they prove themselves the
faux-conservative Rinos they actually were/are.
Business 101, my friend. You wanna keep the advert. revenue coming in, you produce
content your audience actually agrees with.
TBH and AFAIK Tucker Carlson is still the only truly sane conservative on FOx news. The
rest, including Hannity, don't neccessarily mind the endless wars so long as the public
endorses them. They are chameleons without an ethical lodestar guiding their
commentary.
Trump being utterly humiliated in the polls was supposed to decisively demoralize the
"deplorables", convincing them with finality that there will never again be good-paying
blue collar jobs and that they are just disposable relics,
_____________________________________________
The problem is you think the oligarchs are every bit as stupid as you are. It would be
nice if they were, but unfortunately they're not.
First of all lets examine who are these deplorables who you imagine were set up by the
oligarchs to be crushed and demoralized by running Trump as their candidate.
The deplorables are:
-The Americans that own the guns
-The Bible thumping American jihadist
-The Americans that sign up for the police and military and in those rolls operate the
states weaponry
-The Americans who believe the tree of liberty needs to be watered with the blood of
tyrants
I could go on but all you have to do is tune into the corporate mass media that caters
to the deplorables to find out who they are and what they are being sold.
But Mr Gruff is just too stupid to figure out why in the world the oligarchs might want
to not antagonize that segment of the population.
The oligarchs would have to have lost their frikken minds to hire trump for the purpose
of giving the deplorables a big "fuck you" as you imagine. The oligarchs are well aware
that they already gave a big fat finger to the deplorables when they engineered the
election of Obama (not to mention the 40 preceding years of marginalizing that segment of
the population) and just maybe it was time to pacify that segment of the population that
was growing larger and a bit restless.
But those who think Trump's upset victory in 2016 was part of the plan need to offer up a
better explanation for why those criminals in positions of power would want to kneecap
themselves with public exposure. The rationale has to be extraordinarily critical and of
huge value to the elites because that price of exposure has been monumentally damaging to
them.
Amen!!! I don't think that people who forward that narrative fully understand
how damaging this exposure has been to them.
By being exposed they have been shown to exist . This is super critical! No more
is talk of the deep state relegated to the lunatic fringe where they can be easily derided
as "conspiracy theorists"
Whether Trump can drain the swamp or not is to be seen but what is not in dispute is
that they exist.
Posted by: Down South | Nov 1 2020 18:31 utc |
181 How can the blob "return" when they never really left?
To pretend that Trump is some special Peacemaker, trying oh so hard to overcome deep
state resistance to rolling back empire, is Trumpism. Escobar is always there. Trump must
be understood as a leading creature of the swamp himself. Trying so hard just as Obama was
trying so hard.
The relative scores settled terribly are more a matter of opportunity than ruthless
efficiency. Though it is true that "success" requires dialing it back a bit, and having the
likes of Bolton around is a way of ensuring either that nothing gets done, or we all end up
ashes. Trump managed to axe Bolton on time, that time.
It's avoidance of those lower probability mega catastrophes that is the principle reason
of voting trump out with regards to foreign policy. And there are other reasons.
"... From the point of view of the Earth and especially humanity it's essential to obstruct the globalist-technocratic elite as much as possible. ..."
"... So it follows that anything which sustains and multiplies the number of obstacles any globalist actor has to traverse is a good thing, while anything that streamlines, unifies, renders more "efficient" is bad. This includes the character of US foreign policy. Although it will remain aggressively imperialist for as long as this government exists, it makes a significant difference how disciplined and superficially "kinder and gentler" the facade is, as opposed to how wayward, openly brutish and gratuitously insulting to everyone in the world. ..."
"... Trump's election was a monkey-wrench in the works, and although the elites were able to make lemonade by turning anti-Trumpism into an organizing principle among the bewildered masses, they certainly want to return to having a reliable, fully pliant figurehead in the White House. With Biden/Harris they'd get the best of both worlds - they either get the obedient Biden or the even more aggressively obedient Harris who would be all the more controllable since she has no political support of her own and wouldn't have been elected even if Biden became president and then had to be retired. ..."
The globalist "Great Reset" wants to overcome the diverse rising obstacles to globalism's
perpetuation, especially the intensifying centrifugal political and economic forces which
directly oppose it or which hinder it. The global elites see politics as such, and any mode
of economy other than that which is strictly regimented and controlled by the US government,
the oligopoly MNCs and a handful of globalization entities, as antiquated obstructions to its
power and profit. From the point of view of the Earth and especially humanity it's
essential to obstruct the globalist-technocratic elite as much as possible.
So it follows that anything which sustains and multiplies the number of obstacles any
globalist actor has to traverse is a good thing, while anything that streamlines, unifies,
renders more "efficient" is bad. This includes the character of US foreign policy. Although
it will remain aggressively imperialist for as long as this government exists, it makes a
significant difference how disciplined and superficially "kinder and gentler" the facade is,
as opposed to how wayward, openly brutish and gratuitously insulting to everyone in the
world.
Real anti-globalists always have known this, and the need never has been more critical
than now. From this point of view Trump is vastly preferable. The across-the-board hatred of
the elites for him is the best recommendation.
Trump's election was a monkey-wrench in the works, and although the elites were able
to make lemonade by turning anti-Trumpism into an organizing principle among the bewildered
masses, they certainly want to return to having a reliable, fully pliant figurehead in the
White House. With Biden/Harris they'd get the best of both worlds - they either get the
obedient Biden or the even more aggressively obedient Harris who would be all the more
controllable since she has no political support of her own and wouldn't have been elected
even if Biden became president and then had to be retired.
So it follows that gratuitous US imperial belligerence is in fact being "creatively
destructive", to use one of capitalism's own religious terms, in spite of the US empire's own
long-run goals and interests. The worst thing would be for US foreign policy to become less
Kaiser and more Bismarck. The more chaos the better. It may seem more painful in the short
run than running home to hide under adult mama's skirts the way almost all former
anti-imperialists, anti-globalists, "radicals", "leftists" have done, since they all were
frauds all along who can't take the slightest pain or hardship and would rather die than do
any movement-building work, but for the long run good of the Earth including humanity there's
no other option.
I keep on reading this narrative that there is no difference between Trump and Biden and
no matter who you vote for the blob wins. That the effort to unseat Trump and overturn the
2016 election results, to derail his 2020 campaign is all some elaborate game of 52D chess
that we are too stupid to understand.
Here is my problem with that narrative.
The political scene in the US is split between two factions 1) the US globalists
(Democrats/Establishment Republicans/Deep State/Big Tech/MSM/WallStreet) and on the other
side 2) US Nationalists (Trump/the deplorables).
When Trump was campaigning in 2016 he made it clear that he intended to bring back the
supply chain to the US. All those manufacturing jobs that were outsourced to third world
countries to maximise the profits of the large corporations we're going to be brought back
and the way he intended on doing that was to exit free trade agreements that harmed US
national interest and introduce protectionist policies (tariffs/ low corporate taxes etc)
which would entice/induce/force manufacturers to open factories in the US again.
This horrified the globalists as they have for the past decades been implementing a
controlled disintegration of the US
The great "liberalization" of world commerce began with a series of waves through the
1970s, and moved into high gear with the interest rate hikes of Federal Reserve Chairman
Paul Volcker in 1980-82, the effects of which both annihilated much of the small and medium
sized entrepreneurs, opened the speculative gates into the "Savings and Loan" debacle and
also helped cartelize mineral, food, and financial institutions into ever greater
behemoths. Volcker himself described this process as the "controlled disintegration of the
US economy" upon becoming Fed Chairman in 1978. The raising of interest rates to 20-21% not
only shut down the life blood of much of the US economic base, but also threw the third
world into greater debt slavery, as nations now had to pay usurious interest on US loans.
false solutions to a crisis of global proportions are being promoted in the form of a
"Great Global Reset" which aims at creating a new economic order under the fog of COVID.
This emerging "new order", as it is being promoted by Mark Carney, George Soros, Bill Gates
and other minions of the City of London is shaped by a devout commitment to depopulation,
world government and master-slave systems of social control.
By attempting to tie the new system of "value" to economic practices which are designed
to crush humanity's ability to sustain itself in the form of "reducing carbon footprints",
"sustainable green energy", cap and trade, carbon taxes and green infrastructure bonds,
humanity is being set up to accept a system of governance onto our children and
grandchildren which will subject them to a dystopic world of fascism the likes of which
even Hitler could not have dreamed.
Exiting NAFTA, implementing protectionist measures, lowering corporate taxes, starting a
trade war with China (that is where the majority of the outsourced jobs went) he is trying to
undo the controlled disintegration of the US. That is why the globalists hate him so
much.
Four years ago I was railing against Hillary Clinton on Facebook without any
censoring.
Tonight I watched an interview Tucker Carlson did with Glenn Greenwald regarding the
Hunter Biden/Joe Biden scandal and Tucker showed a poll revealing that 51% of those polled
believe this scandal is "Russian Disinformation" with ZERO evidence.
Why do those being polled believe this? Because the bulk of the MSM they watch have told
them so and the major tech platforms have ALL censored the pertinent information so there is
NO debate amongst the electorate. All of this less than one week from our national
election.
With Facebook and Twitter and Google's and the bulk of the MSM's heavy fingers on the
scales of public information there are only two words to describe this:
ELECTION INTERFERENCE.
And this with over 70 million voters already having cast their ballots!
Regardless of the outcome next Tuesday, these tech/media corporations should ALL be
brought down at least to the point where they can never be allowed to interfere in another
American election again, regardless of the higher-ups personal political preferences.
And this is the system the war-mongering DNC wants to "spread around the world" with their
"regime change wars"?!
Stephanie, why do you want Trump gone? Trump is bait. His presence is resulting in many,
many bad actors revealing themselves to be nefarious. Just look at Twitter/Facebook censoring
this blockbuster news (along with the rest of the media). We, The People, are finally seeing
first had the level of tyranny that's upon us. None of it has anything to do with Trump. But
it's Trump's existence in the White House that is bringing it to light. Without him, we would
have never seen it for what it is. Think about that.
I may disagree with your take on CIA involvement, but the above paragraph couldn't be more
accurate. Trump's election was like throwing a brick through a rotten, wasp-infested
beehive.
I'll second that. Though perhaps to be fair to the original sentiment, perhaps the brick has
only knicked the beehive, and then smashed a window or two along it's way. He is arguably
inevitable, even desirable from some perspective, but the degree of nuisance is not erased, so
much as outweighed, by the necessity. We would be living in a better world, by definition, if
someone like him had never been required to improve it.
Agreed. I have been telling Democrats all they need do is run better candidates - and
virtually every time, I get people trying to claim there was never anything wrong with Hillary
or Joe and also Trump is Literally Hitler Incarnate.
I grew up watching psychos in the Extreme Right talk that way about whoever THEY didn't like
politically. Arguing that Bill Clinton was going to send Janet Reno to take their guns and cart
them off to FEMA camps like a scene out of "Red Dawn" or something. But this isn't the fringes
talking anymore. It's the mainstream, and it's on the Left.
Glen, I just paid for a subscription so that I can say this one FACT. The PODESTA EMAILS
WERE NOT THE RESULT OF A HACK.
Please stop reporting this nonsense. The cover story was all part of the plan (approved by
HRC) to shift attention to a Trump-Russia collusion narrative that has always been fiction.
Guccifer 2.0 was created out of this same scheme. The meta data on the files prove that it's
impossible that those emails were hacked, they had to be downloaded on a local device
(thumbdrive most likely).
The FISA Abuse, the spying on Trump, The plan to implicate collusion, the Flynn frameup,
the Impeachment, The Mueller investigation were not the base crimes, those were all part of a
cover up. By you insinuating that the DNC server got hacked (which there is zero evidence
for), you are wittingly or unwittingly complicit in perpetuating the lie that it was. You're
missing a much, much bigger story here. The biden laptop isn't even the tip of the icebeg
here.
Ask yourself this; "Why would dozens of high level DOJ, FBI, CIA and Whitehouse officials
in the Obama Administration put their careers on the line and commit literally hundreds of
felonies all in an effort to obstruct/neutralize Trump?" That is first question any true
journo should be asking right now.
You mention in this article that the media is basically over-compensating for helping Trump
win in 2016. That is extremely naive on your part. The media/twitter/facebook/CNN/MSNBC, etc.
is too well orchestrated, too well coordinated to be operating even vaguely independently. This
is project Mockingbird happening on a scale almost unimaginable. Maybe even the Intercept was
intercepted. Why would the publication that you founded not allow you to publish this? If you
look back at 2016, the entire media industrial complex was just as coordinated as it is now,
they just got sloppy because they were certain Trump wasn't going to win. Who's being naive now
Kay?
I also get frustrated with what I see as a naive interpretation, by figures like Dan
Bongino, Tim Pool, etc. I wonder if there is a fear by some to point behind the curtain, that
they will be attacked and cancelled for "conspiracy theories."
Neither Tim or Dan are really journalists and besides, this story is so massive and so
incomprehensibly large in scope/scale/magnitude that we shouldn't get too frustrated.
The main point to remember here is that none of this has anything to do with Trump. Look at
the timeline in its entirety, the best we are able to do and then plot a graph of the Media
Industrial Complex's behavior. They were out to derail Trump from the moment he came down the
escalator and it's not because he's a womanizer or that he's a game show host. They couldn't
afford to have an non-establishment player come in and wreck their plans. The question is, what
the f#$% were their plans? Why did they risk so much to keep him out of the WH?
My view is that the constant sturm und drang about the corruption of the elections (voter
suppression, mail fraud, ballot harvesting, etc, etc) is a ploy to distract from the fact that
the real corruption already happened long before the election.
The real corruption is even mentioned by Glenn in his draft: the SELECTION process.
The media do what they're told, and what they are doing is keeping up the drumbeat of
election corruption. In other words, they've been told to distract all attention from the real
story.
The real story is that, to the people who control candidate selection, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO
WINS.
That is the whole point of controlling the selection process. Oh yes, I know the media hates
Trump and so do the establishment. Really? The same establishment that just benefitted from the
greatest upward transfer of wealth in human history, during a pandemic panic, under Trump?
Bezos has gained over 70 billion in net worth this year, under Trump. You think he hates Trump?
Really?
You think Biden will do less? Or perhaps you think he would do more than the greatest upward
transfer of wealth in human history?
Republicans versus Democrats is a con game. It's a kabuki theatre of manipulation of
parochial tribalism, a Punch n Judy Show for the rubes.
As was once mentioned in the UT threads at Salon, isn't it time for a second political
party, Mr Greenwald?
It's not about their plans. It's just a non-violent (so far) class war. Trump is a vessel
for the working classes to carry their dissatisfaction of elite leadership. It's easier to
communicate directly to the people now due to social media, so the traditional media can't tell
the people how to vote (can't declare a candidate to be beyond the pale any more, squashing
their chances, and they used to have that power). The media are part of the elite leadership,
they don't like the working classes not listening to them, and they don't like the loss of
power. That's their agenda.
They have taken to "any means necessary" to keep that power, even though now it's basically
lying and obfuscation. They are trading off their legacy trustworthiness for short term
benefit, but they are destroying that foundation of trust as well. That happens slowly but
surely as more people see through them. Takes too long in the experience of everyone who is
reading this, because we're well ahead of the curve. The average mid level elite is a working
professional with kids too busy and not interested enough to dig to the next level and has been
taking their word - but they too see the truth every time they really look and over time that
is going to go as we all hope it will. It's just going to take a while.
"The guy who co-founded one of the current-day major online journalism outlets isn't really
a journalist" - Someone Posting to the Comments on an Article by a Guy Who Co-Founded One of
the Current-Day Major Online Journalism Outlets
There is good cause to question the Snowden story. He was CIA. Once a CIA agent, always a
CIA agent. It's plausible that he was inserted into booz allen hamilton in an attempt to harm
the NSA (on behalf of the CIA). Tell me this Glen, how did Snowden evade the largest
dragnet/manhunt ever on the planet to evade the authorities and make it to Moscow? Am I the
only one who finds this a little fishy? As someone who has been in software for 40 years, when
I heard him on Joe Rogan podcast about a year ago, I didn't find his backstory credible at all.
He sounds intelligent, but when you get beyond that and listen to him from a technological
perspective, his story doesn't add up. I find it hard to believe.
Why would a "patriot" doing work on behalf of the CIA be thrown to the wolves? Why wouldn't
they cover for him after it was released? I haven't been in software for 40 years, but I
believe that the Snowden story is extremely credible.
Snowden was a libertarian high school dropout hacker
The Deep State hired 800,000 employees/contractors around the Beltway after 9/11 on a war
footing, so anyone that was seen as clean and patriotic may not have needed a lot of standard
credentials by the usual bureaucratic managerial idiot types working for the Feds
I've been told that military field grade IT is all from the 1990s, dunno about national
security agencies, but unless you have actually worked with national security IT stuff I'm not
sure why your views should hold much weight
Senior people I know in the military and national security apparatus have told me that
corruption, waste and inefficiency are rampant (80-90%?)
Sorry, but I've heard that "anything CIA is automatically X" way too many times in my life.
Often from people trying to sell books about how we never landed on the Moon (you'd be amazed
how many ex-[alphabet agency] agents "back up" these claims with the worst sort of
pseudo-authoritative malarkey).
Hah! They "helped" Trump by running two billion dollars' worth of 95% negative coverage. It
made Trump look like the victim of a massive smear campaign by partisan hacks. What have they
been doing to "over-compensate", exactly? Make it 99%?
Whether or not they helped Trump, Greenwald's article claimst that journalists feel
responsible for Trump being elected last time so they are trying not to make the same
'mistake'. At least that's what Glenn is asserting here.
They're not wrong. They helped elect him with their sheer negativity. I've seen these people
argue the point, and they always point the finger at other journalists somehow NOT being
negative enough. It's never themselves.
So there's no collective soul-searching going on, no self-awareness, only a drive to be
angrier and finger-wagging with less concern for the actual facts of any given matter. They
don't realize how transparent it's become for those not already personally invested in the
extant narratives.
This, I think, is why we are seeing many more people defect to Trump rather than away from
him; when one is personally and deeply invested in a narrative, it's an article of faith.
Imagine you walk into church one day and the pastor says "this just in: the Archangel Gabriel
was a child molestor who felt up Baby Jesus". Next week, they accuse the Virgin Mary of the
same. Would a member of the faithful just roll with that, or consider moving to another church
altogether just to avoid the emotional whiplash?
More to the point, the head of Crowdstrike, the company run by a known Russia-hater the
Democrats sent their server to instead of the FBI, and who never provided that server to the
FBI, admitted in a Senate hearing that there was, in fact, no evidence of hacking. He was under
oath that time. Russiagate remains one of the most successful propaganda campaign in
history.
Just before or just after Trump's 2016 election I was in a Manhattan restaurant with my
domestic partner talking with strangers from DC. It turned out that they worked in the State
Dept. and they told us that since Trump questioned the veracity of some things the intelligence
establishment had said, they would absolutely bring him down. We were shocked but have
remembered this throughout the FISA debacle,the Mueller mess,the impeachment and this election
cycle.
Right. Thank you. I wrote to Matt T. about this same issue in his article. I'm hoping they
will do the investigation required for them to amend their articles. It really is a fundamental
mistake to perpetuate this propaganda.
It's literally in the Mueller report that the DNC server was hacked, without a shred of
evidence. As Fox Mulder said "Trust No One". Matt & Glen really need to get to the point
where they chuck everything they think they know and start over. Everything has been a lie. Why
would anyone believe ANYTHING the FBI or DOJ of Obama WH put out at this point? The MSM has no
credibility, FBI/DOJ/CIA? This cancer has metasticized to the point where the patient is on
life support.
We need to understand that Trump is Chemo. It takes an outsider to come in, someone who
didn't need this job, someone who couldn't be bought, to come in and kill that cancer.
Just to offer some confirmation for that, Here is a CNN article from the time: "A phishing
email sent to Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta may have been so sophisticated
that it fooled the campaign's own IT staffers, who at one point advised him it was a legitimate
warning to change his password."
However, they also report that the link was from " [email protected] ." I searched
for whether that email address had been reported as malicious on the day that the story broke.
Far from being "sophisticated", it was just a phishing link that was going around randomly, and
had already been reported to this spam reporting site:
So, despite (much of) the media converging on a "sophisticated spear phishing" narrative,
this looks to be a link that was sent to a large number of people over a long period, and just
a case of random spam phishing that got lucky.
re: "so sophisticated that it fooled the campaign's own IT staffers"
I'm not a google mail user, but in general it is pretty rare for a phishing email to NOT
have extended headers (server route log) that reveal a bogus or weird looking origin.
"Alleging" would be more accurate. They've been acting quite more brazenly as a
misinfo/disinfo arm of the DNC. Whether or not the DNC has deep enough connections with the CIA
to provide a useful and reliable data/policy bridge is another question, but both DNC and GOP
likely have enough connections to establish semi-functional "lamprey" networks just due to
their longevity and resulting personal/professional contacts therein.
Hi Frank. " The PODESTA EMAILS WERE NOT THE RESULT OF A HACK.
Please stop reporting this nonsense. The cover story was all part of the plan (approved by
HRC) to shift attention to a Trump-Russia collusion narrative that has always been fiction.
Guccifer 2.0 was created out of this same scheme. The meta data on the files prove that it's
impossible that those emails were hacked, they had to be downloaded on a local device
(thumbdrive most likely)."
Based on the forensics that was my conclusion but beware of these rabbit holes. It has never
been discussed that those details can also be faked (the meta data.) Certainly Gucifer which
seemed like damage control. I am unsure of the claims about his being backtracked tho.
So it's possible that the evidence is faked having accepted the conclusions of VIPS
analysts.
Could be. It would also mean that it was the first time Wikileaks published something that
wasn't authentic. Assange knows where the emails came from and he asserted that they didn't
come from Russia.
Note to all: You must use actual (historical) ISP speeds as of the specific months in
question. They increased a good deal in the months that followed in that area.
I agree that there was a massive fake Russia story created by GPS Fusion, the Clinton
campaign, Clinton allies, with the help of US intelligence, often willing and sometimes just
incompetent.
But there is definitely some evidence of a DNC hack. Among other things, the Dutch
intelligence services seem to have observed evidence in their spying on the Internet Research
Agency - reported by mutliple sources including Dutch media. What the nature of the hack was
and how it gibes with the evidence that there must have been a person on the ground to transfer
the data files that fast is of course fair to discuss.
There is also evidence, both purposely forgotten in media coverage after Jan 2017, of an
attempted RNC hack and the overt public hack and release of Colin Powell's email to embarass
and hurt Trump. There is plenty of other evidence of Internet Research Agency activity that was
pro-BLM and anti-Trump, making their more likely overall goal the sowing of chaos than only
supporting Trump. Thus the need for GPS/Clintonistas/Intelligence/Mueller's team to spin a
narrative.
I became a fan of yours when I was in law school at UC Hastings in 2003. Your the best, for
sure. But fuck...
I got to be honest...I'm glad the press is ignoring this story. There's just too much at
stake. Biden might be losing his edge, his family might be trading in his name, but who gives a
shit? The alternative is worse by light years.
And yeah, I don't trust the "people" out there to get it right. The "people" are rubes.
Those idiots voted for this piece of shit once before, they'll do it again, in a heartbeat.
More importantly, you really want to do Rudy Giuliani's work for him? I don't know, I don't
get it...why so eager to make the campaign's case for them? It's not a rhetorical question. I
just don't get it.
Alex: you are saying that we should not have independent press, that the media ought to be
agents of propaganda, consciously decieving the public for the greater good.
Maybe Biden is the lesser evil in this election. But without actual journalists like Glenn
we could never know.
I get the frustrations over Trump. He is a disaster. But the answer to that disaster does
not concist in advocating for more lies and propaganda.
I have yet to hear a reasonable case for Trump being either the greater evil or a disaster.
Many of the allegations against Trump have remained that - allegations - but in Biden's case
some of the same accusations (particular about racism) is in his Senate record. He was a
terrible candidate to position against Trump, and he picked as his veep the only person in the
entire primary season to get blown out by a single phrase from Tulsi Gabbard - who the rest of
the party's establishment absolutely despised because Hillary said so.
With Trump? Roaring economy brought to a halt not even by coronavirus, but massive economic
lockdowns that break the economy down to virtually Blue-State (down) / Red-State (up)
comparisons. Democrats were accusing Trump of "meddling" when he was still a candidate and
nonetheless pressured a Detroit factory into staying in the US. The man understands economic
leverage, and to ignore or deny that is like denying the Sun heats the Earth.
Three Middle East peace deals leading to an equal number of Nobel nominations. He is roasted
for de-escalating international tensions, lauded only when he fires missiles at nations
Democrats think need shooting at, and then castigated for killing a terrorist leader in the
same nation they were cheering him for firing missiles at.
I see very little criticism of Trump that isn't associated with bald-faced party-based
opposition, from establishment Republicans who hated his cockblocking of JEB BUSH FOR GODSAKE
to Democrats who still think Hillary's shit job as Secretary of State (ruining more nations
than Trump has cut peace deals for) is beyond reproach.
Speaking as a lifetime independent, please: the naked, incessant and baseless fury
demonstrated by Democrats and the Radical Left since 2016 has NOT been a selling point for
us.
Biden has been credibly accused of actually pinning a staffer against the wall and stuffing
his fingers up her vagina. The media didn't attack her story, but her college credentials, and
dumped the story after.
Biden has actually authored racist legislation and in recent years spoke of "being able to
work across the aisle" - with racist segregationists.
Trump's been merely ACCUSED of a shit-ton of things. But I don't join lynch-mobs. Same
reason the lynching of Justice Kavanaugh (seriously, you guys went after him over "I like beer"
and school calendars you had to try and reinterpret as codebooks?) made me see the Democratic
Party as a progressively more lunatic outfit. Reducing impeachment to "who needs criminal
charges? we really just hate the guy" wasn't a winner with us independents either, not just
speaking for myself there.
A pox on both your damned parties, and thank Trump for being that pox.
Gee Alex, elitist much? You don't like Trump so the people making an informed choice is not
a worthy goal? Anyone who disagrees with your world view is a rube who is not smart enough to
see the light - as defined by you? And you wonder why Trump won last time. The left is
populated by arrogant asses who think because they came out of college with a degree in some
worthless major, they are smarter than everyone else. Well, I went to college to but got a
degree in engineering vice sociology but I guess I'm just an educated rube.
Your law school tuition dollars were clearly wasted. Most of the people/rubes/idiots I know
and love learned the difference between "your" and "you're" in high school - and acquired
critical thinking skills at the same time. Too bad you missed out.
Yeah, we the people (rubes) are fn sick of the fn lawyers (especially from UC Hastings)
being in political control of our country and want a non-political person to clean up. What's
so hard for you to understand?
How's your guy doing you fucking rube? Great choice! Job well done!! If you ever wonder why
nobody gives a shit about your opinion, the fact that you chose a fucking reality star who ran
every business he ever owned into the ground, and fancies a bizarre hairdo, that's why no one
cares what you say. You're fucking stupid.
bahahahahaha...go crawl back into your fucking prol shit hole dwelling and latch onto
Tucker's teat. You're a fucking joke and always will be, no matter how special your dear leader
makes you feel.
Our local sanitation workers are much more thoughtful and respectful actually. I am voting
for Biden but I find this lawyer's response detestable. We need to grow up and stop with ad
hominem attacks that do nothing to advance the discussion.
Morals and ethics obviously mean nothing to a lawyer. If this was Don Jr, you would be out
for blood. As an independent voter, I want to know that I'm not voting for a piece of shit that
has been compromised by the Russians and Chinese! People like you, the FAKE NEWS media, and
antifa, etc are a major reason why I won't ever give my vote to Biden!
Elitists like Alex G. made the election of Donald Trump as president both inevitable and
necessary. The more he disses the "people" aka "rubes," the more President Trump's re-election
becomes equally inevitable and necessary. To borrow from Sen. Ted Cruz's exchange with Twitter
CEO Jack Dorsey, "Who the hell made Alex G. the final authority on how and what people should
think, say and do?"
One thing we know for sure is Alex G. never learned any humility or manners growing up. To
substantiate this, he stands condemned out of his own mouth. Last thing this country needs is
to have an authoritarian demagogue like him anywhere near the levers of power.
Please go back and fact check the old stories that made us hate Trump in the first place.
They've proven to be lies. He isn't perfect, but Biden will destroy this country. He's beyond
corrupt. Go look at the source materials.
Arrogant, smug D party loyalist goons and assholes like you are a very large part of why
people voted for Trump in 2016 and will vote for him in this election. T-R-0-L-L
I believe in the democratic system. The people may make mistakes, but so can anyone else. An
average of all the people is more accurate than randomly picking subsets of people to make
decisions. You say that you and your friends are not a random subset, you are better than
average. Your opponents say the same thing. We have a system for resolving these disputes.
Maybe you can invent a better one, but "I'm right and my opponents are wrong" is not a new
approach.
In answer to your "Why" question, perhaps Mr. Greenwald believes the same thing.
Glenn - new subscriber today (saw you with Tucker Carlson). As a conservative voter, I
support your new venture, not because your story is critical or suspicious of Biden, but
because we need more talented journalists willing to just investigate possible corruption and
inform the public. I also support Matt Taibbi for the same reason. The last line of your
article sums it up best for me.
"The whole point is that the press loses its way when it cares more about who benefits from
information than whether it's true."
Good luck, I hope you find this new path rewarding professionally and financially.
Agreed, I also like reading Quillette for it's equal publication of articles (they printed
that big article from the Environmentalist who demonized Environmentalism after he was banned
from his original publisher), and I also like reading Sharyl Attkisson as well.
I find it interesting how Glenn sees all the propoganda from these agencies in the media,
but fails to see the full extent of it in social media and therefore is unable to report on it
adequately. The DNC server hack is more of the same.
I paid for a subscription precisely because I believe that, despite what you may or may not
personally believe, you don't allow it to influence your pursuit of the truth. I want the truth
- nothing less and nothing more.
I just signed up, too, for that very reason. When those in positions of power put on a mask
and practice deception, they must be exposed. Sunlight is the cure for the disease of
corruption.
Personally, having read your work going back to Cato Institute and Volokh, I'm happy you're
independent and I can directly fund you. I'm willing to throw even more money at your projects.
Consider crowdfunding video documentary teams and other large projects. Your following after
all of this is going to be as large as ever.
I've supported him here as well because I think he is an important voice right now. There
are few journos out there right now who have Glenn's credibility who are willing to take on
media groupthink. But it is a tough environment. With NYT offering their digital for 4$ a month
that gives access to all of their writers/content, it is very difficult for writers like Glenn
to compete.
An attempt to assess the importance of the known evidence, and a critique of media lies
to protect their favored candidate, could not be published at The Intercept Oct 29 675 380
I am posting here the most recent draft of my article about Joe and Hunter Biden -- the
last one seen by Intercept editors before telling me that they refuse to publish it
absent major structural changes involving the removal of all sections critical of Joe Biden,
leaving only a narrow article critiquing media outlets. I will also, in a separate post,
publish all communications I had with Intercept editors surrounding this article so you can see
the censorship in action and, given the Intercept's denials, decide for yourselves (this is the
kind of transparency responsible journalists provide, and which the Intercept refuses to this
day to provide regarding their conduct in the Reality Winner story). This draft obviously would
have gone through one more round of proof-reading and editing by me -- to shorten it, fix
typos, etc -- but it's important for the integrity of the claims to publish the draft in
unchanged form that Intercept editors last saw, and announced that they would not "edit" but
completely gut as a condition to publication:
Subscribe
TITLE: THE REAL SCANDAL: U.S. MEDIA USES FALSEHOODS TO DEFEND JOE BIDEN FROM HUNTER'S
EMAILS
Publication by the New York Post two weeks ago of emails from Hunter Biden's laptop,
relating to
Vice President Joe Biden's work in Ukraine , and subsequent articles from other outlets
concerning the Biden family's pursuit of
business opportunities in China , provoked extraordinary efforts by a de facto union
of media outlets, Silicon Valley giants and the intelligence community to suppress these
stories.
One outcome is that the Biden campaign concluded, rationally, that there is no need for the
front-running presidential candidate to address even the most basic and relevant questions
raised by these materials. Rather than condemn Biden for ignoring these questions -- the
natural instinct of a healthy press when it comes to a presidential election -- journalists
have instead led the way in concocting excuses to justify his silence.
After the Post's first article, both that newspaper and other news outlets have published
numerous other emails and texts purportedly written to and from Hunter reflecting his efforts
to induce his father to take actions as Vice President beneficial to the Ukrainian energy
company Burisma, on whose board of directors Hunter sat for a monthly payment of $50,000, as
well as proposals for lucrative business deals in China that traded on his influence with his
father.
Individuals included in some of the email chains have confirmed the
contents' authenticity . One of Hunter's former business partners, Tony Bubolinski, has
stepped forward on the record to confirm the authenticity of many of the emails and to insist
that Hunter along with Joe Biden's brother Jim were planning on including the former Vice
President in at least one deal in China. And GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who appeared in one of
the published email chains, appeared to confirm the
authenticity as well, though he refused to answer follow-up
questions about it.
Thus far, no proof has been offered by Bubolinski that Biden ever consummated his
participation in any of those discussed deals. The Wall Street Journal
says that it found no corporate records reflecting that a deal was finalized and that "text
messages and emails related to the venture that were provided to the Journal by Mr. Bobulinski,
mainly from the spring and summer of 2017, don't show either Hunter Biden or James Biden
discussing a role for Joe Biden in the venture."
But nobody claimed that any such deals had been consummated -- so the conclusion that one
had not been does not negate the story. Moreover, some texts and emails whose authenticity has
not been disputed state that Hunter was adamant that any discussions about the involvement of
the Vice President be held only verbally and never put in writing.
Beyond that, the Journal's columnist Kimberly Strassel reviewed a stash of
documents and "found correspondence corroborates and expands on emails recently published
by the New York Post," including ones where Hunter was insisting that it was his connection to
his father that was the greatest asset sought by the Chinese conglomerate with whom they were
negotiating. The New York Times on Sunday reached a similar
conclusion : while no documents prove that such a deal was consummated, "records produced
by Mr. Bobulinski show that in 2017, Hunter Biden and James Biden were involved in negotiations
about a joint venture with a Chinese energy and finance company called CEFC China Energy," and
"make clear that Hunter Biden saw the family name as a valuable asset, angrily citing his
'family's brand' as a reason he is valuable to the proposed venture."
These documents also demonstrate, reported the Times, "that the countries that Hunter Biden,
James Biden and their associates planned to target for deals overlapped with nations where Joe
Biden had previously been involved as vice president." Strassel noted that "a May 2017
'expectations' document shows Hunter receiving 20% of the equity in the venture and holding
another 10% for 'the big guy' -- who Mr. Bobulinski attests is Joe Biden." And the independent
journalist Matt Taibbi published an
article on Sunday with ample documentation suggesting that Biden's attempt to replace a
Ukranian prosecutor in 2015 benefited Burisma.
All of these new materials, the authenticity of which has never been disputed by Hunter
Biden or the Biden campaign, raise important questions about whether the former Vice President
and current front-running presidential candidate was aware of efforts by his son to peddle
influence with the Vice President for profit, and also whether the Vice President ever took
actions in his official capacity with the intention, at least in part, of benefitting his son's
business associates. But in the two weeks since the Post published its initial story, a union
of the nation's most powerful entities, including its news media, have taken extraordinary
steps to obscure and bury these questions rather than try to provide answers to them.
The initial documents, claimed the New York Post, were obtained when the laptops containing
them were left at a Delaware repair shop with water damage and never picked up, allowing the
owner to access its contents and then turn them over to both the FBI and a lawyer for Trump
advisor Rudy Giuliani. The repair store owner confirmed this narrative in
interviews with news outlets and then (under penalty of prosecution)
to a Senate Committee; he also provided the receipt purportedly signed by Hunter. Neither
Hunter nor the Biden campaign has denied these claims.
Publication of that initial New York Post story provoked
a highly unusual censorship campaign by Facebook and Twitter. Facebook, through a long-time
former Democratic Party operative, vowed to suppress the story pending its "fact-check," one
that has as of yet produced no public conclusions. And while Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey apologized
for Twitter's handling of the censorship and reversed the
policy that led to the blocking of all links the story, the New York Post, the nation's
fourth-largest newspaper, continues to be locked out of its Twitter account, unable to post as
the election approaches, for almost two weeks.
After that initial censorship burst from Silicon Valley, whose workforce and oligarchs
have
donated almost entirely to the Biden campaign, it was the nation's media outlets and former
CIA and other intelligence officials who took the lead in constructing reasons why the story
should be dismissed, or at least treated with scorn. As usual for the Trump era, the theme that
took center stage to accomplish this goal was an unsubstantiated claim about the Kremlin
responsibility for the story.
Numerous news outlets, including the Intercept ,
quickly cited a public letter signed by former CIA officials and other agents of the security
state claiming that the documents have the "classic trademarks" of a "Russian disinformation"
plot. But, as media outlets and even intelligence agencies are now slowly admitting, no
evidence has ever been presented to corroborate this assertion. On Friday, the New York Times
reported that "no
concrete evidence has emerged that the laptop contains Russian disinformation" and the paper
said even the FBI has "acknowledged that it had not found any Russian disinformation on the
laptop."
The Washington Post on Sunday published
an op-ed -- by Thomas Rid, one of those centrists establishmentarian professors whom media
outlets routinely use to provide the facade of expert approval for deranged conspiracy theories
-- that contained this extraordinary proclamation: "We must treat the Hunter Biden leaks as if
they were a foreign intelligence operation -- even if they probably aren't."
Even the letter from the former
intelligence officials cited by The Intercept and other outlets to insinuate that this was
all part of some "Russian disinformation" scheme explicitly admitted that "we do not have
evidence of Russian involvement," though many media outlets omitted that crucial
acknowledgement when citing the letter in order to disparage the story as a Kremlin plot:
Despite this complete lack of evidence, the Biden campaign adopted this phrase used by
intelligence officials and media outlets as its mantra for why the materials should not be
discussed and why they would not answer basic questions about them. "I think we need to be
very, very clear that what he's doing here is amplifying Russian misinformation," said Biden
Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield about the possibility that Trump would raise the Biden
emails at Thursday night's debate. Biden's senior advisor Symone Sanders similarly warned on
MSNBC : "if the president decides to amplify these latest smears against the vice president
and his only living son, that is Russian disinformation."
The few mainstream journalists who tried merely to discuss these materials have been
vilified. For the crime of simply noting it on Twitter that first day, New York Times reporter
Maggie Haberman had her name trend all morning along
with the derogatory nickname "MAGA Haberman." CBS News' Bo Erickson was widely attacked even by
his some in the media simply
for asking Biden what his response to the story was. And Biden himself refused to answer,
accusing Erickson of spreading a "smear."
That it is irresponsible and even unethical to mention these documents became a pervasive
view in mainstream journalism. The NPR Public Editor, in an anazing
statement representative of much of the prevailing media mentality, explicitly justified
NPR's refusal to cover the story on the ground that "we do not want to waste our time on
stories that are not really stories . . . [or] waste the readers' and listeners' time on
stories that are just pure distractions."
To justify her own show's failure to cover the story, 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl resorted to
an entirely different justification . "It can't be verified," the CBS reporter claimed when
confronted by President Trump in an interview about her program's failure to cover the Hunter
Biden documents. When Trump insisted there were multiple ways to verify the materials on the
laptop, Stahl simply repeated the same
phrase : "it can't be verified."
After the final presidential debate on Thursday night, a CNN panel mocked the story as
too complex and obscure for anyone to follow -- a self-fulfilling prophecy given that, as the
network's media reporter Brian Stelter noted with pride , the story
has barely been mentioned either on CNN or MSNBC. As the New York Times noted on
Friday : "most viewers of CNN and MSNBC would not have heard much about the unconfirmed
Hunter Biden emails.... CNN's mentions of "Hunter" peaked at 20 seconds and MSNBC's at 24
seconds one day last week."
On Sunday, CNN's Christiane Amanpour barely pretended to be interested in any journalism
surrounding the story, scoffing during an interview at requests from the RNC's Elizabeth
Harrington to cover the story and verify the documents by telling her: "We're not going to do
your work for you." Watch how the U.S.'s most mainstream journalists are openly announcing
their refusal to even consider what these documents might reflect about the Democratic
front-runner:
These journalists are desperate not to know. As Taibbi wrote on Sunday
about this tawdry press spectacle: " The least curious people in the country right now appear
to be the credentialed news media, a situation normally unique to tinpot authoritarian
societies."
All of those excuses and pretexts -- emanating largely from a national media that is all but
explicit in their eagerness for Biden to win -- served for the first week or more after the
Post story to create a cone of silence around this story and, to this very day, a protective
shield for Biden. As a result, the front-running presidential candidate knows that he does not
have to answer even the most basic questions about these documents because most of the national
press has already signaled that they will not press him to do so; to the contrary, they will
concoct defenses on his behalf to avoid discussing it.
The relevant questions for Biden raised by this new reporting are as glaring as they are
important. Yet Biden has had to answer very few of them yet because he has not been asked and,
when he has, media outlets have justified his refusal to answer rather than demand that he do
so. We submitted nine questions to his campaign about these documents that the public has the
absolute right to know, including:
whether he claims any the emails or texts are fabricated (and, if so, which specific
ones);
whether he knows if Hunter did indeed drop off laptops at the Delaware repair store;
whether Hunter ever asked him to meet with Burisma executives or whether he in fact did
so;
whether Biden ever knew about business proposals in Ukraine or China being pursued by
his son and brother in which Biden was a proposed participant and,
how Biden could justify expending so much energy as Vice President demanding that the
Ukrainian General Prosecutor be fired, and why the replacement -- Yuriy Lutsenko, someone
who had no
experience in law ; was a crony of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko; and himself
had a history of corruption allegations -- was acceptable if Biden's goal really was to
fight corruption in Ukraine rather than benefit Burisma or control Ukrainian internal
affairs for some other objective.
Though the Biden campaign indicated that they would respond to the Intercept's questions,
they have not done so. A statement they released to
other outlets contains no answers to any of these questions except to claim that Biden "has
never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any business
overseas." To date, even as the Biden campaign echoes the baseless claims of media outlets that
anyone discussing this story is "amplifying Russian disinformation," neither Hunter Biden nor
the Biden campaign have even said whether they claim the emails and other documents -- which
they and the press continue to label "Russian disinformation" -- are forgeries or whether they
are authentic.
The Biden campaign clearly believes it has no need to answer any of these questions by
virtue of a panoply of media excuses offered on its behalf that collapse upon the most minimal
scrutiny:
First , the claim that the material is of suspect authenticity or cannot be verified -- the
excuse used on behalf of Biden by Leslie Stahl and Christiane Amanpour, among others -- is
blatantly false for numerous reasons. As someone who has reported similar large archives in
partnership with numerous media outlets around the world (including the Snowden archive in 2014
and the
Intercept's Brazil Archive over the last year showing corruption by high-level
Bolsonaro officials ), and who also covered the reporting of similar archives by other
outlets (the Panama Papers, the WikiLeaks war logs of 2010 and DNC/Podesta emails of 2016), it
is clear to me that the trove of documents from Hunter Biden's emails has been verified in ways
quite similar to those.
With an archive of this size, one can never independently authenticate every word in every
last document unless the subject of the reporting voluntarily confirms it in advance, which
they rarely do. What has been done with similar archives is journalists obtain enough
verification to create high levels of journalistic confidence in the materials. Some of the
materials provided by the source can be independently confirmed, proving genuine access by the
source to a hard drive, a telephone, or a database. Other parties in email chains can confirm
the authenticity of the email or text conversations in which they participated. One
investigates non-public facts contained in the documents to determine that they conform to what
the documents reflect. Technology specialists can examine the materials to ensure no signs of
forgeries are detected.
This is the process that enabled the largest and most established media outlets around the
world to report similar large archives obtained without authorization. In those other cases, no
media outlet was able to verify every word of every document prior to publication. There was no
way to prove the negative that the source or someone else had not altered or forged some of the
material. That level of verification is both unattainable and unnecessary. What is needed is
substantial evidence to create high confidence in the authentication process.
The Hunter Biden documents have at least as much verification as those other archives that
were widely reported. There are sources in the email chains who have verified that the
published emails are accurate. The archive contains private photos and videos of Hunter whose
authenticity is not in doubt. A former business partner of Hunter has stated, unequivocally and
on the record, that not only are the emails authentic but they describe events accurately,
including proposed participation by the former Vice President in at least one deal Hunter and
Jim Biden were pursuing in China. And, most importantly of all, neither Hunter Biden nor the
Biden campaign has even suggested, let alone claimed, that a single email or text is fake.
Why is the failure of the Bidens to claim that these emails are forged so significant?
Because when journalists report on a massive archive, they know that the most important event
in the reporting's authentication process comes when the subjects of the reporting have an
opportunity to deny that the materials are genuine. Of course that is what someone would do if
major media outlets were preparing to publish, or in fact were publishing, fabricated or forged
materials in their names; they would say so in order to sow doubt about the materials if not
kill the credibility of the reporting.
The silence of the Bidens may not be dispositive on the question of the material's
authenticity, but when added to the mountain of other authentication evidence, it is quite
convincing: at least equal to the authentication evidence in other reporting on similarly large
archives.
Second , the oft-repeated claim from news outlets and CIA operatives that the published
emails and texts were "Russian disinformation" was, from the start, obviously baseless and
reckless. No evidence -- literally none -- has been presented to suggest involvement by any
Russians in the dissemination of these materials, let alone that it was part of some official
plot by Moscow. As always, anything is possible -- when one does not know for certain what the
provenance of materials is, nothing can be ruled out -- but in journalism, evidence is required
before news outlets can validly start blaming some foreign government for the release of
information. And none has ever been presented. Yet the claim that this was "Russian
disinformation" was published in countless news outlets, television broadcasts, and the social
media accounts of journalists, typically by pointing to the evidence-free claims of ex-CIA
officials.
Worse is the "disinformation" part of the media's equation. How can these materials
constitute "disinformation" if they are authentic emails and texts actually sent to and from
Hunter Biden? The ease with which news outlets that are supposed to be skeptical of
evidence-free pronouncements by the intelligence community instead printed their assertions
about "Russian disinformation" is alarming in the extreme. But they did it because they
instinctively wanted to find a reason to justify ignoring the contents of these emails, so
claiming that Russia was behind it, and that the materials were "disinformation," became their
placeholder until they could figure out what else they should say to justify ignoring these
documents.
Third , the media rush to exonerate Biden on the question of whether he engaged in
corruption vis-a-vis Ukraine and Burisma rested on what are, at best, factually dubious
defenses of the former Vice President. Much of this controversy centers on Biden's aggressive
efforts while Vice President in late 2015 to force the Ukrainian government to fire its Chief
Prosecutor, Viktor Shokhin, and replace him with someone acceptable to the U.S., which turned
out to be Yuriy Lutsenko. These events are undisputed by virtue of a video of Biden boasting in front of an
audience of how he flew to Kiev and forced the Ukrainians to fire Shokhin, upon pain of losing
$1 billion in aid.
But two towering questions have long been prompted by these events, and the recently
published emails make them more urgent than ever: 1) was the firing of the Ukrainian General
Prosecutor such a high priority for Biden as Vice President of the U.S. because of his son's
highly lucrative role on the board of Burisma, and 2) if that was not the motive, why was it so
important for Biden to dictate who the chief prosecutor of Ukraine was?
The standard answer to the question about Biden's motive -- offered both by Biden and his
media defenders -- is that he, along with the IMF and EU, wanted Shokhin fired because the U.S.
and its allies were eager to clean up Ukraine, and they viewed Shokhin as insufficiently
vigilant in fighting corruption.
"Biden's brief was to sweet-talk and jawbone Poroshenko into making reforms that Ukraine's
Western benefactors wanted to see as,"
wrote the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler in what the Post calls a "fact-check." Kessler
also endorsed the key defense of Biden: that the firing of Shokhin was bad for Burima, not good
for it. "The United States viewed [Shokhin] as ineffective and beholden to Poroshenko and
Ukraine's corrupt oligarchs. In particular, Shokin had failed to pursue an investigation of the
founder of Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky," Kessler claims.
But that claim does not even pass the laugh test. The U.S. and its European allies are not
opposed to corruption by their puppet regimes. They are allies with the most corrupt regimes on
the planet, from Riyadh to Cairo, and always have been. Since when does the U.S. devote itself
to ensuring good government in the nations it is trying to control? If anything, allowing
corruption to flourish has been a key tool in enabling the U.S. to exert power in other
countries and to open up their markets to U.S. companies.
Beyond that, if increasing prosecutorial independence and strengthening anti-corruption
vigilance were really Biden's goal in working to demand the firing of the Ukrainian chief
prosecutor, why would the successor to Shokhin, Yuriy Lutsenko, possibly be acceptable?
Lutsenko, after all, had "no legal background as general prosecutor," was principally known
only as a lackey of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, was forced in 2009 to "resign as
interior minister after being detained by police at Frankfurt airport for being drunk and
disorderly," and "was subsequently jailed for embezzlement and abuse of office, though his
defenders said the sentence was politically motivated."
Is it remotely convincing to you that Biden would have accepted someone like Lutsenko if his
motive really were to fortify anti-corruption prosecutions in Ukraine? Yet that's exactly what
Biden did: he personally told Poroshenko that Lutsenko was an acceptable alternative and
promptly released the $1 billion after his appointment was announced. Whatever Biden's motive
was in using his power as U.S. Vice President to change the prosecutor in Ukraine, his
acceptance of someone like Lutsenko strongly suggests that combatting Ukrainian corruption was
not it.
As for the other claim on which Biden and his media allies have heavily relied -- that
firing Shokhin was not a favor for Burisma because Shokhin was not pursuing any investigations
against Burisma -- the evidence does not justify that assertion.
It is true that no evidence, including these new emails, constitute proof that Biden's
motive in demanding Shokhin's termination was to benefit Burisma. But nothing demonstrates that
Shokhin was impeding investigations into Burisma. Indeed, the New York Times in 2019 published
one of the most comprehensive investigations to date of the claims made in defense of Biden
when it comes to Ukraine and the firing of this prosecutor, and, while noting that "no evidence
has surfaced that the former vice president intentionally tried to help his son by pressing for
the prosecutor general's dismissal," this is what its reporters concluded about Shokhin and
Burisma:
[Biden's] pressure campaign eventually worked. The prosecutor general, long a target of
criticism from other Western nations and international lenders, was
voted out months later by the Ukrainian Parliament .
Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Hunter Biden , Mr. Biden's younger son, who
at the time was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who had been
in the sights of the fired prosecutor general .
The Times added: "Mr. Shokhin's office had oversight of investigations into [Burisma's
billionaire founder] Zlochevsky and his businesses, including Burisma." By contrast, they said,
Lutsenko, the replacement approved by Vice President Biden, "initially continued investigating
Mr. Zlochevsky and Burisma, but cleared him of all charges within 10 months of taking
office."
So whether or not it was Biden's intention to confer benefits on Burisma by demanding
Shokhin's firing, it ended up quite favorable for Burisma given that the utterly inexperienced
Lutesenko "cleared [Burisma's founder] of all charges within 10 months of taking office."
The new comprehensive report from journalist Taibbi on Sunday also strongly supports the
view that there were clear antagonisms between Shokhin and Burisma, such that firing the
Ukrainian prosecutor would have been beneficial for Burisma. Taibbi, who reported for many
years while based in Russia and remains very well-sourced in the region, detailed:
For all the negative press about Shokhin, there's no doubt that there were multiple active
cases involving Zlochevsky/Burisma during his short tenure. This was even once admitted by
American reporters, before it became taboo to describe such cases untethered to words like
"dormant." Here's how Ken Vogel at the New York
Timesput it in May of
2019:
"When Mr. Shokhin became prosecutor general in February 2015, he inherited several
investigations into the company and Mr. Zlochevsky, including for suspicion of tax evasion
and money laundering. Mr. Shokin also opened an investigation into the granting of lucrative
gas licenses to companies owned by Mr. Zlochevsky when he was the head of the Ukrainian
Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources."
Ukrainian officials I reached this week confirmed that multiple cases were active during
that time.
"There were different numbers, but from 7 to 14," says Serhii Horbatiuk, former head of
the special investigations department for the Prosecutor General's Office, when asked how
many Burisma cases there were.
"There may have been two to three episodes combined, and some have already been closed, so
I don't know the exact amount." But, Horbatiuk insists, there were many cases, most of them
technically started under Yarema, but at least active under Shokin.
The numbers quoted by Horbatiuk gibe with those offered by more recent General Prosecutor
Rulsan Ryaboshapka, who last year said there were at one time or another "
13 or 14 " cases in existence involving Burisma or Zlochevsky.
Taibbi reviews real-time reporting in both Ukraine and the U.S. to document several other
pending investigations against Burisma and Zlochevsky that was overseen by the prosecutor whose
firing Biden demanded. He notes that Shokhin himself has repeatedly said he was pursuing
several investigations against Zlochevsky at the time Biden demanded his firing. In sum, Taibbi
concludes, "one can't say there's no evidence of active Burisma cases even during the last days
of Shokin, who says that it was the February, 2016 seizure order [against Zlochevsky's assets]
that got him fired."
And, Taibbi notes, "the story looks even odder when one wonders why the United States would
exercise so much foreign policy muscle to get Shokin fired, only to allow in a replacement --
Yuri Lutsenko -- who by all accounts was a spectacularly bigger failure in the battle against
corruption in general, and Zlochevsky in particular." In sum: "it's unquestionable that the
cases against Burisma were all closed by Shokin's successor, chosen in consultation with Joe
Biden, whose son remained on the board of said company for three more years, earning upwards of
$50,000 per month."
The publicly known facts, augmented by the recent emails, texts and on-the-record accounts,
suggest serious sleaze by Joe Biden's son Hunter in trying to peddle his influence with the
Vice President for profit. But they also raise real questions about whether Joe Biden knew
about and even himself engaged in a form of legalized corruption. Specifically, these newly
revealed information suggest Biden was using his power to benefit his son's business Ukrainian
associates, and allowing his name to be traded on while Vice President for his son and brother
to pursue business opportunities in China. These are questions which a minimally healthy press
would want answered, not buried -- regardless of how many similar or worse scandals the Trump
family has.
But the real scandal that has been proven is not the former Vice President's misconduct but
that of his supporters and allies in the U.S. media. As Taibbi's headline put it: "With the
Hunter Biden Exposé, Suppression is a Bigger Scandal Than the Actual Story."
The reality is the U.S. press has been planning for this moment for four years -- cooking up
justifications for refusing to report on newsworthy material that might help Donald Trump get
re-elected. One major factor is the undeniable truth that journalists with national outlets
based in New York, Washington and West Coast cities overwhelmingly not just favor Joe Biden but
are desperate to see Donald Trump defeated.
It takes an enormous amount of gullibility to believe that any humans are capable of
separating such an intense partisan preference from their journalistic judgment. Many barely
even bother to pretend: critiques of Joe Biden are often attacked first not by Biden campaign
operatives but by political reporters at national news outlets who make little secret of their
eagerness to help Biden win.
But much of this has to do with the fallout from the 2016 election. During that campaign,
news outlets, including The Intercept, did their jobs as journalists by reporting on the
contents of newsworthy, authentic documents: namely, the emails published by WikiLeaks from the
John Podesta and DNC inboxes which, among other things, revealed corruption so severe that it
forced the resignation of the top five officials of the DNC. That the materials were hacked,
and that intelligence agencies were suggesting Russia was responsible, not negate the
newsworthiness of the documents, which is why media outlets across the country repeatedly
reported on their contents.
Nonetheless, journalists have spent four years being attacked as Trump enablers in their
overwhelmingly Democratic and liberal cultural circles: the cities in which they live are
overwhelmingly Democratic, and their demographic -- large-city, college-educated professionals
-- has vanishingly little Trump support. A
New York Times survey of campaign data from Monday tells just a part of this story of
cultural insularity and homogeniety:
Joe Biden has outraised President Trump on the strength of some of the wealthiest and most
educated ZIP codes in the United States, running up the fund-raising score in cities and
suburbs so resoundingly that he collected more money than Mr. Trump on all but two days in
the last two months....It is not just that much of Mr. Biden's strongest support comes
overwhelmingly from the two coasts, which it does.... [U]nder Mr. Trump, Republicans have
hemorrhaged support from white voters with college degrees. In ZIP codes with a median
household income of at least $100,000, Mr. Biden smashed Mr. Trump in fund-raising, $486
million to only $167 million -- accounting for almost his entire financial edge....One Upper
West Side ZIP code -- 10024 -- accounted for more than $8 million for Mr. Biden, and New York
City in total delivered $85.6 million for him -- more than he raised in every state other
than California....
The median household in the United States was $68,703 in 2019. In ZIP codes above that
level, Mr. Biden outraised Mr. Trump by $389.1 million. Below that level, Mr. Trump was
actually ahead by $53.4 million.
Wanting to avoid a repeat of feeling scorn and shunning in their own extremely
pro-Democratic, anti-Trump circles, national media outlets have spent four years inventing
standards for election-year reporting on hacked materials that never previously existed and
that are utterly anathema to the core journalistic function. The Washington Post's Executive
Editor Marty Baron, for instance,
issued a memo full of cautions about how Post reporters should, or should not, discuss
hacked materials even if their authenticity is not in doubt.
That a media outlet should even consider refraining from reporting on materials they know to
be authentic and in the public interest because of questions about their provenance is the
opposite of how journalism has been practiced. In the days before the 2016 election, for
instance, the New York Times received by mail one year of Donald Trump's tax returns and --
despite having no idea who sent it to them or how that person obtained it: was is stolen or
hacked by a foreign power? -- the Times reported on its
contents .
When asked by NPR why they would report on documents when they do not know the source let
alone the source's motives in providing them, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David Barstow
compellingly
explained what had always been the core principle of journalism: namely, a journalist only
cares about two questions -- (1) are documents authentic and (2) are they in the public
interest? -- but does not care about what motives a source has in providing the documents or
how they were obtained when deciding whether to reporting them:
The U.S. media often laments that people have lost faith in its pronouncements, that they
are increasingly viewed as untrustworthy and that many people view Fake News sites are more
reliable than established news outlets. They are good at complaining about this, but very bad
at asking whether any of their own conduct is responsible for it.
A media outlet that renounces its core function -- pursuing answers to relevant questions
about powerful people -- is one that deserves to lose the public's faith and confidence. And
that is exactly what the U.S. media, with some exceptions, attempted to do with this story:
they took the lead not in investigating these documents but in concocting excuses for why they
should be ignored.
As my colleague Lee Fang put it on Sunday : "The partisan
double standards in the media are mind boggling this year, and much of the supposedly left
independent media is just as cowardly and conformist as the mainstream corporate media.
Everyone is reading the room and acting out of fear." Discussing his story from Sunday, Taibbi
summed up
the most important point this way: "The whole point is that the press loses its way when it
cares more about who benefits from information than whether it's true."
Glen, I just paid for a subscription so that I can say this one FACT. The PODESTA EMAILS
WERE NOT THE RESULT OF A HACK.
Please stop reporting this nonsense. The cover story was all part of the plan (approved by
HRC) to shift attention to a Trump-Russia collusion narrative that has always been fiction.
Guccifer 2.0 was created out of this same scheme. The meta data on the files prove that it's
impossible that those emails were hacked, they had to be downloaded on a local device
(thumbdrive most likely).
The FISA Abuse, the spying on Trump, The plan to implicate collusion, the Flynn frameup, the
Impeachment, The Mueller investigation were not the base crimes, those were all part of a cover
up. By you insinuating that the DNC server got hacked (which there is zero evidence for), you
are wittingly or unwittingly complicit in perpetuating the lie that it was. You're missing a
much, much bigger story here. The biden laptop isn't even the tip of the icebeg here.
Ask yourself this; "Why would dozens of high level DOJ, FBI, CIA and Whitehouse officials in
the Obama Administration put their careers on the line and commit literally hundreds of
felonies all in an effort to obstruct/neutralize Trump?" That is first question any true journo
should be asking right now.
I became a fan of yours when I was in law school at UC Hastings in 2003. Your the best, for
sure. But fuck...
I got to be honest...I'm glad the press is ignoring this story. There's just too much at
stake. Biden might be losing his edge, his family might be trading in his name, but who gives a
shit? The alternative is worse by light years.
And yeah, I don't trust the "people" out there to get it right. The "people" are rubes.
Those idiots voted for this piece of shit once before, they'll do it again, in a heartbeat.
More importantly, you really want to do Rudy Giuliani's work for him? I don't know, I don't
get it...why so eager to make the campaign's case for them? It's not a rhetorical question. I
just don't get it.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmed Wednesday the
information exposed by former Hunter
Biden business associate
Tony Bobulinski that connects the former Vice President to companies and ventures in China.
But you wouldn't know it by following the main stream press.
Bobulinski's bombshell interview with Fox News host
Tucker Carlson Tuesday, along with Carlson's follow up exclusive on Wednesday, revealed
that Democratic candidate Joe Biden was aware of his son's business questionable overseas
business dealings. It should be a huge story. After all, Joe Biden has publicly denied knowing
about his son's business ventures in China, Ukraine and other parts of the world.
So why isn't this story on the front page of every newspaper and covered by every cable
network?
How is it possible that the majority of main stream media outlets, newspapers and cable
networks had no problem running unsubstantiated stories about President Donald Trump, his
family and his businesses only to find out later – without corrections- that the
information they published was bogus.
Here, there is an eye witness to the Biden family operations: Bobulinski. He has come
forward and shown his credibility. He has verified documents, photos, receipts from Hunter
Biden's hard drive that the FBI had obtained, along with President Trump's friend and personal
lawyer former New York City Mayor Rudy
Giuliani.
Why hasn't the FBI done anything with this before the election? The bureau has had it for
almost a year. Giuliani then did the only thing he could do – he turned over the
documents to The New York Post. Those documents obtained from Hunter Biden's laptop are the
massive breadcrumbs to a real political scandal.
These documents raise serious questions as to whether or not our possible future president
really is compromised by foreign adversaries, or whether or not he was using his position in
government to profit his family.
Still, it's only crickets from the main stream media. At the same time, big tech giants like
Twitter, Google and Facebook are also working diligently to squash the story and keep the truth
from the American people.
Tucker Carlson had the highest ratings – historic ratings – at Fox News Tuesday
night with more than 7 million viewers tuning in for the Bobulinski story. Yet, the Bobulinski
interview wasn't trending on Twitter, and in fact, it appeared that his story was non-existent
on the other networks.
Not even the Senators, who held a hearing on Wednesday, could get a straight answer from
Twitter's CEO
Jack Dorsey on why his platform banned The New York Post stories.
Sen. Ted Cruz said on Twitter "What @Jack told the Senate, under oath, is false."
"I just tried to tweet the @nypost story alleging
Biden's CCP corruption. Still Blocked."
Censorship in full force. However, this is not like the old
Soviet censorship – this is a bizarre new self-censorship by elitist leftists who
believe they know what's best for the American people.
Think about this – what if this story was about information these news agencies
discovered on Donald Trump Jr. or Eric Trump. How would they treat it?
Let's start with the most widely discussed and central to the issue of alleged corruption
was Hunter Biden's paid position on the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma Holdings.
Despite the fact Hunter Biden had no background in energy he was being paid more than $50,000 a
month and in some instances as much as $83,000 a month.
What about the most concerning connection for the Biden's with China's CEFC, an energy giant
that is compared to Goldman Sachs. It is directly connected to the Chinese Communist Party and
according to Bobulinski, as well as senior lawmakers investigating, possible used as leverage
against the Bidens by the communist government.
"Joe Biden and the Biden family are compromised" said Bobulinski in Tuesday night's hour
long interview with Carlson. He said he turned over evidence to the FBI and openly spoke about
his alleged meetings with then Vice President Joe Biden. Biden is referred to by his son Hunter
Biden in emails obtained by the FBI and first published by The New York Post as the 'Big Guy'
and or 'the Chairman.'
Bobulinski revealed that he "held a top-secret clearance from the NSA and the DOE. I served
this country for four years in one of the most elite environments in the world, the Naval
Nuclear Power Training Command, and to have a congressmen out there speaking about Russian
disinformation or Joe Biden at a public debate referencing Russian disinformation when he knows
he sat face-to-face with me, I traveled around the world with his son and his brother. To say
that and associate that with my name is absolutely disgusting to me ."
Joe Biden, however, has publicly denied having any financial gain from his son's, Hunter,
business ventures. He said at the second Presidential debate, "I have not taken a penny from
any foreign source ever in my life." However, Biden has refused to answer any questions
regarding the allegations or address some of the accusations against him or his son.
The American public has the right to know if their next president has been compromised by
their families business dealings with the communist Chinese. Moreover, many of the business
ventures his son was connected with were during his tenure as Vice President.
Our nation has been divided but not by President Trump. It's been divided by an army of
bureaucrats, liberal elites, the New Democratic socialists, special interests and more
importantly a biased partisan media.
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For now, Americans will be left in the dark. On Wednesday committee Chairman Sen. Ron
Johnson, R- WI, told The Daily Caller, that Bobulinski will not be called to testify before the
Nov. 3 elections. He said the committee is working to review all the information that has been
provided to the committee by Bobulinski.
The information has to be verified, as it is subject to the same false information to
Congress laws that verbal or written testimony does.
However, a Johnson spokesperson told the Caller that all the material provided by Bobulinski
to the committee is legitimate and verified .
The committee has "also" not come across any "signs" or evidence to suggest the content
Hunter Biden and Bobulinksi content is false , the spokesperson added.
It's tragic to think that if by chance – a small remote chance – that Biden
actually wins the election justice will never be served and our nation will fundamentally
change.
America will be at a crossroads on November 3. The main stream media is doing its part to
ensure that the American people are not informed, so it is up to you to vote your conscience
and seek out the truth.
Col. Leghorn CSA , 9 hours ago
I suggest enabling RICO charges against any media that conspires to hide the truth.
"... If you want a quick rundown of the Burisma op and Hunter's role in it, check out this 2019 report in the Wall Street Journal. This respectable news outlet might not have called what he did there as "corruption" or "graft," but that's exactly what it was: Hunter traded his dad's name and access for money. ..."
What's
truly scandalous about this whole Hunter thing is that it shows just how normalized elite
corruption is in our imperial society and how little anyone at the top cares.
Last week I stepped away from the Internet for 24 hours and came back to find the most
ridiculous thing took place: Twitter decided to just straight up censor a New York Post story that
weaponized Hunter Biden's boring rich kid degenerate life and his corrupt dealings in Ukraine.
This crude attempt at
censorship only inflamed interest in this obvious h
Glenn, was curious for your take on Yasha Levine's piece on the matter. As far as the
censorship angle goes, I think you are both in agreement, but as far as just how big a story
this really is, he seems to be a little more jaded. https://yasha.substack.com/p/yes-hunter-biden-is-corrupt-its-one
It's unclear at this point how much Joe knew about what was going on. For my part, I suspect
he knew but was not actually directing Hunter's activities. I actually also doubt that he has
any idea that a piece of the China deal was being held for him, if indeed it was.
That said, I think it is clear that he knew that Hunter was throwing the Biden name around
to gin up business deals and he didn't tell him to stop it.
I think it's also clear that the media in general is desperate to avoid any mention of the
story...which is, in my mind at least, the best argument to vote for Trump. A lapdog media is
no check on the crazy stuff that happens in DC
If you want a quick rundown of the Burisma op and Hunter's role in it, check out this
2019 report in the Wall Street Journal. This respectable news outlet might not have called what
he did there as "corruption" or "graft," but that's exactly what it was: Hunter traded his
dad's name and access for money.
So it's strange that people have been getting so worked up over this New York Post story.
Even if the emails end up being fake or some details were fudged, it's doesn't change anything
because they're riffing on something real. If Hunter hadn't sold his access to a Ukrainian
oligarch, there would be no story here -- fake emails or no. And that's what's truly scandalous
about this whole Hunter Biden thing: It shows just how normalized elite corruption is in our
imperial society and how little anyone at the top cares about it.
Watching liberals deflect this reality by screaming about some devious foreign plot to
subvert democracy well, it's hard to be shocked or outraged anymore. All you can do now is mock
it and laugh.
-- Yasha Levine
PS: Aside from all the other problems, screaming about "the Russians" every time Hunter's
corruption comes up is yet another example of the xenophobia and racism that's become totally
normalized among our liberal elite.
Each time I read about Hunter's scandal in Ukraine, I have to think of VP Joe Biden and his
family! They all, in this way, traded in VP Biden's name and position! So the real question is,
why is this behavior so widespread amongst these family members?! Honestly...without
cooperation from the VP, would that have happened to the degree it did?!
Let's see...."If you don't fire the prosecutor, you're not getting the one billion
dollars!"
Also, I see that you brushed on the fact that it might be corruption, but it's been
legalized: "But they also raise real questions about whether Joe Biden knew about and even
himself engaged in a form of legalized corruption."
So what Levine is saying is that - yeah it's bad, but it's not only legal - it's been going
on for years and across both parties.
from a purely political standpoint, the reason once credible liberal/mainstream sources seek
to suppress/malign right wing and conservative voices is simple: these voices would inform
policy as most americans would embrace those voices. most people want to hear tucker carlson
call looters...looters - especially when no one else is saying it. and want to see fair and
impartial handling of media. so every viewpoint is ignored, or derided...this isnt to say that
righwing voices are always correct - just that they appeal to a deep seated need that is
missing on the left: simplicity. not everything has to be analyzed to death. not everything has
shades of white supremacy. not everything reeks of...the list goes on and on. some things are
just simple. we need safety. we need a good economy. the truth is multiplex and evolving, and
not everything is just because a dark web of college educated journalist elitist say so. trump
and his supporters exist because of msm. they enabled him, they created this massive nationwide
gaslighting of simple straight forward policies and ideas that most people have held peacefully
for decades (like the fact that censorship is indeed bad). and if he wins, it'll be because of
the deeply corrupt media elites. and i hope he wins. they deserve it.
on this article, it looks like hunter did some shady stuff, but as for this story, it lacks
real credibility, and as a consumer of news in america, i'd ask the question why msm ran with
russiagate for 3 years with zero credible evidence but is silent now. the truth is simple. we
don't need to go further.
UPS has found
documents that went missing in transit to Tucker Carlson, putting to rest questions about the
whereabouts of a trove that the Fox News host had called "damning" of presidential candidate
Joe Biden's family.
"After an extensive search, we have found the contents of the package and are arranging
for its return," a UPS spokesman told the
Daily Beast on Thursday. "UPS will always focus first on our customers and will never
stop working to solve issues and make things right."
While the successful search resolved the issue of the documents' whereabouts, questions
remain about how they disappeared from a package sent to Carlson in California from a producer
in New York -- and who, if anyone, was behind it. Without naming the company involved or
specifically saying the papers were purposely targeted and stolen, Carlson suggested on his
show on Wednesday night that the disappearance wasn't coincidental.
"As of tonight, the [shipping] company has no idea and no working theory even about what
happened to this trove of material – documents that are directly relevant to the
presidential campaign just six days from now," Carlson said. The company's executives
"seemed baffled and deeply bothered by this, and so are we."
Carlson described the package as containing confidential documents about the Biden family
and said they were "authentic, real and damning." He said he asked a Fox producer in New
York to send the documents to him in Los Angeles, where he had traveled to interview former
Biden business associated
Tony Bobulinski on Tuesday. The package didn't show up on Tuesday morning, prompting UPS to
begin an exhaustive search.
Mainstream media critics mocked Carlson for saying the documents had disappeared, including
some who suggested that they never existed. HuffPost said Carlson "concocted yet another
conspiracy
theory " to explain the disappearance of documents related to what they called his
"conspiracy theory" about Biden's son, Hunter.
Carlson devoted his entire show on Tuesday night to the Bobulinski interview, which provided
more specific allegations about the Biden family's business dealings in China following an Oct.
14
New York Post report on the ventures. Although Bobulinski provided legal documents, text
messages and recordings to back up his claims, the interview was largely ignored by other
mainstream media outlets.
Helen Buyniski is an American journalist and political commentator at RT. Follow her on
Twitter @velocirapture23
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's campaign is using a vast reserve of donations
from the usual plutocratic suspects to pry even deep-red states away from an incumbent who's
done little to help the working class.
The Biden campaign broke all-time records for TV ad spending over the weekend, leveraging
Wall Street donors' unprecedented largesse in its effort to woo ordinary Americans back into
the establishment fold.
Given how Trump's record bristles with policies so 'pro-business' they can be seen as
anti-working-class, it's a strategy just crazy enough to work. Voters need only be reminded how
the incumbent cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations while printing trillions of dollars to
be diverted directly into the pockets of big banks and big companies during the pandemic. The
media is encouraged to do its part by hyping up Trump's " divisiveness. "
The same corporate-friendly policies that alienated many in Trump's 2016 base have somehow
failed to keep the .01 percent in the Republican camp, and Wall Street has poured $50 million
into the Biden campaign, CNBC reported on Monday, holding up former Goldman Sachs president
Harvey Schwartz as a typical contributor. Schwartz made his largest-ever political donation
earlier this month to the Biden Action Fund, a $100,000 gift that was also one of the biggest
donations the Fund received during that period.
And it's not just Wall Street - aside from hardcore Republican Zionists like casino mogul
Sheldon Adelson and vulture capitalist Paul Singer, the US oligarchy is firmly and vocally in
the Biden camp. Former New York City Republican-turned-Democrat mayor Mike Bloomberg announced
a $15 million ad buy in Texas and Ohio on Monday, two states where Trump won by a healthy
margin in 2016 but where the failed presidential candidate apparently smells weakness. That
hefty sum is in addition to over $100 million Bloomberg spent in the critical swing state of
Florida, where he also raised millions of dollars to pay off the court fees of black and
Hispanic ex-cons - whose votes the businessman believes will reliably land in the Biden camp,
never mind the candidate's history of supporting the kind of laws that probably landed them in
prison in the first place.
Overwhelming support for Biden among the ruling class is also amplified by wealthy
celebrities. From Cher's cringe-inducing ditty " Happiness is just a thing called Joe ,"
recently performed at a Biden benefit concert, to Taylor Swift's insistence that 2020's
election is " more important than I could even possibly say ," to questionable
statements from one-time anti-establishment stalwarts like Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys,
Americans are being cajoled, shamed, and pushed into the voting booth to deliver their support
to candidates who have never cared less about average Americans.
Working class people whose lives have been torn asunder by the coronavirus shutdowns Biden
has essentially pledged to expand aren't left with many options. While Trump resisted calls to
lock down the nation, his self-presentation as an anti-establishment maverick contrasts with
four years spent racking up debt and bombing Middle Eastern civilians. Recent polls suggest
that even the " poor and uneducated " - groups whose support for Trump has long been the
butt of liberal jokes - are defecting.
While a New York Times
analysis on Sunday showed Trump continuing to outperform Biden in low-income areas and
Biden's support remains concentrated in traditional liberal bastions on the East and West
Coasts, it showed middle-class suburban voters bailing out of the " Trump train " in
droves. Meanwhile, wealthy and college-educated voters have coalesced around Biden more firmly
than in the past, with even big-money establishment Republican types drawn to Biden's promise
of a return to the Obama-era status quo.
Where does that leave the poor, or those who lost their middle-class status in the last
crash? Trump's detractors have pointed out the irony of the man surrounded by gold presenting
himself as the people's champion, and the Biden campaign is spending relentlessly to poach
wavering Trump supporters, with ads and opinion
pieces featuring self- described
" Christian Republicans " embracing the Democrat.
Short of voting for a third party - described by the media establishment as something akin
to a war crime, especially for swing state residents - the working class is caught in an
unenviable bind. More than a few must be wondering if voting is merely a long con aimed at
drafting Americans into participating in their own oppression. Driving through rural western
Pennsylvania, a state polls insist Biden has bagged, a bumper crop of Trump signs - more than a
few of them handmade - has blossomed, suggesting the small farmers of the Rust Belt really are
expending their meager resources to re-elect the man with the gold-plated
bathroom . But if this is, indeed, what democracy looks like, it's no wonder the system is
losing support among the younger generation.
If you like this story, share it with a friend! Jojo jordan 1 day ago Sorry Helen but
you lost me where you claimed Trump didn't help the working class. Also, the Big companies got
rich during the pandemic due to Democrat Governors and Mayors shutdowns of small businesses.
Biden is THE definition of swamp creature. Trump is for the people. He's a realist. Reply 10 2
Zogg Jojo jordan 1 day ago Nope, Trump heavily damaged the working class when signed the law
having the corporate taxes halved and not halving the working class taxes. tracie72 1 day ago
"It's one big party, we aren't invited." George Carlin J_P_Franklin 1 day ago "wondering if
voting is merely a long con aimed at drafting Americans into participating in their own
oppression" Democracy is the problem. "Voting only encourages them." - Gore Vidal Juan_More
J_P_Franklin 1 day ago Actually it is the reverse. The more the people vote the more it scares
the politicians. It is usually non-aligned voters that make up the vast majority of those who
do not vote. That way the parties count on the party faithful to get out and vote. With all
those independent voters voting it makes those sure thing seats a lot less sure. Why are you
trying to discourage people from voting. From the number of comments like yours I've seen in
social media there would appear to be move to suppress people from voting. Lastly everyone
should keep in mind, there may not be anything worth voting for but there is always something
to vote against.
Tuesday night, we heard at length and on camera from one of the Biden family's former
business partners. His name is Tony Bobulinski. He's a very successful businessman and a Navy
veteran.
Bobulinski spoke to "Tucker Carlson Tonight" for a full hour. He told us he met two
separate times with Joe Biden himself. Not just with Joe
Biden's son or his brother, but with Joe Biden -- the former vice president and the man now
running for president -- to discuss business deals with the communist government of China .
That's a very serious claim, and whatever your political views, it's hard to dismiss it when
Tony Bobulinski makes it because Bobulinsky is an unusually credible witness. He's not a
partisan, he's not seeking money, he's not seeking publicity. He did not want to come on our
show.
But when Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and the Biden campaign accused Tony Bobulinski of
participating in a Russian disinformation effort, he felt he had no choice. That was a slander
against him and against his family. So Bobulinski came to us. He arrived with heaps of evidence
to bolster the story he was telling. He brought contemporaneous audio recordings, text
messages, e-mails, many financial documents.
By the end of the hour, it was very clear to us that Tony Bobulinski was telling the truth
and that Joe Biden was lying. We believe that any honest person who watched the entire hour
would come to the same conclusion.
Well, on Wednesday, a
Senate committee confirmed it . The Senate Homeland Security Committee reported that all of
Tony Bobulinski's documents are, in fact, real. They are authentic. They are not forgeries.
This is not Russian disinformation. It is real.
Bobulinski told a remarkable story. Joe Biden -- who, once again, could be president of the
United States next week, was planning business deals with America's most formidable global
opponent. And when he was caught doing it, Joe Biden lied. And then he went further. He
slandered an innocent man as a traitor to his own country. It is clear that Joe Biden did that.
That's not a partisan talking point uttered in bad faith on behalf of another presidential
campaign. It's true.
So the question is, what is Joe Biden's excuse for doing that? What is his version of this
story? Everyone has a version and we'd like to hear it, but we don't know what Joe Biden's
version of the story is, because no one in America's vast media landscape has pressed Joe Biden
to answer the question. Instead, reporters at all levels and their editors and their publishers
have openly collaborated with Joe Biden's political campaign. That is unprecedented. It has
never happened in American history.
Wednesday morning, the big papers completely ignored what Tony Bobulinski had to say. So did
the other television networks. Not a single word about Bobulinski appeared on CNN or anywhere
else. Newsweek decided to cover it, but came to the conclusion that the real story was about
QAnon somehow. This is Soviet-style suppression of information about a legitimate news story.
Days before an election, the ramifications of it are impossible to imagine. But we do know the
media cannot continue in the way that it has.
No one believes the media anymore and no one should. You should be offended by this, not
because the media are liberal, but because this is an attack on our democracy. You've heard
that phrase again and again, but this is what it looks like. In a self-governing country,
voters have a right -- an obligation -- to know who they're voting for. In this case, they have
the right to know the Democratic nominee for president was a willing partner in his family's
lucrative influence-peddling operation, an operation that went on for decades and stretched
from China and Ukraine all the way to Oman, Romania, Luxembourg and many other countries. This
is not speculation once again, and it's not a partisan attack. It's true, and Tony bobulinski
confirmed it.
Bobulinski met with Joe Biden at a hotel bar in Los Angeles in early May of 2017, and when
he did, Joe Biden's son introduced Bobulinski this way: "Dad. Here's the individual I told you
about that's helping us with the business that we're working on and the Chinese."
Now, written documents confirmed this is real. At one point, Joe Biden's son texted Tony
Bobulinski to say that Joe Biden, his father, was making key decisions about their business
deals with China.
CARLSON: When Hunter Biden said his chairman, he was talking about his dad.
BOBULINSKI: Correct, and what Hunter is referencing there is, he spoke with his father
and his father is giving an emphatic 'no' to the ask that I had, which was putting proper
governance in place around Oneida Holdings.
CARLSON: So, Joe Biden is vetoing your plan for putting stricter governance in the
company. I mean, and it's it's right here in the email.
BOBULINSKI: Yes, Tucker, I want to be very careful in front of the American people. That
is not me writing that. That is not me claiming that. That is Hunter Biden writing on his own
phone. Typing in that 'I spoke with my chairman,' referencing his father.
All this is spelled out in the clearest possible language in documents that Bobulinski
provided us, documents that subsequently federal authorities have authenticated as real.
On May 13, 2017, for example, Hunter Biden got an email explaining how his family would be
paid for their deal with the Chinese energy company. His father, Joe Biden, was getting
10%.
BOBULINSKI: In that email, there's a statement where they go through the equity, Jim Biden's
referenced as, you know, 10%. It doesn't say Biden, it says Jim. And then it has 10% for the
big guy held by H. I 1,000% sit here and know that the big guy is referencing Joe Biden. It's,
that's crystal clear to me because I lived it. I met with the former vice president in person
multiple times.
That was three years ago, and we still don't know where all that money went, because the
media haven't forced Joe Biden to tell us. But Tony, Bobulinski did add a telling detail. Joe
Biden's brother, Jim, saw his stake in the deal double from 10% to 20%. Was Jim Biden getting
his brother's share again? It might be worth finding out.
We also know that according to an email from a top Chinese official, this one written on
July 26, 2017, the Chinese proposed a $5 million dollar interest-free loan to the Biden family,
"based on their trust on [sic] BD [Biden] family." The e-mail continued, "Should this Chinese
company, CEFC, keep lending more to the family?" And indeed, CEFC was supposed to send another
$5 million dollars to the Bidens' business ventures. Apparently, that money never made it to
the business. Where did it go? A recent Senate report suggests it went to Hunter Biden
directly. And from there, who knows? Again, no one's asked.
Tony Bobulinski also told us he learned Hunter Biden became the personal attorney to the
chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, just as they were tendering 14% of a Russian state-owned energy
company. That was a deal valued at $9 billion dollars. It's pretty sleazy. It's pretty amazing,
actually, that this happened and no one noticed.
We're not going to spend the next six months leading you through a maze of complex financial
transactions. This isn't that complicated: Millions of dollars linked directly to the Communist
Party of China went to Joe Biden's family, and not because they're capable businessmen. Jim
Biden's one business success appears to have been running a nightclub in Delaware that
ultimately went under.
No, the Bidens were cut in on the world's most lucrative business deals, massive
infrastructure deals in countries around the world for one reason: Because Joe Biden was a
powerful government official willing to leverage his power on behalf of his family.
Now, if that's not a crime, it's very close to a crime and it's certainly something every
person voting should know about. The Bidens didn't do this once. They did it for decades. So
the question is, how did they get away with it for so long? Tony Bobulinski asked Jim Biden
that question directly. To his credit Jim Biden answered that question honestly.
BOBULINSKI: And I remember looking at Jim Biden and saying, 'How are you guys getting
away with this?' Like, 'Aren't you concerned?' And he looked at me and he laughed a little bit
and said, 'Plausible deniability.'
CARLSON: He said that out loud.
BOBULINSKI: Yes, he said it directly to me. One on one, in a cabana at the Peninsula
Hotel.
"Plausible deniability." In other words, "we lie." We get away with selling access to the
U.S. government, which we do not own, because we lie about what we're doing. And as we lie, we
try to make those lies plausible. That's why we call it "plausible deniability." That is the
answer that Joe Biden's brother gave when asked directly.
So the question is, what is Joe Biden's answer to that question? We wish we
knew.
ForFoxSake!!! 1 hour ago Everything that is happening right now is because Trump was
right about the swamp, the media, and the ruling class families who have been selling out
America for decades. ohhappyday657 1 hour ago Tucker is doing this country a great service. The
FBI doesn't seem to want to engage. Mr. Bobulinski is a patriot and we are lucky he came
forward. The Bidens need to be called out for their high crimes and misdemeanors. Joe should be
impeached for his time as VP. Thank you Tucker. resipsaloquitor ohhappyday657 29 minutes ago
You can smell the desperation on the Trump supporters. The lies, the distortions and the
grasping, pathetic search for the proverbial Hail Mary to salvage the quickly sinking ship. If
Mr. Bobulinski is the best you have the Democrats will 'trump' you with: 227,000 dead
Americans, close to 9 million more infected and an economy in tatters. The day of reckoning is
approaching and a dozen Bobulinskis won't change that. Trump and his unseemly administration
are doomed.
On Tuesday night, Tucker Carlson did something he'd never done before: he dedicated his
entire show to a single interview. The person he interviewed was Tony Bobulinski, an
experienced international businessman who found himself working with Hunter Biden, James Biden,
and others on a deal between the Biden group and CEFC, a Chinese energy company with ties to
the communist government and the military. Bobulinski powerfully confirms that Joe Biden was
deeply involved in the transaction, which had its beginnings when Joe was still vice
president.
Fox News has not yet uploaded (and may never upload) the interview in its entirety. However,
the four videos below bring together almost everything from the interview.
Tucker opened by making the point that he was dedicating his show to the Bobulinski
interview because the rest of the American media are assiduously ignoring the story,
downplaying it, or claiming it's a Russian smear. The leader of the Russian smear approach is,
naturally, Rep. Adam Schiff, a man who has all the hallmarks of a conscienceless psychopath.
Ironically, it was Schiff's smear about Hunter Biden's hard drive that led Bobulinski, a
Democrat, to go public with his story.
If you can't watch the interview, here's a brief overview:
Bobulinksi is a former naval officer with a Q clearance. That's an extremely high clearance
level for people working in the Department of Energy -- and Bobulinski worked in the Navy's
nuclear program. He comes from a military family and is very proud of that legacy.
After leaving the Navy, Bobulinski became an international businessman. His expertise led to
Hunter Biden and his people wooing Bobulinski to give them the business expertise they needed
to get their partnership up and running.
The partnership, SinoHawk, was intended to bring together CEFC and the Biden family. Both
Hunter and James Biden, after all, brought nothing to the table other than their last name and,
with it, the promise that China would have access to political influence at the highest level
of American government.
Bobulinski's name recently became public knowledge when James Gilliar, another businessman
working on SinoHawk, sent an email to Tony Bobulinski, setting out the terms Gilliar had been
negotiating with CEFC. What caught everyone's interest was the statement that Hunter would hold
"10[%] for the Big Guy." Bobulinski confirmed that Joe Biden was the "Big Guy."
At this point, Schiff, the media, and Joe Biden, none of whom ever denied the legitimacy of
the email, claimed that the whole thing was a Russian smear. This unfounded accusation got
Bobulinski's dander up. As a naval officer from a military family and a true patriot, being
smeared as a Russian agent was beyond the pale.
Bobulinski demanded that Schiff retract the insult, and when Schiff failed to do so, he went
public and did a full document dump. Bobulinski had saved everything -- every document, every
email, and every text.
That's the quick background to the interview with Carlson, during which Bobulinski said
that
Hunter and James Biden brought nothing to the deal other than the Biden family name.
What China wanted was the Biden family name.
Joe Biden was involved in the business deal, so much so that he had veto power over
negotiations.
In 2017, Bobulinski met Joe Biden twice when the Biden side of SinoHawk was courting him
to step in and act as CEO.
Bobulinski also spoke at length with James Biden, Joe's brother.
When Bobulinski asked James how they could get away with this kind of deal, which seemed
to be falling into dangerous territory, given that Joe could run again for president, James
announced, "Plausible deniability."
The Biden group stiffed Bobulinski, leaving him out of pocket for all his expenses while
channeling CEFC's money into another entity that did not involve Bobulinski.
If we had a decent media establishment, this story would be on every front page and at the
top of every news hour. Instead, Bobulinski is trying desperately to get Americans to know that
he is not a Russian agent and that Joe Biden was in bed with the communist Chinese government,
starting when he was vice president and continuing after he left the White House. This screen
shot from Memeorandum shows that
none of the legacy media outlets is touching the story:
(As an aside, and separate from the Bobulinski interview, a former CIA operations office
believes it's entirely possible that Biden
was already doing China's bidding in 2012, when the Obama administration gave China free
rein in the South China Sea.)
In case the embedded videos do not play, you can find them here ,
here ,
here ,
and here
.
We've always known that Joe Biden is an odd bird. Just think of the lies, the egotistical
boasting, the offers to fight people, the skinny-dipping, and the way he fondles and sniffs
little girls. He is a genuinely creepy man.
It speaks volumes about Washington, D.C. and the Democrat party that Joe spent 47 years in
the swamp and rose to the second highest office in the land. What we've learned now, though,
irrefutably and without any Russian hokum, is that Joe Biden is also a profoundly corrupt man
who willingly sold out America and her allies to enrich himself and his sleazy, incompetent
family.
Fox News has not yet uploaded (and may never upload) the interview in its entirety. However,
the four videos below bring together almost everything from the interview.
Tucker opened by making the point that he was dedicating his show to the Bobulinski
interview because the rest of the American media are assiduously ignoring the story,
downplaying it, or claiming it's a Russian smear. The leader of the Russian smear approach is,
naturally, Rep. Adam Schiff, a man who has all the hallmarks of a conscienceless psychopath.
Ironically, it was Schiff's smear about Hunter Biden's hard drive that led Bobulinski, a
Democrat, to go public with his story.
If you can't watch the interview, here's a brief overview:
Bobulinksi is a former naval officer with a Q clearance. That's an extremely high clearance
level for people working in the Department of Energy -- and Bobulinski worked in the Navy's
nuclear program. He comes from a military family and is very proud of that legacy.
After leaving the Navy, Bobulinski became an international businessman. His expertise led to
Hunter Biden and his people wooing Bobulinski to give them the business expertise they needed
to get their partnership up and running.
The partnership, SinoHawk, was intended to bring together CEFC and the Biden family. Both
Hunter and James Biden, after all, brought nothing to the table other than their last name and,
with it, the promise that China would have access to political influence at the highest level
of American government.
Bobulinski's name recently became public knowledge when James Gilliar, another businessman
working on SinoHawk, sent an email to Tony Bobulinski, setting out the terms Gilliar had been
negotiating with CEFC. What caught everyone's interest was the statement that Hunter would hold
"10[%] for the Big Guy." Bobulinski confirmed that Joe Biden was the "Big Guy."
At this point, Schiff, the media, and Joe Biden, none of whom ever denied the legitimacy of
the email, claimed that the whole thing was a Russian smear. This unfounded accusation got
Bobulinski's dander up. As a naval officer from a military family and a true patriot, being
smeared as a Russian agent was beyond the pale.
Bobulinski demanded that Schiff retract the insult, and when Schiff failed to do so, he went
public and did a full document dump. Bobulinski had saved everything -- every document, every
email, and every text.
That's the quick background to the interview with Carlson, during which Bobulinski said
that
Hunter and James Biden brought nothing to the deal other than the Biden family name.
What China wanted was the Biden family name.
Joe Biden was involved in the business deal, so much so that he had veto power over
negotiations.
In 2017, Bobulinski met Joe Biden twice when the Biden side of SinoHawk was courting him
to step in and act as CEO.
Bobulinski also spoke at length with James Biden, Joe's brother.
When Bobulinski asked James how they could get away with this kind of deal, which seemed
to be falling into dangerous territory, given that Joe could run again for president, James
announced, "Plausible deniability."
The Biden group stiffed Bobulinski, leaving him out of pocket for all his expenses while
channeling CEFC's money into another entity that did not involve Bobulinski.
If we had a decent media establishment, this story would be on every front page and at the
top of every news hour. Instead, Bobulinski is trying desperately to get Americans to know that
he is not a Russian agent and that Joe Biden was in bed with the communist Chinese government,
starting when he was vice president and continuing after he left the White House. This screen
shot from Memeorandum shows that
none of the legacy media outlets is touching the story:
People who claim Trump is undermine the republic are wrong. The last nail in the coffin of
the republic was put by George Bush, We are now living in the empire.
The replacement of the republic with the "national security state" started with Truman,
reached local max in 1963 when a faction within CIA killed JFK and irrevocably became an
empire in 1991 with the disappearance of the USSR. And the global neoliberal empire ruled
from Washington that the USA tries to maintain as a world hegemon is a death sentence to
republic and democracy. So it is fair to say that formally republic (and democracy) in the
USA seized to exist after dissolution of the USSR, when the USA ruling elite became drunk
with the feeling of the only world superpower and neocons start to determine the USA foreign
policy. People just became hostages, forced to support and die in imperial wars, while
standard of living of lower 80% of population start gradually sliding, like always happens
with empires, and manufacturing (and jobs) stared to move oversees, mainly in China. The
decline started actually under Carter.
Truman initiated the transition of the republic into national security state by creating
CIA, NSA and FBI. Herbert Hoover was probably the first who noted that now "tail is wagging
the dog ": intelligence agencies were able to the control of Congress and executive branch
via dirt of politicians and other standard for the "deep state" tricks. To say nothing about
Allan Dulles, CIA and JFK assassination.
And later Obama managed to paraphrase Mr. Orwell 1984, "We always have to be at war with
Eastasia." Just 30 years later. Now you need to add to this pervasive wiretapping of all
communications due to the treat of terrorism.
The look how easily the deep state derailed Sanders candidacy. Nobody even managed to
scream, until it was too late. As Professor Sheldon Wolin put it we live under "inverted
totalitarianism ":
"One cannot point to any national institution[s] that can accurately be described as
democratic surely not in the highly managed, money-saturated elections, the lobby-infested
Congress, the imperial presidency, the class-biased judicial and penal system, or, least of
all, the media."
Wolin showed us all the realities of and limits of the US form of government. It is still
a livable space and if you do not try to undermine the neoliberal social order they will
leave you alone. There not much forceful indoctrination that was a hallmark of the USSR. It's
still a better country, I can attest.
Also the USA "nomenklatura" is more agile, less fossilized in comparison with Brezhnev's
nomenkatura.
But "we are an empire now" as Karl rove told us. Even formally it is no longer republic as
elected President is more or less ceremonial figure, who does not control non-elected
bureaucrats of the executive branch. they (aka "deep state") control him.
Even in a sense of oligarchic republic ( the democracy for the top 1% or less ) the
democracy is under assault. The "Deep state" is effectively strangulated even this, very
limited form, that existed before 1991 (the year of dissolution of the USSR). As we can see
from Sanders case, or Supreme Court role in Bush II case. And Sanders was definitely a member
of the elite, not some random guy from nowhere. The same was true for Al Gore. But they stole
the election from him, plain and simple.
Wendy Brown moved Wolin ideas further suggesting that neoliberalism is the novel fusion of
economic with political power (one dollar one vote; voters turned into consumers; neoliberal
rationality) and that alone completely "poison democracy at its root" It think I already
wrote about those topics. My judgment here is highly suspect -- I never lived in Washington
and never studied history or political science professionally.
Let's hope for the best. Our great advantage is that we are old and are probably the only
generation that managed to live without the major war. Let's hope that we will be able to die
before WWIII
Still, I think Trump entered (not without influence of Russiagate; and those sleazy
intelligence crooks like Comey, Brennan and Mueller and their clan of "national security
parasites" be those scoundrels internally damned) a very dangerous path -- the path advocated
by neocons and MIC.
"Ultimately, my main concern is that it could lead to actual war with Russia. We should
definitely not be going down that path. We need to get out of all these wars. I am also
concerned about what we are doing to our own democracy. We are trampling the fundamental
principles contained in the Constitution. The only way to reverse all this is to start
indicting people who are participating in and managing these activities that are clearly
unconstitutional."
IMHO the current neo-McCarthysim campaign that was deployed to solve some internal
problems within the Democratic Party (rejection by electorate and subsequent political fiasco
of Hillary Clinton) is a very dangerous tool. You can't blame Trump victory on Russia. That's
simply stupid or disingenuous. Trump election is a sign of systemic crisis of neoliberalism
in the USA, somewhat similar to the crisis of Marxism the the USSR experienced before
dissolution. Rust Belt voters rejected Hillary as the establishment candidate who symbolized
the status quo (which they hate) and that was it.
In such crisis the elite is de-legitimized and often resort to dirty tricks to regain the
lost legitimacy. A war is one such trick. Neo-McCarthyism campaign is another. Of course,
Russia in far from being a saint and bear a part of responsibility for unleashing the civil
war in Donbass (and generally destabilizing Ukraine -- it is a curse to be a neighbor our of
such a large and powerful country; Canadians and Mexicans probably think the same
,
But what currently we see in major MSM looks to me like a classic witch hunt with the
implicit goal to whitewash humiliating for neoliberal Democrats (Clinton wing of the party)
defeat and blame it on the external force (Putin looks really like "Deus Ex Machina" for
democrats . <
While Trump run brilliant election campaign based on opposition to neoliberal status quo,
his elections slogans were completely fake. He completely folded three month after the
elections and now symbolizes "empty governance" as if somebody changed the man. During
election the New York billionaire structured his campaign around three topics which propelled
him to victory.
First, he seemed to comprehend America's status quo crisis -- the
disintegration of neoliberalism that had defined the country since Reagan. Large numbers of
voters understood immediately what he was saying, particularly since the crisis of working
class was largely ignored by the other candidates.
Second, he positioned himself as an "anti-neoliberal status quo" candidate. While two
neoliberal parties instinctively clung to time-tested positions and neoliberal groupthink,
shunning any changes. Trump sidestepped this rigid political thinking of both parties and
crafted a new mix of issues cutting across partisan lines. He embraced traditional GOP
positions such as reduced taxes, school choice, increased defense spending, and rejection of
the idea of human-induced climate change. But he also took positions contrary to Republican
orthodoxy -- Social security and Medicare protection, attacks on neoliberal globalization and
"free trade" regime, rejection of austerity economics . And he manifested contempt for an
important part of neoliberal ideology embraced by both parties -- neoliberal view of
immigration
Third, Trump's disdain for political niceties suggested to voters what he declared
political war on the country's neoliberal elite -- all those despicable neocon think tanks,
university professors, the neoliberal MSM, the managerial class, "national security
parasites", Hollywood, and Wall Street financial titans.
Like Don
Quixote he was alone warrior against neoliberalism and all-powerful adversaries. And
he wouldn't buckle when they fought back to protect their cherished neoliberal globalization
and privileged standing of multinationals as the real power behind the throne
What emerged from the campaign was a growing recognition that the country stands at a
fundamental crossroads -- whether to follow the elite vision of neoliberal globalism and
"anti-nationalism", with money, people, ideas, and cultures moving freely across increasingly
indistinct borders (Biden administration path); or to retreat to traditional nationalism
including fealty to Western cultural heritage and reject multiculturalism.
In other words the main battle lines in 2020 are really ideological.
But there a lot of problems with painting Trump as a fighter against
Clinton/Bush/Obama-style of neoliberal globalization. After inauguration we saw quite
different Trump. He's abandoned all of his "anti-neoliberal" election promises, particularly
in foreign policy and dealing with Wall Street titans, that helped propel him into office.
And he started openly flirting with prospects of a war with Iran. Probably to please his
Zionist sponsors, but also may be out of his complete and utter incompetence.
That means that now he is unable conduct a meaningful conversation with his voters.
Outside fanatics who will support him in any case, he definitely betrayed them. In this sense
he might have difficulties to preserve his base in 2020. Due to his foreign policy blunder
and Pompeo brass style of gangsterism in foreign policy some of his political capital among
independents shrunk. That same is true with his tax cut. This was a clear betrayal. Add to
this that he was pinned down by Mueller investigation until December 2017, when Strzok-gate
scandal broke and only in 2019 Mueller (and Rosenstein) lost credibility and became a joke.
Mueller investigation actually was a shroud gambit against him based on his own blunders.
But BLM and, especially, riots gave his a short in the arm. So everything is possible
now.
Also one clear achievement of Trump is that clearly and convincingly demonstrated how
corrupt and crooked are neoliberal MSM. As the result I even started watching some Fox news
(Tucker) recently ;-). If somebody predicted that a couple of years ago I would laugh in
his/her face.
A very good (IMHO) overview of the current situation can be found in London review of
books. See
"... It is indeed more likely that an authoritarian regime can last longer than the current one, and they can more easily push the things they want this way. "Democracy" and "free speech" served their purpose for a time, now it's time to try something else. ..."
@romanempire
ionaires.
"How to consume the surplus capital? " I suspect you maybe confusing money/debt with capital
["-The latter [capital] is so cheap these days it costs nothing to a qualified borrower. "]
which is the capacity to use labour productively, usually combination with technology.
"surplus" capital then is non/under utilised factories etc & labour.
As to the vast inflation of debt/money .as Dr Hudson says, debts that can't be paid,
won't be paid. The easiest way to rid the world of the trillions that elites have, is to
liquidate the elites themselves. Either that, or like Samson, pull the whole shithouse down
around you .
@romanempire
e. the economy/dollar will collapse), or they realize that the global democratic neo-liberal
order is on its last legs, and can't last, so they are anticipating things.
It is indeed more likely that an authoritarian regime can last longer than the current
one, and they can more easily push the things they want this way. "Democracy" and "free
speech" served their purpose for a time, now it's time to try something else.
The final push will be when they make people complete slaves by embedding our bodies with
technology (i.e. Musk's project for a microchip in the brain, among other things). The
Unabomber wrote about that in his Manifesto.
Fall enrollment has
plunged , some colleges are shuttering operations, revenues across the entire higher
education industry are collapsing, and the shift from physical to virtual education due to the
virus pandemic could prick the next bubble: the student housing debt market.
Our warning about the coming implosion of the higher education industry (see here
from 2014) , as a whole, has become louder and louder over the last six-plus years as the
student debt bubble has recently swelled to more than $1.6 trillion. Years ago, no one at the
time, could've forecasted a virus pandemic would doom colleges and universities.
Credit rating agency Moody's recently downgraded the entire higher education sector to
negative from stable, and the American Council on Education estimates colleges and universities
will experience a $23 billion decline in revenues over the next academic year.
Bloomberg outlines the increase of virtual education in a virus pandemic has resulted in an
abundance of empty dorms at colleges and universities, creating a $14 billion headache for the
student housing debt market.
"West Virginia State University, already hit with a 10% enrollment drop, plans to give
money to a school foundation so it can meet its bond covenants for residence hall debt. A
community college in Ohio is using part of a $1.5 million donation for a financially-strapped
student housing project. And officials at New Jersey City University, which serves largely
first-generation and lower-income students and has recorded years of deficits, are prepared
to shore up a dorm there," Bloomberg said.
The squeeze on university finances comes as the National Student Clearinghouse Research
Center
warned about a 16% drop in first-year undergraduate students enrolled for the fall
semester. This means new revenue streams are quickly drying up for overleveraged colleges and
universities.
"The limiting factor is some of these schools themselves are facing uncertainty with many
of their revenue streams," S&P Global Ratings analyst Amber Schafer said in an interview.
"It's a matter of not only willingness, but if they're able to support the project."
"Typically, privatized student housing debt is paid off by the revenue generated by the
dorms -- meaning there's little recourse for bondholders if things go south," Bloomberg said.
With occupancy rates already declining as coronavirus cases are surging, well, this could be
bad news for colleges and universities heading into 2021.
"Borrowers have begun revealing how empty residence halls are as the pandemic spurs many
campuses to keep classes online. According to the school foundation that sold the debt, West
Virginia State University's dorm is 71% full, putting it about 20 percentage points from
where it needs to be to satisfy debt covenants. Other privatized student housing projects,
like two on Howard University's campus, are virtually empty due to online-only instruction
there," Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg warns: "Privatized dorms are struggling the most given that they weren't
structured to withstand 20% to 30% drops in occupancy -- or no students at all."
"West Virginia State University may have to step in to help student housing bonds at risk
of violating a debt service coverage ratio, Moody's warned this month. The historically-black
college faces "considerable" challenges in backstopping the bonds, Moody's said.
The nearly 290-bed residence hall with rents of $3,881 per semester was just 71% occupied
this fall, while it needed to be about 92% occupied, said Patricia Schumann, president of the
university foundation that sold the debt. Schumann said the university is projected to
provide a $75,000 payment in January. In the meantime, she said the school was working to
bolster its financial position and boost recruitment and donations.
"We're not standing still," she said.
Ohio's Terra State Community College, which has more than 2,100 students, was downgraded
deeper into junk over the risk posed by a dorm owned by a nonprofit, given that the school
"appears to provide an unconditional guarantee" to meet the debt obligations, Moody's said.
The project was financed through a bank note.
The dorm's occupancy fell to 62%, and the college is using a previously-received donation
to cover a shortfall in project revenue amounting between $500,000 to $600,000, the ratings
company said in a report this month.
At New Jersey City University, a student housing project financed though a separate entity
will likely miss a required debt service coverage ratio. The public school having to step in
to help the bonds would be a challenge, but a surmountable one, said Jodi Bailey, the
university's associate vice president for student affairs. The student housing bonds aren't a
debt of the university, so the school would be choosing to provide financial support,
according to bond documents .
The school is working to cut expenses related to the dorm. "Is it a harder year? Most
definitely," she said.
The student housing bonds, issued by West Campus Housing LLC in 2015, were
slashed deeper into junk in September by S&P, which said in a report that residence halls'
occupancy there had fallen to 56% so the school could accommodate social-distancing
guidelines," said Bloomberg.
To summarize, plunging enrollments, resulting in falling occupancy rates for dorms, is a
debt bomb waiting to go off for many overleveraged colleges and universities that are panicking
at the moment to divert enough funds to service debts, as the usual revenue streams, that being
rent checks from students, are nowhere to be found as virtual learning keeps young adults in
their parents' basements and out of dorms.
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If occupancy rates continue to slide through 2021, then we must revisit what we said months
before the virus pandemic began in the US:
In the aftermath of the widespread blowback amid Apollo clients, many of whom
have frozen their new capital allocations to the private equity giant in
response to recent reports that co-founder Leon Black had paid "suicided" pedophile Jeffrey
Epstein $50 million after he was released from jail, during a conference call on Thursday
morning discussing Apollo's third-quarter results, Black said he regretted doing business with
sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, even though other prominent people had done the same.
"Like many people I respected, I decided to give Epstein a second chance," Black said
Thursday during a conference call to discuss Apollo's third-quarter results.
"This was a terrible mistake", the former Drexel banker added pointing out the obvious,
although it still remains unclear just what "second chance" services Epstein provided to Black
that was worth a whopping $50 million in compensation, but we are confident we will find out
soon enough.
And in what may be the greatest example of "whataboutism" in modern history, Black said that
Epstein worked with many prominent individuals after he was released from jail, and that "the
distinguished reputations of these individuals gave me misplaced comfort."
In other words, if everyone is going to "picnics" on Epstein's underage girl island in their
private jets, it's all cool.
Laughably, Black - who is surrounded by the most brilliant financial minds of his generation
24/7 - has said he sought advice from Epstein for matters such as taxes, estate planning and
philanthropy.
Apollo hired law firm Dechert LLP to conduct a review that's expected to take 60 to 90 days,
according to people familiar with the matter.
That said, we doubt their reputations will be just as "distinguished" once it emerges just
what "services" underage girls Epstein was providing them.
Also on the call we learned that despite the posturing, Apollo's clients were not really
turned off by the ongoing scandal, and the PE giant raised another $4 billion in the third
quarter even though it expects fundraising to slow, co-founder Joshua Harris said on the
call.
October 28, 2020 Tucker Carlson's interview with Tony Bobulinski is must-see TV By
Andrea
Widburg
On Tuesday night, Tucker Carlson did something he'd never done before: he dedicated his
entire show to a single interview. The person he interviewed was Tony Bobulinski, an
experienced international businessman who found himself working with Hunter Biden, James Biden,
and others on a deal between the Biden group and CEFC, a Chinese energy company with ties to
the communist government and the military. Bobulinski powerfully confirms that Joe Biden was
deeply involved in the transaction, which had its beginnings when Joe was still vice
president.
Fox News has not yet uploaded (and may never upload) the interview in its entirety. However,
the four videos below bring together almost everything from the interview.
Tucker opened by making the point that he was dedicating his show to the Bobulinski
interview because the rest of the American media are assiduously ignoring the story,
downplaying it, or claiming it's a Russian smear. The leader of the Russian smear approach is,
naturally, Rep. Adam Schiff, a man who has all the hallmarks of a conscienceless psychopath.
Ironically, it was Schiff's smear about Hunter Biden's hard drive that led Bobulinski, a
Democrat, to go public with his story.
If you can't watch the interview, here's a brief overview:
Bobulinksi is a former naval officer with a Q clearance. That's an extremely high clearance
level for people working in the Department of Energy -- and Bobulinski worked in the Navy's
nuclear program. He comes from a military family and is very proud of that legacy.
After leaving the Navy, Bobulinski became an international businessman. His expertise led to
Hunter Biden and his people wooing Bobulinski to give them the business expertise they needed
to get their partnership up and running.
The partnership, SinoHawk, was intended to bring together CEFC and the Biden family. Both
Hunter and James Biden, after all, brought nothing to the table other than their last name and,
with it, the promise that China would have access to political influence at the highest level
of American government.
Bobulinski's name recently became public knowledge when James Gilliar, another businessman
working on SinoHawk, sent an email to Tony Bobulinski, setting out the terms Gilliar had been
negotiating with CEFC. What caught everyone's interest was the statement that Hunter would hold
"10[%] for the Big Guy." Bobulinski confirmed that Joe Biden was the "Big Guy."
At this point, Schiff, the media, and Joe Biden, none of whom ever denied the legitimacy of
the email, claimed that the whole thing was a Russian smear. This unfounded accusation got
Bobulinski's dander up. As a naval officer from a military family and a true patriot, being
smeared as a Russian agent was beyond the pale.
Bobulinski demanded that Schiff retract the insult, and when Schiff failed to do so, he went
public and did a full document dump. Bobulinski had saved everything -- every document, every
email, and every text.
That's the quick background to the interview with Carlson, during which Bobulinski said
that
Hunter and James Biden brought nothing to the deal other than the Biden family name.
What China wanted was the Biden family name.
Joe Biden was involved in the business deal, so much so that he had veto power over
negotiations.
In 2017, Bobulinski met Joe Biden twice when the Biden side of SinoHawk was courting him
to step in and act as CEO.
Bobulinski also spoke at length with James Biden, Joe's brother.
When Bobulinski asked James how they could get away with this kind of deal, which seemed
to be falling into dangerous territory, given that Joe could run again for president, James
announced, "Plausible deniability."
The Biden group stiffed Bobulinski, leaving him out of pocket for all his expenses while
channeling CEFC's money into another entity that did not involve Bobulinski.
If we had a decent media establishment, this story would be on every front page and at the
top of every news hour. Instead, Bobulinski is trying desperately to get Americans to know that
he is not a Russian agent and that Joe Biden was in bed with the communist Chinese government,
starting when he was vice president and continuing after he left the White House. This screen
shot from Memeorandum shows that
none of the legacy media outlets is touching the story:
(As an aside, and separate from the Bobulinski interview, a former CIA operations office
believes it's entirely possible that Biden
was already doing China's bidding in 2012, when the Obama administration gave China free
rein in the South China Sea.)
In case the embedded videos do not play, you can find them here ,
here ,
here ,
and here
.
We've always known that Joe Biden is an odd bird. Just think of the lies, the egotistical
boasting, the offers to fight people, the skinny-dipping, and the way he fondles and sniffs
little girls. He is a genuinely creepy man.
It speaks volumes about Washington, D.C. and the Democrat party that Joe spent 47 years in
the swamp and rose to the second highest office in the land. What we've learned now, though,
irrefutably and without any Russian hokum, is that Joe Biden is also a profoundly corrupt man
who willingly sold out America and her allies to enrich himself and his sleazy, incompetent
family.
Fox News has not yet uploaded (and may never upload) the interview in its entirety. However,
the four videos below bring together almost everything from the interview.
Tucker opened by making the point that he was dedicating his show to the Bobulinski
interview because the rest of the American media are assiduously ignoring the story,
downplaying it, or claiming it's a Russian smear. The leader of the Russian smear approach is,
naturally, Rep. Adam Schiff, a man who has all the hallmarks of a conscienceless psychopath.
Ironically, it was Schiff's smear about Hunter Biden's hard drive that led Bobulinski, a
Democrat, to go public with his story.
If you can't watch the interview, here's a brief overview:
Bobulinksi is a former naval officer with a Q clearance. That's an extremely high clearance
level for people working in the Department of Energy -- and Bobulinski worked in the Navy's
nuclear program. He comes from a military family and is very proud of that legacy.
After leaving the Navy, Bobulinski became an international businessman. His expertise led to
Hunter Biden and his people wooing Bobulinski to give them the business expertise they needed
to get their partnership up and running.
The partnership, SinoHawk, was intended to bring together CEFC and the Biden family. Both
Hunter and James Biden, after all, brought nothing to the table other than their last name and,
with it, the promise that China would have access to political influence at the highest level
of American government.
Bobulinski's name recently became public knowledge when James Gilliar, another businessman
working on SinoHawk, sent an email to Tony Bobulinski, setting out the terms Gilliar had been
negotiating with CEFC. What caught everyone's interest was the statement that Hunter would hold
"10[%] for the Big Guy." Bobulinski confirmed that Joe Biden was the "Big Guy."
At this point, Schiff, the media, and Joe Biden, none of whom ever denied the legitimacy of
the email, claimed that the whole thing was a Russian smear. This unfounded accusation got
Bobulinski's dander up. As a naval officer from a military family and a true patriot, being
smeared as a Russian agent was beyond the pale.
Bobulinski demanded that Schiff retract the insult, and when Schiff failed to do so, he went
public and did a full document dump. Bobulinski had saved everything -- every document, every
email, and every text.
That's the quick background to the interview with Carlson, during which Bobulinski said
that
Hunter and James Biden brought nothing to the deal other than the Biden family name.
What China wanted was the Biden family name.
Joe Biden was involved in the business deal, so much so that he had veto power over
negotiations.
In 2017, Bobulinski met Joe Biden twice when the Biden side of SinoHawk was courting him
to step in and act as CEO.
Bobulinski also spoke at length with James Biden, Joe's brother.
When Bobulinski asked James how they could get away with this kind of deal, which seemed
to be falling into dangerous territory, given that Joe could run again for president, James
announced, "Plausible deniability."
The Biden group stiffed Bobulinski, leaving him out of pocket for all his expenses while
channeling CEFC's money into another entity that did not involve Bobulinski.
If we had a decent media establishment, this story would be on every front page and at the
top of every news hour. Instead, Bobulinski is trying desperately to get Americans to know that
he is not a Russian agent and that Joe Biden was in bed with the communist Chinese government,
starting when he was vice president and continuing after he left the White House. This screen
shot from Memeorandum shows that
none of the legacy media outlets is touching the story:
A collection of confidential documents related to the Biden family mysteriously vanished
from an envelope sent to Fox News host Tucker Carlson , the host said on
Wednesday night.
Carlson's team allegedly received the documents from a source on Monday. At the time,
Carlson was on the West Coast filming an interview with Tony Bobulinski, the former business
partner of Hunter Biden and James Biden. Carlson requested the documents to be sent to the West
Coast.
According to Carlson, the producer shipped the documents overnight to California using a
large national package carrier. He didn't name the company, saying only that it's a "brand name
company."
"The Biden documents never arrived in Los Angeles. Tuesday morning we received word from our
shipping company that our package had been opened and the contents were missing," Carlson said.
"The documents had disappeared."
The company took the incident seriously and immediately began a search, Carlson said. The
company traced the package from when it was dropped off in New York to the moment when an
employee at a sorting facility reported that the package was opened and empty.
" The company's security team interviewed every employee who touched the envelope we sent.
They searched the plane and the trucks that carried it. They went through the office in New
York where our producers dropped the package off. They combed the entire cavernous sorting
facility. They used pictures of what we had sent so that searchers would know what to look
for," Carlson said.
"They far and beyond, but they found nothing."
"Those documents have vanished," he added.
"As of tonight, the company has no idea and no working theory even about what happened to
this trove of materials, documents that are directly relevant to the presidential campaign
just six days from now."
Executives at the shipping company were "baffled" and "deeply bothered" by the incident,
Carlson said.
Carlson's interview with Bobulinski aired on Tuesday night. In the interview, Bobulinski
opined that Joe Biden
and the Biden family are compromised by China due to the business dealings of Hunter Biden and
James Biden. Joe Biden has not publicly responded to Bobulinski's allegations, but during a
presidential debate on Oct. 22 said he had "not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in
my life."
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Bobulinski provided more than 1,700 pages of emails and more than 600 screenshots of text
messages to Senate investigators and handed over to the FBI the smartphones he used during his
business dealings with the Bidens. The documents detailed a failed joint venture between a
billionaire tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a company owned by Hunter Biden,
James Biden, Bobulinski and two other partners.
While the corporate documents don't mention Biden by name, emails sent between the partners
suggest that either James Biden or Hunter Biden held a 10 percent stake for the former vice
president. In the email, the stake is assigned to "the big guy," who Bobulinski says is Joe
Biden.
_arrow NoDebt , 3 minutes ago
I heard Tucker talk about this earlier tonight and realized we are FULLY controlled now.
Whatever the **** is going on, whether this is true or not doesn't matter. We are just
unwitting participants in some kind of TV reality show now. Everything is meaningless.
lwilland1012 , 5 minutes ago
Please tell me he was smart enough to make copies...
CatInTheHat , 1 minute ago
Ok.
What was IN the documents and from whom?
This is an inside job. Probably a never Trumper at Fox. There are a few.
quanttech , 3 minutes ago
If Trump loses, Fox will go full Dem. Trump will start TrumpTV, and Tucker will need a
job....
btw, Tucker should get the Nobel Peace Prize for keeping us out of Iran for the last 3.5
years.
Nona Yobiznes , 4 minutes ago
This story doesn't make sense. You sent confidential, highly sensitive documents via post?
Because Tucker was on the west coast? You couldn't scan them in? Were they originals, and are
there copies? This doesn't smell right.
icolbowca , 6 minutes ago
Takes a special kind of moron to send something like that via mail...
"... Biden's campaign earlier this month said Biden never had a meeting with an executive at a shady Ukrainian gas company, Burisma Holdings, while he was the vice president and his son sat on the board of the firm. A report from the New York Post, citing alleged Hunter Biden emails, suggested Hunter Biden had arranged a meeting between him, the executive, and Joe Biden. ..."
Delivery giant UPS
confirmed Thursday it found a lost trove of documents that Fox News' Tucker Carlson said would
provide revelations in the ever-growing scandal involving Joe Biden 's son Hunter and his overseas
business dealings.
UPS Senior Public Relations Manager Matthew O'Connor told Business Insider on Thursday
afternoon that the documents are located and are being sent to Carlson.
"After an extensive search, we have found the contents of the package and are arranging
for its return," he said in a statement.
"UPS will always focus first on our customers, and will never stop working to solve issues
and make things right. We work hard to ensure every package is delivered, including essential
goods, precious family belongings and critical healthcare."
It came after Glenn Zaccara, UPS's corporate media relations director, confirmed Carlson
used the company to ship the materials before they were lost.
"The package was reported with missing contents as it moved within our network," Zaccara
said before they were located. "UPS is conducting an urgent investigation."
During his Wednesday night broadcast, Carlson said that a UPS employee notified them that
their package "was open and empty apparently, it had been opened."
"The Biden documents never arrived in Los Angeles. Tuesday morning we received word from
our shipping company that our package had been opened and the contents were missing," Carlson
also remarked. "The documents had disappeared."
On Tuesday night, Carlson interviewed former Hunter Biden associate Tony Bobulinski, who
claimed that the former Democratic vice president could be compromised by the Chinese Communist
Party due to Hunter and brother James Biden's business dealings in the country.
Joe Biden has not responded to Bobulinski's allegations. Last week during his debate with
President Donald Trump, he said he had "not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my
life."
Biden's campaign earlier this month said Biden never had a meeting with an executive at a
shady Ukrainian gas company, Burisma Holdings, while he was the vice president and his son sat
on the board of the firm. A report from the New York Post, citing alleged Hunter Biden emails,
suggested Hunter Biden had arranged a meeting between him, the executive, and Joe Biden.
It's now possible that a special counsel will investigate Joe Biden should he win the
presidency.
"You know, I am not a big fan of special counsels, but if Joe Biden wins the presidency, I
don't see how you avoid one," Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.)
said . "Otherwise, this is going to be, you know, tucked away, and we will never know
what happened. All this evidence is going to be buried."
UPS did not provide further details about the apparent mishap.
"... Hunter Biden is the modern equivalent of the pre-Reformation papacy selling indulgences. Cash in exchange for unfettered passage into the promised land ..."
"Former Biden insider Tony Bobulinski allegedly has a recording of Biden family operatives
begging him to stay quiet , or he will "bury" the reputations of everyone involved in Hunter's
overseas dealings.
According to The Federalist 's Sean Davis, Bobulinski will play the tape on Fox News'
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Tuesday , when Carlson will devote his show 'entirely' to an
interview with the Biden whistleblower."
"According to a source familiar with the planning, Bobulinski will play recordings of Biden
family operatives begging him to stay quiet and claiming Bobulinski's revelations will "bury"
the reputations of everyone involved in Hunter's overseas deals."
As The Federalist notes:
The Federalist confirmed with sources familiar with the plans that Bobulinski, a retired
Navy lieutenant and Biden associate, will be airing tapes of Biden operatives begging
Bobulinski to remain quiet as former Vice President Joe Biden nears the finish line to the
White House next week.
Bobulinski
flipped on the Bidens following a Senate report which revealed that they received a $5
million interest-free loan from a now-bankrupt Chinese energy company .
According to the former Biden insider, he was introduced to Joe Biden by Hunter, and they
had an hour-long meeting where they discussed the Biden's business plans with the Chinese, with
which he says Joe was "plainly familiar at least at a high level." " Zerohedge
--------------
First of all, Bobulinski is NOT a "retired Navy lieutenant." He is a former Navy
Lieutenant.
Well, folks, it's up to you to watch TC's show tonight if you want to learn about this.
Tucker's show is the most watched news show in the history of cable television, so the pain
should not be too great, pl
I don't watch cable TV so I'll have to depend on the objectivity of observers. I'll be
curious who / what is a "family operative"? are they traceable like a military
chain-of-command?
in related news, we can get a fix on the play between private / public behaviors & the
pace of Justice winding.
Tucker Carlson's show is my favorite news/commentary show. I try not to miss it. Because
of the fact that he seems to try hard to verify his sources--and the people he interviews, I
trust him. He also tries to provide guests from the left in an attempt to be fair.
He's definitely not a Hannity, who is the one who turns many off of FOX (though Hannity
comes right after Tucker).
Hunter Biden is the modern equivalent of the pre-Reformation papacy selling
indulgences. Cash in exchange for unfettered passage into the promised land .
Thank goodness the Federal Judge has allowed the lawsuit by the private citizen and
writer, based on the 1990s allegation, to procede without government interference. I'm sure
nobody will do that to democrats in the future. Meanwhile in the Flynn case the DOJ confirms
that the govenment documents and discovery exhibits are ture and correct. I'm sure Judge
Sullivan will procede expeditiously with granting the unopposed motion to dismiss that
case.
This story interests me because I believe he is the first to leave the sinking ship but
not the last.
There would be no reason for this if he thought Joe would win and the investigation would be
snuffed out.
If Trump wins there will most likely be a new version of "Let's Make A Deal" being aired on
the nightly news.
I am down to one package of popcorn. I need to restock.
Actually, indulgences were more akin to BitCoins. Especially after 1567, when His Holiness
the Pope finally officially banned them... but they had been still produced and sold in large
quantities. In France only Richeliue put a stop to this con.
Serve me my plate a Crow. Maybe.
He is saying now that he is 2nd generation military and that they pissed him off claiming he
was a Russian asset.
That is plausible.
Maybe it is both?
Regardless it seems he has a great deal of proof.
I was convinced during the interview. Bobulinsky seemed pretty convincing in his concern
for his own reputation, having been associated with the Biden "Mafia" in the first place.
It was clear during the interview that he had provided Tucker verification for his
claims.
I am more concerned that this revelation comes too late and that many, many people have
voted early. He referenced some hearings that will be held in Congress. I doubt that will
affect the election, given the slow pace of anything getting done in Congress. I voted early,
but I am not personally concerned because I did NOT vote for Biden; however, I am concerned
that those who voted early for Biden could not now change their votes.
SO, if I understand the situation correctly, Bobulinski was essentially sought after, used
and then screwed by the Bidens, which seems risky on the part of the clan. But I guess if Joe
wins the election, they will have gotten away with it as I can't imagine, in spite of any
damning evidence, the Bidens will suffer the same punishing rectal examination-like scrutiny
and vilification the Trump family's been subjected to.
Col Lang,
Hoping you write about your assessment of B and what he had to say.
I found him to be generally credible. All of his motives for singing largely make sense to
me. I think he's a patriot. Some good supporting evidence. He's sharp. I liked him. He's the
kind of guy I'd enjoy working with.
I don't know anything about the realm of international deal making and finance. I'm
wondering how a Navy O3 works his way to enjoying yachts in Monaco while making $millions. Is
he an Annapolis guy? Tight with the right classmates? Not a lot to be found on him via
Google.
He was no longer in the navy when he was messing around with the Biden familia. He was
probably in the Navy three or four years. He ought to lay off on that. I'll think it over
tonight.
Once Wray's FBI gets done with the Rusty Wallace Noose Case they'll have time to deep dive
the laptop he's had for almost a year.
Col.,
Bobulinski seemed awful polished during that interview. Almost too good to be true. Hunter
being a druggy and Burisma payments being real certainly lend an air to credibility.
Turns out Patrick Ho Hunters partner in CEFC had a FISA warrant on him when he was nabbed
in New York awhile back. His first call was to Hunter to seek legal advice and Hunter
represented him. So them scumbags in the FBI have been sitting on this for awhile and will
use it on Joe (if elected) when needed. Must be modus operandi at the FBI in gathering dirt
on all politicians via FISA's, Hoover is still there.
As with all of us Bobulinski is not lily white but is making an effort to clean his act and
those around him. Lily White always comes in degrees. Not much in the NY Times, Wash Post or
WSJ this morning but the WSJ deserves a little credit with McBurn's editorial.
Bobulinski obviously comes from a military family thus his harping on his Navy creds. Guess
when your in that much sunshine you fall back strongly on anything available.
I don't doubt his credibility and it's good that he at least got on Tucker Carlson to
provide some much needed answers, but he's not a known quantity and I have hard time
imagining his revelations will change minds.
I think the FBI sandbagging the whole affair is what holds back this story getting the
attention it deserves from the public. The president I'm sorry to say has been badly served
by Wray, Haspel, and company. I think he should have replaced them months ago and waiting
until reelection to do it may have been a mistake.
Tuesday night, we heard at length and on camera from one of the Biden family's former
business partners. His name is Tony Bobulinski. He's a very successful businessman and a Navy
veteran.
Bobulinski spoke to "Tucker Carlson Tonight" for a full hour. He told us he met two separate
times with Joe
Biden himself. Not just with Joe Biden's son or his brother, but with Joe Biden -- the
former vice president and the man now running for president -- to discuss business deals with
the communist government of China .
That's a very serious claim, and whatever your political views, it's hard to dismiss it when
Tony Bobulinski makes it because Bobulinsky is an unusually credible witness. He's not a
partisan, he's not seeking money, he's not seeking publicity. He did not want to come on our
show.
But when Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and the Biden campaign accused Tony Bobulinski of
participating in a Russian disinformation effort, he felt he had no choice. That was a slander
against him and against his family. So Bobulinski came to us. He arrived with heaps of evidence
to bolster the story he was telling. He brought contemporaneous audio recordings, text
messages, e-mails, many financial documents.
By the end of the hour, it was very clear to us that Tony Bobulinski was telling the truth
and that Joe Biden was lying. We believe that any honest person who watched the entire hour
would come to the same conclusion.
Well, on Wednesday, a
Senate committee confirmed it . The Senate Homeland Security Committee reported that all of
Tony Bobulinski's documents are, in fact, real. They are authentic. They are not forgeries.
This is not Russian disinformation. It is real.
Bobulinski told a remarkable story. Joe Biden -- who, once again, could be president of the
United States next week, was planning business deals with America's most formidable global
opponent. And when he was caught doing it, Joe Biden lied. And then he went further. He
slandered an innocent man as a traitor to his own country. It is clear that Joe Biden did that.
That's not a partisan talking point uttered in bad faith on behalf of another presidential
campaign. It's true.
So the question is, what is Joe Biden's excuse for doing that? What is his version of this
story? Everyone has a version and we'd like to hear it, but we don't know what Joe Biden's
version of the story is, because no one in America's vast media landscape has pressed Joe Biden
to answer the question. Instead, reporters at all levels and their editors and their publishers
have openly collaborated with Joe Biden's political campaign. That is unprecedented. It has
never happened in American history.
Wednesday morning, the big papers completely ignored what Tony Bobulinski had to say. So did
the other television networks. Not a single word about Bobulinski appeared on CNN or anywhere
else. Newsweek decided to cover it, but came to the conclusion that the real story was about
QAnon somehow. This is Soviet-style suppression of information about a legitimate news story.
Days before an election, the ramifications of it are impossible to imagine. But we do know the
media cannot continue in the way that it has.
No one believes the media anymore and no one should. You should be offended by this, not
because the media are liberal, but because this is an attack on our democracy. You've heard
that phrase again and again, but this is what it looks like. In a self-governing country,
voters have a right -- an obligation -- to know who they're voting for. In this case, they have
the right to know the Democratic nominee for president was a willing partner in his family's
lucrative influence-peddling operation, an operation that went on for decades and stretched
from China and Ukraine all the way to Oman, Romania, Luxembourg and many other countries. This
is not speculation once again, and it's not a partisan attack. It's true, and Tony bobulinski
confirmed it.
Bobulinski met with Joe Biden at a hotel bar in Los Angeles in early May of 2017, and when
he did, Joe Biden's son introduced Bobulinski this way: "Dad. Here's the individual I told you
about that's helping us with the business that we're working on and the Chinese."
Now, written documents confirmed this is real. At one point, Joe Biden's son texted Tony
Bobulinski to say that Joe Biden, his father, was making key decisions about their business
deals with China.
CARLSON: When Hunter Biden said his chairman, he was talking about his dad.
BOBULINSKI: Correct, and what Hunter is referencing there is, he spoke with his father
and his father is giving an emphatic 'no' to the ask that I had, which was putting proper
governance in place around Oneida Holdings.
CARLSON: So, Joe Biden is vetoing your plan for putting stricter governance in the
company. I mean, and it's it's right here in the email.
BOBULINSKI: Yes, Tucker, I want to be very careful in front of the American people. That
is not me writing that. That is not me claiming that. That is Hunter Biden writing on his own
phone. Typing in that 'I spoke with my chairman,' referencing his father.
All this is spelled out in the clearest possible language in documents that Bobulinski
provided us, documents that subsequently federal authorities have authenticated as real.
On May 13, 2017, for example, Hunter Biden got an email explaining how his family would be
paid for their deal with the Chinese energy company. His father, Joe Biden, was getting
10%.
BOBULINSKI: In that email, there's a statement where they go through the equity, Jim Biden's
referenced as, you know, 10%. It doesn't say Biden, it says Jim. And then it has 10% for the
big guy held by H. I 1,000% sit here and know that the big guy is referencing Joe Biden. It's,
that's crystal clear to me because I lived it. I met with the former vice president in person
multiple times.
That was three years ago, and we still don't know where all that money went, because the
media haven't forced Joe Biden to tell us. But Tony, Bobulinski did add a telling detail. Joe
Biden's brother, Jim, saw his stake in the deal double from 10% to 20%. Was Jim Biden getting
his brother's share again? It might be worth finding out.
We also know that according to an email from a top Chinese official, this one written on
July 26, 2017, the Chinese proposed a $5 million dollar interest-free loan to the Biden family,
"based on their trust on [sic] BD [Biden] family." The e-mail continued, "Should this Chinese
company, CEFC, keep lending more to the family?" And indeed, CEFC was supposed to send another
$5 million dollars to the Bidens' business ventures. Apparently, that money never made it to
the business. Where did it go? A recent Senate report suggests it went to Hunter Biden
directly. And from there, who knows? Again, no one's asked.
Tony Bobulinski also told us he learned Hunter Biden became the personal attorney to the
chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, just as they were tendering 14% of a Russian state-owned energy
company. That was a deal valued at $9 billion dollars. It's pretty sleazy. It's pretty amazing,
actually, that this happened and no one noticed.
We're not going to spend the next six months leading you through a maze of complex financial
transactions. This isn't that complicated: Millions of dollars linked directly to the Communist
Party of China went to Joe Biden's family, and not because they're capable businessmen. Jim
Biden's one business success appears to have been running a nightclub in Delaware that
ultimately went under.
No, the Bidens were cut in on the world's most lucrative business deals, massive
infrastructure deals in countries around the world for one reason: Because Joe Biden was a
powerful government official willing to leverage his power on behalf of his family.
Now, if that's not a crime, it's very close to a crime and it's certainly something every
person voting should know about. The Bidens didn't do this once. They did it for decades. So
the question is, how did they get away with it for so long? Tony Bobulinski asked Jim Biden
that question directly. To his credit Jim Biden answered that question honestly.
BOBULINSKI: And I remember looking at Jim Biden and saying, 'How are you guys getting
away with this?' Like, 'Aren't you concerned?' And he looked at me and he laughed a little bit
and said, 'Plausible deniability.'
CARLSON: He said that out loud.
BOBULINSKI: Yes, he said it directly to me. One on one, in a cabana at the Peninsula
Hotel.
"Plausible deniability." In other words, "we lie." We get away with selling access to the
U.S. government, which we do not own, because we lie about what we're doing. And as we lie, we
try to make those lies plausible. That's why we call it "plausible deniability." That is the
answer that Joe Biden's brother gave when asked directly.
So the question is, what is Joe Biden's answer to that question? We wish we
knew.
ForFoxSake!!! 1 hour ago Everything that is happening right now is because Trump was
right about the swamp, the media, and the ruling class families who have been selling out
America for decades. ohhappyday657 1 hour ago Tucker is doing this country a great service. The
FBI doesn't seem to want to engage. Mr. Bobulinski is a patriot and we are lucky he came
forward. The Bidens need to be called out for their high crimes and misdemeanors. Joe should be
impeached for his time as VP. Thank you Tucker. resipsaloquitor ohhappyday657 29 minutes ago
You can smell the desperation on the Trump supporters. The lies, the distortions and the
grasping, pathetic search for the proverbial Hail Mary to salvage the quickly sinking ship. If
Mr. Bobulinski is the best you have the Democrats will 'trump' you with: 227,000 dead
Americans, close to 9 million more infected and an economy in tatters. The day of reckoning is
approaching and a dozen Bobulinskis won't change that. Trump and his unseemly administration
are doomed.
" ... the former CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was the partnership between the
CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming and the two Biden family members.
"I remember saying, 'How are you guys getting away with this?' 'Aren't you concerned?'" he
told Carlson.
He claims that Jim Biden chuckled.
"'Plausible Deniability,' he said it directly to me in a cabana at the Peninsula Hotel," he
said.
In the interview, he outlines how an alleged meeting with Joe Biden took place on May 2,
2017.
Fox News first reported text messages that indicated such a meeting. Bobulinski said that
it was the Bidens, not him, who had pushed the meeting.
"They were sort of wining and dining me and presenting the strength of the Biden family to
get me engaged and to take on the CEO role to develop SinoHawk in the U.S. and around the world
in partnership with CEFC," he said.
He went at length into how Joe Biden arrived for a Milken conference, partly held at the
Beverly Hilton Hotel, and how he was introduced by Jim and Hunter Biden to the former vice
president.
"I didn't request to meet with Joe" Biden, he said. "They requested that I meet with Joe
[Biden ]. They were putting their entire family legacy on the line. They knew exactly what they
were doing."" FN
-----------
Bobulinski is a successful international business hustler. I know the type well. The Biden
familia wanted him in this China deal for the purpose of having him hold the reins of this
enterprise even as they looted it for the purpose of quickly enriching the fam.
A TV commentator remarked last night after watching the interview that this defection from
the Biden camp is reflective of an old business truth which can be stated as "don't screw your
partner if he has enough material to sink you."
I am unimpressed with selfless patriotism as Bobu's most basic motivation in sticking it to
Joe, Jimmy and Hunter Biden. A sense of betrayal in a business deal wrecked by the Bidens'
overwhelming greed and their desire to consolidate family riches as fast as they could is a
more plausible. motivation.
This does not mean that Bobu is not telling the truth. His collection of e-mails addressed
to him and incriminating memoranda is most impressive.
IMO, what has been revealed is a truth with regard to the Biden crime family. They are
nouveau riche grifters who will have a much grander stage for their efforts if Joe is elected
as a presidential figurehead. pl
Did Hunter Biden's young business partners bring anything of value to the table, or were
they just name brand ride-alongs too. Archer, Conley, Heinz, etc. Biden was running a very
leaky ship, with such a large but relatively unsophisticated and compromised entourage.
I am, and I'm sure this is not an original observation, because it's as the Col notes,
singularly unimpressed with the entire lot of them. Bobo, Jim B, Hunter B, Duncan Hunter, Joe
B, Bulger's nephew, I've seen more gravitas among bookies, juicemen, and fences, that I grew
up with in NYC. And I mean that. Not a throw away line. And THESE guys will run the show? And
Harris I find singularity creep, artificial, and somehow just down right inappropriate. I
would not select any of them to run a post office.
I got a little tired of the man making so much of his "service to his country." Not that
it isn't worth quite a lot and I respect him for it, but four years... I served six years,
and what I dwell on is how much I loved serving in submarines and the enormous degree that it
contributed to building my character. The degree to which my service benefited my country was
trivial. It benefited me enormously.
Like you, I think he is telling the truth in that interview.
After 4 plus years of the intelligence agencies and MSM looking under every conceivable
rock, you think that there is anything left to find about Trump? You are delusional and
headed for a massive case of buyer's remorse if swiss-cheese-for-brains gets in.
Thank you for asking that question. I was about to ask it myself. My understanding is that
Trump's children are working for him as he is President for little pay. They may be still
handling Trump business accounts; but it seems they work for his White House office and its
many functions--and for his campaign.
I still believe in the American middle class, the people who make American run. These are
the people at his rallies, wearing MAGA hats, and showing up in overflow numbers.
They are not people who are easily swayed by "false prophets."
Trump keeps pointing out how well our economy was doing UNTIL China sent the virus (and, I
DO believe they sent it). He promises the return of that economy.
That is why Biden now is totally into frightening people about COVID and pushing masks and
social distancing. He is afraid that Trump will indeed be able to bring back a good economy.
He doesn't know how to do that, as is clear by this desperate attempt to cover up his shady
dealings with first Ukraine and now China.
Where I live, a large percentage of our population are clearly very tired and bored with
the COVID scare. We still do as our DEMOCRAT Governor, who hails from the People's Republic
of Boulder, Colorado, and the University of Colorado, where Socialist, Marxist, and Ultra
Feminists rule in the Arts and Humanities. We call Boulder "forty square miles surrounded by
reality." Unfortunately, the Boulder/Denver triangle contains the largest voting block. We
used to be able to count on Colorado Springs, but the universities in that area and into
Pueblo have also been taken over by the leftists.
What is also clear is that Biden's real hope was to build his own family dynasty by using
the Presidency as nothing but a cash cow for him and his inept and useless son.
I don't care really what Bobulinski's motives were for coming forward with his documents
and emails, I'm just thankful that he did. I hope it wasn't too late. And I'm thankful he
chose Tucker Carlson's show as the place to do it.
Joe Biden doesn't seem to be the brightest bulb for someone with a JD. To wit: why didn't
he just offer that he's given his son some fatherly advice about business now and then?
Instead, he's repeatedly and categorically denied discussing ANYTHING with his son about his
business dealings, which we now know is provably false. I'm no lawyer but I'd think Joe's
repeated lying infers a tacit admission of guilt. Deniability doesn't seem plausible in this
case.
I'd even go so far as to infer that Joe's gotten away with business dealings of this
sordid sort for SO long that he's become sloppy (e.g., the braggadocio ON VIDEO of
withholding US aid to Ukraine until its solicitor investigating Burisma, which was paying his
son $50-80 thousand per month, was fired.) He obviously has the [justifiable] expectation of
never being held accountable.
Did anyone else clock his comment that he wasn't being paid, not even expenses, for all
these trips. He said he was funding them himself, presumably until the $5M arrived.
Then it didn't but the Bidens got their $5M. The Bidens arrogance just piles onto their
stupidity. Did they really think that kind of operator would take it lying down?
With one foot in Colorado Springs, I'd like to suggest that you may be overstating the
weight of the local colleges in ColSpr's growing Democrat numbers. El Paso county election
results have remained fairly reliably Republican, if not by as sure a margin as once.
Population growth may be more significant mover, the high rate of in-migration to
Colorado, esp Denver. The seven county Greater Denver-Boulder area, with a population of 3.3
million, grew 1.1% last year, and has grown as fast or faster in the previous ten years. In
number, the Denver population has grown faster than anywhere else in the state. In the past
ten years the population of Denver Co alone increased 21%.
Colorado Springs/ El Paso Co. has grown quickly in the same period, but not as much as
Denver. The current population of 720,000 increased 16% from ten years ago. A good part of
this growth has been driven by Denver's growth and skyrocketing housing prices. A house costs
much less in El Paso County.
Too many Denverites are choosing to commute an hour+ from ColSpr to Denver, as seen by the
explosion of new housing at the north end of El Paso County and the now-daily traffic crawl
at rush hour on I-25 between ColSpr and Denver. Just try to get up to the speed limit on that
stretch. The state is adding extra lanes as fast as it can. It appears that Denver attitudes
move in with many of these commuters. Is ColSpr fated to become a bedroom community?
Finally, Colorado appears to be one of the places attracting migrants from the blighted,
overbuilt, overdetermined coasts. Again, newcomers arrive with attitudes from the places they
left.
I am hoping that the open skies and spaces, the particular self-reliance of rural
Colorado, and the more democratic openness to citizen initiatives via the ballot will mellow
their views.
This level of population growth and shifting politics, lacking a concommitant growth in
productivity of local biz and industry, is not viewed with equanimity by older inhabitants of
ColSpr. IMO It would be best if Colorado remained independent, with reasonable political
compromise and collaboration between parties, as before it has been.
Is a comparable dynamic underway north of Denver in your direction?
In reference to Trump's reputation as a grifter, I offer the following sample:
- He paid $2 million in fines and had to close down the Trump Foundation for using it as a
personal piggy bank.
- The Eric Trump Foundation was forced to close for similar grift. It was funneling money
into Trump family businesses and accounts. It's wasn't like the family directly stole money
from kids with cancer, but it ended up doing just that.
- His friend Bannon's recent grift with his Build the Wall Foundation, along with Manafort's
tax and bank fraud convictions, and Cohen's conviction for paying hush money for Trump's
sexual escapades.
- The sham Trump University was forced to close with a $25 million settlement to two class
action lawsuits and a NY civil lawsuit.
None of this sunk Trump. What it did do was inure the American public to the increasing
shittyness of our politician's behavior. Hunter's antics would have caused Joe to withdraw
from public life ten years ago, but today it's just par for the course.
-
TTG
My friend, as I have told you before, you have no real knowledge of practice in the business
world. Nobody says Trump has sold the US for his family's profit.
You'd think that voting Republican would be an easy decision if you work on Wall Street,
especially given the lower taxes and the removal of burdensome regulations. But Democrats have
entangled themselves so deeply in the web of Wall Street, that the industry is now leaning to
the left, according to a new report from
Reuters .
The Center for Responsive Politics took a look at how the industry, and its employees, break
down for the 2020 election cycle.
It has been obvious that Democratic candidate Joe Biden has been outpacing President Trump
when it comes to fundraising, and this is also true of "winning cash from the banking
industry," Reuters notes.
Biden's campaign has been the beneficiary of $3 million from commercial banks, compared to
the $1.4 million Trump has raised. This is a far skew from 2012, where Mitt Romney was able to
raise $5.5 million from commercial banks, while Barack Obama only raised $2 million. In 2012,
Wall Street banks were among the top five contributors to Romney' campaign.
In 2020, campaign contributions to congressional races from Wall Street banks are about
even. Republicans have raised $14 million while Democrats have brought in $13.6 million. About
four years ago, Republicans pulled in $18.9 million, which was about twice as much as the
Democrats raised. In 2012, Republicans raised about 61% of total bank donations.
Interestingly enough, when Biden and Trump are removed from the equation, the highest
recipient from Wall Street is none other than Bernie Sanders, who has raised $831,096. Sanders
often tops contributions in many industries due to his grassroots following.
When you remove the employees from the equation and only look at how the bank's political
arms donate, the picture turns more Republican-friendly.
House of Representatives lawmaker Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, one of the senior
Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee, which is key for the banking industry,
tops the list, hauling in $226,000. Next up is Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the top
Republican on that panel, with $185,500 in cash from bank political committees.
The top 20 recipients of bank political funds comprise 14 Republicans and six Democrats.
Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, a senior member of the House banking panel,
received the most among Democrats, with $140,000.
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The shift in data shows that while Wall Street's top brass may still understand the value of
Republican leadership, bank employees themselves may overwhelmingly favor
progressives.
ay_arrow
tonye , 3 hours ago
It's obvious. Wall Street is part of the Deep State...
Le SoJ16 , 3 hours ago
How can you hate capitalism and work for a Wall Street bank?
tonye , 3 hours ago
Because Wall Street is no longer capitalist.
Main Street is capitalist, they create the GNP.
Wall Street is a casino owned by globalists and bankers. They don't create much
anymore.
Macho Latte , 2 hours ago
It has nothing to do with ideology. The Biden is FOR SALE!
Any questions?
Lord Raglan , 2 hours ago
It is because the majority of Wall Street are Jewish and **** overwhelmingly support
Democrats.
David Horowitz has said that 80% of the donations to the Democrat Party come from
****.
KashNCarry , 2 hours ago
What a bunch of ****. Wall St. elites are in it up to their necks casting their lot with
the globalists who want total control NOW. Trump is the only thing in their way....
artvandalai , 3 hours ago
Wall street people don't know much about the real economy. They also know little, nor do
they care about, the real problems faced by business people who have to work everyday to
overcome the policies put in place by liberals.
They do understand finance however. But all that requires is the ability to push paper
around all day.
But let them vote for the Libotards and have them watch Elizabeth Warren take charge of
the US Senate Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection Committee. They'll be jumping
out of windows.
FauxReal , 3 hours ago
Wall Street favors free money?
sun tzu , 1 hour ago
Wall Street wants bailouts. 0bozo gave them a yuge bailout
American2 , 2 hours ago
Based on the massively coordinated MSM suppression of the Biden corruption scandal, now I
know why these folks back Biden.
CosmoJoe , 2 hours ago
Democrats as the party of the big banks,
bgundr , 2 hours ago
Of course banksters favor policies that make the average person a slave with less
agency
Homie , 2 hours ago
Especially if you like the endless bailouts, give-aways, and freedom from those pesky
rules limiting the Squid's diet
You'd think that voting Republican would be an easy decision if you work on Wall Street,
especially given the lower taxes and the removal of burdensome regulations.
mtl4 , 2 hours ago
The shift in data shows that while Wall Street's top brass may still understand the
value of Republican leadership, bank employees themselves may overwhelmingly favor
progressives.
The banks are big on corruption and that's one poll the Dems are definitely leading by a
longshot.......thick as thieves.
tunetopper , 2 hours ago
Wall St youngsters dont realize their job is to whore themselves out as much as possible
to the few remaining classes of folk they dont already have accounts with. The few
Millennials and Gen Xers that have enough capital saved up are their target market. Ever
since the take-down of Bear Stearns and Lehman, and the exit of many others from their
Private Client Groups- the Whorewolves of Wall St are very busy pretending to be Progs and
Libs.
And like this post says: " who really cares, they all live in NY, NJ and CT which are
guaranteed Dem states anyway"
So in essence- they have nothing to lose while pretending to be a Prog/Lib. in order to ge
the clients money.
radar99 , 36 minutes ago
I arrived to wall st in 2010. My female boss at a large investment bank hated me from the
moment I criticized Obama. I was and still am absolutely amazed you can work on wall st and
be a democrat
moneybots , 59 minutes ago
"The shift in data shows that while Wall Street's top brass may still understand the value
of Republican leadership, bank employees themselves may overwhelmingly favor
progressives."
So 50 Cent alone went Trump after finding out NYC's top tax rate would be 62% under
Biden?
Flynt2142ahh , 1 hour ago
also known as MBNA Joe Biden friends, you mean the privatize profits but liberalize losses
crowd that always looks for gubment money to bail out failures - Shocking !
invention13 , 1 hour ago
Wall St. just knows Biden is someone you can do business with.
Loser Face , 1 hour ago
Wall Street leans towards anyone who passes laws that benefit Wall Street.
Obamaroid Ointment , 1 hour ago
The Wally Street crowd has always been a bunch Globalist Mercedes Marxists and Limousine
Liberals, this article is ancient history.
Sound of the Suburbs , 2 hours ago
US politicians haven't got a clue what's really going on and got duped by the banker's
shell game.
When you don't know what real wealth creation is, or how banks work, you fall for the
banker's shell game.
Bankers make the most money when they are driving your economy towards a financial
crisis.
On a BBC documentary, comparing 1929 to 2008, it said the last time US bankers made as
much money as they did before 2008 was in the 1920s.
Bankers make the most money when they are driving your economy into a financial
crisis.
Money and debt come into existence together and disappear together like matter and
anti-matter.
The money flows into the economy making it boom.
The debt builds up in the financial system leading to a financial crisis.
Banks – What is the idea?
The idea is that banks lend into business and industry to increase the productive capacity
of the economy.
Business and industry don't have to wait until they have the money to expand. They can
borrow the money and use it to expand today, and then pay that money back in the future.
The economy can then grow more rapidly than it would without banks.
Debt grows with GDP and there are no problems.
The banks create money and use it to create real wealth.
Caliphate Connie and the Headbangers , 2 hours ago
The banks and corporations of America have been welfare queens since 2008. Regardless of
who wins, they will be the beneficiaries of moar US-style corporate welfare socialism.
Victory_Rossi , 3 hours ago
Wall Street loves globalism and hates the entire ethos of "America First". They're people
with dodgy loyalties and grand self-interests.
FreemonSandlewould , 3 hours ago
What a surprise. The Banking Cartel faction of the Jish Control Grid sent Trotsky and
company to Russia to implement the Bolshevik revolution. Should I be surprised they lean
left?
Well I guess not. But they are at base amoral - that is to say with out moral philosophy.
Their real motto is "Whatever gets the job done".
Yesterday, former Vice President Joe Biden was again insisting that the scandal involving
Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation despite the direct refutation of that claim by
the FBI .
In her interview with Joe Biden, CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell did not push Biden to simply
confirm that the emails were fake or whether he did in fact meet with Hunter's associates
(despite his prior denials). Instead O'Donnell asked: "Do you believe the recent leak of
material allegedly from Hunter's computer is part of a Russian disinformation campaign?"
Biden responded with the same answer that has gone unchallenged dozens of times:
"From what I've read and know the intelligence community warned the president that
Giuliani was being fed disinformation from the Russians. And we also know that Putin is
trying very hard to spread disinformation about Joe Biden. And so when you put the
combination of Russia, Giuliani– the president, together– it's just what it is.
It's a smear campaign because he has nothing he wants to talk about. What is he running on?
What is he running on?"
It did not matter that the answer omitted the key assertion that this was not Hunter's
laptop or emails or that he did not leave the computer with this store.
Recently, Washington Post columnist Thomas Rid wrote
said the quiet part out loud by telling the media:
"We must treat the Hunter Biden leaks as if they were a foreign intelligence operation --
even if they probably aren't."
Let that sink in for a second. It does not matter if these are real emails and not Russian
disinformation. They probably are real but should be treated as disinformation even though
American intelligence has repeatedly r ebutted that claim. It does not even matter that the
computer has seized the computer as evidence in a criminal fraud investigation or that a Biden
confidant is now giving his allegations to the FBI under threat of criminal charges if he lies
to investigators.
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It simply does not matter. It is disinformation because it is simply inconvenient to treat
it as real information.
Bastiat , 3 hours ago
I should have lost the capacity for shock in reaction to this Mockingbird crap but the
sheer naked audacity of it still gets me.
Carbon Skidmark , 3 hours ago
I don't know what is worse. The concept that hiding crimes is no longer that important or
the lack of response to the crimes by so many.
jin187 , 3 hours ago
I don't know what's worse. The fact that our supposed news networks do this, or the fact
that in spite of the vast majority of Americans saying they distrust them, they still let
them get away with it. They still watch, and read, and listen. TBH, I don't think the lack of
MSM coverage is an issue with this particular story. I think the average Democrats and RINOs
are just covering their eyes and ears with this one. They want Trump to lose so bad, they
don't care if day one of the Biden administration is him handing suitcases of military
hardware blueprints to the Chinese. Anyone with a (D), never Trump, keep the swamp churning.
That's all they care about.
Four chan , 25 minutes ago
the laptop and its contents are 100% verified with clean chain of control.
UndergroundPost , 3 hours ago
It's now clear the Democrat Party under the Biden / Clinton Dynasties is nothing more than
a fully compromised, corrupt and criminal extension of the Communist Party of China
SDShack , 3 hours ago
Absolutely! The timelines of everything line up perfect. These laptops were dropped off at
the computer shop in early 2019. Work was done, but not paid for. The owner tried to get paid
and have the laptops picked up for 3 months. No go, so abandoned property now belongs to the
computer shop. All perfectly legal. It's now fall 2019 and the Impeachment Sham related to
Ukraine is starting. Computer shop realizes that laptops belonged to Demorat VP son being
caught up in the entire Impeachment Sham. Computer shop guy realizes he is holding dynamite
with lit fuse so he contacts FBI. FBI does nothing, then gets involved, then sits on the
story. This is all end of 2019.
Meanwhile, demorat primaries are starting and Bernie is the leader. DNC can't have Bernie
win, so they try to game the system to stop him just like 2016. But no one early on can do
it. Senile Joe fails first. Then Kamalho, who was the favorite, flames out. Then all the
others. It's now early 2020 and the DNC is hemorrhaging money and in disarray. Then look what
happens, the DNC miraculously unities around Senile Joe to stop the Angry Berd, with Kamalho
being the fallback position as VP. It is clear that the CCP ordered the DNC to do this
because they had the goods on Corrupt Joe, and the DNC needs the Chicom money. They all
figured they had it all covered up. They never figured on the crazy cokehead son blowing it
all up. The timelines all line up, and explain why Senile Joe rose from the dead in the
primaries to be the anointed one, along with Kamalho. The CCP got the candidates they bought
and paid for.
GoldmanSax , 1 hour ago
100% true but the republican government refuses to prosecute their buddies. The US has 1
party and we ain't invited.
Robert De Zero , 3 hours ago
It isn't real, we hope it isn't real, you can't prove it's real, 50 experts said it isn't
real, Russia planted it, Russian disinformation, Rudy is compromised, Rudy might be a Russian
agent, Rudy almost banged a 24 YO and he can't be trusted, It's not about Joe we don't care,
Hunter isn't running, Bobulinski has a funny name so he can't be trusted...NOT ONCE ASKING IF
THIS IS a MAJOR PHUCKING PROBLEM.
The problem isn't RUSSIA, it's you bastards in the Big Lies Media!
GoldmanSax , 1 hour ago
Why hasn't the patriotic republicans arrested the evil democrats? Whats the hold up?
tonye , 3 hours ago
At some point we are going to have to break up the corporate media conglomerates.
All of them.
And start racketeering prosecutions.
Salsa Verde , 3 hours ago
Facts mean nothing in a country where emotional outbursts are now considered gospel.
Stable-Genius , 3 hours ago
I think we need to bring back the death penalty in every state and not keep housing these
criminals for lifetimes.
Zorch , 2 hours ago
Wait! What does Gretta say?
VisceralFat1 , 3 hours ago
so... the hunter laptop is fake
and global warming is real
got it
jin187 , 3 hours ago
You just summed up the only thing 90% of students actually learn from 12 years of public
school.
rwe2late , 3 hours ago
correct on both points
Zerogenous_Zone , 3 hours ago
duh...
the Feds have plenty of laptops that have incriminating evidence of our elected leaders
(Wasserman Schultz, Iman Brothers, Weiner, DNC Servers, etc...), Dems and Repubs
at issue is if we REALLY knew the depths of treason from said leaders, we'd run out of
rope and tall trees...
so...anyone who votes Democrat, is complicit in my eyes (and they don't need to vote
Republican) and deserve the heat of the truth, strong enough to melt all the
snowflake-SJW's
Carbon Skidmark , 3 hours ago
ban laptops...it's so simple...no laptops and bad things stop happening
Zerogenous_Zone , 3 hours ago
/sarc
banned public schools first...they're indoctrination centers of controlled deception
NO critical thinking...NO innovative strategies
ONLY State sponsors 'information' filtered by the snowflakes anti-social media platforms
and e-encyclopedia (Schmoogle)
11b40 , 3 hours ago
Ban email & instant messages. Life would be immediately better.
CosmoJoe , 3 hours ago
Dorsey looks like a fvcking homeless person. What a clown. I'd love to rip that ring right
out of his nose.
sunhu , 2 hours ago
losers anger is always fun to watch
chubbar , 3 hours ago
The media is acting against the best interests of the USA. Think about it, "IF" the
allegations are true, we need to find out BEFORE we elect someone who is selling out our
country for personal gain, not after. WHY would the media think differently unless they don't
care whether the allegations are true or not? Are they working for China? Is the DNC? These
are appropriate lines of inquiry given the wholesale censoring the media has levied on the
Biden corruption story. The FBI sat on this for months and it has Child ****, which means
children remain at risk until the FBI goes in and stops it. WTF is wrong with Wray that he
allows this to go on?
somewhere_north , 3 hours ago
Dude, if it was for real Hunter Biden would have been arrested by now. You can't seriously
believe they're just holding back their damning evidence. The obvious conclusion is they
don't have it.
Mr. Universe , 2 hours ago
...except those pictures of a naked Hunter with his niece and the emails of the family
trying to keep a lid on Mom's protestations.
You see lots of pics of Hunter Biden with a blacked out bitch. No way of knowing who he's
actually with.
hugin-o-munin , 2 hours ago
Yeah like duh really man, I mean come on man. Stop thinking so much man, hang ten and
chill bruh.
8-(
Im4truth4all , 2 hours ago
Has Comey, Clapper, Strozk and the list goes on ad infinitum, been arrested? No.
ebear , 1 hour ago
"The obvious conclusion is they don't have it."
An inference, by itself, is not a conclusion.
Soloamber , 2 hours ago
Wray inherited a completely screwed up Comey FBI .
He is not a culture changer .
glasshour , 3 hours ago
Stop calling these people mainstream. There is nothing mainstream about them because
nobody watches their crap.
Joe Rogan's show last night got more views than all of them combined.
WhatDoYouFightFor , 3 hours ago
Hunter is still walking around free, system is F'd. Nothing will right the United States
at this point.
Zerogenous_Zone , 3 hours ago
it's the Hillary conundrum, right?
IF they get Hunter, it's 'election interference'...
deceitful godless individuals...
randocalrissian , 3 hours ago
But but but Her Emails
slightlyskeptical , 3 hours ago
he will always be free on these items as the evidence was all acquired illegally and
likely doctored to all hell.
jin187 , 3 hours ago
This is why I said the day Trump got elected that these people just need to disappear to a
blacksite in Yemen. The best way to drain the swamp is waterboarding all the ones we know to
find the ones we don't know.
Ghost of Porky , 3 hours ago
If Trump rescued 30 drowning children with his helicopter the CNN headline would read
"Trump Increases Carbon Footprint to Risk Superspreader Event.
Stable-Genius , 3 hours ago
Exactly - so tired of MSM and their opinionated lies
pstpetrov , 3 hours ago
Yes Liberals are all about disinformation and Trump has the moral high ground.
randocalrissian , 3 hours ago
Best joke I've heard in October. Well played, sir!
otschelnik , 3 hours ago
How would the MSM react if Don Jr. flew into China on AF1 with his father, met with
Chinese central committee members and intelligence officials, formed a Joint Venture with
them and then got a 5 million dollar no interest loan from the head of a private oil company,
who's chairman used to work in intelligence?
Imagine that. How would ABC MSNBC CNN NPR WaPo NYT PBS broadcast that?
glasshour , 3 hours ago
Better question, who cares. Nobody watches that junk anymore.
fanbeav , 3 hours ago
Liberal sheeple still do.
randocalrissian , 3 hours ago
Let's get the case in a court of law so allegations and wild claims can be proven or
disproven. But wait, this was timed so court isn't an option. So all we are left with is the
sniff test. Smells like baby diaper needs changed.
slightlyskeptical , 3 hours ago
How did they react when it was Kushner doing the traveling and getting the money for his
business?
Iconoclast422 , 3 hours ago
the computer has seized the computer as evidence
Why does every article have these little tidbits that make me think every writer has
stroked out in 2020?
11b40 , 3 hours ago
You see that, too? Something is wrong in the editing process. Sloppy, I guess, or
foreign.
Santiago de Mago , 3 hours ago
I noticed that in several articles today... almost like they are being written by AI
bots.
"My Macaroni And Cheese Is A Lesbian Also She Is My Lawyer"
balz , 3 hours ago
Every time you see someone saying they are a "journalist" at a MSM, don't forget to tell
them they are wrong and their job-title is "propagandist".
Shut. It. Down. , 2 hours ago
Some of the emails have already been verified by the outside recipient or sender.
Next you'll tell me all the sex videos were photoshopped by Putin.
KayaCreate , 1 hour ago
I lost 5 mins of my life watching Hunters **** getting kicked around by a probable minor
while smoking crack. You could tell it was him as his fake teeth glowed in the dark.
Cephisus , 3 hours ago
The media are scum.
Bill of Rights , 3 hours ago
Funny isn't it, every time the Globalist are exposed its " Disinformation " ..Hows that
Russian Collusion evidence coming along? its only been four years.....
American2 , 2 hours ago
The only question remaining to ask is simply this: Who is more enfeebled, Joe Biden; or
the networks and ABC, NBC, CBS, NY Times, WaPo, LA Times?
CosmoJoe , 3 hours ago
I have been out of f*cks to give when it comes to the MSM for a decade now. What is so
comical is that when the MSM so overtly covers for candidates, it backfires horribly. You
can't hyperventilate over an anonymously sourced Trump tax return story and yet ignore the
Biden laptop. People see right through that.
randocalrissian , 3 hours ago
Trump's taxes were made public. Nobody knows where Biden's (or whoever's) laptop came
from. Giuliani is already very late with the promised salacious details. How many people do
you think are really changing their vote to the Domestic Terrorist in the WH?
IndicaTive , 3 hours ago
I know of one person
Invert This MM , 3 hours ago
You are a freaking Share Blue Clown. Nobody buys your monkey dung
IndicaTive , 3 hours ago
You know me so well, after 3 months of trolling here.
Invert This MM , 2 hours ago
You really are one stupid fuuk. You just outed one of your sockpuppets and I was purged in
the Google crack down. I have been posting here for 12 years. You monkeys are really
stupid.
Invert This MM , 2 hours ago
Hey Monkey, I was purged during the Google shake dawn. Been here 14 years. Like a complete
moron, you just outed one of your sockpuppets. Dumbass
replaceme , 3 hours ago
No serious Dem thinks the laptop isn't Hunter's - your supposed to ignore it, or pretend
it has nothing to do with Joe. The Russians, booga boogah
invention13 , 3 hours ago
No, his taxes weren't made public. Claims about his taxes were made public - there is a
difference which you seem happy to elide.
CosmoJoe , 3 hours ago
Trump's taxes as reported by the NY Times were NOT made public, what gives you that idea.
The info was leaked to the Times.
jin187 , 3 hours ago
This is what I want to know. How is it that the NYP is still banned from Twitter based on
them obtaining information "illegally or illicitly", when we know for a fact now that they
didn't? At the same time, I'm pretty sure that the NYT and their followers are still happily
linking and chatting away about the story on how they illegally obtained Trump's tax
returns.
wearef_ckedwithnohope , 3 hours ago
Matt Taibbi has written a series of articles bemoaning the current state of
journalism.
replaceme , 3 hours ago
What's journalism?
invention13 , 3 hours ago
I'm beginning to think it is something that never really existed - just an ideal in some
people's minds.
Shillelagh Pog , 2 hours ago
Journalism is putting down on paper your, or someone you like, or is paying you for,
feelings, duh.
slightlyskeptical , 3 hours ago
He has the same issues with his journalism.
starcraft22 , 1 hour ago
The laptop is real. The media is the foreign disinformation.
Stable-Genius , 3 hours ago
Just shocking how MSM is so quick to dismiss this shocking evidence. We know it's not part
of their brainwashing echo chamber of lies for their low IQ and low informed voters but had
this been one of Trump's sons laptops - this would be MAJOR HEADLINES for the next 12
months.
Remember the 4 year Russiangate investigation, 40 million to Robert Mueller all based on a
bought and paid dossier paid for by the DNC/Clinton foundation, corrupt FBI, FISA warrants
all to spy and setup Trump to incriminate him for the VERY same crimes they were in FACT
committing.
Ar15ak47rpg7 , 2 hours ago
Note to all Zero HEDGERS....there seems to be no difference between the scrubbing of
comments on Twitter and Facebook and ZH. The free flow of ideas on ZH no longer exist. Just
like the Drudge Report the Deep Stater's have gotten to the Tylers. Beware
One of these is not like the others.. , 2 hours ago
I concur, the more thoughtful the post, the more likely it seems to vanish.
ebear , 1 hour ago
I must be an idiot then. As much as I'd like to add that badge to my collection, my stuff
never seems to get scrubbed. Damn!
Urfa Man , 3 minutes ago
Gulag and the shrews that run it are putting big financial pressure on ZH to censor us.
This month I've twice tried to post a URL for the news article that details the censorship
here, but go figure, those posts get scrubbed.
It's all because of you and me. The Bolsheviks at Gulag say this comment section hurts
feelings and therefore must be dominated and controlled with an iron fist.
Gulag Bans ZeroHedge From Ad Platform
If you replace "Gulag" with the name of a major search engine and conduct a search using
the words in italics above - via a search engine like duckduckgo - the results will probably
point you to the news article that gives the details of this ZH censorship and why your
comments disappear.
lacortenews com is the domain that carries the news report
Good luck. There's not much left of free speech or the original freedom of the
internet.
unionbroker , 3 hours ago
A business associate of mine told me with a straight face that he didn't trust Bobulinski
because he had a Russian sounding name. He is on Twitter a lot so maybe that explains it.
slightlyskeptical , 3 hours ago
I don't trust him either. He has already changed his story. he requested to meet Joe Biden
and then later he didn't request it. . And he met him, but he didn't have a meeting with him.
He confirmed that on Fox last night.
Stable-Genius , 3 hours ago
I trust him 100% #imwithhim
remember Dr Christine Ford and her fake as story against Kavanaugh - this is much more
realistic than her fake as
Republicans can play dirty too
jin187 , 2 hours ago
Yeah, this is what it's come to, so **** it. I hope Rudy is out there right now handing
out suitcases of cash to anyone willing to come forward with any lies about Biden, Pelosi,
Schumer, just like our side's Gloria Steinem.
Zerogenous_Zone , 3 hours ago
bring him in under oath and actually investigate...
BUT that would be 'election interference' (you know, the whole Hillary conundrum,
right?)
rule of law is now changed to morality of feelings...if it makes me feel insignificant, it
CAN'T be TRUE!!
WAAAHHHHHH
Stable-Genius , 3 hours ago
he will testify under oath watch - and he won't be like pencil neck Schiff and those other
cowards and plea the 5th
rwe2late , 3 hours ago
???
you could watch the Tucker Carlson show interview instead of your imagined one.
Uh... did watch it. And yes, the story he tells there about meeting Biden is not the same
as the one he told before. Riddle me this: if this is real, why would they hopelessly
compromise their chain of evidence by dribbling it to the public like this?
Stable-Genius , 3 hours ago
because no one in the MSM would dummy - they are all in DEEP ****
somewhere_north , 3 hours ago
They don't have to use the MSM, or any media. They simply arrest Hunter Biden, then drop
all the info at once instead of tantalizingly holding the smoking guns out of our view. All
they are doing here, if they actually have anything, is risking the lives of their witnesses
and giving the perps a lot of warning. That's to say nothing about compromising the evidence
to the point of inadmissability. It's running a risk for no gain whatsoever.
rwe2late , 3 hours ago
stuff is only out of your view if your eyes are closed
rwe2late , 3 hours ago
"not the same" ?
missed your weblink (not that you could be making stuff up, cough, cough.)
also, how that would have any significant bearing on the whole matter,
including most MSM news censorship and Russia nonsense ?
RedNeckMother , 3 hours ago
Who told you that bulls hit?
calculator , 2 hours ago
It's entirely possible he is military intelligence and was sent undercover to infiltrate
the Bidens and discover their treachery. The CIA and FBI sure as hell don't appear to be
doing it. Since we may very well be in a shooting war with the CCP at some point in the near
future, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the military is actually doing their jobs to ensure
we are not compromised.
SDShack , 3 hours ago
We must treat the Hunter Biden leaks as if they were a foreign intelligence operation --
even if they probably aren't."
Cmon Turley, parse these words> Why does the WaPo say 'WE MUST' treat these leaks this
way? This implies that the WaPo is BEING ORDERED to treat these leaks this way! So WHO has
power over the WaPo? Is that power direct, or financial, or BOTH? Also the assumption the
WaPo is trying to propagate is that the Foreign Intelligence Operation is...THE
RUSSIANS...but could it not actually be the CCP that is pulling the WaPo strings? Doesn't the
CCP revelation go to the central heart of the entire Corrupt Joe matter, as well as the
financial angle for the Bezo's Amazon WaPo? Even in their lies, the nuggets of hidden truth
are exposed.
Amel , 3 hours ago
Asking yourself why the CIA control of the MSM favors a Manchurian candidate over Trump ?
Because the CIA's own survival is valued above national security.
invention13 , 3 hours ago
For they same reason they had to treat the Russian collusion allegations as though they
were real.
LetThemEatRand , 3 hours ago
Same reason there was no outrage at the Obama child cages at the Mexico border. Or outrage
at all of the wars Obama started. Or outrage at all of the drone killing under Obama.
Most Blue Team members are satisfied getting their news from MSM, leaving MSM able to
shape the narrative almost completely. There are a handful of guys like Jimmy Dore on the
left who call out the rest of the left on this. Pretty scary, actually.
factorypreset , 3 hours ago
It sure seems like the press is helping to squash this whole thing by asking any questions
in such a way that Joe doesn't perjure himself.
mtl4 , 3 hours ago
Yesterday, former Vice President Joe Biden was again insisting that the scandal
involving Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation despite the direct refutation of
that claim by the FBI.
All makes perfect sense in a time when you chose your gender in the morning while getting
dressed, you only need to be accused of anything to completely ruin your reputation (unless
your a politician in which case there are no laws). So why would anyone deal with reality at
a time when we've gotten so good at simply ignoring it.
"... So, yes, the Republican Party has ideology but this ideology is the same as the ideology on "Clitonized" Dems with some minor differences ("soft neoliberalism" of Clintonized Dems vs "hard neoliberalism" by Repugs) ..."
But the claim that the Republican party has no ideology or policy agenda is completely
wrong.
The policy agenda of the GOP is to cut taxes on the rich and to dismantle regulation and
social insurance programs.
NYT is out of depth. That's a typical neoliberal platform and both parties, not only one,
adopted the same neoliberal ideology (that was the essence of Clinton wing selloff to Wall
Street).
So, yes, the Republican Party has ideology but this ideology is the same as the ideology
on "Clitonized" Dems with some minor differences ("soft neoliberalism" of Clintonized Dems vs
"hard neoliberalism" by Repugs)
Both are now extremely corrupt Imperial Parties ready to sacrifices the interests of common
Americans for the interests of global neoliberal empire (read multinationals) and personal
profits. Kind of occupying force, much like Bolsheviks were in the USSR.
Both are War parties, jingoistic and militaristic to the extreme. And ready to feed Pentagon
to the tilt at the expense of common people. And they are jingoistic to such an extent that is
is not unclear to which party neocons should belong (Max Boot changed parties recently.)
Both are ready to blame the gradual collapse of neoliberalism in the USA on a convenient
foreign scapegoat and use neo-McCarthyism as a smoke screen to hide neoliberalism failures
including Hillary fiasco -- the rejection by common people of a neoliberal, jingoistic
candidate pushed by neoliberal elite. The fact that the second candidate was probably even
worse domestically with his extreme "national neoliberalism" program does not change the
situation. That was a real protest.
Both are now extremely friendly to intelligence agencies. with neoliberal globalist wing of
Dems using them for political purposes via Russiagate hoax.
The situation that probably will be mirrored by Repugs with "Chinagate" if Biden
wins.
Nobody, October 26, 2020 2:57 am
Frankly, the Republican party's donor class' forty year quest to turn the US into a
kleptocracy has already done so much damage to American democracy that it almost certainly
can't be saved. Even if Biden wins, he will only be able to slow the decline into
authoritarianism until the next Republican seizes the Presidency.
Reported by a center-conservative newspaper, curiously, in yesterady´s hearing with
Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, Pope Francis made a similar analysis to this one
from the left, on the similarities of this moment with Weimar, and the need to low the level of
political twitching, which only benefits those who seek the destruction of nation states. He
referred also to what country, nation and homeland would mean ( and in this, one would say he
is on the same line as Putin...)
He forgot to mention Trump University as a shining example of Trump morality. Both men are
are crooks. One of corrupt neoliberal politician who is the worst type of crooks, the person who
is on same small moral level as child molesters.
Notable quotes:
"... How The Bidens Earned $16.7 Million After Leaving The White House, ..."
"... Barack and Michelle Obama net worth 2020, ..."
Even setting all that aside, though, being a U.S. Senator for 36 years and then a Vice
President for eight can be mighty remunerative. You don't have to be sensationally crooked: A
U.S. Senator has enormous influence, a Vice President even more, and the money will come
looking for you.
Forbes has the details of Biden's post-Vice-Presidential income growth:
Absent the principled restraint of a Truman or a Menzies you just have to sit back and let
the gifts, the fees, the favors, the "contributions," the stock options roll in. (Barack and
Michelle Obama's net worth is estimated at $40 million -- each! [
Barack and Michelle Obama net worth 2020, by Margaret Abrams, London Evening
Standard, February 19, 2020.])
So comparing these two guys, there is a strong moral case in favor of Trump.
Lol, giving praise to a Slimeball who screw his siblings, with business skills "so great"
that he had to file bankruptcy several times to screw the banks (for a change). No guts to
show his tax returns because everybody would see what he really is, a complete sham.
No US bank would deal with him and he had to find some stupid foreign bank like Deutche Bank
to screw.
No wonder the US is so so so screwed. What a joke. Dozens of third world countries that Trump
like to call " sh ** hole countries " are leaving US in the dust, when it comes to choice of
leaders. Fact is, this so called Beacon of Democracy is long dead, only a name remains. If US
wanna prove to the world that it still stands for equality before the law, have him tried and
jail after he loses the election.
So trump is superior to biden because he is a corrupt capitalist, while biden is a corrupt
politician? Got news for the israeli prostitute writing this likudite toss. BOTH TRUMP AND
BIrEN ARE CORRUPT TO THE MAX AND TRAITORS, AS WELL. EQUALLY. Put that in your pipe and smoke
it, israeli.
Of all the efforts to boost Trump, this one appears to be the closest to a joke. Only the
braindead can believe in Trump's morality or that he's a self-made man. Both Biden and Trump
are rotten to the core. US presidential elections are never about who's morally better,
they're always about who's the lesser evil and their only purpose is to continue the
legitimacy of evil.
@Peter Akuleyev billionaire and he took the presidency right from under the Democrat's
entitled noses. Regardless of whether he's a good man or not, he pulled the covers off a
heinously corrupt, hostile culture of subversion present within the American left and has
inoculated millions of Americans to their effects. The left cannot work any further in the
shadows, the alphabet organizations are known to be untrustworthy, self-serving cunts and
normal people are now aware of Epstein after years of Alex Jones yelling into space about
him.
And beyond that, the man's a hero for stymieing the Zionist takeover of the middle east
which the last 20+ years of presidencies have enabled. Greater Israel isn't getting Syria
while Trump is president.
If you can make any kind of appeal from personal morality, that's a big plus.
Trump can -- but he doesn't, I don't know why.
It's way outside his wheelhouse, that's why. Unfortunately, so are many other things even
more germane to governing, not to mention running for office. He got lucky in 2016 because
Hillary Clinton was even more of a horror show than Biden and Harris combined. We'll see what
happens this time–all too soon. The Forces of Reaction are particularly well-focused
though.
Don't mistake me. It's not like Trump losing will be good for America. The Democrats
already have their plans in place for cementing their rule as a permanent, single-party
dictatorship. I've been working on a list of expected results and if anyone wants to add
items I'd be grateful for ideas.
Trump tries a lot of things so he naturally fails at a lot of things, but he doesn't fail
at everything . Plenty of stories of successful men like that.
I agree with Derb's point. Trump leaves a lot of red meat on the table. He should have a
ready-made death blow for every subject, gotcha question and accusation that comes up, but he
seems to be too impatient and undisciplined to more fully prepare himself. He also goes off
on petty tangents now and then. I surely admire his energy, though. He's fat and old enough
to be my father, but there's no way I could keep up with him. He had Covid for all of five
minutes.
@Peter Akuleyev ess person could come back from bankruptcy. Trump's lawyer–son of
an Orthodox rabbi Friedman who is now the Ambassador to Israel– drove a coach and
horses through the newly lenient bankruptcy laws, enabling Trump to bilk his creditors like
he always had his contractors (by saying 'the project will collapse and you'll get unless you
agree to be satisfied with less that the originally stipulated amount).
Wall Street distrusted Trump as a result of his repeated rising like a financial phoenix
from the financial ashes of tactical bankruptcies, so he paid a price in the denial of his
access to new capital, which may have had an underappreciated effect on his thinking. He is a
renegade and a traitor to his class, but not to his country.
The U.S.A., as every foreigner notices, is an intensely moralistic nation. If you can
make any kind of appeal from personal morality, that's a big plus.
Trump can -- but he doesn't, I don't know why.
My impression is, that Donald Trump does not understand this kind of subject at all.
– And that that hangs loosely together with the – I can't resist, sorry –
huge (I hear him right in my ear now ) – with the huge fact, that he
indeed, as you pointed rightfully out above, did make his money in business and that he is a
businessman throughout. He is basically a utilitarian – and utilitarians act as if
– morals and ethics, etc. would not be necessary really, not in the first place, for
sure.
@Peter Akuleyev unny in a obscene way to see Trump's most exuberant fans foist upon him
the mantra "Drain the swamp!" What is he to do but run with it? The difference between the
careerist swamp creature Biden and the outsider Trump is that while the one is highly
corruptible the other is downright corrupt. If the social virtues of integrity, honesty,
empathy, courage, politeness, magnanimity and so forth may be said to make the building
blocks of high social organization and flourishing, the embodiment of antisocial forces of
social decay – dishonesty, envy, greed, insecurity – would seem foolish to hold
up as lead representative of some movement of revitalization. Better to be in the wilderness
with leaders of some earnestness and vision than in the palace with Commodus.
Trump Organization is still standing. In a business based on real estate that is actually
quite a feat. Blame the bankers if you want for both Trump's successes and failures. But it
is still survival unlike Biden's pay to play game. Although calling it "Biden's" is a
misnomer, the political lifers all play that game. Grooming your sons to be your grift's
prostitutes might be unique, but unfortunately at this point I doubt that.
This argument holds no water. Trump allowed the entire economy to be shut down over
scientific fraud, which was the worst business decision made in world history. Biden is the
same. Both candidates are economic terrorists and economic hitmen. The facts prove it.
Ignoring the specifics of Trump and Biden, the issue that there is a moral distinction
between making money in business and making money in politics is totally absurd, because
these are today the same thing!
Most modern wealthy people do NOT make their money competitive industries: they basically
get it by stealing from the public treasury. Tens of trillions in Wall Street bailouts and
ongoing subsidies, trillions in endless pointless winless wars that serve only to enrich
politically connected defense contractors, "public-private partnerships" where the public
puts up the money and takes the risk, and the "private" rich get guaranteed profits no matter
how it turns out The robber-barons of the 19th century at least built things, and had to
compete, the modern rich are just welfare queens on a vast scale.
But the rich only get away with this because they have bribed politicians like Joe Biden
to let them! So both "businessmen" and "politicians" are morally the same thing.
@Anon ound it's young, white 20 something conservative males who are seeing their future
destroyed before their eyes. Seeing Americans walking around with what amounts to respiratory
diapers on their face is disgusting, pathetic and embarrassing. The elderly, who for the most
part have overall lived the peak American dream, are living in hysteria and fear. The boomers
in America are confirmed now as some of the most selfish, self absorbed, and enfranchised
generations ever. To blame the covid deaths on Trump is the most stupid and intellectually
dishonest argument in this whole election narrative. Dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery
you want to wear a worthless diaper on your face fine .don't force tyranny on the rest of us!
The worst thing to do is give the Democrats a supermajority.
Not voting would have turned the US into California.
They would raise taxes even higher and they would also ban most guns instead of facing the
harsh truth of Black crime. California has some of the highest taxes and yet they still blame
their education failures on Whites for not paying enough.
Both parties are in fact evil but giving one side complete control is a very bad idea.
That is what not voting would do. The Democrats can always get the votes of people that are
desperate. One reason I don't like US style conservatism is because it really doesn't have a
plan to help the working poor and this plays into the hands of Democrats
Maybe it's a form of Gresham's Law. How long could you work with sociopathic liars like
Schiff and Schumer while other sociopaths in the media report that you are the real
sociopathic liar? How long would you want to?
Plus, a serious statesman would discuss trade-offs and the American voter isn't good with
trade-offs.
Leftism, no matter what you call it, has always been dysgenic and always will be. It is a
"philosophy" embraced by those unable to surrender their dream for an impossible to achieve
perfect world for an imperfect and achievable good one.
RNC's national spokesperson Liz Harrington battled CNN's Christiane Amanpour for
refusing to engage with allegations of corruption against Joe Biden and his family after years
of hyping unverified Trump-Russia allegations.
"Why don't you want to report this? This is one of the most powerful families in
Washington," she asked. "And you're okay with our interests being sold out to profit Joe Biden
and his family, while we're suffering during a pandemic from communist China?"
Yeah .and how many of those deaths were from the complete mismanagement of the sick elderly
ie throwing them back into nursing homes. American facilities for many of our poorer, middle
class elderly are disgusting places of squalor and nosocomial infections. How many were among
elderly that were already on death's door step? This scamdemic has destroyed this country. If
there is one demographic in this country that should burning it to the ground it's young, white
20 something conservative males who are seeing their future destroyed before their eyes. Seeing
Americans walking around with what amounts to respiratory diapers on their face is disgusting,
pathetic and embarrassing. The elderly, who for the most part have overall lived the peak
American dream, are living in hysteria and fear. The boomers in America are confirmed now as
some of the most selfish, self absorbed, and enfranchised generations ever. To blame the covid
deaths on Trump is the most stupid and intellectually dishonest argument in this whole election
narrative. Dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery you want to wear a worthless diaper on your
face fine .don't force tyranny on the rest of us!
People living in the western world are in the greatest fight for the future of pluralist and
republican forms of governance since the rise and fall of fascism 75 years ago. As then,
society had to be built up from a war. Today's war has been an economic war of the oligarchs
against the republic, and it increasingly appears that the coronavirus pandemic is being used,
on the political end, as a massive coup against pluralist society. We are being confronted with
this 'great reset', alluding to post-war construction. But for a whole generation people have
already been living under an ever-increasing austerity regimen. This is a regimen that can only
be explained as some toxic combination of the systemic inevitabilities of a consumer-driven
society on the foundation of planned obsolescence, and the never-ending greed and lust for
power which defines whole sections of the sociopathic oligarchy.
Recently we saw UK PM Boris Johnson stand in front of a 'Build Back Better' sign, speaking to the
need for a 'great reset'. 'Build Back Better' happens to be Joe Biden's campaign slogan,
which raises many other questions for another time. But, to what extent are the handlers who
manage 'Joe Biden', and those managing 'Boris Johnson' working the same script?
The more pertinent question is to ask: in whose interest is this 'great reset' being carried
out ?
Certainly it cannot be left to those who have built their careers upon the theory and
practice of austerity. Certainly it cannot be left to those who have built their careers as
puppets of a morally decaying oligarchy.
What Johnson calls the 'Great Reset', Biden calls the 'Biden Plan for a Clean Energy
Revolution & Environmental Justice'. Certainly the coming economy cannot be left to Boris
Johnson or Joe Biden.
How is it that now Boris Johnson speaks publicly of a 'great reset', whereas just months ago
when those outside the ruling media paradigm used this phrase, it was censured by corporate
Atlanticist media as being conspiratorial in nature? This is an excellent question posed by
Neil Clark.
And so we have by now all read numerous articles in the official press talking about how
economic life after coronavirus will never be the same as it was before. Atlanticist press has
even run numerous opinion articles talking about how this may cut against globalization –
a fair point, and one which many thinking people by and large agree with.
Yet they have set aside any substantive discussion about what exists in lieu of
globalization, and what the economy looks like in various parts of the world if it is not
globalized. We have consistently spoken of multipolarity, a term that in decades past was
utilized frequently in western vectors, in the sphere of geopolitics and international
relations. Now there is some strange ban on the term, and so we are now bereft of a language
with which to have an honest discussion about the post-globalization paradigm.
https://lockerdome.com/lad/13084989113709670?pubid=ld-dfp-ad-13084989113709670-0&pubo=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com&rid=www.zerohedge.com&width=890
Technocracy or Pluralism? A Fight Against the Newspeak
Until now, we have only been given a steady diet of distancing, of lockdown provisions,
quarantining, track and trace, and we have forgotten entirely about the fact that all of this
was only supposed to be a two or three-week long exercise to flatten the curve. And now the
truth is emerging that what is being planned is a new proposal being disguised as a 'great
reset'.
One of the large problems in discussing the 'great reset' is that a false dichotomy has
arisen around it. Either one wants things to be how they were before and without changes to the
status quo, or they promote this 'great reset'. Unfortunately, Clark in his RT article falls
into this false dichotomy, and perhaps only for expedience sake in discussing some other point,
he does not challenge the inherent problems in 'how things were before'. In truth, we would be
surprised if Clark did not appreciate what we are going to propose.
What we propose is that we must oppose their ' new normal ' 'great reset', while also
understanding the inherent problems of what had been normalized up until Covid.
The way things were before was also a tremendous problem, and yet now it only seems better
in comparison to the police state-like provisions we've encountered throughout the course of
politicizing the spectre of this 'pandemic'.
Oddly this politicization is based in positive cases (and not hospitalizations) ostensibly
linked to the novel coronavirus. Strangely, we are told to 'listen to the consensus science'
even as these very institutions consist of politically arrived at appointments. Certainly
science is not about consensus, but about challenging assumptions, repeatability and a lively
debate between disagreeing scientists with relatively equal qualifications. As Kuhn explains in
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , science is always evolving, and by definition
potentially overturns consensus paradigms. This is a debate we have not seen, and this fact by
itself represents an illiberal cancer growing on an already defective pluralist society –
ironically, all flying under the banner of liberalism.
Decisions that a society decides to take should be driven by reason, prudence, and justice.
What is or isn't scientific plays a role, but cannot be the deciding factor. Science clearly
says that we may eliminate cross-walk injuries by banning street-crossing or by banning
driving, but what policy makers must do is account for the need to have both cars and crossing
the street, in deciding how – if it's even possible – to reduce or eliminate such
injuries. Science is only one part of this equation.
But isn't economics also a science? Is sociology not a science? What about psychology and
psychiatry – as in the known effects of social isolation and, say, suicide prevention?
What about housing and urban planning? The great sociologist Emile Durkheim explains how these
are sciences – they adopt and apply the scientific method in their work. Universities
have been awarding doctoral degrees in these sciences for a century or more, do these expert
opinions not count when managing a public catastrophe?
It is, and always has been, a political and politicized position to listen to some
scientists, and not others.
And so what of our term 'reset'? Indeed, it is itself misleading, and we would propose it is
intentionally so if we understand Orwell's critique of the use of language – newspeak
– in technocratic oligarchies.
A 'reset' textually refers to going back to something once known, erasing defects or
contradictions which arose along the way, which carries with it the familiar, and something we
had previously all agreed to. A 'reset' by definition means going back to how things were
before – not just recently, but before at some point farther back. Its definition is
literally contrary to how Boris Johnson means it in his shocking public statement at the start
of October.
The term 'reset' was therefore arrived with extraordinary planning and thoughtfulness, with
the intent to persuade [manipulate] the public. It simultaneously straddles two unique
concepts, and bundles them together at once into a single term in a manner that reduces nuance
and complexity and therefore also reduces thinking. It does so while appealing to the implicit
notion of the term that it relates to a past consensus agreement.
If understood as we are told to understand it, we must hold two mutually contradictory
notions at the same time – we are incongruously told that this reset must effectively
restore society to how it was at some point before because things can never be how they were at
any time before. Only within the paradigm of this vicious newspeak could anything ever have the
public thinking that such a textual construction makes any bit of sense.
What are Our
Real Options? Whose Reset?
Those who understand that this 'reset' is not a reset but rather a whole new proposal on the
entire organization of society, but being done through oligarchical methods and without the
sort of mandate required in a society governed by laws and not men, are – as we have said
– reluctant to admit that a great change is indeed necessary.
Rather, we must understand that the underlying catastrophic economic mechanisms which are
forcing this great change exist independently of the coronavirus, and exist independently of
the particular changes which the oligarchs promoting their version of a 'reset' (read: new
proposals ) would like to see.
You see, the people and the oligarchs are locked into a single system together. In the
long-term, it seems as if the oligarchs are looking for solutions to change that fact, and
effect a final solution that grants them an entirely break-away civilization. But at this
moment, that is not the case. Yet this system cannot carry forward as it has been, and the
Coronavirus presents a reason at once both mysterious in its timing and also profound in its
implications, to push forward a new proposal.
We believe that technology is quickly arriving at a point where the vast majority of human
beings will be considered redundant. If the technocracy wants to create a walled civilization,
and leave the rest of humanity to manage their own lives along some agrarian, mediaeval mode of
production, there may indeed be benefits to those who live along agrarian lines. But based in
what we know about psychopathy, and the tendency of that among those who govern, such an
amicable solution is likely not in the cards.
That is why the anti-lockdown protests are so critically important to endorse. This is
precisely because the lockdown measures are used to ban mass public demonstrations, a critical
part of pushing public policy in the direction of the interests of the general public. A whole
part of the left has been compromised, and rolled out to fight imaginary fascists, by which
they mean anyone with conventional social views which predate May of 1968. All the while the
actual plutocrats unleash a new system of oligarchical control which, for most, has not been
hitherto contemplated except by relatively obscure political scientists, futurists, and science
fiction authors.
Certainly the consumerist economic system (sometimes called 'capitalism' by the left), which
is based in both globalized supply chains but also planned obsolescence, is no longer feasible.
In truth, this relied upon a third-world to be a source of both raw materials and cheaper
labor. The plus here is that this 'developing world' has largely now developed. But that means
they will be needing their own raw materials, and their own middle-classes have driven up their
own cost of labor. Globalization was based in some world before development, where the real
dynamic is best explained as imperialism , and so it makes sense that this system is a relic of
the past, and indeed ought to be.
It increasingly appears that the 'Coronavirus pandemic', was secondary to the foregone
economic crisis which we were told accompanied it. Rather, it seems that the former came into
being to explain-away the latter.
Another world is possible, but it is one which citizens fight for. In the U.S., England,
Scotland, Ireland, and Germany, there have already been rather large anti-lockdown
demonstrations. These, as we have explained, are not just against lockdown but are positively
pushing to assert the right to public and political association, to public and political
speech, and the redressing of grievances. This is a fundamental right for citizens in any
republic where there is any sort of check on the oligarchy.
We have written on the kind of world that is possible, in our piece from April 2020 titled:
"
Coronavirus Shutdown: The End of Globalization and Planned Obsolescence – Enter
Multipolarity ". That lays out what is possible, and what the problems of pre-corona system
were, in economic terms more than political. Here we discuss the problems of
globalization-based supply chain security in a multipolar world, and the larger problem of
planned obsolescence, especially in light of 3D printing, automation, and the internet of
things.
We posed the philosophical question as to whether it is justified to have a goods-production
system based upon both the guaranteed re-sale of the same type of goods due to planned
obsolescence and the 'work guarantees' that came with it. In short, do we live to work or to we
work to live? And with the 4th industrial revolution looming, we posed the question of what
will happen after human workers are no longer required.
Pluralist society is the compromise outcome of a ceasefire in the class war between the
oligarchy and the various other classes that compromise the people, at large. Largely idealized
and romantic ideas that form the basis of the liberal-democratic ideology (as well as classical
fascism) are used to explain how it is the oligarchy that is so very committed to that
arrangement of pluralism, and that this very arrangement is the product of their benevolence,
and not the truth: that it was the fight put up by common people to fight for a more just
future. No doubt there have been benevolent oligarchs who really believed in the liberal
ideology, of which fascism is one of its more radical products. But the view that the class
struggle can be acculturated or legislated into non-existence is similar to believing that the
law of gravity can be ruled unlawful in a court.
Perhaps we have forgotten what it takes, and perhaps things just have not gotten bad enough.
Decreases in testosterone levels in the population may be leading to a dangerous moment where
vigorous defiance to injustice is much less possible. Critical now is to avoid any artificial
means to opiate ourselves into thinking things are better than they are, whether by way of
anti-depressants or other self-medication. Only with a clear assessment of the real situation
on the ground can we forge the necessary strategy.
The great political crisis now is that a pandemic is being used to justify an end-run around
constitutional rights, an end-run around pluralist society, and so the vehicle – the
mechanism – that the general public might use to fight for their version of a 'reset' is
on the verge of disappearing.
In many ways this means that now is the final moment. We ask – whose great reset, ours
or theirs?
Russia is done with the European Union. At last week's Valdai Discussion Forum Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made this quite clear with this statement.
Those people in the West who are responsible for foreign policy and do not understand the
necessity of mutually respectable conversation–well, we must simply stop for a while
communicate with them. Especially since Ursula von der Leyen states that geopolitical
partnership with current Russia's leadership is impossible. If this is the way they want it,
so be it. (H/T Andrei Martyanov)
Lavrov's statements echo a number of statements made in recent months by Russian leadership
that there is no opportunity for diplomacy possible with the United States.
We can now add the European Union to that list. Pepe
Escobar's latest piece goes over Lavrov's comments about the European Union and they are
devastating, as devastating as when he and Putin described the U.S. as " Not
Agreement Capable " a few years ago.
Lavrov reiterated this with the following comments at Valdai last week.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/zV_W3b_4G50
But as badly as the U.S. has acted in recent years in international relations, unilaterally
abrogating treaty after treaty, nominally with the goal of remaking them to be more inclusive,
Lavrov's upbraiding of the current leadership of the European Union is far worse.
Because they have gone along with, if not openly assisted, every U.S.-backed provocation
against Russia for their own advantage. From Ukraine to MH-17, to Skripal to now Belarus and
the ridiculous Navalny poisoning, the EU has proved to be worse than the U.S.
Because there can be no doubt the U.S. views Russia as an antagonist. We're quite clear
about this. But Europe plays off U.S. aggression, hiding in the U.S.'s skirts while telling
Russia, usually through German Chancellor Angela Merkel, "Be patient, we are reluctantly going
along with this." But really they're happy about it.
You do not negotiate with monkeys, you treat them nicely, you make sure that they are not
abused, but you don't negotiate with them, same as you don't negotiate with toddlers. They
want to have their Navalny as their toy–let them. I call on Russia to start wrapping
economic activity up with EU for a long time. They buy Russia's hydrocarbons and hi-tech,
fine. Other than that, any other activity should be dramatically reduced and necessity of the
Iron Curtain must not be doubted anymore.
And the truth is that Russia is dealing with monkeys in the U.S. and toddlers in the EU. And
Martanyov's right that it's time Putin et.al. simply turn their backs on the West and move
forward.
Lavrov's statements at Valdai were momentous. They sent a clear signal that if Europe wants
a future relationship with Russia they will have to change how they do business.
The problem is however, that the EU is suffused with arrogance on the eve of the U.S.
election, mistakenly thinking Joe Biden will beat Trump.
Merkel has betrayed Putin at every turn since 2013. And Germany's appalling behavior over
the Alexei Navalny poisoning was the last straw.
That what was another sabotage effort to stop the Nordstream 2 pipeline and add grist to
Trump's re-election mill was given even a cursory glance by the highest levels of the German
government was insulting enough.
That Merkel allowed her Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to run his mouth on the subject, and
then throw the decision to sanction Russia (again) over this to the EU parliament and give it
any kind of political play was truly treacherous.
Germany has taken the lead in advancing "European integration" and therefore prioritizes
Eastern European member states that push for a more aggressive stance towards Russia.
Economic connectivity with Russia is no longer an instrument for building trust and
cooperation in the pan-European space, rather it was intended to strengthen Germany's
position as the center of the EU. Moscow should work with Berlin to construct Nord Stream 2,
but not forget why Nord Stream 1 was built while South Stream was blocked.
This is a point I've been making for years. Nordstream 2 is a political tool for Germany to
reroute gas coming in from Russia which Merkel can use as a political lever over Poland and the
Visegrads.
And it is the Poles who have consistently shot themselves in the foot by not reconciling
their relationship with Russia, banding together with its Eastern European brothers and
securing an independent source of Russian gas. Putin and Gazprom would happily provide it to
them, if they would but ask.
But they don't and instead turn to the U.S. to be their protectors from both Russia and
Germany, rather than conduct themselves as a sovereign nation.
That said, I think Mr. Diesen misses the larger point here. It is true Germany under Merkel
is looking to expand its control over the EU and set itself up as a superpower for the next
century. Putin himself acknowledged
that possibility at Valdai. That may be more to dig at the U.S. and warn Europe rather than
him actually believing it.
Because under Merkel and the EU Germany is losing its dynamism. And it may even lose control
over the EU if it isn't careful. If you look at the current situation from a German perspective
you realize that Germany's mighty export business is surrounded by hostile foreign powers.
Russia -- Merkel cut off the country from Russian markets. Even though some of the trade
with Russia has returned since sanctions over Crimea went into place in 2014 she hasn't
fought the U.S.'s hyper-aggressive use of sanctions to improve Germany's position.
The U.K. -- French President Emmanuel Macron looks like he's engineered a No-Deal Brexit
with Boris Johnson which will put up major export barriers for Germany into the U.K. cutting
them off from that market.
The U.S. – Trump has all but declared Germany an enemy and when he wins a second
term will tighten the screws on Merkel even tighter.
China – They know that the incoming Great Reset, which will have its Jahr Null
event in Europe likely next year, is all about consolidating power into Europe and sucking it
away from the U.S., a process Trump is dead-set against.
However, don't think for a second that the Commies that run the EU and the World Economic
Forum are teaming up with the Commies in China. Oh no, they have bigger plans than that.
And what's been pretty clear to me is Europe's delusions that it can subjugate the world
under its rubric, forcing its rules and standards on the rest of us, including China, again
allowing the U.S. to act as its proxy while it tries to maintain its standing.
I know what you're thinking. That sounds completely ludicrous.
And you're right, it is ludicrous.
But that doesn't mean it isn't true. This is clearly the mindset we're dealing with in The
Davos Crowd. They engineered a mostly-fake pandemic to accelerate their plans to remake the
world economy by burning it down.
The multi-polar world will see the fading U.S. and U.K. band together while Russia and China
continue to stitch together Asia into a coherent economic sphere. Trump is right to pull the
U.S. out of Central Asia and has gotten nothing but grief from the U.S. establishment while
Europe, through NATO, continues trying to expand to the Russian border, now with openly backing
the attempted coup in Belarus.
This was the dominant theme at Valdai and the focus of Putin's opening remarks.
"... We, in Russia, went through a fairly long period where foreign funds were very much the main source for creating and financing non-governmental organisations. Of course, not all of them pursued self-serving or bad goals, or wanted to destabilise the situation in our country, interfere in our domestic affairs, or influence Russia's domestic and, sometimes, foreign policy in their own interests. Of course not. ..."
Genuine democracy and civil society cannot be "imported." I have said so many times. They
cannot be a product of the activities of foreign "well-wishers," even if they "want the best
for us." In theory, this is probably possible. But, frankly, I have not yet seen such a thing
and do not believe much in it. We see how such imported democracy models function. They are
nothing more than a shell or a front with nothing behind them, even a semblance of sovereignty.
People in the countries where such schemes have been implemented were never asked for their
opinion, and their respective leaders are mere vassals. As is known, the overlord decides
everything for the vassal. To reiterate, only the citizens of a particular country can
determine their public interest.
We, in Russia, went through a fairly long period where foreign funds were very much the
main source for creating and financing non-governmental organisations. Of course, not all of
them pursued self-serving or bad goals, or wanted to destabilise the situation in our country,
interfere in our domestic affairs, or influence Russia's domestic and, sometimes, foreign
policy in their own interests. Of course not.
There were sincere enthusiasts among independent civic organisations (they do exist), to
whom we are undoubtedly grateful. But even so, they mostly remained strangers and ultimately
reflected the views and interests of their foreign trustees rather than the Russian citizens.
In a word, they were a tool with all the ensuing consequences.
A strong, free and independent civil society is nationally oriented and sovereign by
definition. It grows from the depth of people's lives and can take different forms and
directions. But it is a cultural phenomenon, a tradition of a particular country, not the
product of some abstract "transnational mind" with other people's interests behind it.
Former Hunter Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski is going to turn over his electronic
devices and business records to the FBI and appear Friday before two Senate committees
investigating accusations centered on content from a laptop linked to Hunter.
"Tony Bobulinski will announce that he will turn his electronic devices and records of
business dealings with Hunter and Jim Biden over to the FBI"
Bobulinski, a retired Navy lieutenant and CEO of Sinohawk Holdings, will hold a briefing in
Nashville, Tennessee, as he attends Thursday night's debate as a guest of President Donald
Trump, Roberts also reported.
And both the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Senate Finance
Committee will hear testimony from Bobulinski in their investigations into a purported
pay-for-play scheme that some have alleged also benefited former Vice President Joe Biden.
Committee Chairmen Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, issued the
following statement Thursday, announcing Bobulinski's cooperation Friday:
"As part of the committees' efforts to validate the authenticity of recently publicly
released emails involving the Biden family's international financial entanglements, we sent
letters to five individuals identified in the emails. Those letters were sent [Wednesday],
and the deadline is Oct. 23, 2020. So far, the committees have received a response only from
Mr. Tony Bobulinski, who appears to be willing to fully cooperate with our investigation.
"In fact, Mr. Bobulinski has already agreed to appear for an informal interview by the
committees tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020."
Ted Crus: "This whole issue is not about Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden by all appearances has
led a troubled and challenging life. This whole inquiry is about Joe Biden who wants to be
President and whether Joe Biden was personally corrupt," Cruz said. "One of the most striking
things is what Joe Biden isn't saying... Biden has not denied that he personally met with the
Ukrainian oligarch he repeatedly swore he never met.
Former Vice President Joe Biden used his son Hunter Biden as a "bag man" and got 50% of the
"bribe money" from foreign entities, Rudy Giuliani told Newsmax TV .
Appearing Tuesday on "Greg Kelly Reports,"
Giuliani, who says he is in possession of a copy of a hard drive purportedly belonging to
Hunter Biden, said the current Democrat presidential nominee could have used several "flunkies"
as a "bag man" rather than his own son, but instead involved Hunter in a purported bribery
scheme with Chinese businesses.
"Ten percent of the money that was being whacked up, that was $10 million a year, and then
50% of the profits with three Chinese Communists, one of whom was a Chinese intelligence
operative -- that 10% of that was going to H. for 'the big guy,'" Giuliani said.
"The big guy" has been identified by a Fox News source as Joe Biden, and Giuliani said his
team has identified Joe Biden by other means as well.
Pressed by host Greg Kelly for more revelations, Giuliani demurred, saying he has only been
able to look through about half the hard drive so far.
Giuliani said the hard drive -- which he noted has never been denied as authentic by Joe or
Hunter Biden -- contains evidence of about "five major federal crimes" and "$30-40 million"
going to the Biden family as bribes.
The hard drive is said to have come from a laptop left at a Delaware repair shop by a man
described by the owner of the shop as Hunter Biden. It was never picked up, and the original
drive was given to the FBI.
In one purported email, Hunter Biden complains he receives no respect for his work, but
tells his family he will not make them pay him "half your salary" like "Pop" did.
"This is not about Hunter," Giuliani said, but about what a criminal and "horrible father"
Joe Biden is.
"These are major bribes in which he sold out the United States to China."
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"... The "real issue" is the elite culture that produced and supports Biden. Looking at the family, you can tell it's just a bunch of degenerate mobster politicians. They're not even good at what they do. Who's behind them? Who is pushing Joe forward? ..."
"... It's a vampire squid of globo-homo kleptocracy and militant neoliberalism. Unfortunately the only other contender is our ziostooge DJT. ..."
"... I wouldn't call it the "elite culture" but one created by the CIA/FBI. They know who's doing what to whom and for how long and they've got the pictures, videos and confessions to prove it. If those agencies aren't shutdown or cleaned up, it won't matter who we elect...they will control them. ..."
"... It's a "culture" because it involves thousands of people: bureaucrats, journalists, politicians, attorneys, businessmen, bankers, and religious leaders. There is a conspiracy, but most of these people instictively know what to do and don't require orders. This basic class of people has been in power since Woodrow Wilson was put in the WH by Baruch and House. ..."
"... The politicians are like the Intel Agencies' zoo animals. ..."
A few days ago, the MSM and their political allies in the Democratic Party celebrated the
release of a "compromising" photo
appearing to show former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani with his hands down his pants. Giuliani
claimed that he was merely retucking in his shirt after removing some recording equipment, but
nevertheless, the whole news cycle played out in full view of the public as social media giants
like Twitter and Facebook looked the other way, allowing the photo, and links to news stories
covering the controversy (orchestrated by "Borat" prankster Sasha Baron Cohen) to circulate
widely.
However, just days later, a Chinese digital media company has published footage showing a
man who looks identical to Hunter Biden engaging in a sex fetish act with an unidentifiable
woman (along with a photo purporting to show what appears to be the same man engaging in sex
with a Ukrainian prostitute). But instead of allowing discussion and links to the video to
circulate, Twitter has scrubbed all links and photos related to the video and story, and is
suspending accounts that appear to be trying to spread the video or screenshots from the
footage.
Some background: Late Saturday afternoon, a mysterious link surfaced on Reddit purporting to
be the vaunted Hunter Biden sex tape - or at least, one of the Hunter Biden sex tapes (whispers
about more footage have so far gone unsubstantiated).
In it, a naked Hunter Biden can be seen, smoking crack, and laying with an unidentified
woman, possibly a prostitute. The woman's face is blurred out, making it impossible to tell
whether or not she appeared to be underage.
Footage of the sex act is preceded by footage of Guo Wengui at the national press club
raging over a Chinese takeover of the US, "9/11 times a thousand," he says, before
transitioning to a screed slamming Western politicians who collaborate with the CCP, and
warning about the dangers of American kleptocrats falling sway to CCP "influence" (blackmail
etc).
During the opening minutes if the video, Hunter can be heard complimenting the woman on her
technique. "That's so professional," Hunter exclaims. "You can't even find that on there," he
laughs as he gestures toward something off camera.
A few minutes in, the man who is allegedly Hunter Biden can be seen firing up a crack
pipe.
The reaction on Twitter was swift. Users who tried to share the link and photos were quickly
blocked (even though Twitter famously allows porn and nudity). Some cracked jokes about Hunter
Biden receiving what appeared to be a 'footjob', while shrugging off the video as simply
evidence that Biden has been victimized by revenge porn.
Others simply noted the disparity in treatment between the Hunter Biden story and the
"Borat" revelations about Giuliani, and wondered aloud how Twitter might be handling this if
those photos were of Donald Trump Jr., not Hunter Biden.
Of course, twitter didn't simply ignore the Giuliani photo; the news became one of the top
trending topics (thanks to the fact that Twitter's user-base skews toward young leftists).
At any rate, the group that released the footage and the above-mentioned screenshot are
promising to release more compromising material, while the MSM and Big Tech rallies to Hunter
Biden's defense.
rtb61 , 2 hours ago
It is not like you were not warned before hand and could have investigated how Biden stole
the primary through postal votes, when Gabbard by proposing new legislation to block that
electoral fraud. The corporate Democrats are utter ****e, worse than the Republicans and the
Libertarians are way better than the Republicans and of course in the USA the Greens are by
far the best of them all (what a real political party should look and of course be like and
just corruptly and ruthlessly attacked by the corporate Democrats showing how truly evil the
corporate Demcrats are, denying Americans democracy).
Krink26 , 3 hours ago
What a train wreck. The real issue is his father. He sold out the second highest seat in
the land. And he'd do it all again if he gets into the top spot.
TBT or not TBT , 3 hours ago
His dad had the presidential level judgement to bring this mess of a person on Air Force 2
diplomatic missions to corrupt countries to be the point man for family deal making. Stellar
judgement!
Propaganda Phil , 1 hour ago
What? You don't want to see pics of Hunter smoking crack in the White House?
Didymus , 3 hours ago
The "real issue" is the elite culture that produced and supports Biden. Looking at the
family, you can tell it's just a bunch of degenerate mobster politicians. They're not even
good at what they do. Who's behind them? Who is pushing Joe forward?
It's a vampire squid of globo-homo kleptocracy and militant neoliberalism. Unfortunately
the only other contender is our ziostooge DJT.
Gerrilea , 3 hours ago
I wouldn't call it the "elite culture" but one created by the CIA/FBI. They know who's
doing what to whom and for how long and they've got the pictures, videos and confessions to
prove it. If those agencies aren't shutdown or cleaned up, it won't matter who we
elect...they will control them.
Didymus , 2 hours ago
It's a "culture" because it involves thousands of people: bureaucrats, journalists,
politicians, attorneys, businessmen, bankers, and religious leaders. There is a conspiracy,
but most of these people instictively know what to do and don't require orders. This basic
class of people has been in power since Woodrow Wilson was put in the WH by Baruch and
House.
palmereldritch , 1 hour ago
The politicians are like the Intel Agencies' zoo animals.
is a game and tech journalist from the US. Aside from writing for RT, he hosts the podcast
Micah and The Hatman, and is an independent comic book writer. Follow Micah at @MindofMicahC
It's safe to say that Hunter Biden, the son of former vice president and current
presidential candidate Joe Biden, is having a rough time. After the contents of his laptop,
including details of his international business dealings, came into the public domain, it
transpired that the computer had been the
subject of a subpoena in a money-laundering investigation. Now, former business partners
are beginning to turn on him, and one of them has said that he's turning "
everything " over to the FBI and the Senate. Another one claimed that Biden was
consulted with regard to Hunter's foreign deals.
During the second and final presidential debate, Biden made a key mistake when it came to
addressing these issues. Instead of simply stating that he had no comment to make, he decided
to
blame Russia for the fact that Hunter's emails had been leaked from the laptop's hard
drive. Ah yes. So we're back to that old 'reliable' narrative. I'm assuming that Joe may have
missed the embarrassment that was the Mueller
investigation .
Maybe Biden doesn't like Russia. Whether he does or doesn't is inconsequential. It is a very
bad idea to blame his problems on a foreign power. In fact, it's not the proper behavior of
someone who wants to be president. Here's the truth. Hunter Biden's dealings across the pond
likely had some issues. It's hard to say exactly what these might be, because there's an
ongoing investigation. I don't think that Biden is so dumb that he doesn't realize that this
hurts his chances of the presidency. However, there is a big lack of responsibility here.
Blaming what's happening on anyone except Hunter is a bit silly. I'd even argue that it's
incredibly irresponsible.
What's even more obvious is the desperation. Biden and the Democrats in general want this
story, whatever it is, to be squashed. It's why you have seen so little coverage on
left-leaning TV networks. If Donald Trump Jr was in a similar situation it would be a story on
every single one of them, and likely the subject of a Don Lemon lecture or five.
What Biden may not realize is that when voters see something being blamed on Russia, they
tend to roll their eyes. It invokes the image of Boris and Natasha grabbing a laptop in the
hopes of finally grabbing the moose and squirrel. It's cartoonish. And what happens if the
worst-case scenario for Biden comes true and his son is indicted for something? Well, at that
point it's more than just a ' Russian disinformation campaign' . It's very real
indeed.
And this is where Biden could end up with plenty of egg on his face. If he and his son are
in trouble, then no amount of blaming another country is going to change that. And it wouldn't
surprise me if this becomes a major factor in the upcoming election. Why would you vote for
someone who can't, or won't, take responsibility for what is going on with their own
family?
What Biden needs to do at this point is come clean on what his level of involvement was, and
simply be a dad to his son instead of a politician. Then again, Biden has been a politician
longer than he's been a father, so it's hard saying which hat he plans on wearing for the next
two weeks.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
MakeAmericaFree 1 day ago The world is witness
to the blatant corruption and deceit at the highest levels of American government. Trump has
tried to clean things up and he has a lot more left to do. We should wish him well in those
efforts. I am starting to think Attorney General William Barr has capitulated though. Where are
all the indictments, Mr. Barr? Reply 14 ariadnatheo MakeAmericaFree 1 day ago Barr? The CIA
offspring? He does what he is told, not necessarily by his official boss SJMan333 1 day ago If
Joe is running against another regular Republican politician, Hunter Biden's corruption would
have been a non-issue. The US politics is a cesspool of corruption, money laundering, sex and
all forms of moral decay. Each politician is in it for self-serving purposes. Position, power,
money, etc etc. A big section of naive Americans believe their politicians are there to serve
the people's interests. Politicians from both sides of the aisle have a tacit understanding NOT
to cross a red line. They will never accuse their opponents of corruption. 'You make your
money, I make mine.' is their omerta. They put up huge shows of debating with each other in
public purportedly in defense of the people's welfare and benefits. Behind closed door, they
celebrate their loots from the nation's tax money and illegal brides from businesses in
camaraderie together. I don't like Trump. But his exposure of the alleged crimes of the Biden
family is something to be applauded, even he's doing it for self-serving purposes. DukeLeo 1
day ago Joe Biden is using Hillary's methods. Not wise. You don't use the same fraud twice.
shadow1369 DukeLeo 1 day ago Well the CIA have used the same lies for 75 years. White Elk
shadow1369 1 day ago Must be a bit worn out by now. Reply 2 shadow1369 White Elk 1 day ago You
would think so, you would also think that everybody would have seen through them by now, but
not at all. The CIA orchestrated coup in Kiev used exactly the same methods as the one they
orchestrated in Iran in 1953. The details of Operation Ajax are now publicly available, but few
bother to look into it. allan Kaplan White Elk 1 day ago Not worn out but perfected! Lois
Winters 1 day ago I am not surprised at anything Biden says after seeing his performance in
these debates. He is obviously a tired old man and relies on sheafs of notes with the same old
so called empathic statements to the citizens of America. It is a wonder that he's a
presidential candidate at all. After all the original candidates finally were eliminated, no
one but these two want this thankless job. allan Kaplan 1 day ago Now that the shameless "mind
managers" the msm propagandists are in the opens, we, the people (an old cliche) must start
making noises of holding these anti-American mouth pieces accountable. Compel to change the FCC
Rules to take away their broadcasting licensees, penalized those self proclaimed journalists of
zero integrities, jailed most of them, and never again allow such ego bloated nincompoops ever
to come near the radio and TV stations and banned them from entering any newspaper offices as
well. Other punitive measures must be enacted to deface and disregard these paid mouths of fake
news and disinformation msm Complex! I'm starting a business of manufacturing toilet bowls and
the pubic urinals with the faces impregnated into the ceramic of all those who exploited
American freedom of speech to advance their personal careers and that would certainly include
almost all the politicians and the tech giants etc. What do you think as a statement to test
the real FREE SPEECH?
there has been no gov accountability in the USA for any party since Abe
ponchoramic , 19 minutes ago
Only people who are genuinely interested in the skulduggery will understand the reality of
any political situation. The rest of the public will just scratch & sniff their way
through.
General public sentiment: It's politics, they're all the same. Bunch of liars. Lalala.
The Democrat party is an existential threat to the United States of America
Cheap Chinese Crap , 3 hours ago
And, no, I don't feel bad for R. Hunter Biden, nor is he a victim.
He is a WLLLING PARTICIPANT in his father's vast corruption schemes and lived mega-large
while the living was good.
The Devil doesn't steal souls. They are sold by their owners.
He could have walked away but he didn't.
And it makes me wonder how corrupt his brother was since that was Joe's fair-haired boy
until he died from spending too much time on a cell phone.
Make_Mine_A_Double , 2 hours ago
Yeahhhh, might have to revisit the autopsy and death certificate on that one.
Though Hunter didn't waste any time bangin' deceased bros wifey - what a fambly.
Anno Domini , 3 hours ago
The Hunter sex stuff merely illustrates that there is mega Kompromat on the Bidens. It
gets worse.
Here, just 2 weeks after DJT wins the White House, old Joe is recorded telling Ukraine's
leader to clean up the evidence BEFORE Trump gets wind of it. This is it. Pure guilt on
display-- it's always the coverup.
Means nothing without INDICTMENTS! Get off your keister and do something useful for once
in your life, Barr, you sad Swamp sack of garbage!
Totally_Disillusioned , 3 hours ago
The Bidens are so owned by the Chinese CCP it's almost unfathomable...and they are so
stupid.
aspnaz , 2 hours ago
Worrying about Russians while the CCP are infesting the country.
Totally_Disillusioned , 3 hours ago
Hunter is free and 21 yrs old and can engage in any sexual perversions with a consenting
adult. What he can't do however is sell his father's political influence to foreign govts.
That's treason.
quanttech , 3 hours ago
correct, and all the sex stuff takes the focus away from the financial crimes.
...For years, I watched one betrayal after another, as politicians like Joe Biden sold
out American Workers at every turn -- shattering the lives of millions of American families
while THEIR families raked in millions of dollars...
Excerpted from the book: 'Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping
the World'
In 2018 the well-connected
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin pointed out that China had been building networks of influence in
the United States over many years, and that the U.S. government "is preparing for the
possibility that the Chinese government will decide to weaponize" them to get what it wants.
(Although Beijing is not known to use Russian-style "active measures" in the West, deploying
them is only a matter of political calculation.)
One of the CCP's most audacious penetration operations, Chinagate in 1996, saw a top
intelligence operative meeting a naive President Clinton in the White House, along with
donations to the Clinton campaign made through people with ties to the Chinese military.
Beijing has been working to gain influence in the U.S. Congress since the 1970s. Through the
activities of the CCP's International Liaison Department, and Party-linked bodies like the
China Association for International Friendly Contact, China has made some influential friends.
Nevertheless, Congress has for the most part remained skeptical of China, although its voice
has been muted at times by the influence of "pro-China" members. The president, the White
House, the bureaucracy, think tanks, and business lobby groups have all been targeted by
Beijing, to good effect.
Democratic Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden gestures as he speaks during the
final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 22, 2020. (Jim
Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Until recently, almost all players in Washington D.C. and beyond were convinced by the
"peaceful rise of China" trope, and the value of "constructive engagement." The common belief
was that as China developed economically, it would naturally morph into a liberal state. This
view was not without foundation, because the more liberal factions within the CCP did struggle
with the hardliners, but in the U.S. it reinforced a kind of institutional naivety that was
exploited by Beijing. Many of those who stuck to this view even after the evidence pointed
firmly to the contrary had a strong personal investment in defending Beijing.
The billionaire businessman and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg was a late entrant in
the contest to become the 2020 Democratic Party candidate for U.S. president. He is the most
Beijing-friendly of all aspirants. With extensive investments in China, he opposes the tariff
war and often speaks up for the CCP regime.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg addresses his staff and the media
after announcing that he will be ending his campaign, in New York City, on March 4, 2020.
(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
His media company has suppressed stories critical of CCP leaders, and Bloomberg himself
claimed in 2019 that "Xi Jinping is not a dictator" because he has to satisfy his
constituency.
The
Washington Post 's Josh Rogin argued that "his [Bloomberg's] misreading of the Chinese
government's character and ambitions could be devastating for U.S. national security and
foreign policy. He would be advocating for a naive policy of engagement and wishful thinking
that has already been tried and failed."
In May 2019 Joe Biden distinguished himself from all of the other candidates for the
Democratic Party's presidential nomination by ridiculing the idea that China is a strategic
threat to the United States. "China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man," he told a
campaign crowd in Iowa City. Biden had for years adopted a soft approach to China. When
President Obama's secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was taking a tougher position towards
China's adventurism in Asia, Vice President Biden was urging caution. Biden had formed a warm
personal relationship with Xi Jinping when Xi was vice president and president-in-waiting.
Hunter Biden (R)
with then President Barack Obama (L) and Vice President Joe Biden during a college basketball
game at the Verizon Center in Washington on Jan. 30, 2010. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
In his second term, Obama replaced Clinton as secretary of state with the more accommodating
John Kerry. The dynamics help to explain why Obama's 2012 "pivot to Asia" was a damp squib. The
United States stood back while China annexed islands and features in the South China Sea and
built military bases on them, something Xi had promised Obama he would not do. Breaking the
promise has given China an enormous strategic advantage.
Joe Biden cleaves to the belief, now abandoned by many China scholars and most Washington
politicians, that engagement with China will entice it into being a responsible stakeholder.
The University of Pennsylvania's D.C. think tank -- named, for him, the Penn Biden Center for
Diplomacy and Global Engagement -- aims to address threats to the liberal international order,
yet China is absent from the threats identified on its website
: Russia, climate change and terrorism. Biden has spoken about China's violation of human
rights but still clings to the idea of China's "peaceful rise."
So does it matter if Joe Biden has a different view of China? It does, because there is
evidence that the CCP has been currying his favor by awarding business deals that have enriched
his son, Hunter Biden. One account of this is given by Peter Schweizer in his 2019 book "Secret
Empires." Some of his key claims were subsequently challenged
and Schweizer refined them in an op-ed in the
New York Times (famous for fact-checking). In short, when Vice President Biden travelled to
China in December 2013 on an official trip, his son flew with him on Airforce Two. While Biden
senior was engaging in soft diplomacy with China's leaders, Hunter was having other kinds of
meetings. Then, "less than two weeks after the trip, Hunter's firm which he founded with two
other businessmen [including John Kerry's stepson] in June 2013, finalized a deal to open a
fund, BHR Partners, whose largest shareholder is the government-run Bank of China, even though
he had scant background in private equity."
The Bank of China is owned by the state and controlled by the CCP. Hunter Biden's exact role
in the company is disputed, but one expert has said that his share in it would be worth around
$20 million.
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However, the point here is not the ethics of the Bidens (as the news media have framed it)
but the way in which the CCP can influence senior politicians. This "corruption by proxy," in
which top leaders keep their hands clean while their family members exploit their association
to make fortunes, has been perfected by the "red aristocracy" in Beijing .
Cover of the book "Hidden Hand" by Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg.
In the crucial years 2014 and 2015, Beijing was aggressively expanding into the South China
Sea while Obama, Kerry, and Biden were sitting on their hands...
Exactly correct and some of the biggest enemies the USA has are inside the fence .
They include most MSM , "higher education ' , climate change con men , and all levels of
government
that are infiltrated or bought .
The intel agencies see the political gong show as theatre to be ignored unless they stage
a coup like the one on Trump .
Oldwood , 1 hour ago
Globalism is not nationalism. It pervades all economies, all borders.
This election is NOT a choice between democrat and republican. It is a war to retain
America as a constitutional sovereign republic versus capitulation to a globalist regime
comprised of unelected elitist organizations unaccountable to anyone. A illusory democracy
will remain, where voting will be simply a certification of indoctrinated themes and agendas,
and contradictory voices will be expunged as threats to peace and "harmony ", if acknowledged
at all.
NoDebt , 1 hour ago
In his second term, Obama replaced Clinton as secretary of state with the more
accommodating John Kerry.
Because there are some thing so distasteful even a Clinton won't do them?
Sinophile , 35 minutes ago
Neolib: Russia, Russia, Russia.....
Neocon: China, China, China.....
Redpilled: DC, DC,DC.....
Only one of the three admits the truth.
Russia did not destroy America.
China did not destroy America.
Washington DC destroyed Amerika.
Handful of Dust , 57 minutes ago
Allegedly, Bloomberg himself is in some of those videos of Pedo Parties with underage
Chinese girls.
The FBI will crucify a soccer Mom for trying to get her baby daughter into college, yet
ignores widespread pedophilia of some of our top politicians and their sons.
Soloamber , 1 hour ago
Biden was in political power the entire time millions of USA jobs were sent to China .
Pay back is a bitch especially when your kid gets rich from pay to play .
Whiskey Tango Texas , 1 minute ago
An anti-CCP group called "The New Federal State of China" is now releasing Hunter Biden
sex tape footage in order to show the depth of CCP infiltration and how compromised / owned
the Bidens are specifically.
Two China-bashing neocons getting an excerpt of drivel from their book printed in Falun
Gong's propaganda megaphone The Epoch Times - what an amazing coincidence.
Well, I suppose weekend Tyler must have bills to pay like anyone else...
East Indian , 1 hour ago
You may expose the hidden hand or any other part of anatomy, but people of America do not
seem to care or notice; if they ever notice, then that story is disappeared by the tech
giants; and if the story escapes black out, then a counter-story breaks, whereby America will
be caught doing the same things in China...
The time for taking a firm stand is approaching. Whosoever takes a firm stand will
survive...
Parrotile , 1 hour ago
Big drama! The Chinese are copying US decades-old policy!
Yes, Non-Communist China is certainly reshaping the World, despite the US's efforts to
stop them (which includes the US -made "China Virus" - NO credible evidence that there was
any "leak" from the Wuhan facility, but ZeroHedge just keeps on trotting out the anti-China
rhetoric to keep the Republican cretinocracy happy!)
America drops record quantities of munitions on those who don't bend the knee to their
"rulers", whilst China has the One Belt, One Road program (and by fortifying the Spratley
Island chain, has shown that they are very aware of how the US goaded Japan into the Pearl
Harbour incident.
China provides added value via trade, the US indulges in frank piracy.
When the end comes (and it will), may your God help you, since you may rest assured that
the rest of the civilised World will be cheering in the streets (and rightly so).
(This is the first in a series of articles exploring Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz's
business dealings with Chinese entities. Additional reporting and research have been provided
by RedState's Scott
Hounsell . Links to additional pieces are at the bottom.)
A nearly 60-page intelligence report dated October 2 and provided to RedState late
Wednesday, October 21 details the relationship between multiple Chinese State-Owned Entities
(SOE's) and companies owned by Hunter Biden, Chris Heinz (stepson of former Secretary of State
John Kerry), Devon Archer, James Bulger, and suspected Chinese intelligence asset Michael Lin.
Despite what Hunter Biden's attorney claimed in 2019 , Hunter started traveling to China
shortly before the Big Guy became Vice President and signed contracts with SOE's while the Big
Guy was Vice President.
According to Christopher Balding, Associate Professor at Peking University HSBC School of
Business Shenzhen – who notes that he did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016 and will not
be voting for him this year – who reviewed the report before publication:
Lost among the salacious revelations about laptop provenance is the more mundane reality
of influence and money of major United States political figures. Ill-informed accusations of
Russian hacking and disinformation face the documented reality of a major Chinese state
financial partnership with the children of major political figures. A report by an Asian
research firm raises worrying questions about the financial links between China and Hunter
Biden.
Beginning just before Joe Biden's ascendancy to the Vice Presidency, Hunter Biden was
traveling to Beijing meeting with Chinese financial institutions and political figures would
ultimately become his investors. Finalized in 2013, the investment partnership included money
from the Chinese government, social security, and major state-owned banks a veritable who's
who of Chinese state finance.
It is not simply the state money that should cause concern but the structures and deals
that took place. Most investment in specific projects came from state-owned entities and
flowed into state-backed projects or enterprises.
According to the report Hunter Biden made incredible profits for essentially doing nothing,
including a tidy sum off of a copper mine in the Congo and another healthy bundle for allowing
the Bank of China to allocate its share of an IPO in Hong Kong to his venture capital firm,
BHR. So he's either the world's savviest investor or there are some
shenanigans/influence-peddling going on.
These activities were directed by people at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist
Party, according to the report.
The entire arrangement speaks to Chinese state interests. Meetings were held at locations
that in China speak to the welcoming of foreign dignitaries or state to state relations. The
Chinese organizations surrounding Hunter Biden are known intelligence and influence
operatives to the United States government. The innocuous names like Chinese People's
Institute for Foreign Affairs exist to " carry out government-directed policies and
cooperative initiatives with influential foreigners without being perceived as a formal part
of the Chinese government."
Balding, an American who lived in China for nine years, says of the report's veracity:
I did not write the report and I am not responsible for the report. I have gone over the
report with a fine-tooth comb and can find nothing factually wrong with the report.
Everything is cited and documented. Arguably the only weakness is that we do not have
internal emails between Chinese players or the Chinese and Bidens that would make explicit
what the links clearly imply.
Hunter Biden still owns a 10% share of BHR, (conservatively) estimated value $50
million
Hunter Biden served on the board of Heinz and Archer's Rosemont Realty, a large US-based
commercial real estate firm that was then sold to a Chinese company
A Chinese company affiliated with Hunter Biden acquired electric vehicle technology and
assets from two US companies that were in bankruptcy and which had defaulted on
government-backed loans
Suspected Chinese intelligence asset – and Hunter Biden business partner and
frequent travel partner – Michael Lin had official meetings with Joe Biden while he was
Vice President
Balding says this information is easily discoverable, that "there is no secret method for
discovering this data other than actually looking," and that knowing how the Chinese government
operates, the links between Beijing and the Bidens are very worrisome:
Having lived in China for nine years throughout the Xi regime's construction of
concentration camps and having witnessed first hand their use of influence and intelligence
operations, the Biden links worry me profoundly.
Whether Joe Biden personally knew the details, a very untenable position, it is simply
political malpractice to not be aware of the details of these financial arrangements. These
documentable financial links simply cannot be wished away.
Although many details about the Great Reset won't be rolled out until the World
Economic Forum meets in Davos in January 2021, the general principles of the plan are clear:
The world needs massive new government programs and far-reaching policies comparable to those
offered by American socialists such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in their Green New Deal plan.
Or, put another way, we need a form of socialism - a word the World Economic Forum has
deliberately avoided using, all while calling for countless socialist and progressive
plans.
"We need to design policies to align with investment in people and the environment,"
said the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, Sharan Burrow.
"But above all, the longer-term perspective is about rebalancing economies."
Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar has called for defunding National Public Radio after the
outlet officially refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal (while happily peddling
anti-Trump rumors for years) - calling it a ' waste of
time. '
"It's time to defund @NPR. This is appalling. #DefundNPR," Gosar tweeted on Thursday.
Gosar joins a growing chorus of conservative voices who are furious over the outlet's
decision to censor perhaps the biggest political bombshell in decades .
NPR public editor Kelly McBride
published an inquiry on its website Thursday from a listener who did not understand why the
outlet was ignoring the story.
"Someone please explain why NPR has apparently not reported on the Joe Biden, Hunter Biden story in the last
week or so that Joe did know about Hunter's business connections in Europe that Joe had
previously denied having knowledge?" listener Carolyn Abbott asked.
McBride responded in saying there are "many, many red flags" in an investigation carried out
by the New York Post, which last week published reports that were sourced from the alleged
laptop hard drive. NPR then went on to repeat claims that Russia is attempting to interfere in
the election.
" Even if Russia can't be positively connected to this information, the story of how Trump
associates Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani came into a copy of this computer hard drive has not
been verified and seems suspect. And if that story could be verified, the NY Post did no
forensic work to convince consumers that the emails and photos that are the basis for their
report have not been altered," McBride said, adding: "But the biggest reason you haven't heard
much on NPR about the Post story is that the assertions don't amount to much."
Her response included a statement from NPR managing editor Terence Samuel.
" We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories , and we don't want
to waste the listeners' and readers' time on stories that are just pure distractions. And quite
frankly, that's where we ended up, this was a politically driven event and we decided to treat
it that way," Samuel said.
The claims that the reports are part of a Russian disinformation plot were dismissed by
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.
The FBI, meanwhile, did not dispute Ratcliffe's statements earlier this week.
FBI Assistant Director Jill C. Tyson sent a letter to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of
the Senate Homeland Security Committee, in response to Johnson's request for more information
about the emails, reports around which have alleged that Hunter Biden tried to introduce a
Ukrainian businessman to his father when he served as vice president in the Obama
administration. The law enforcement agency
said it has "nothing to add at this time" to Ratcliffe's statement.
A number of conservatives and allies of President Donald Trump criticized NPR following its
decision to publish the inquiry .
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" Wow. Foreign corruption from a major party is not considered news for taxpayer-funded
#fakenews NPR, " wrote the America First PAC on
Twitter in response.
It came as Twitter and Facebook also announced they would either block or limit the reach of
the NY Post's reports. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany's account and a Trump
campaign account were also blocked. The Senate Judiciary Committee, as a result, voted to issue
subpoenas on Thursday to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear
before the committee after raising concerns about censorship and election interference.
Biden's campaign has
denied that he ever met with a Ukrainian gas company official, which was allegedly revealed
in a trove of emails that purportedly were found on a laptop hard drive belonging to his son,
Hunter, who sat on the company's board while his father was the vice president. The NY Post
also obtained a hard drive containing the emails from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Other allegations have surfaced in recent reports over the days,
including from a former Hunter Biden associate who confirmed the legitimacy of an
email.
"The Attorney General of Delaware's office indicated that the FBI has 'ongoing
investigations regarding the veracity of this entire story.' And it would be unsurprising for
an investigation of a disinformation action involving Rudy Giuliani and those assisting him to
involve questions about money laundering, especially since there are other documented inquiries
into his dealings," the campaign said.
TheFederalistPapers , 22 minutes ago
I work way too hard to fund these ****ers. NPR is owned by the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting (CPB) and sneak a peek at their Board of Directors https://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/leadership/board
@vk #110
You do realize that H1B is literal indentured servitude, right?
And that its purpose is nothing more than cheap(er) labor for the tech companies?
I know many people on H1B, as well as several people who specialize in H1B "hiring".
The good news: many of these people are smart and capable.
The bad news: they're stuck at the companies they start at for 7 years or more - and are paid
significantly (20% to 50%) under "market". If they leave, their green card process starts
anew even assuming they find another H1B sponsor.
More bad news: there are also a significant number of "body shops" who do nothing but enter
the lottery for H1B visas, then auction off the "wins" to the tech companies. The H1B people
in these situations are far worse off because they work for the "body shop", not the tech
company.
Most importantly: H1B, even at its peak, brought in less than 200K people (188K by law).
In comparison: in 2017 - legal immigration was
Family and Immediate Relatives: 748,746
Employment: 137,855
Refugees and Asylees: 146,003
Diversity and Other: 94,563
Total Visas Issued: 1,127,167
Over 1.1 million people came in legally without the H1B.
The Russians ( Putin / Lavrov) say ever so politely that the US is not
agreement-capable.
I add that the US ( politicians, Wall Streeters, MSM, think tanks ) are:
not truth-capable;
not ethics-capable;
not shame-capable;
not honour-capable.
What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? He turns into a
ghoul without a soul, says I, a devil without human-ness! How dare they call us deplorables
when they are the despicables?
During the years that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was helping the credit card industry win
passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son
had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing
for the changes...
It was a savage piece of legislation, and Joe Biden even worked to block an amendment that
would have offered bankruptcy protection to people with medical debt. The bill also blocked
people from discharging private student loan debt under bankruptcy. Total student loan debt
was under $400 billion in 2005; it surged in the wake of the law's passage and is now over
$1.5 trillion.
The bank was MBNA. I know from personal experience that MBNA charged a late penalty on
online payments for their credit card on the last day due, illegally calling the payment late
even though the Federal Reserve Bank has a rule that if you make payment before the cut-off
time on the last date due, your payment must be considered as processed that date. MBNA also
kept funds that should have been transferred to the state's Abandoned Property Fund, to boost
its bottom line while its criminal owners were trying to sell the bank to Bank of
America.
l. Joe Biden's compromising partnership with the Communist Part}' of China runs
via Yang Jiechi (CPC's Central Foreign Affairs Commission). YANG met frequently
with BIDEN during his tenure at the Chinese embassy in Washington.
2. Hunter Biden's 2013 Bohai Harvest Rosemont investment partnership was set-up
by Ministry' of Foreign Affairs institutions designed to garner influence with foreign
leaders during YANG's tenure as Foreign Minister.
3. HUNTER has a direct line to the Politburo, according to SOURCE A, a senior
finance professional in China.
4. Michael Lin brokered the BHR partnership and partners with MOFA foreign
influence organizations.
5. LIN is a POI for his work on behalf of China, as confirmed by SOURCE В and
SOURCE С (at two separate national intelligence agencies).
6. BHR is a state managed operation. Leading shareholder in BHR is a Bank of China
and BHR's partners are SOEs that funnel revenue/assets to BHR.
7. HUNTER continues to hold 10% in BHR. He visited China in 2010 and met with
major Chinese government financial companies that would later back BHR.
8. HUNTER's BHR stake (purchased for $400,000) is now likely be worth approx.
$50 million (fees and capital appreciation based on BHR's $6.5 billion AUM).
9. HUNTER also did business with Chinese tycoons linked with the Chinese military
and against the interests of US national security.
10. BIDEN's foreign policy stance towards China (formerly hawkish), has since turned
positive despite China's country's rising geopolitical assertiveness.
Hunter, Ivanka, and especially Kushner are essentially apples from the same goverment
corruption tree. The problem is much deeper the Biden Family of Trump family.
Former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski has confirmed that an email published
in the
New York Post 's bombshell exposé is indeed genuine - something the Biden camp
hasn't disputed, and that the "Big Guy" described in one of those emails is none other than Joe
Biden himself . Bobulinski also says Joe Biden was lying when he said he and Hunter never
discussed business dealings.
"My name is Tony Bobulinski. The facts set forth below are true and accurate; they are not
any form of domestic or foreign disinformation. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and
offensive. I am the recipient of the email published seven days ago by the New York Post,
which showed a copy to Hunter Biden and Rob Walker. That email is genuine .'
-New York Post
Bobulinski issued the statement late Wednesday, affirming that, contrary to Joe Biden's
claims that he never discussed business dealings with Hunter, the former Veep actually profited
from his son's dealings, which were undertaken with the full support of the Biden family.
Bobulinski claims cash and equity positions and 10% stakes in dealings were set aside for "
the big guy ," - aka Joe Biden .
Bobulinski said: "I've seen Vice President Biden saying he never talked to Hunter about
business" - "I've seen firsthand that that's not true."
" I've seen firsthand that that's not true, because it wasn't just Hunter's business, they
said they were putting the Biden family name and its legacy on the line."
According to Bobulinski, he was the CEO of Sinohawk Holding, a holding company partnership
between now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co. and the Biden family. He said the Chinese weren't in
partnership for any kind of commercial purpose: they were there to pay for "influence" in the
US.
"I realized the Chinese were not really focused on a healthy financial ROI. They were
looking at this as a political or influence investment. Once I realized that Hunter wanted to
use the company as his personal piggy bank by just taking money out of it as soon as it came
from the Chinese, I took steps to prevent that from happening"
In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Joe Biden has labeled Hunter Biden's emails
as a "smear" campaign against him, and Democrats like Adam Schiff have accused these reports of
being linked to a Russian intelligence operation, even though intelligence officials have said
there's no evidence that this is true.
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Here is Bobulinski's statement in full ( emphasis ours ):
My name is Tony Bobulinski. The facts set forth below are true and accurate ; they are not
any form of domestic or foreign disinformation. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and
offensive. I am the recipient of the email published seven days ago by the New York Post
which showed a copy to Hunter Biden and Rob Walker. That email is genuine .
This afternoon I received a request from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Government Affairs and the Senate Committee on Finance requesting all documents relating to
my business affairs with the Biden family as well as various foreign entities and
individuals. I have extensive relevant records and communications and I intend to produce
those items to both Committees in the immediate future.
I am the grandson of a 37 year Army Intelligence officer, the son of a 20+ year career
Naval Officer and the brother of a 28 year career Naval Flight Officer. I myself served our
country for 4 years and left the Navy as LT Bobulinski. I held a high level security
clearance and was an instructor and then CTO for Naval Nuclear Power Training Command. I take
great pride in the time my family and I served this country. I am also not a political
person. What few campaign contributions I have made in my life were to Democrats.
If the media and big tech companies had done their jobs over the past several weeks I
would be irrelevant in this story . Given my long standing service and devotion to this great
country, I could no longer allow my family's name to be associated or tied to Russian
disinformation or implied lies and false narratives dominating the media right now.
After leaving the military I became an institutional investor investing extensively around
the world and on every continent. I have traveled to over 50 countries. I believe, hands
down, we live in the greatest country in the world.
What I am outlining is fact . I know it is fact because I lived it. I am the CEO of
Sinohawk Holdings which was a partnership between the Chinese operating through CEFC/Chairman
Ye and the Biden family . I was brought into the company to be the CEO by James Gilliar and
Hunter Biden. The reference to "the Big Guy" in the much publicized May 13, 2017 email is in
fact a reference to Joe Biden. The other "JB" referenced in that email is Jim Biden, Joe's
brother.
Hunter Biden called his dad 'the Big Guy' or 'my Chairman,' and frequently referenced
asking him for his sign-off or advice on various potential deals that we were discussing .
I've seen Vice President Biden saying he never talked to Hunter about his business. I've seen
firsthand that that's not true, because it wasn't just Hunter's business, they said they were
putting the Biden family name and its legacy on the line.
I realized the Chinese were not really focused on a healthy financial ROI. They were
looking at this as a political or influence investment. Once I realized that Hunter wanted to
use the company as his personal piggy bank by just taking money out of it as soon as it came
from the Chinese, I took steps to prevent that from happening.
The Johnson Report connected some dots in a way that shocked me -- it made me realize the
Bidens had gone behind my back and gotten paid millions of dollars by the Chinese, even
though they told me they hadn't and wouldn't do that to their partners.
I would ask the Biden family to address the American people and outline the facts so I can
go back to being irrelevant -- and so I am not put in a position to have to answer those
questions for them.
I don't have a political ax to grind; I just saw behind the Biden curtain and I grew
concerned with what I saw. The Biden family aggressively leveraged the Biden family name to
make millions of dollars from foreign entities even though some were from communist
controlled China.
God Bless America!!!!
All of which will likely be "muted" in tonight's highly anticipated debate.
Truther , 2 hours ago
So, a presidential candidate with 47 years of non-accomplishments, turns out to be a
CCP minion...
jumpnjon , 2 hours ago
And the amazing thing is they can't see how idiotic they are. Or they are just plain
EVIL.
FreeMoney , 2 hours ago
It is TDS or NPC "orange man bad."
No Democrat is voting FOR Biden. He is obviously corrupt and sun downing.
Trump is partially trying to wreck the existing system by eliminating regulation, and
unwinding bad trade or military support deals. He shoots holes in just about every
international organization that the lefties all love unconditionally, UN? WHO? NATO? WTO?
while openly discussing tearing apart the lefties favorite charity of open boarders,
unlimited welfare, and permanent communist voter block creation.
Democrats are voting against Trump.
Deck , 1 hour ago
The blind delusion and hypocrisy of trumptards never ends.
Which one of you MAGA-bots want to talk about Ivanka getting sweet business deals in
China when she flew there on your dime?
Which one of you wants to talk about trumps deals there, or Kushner's cushy job where
he has influenced policy that has harmed your families and communities?
Which one of you wants to talk about Trump's Chinese dealing or the taxes he pays
there, or that he sells EOs and state department favors at $250,000 a pop out of Mara
Lago?
Non of you care about these things, because both sides do them. The only reason you're
talking about this you want YOUR corrupt guy in there, but the reality is showing
favoritism to kids is as old as time, in politics and in the private sector.
Leroy Whitby , 1 hour ago
In the Biden family, they are both stupid and evil. They are nowhere near as smart as
the Obamas or Clintons. The Clintons are just evil. They have heard right and wrong at
church and otherwise, and chose to sell out their nation...
HellKitty , 1 hour ago
I am still having a hard time to understand why Biden Jr, left his MacBook (not only
one, but 3!) at the repair shop and never picked them up. I wish some criminal
psychologist stand up and explain that irrational behaviour.
Stormtrooper , 53 minutes ago
He was probably high on crack-cocaine when he dropped them off and couldn't remember
where he took them
AutoLode , 52 minutes ago
If hunter is making millions upon millions can't he buy a new MacBook Pro or dozens of
them if he's prone to spilling stuff on them
and none of his partners are smart enough to tell him to not let go of his hard drives
?
weird
CallingDrFraudschi , 1 hour ago
In order to make an equivalent analogy, you'd have to figure out a way to become
business partners with people in Ukraine and in China and make a personal profit from
leveraging your political connections all the while selling away the livelihoods of the
Americans you purport to support.
Whilst you may not like the way Trump files & "pays" taxes, it's all legal within
the tax code framework here in the US. Selling out your country for millions to Ukraine
& China however IS NOT.
That's treason and sedition!
BaNNeD oN THe RuN , 1 hour ago
A WWE wrestling match. If you pretend it is anything else you are deluded.
Trump gets 4 more years, unless he demands more in exchange for putting up with the
abuse that Deep State is prepared to pay. Hence the delay in releasing final election
results. For now, it has to appear that it could go either way.
You think Deep State did not already know what the Bidens and the rest of the Obama
crew were up to in 2008-16? Of course they did... the extra grift they collect is part of
the reward system for doing as they are told.
DefinitelyNotAFed , 2 hours ago
The Clintons are more corrupt than the Biden's. So far, there is no evidence of human
trafficking of the kind the Clintons were/are involved in.
The Biden's real crime is being dumber and getting caught in their treasonous
corruption.
Pandelis , 43 minutes ago
Bobby Kennedy knew what he was up to and still continued on his fight. John might not
have known the full extent of what he was up against, but Bobby certainly did because he
saw what happened to his brother etc. It is a long subject it seems to me you are not as
tuned in as you think you are... there is plenty out there to read and learn the truth
from.
On trump's minions "communications logged, travel, meeting logged" ... for what??
anybody cares or able to check on them ... get real.
do they have a security clearance ... ever ask WHY was not able to obtain one?
without a security clearance and to have the power of the White House beyond you is
really corrupt to me ... a bag of money is nothing, here we are talking billions and
trillions
Ex-Oligarch , 1 hour ago
There's nothing "dirty" about exposing your competitor's misdeeds.
It is "fighting dirty" to accuse your competitor of things he didn't actually do .
There doesn't seem to be much dispute that the emails are genuine.
Also, the media seems to be starting up a counter-narrative that Trump should be
focusing on policy disputes rather than Biden's corruption. But Biden himself has been
avoiding policy issues because his party is split between far-left extremists and
moderates, and he can't afford to alienate either one. He has flip-flopped over and over
trying to appease both constituencies. Instead, his strategy has been to present a choice
of personalities, in the hope that the public is so fatigued from the constant hostility
directed towards Trump and the president's rough style that they will opt for him
instead, regardless of his policy positions.
knightowl77 , 1 hour ago
Except that the media was FINE with the Dems investigating Trump for 4 years for his
Alleged misdeeds.....the misdeeds that were actually done by Klinton & Hiden.
They even impeached Trump for allegedly doing what Biden actually did in the
Ukraine...This FARCE has gone on long enough, and It ALL must be exposed to the public
Now!
For 4 years they have accused Trump of everything that they themselves have actually
done. ENOUGH!
FreedomWriter , 43 minutes ago
That's a pretty weak strategy for Creepy Joe. Do you think it will stand up when his
son is arrested for CP possession, sexual assault, corruption, and human trafficking?
But then again, we are talking about Dem voters here.
gordo , 59 minutes ago
Hunter's laptop reveals
Joe Biden gets a 10-50% cut of the loot
Hunter banged his 14 year old niece Natalie while smoking his crack pipe and texted Joe
about it.
Joe Biden gets a cut of the Burisma loot
Joe Biden gets a cut of the Chinese loot
The CCP has all the dirt on Joe that makes Epstein look like amateur hour.|
Lesley Stahl "DISCREDITED HERSELF" She repeatedly cited the Senate GOP Report on Biden corruption
@realDonaldTrump : "Do you think it's OK for the mayor of Moscow's
wife to give him millions?" Lesley falsely says "no real evidence of that" It's in the VERY report she cites! 225K views 0:02
/ 2:14 1.4K 11.3K 25K
NPR covered the fake Steele Dossier. But won't cover the real Hunter Biden emails. "Journalism." Quote Tweet NPR Public Editor
@NPRpubliceditor · 12h Why haven't you seen any stories from NPR about the NY Post's Hunter Biden story? Read more in this week's
newsletter https:// tinyurl.com/y67vlzj2 Show this thread
THREAD. Lesley Stahl's completely ignorant and partisan and indefensible performance in this interview is an embarrassment to
journalists, while also very typical of journalists. Quote Tweet Byron York @ByronYork · 10h In '60 Minutes' interview, Trump
says the Obama administration 'spied on my campaign.' Leslie Stahl tells him, 'There's no real evidence of that.' 1/3 https://
facebook.com/153080620724/p osts/10165668067695725 Show this thread 1.3K 9.5K 21.2K
How would you like to run for president against an incumbent who did so well on foreign policy that the debates don't even need
to include that topic? That's actually happening. 349 6K 20.8K
Last night, Hunter Biden's business partner went *on the record* about corrupt foreign business deals involving the Democrat nominee
for President of the United States. How many mentions did the story get on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS this morning? ZERO. 2K
10K 20.1K
"Chinese Energy Firm Gives Biden Crime Family $5 Million "Interest-Free" Loan Through
Investment Vehicle Described as 'Consulting Fees' to Hunter Biden."
That Hunter must be a brilliant guy! He's being paid a fortune to sit on boards and
provide consulting to a number of institutions all over the world!
Enraged , 10 hours ago
An email dated May 15, 2017 sent from Jim, Joe's brother, to Hunter and his team revealed
the list of key domestic contacts for phase one target projects in the Biden family business:
Harris, D-Calif.; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.;
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo;
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio; former Virginia Gov. Terry McCauliffe.
So, Joe... all of those incriminating emails on your son's laptop aren't proof of
"profiting off your family name", huh?
The lying never ceases with these wretches. It's all they know how to do.
Their father in hell awaits them all.
HANGTHEOWL , 2 hours ago
They know to just keep lying,,the media will cover for them and so will the
government,,,both sides will,,even though they will make it seem like they are doing
something about it,,,,,
snatchpounder , 2 hours ago
Yes the Biden crime family has years of experience yet Boobus Americanus will dutifully
line up and vote for the demented old crook.
radical-extremist , 2 hours ago
Because they know they're protected by the Democrat Media Complex.
Reaper , 3 hours ago
Hunter was his father's bagman.
Bay of Pigs , 2 hours ago
Joe's denial isn't going to work. Why?
Evidence, that's why.
markar , 1 hour ago
Hunter used daddie's name to bilk the poor Sioux tribe out of $60 mill in a fraudulent
bond deal. His partner Cooney took the fall and is now in prison for it. He's spilling the
beans. The other partner in the scam, Devon Archer lost his appeal and is going to prison in
Jan for the same crime. Where's Hunter?
BOOM! Rudy Giuliani Drops a Bomb -- Joe Biden Broke the Law by NOT Notifying Officials of
Hunter's Naked Crack Smoking and Sexual Abuse of Minors (VIDEO
In a Tuesday interview, former Vice President Joe Biden claimed that there was no basis
"whatsoever" to claims that his son, Hunter, profited off the family name .
When asked local Wisconsin TV station WISN if there was any legitimacy to comments by Sen.
Ron Johnson (R-WI) that Hunter " together with other Biden family members, profited off the
Biden name ," the former Vice President replied " None whatsoever, " adding (without finishing
the sentence) " This is the same garbage Rudy Giuliani, Trump's henchman... "
"It's the last ditch effort in this desperate campaign to smear me and my family."
Except, Hunter admitted he profited off his family name!
"If your last name wasn't Biden, do you think you would've been asked to be on the board of
Burisma?" asked ABC News ' Amy Robach in an October 15, 2019 interview.
"I don't know. I don't know. Probably not, in retrospect," said Hunter. " I don't think that
there's a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn't Biden ," he
added, " because my dad was Vice President of the United States. "
"There's literally nothing, as a young man or as a full-grown adult that -- my father in
some way hasn't had influence over."
What's more, the former President of Poland and Burisma board member Aleksander Kwasniewski
said last
November that Hunter was picked to sit on the company's board because of his name .
"I understand that if someone asks me to be part of some project it's not only because I'm
so good, it's also because I am Kwasniewski and I am a former president of Poland. ... Being
Biden is not bad. It's a good name ," he said.
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Let's also not glaze over the fact that both Joe and Hunter said that Joe had 'no knowledge'
of Hunter's international business dealings, while recently released emails from Hunter's
laptop prove that Hunter 'introduced' Joe to a top Burisma executive - a meeting Biden's camp
says never happened. Joe also met with a
CCP-linked delegation of Chinese investors arranged by Hunter and his business partners,
according to emails released by imprisoned ex-Hunter business associate, Bevan Cooney.
Banana Republican , 3 hours ago
I'll tell ya Joe -- it's not Hunter we're after. It's you.
And you're about to meet your well-deserved demise.
ALLLIVESSPLATTER , 3 hours ago
Isn't that what they said about Hillary.
Banana Republican , 3 hours ago
Good point. Then again, we don't hear much from her these days.
Awakened Saxon , 3 hours ago
Still alive. Still rich. Still unpunished. Still out of prison.
She won.
Joeman34 , 3 hours ago
BS, the fact that she never realized her ultimate dream of becoming President is proof
she lost. Fine, she's rich and she's not in prison where she should be. At least history
isn't tainted by another Clinton presidency. I still hold out hope her, and Bill's, day
of reckoning will come. It's just taking a lot longer than it should.
BorisTheBlade , 2 hours ago
Losing power for power-hungry people is a very punishment. She imagined herself first
female president and got her desire crushed. That must've hurt quite a bit, not that I
sympathize given how many people she crushed.
Biden's global pay for play schemes using his drug addict son as bagman spanned Ukraine,
Romania, Poland, Kazakhstan, and the grand daddy of all, China makes him a national security
risk. The fact he's this close to being president is a sad commentary on how far the country
has fallen into the abyss.
DefendYourBase4 , 51 minutes ago
what is sad is the FBI do nothing. The FBI is a criminal organization as far as i am
concerned, and they are not to be taken seriously. ive already had multiple visits with them
and i laugh in their face
markar , 1 hour ago
Joe Biden was the architect of a 1986 crime bill that specifically targeted Blacks with
very stiff sentences for small amounts of crack cocaine. Biden is the spawn of the KKK and a
long time racist. Look up his vile comments over the years including recently. That BLM
supports this scumbag is proof they care little about the well being of Black people.
"Adam Schiff is seriously the most pathological liar in all of American politics that I've
seen in all of my time covering politics and journalism," Greenwald said on 'Tucker Carlson
Tonight.' "He just fabricates accusations at the drop of the hat at the other people change
underwear. He's simply lying when he just asserts over and over that the Russians or the
Kremlin are behind the story. He has no idea whether or not that is true. There is no evidence
to support it."
Things just took a very dark turn in the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
While the alleged crack, cronyism, corruption was enough to spark the biggest media
suppression in history, and no denials whatsoever from the Biden camp, the bombshell that Rudy
Giuliani just dropped, if true, is egregious to say the least (not just with regard Hunter
Biden but the law enforcement authorities who have allegedly had this information since before
Trump's impeachment but done nothing about it).
In an interview this evening with Newsmax TV, former NYC Mayor and current attorney to
President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani announces he has turned over Hunter Biden's laptop
hard-drive to Delaware State Police due to pictures of underage girls and inappropriate text
messages.
In one of the texts, Hunter Biden allegedly says to his sister-in-law (also his lover) that
he face-timed a 14-year-old girl while naked and doing crack - "she told my therapist that I
was sexually inappropriate."
Giuliani adds, "this would be with regard an unnamed 14 year old girl," adding that "this is
supported by numerous pictures of underage girls."
Watch the full interview below (the above exchange begins around 5:20):
https://www.youtube.com/embed/coFx3ZDXWrg
Furthermore,
JustTheNews' John Solomon reports that former New York Police Department commissioner
Bernard Kerik joined him when he delivered photographs and text messages to the New Castle
County Police Department.
"I told them other details about what appears to be an inappropriate sexual relationship,"
he said in an interview. "They told me it would be investigated."
Law enforcement officials in Delaware told
Just the News that Giuliani's concerns have been forwarded to the state Department of
Justice.
"The FBI has had this for a long time," Giuliani said.
"No indication they did anything about this, so I went to the local police and said, 'What
are you going to do about this?'"
Perhaps the most damning statement from Giuliani, with regard the election, was the former
mayor alleging that:
"I will tell you the evidence I gave them states it was reported to Joe Biden. What did he
do about it?"
Before this is wholly dismissed as yet more Russian disinformation or 'Giuliani' lies, we
remind readers that
we previously reported that Hunter Biden's alleged laptop contents included a curious piece
of evidence - a photograph of an FBI subpoena which bears the signature of the agency's top
child porn investigator, special agent Joshua Wilson.
FBI agent Wilson's identity was confirmed by both
Western Journal and
Business Insider , the latter of which compared his signature to a 2012 criminal complaint
and concluded that it "clearly matches the unreversed signature on the subpoena published by
the New York Post ."
As BI notes:
It's unclear whether the FBI employs more than one agent named Joshua Wilson. But the
available evidence seems to show **the Joshua Wilson who signed the subpoena for Hunter
Biden's laptop, and the Joshua Wilson who investigates child pornography for the FBI, are the
same person**. This raises the possibility, not explored by the Post, that the FBI issued the
subpoena for reasons unrelated to Hunter Biden's role in Ukraine and Burisma.
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So why is the FBI's top child porn lawyer involved in the Hunter Biden laptop case? OANN 's
Chanel Rion says she's seen the contents of the hard drive, which includes "Drugs, underage
obsessions, power deals," which make "Anthony Weiner's down under selfie addiction look normal
. "
All of which now makes some sense, given Giuliani's alleged findings, and raises a stunning
question: if there is/was incriminating child porn on Hunter's computer, what has the FBI been
doing about it?
"... I always thought the Steele Dossier was poor trade craft; way too over the top. An example being jumping around on a bed and urinating on multiple prostitutes. It puzzled me why they would tell such far out stories. Why stretch credulity?. SWMBO's response was that such behavior is so ubiquitous and frequent among democrat elites that they just assume everyone is doing it. To them it's not far out in the least, it's just a typical Saturday night. I begin to think that she is on to something. ..."
A Bidengate summary from the Daily Mail"Documents appear to show Hunter Biden's
signature on $85 receipt for repair of laptops left at Delaware store at center of email
scandal - while other paperwork reveals FBI's contact with owner
A receipt from The Mac Shop in Wilmington, Delaware appears to show Hunter Biden's
signature for work on three laptops for $85
It has not been verified yet if that signature is actually Biden's
FBI paperwork also shows that shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac received a subpoena to
testify before the US District Court in Delaware in December 2019
Last week the New York Post published a report saying e-mails obtained from the laptop
show Joe Biden allegedly was in on his son Hunter's business deals
House Intel chair Adam Schiff said the 'smear' on Biden 'comes from the Kremlin'
DNI John Ratcliffe said the laptop is not a Russian disinformation campaign
Biden's campaign says the Democratic nominee engaged in no wrongdoing "
-------------
Well, pilgrims, he sure looks comfy in the tub. I still wonder who took the pictures. Was it
the gal in California who later sued him over paternity of her child/fetus, whatever.
Did he take the pictures himself? Interestingly, the Bidens have not denied the implicit
charge of corruption, bribery, etc., etc. that is the mass of incriminating e-mail traffic on
the hard drive. And then, there are the disgusting sex videos. Does anyone think that these
were faked?
SWMBO says that the Bidens have set a new standard for depraved and addled stupidity. As
usual, she is right. pl
It's interesting that Bidens, Epsteins, Clintons, Hollywood types, Weiners, et al engage
in all of the sordid behaviors that they accused Trump of in the "Steele Dossier" (and then
some).
I always thought the Steele Dossier was poor trade craft; way too over the top. An
example being jumping around on a bed and urinating on multiple prostitutes. It puzzled me
why they would tell such far out stories. Why stretch credulity?. SWMBO's response was that
such behavior is so ubiquitous and frequent among democrat elites that they just assume
everyone is doing it. To them it's not far out in the least, it's just a typical Saturday
night. I begin to think that she is on to something.
Rudy Guiliani and Steve Bannon stated this morning that more information will be
forthcoming within 24-48 hours. The Q folks are thinking that it will be released on Thurs
morning for maximum effect at the later in the evening debate. The Admiral who oversaw the
Bin Laden raid has endorsed Joe Biden in spite of being a pro life and 2nd amendment
advocate. Things are getting interesting to say the least.
Another oxymoron, like "government worker" - "intelligence" officials.
Self important parasites....oh wait....selfless patriots who "risk their lives every day" for
America.
The Bidens are not involved, one Biden is. Joe Biden is not responsible for his son's
idiocy. I do believe he has massive addiction issues but I need a lot more proof that he took
all 3 of his computers in for work and the bill was only $85.00. I need the name of that
repair shop it is much more expensive where I live.
"Don't worry about investors," [James Biden] said, according to the executive,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation.
"We've got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden."
End quote
Anybody claiming Politico is a Russian disinformation operation?
While I hope and pray for a Trump victory, I am not so sure that he will be able to
overcome systematic rigging. What is your opinion on the level of rigging that is going
on?
All sorts of worms from all over the place are crawling up and endorsing the slime ridden
corrupt Bidens. Who knows what sort of pressure must have been put on them to do that. And if
that is so, can you imagine the level of pressure the democrat machine must have put on those
who are in charge of conducting the election? Look at the commission on presidential debates
for God's sake. Absolutely, no hint of neutrality there!
The media is pulling the wool over everyone's eyes just like in the last election. The
polls are all for democrats, again, just like the last election. Methinks the difference this
time might just be the magnitude of vote rigging that the democrats will do. How much more
will that be versus the last time? Enough to swing the election?
BillWade:
That's the same (Obama) Admiral who said that Trump should be gone:
"......then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office -- Republican, Democrat or
independent -- the sooner, the better."
Like the other retired brass and "intelligence" officials, just more swamp creatures wailing
about an "outsider" disturbing their little world of endless losing wars and a foreign policy
of bending over.
NancyK, Which is worse, voting for someone with dementia or voting for someone pretending
to have dementia?
I haven't heard anything about Joe's brother or sister-in-law having a drug problem, have
you? Maybe they just have a pay to play problem, any thoughts?
Hillary certainly looked wonderful in her Chinese cut clothing in the 2016 debates. Joe's
got those nice 3 Red Flags going for him on his campaign poster, maybe he should wear a rice
farmer's hat to the upcoming debate, no?
I decided to vote today instead of Nov 5th as you had recommended. Did I do the right
thing?
You think Joe is innocent of all that has been done by his family? You think druggy Hunter
deserved to get a senior vice president position at MBNA straight after graduating from
college at $100k a year or that seat at Burisma at $50k a month? Do you think he deserved all
of that not because of his dad's influence but because he was so smart and because he
graduated from yale? If you believe all of that, you must be smoking some strong stuff.
Here is something you can read to improve your knowledge. This is not how a normal cv
looks like, for sure.
Brats like Hunter don't get these amazing deals because they are smart or create value for
their employers because of their work. He got these deals because it is a way of paying off
his father, the guy who then bats for these employers in the senate or the white house.
@ NancyK.. true - biden senior is not responsible for biden junior... however it seems
junior got the gig thanks daddys connections and willingness to fire the prosecutor so that
junior could continue to have the job! that is the part you appear to be turning a blind eye
to.... senior has major dirt on him due all this.. either you think it is a made up russian
propaganda set up, or you think it isn't... there is enough info at present to show that it
isn't a set up, but that daddy was using his position as vp unscrupulously or criminal
depending on how you want to filter it.. the fact the media want to push it under the carpet
with whatever excuse they provide, doesn't change any of it..
14 House seats in California GOP districts flipped a few weeks after the GOP "won" on
election night. It took that long for all the third party "harvested votes" to go through the
government employee union dominated election office verification procedures.
This election when the GOP turned tables and did their own "vote-harvesting" the Democrat
AG and Secy of State cried foul, sent the GOP a cease and desist letter to stop or face fines
and punishment. GOP said go pound sand. And the Dems had to back down since the law was too
vague to even be enforced.
Unfortunately this means the Democrats in this state will only double down on their "vote
harvesting". As if winning or losing California matters - except in the House. One guesses,
after the 2020 census California will lose a few House seats anyway, due to the state's
outflow of population and the reluctance of illegals to participate in the census in the
first place.
Don't forget, it was "term limits" that led to this one-party, one agenda domination of
this state. Never ever think "term limits" is an answer for anything.
Term limits only created a huge power vacuum, and in swooped the Democrat back public
sector unions running a steady string of revolving door talking head flunkies out of the
public sector union world, who immediately passed super-majority legislation that only
solidified their permanent domination. It happened so fast since 2000, few in the state knew
what hit them.
In 2016, they added "vote- harvesting" - allowing third parties to help fill out and
collect mail-in ballots and drop them off by the car loads, which technically must be checked
and verified, but in such volumes as to overwhelm the election offices - Cloward-Pivens on
steroids- a favorite technique of Barry Soetoro.
Is this 50 former Intel officials or 50 former national security parasites? Real Intel
officials should keep quite after retirement. National security parasites go to politics and
lobbying. One telling sign that a particular parson is a "national security parasite" is his
desire to play "Russian card"
From comments: "Did the 50 former intelligence officials find the Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction yet?"
Hours before Politico
reported the existence of a letter signed by '50 former senior intelligence officials' who say
the Hunter Biden laptop scandal "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information
operation" - providing "no new evidence," while they remain "deeply suspicious that the Russian
government played a significant role in this case," Tucker Carlson obliterated their (literal)
conspiracy theory .
According to the Fox News host, he's seen 'nonpublic information that proves it was Hunter's
laptop ,' adding " No one but Hunter could've known about or replicated this information ."
" This is not a Russian hoax. We are not speculating ."
TUCKER: "This afternoon, we received nonpublic information that proves it was Hunter's
laptop. No one but Hunter could've known about or replicated this information. This is not a
Russian hoax. We are not speculating." pic.twitter.com/cl2ktdmdVc
Meanwhile, the Delaware computer repair shop owner who believes Hunter dropped off three
MacBook Pros for data recovery has a signed work order bearing Hunter's signature . When
compared to the signature on a document in his paternity suit, while one looks more formal than
the other, they are a match.
Going back to the '50 former senior intelligence officials' and their latest Russia
fixation, one has to wonder - do they think Putin was able to compromise Biden's
former business associate , Bevan Cooney, who gave investigative journalist Peter Schweizer
his gmail password - revealing that Hunter and his partners were engaged in an
influence-peddling operation for rich Chinese who wanted access to the Obama
administration?
Did Putin further hack Joe Biden in 2011 to make him take a meeting with a Chinese
delegation with ties to the CCP - arranged by Hunter's group, two years they secured a massive
investment of Chinese money?
The implications boggle the mind.
Here's the clarifying sentences from the '50 former senior intelligence officials' that
exposes the utter farce of it all:
While the letter's signatories presented no new evidence , they said their national
security experience had made them "deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a
significant role in this case" and cited several elements of the story that suggested the
Kremlin's hand at work.
"If we are right," they added, "this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in
this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this."
"Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."
And then there's the fact that no one from the Biden campaign has yet to deny any of the
'facts' in the emails. lay_arrow jin187 , 2 hours ago
Totally ridiculous. This ******** beating around the bush for both sides pisses me off.
Dump all the laptop contents on Wikileaks if it's real. Let the people sort it out. If you
say it's not real, prove it. If Biden wants me to believe it's not real, then stand behind a
podium, and say clear as day into a pile of cameras that's it's all a forgery, and that
you've done nothing wrong.
Instead we have Giuliani swearing he has a smoking gun, but as far as I can tell he's just
pointing his finger underneath his shirt. Biden on the other hand, keep using weasel words to
imply it's fake, but never denies it outright. It's almost like he's trying to hedge his bet
that no one will manage to prove it's real before he gets into office, and makes it
disappear.
Roacheforque , 7 hours ago
To play the "Russian Card" yet again should be beyond embarrassing. An insult to the
intelligence of anyone with an IQ over 80. And so it's harmful to the left wingnut
derangeables. Like Assad's chemical weapons and Saddam's WMDs, it is now code for pure
********. Not even code, just more like a signal.
A signal that say's "guilty as charged - we got nothin' but lies and BS over here".
East Indian , 4 hours ago
An insult to the intelligence of anyone with an IQ over 80.
They know their supporters wont find this insulting.
Kayman , 4 hours ago
@vulvishka.
538 ? North Korea has better propaganda.
Don't forget to go all in, like you did with Hillary.
Antedeluvian , 2 hours ago
Unfortunately, some very bright people are sucked into the conspiracy theory. I know one.
Very bright lawyer. She says, "I still think there is substantive evidence of Russian
collusion." I can point to a sky criss-crossed with chemtrails (when you see these
"contrails" crossing at the same altitude, this is one sure clue these are not from regular
passenger jet traffic) and she refuses to look up. She KNOWS I am an idiot (a PhD scientist
idiot at that) because I get news and analysis on the web from sites that just want to sell
me tee shirts and coffee mugs (well, she is partly right there!) whereas she gets her news
from MSNBC, a venerable and trustworthy news source.
4DegreesOfSeparation , 6 hours ago
More Than 50 Former Intel Officials Say Hunter Biden Smear Smells Like Russia
"If we are right," the group wrote in a letter, "this is Russia trying to influence how
Americans vote."
DescendantofthePatriots , 7 hours ago
That ****, James Clapper, signed his name at the top of this list.
Known liar, saboteur, and sneak.
The cognitive dissonance in our country is astounding. The fact that they would take these
people's opinion over hard fact is astounding.
No wonder why we're sliding down the steep, slippery slope.
strych10 , 8 hours ago
So... let me get this straight.
50, that's 10 times five, fifty former intelligence officials are going with a convoluted
narrative about a ludicrously complicated Russian Intelligence disinformation campaign
involving planted laptops and at least half a dozen patsies when the two words "crack
cocaine" explain the entire thing?
I'm not sure what's more terrifying; That these people think everyone else is dumb enough
to believe this or that they're actually retired intelligence officials
.
Who the actual **** is running this ****show? The bastard child of Barney Fife and
Inspector Clouseau?
Seriously, "Pink Panther Disinformation Operation" is more believable at this point.
Someone Else , 9 hours ago
This needs to get out, because a FAVORITE method of the Deep State, Democrats and the
media (but I repeat myself) is to parade some sort of a stupid letter with a bunch of
signature hoping to look impressive but that really don't mean a damn thing.
Notre Dame graduates against the Supreme Court nominee, Intelligence agents alleging
collusion, former State Department operatives against Trump. Its grandstanding that has been
overdone.
moneybots , 8 hours ago
The letter by 50 former intelligence officials is itself, disinformation.
otschelnik , 8 hours ago
Remember when Weiner's attorney turned over Huma's home laptop to SDNY/FBI with all of
Shillary's emails, and the FBI sat on it for a month and then Comey deep sixed them without
even looking at them?
So now the FBI subpeona'd Hunter's laptop and burried it? Deja vu all over again.
enough of this , 8 hours ago
The FBI and DOJ constantly hide behind self-serving excuses to refuse the release of
documents and, when forced to do so, they release heavily redacted files. They offer up the
usual pretexts to fend off public disclosure such as: the information you seek cannot be
disclosed because it involves an ongoing investigation, or the information you seek involves
national security, or our methods and sources will be jeopardized if the information you seek
is divulged to the public. But it seems the ones who would be most harmed by public
disclosure are the corrupt FBI and DOJ officials themselves
Cobra Commander , 7 hours ago
A short 4 years ago the FBI and CIA were all concerned about "Kompromat" the Ruskies might
have on Candidate Trump; concerned enough to spy on his campaign and open a
counter-intelligence operation.
There are troves of Kompromat material, actual emails and video, on Joe, Hunter, and the
whole Biden family; not made-up DNC-funded dossiers claiming a Russian consulate in
Miami.
Now when it's Candidate Biden, everyone be all like, "Meh."
Cobra!
The Fonz...before shark jump , 5 hours ago
we gotta listen to the 50 former intelligence agents...you know the ones that had lone
superpower status in the early 90s and then pissed it all away with 9/11 and infinity wars in
middle east hahahahah ok buddy lol... histories D students....
Occams_Razor_Trader_Part_Deux , 7 hours ago
Signed by James Clapper and John Brennan;
You mean, the 2 Bozos who under the threat of perjury said there was NO evidence of
Russian Collusion and the Trump campaign................. and 2 hours later called Trump
'Putin's puppet' on CNN.............
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said on Monday that the information
published by The New York Post that allegedly came from Hunter Biden's laptop
is not part of a "Russian disinformation campaign."
Ratcliffe's comments came after Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the House Intelligence Committee
chairman, said the scandal surrounding the Bidens and a Ukrainian gas company is a "smear"
coming "from the Kremlin."
"Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign," Ratcliffe said
in an interview with Fox Business . "Let me be clear: The intelligence community doesn't
believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that. And we have shared no
intelligence with Adam Schiff, or any member of Congress."
Ratcliffe said the FBI is now in possession of the laptop. He said the FBI's investigation
is "not centered around Russian disinformation."
Issues have been raised concerning the chain of custody of the laptop since two allies of
President Trump were involved, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former White House
strategist Steve Bannon. But besides speculation from Schiff and the media, nothing ties the
laptop to Moscow.
The first email published by the Post last week purports Hunter Biden introduced his
father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive of the Ukrainian company Burisma
Holdings in 2015. Joe Biden has previously said that he never spoke with Hunter about his
overseas business dealings.
Rudy Giuliani talks about "sensitive" material on the laptop of Hunter Biden including
"numerous pictures" of underage girls and an alleged text message exchange he had with his
father where he admits to a relationship with a 14-year-old girl and creating an unsafe
environment for his children.
The former New York City mayor said he turned the laptop over to police in Delaware with
Bernard Kerik because he felt "uncomfortable" with it in his possession in an interview Monday
with Newsmax TV's Greg Kelly.
Giuliani narrated the text message in which Hunter talks about his former sister-in-law and
lover with the elder Biden:
Victor Davis Hanson: Will Our Next Revolution Be French, Russian, Maoist, Or
American?
Glenn Greenwald: Media and Intel Community Working Together To Manipulate The American
People
Trump Rips Coronavirus Coverage: "People Aren't Buying It CNN, You Dumb Bastards"
She told my therapist that I was sexually inappropriate. (Giuliani: This would be with an
unnamed 14-year-old girl.)
When she says that I Facetime naked with [the unnamed 14-year-old girl] and the reason I
can't have her out to see me is because I walk around naked smoking crack talking... girls on
face time. When she was pressed she said that [the unnamed 14-year-old girl] never said
anything like that but the bottom line is that I created and caused a very unsafe environment
for the kids.
"This is supported by numerous pictures of underage girls," Giuliani said after reading the
message.
"Bernie Kerik and I turned it over to the Delaware State Police because I'm very
uncomfortable with this. And I'm very uncomfortable with the fact that these underage girls
were not protected," he said.
Giuliani later said that this is not about Hunter Biden but exposing Joe Biden as
incompetent. "This is not about Hunter," Giuliani said, but about what a criminal and "horrible
father" Joe Biden is. Related Videos
When Bevan Cooney -- the former "junior" business partner to Hunter Biden and Devon Archer
-- went to jail in 2019, investigative reporter and New York Times bestselling author Peter
Schweizer thought he'd never gain access to the damning emails Cooney had promised. That all
changed three weeks ago when Schweizer was given complete access to Cooney's gmail
account.
POLL: Did you watch any of the 2020 Presidential Town Halls last night?
Schweizer joined Glenn Beck on the radio program Tuesday to describe just some of the
business deals revealed within these emails -- like Hunter working with an alleged Russian
criminal and with Chinese communists to secure their assets, or to secure one-on-one time with
his dad, then-Vice President Joe Biden. And all of this new information is completely separate
from the emails allegedly discovered on
Hunter Biden's laptop recently reported by the
New York Post.
"So, I want to make this clear. This [Cooney's emails] has nothing to do with what's on the
laptop It didn't come from [Rudy] Giuliani. It didn't come from anybody else, right?" Glenn
asked Schweizer.
That's absolutely correct," Schweizer confirmed.
He briefly explained how Cooney, a former Los Angeles nightclub owner, is currently serving
a prison sentence for his involvement in a fraudulent business bond scheme with Biden and
Archer. From prison, Cooney gave Schweizer written permission to access his Gmail account.
"This is really important," he noted. "We're not looking at printouts. Not looking at PDFs.
We're actually in his Gmail accounts themselves, sifting through these emails. And there's a
shocking amount of information about deals involving China, involving Russia, involving
all sorts of things they were trying to pull off ."
Watch the video below to catch more of the conversation:
Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer told FNC's Sean Hannity
on Friday that evidence will be released before the election proving that Hunter Biden and
Russian oligarch Elena Baturina have more of a relationship than previously admitted.
Victor Davis Hanson: Will Our Next Revolution Be French, Russian, Maoist, Or
American?
Glenn Greenwald: Media and Intel Community Working Together To Manipulate The American
People
Trump Rips Coronavirus Coverage: "People Aren't Buying It CNN, You Dumb Bastards"
HANNITY: All right. So, we can bifurcate for people. This is all separate from what The New
York Post was reporting this week. This is separate from what we knew earlier, and it's
separate from Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley's report that they put out, 87 pages, which
talked about, well, Russian oligarchs, Kazakh oligarchs, the $3.5 million payment with the
former first lady of Moscow, Chinese nationals, $100,000 shopping spree, Russian nationals,
Kazakhs nationals, Ukrainian nationals.
How much money are we talking about here, and were all three of them involved in all of
these endeavors?
SCHWEIZER: Well, it kind of jumps around, but let me just make clear, these are all
separate emails from The New York Post and what the Senate did, but they all reinforce the
same.
I mean, to take, for example, Ms. Baturina, the Russian oligarch links to organized crime
that the Senate sent $3.5 million based on Treasury Department documents, we will be rolling
out a story in a couple of days demonstrating that their relationship, meaning Hunter and
Devon Archer's relationship with Elena Baturina goes way back and they were performing a
number of banking and other financial services for her, services that they had trouble doing,
by the way, because several banks did not want to work with her because the money was seen as
dirty.
HANNITY: So, literally, these nationals were allowed access to Biden inside the White
House according to these emails. I guess my next question is if both of Hunter's business
partners are convicted, how did he go scot-free?
SCHWEIZER: Well, that's the question, Sean. There was a trial in 2016, and we actually,
I've gone through the notes of that trial, and what it demonstrates is that Hunter Biden's
fingerprints are all over this. He has named repeatedly in the court trials, but he was never
charged by the prosecutors in New York.
A top Republican senator acknowledged the possibility that the FBI investigated whether
there was child pornography on a laptop and hard drive that allegedly belonged to Hunter
Biden.
Journalist Maria Bartiromo asked Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, about
a Business Insider report that described faint handwriting on a subpoena served last
year to a Delaware business that was given a water-damaged MacBook Pro to repair but was never
retrieved and a hard drive with its contents. The hardware purportedly contained data about
foreign business dealings and other matters related to the son of former Vice President Joe
Biden.
The subpoena appeared to show the FBI agent who served it was someone named
"Joshua Wilson." There was a Joshua Wilson, according to a Star-Ledger report published
last year , who was an FBI agent based in New Jersey who spent nearly five years
investigating child pornography, but it remains unclear if this is the same Wilson and what
exactly the bureau was investigating.
Bartiromo twice asked Johnson, a lead congressional investigator, if he knows of any
connection on her Fox News program, Sunday Morning Futures .
"I think you just made the connection. Again, this is what the FBI, I think, has to come
clean about," the Wisconsin Republican said in his first reply. Johnson was
alluding to his letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray about the laptop sent last
week.
Pressed a second time after his initial response, the senator said he could not comment any
further.
"I don't want to speculate, other than to say that -- what I said publicly before. Our
report uncovered so many troubling connections, so many things that need to be investigated,
that I really think we're just scratching the surface," Johnson said. "And, yes, I have heard
all kinds of things that I think will probably be revealed over the next few days."
Republicans, including President Trump, have repeatedly raised the younger Biden's foreign
business ventures as being ripe for corruption that could stem all the way to his father, who
is now running for president. Joe Biden called the reporting on the emails and photos that
purportedly come from his son's laptop, a story that was
broken by the New York Post last week , a
"smear campaign." Still, neither Hunter Biden nor the Biden campaign have disputed the
validity of the data that has generated a wave of headlines in recent days.
John Paul Mac Isaac, the computer store owner in Delaware who claims he copied the hard
drive of the laptop that he later gave to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's lawyer, Robert Costello,
told reporters last week he "did not see" child pornography on the hardware.
In two bombshell reports, Emma-Jo Morris and Gabrielle Fonrouge of the New York Post have
leveled damning allegations of Hunter Biden' s murky financial dealings with Ukrainian and
Chinese oligarchs. As expected, $50,000 remuneration paid by Burisma Holdings of Ukraine
annually for Hunter's "consultancy job" was only the tip of the iceberg. Hunter was paid
millions of dollars bribes that sustained his "rockstar lifestyle" over the years.
Although it was the
first report [1] published on Thursday, October 14, and titled "Smoking-gun email reveals
how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad" that gained most attention on the
mainstream media, it was the
second report [2] published on Friday, October 15, in which the authors have furnished
documentary evidence of Hunter Biden's dealings, amounting to millions of dollars and stakes in
equities and profits of a private Chinese oil company doing business in Africa, with a Chinese
billionaire Ye Jianming that raises serious questions whether the loyalty of the Biden campaign
to the American electorate has been compromised due to Hunter Biden's illicit financial
transactions with the representatives of the Chinese government.
Image on the right: CEFC's founder Ye Jianming. Photo: SCMP/Handout
It's noteworthy that the name of Ye Jianming came up in the Johnson-Grassley report released
last month, too.
"The Suspicious Activity Reports of the Treasury Department flagged millions of dollars in
transactions from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, a Russian oligarch named Yelena
Baturina, and a Chinese businessmen with ties to Beijing's communist government," the Senate
report said.
The Johnson-Grassley report further alleged:
"Hunter Biden had business associations with Ye Jianming, Gongwen, and other Chinese
nationals linked to the communist government and the People's Liberation Army. Those
associations resulted in millions of dollars in cash flow."
Corroborating the Senate investigation, Emma-Jo Morris and Gabrielle Fonrouge noted in the
second report of the New York Post:
"Another email -- sent by Biden as part of an Aug. 2, 2017, chain -- involved a deal he
struck with the since-vanished chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, for half-ownership of a holding
company that was expected to provide Biden with more than $10 million a year 'for
introductions alone.'
"'The chairman changed that deal after we me[t] in MIAMI TO A MUCH MORE LASTING AND
LUCRATIVE ARRANGEMENT to create a holding company 50% percent [sic] owned by ME and 50% owned
by him,' Biden wrote.
"A photo dated Aug. 1, 2017, shows a handwritten flowchart of the ownership of 'Hudson
West' split 50/50 between two entities ultimately controlled by Hunter Biden and someone
identified as 'Chairman.'
"According to a report on Biden's overseas business dealings released last month by Sens.
Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a company called Hudson West III opened a
line of credit in September 2017.
"Biden's email was sent to Gongwen Dong, whom the Wall Street Journal in October 2018 tied
to the purchase by Ye-linked companies of two luxury Manhattan apartments that cost a total
on $83 million.
"The documents obtained by The Post also include an 'Attorney Engagement Letter' executed
in September 2017 in which one of Ye's top lieutenants, former Hong Kong government official
Chi Ping Patrick Ho, agreed to pay Biden a $1 million retainer for 'Counsel to matters
related to US law and advice pertaining to the hiring and legal analysis of any US Law Firm
or Lawyer.'
"In December 2018, a Manhattan federal jury convicted Ho in two schemes to pay $3 million
in bribes to high-ranking government officials in Africa for oil rights in Chad and lucrative
business deals in Uganda. Ho served a three-year prison sentence and was deported to Hong
Kong in June."
"Ye Jianming had made inroads with Joe Biden's brother James Biden, as well as Hunter
Biden, as the Chinese tycoon sought to build influence in the United States. In early 2018,
Hunter Biden was paid $1 million to represent Ye's aide while he was facing the federal
bribery charges in the United States.
"In August 2017, a subsidiary of Ye's company wired $5 million into the bank account of a
US company called Hudson West III, which over the next 13 months sent $4.79 million marked as
consulting fees to Hunter Biden's firm, the report said. Over the same period, Hunter Biden's
firm wired some $1.4 million to a firm associated with his uncle and aunt, James and Sara
Biden."
Ironically, it was the mainstream media that first broke the story of the illicit financial
transactions between the Biden family and Chinese billionaire Ye Jianming in December 2018,
though that was a year before Joe Biden was chosen as the Democratic presidential candidate in
April.
Giving a detailed biographical account of Ye Jianming from his rapid ascent to a sudden fall
from grace in 2017, as the FBI closed in on the Chinese billionaire's company and aides, a
December 2018 New
York Times report [4] revealed:
"Ye Jianming, a fast-rising Chinese oil tycoon, ventured to places only the most
politically connected Chinese companies dared to go. But what he wanted was access to the
corridors of power in Washington -- and he set out to get it.
"Soon, he was meeting with the family of Joseph R. Biden Jr., who was then the vice
president. He dined with R. James Woolsey Jr., a former Central Intelligence Agency director
and later a senior adviser to President Trump. He bestowed lavish funding on universities and
think tanks with direct access to top Washington leaders, looking for the benefits access can
bring.
"'This is a guy who courted and maintained networks with the People's Liberation Army and
took the strategy of 'friends in high places,' said Jude Blanchette, a senior adviser and
China head at Crumpton Group, a business intelligence firm.
"He seemed to have the blessings of Beijing. State banks offered CEFC billions of dollars
in loans. The company also hired a large number of former military officers, whom Mr. Ye told
visitors he prized for their organizational skills. He was deputy secretary of a Chinese
military organization from 2003 to 2005 that congressional researchers called a front for the
People's Liberation Army unit that has 'dual roles of intelligence collection and conducting
People's Republic of China propaganda.'
"From 2009 to 2017, CEFC's revenue jumped from $48 million to $37 billion. [a time period
incidentally coinciding with Joe Biden's vice presidency.]
"'It's been clear for some time that this is not just a Chinese commercial company, that
they had some intelligence ties,' Mr. Martin Hala, an academic based in Prague, said. 'People
from the U.S. intelligence agencies should have known something was going on.'
"Five years ago, CEFC approached Bobby Ray Inman, a retired admiral and national security
adviser to President Jimmy Carter, about setting up a joint venture, Mr. Inman said in an
interview. The company promised it would pay him $1 million a year, without specifying what
business they would go into. He turned down the offer.
"On a 2015 trip to the United States Ye met with Alan Greenspan, the former Federal
Reserve chairman, to discuss the economy, according to CEFC.
"CEFC also donated at least $350,000 to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security,
a politically connected think tank, according to court testimony. The think tank counts
Robert C. McFarlane, the Reagan-era national security adviser, as its president and Mr.
Woolsey, a Clinton-era C.I.A. director, as its co-chairman.
"Mr. Ye also further loosened CEFC's purse strings, donating as much as $100,000 to the
Clinton Foundation. Outside the Beltway, a CEFC foundation donated at least $500,000 to a
Columbia University research center.
"CEFC also organized forums in Hong Kong and Washington that brought together retired
American and Chinese military officers, among other events.
"By 2015, Mr. Ye had begun working on perhaps his most politically connected quarry yet:
the family of Mr. Biden, the vice president.
"An aide to Mr. Ye met the vice president's second son, Hunter Biden, in Washington. Mr.
Ye then met privately with Hunter Biden at a hotel in Miami in May 2017. Mr. Ye proposed a
partnership to invest in American infrastructure and energy deals.
"During this period, the vice president's son was managing Rosemont Seneca Partners, an
investment firm he formed with Chris Heinz, the stepson of John Kerry, the former secretary
of state.
"The trial and conviction in New York in December 2018 of one of his top lieutenants,
Patrick Ho, showed that company officials used bribery to win oil and energy contracts in
Africa.
"In 2017, as American authorities closed in on Mr. Ye's company, the first call made by
one of his emissaries in custody was to Mr. Biden's brother.
"James Biden, a financier and brother of the former vice president, was in a hotel lobby
in November 2017 when he got a surprise call on his cellphone. The call was from Patrick Ho,
Mr. Ye's lieutenant. Mr. Ho, 69, was in trouble.
"In a brief interview, James Biden said he had been surprised by Mr. Ho's call. He said he
believed it had been meant for Hunter Biden, the former vice president's son. James Biden
said he had passed on his nephew's contact information.
"'There is nothing else I have to say,' James Biden said. 'I don't want to be dragged into
this anymore.'
"Federal agents who had monitored CEFC's rise since at least the summer of 2016 had sprung
into action, arresting Mr. Ho in New York on allegations that he had bribed African officials
in Chad and Uganda.
"Mr. Ye, meanwhile, has disappeared into the custody of the Chinese authorities. He was
last seen in February, 2018, when his private jet touched down in the Chinese city of
Hangzhou. CEFC is struggling under $15 billion in debt, and was dissolved early this
year."
After reading all this revelatory information regarding suspicious financial transactions
between prominent former officials of the US government and the "disappeared" Chinese
billionaire, it becomes abundantly clear that Ye Jianming, most likely a pseudonym, was a
frontman for the Chinese government who was sent on a clandestine mission to nurture business
relations with the Beltway elites, and later made to disappear after his cover was blown once
his aides were charged with criminal offenses in the US courts.
China is known to follow the economic model of "state capitalism," in which although small
and medium enterprises are permitted to operate freely by common citizens, large industrial and
extraction companies, especially a multi-billion dollar corporation the size of CEFC, are run
by the Communist Party stalwarts masquerading as business executives.
In addition, China is alleged to practice "debt-trap diplomacy" for buying entire
governments through extending financial grants and loans, and what better way to buy the rival
government of the United States than by financing the Biden campaign through bestowing
financial largesse on the profligate son of the former vice president and current presidential
candidate.
Notwithstanding, in a tit-for-tat response to the New York Post's explosive report alleging
Hunter Biden introduced a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm he was working for to his
vice president dad, the Daily Beast
came up with a scoop [5] on Friday, October 16, that the hard disks in which Hunter's
emails were found were provided to Rudy Giuliani by a Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui on behalf
of dissident members of the Chinese Communist Party.
According to the report,
"Weeks before the New York Post began publishing what it claimed were the contents of Hunter
Biden's hard drive, a Sept. 25 segment on a YouTube channel run by a Chinese dissident
streamer, who is linked to billionaire and Steve Bannon-backer Guo Wengui, broadcast a bizarre
conspiracy theory.
"According to the streamer, Chinese politburo officials had 'sent three hard disks of
evidence' to the Justice Department and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi containing damaging
information about Joe Biden as well as the origins of the coronavirus in a bid to undermine the
rule of Chinese President Xi Jinping
"While Guo's ties to Steve Bannon have long been known -- Bannon was arrested for defrauding
donors in August on a 152-foot-long yacht reportedly owned by Guo -- the billionaire appears to
have also joined forces with Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in the former New York
mayor's relentless anti-Biden dirt-digging crusade."
Besides posting pictures of Rudy Giuliani and Guo Wengui "cavorting and smoking cigars
together" and leveling unsubstantiated allegations that Giuliani has stakes in Guo's fashion
lineup, the Daily Beast hasn't challenged the authenticity of Hunter's emails but only
questioned the source of origin of hard disks containing irrefutable evidence of the Biden
family's murky financial dealings and made a paradoxical claim that dissident members of
Chinese Communist Party are trying to sabotage Joe Biden's electoral campaign on Trump's
behalf.
Nevertheless, the report raises startling questions that why Chinese dissidents would form
"a government-in-exile" in the United States and allegedly support the Trump campaign against
Joe Biden's bid for the presidency unless the Biden campaign had received financial support
from the government of People's Republic of China whom the Chinese dissidents want to
subvert.
The report further alleges:
"Guo Wengui has been in the Trumpworld orbit pretty much from the beginning, paying the
$200,000 initiation fee to become a member of the president's Florida golf resort Mar-a-Lago,
which Trump has dubbed the 'Southern White House.' But Guo's membership soon became a
headache for the administration in the run-up to Trump's first summit meeting with Chinese
President Xi Jinping in 2017, due to Guo's fugitive status in China.
"At one point, Trump had reportedly considered deporting Guo after the Chinese government
called for his extradition in a letter delivered to Trump by casino mogul Steve Wynn in 2017.
After presenting the letter during a policy meeting, the president reportedly said, 'We need
to get this criminal out of the country,' only for aides to remind him that Guo was a
Mar-a-Lago member, eventually talking him out of the decision and ensuring the deportation
was scuttled
"Guo has framed himself as a stalwart critic of the CCP and China's corrupt elite, but his
efforts have divided China's exile community. Guo has enthusiastically attacked other critics
of Beijing as jealous poseurs, including most recently a Texas Christian pastor and Tiananmen
protester named Bob Fu -- who was imprisoned in China for his faith before escaping to the
U.S. -- whom Guo accuses of being a secret agent for the CCP. Fu has lobbed the same charge
back at Guo and his followers."
Instead of debunking Trump's witty remarks following the publishing of Hunter Biden's emails
that "the Biden family treated the vice presidency as a for-profit corporation," the
information contained in the Daily Beast article lends further credence to the investigative
reporting by Emma-Jo Morris and Gabrielle Fonrouge for the New York Post exposing Hunter
Biden's sleazy financial dealings with Ukrainian and Chinese oligarchs.
In an
exclusive report [6] for the Breitbart New on Friday, October 16, Peter Schweizer and
Seamus Bruner allege that newly obtained emails from a former business associate of Hunter
Biden's inner-circle reveal that Hunter and his colleagues used their access to the Obama
administration to peddle influence to potential Chinese clients and investors -- including
securing a private, off-the-books meeting with the former vice president.
The never-before-revealed emails, unconnected to the Hunter Biden emails being released by
the New York Post, were provided to Schweizer by Bevan Cooney, a one-time Hunter Biden and
Devon Archer business associate. Cooney is currently in prison serving a sentence for his
involvement in a 2016 bond fraud investment scheme.
Cooney believes he was the "fall guy" for an investment scheme in which Hunter and business
associate Devon Archer avoided responsibility. He reached out to Schweizer after the journalist
published a book "Secret Empires" in 2018. Archer was initially spared jail and handed a second
trial, however, a federal appeals court reinstated Archer's fraud conviction in the case last
week.
The report notes:
"On November 5, 2011, one of Archer's business contacts forwarded him an email teasing an
opportunity to gain 'potentially outstanding new clients' by helping to arrange White House
meetings for a group of Chinese executives and government officials.
"The group was the China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) and the delegation included Chinese
billionaires, Chinese Communist Party loyalists, and at least one 'respected diplomat' from
Beijing. Despite its benign name, CEC has been called 'a second foreign ministry' for the
People's Republic of China -- a communist government that closely controls most businesses in
its country. CEC was established in 2006 by a group of businessmen and Chinese government
diplomats.
"CEC's leadership boasts numerous senior members of the Chinese Communist Party, including
Wang Zhongyu (vice chairman of the 10th CPPCC National Committee and deputy secretary of the
Party group), Ma Weihua (director of multiple Chinese Communist Party offices), and Jiang
Xipei (member of the Chinese Communist Party and representative of the 16th National
Congress), among others.
"'I know it is political season and people are hesitant but a group like this does not
come along every day,' an intermediary named Mohamed A. Khashoggi wrote on behalf of the CEC
to an associate of Hunter Biden and Devon Archer. 'A tour of the white house and a meeting
with a member of the chief of staff's office and John Kerry would be great.'
"The email boasted of CEC's wealthy membership: CEC's current membership includes 50
preeminent figures such as: Liu Chuanzhi, Chairman of the CEC, Legend Holdings and Lenovo
Group; Wu Jinglian, Zhang Weiying, and Zhou Qiren, China's esteemed economists; Wu Jianmin,
respected diplomat; Long Yongtu, representative of China's globalization; Wang Shi (Vanke);
Ma Weihua (China Merchants Bank); Jack Ma (Alibaba Group); Guo Guangchang (Fosun Group); Wang
Jianlin, (Wanda Group); Niu Gensheng (LAONIU Foundation); Li Shufu (Geely); Li Dongsheng (TCL
Corporation); Feng Lun (Vantone) and etc.
"The gross income of the CEC members' companies allegedly 'totaled more than RMB 1.5
trillion, together accounting for roughly 4% of China's GDP.' The overture to Hunter Biden's
associates described the Chinese CEC members variously as
'industrial elites,' 'highly influential,' and among 'the most important private sector
individuals in China today,' dubbed as the China Inc.
"Hunter Biden and Devon Archer apparently delivered for the Chinese Communist
Party-connected industrial elites within ten days The Obama-Biden Administration archives
reveal that this Chinese delegation did indeed visit the White House on November 14, 2011,
and enjoyed high-level access.
"The visitor logs list Jeff Zients, the deputy director of Obama's Office of Management
and Budget (OMB), as the host of the CEC delegation. Obama had tasked Zients with
restructuring and ultimately consolidating the various export-import agencies under the
Commerce Department -- an effort in which the Chinese delegation would have a keen
interest.
"Curiously, the Obama-Biden visitor logs do not mention any meeting with Vice President
Joe Biden. But the Vice President's off-the-books meeting was revealed by one of the core
founders of the CEC. In an obscure document listing the CEC members' biographies, CEC
Secretary General Maggie Cheng alleges that she facilitated the CEC delegation meetings in
Washington in 2011 and boasts of the Washington establishment figures that CEC met with. The
first name she dropped was that of Vice President Joe Biden."
Schweizer suggests that the meeting may have opened the door for Hunter and Devon Archer
down the road -- as just two years later they formed the Chinese government-funded Bohai
Harvest RST (BHR) investment fund which saw Chinese money pour into it for investments in
CEC-linked businesses.
According to the report,
"One of BHR's first major portfolio investments was a ride-sharing company like Uber
called Didi Dache -- now called Didi Chuxing Technology Co. That company is closely connected
to Liu Chuanzhi, the chairman of the China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) and the founder of Legend
Holdings -- the parent company of Lenovo, one of the world's largest computer companies. Liu
is a former Chinese Communist Party delegate and was a leader of the 2011 CEC delegation to
the White House. His daughter was the President of Didi."
The report adds:
"Liu has long been involved in CCP politics, including serving as a representative to the
9th, 10th, and 11th sessions of the National People's Congress of the PRC and as a
representative to the 16th and 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Liu was
the Vice Chairman of the 8th and 9th Executive Committee of All-China Federation of Industry
and Commerce (ACFIC), an organization known to be affiliated with the Chinese United
Front."
After reading the names of these high-profile Chinese business and political elites visiting
the White House and cultivating personal friendships and commercial relationships in the
highest echelons of the Obama-Biden administration, one wonders whether the latter devised
trade and economic policies serving the interests of the American masses or took care of
financial stakes of global power elites.
With his anti-globalist and protectionist agenda, Trump represents a paradigm shift in the
global economic order. Trump withdrawing the United States from multilateral treaties,
restructuring trade agreements and initiating a trade war against China are a revolution
against globalization and free trade of which China is the new beneficiary with its strong
manufacturing base and massive export potential.
Thus, it's only natural for the Chinese government to be "anti-Trump", while supporting his
neoliberal Democratic rivals, who favor globalization and free trade, in the upcoming US
presidential elections.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your
email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based attorney, columnist and geopolitical analyst focused
on the politics of Af-Pak and Middle East regions, neocolonialism and petro-imperialism. He is
a regular contributor to Global Research.
The $100-plus million blitz includes at least $22 million from Facebook co-founder Dustin
Moskovitz, according to an exclusive report from Recode, a subdivision of Vox. Another
Democratic megadonor involved is former Google and Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidt, currently
advising the Pentagon on technology innovation.
Called Future Forward, the super PAC has filed federal paperwork on Tuesday disclosing that
it has raised $66 million between September 1 and October 15. It has contracted for $106
million of TV ads between September 29 and November 3, according to media tracking firm
Advertising Analytics. This makes it the largest Biden booster outside the Democrats' campaign
itself, already a fundraising juggernaut.
Recode also reported that Future Forward "has been recommended in private communications
by the team of Reid Hoffman." He is the LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic megadonor
previously caught funding a disinformation
campaign during the 2017 special Senate election in Alabama, in which a company called New
Knowledge created a Twitter army of 'Russian bots' pretending to back the Republican candidate.
It was unclear from the Recode story whether Hoffman had contributed any funding to Moskovitz's
super PAC.
"... "What we're in possession of contains 1,000, maybe more, photographs that are highly, highly – anywhere from inappropriate to illegal – and have to be possessed by the Chinese government," Giuliani said. ..."
"... If there is "underage" material on the hard drive allegedly belonging to Hunter, the FBI will have to answer some questions as well. ..."
A tweet published by One America News Network's Chief White House Correspondent Chanel Rion
claims the hard drive from Hunter Biden's laptop contained "underage obsessions."
"Just saw for myself a behind the scenes look at the Hunter Biden hard drive: Drugs,
underage obsessions, power deals " she wrote "Druggie Hunter makes Anthony Weiner's down under
selfie addiction look normal. Biden Crime Family has a
lot of apologizing to do. So does Big Tech."
Perhaps also referring to "underage" content, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Steve Bannon
on the War Room
Pandemic podcast on Wednesday that the hard drive contains "sensitive stuff."
"What we're in possession of contains 1,000, maybe more, photographs that are highly, highly
– anywhere from inappropriate to illegal – and have to be possessed by the Chinese
government," Giuliani said.
Only a portion of the data in the hard drive has been released so far, so an even bigger
October Surprise could be awaiting the Democrat Party.
If there is "underage" material on the hard drive allegedly belonging to Hunter, the FBI
will have to answer some questions as well.
According to the computer repairman who obtained the laptop, "The FBI first made a forensic
copy of the laptop, then returned a few weeks later with a subpoena and confiscated it."
However, the agency did not know the repairman also made a copy in case anything suspicious
took place.
ZeroHedge reports , "After he stopped hearing back from the FBI, Isaac said he contacted
several members of Congress, who did not respond, at which point his intermediary reached out
to Rudy Giuliani's attorney, Robert Costello."
"... Meanwhile, back on ABC, Joe Biden skated on answering any questions of substance about his son or Antifa or BLM. On NBC, Guthrie pushed Donald Trump to condemn QAnon and White supremacy, and he did it dutifully. But it wasn't enough. The point of demanding performative disavowals isn't to get the disavowal, it's to smear the person you're asking to disavow the group by association with the group. ..."
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS: If you flipped the channel during our show Thursday night, you may
have seen the president and his challenger making their respective cases to voters. But
President Trump and Joe Biden weren't debating each other. That would have been too risky.
There's a massive public health crisis underway, you may have heard.
So to avoid what doomsday hobbyists on Twitter like to call a "superspreader event," Trump
and Biden held separate indoor town halls surrounded by people. They talked to partisan
moderators instead of each other. That might seem like a loss to the country three weeks before
a presidential election. But unfortunately, the science on this question is clear: Nothing
could be more dangerous to America than a televised in-person debate between Joe Biden and
Donald Trump.
So the so-called debate commission made certain a debate couldn't happen. Who benefitted
from that decision? Well, not voters. America has held regularly scheduled presidential debates
for decades and we have them for a reason. The more information voters can get directly from
the candidates rather than the media, the better our democracy functions, not that anyone's
interested in democracy anymore.
Joe Biden doesn't care either way. He just didn't want to talk about Burisma. That's the
scandal that vividly illustrates how, as vice president, Biden subverted this country's foreign
policy in order to enrich his own family. The good news for Biden Thursday night was that he
didn't have to talk about it. No one from ABC News asked him about that scandal for the entire
90 minutes.
As we've been telling you this week, the New York Post and a few other news outlets,
including "Tucker Carlson Tonight," have published e-mails taken from Hunter Biden's personal
laptop. They show that Hunter Biden was paid by foreign actors to change American foreign
policy using access to his father, then the vice president. This is a big story. It is also a
real story.
Friday afternoon, we received nonpublic information that proves conclusively this was indeed
Hunter Biden's laptop. There are materials on the hard drive of that computer that no one but
Hunter Biden could have known about or have replicated. This is not a Russian hoax. Again,
we're saying this definitively. We're not speculating. The laptop in question is real. It
belonged to Hunter Biden. So there is no excuse for not asking about it.
But they didn't ask about it. It was a cover-up in real time. No matter what happens in the
election next month, the American media will never be the same after this. It cannot continue
this way. It is too dishonest.
Nevertheless, we did learn a few things Thursday night. (It's hard not to learn when you
watch Joe Biden try to speak for 90 minutes.) At one point, an activist told Joe Biden that she
has an eight-year-old transgender daughter. She asked Joe Biden what he thought about that.
Here's how he responded:
BIDEN: The idea that an eight-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides, 'You know,
I've decided I want to be transgender. That's what I think. I'd like to be a -- make my life a
lot easier.' There should be zero discrimination. What's happening is too many transgender
women of color are being murdered. They're being murdered. I mean, I think it's up to now 17,
don't hold me to that number.
So if an eight-year-old biological boy decides one day that he's really a girl, that's final
and you'd have to be a bigot to pause and say, "Wait a minute, you're eight years old, you're a
small child. Maybe let's think about this for a minute." That's what a normal person who has
kids would say. People with kids know that children grow and change. They change their minds
about a lot of things, including themselves. That's the reality of it.
But if you're a crazed ideologue, you don't care about reality. So you would tell the rest
of us that an eight-year-old is entitled to hormone therapy on demand and permanent,
life-altering surgery. That's what Biden is telling us.
It doesn't matter how fashionable talk like this is right now, and it is very fashionable,
it is crazy and it's destructive and it's having a profound effect. No one wants to say it, but
it's true. We know that between 2016 and 2017, the number of gender surgeries for biological
females in this country quadrupled. We also know that many people who get those surgeries
regret them later, deeply regret them. We'd have a lot more data on that, but universities are
actively punishing researchers who follow that line of inquiry. So much for science.
In the end, mania like this will end. The left is at war with nature. Inevitably, they will
lose that war, because nature always prevails. But in the meantime, many children are being
hurt irreparably. Biden doesn't care. It's the new thing, and so he's for it. In fact, Biden is
now busy rewriting his entire life story to pretend that he has been woke for 60 years.
Thursday night, he told us he became a gay rights supporter during the Kennedy administration,
sometime around 1962, when he and his father saw two gay men kissing.
When asked about police brutality, the former vice president speculated that maybe people
like George Floyd would be alive today if the police had just shot him in the leg a few
times.
BIDEN: There's a lot of things we've learned and it takes time. But we can do this. You
can ban chokeholds ... But beyond that, you have to teach people how to deescalate
circumstances, deescalate. So instead of anybody coming at you and the first thing you do shoot
to kill, shoot him in the leg.
How much would you have to know about firearms or human biology to wonder if maybe there
could be some unintended consequences there? People do have arteries in their legs, after all,
and sometimes bullets do miss their targets. So why did no one point out how demented Biden's
answer was?
Well, we have some clarity on the question of why no one pointed it out. It turns out George
Stephanopoulos, the moderator of last night's ABC town hall, was not the only political
operative in the room. One supposedly uncommitted voter was, in fact, a former Obama
administration speechwriter called Nathan Osburn. Osburn repeated Biden campaign talking points
to the letter, at one point referring to court-packing as a safeguard "that'll help ensure more
long-term balance and stability" on the Supreme Court.
BIDEN: I have not been a fan of court-packing because I think it just generates, what
will happen ... Whoever wins, it just keeps moving in a way that is inconsistent with what is
going to be manageable.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're still not a fan?
BIDEN: Well, I'm not a fan ... It depends on how this turns out, not how he wins, but how
it's handled, how it's handled. But there's a number of things that are going to be coming up
and there's going to be a lot of discussion about other alternatives as well.
So we did learn something new last night: Joe Biden isn't a fan of court-packing.
Court-packing has had a few off years, and Joe Biden started to lose his faith in it, even sold
his "Court-Packing" jersey. But at the end of the day, Joe Biden is still open to court-packing
and can get back on the court-packing bandwagon depending on how things are "handled." Got
it?
Biden was allowed to answer non-questions like this because he was surrounded by sycophants
and former employees of his party. Over at NBC, by contrast, the sitting president didn't have
that luxury, to put it mildly. (By the way, it's not good for you to be sucked up to too much.
It's good to get smacked around a little bit. It makes you sharper.)
During the president's one-hour event, moderator Savannah Guthrie asked him dozens more
questions than the voters in the room got to ask. And when Trump began speaking, Guthrie
interrupted him over and over again. Joe Biden wasn't there, so the moderator played stand-in
for Joe Biden.
The good news about all of this is it's so bad and so transparent that it can't continue.
All their stupid little morning shows and their dumb Sunday shows and their even dumber cable
shows -- all of that's going away when the smoke clears from this election. There will be a
massive realignment in the media no matter who wins, because they've showed who they are and
it's so unappealing, so far from journalism, that it can't continue.
Meanwhile, back on ABC, Joe Biden skated on answering any questions of substance about his
son or Antifa or BLM. On NBC, Guthrie pushed Donald Trump to condemn QAnon and White supremacy,
and he did it dutifully. But it wasn't enough. The point of demanding performative disavowals
isn't to get the disavowal, it's to smear the person you're asking to disavow the group by
association with the group.
GUTHRIE: You were asked point-blank to denounce White supremacy [at the first debate]. In
the moment, you didn't ... A couple of days later on a different show, you denounce White
supremacy --
TRUMP: You always do this. You've done this line -- I denounce White supremacy,
OK?
GUTHRIE: You did two days later.
TRUMP: I've denounced White supremacy for years. But you always do, you always start off
with the question. You didn't ask Joe Biden whether or not he denounces Antifa ... Are you
listening? I denounce White supremacy. What's your next question?
NBC was under a lot of pressure from Democrats to make Thursday night's town hall look like
this, and just like Facebook and Twitter delivered earlier this week, NBC delivered,
too.
whatmeworry? 1 day ago The only difference between the "news" media today, and, say a
decade ago, is that they no longer try to conceal their bias. They've dropped the cloak of
objectivity and come out as democrat activists. It's sort of refreshing. We no longer have to
waste time and energy arguing about the fairness of the media. Scotty2Hotty 1 1 day ago
Liberals are more an enemy of the free press than Donald Trump is--we know that for sure after
the NY Post incident. For all the times Trump has trashed the press, he has never shut them
down (he can't), but the liberals at Facebook and Twitter did just that to the New York Post,
because they didn't like a story of theirs. The story should never have been banned anywhere.
In a free society, bogus stories are debunked by other free speech outlets and press agencies.
They are not banned. Trump is not a friend of the press, but liberals are a worse enemy than he
is, to press freedom. Leftists have a strong totalitarian streak, and they continually work to
create environments where only one viewpoint is permitted, whether in academia, television, the
press or elsewhere. Liberals believe more in shutting down dissent than in discrediting it,
through argument. Gadsden_1968 2.0 1 day ago 90% of the media is now formally known as the
Democratic Party propaganda ministry. Arm yourselves, it appears the majority of people are
100% controlled by the Democratic Party's propaganda ministry. If Biden wins, his propaganda
ministry will make Pravda look like a high school news paper. Architech 1 day ago Why is the
crackhead Hunter Biden a taboo subject? Nobody mentions that Hunter is The Train Wreck of the
Century. Even on right wing news they don't tell you what a drop dead irresponsible loser low
life that Hunter is. He sleeps with his dying brothers wife while he is still alive. Red flag.
Plenty of other girls, but no, your sister in law. But that is nothing. Nada. Kicked out of the
Navy for drug use. Banged 1000 strippers in Wash DC, knocked one up, denied the child, was
proven he was the dad, denied child support and was forced to pay. Nice. Dead beat dad deluxe.
There are about 100 things like that. Too long to list. And nobody mentions is. They act like
Hunter is just another guy.... Calling out the Loser of the Century is not off limits in my
book. Calling out stupidity, no self control, no personal responsibility, corruption, unethical
behavior, outright crimes....not off limits. It's actually illegal to be a crack addict did you
know that?
"... "The whole point of the Intelligence Community since the end of World War II was that whatever propaganda the CIA produces, whatever disinformation campaigns they engaged were never supposed to be directed domestically," he said. "That was the point of the NSA, the CIA, and all those intelligence communities." ..."
"... "What we have seen since 2016 going back to the 2016 campaign is incessant involvement in U.S. domestic politics. Working with journalists to disseminate purely for partisan ends. If you want to talk about things like violating norms, and dangers to democracy, what's more dangerous than allowing the CIA constantly to be manipulating our politics by making cover for the Biden campaign by claiming anonymously that the Russians are behind the story and therefore you disregard it. Even if the Russians why does that alleviate the responsibility of journalists to evaluate the emails and to examine whether or not Joe Biden actually engaged in misconduct?" Greenwald asked. ..."
Glenn Greenwald appeared on Tucker Carlson's FOX News show Monday night to criticize
the media for its lack of response to the Hunter Biden laptop story. Greenwald also criticized
intel community activity in domestic elections and posed the question that even if Russians are
behind the story it just requires journalistic investigation in case Biden is compromised.
"Adam Schiff is seriously the most pathological liar in all of American politics that I've seen in all of my time covering
politics and journalism," Greenwald said on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.' "He just fabricates accusations at the drop of the hat at
the other people change underwear. He's simply lying when he just asserts over and over that the Russians or the Kremlin are
behind the story. He has no idea whether or not that is true. There is no evidence to support it."
"And what makes it so much worse is that the reason that the Bidens aren't answering basic
questions about the story," Greenwald said. "Basic questions like did Hunter Biden drop that
laptop off of the repair shop? Are the emails authentic? Do you know denied that they are. Do
you claim that any have been altered or are any of them fabricated? Did you in fact meet with
Barisma executives? The reason they don't answer the questions is because the media has
signaled that they don't have to. That journalists will be attacked and vilified simply for
asking."
Victor Davis Hanson: Will Our Next Revolution Be French, Russian, Maoist, Or
American?
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People
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"The whole point of the Intelligence Community since the end of World War II was that
whatever propaganda the CIA produces, whatever disinformation campaigns they engaged were never
supposed to be directed domestically," he said. "That was the point of the NSA, the CIA, and
all those intelligence communities."
"What we have seen since 2016 going back to the 2016 campaign is incessant involvement
in U.S. domestic politics. Working with journalists to disseminate purely for partisan ends. If
you want to talk about things like violating norms, and dangers to democracy, what's more
dangerous than allowing the CIA constantly to be manipulating our politics by making cover for
the Biden campaign by claiming anonymously that the Russians are behind the story and therefore
you disregard it. Even if the Russians why does that alleviate the responsibility of
journalists to evaluate the emails and to examine whether or not Joe Biden actually engaged in
misconduct?" Greenwald asked.
"The much bigger point is the way that the information is being disseminated," he said. "It
is a union of journalists who have decided that their only goal is to defend Joe Biden and
election him president of the United States working with the FBI, CIA, NSA not to manipulate
our adversaries or foreign governments, but to manipulate the American people for their own
ends. It's been going on for four straight years now and there's no sign of it stopping anytime
soon." Related Videos
Update (1930ET) : In yet another death blow to Adam Schiff and the '50 former senior
intelligence officers' "Russia, Russia, Russia" claims, the FBI and DOJ have told a Fox News
producer that they do not believe that Hunter Biden's laptop and its contents are part of a
Russian disinformation campaign , confirming that the 'current' intelligence community agrees
with DNI Ratcliffe's comments yesterday.
We look forward to the reporting from other mainstream media news agencies now that federal
law enforcement has confirmed this is not a 'hoax' and we assume that the NYPost will once
again be allowed to tweet since this is now as 'factual' as anything thrown at Trump for the
last five years.
y_arrow Fizzy Head , 9 hours ago
Excuse me, but Who cares what these "former" senior officials think? I want names and
party affiliations, that will tell the tale.
and furthermore, if these former guys can muster up a letter why can't the real officials
muster up something, anything? They've known for months!! This is growing more ridiculous as
time goes by.
Han Cholo , 8 hours ago
"former" -- Meaning they are mostly looking from the outside in and have no clue.
"Treason doth never prosper; what is the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it
treason."
– Sir John Harrington.
As Shakespeare would state in his play Hamlet , " Something is rotten in the state of
Denmark ," like a fish that rots from head to tail, so do corrupt government systems rot from
top to bottom.
This is a reference to the ruling system of Denmark and not just the foul murder that King
Claudius has committed against his brother, Hamlet's father. This is showcased in the play by
reference to the economy of Denmark being in a state of shambles and that the Danish people are
ready to revolt since they are on the verge of starving. King Claudius has only been king for a
couple of months, and thus this state of affairs, though he inflames, did not originate with
him.
Thus, during our time of great upheaval we should ask ourselves; what constitutes the
persisting "ruling system," of the United States, and where do the injustices in its state of
affairs truly originate from?
The tragedy of Hamlet does not just lie in the action (or lack of action) of one man, but
rather, it is contained in the choices and actions of all its main characters. Each character
fails to see the longer term consequences of their own actions, which leads not only to their
ruin but towards the ultimate collapse of Denmark. The characters are so caught up in their
antagonism against one another that they fail to foresee that their very own destruction is
intertwined with the other.
This is a reflection of a failing system.
A system that, though it believes itself to be fighting tooth and nail for its very
survival, is only digging a deeper grave. A system that is incapable of generating any real
solutions to the problems it faces.
The only way out of this is to address that very fact. The most important issue that will
decide the fate of the country is what sort of changes are going to occur in the political and
intelligence apparatus, such that a continuation of this tyrannical treason is finally stopped
in its tracks and unable to sow further discord and chaos.
When the Matter of "Truth"
Becomes a Threat to "National Security"
When the matter of truth is depicted as a possible threat to those that govern a country,
you no longer have a democratic state. True, not everything can be disclosed to the public in
real time, but we are sitting on a mountain of classified intelligence material that goes back
more than 60 years.
How much time needs to elapse before the American people have the right to know the truth
behind what their government agencies have been doing within their own country and abroad in
the name of the "free" world?
From this recognition, the whole matter of declassifying material around the Russigate
scandal in real time , and not highly redacted 50 years from now, is essential to addressing
this festering putrefaction that has been bubbling over since the
heinous assassination of President Kennedy on Nov. 22nd, 1963 and to which we are still
waiting for full disclosure of classified papers 57 years later.
If the American people really want to finally see who is standing behind that curtain in Oz,
now is the time .
These intelligence bureaus need to be reviewed for what kind of method and standard they are
upholding in collecting their "intelligence," that has supposedly justified the Mueller
investigation and the never-ending Flynn investigation which have provided zero conclusive
evidence to back up their allegations and which have massively infringed on the elected
government's ability to make the changes that they had committed to the American people.
Just like the Iraq and Libya war that was based off of cooked British intelligence (refer
here
and here ),
Russiagate appears to have also had its impetus from our friends over at MI6 as well. It is no
surprise that Sir Richard Dearlove, who was then MI6 chief (1999-2004) and who
oversaw and stood by the fraudulent intelligence on Iraq stating they bought uranium from
Niger to build a nuclear weapon, is the very same Sir Richard Dearlove who promoted the
Christopher Steele dossier as something "credible" to American intelligence.
In other words, the same man who is largely responsible for encouraging the illegal invasion
of Iraq, which set off the never-ending wars on "terror," that was justified with cooked
British intelligence is also responsible for encouraging the Russian spook witch-hunt that has
been occurring within the U.S. for the last four years over more cooked British intelligence,
and the FBI and CIA are knowingly complicit in this.
Neither the American people, nor the world as a whole, can afford to suffer any more of the
so-called "mistaken" intelligence bumblings. It is time that these intelligence bureaus are
held accountable for at best criminal negligence, at worst, treason against their own
country.
When Great Figures of Hope Are Targeted as Threats to "National Security"
The Family Jewels
report , which was an investigation conducted by the CIA to investigate itself , was
spurred by the Watergate Scandal and the CIA's unconstitutional role in the whole affair. This
investigation by the CIA reviewed its own conduct from the 1950s to mid-1970s.
The Family Jewels report was only partially declassified in June 25, 2007 (30
years later). Along with the release of the redacted report included a six-page summary with
the following introduction:
" The Central Intelligence Agency violated its charter for 25 years until revelations of
illegal wiretapping, domestic surveillance, assassination plots , and human experimentation
led to official investigations and reforms in the 1970s. " [emphasis added]
Despite this acknowledged violation of its charter for 25 years, which is pretty much since
its inception, the details of this information were kept classified for 30 years from not just
the public but major governmental bodies and it was left to the agency itself to judge how best
to "reform" its ways.
On Dec. 22, 1974, The
New York Times published an article by Seymour Hersh exposing illegal operations conducted
by the CIA, dubbed the "family jewels". This included, covert action programs involving
assassination attempts on foreign leaders and covert attempts to subvert foreign governments,
which were reported for the first time . In addition, the article discussed efforts by
intelligence agencies to collect information on the political activities of U.S. citizens.
Largely as a reaction to Hersh's findings, the creation of the Church Committee was approved
on January 27, 1975, by a vote of 82 to 4 in the Senate.
The Church Committee also published an interim
report titled "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders", which investigated
alleged attempts to assassinate foreign leaders, including Patrice Lumumba of Zaire, Rafael
Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, Ngo Dinh Diem of Vietnam, Gen. René Schneider of
Chile and Fidel Castro of Cuba. President Ford attempted to withhold the report from the
public, but failed and reluctantly issued Executive
Order 11905 after pressure from the public and the Church Committee.
Executive Order 11905 is a United States Presidential Executive Order signed on February 18,
1976, by a very reluctant President Ford in an attempt to reform the United States Intelligence
Community, improve oversight on foreign intelligence activities, and ban political
assassination.
The attempt is now regarded as a failure and was largely undone by President Reagan who
issued Executive
Order 12333 , which extended the powers and responsibilities of U.S. intelligence agencies
and directed leaders of the U.S. federal agencies to co-operate fully with the CIA, which was
the original arrangement that CIA have full authority over clandestine operations (for more
information on this refer to my papers
here and
here ).
In addition, the Church Committee produced seven case studies on covert operations, but only
the one on Chile was released, titled " Covert Action in
Chile: 1963–1973 ". The rest were kept secret at the CIA's request.
Among the most shocking revelation of the Church Committee was the discovery of Operation
SHAMROCK , in which the major telecommunications companies shared their traffic with the
NSA from 1945 to the early 1970s. The information gathered in this operation fed directly into
the NSA Watch List. It was found out during the committee investigations that Senator Frank
Church, who was overseeing the committee, was among the prominent
names under surveillance on this NSA Watch List.
In 1975, the Church Committee decided to unilaterally declassify the particulars of this
operation, against the objections of President Ford's administration (refer here and
here for more information).
The Church Committee's reports constitute the most extensive review of intelligence
activities ever made available to the public. Much of the contents were classified, but over
50,000 pages were declassified under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records
Collection Act of 1992.
President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22nd, 1963. Two days before his
assassination a hate-Kennedy handbill (see picture) was circulated in Dallas accusing the
president of treasonous activities including being a communist sympathizer.
On March 1st, 1967 New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison arrested and charged Clay Shaw
with conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy, with the help of David Ferrie and others.
After a little over a one month long trial, Shaw was found not guilty on March 1st, 1969.
David Ferrie, a controller of Lee Harvey Oswald, was going to be a key witness and would
have provided the "smoking gun" evidence linking himself to Clay Shaw, was likely murdered on
Feb. 22nd, 1967, less than a week after news of Garrison's investigation broke in the
media.
According to Garrison's team findings, there was reason to believe that the CIA was involved
in the orchestrations of President Kennedy's assassination but access to classified material
(which was nearly everything concerning the case) was necessary to continue such an
investigation.
Though Garrison's team lacked direct evidence, they were able to collect an immense amount
of circumstantial evidence, which should have given the justification for access to classified
material for further investigation. Instead the case was thrown out of court prematurely and is
now treated as if it were a circus. [Refer to Garrison's book for further details and Oliver
Stone's excellently researched movie JFK ]
To date, it is the only trial to be brought forward concerning the assassination of
President Kennedy.
The Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) was created in 1994 by the Congress enacted
President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which mandated that all
assassination-related material be housed in a single collection within the National Archives
and Records Administration. In July 1998, a staff report
released by the ARRB emphasized shortcomings in the original autopsy.
The
ARRB wrote , "One of the many tragedies of the assassination of President Kennedy has been
the incompleteness of the autopsy record and the suspicion caused by the shroud of secrecy that
has surrounded the records that do exist." [emphasis added]
" Asked about the lunchroom episode [where he was overheard stating his notes of the
autopsy went missing] in a May 1996 deposition, Finck said he did not remember it. He was
also vague about how many notes he took during the autopsy but confirmed that "after the
autopsy I also wrote notes" and that he turned over whatever notes he had to the chief
autopsy physician, James J. Humes.
It has long been known that Humes destroyed some original autopsy papers in a fireplace at
his home on Nov. 24, 1963. He told the Warren Commission that what he burned was an original
draft of his autopsy report. Under persistent questioning at a February 1996 deposition by
the Review Board, Humes said he destroyed the draft and his "original notes."
Shown official autopsy photographs of Kennedy from the National Archives, [Saundra K.]
Spencer [who worked in "the White House lab"] said they were not the ones she helped process
and were printed on different paper. She said "there was no blood or opening cavities" and
the wounds were much smaller in the pictures [than what she had] worked on
John T. Stringer, who said he was the only one to take photos during the autopsy itself,
said some of those were missing as well. He said that pictures he took of Kennedy's brain at
a "supplementary autopsy" were different from the official set that was shown to him. "
[emphasis added]
This not only shows that evidence tampering did indeed occur, as even the Warren Commission
acknowledges, but this puts into question the reliability of the entire assassination record of
John F. Kennedy and to what degree evidence tampering and forgery have occurred in these
records.
We would also do well to remember the numerous crimes that the FBI and CIA have been guilty
of committing upon the American people such as during the period of McCarthyism. That the FBI's
COINTELPRO has been implicated in covert operations against members of the civil rights
movement, including Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1960s. That FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
made no secret of his hostility towards Dr. King and his ludicrous belief that King was
influenced by communists, despite having no evidence to that effect.
King was assassinated on April 4th, 1968 and the civil rights movement took a major
blow.
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In November 1975, as the Church Committee was completing its investigation, the Department
of Justice formed a Task Force to examine the FBI's program of harassment directed at Dr. King,
including the FBI's security investigations of him, his assassination and the FBI conducted
criminal investigation that followed. One aspect of the Task force study was to determine
"whether any action taken in relation to Dr. King by the FBI before the assassination had, or
might have had, an effect, direct or indirect, on that event."
In its report
, the Task Force criticized the FBI not for the opening, but for the protracted continuation
of, its security investigation of Dr. King:
" We think the security investigation which included both physical and technical
surveillance, should have been terminated in 1963. That it was intensified and augmented by a
COINTELPRO type campaign against Dr. King was unwarranted; the COINTELPRO type campaign,
moreover, was ultra vires and very probably felonious. "
In 1999, King Family
v. Jowers civil suit in Memphis, Tennessee occurred, the full transcript of the trial can
be found here
. The jury found that Lloyd Jowers and unnamed others, including those in high ranking
positions within government agencies, participated in a conspiracy to assassinate Dr. King.
During the four week trial, it was pointed out that the rifle allegedly used to assassinate
King did not have a scope that was sighted, which meant you could not have hit the broad side
of a barn with that rifle, thus it could not have been the murder weapon .
This was only remarked on over 30 years after King was murdered and showed the level of
incompetence, or more likely, evidence tampering that was committed from previous
investigations conducted by the FBI.
The case of JFK and MLK are among the highest profile assassination cases in American
history, and it has been shown in both cases that evidence tampering has indeed occurred,
despite being in the center of the public eye. What are we then to expect as the standard of
investigation for all the other cases of malfeasance? What expectation can we have that justice
is ever upheld?
With a history of such blatant misconduct, it is clear that the present demand to declassify
the Russiagate papers now, and not 50 years later, needs to occur if we are to address the
level of criminality that is going on behind the scenes and which will determine the fate of
the country.
The American People Deserve to Know
Today we see the continuation of the over seven decades' long ruse, the targeting of
individuals as Russian agents without any basis, in order to remove them from the political
arena. The present effort to declassify the Russiagate papers and exonerate Michael Flynn, so
that he may freely speak of the intelligence he knows, is not a threat to national security, it
is a threat to those who have committed treason against their country .
On Oct. 6th, 2020, President Trump ordered the declassification of the Russia Probe
documents along with the classified documents on the findings concerning the Hillary Clinton
emails. The release of these documents threatens to expose the entrapment of the Trump campaign
by the Clinton campaign with help of the U.S. intelligence agencies.
The Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe released some of these documents
recently, including former CIA Director John Brennan's handwritten notes for a meeting with former
President Obama, the notes revealing that Hillary Clinton approved a plan to "vilify Donald
Trump by stirring up scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service."
Trey Gowdy, who was Chair of the House Oversight Committee from June 13th, 2017 – Jan.
3rd, 2019, has stated in
an interview on Oct. 7th, 2020 that he has never seen these documents. Devin Nunes, who was
Chair of the House Intelligence Committee from Jan. 3rd, 2015 – Jan. 3rd, 2019, has also
said in a recent interview that he has never seen these documents.
And yet, both the FBI and CIA were aware and had access to these documents and sat on them
for four years, withholding their release from several government-led investigations that were
looking into the Russiagate scandal and who were requesting relevant material that was in the
possession of both intelligence bureaus. Do these intelligence bureaus sound like they are
working for the "national security" of the American people?
The truth must finally be brought to light, or the country will rot from its head to
tail.
Problem here is when you suggest that killing a president is justified you eliminate any
possibility of democracy / republic whatever you name it. You are installing being ruled at
the wrong end of a barrel.
Miffed Microbiologist , 27 minutes ago
I have to agree with you. My mother was an investigative reporter who worked for Pierre
Salinger. She told me some pretty interesting things that were going on in the White House
during Camelot which the press shielded from the public. However to be fair, I honestly think
this was nothing unusual. Truth and politics rarely go together.
Miffed
Duke6 , 13 minutes ago
LOL. Compared to the globalist animals running the country after his death , the above is
poor at attempt at deflection.
If JFK flopped it was because he was taken out. He was also too promiscuous for his own
good. He really pissed some people off, which is the reason behind the gruesome public
assassination.
USGrant , 3 minutes ago
"Some people" was the MIC. His reluctance to fight a war in Vietnam and the firing of
Allen Dulles in the spring of 1962 set the stage. Johnson OKed it and the first full day as
president had a meeting with the military chiefs to ramp up the war. The red seal ones and
fives issued directly by the Treasury with no debt backing may have gotten the old money in
Europe involved as well.
It seems in our complicated world many murky relationships develop that come across as
inappropriate. Over the years, growing crony capitalism has become the bane of modern society
and added greatly to inequality. This is why, when we look at Hunter Biden and how he benefited
from his father's role as Vice President an investigation is in order. Even before we get to
what happened in Ukraine, the ties between China and the Biden family are too many and too
large to ignore. President Trump has received a lot of criticism related to how he gained his
wealth, however, almost all of what Trump has done he did as an outsider and not as part of the
ruling political class.
Before going deeper into this subject it is very important to look at how the "Biden
revelations" are being handled by the media. The way media has handled these allegations reveal
a flaw or bias in both mainstream media and social media to the point where even censorship is
being deployed. A good example of the spin being put on this red flag of corruption can be seen
in an article that appeared under trending stories on my city's main news outlet. Here in the
conservation heartland of America, the media published a piece titled; "Biden email episode
illustrates risk to Trump from Giuliani"
The Associated Press piece written by Eric Tucker shines the spotlight on Rudy Giuliani
portraying him as the messenger of Russian contrived information aimed at damaging Biden and
influencing the election. It starts off referring to "a New York tabloid's puzzling account
about how it acquired emails purportedly from Joe Biden's son has raised some red flags." Then
claims that during Giuliani's travels abroad looking for dirt on the Bidens he developed
relationships with some rather questionable figures. These include a Ukrainian lawmaker who
U.S. officials have described as a Russian agent and part of a broader Russian effort to
denigrate the Democratic presidential nominee.
The piece then moves on to the area of how the FBI seems more interested in the emails as
part of a foreign influence operation than wrongdoing by Hunter or his father. The people
reading this article are informed how this is just another latest episode involving Giuliani
that "underscores the risk he poses to the White House" which has spent years dealing with a
federal investigation into whether Trump associates had coordinated with Russia.
The part of the article that got my goat was when it referred to how " The Washington Post
reported Thursday that intelligence agencies had warned the White House last year that Giuliani
was the target of a Russian influence operation." Sighting the Washington Post as an authority
and bastion of truth is a common tactic used by journalists to add validity to their bias and
lazy reporting. Tucker forgot to mention The Washington Post is the propaganda mouthpiece of
Amazon and owned by its CEO Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world which has had several
run-ins with the President.
The effort to denigrate Giuliani rather than focus on Biden wrongdoings cites both "former
officials' and statements made by a person "who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing
investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity to AP," and of course, the exact scope of
what was being investigated was not clear. Claiming that many people in the West Wing have been
concerned about Giuliani's actions or saying the president has expressed private dismay at
Giuliani's scattershot style does not make it true.
Thinking a case can be made that Hunter enriched himself by selling access to his father but
claiming Giuliani's lack of credibility will cause the allegations to implode is a bit of a
reach. This fact much of what appears to be bribe-taking at the highest levels of government
has been overlooked for so long is in its self is a problem. The appointment of an unqualified
Hunter Biden to the board of a Ukrainian energy company with a reported compensation package
worth some $50,000 per month led the Wall Street Journal, to publish a scathing article, on May
13, 2014. bringing the issue before the public.
At criminal.findlaw.com, FindLaw's team of legal writers and editors detail what constitutes
bribery. It is offering or accepting anything of value in exchange to influence a
government/public official or employee. Bribes can take many forms of gifts or payments of
money in exchange for favorable treatment, such as awards of government contracts. Other forms
of bribes may include property, various goods, privileges, services, and favors. Bribes are
always intended to influence or alter the action of various individuals and are linked to both
political and public corruption. In most situations, both the person offering the bribe and the
person accepting can be charged.
Both giving and receiving bribes is usually a felony with significant legal ramifications.
Influence peddling, the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections
with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment falls into this category.
One thing is clear, whenever we are talking about the involvement of huge sums of money,
foreign players, officials holding high public office, or family members of politicians a few
eyebrows should get raised. With this in mind, the Biden problem extends well past Hunter but
also into how other family members have profited from Joe's time as Vice President such as his
brother's involvement in a huge government contract in Iraq.
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The issue of Hunter Biden receiving money from Russia, Ukraine, and China surfaced during
the first Presidential debate and Biden claimed it was a story already discredited by
authorities. This narrative was destroyed when the Washington Times acknowledged the Treasury
Department records confirm Hunter Biden received a wire transfer for $3.5 million from the
Mayor of Moscow's wife. It is difficult to find anyone that holds Hunter in high esteem and the
fact the United States suspects the woman sending him this money built much of her wealth
through corruption does little to improve his standing. For those of us cynical of all the
so-called public servants that seem to line their pockets and hold the attitude they are above
the law this is a big red flag.
If the veil of secrecy surrounding Hunter's career is lifted we will most likely find
Hunter's dad did share in the spoils bestowed upon not only his son but others in the Biden
family. I contend Joe Biden's cozy relationship with corruption is why former President Obama
did not rush to endorse Biden when he announced he planned to run. To be clear, we are talking
about, millions, and hundreds of millions of dollars or more. For us cynics, we see this as
what may be only the tip of the spear when it comes to public officials throwing the American
people under the bus for fun and profit. As a voter, this dovetails with my concern about
Biden's relationship and attitude towards China which I consider a major issue.
Jan_Michael_Vincent007 , 4 hours ago
The [neoliberal] political class is the problem. ******* all of them. Biden just got
caught.
Jan_Michael_Vincent007 , 4 hours ago
The political class is the problem. ******* all of them. Biden just got caught.
RedDog1 , 4 hours ago
Highly recommend reading Peter Schweitzer's book Secret Empires. It's business as usual to
launder bribes through family members and associates.
philipat , 2 hours ago
Yes agreed, the problem here is actually that the entire US political (and economic)
system is completely corrupt and broken. Why has no action been taken against those
responsible for a proven attempted coup? Or against a MSM and SillyCon Valley that is
censoring everything the average American (rightlly or wrongly) actually reads and which is
stifling the very democracy and free speech upon which the country was founded?
The answer? Follow the money.
I do disagree with the author about the specific Biden situation because "The Biden Crime
Family" would be a better description. They are ALL responsible. It is obvious from the
Hunter laptop that payments were being made to "The Big Man" and other family members also,
so this is NOT a Hunter-specific problem. The game was for Hunter to serve as a proxy for
"The Big Man" and receive the "commissions" (better described as influence peddling payments
and extortion - something the Dems are very good at; The Clinton Foundation Model!!) for
onward distribution to the family, visibly or invisibly. In this way, "The Big Man" would not
have anything to report and could appear to be "clean". Pretty obvious to anyone who can fog
a mirror?
And yet still they vote for him. Does that mean a public acceptance of the sleaze and
corruption which is the US today? I certainly hope not.
Rural Hermit , 2 hours ago
Why do you think Obama picked Biden to be his VP? He knows how to shakedown everyone.
Obama's tutor. I do think that the student has surpassed the teacher though. When the rest of
this shakes out, the Kenyan will be in chains.
gregga777 , 3 hours ago
If the truth ever comes out, it will probably show that, among other things, Hunter Biden
was / is probably connected to human trafficking networks, and most likely Eastern European,
most likely involving The Russian Mafia. It's not a stretch to speculate that it also
included children.
If the United States of America had a functioning [sic] Intelligence Community and [Ha,
ha, ha] national law enforcement the Silicon Valley tech giants and others like Amazon
wouldn't be heavily infiltrated by People's Republic of China Ministry of State Security
operatives. Consequently, the massive extent of political corruption would be common
knowledge, especially specifics regarding names, dates, places and amounts. Right Paul Ryan
and Willard Romney?
Rusty Shorts , 3 hours ago
The hits just keep coming.
"Pelosi's Son Now Involved In Ukraine Scandal, Democrat Party In Shambles"
Seriously, does anyone think a Democrat controlled Congress will investigate Biden and all
his cronies, to include Obama? The whole DC swamp is set up to allow selling out of the
American people. DC is not just a threat to national security it is steeped in Treason.
No sense ranting as it does nothing. The only consolation is that stupid people who vote
Biden/Harris will get the crime and corruption they voted into office.
Stackers , 4 hours ago
In Roman times when someone was caught bribing a public official they would cut off his
nose, sew him in a bag with a wild animal, and throw that bag in the river
The problem with all this is that it is extremely well documented going back a number of
years of Hunter Jnr's shopping trips with his father and nothing has been done about it all.
Just search on Biden and China, Romania or Ukraine and then you see the "deals" that Hunter
gets every time.
Every f\/cking place that Biden turned up, Hunter was right behind with his hand out, like
some sort of mob shakedown. Did Biden senior tell Hunter what to do and who to meet because
junior doesn't seem that clever enough to come up with this on his own? That way, the money
also flows to junior who then funnels it to dad later on (which the laptop seems to
show).
Washington insiders know the f\/cking truth and are desperate to keep the gravy train
going. That is why they hate Trump. That is why Barr and co have no interest in getting to
the truth because they are all implicated. The swamp is very deep.
Merica101 , 4 hours ago
Human nature is swampy - that's why the Founding Fathers tried to design a system that
limited the "swampiness'. Unfortunately, they couldn't even begin to imagine the depravity
and games that are now being played. Pray.
Fuster-cluck , 3 hours ago
I have worked for a number of large multi-national corporations. In each, employees must
take an annual ethics course. The only approved amount you can spend on a client is $0. I
mean, no golf, no lunches, no tee shirts, no hunting weekends, zippo, nothing. If anyone in
your family is connected to government, it is automatically assumed to be a conflict of
interest, and you must remove yourself from any part of the dealings. These policies have
been implemented because of the intense fear of the unlimited penalties that may be applied
by goverment sponsored prosecutorial abuse.
So tell me, have those same standards been applied here? Ha. Ha. Ha.
Smilygladhands , 3 hours ago
i think we must implement a no fraternization rule between DC politicians and staff and
the media. too many personal relationships going on up there
TahoeBilly2012 , 3 hours ago
Tards have finally been caught out, no way back.
Look man, I never would have voted for HILLARY OR JEB, no f'ing way! I am a Ron Paul
Libertarian and I rolled the dice with Trump.
You Tards are all a gang of freaks. The fact you even halfway support Biden (or Hillary)
is pathetic. The only way you get change is sticking to your guns or having a Trump come
along and hope he is for the people and not a Satanic criminal, like the Biden's, the Bush's
and the Clinton's. What exactly is it that you freaks don't get and while Bernie may have
been somewhat more "authentic" than the rest, he's a friggin Bolshevik Commy, in his own way,
worse than them all, likely not as corrupt.
There's nothing left to the Dem Party, zero, zilch, it's a stinking rotting corpse relying
on Corporate Media lie after lie to try to compete with Trump. Hell, every Neocon has left
Trump and joined up with y'all. Geez, the stench!
Pathetic, disgusting, sick.
Lucius Septimius Pertinax , 3 hours ago
What bothers me about all this is the reaction of Democrats in general. They don't seem to
care what the Biden's have done, as long as they defeat Donald Trump. We seen this on a
smaller scale with the impeachment of Bill Clinton, it's all about sex manta. But in this
case we have what appears to be at least for now, almost a watertight case against Joe Biden.
And still no moral outrage at what Biden's family is up to? Guess I should not have been
amazed, but still hope their are a few thinkers left on the left that can still see the truth
when it bites them.
I expected the CNN's of the left to react this way. Further when their "the Russians"
excuse for everything, is exhausted, they will need someone else to blame, cause they know
Biden and son are as pure as the driven snow. Or at least the owners of all these so called
media news companies decide that Joe cannot win and flush the comode on him.
sirnzee , 3 hours ago
The media has done a terrific job of brainwashing half of America. So sad to be a part of
this. Who is to blame? The media, or the people who allowed their minds to be controlled the
way they are?
Fugly
Merica101 , 3 hours ago
Most of the MSM have their own agenda - a globalist agenda where the US is not their
priority.
12Doberman , 4 hours ago
Some deny the Biden's got the money which is absurd since the Senate report details the
wire transfers. Denial of facts seems to be a democrat trait.
chiquita , 3 hours ago
This is the Democrat philosophy--one of the best movie scenes ever.
Biden has used his family as bag men for graft since he was shaking down banks that
incorporated in Delaware for tax purposes.
He was MBNA Joe long before he became dementia Joe.
Totally vile corrupt dullard on his best day.
That is why the DNC wants him.
CogitoMan , 3 hours ago
Any person who has knowledge of Biden family crimes and still votes for him is beyond
deplorable.
Even demonrats that hate Trump IF they have at least minimum token of decency should
abstain from voting.
But alas, most of dumbocrats will vote for Biden even if he raped their daughters and shot
their wives.
This country with such moral attitude has no chance of survival, especially when tough
times come.
Sad, very sad.
12Doberman , 3 hours ago
Trump learned quickly that without powerful allies in powerful positions in the executive
agencies, within congress, and in the courts he's essentially powerless against this
corruption. Pelosi is involved in Ukraine...McConnell is up to his eyeballs in Chinese
graft.
Md4 , 4 hours ago
"Hunter Biden Is Not The Problem, The Problem Is His Dad"
Pops has been demonstrably crooked for years.
But... Hunter is not a child.
He's a grown man... with a law degree.
His problems are now...his own.
He can begin to recover...when he accepts responsibility for them...
Hotspice2020 , 4 hours ago
Stop treating mainstream media as "independent, objective, unbiased" they are "captured
media", and vassal servants to a hidden hand ruling elite ... as are the Bidens and K.
Harris. The Clintons were vassals before as was slamma Obama. The media will say whatever
their master tell them to say. Thus, when a Hard Drive with pedo, crack, bribery is found,
the masters say...blame it on the Russians. When Trump wants to bring Hunters double dealing
to light...the masters say.. Impeach Trump. What is needed is for a bright light to shine on
the owners of the media...e.g., Bezos Rag (Wash. Post) and Laurene Powell Jobs (mistress to
Steve) owns the Atlantic. Once you keep focusing on the fact that the media has owners that
make every story fit their narrative and you shine a light on them, then you can solve the
problem.
tyberious , 5 hours ago
Term limits
Full income disclosures while in office
No benefit for any legislation co-authored after leaving office
zerozerosevenhedgeBow1 , 4 hours ago
No honor, integrity or honesty in politics anymore. Why would there be any, when apart for
a little public shaming, corruption pays and pays big. The Clinton foundation raked in
hundreds of millions, altered policy and maybe even caused death of the impoverished, i.e.,
Haiti and other places. Sold out national and global security with Uranium One and other
controversies. The end result?... They got to keep all the money. When that happens, everyone
in and running for office gets the message and sees dollar signs.
You need serious recourse like some sort of treason charges when you put money over
country. Audit all family members and colleagues. Then do not let lobbying jobs before or
after office.
moneybots , 3 hours ago
"The Associated Press piece written by Eric Tucker shines the spotlight on Rudy Giuliani
portraying him as the messenger of Russian contrived information aimed at damaging Biden and
influencing the election. It starts off referring to "a New York tabloid's puzzling account
about how it acquired emails purportedly from Joe Biden's son has raised some red
flags.""
Yes, it raises Red Flags about the integrity of the Associated Press, considering the
story is a propaganda piece.
Merica101 , 4 hours ago
Joe and Hunter Biden (and the Biden family) aren't the ONLY ONES....there are many
others.
toady , 4 hours ago
The questions that simply are not being asked/answered....
I have not heard that any Biden has been asked about any of this... apparently they
thought they could just have CNN and the other talking heads say it was all "debunked" and
the brain dead general population would nod and say "okay".
And they were right, the demonrats are all just doing the Alfred E Numan "who, me,
worry?"
It's simple. The "17 intelligence agencies" need to be all over this, starting 15 years
ago.
But they aren't. And they won't. And the US will not recover.
TheLastMan , 3 hours ago
perspective:
1. you work 50 hours a week
2. .gov takes 22% for income tax
3. joe biden (and the rest) take your tax $$$ and provides $$$ foreign aid to country
X
4. hunter biden makes business connection to country x
5. country x takes your foreign aid tax dollars (edit) and pays hunter biden $$ for his
services
6. hunter biden pays joe biden $$ for (his service to your country) edit - servicing your
country
7. repeat step 1
Smilygladhands , 3 hours ago
the biggest problem that must be addressed is our dishonest, biased DNC propaganda arm
also known as main stream media.
they've allowed biden to get away with not answering the SCOTUS packing question and now
actively running cover for him. we cannot allow this to continue
Md4 , 4 hours ago
" Both giving and receiving bribes is usually a felony with significant legal
ramifications. Influence peddling, the illegal practice of using one's influence in
government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential
treatment falls into this category."
When it involves a mortal adversary... we call it something else...
HailAtlantis , 4 hours ago
Always lots of fun this time of year taking Anti-Money Laundering etc continuing education
courses and reading about high level scandals in finance and governments in current news
(it's just gotten progressively more insidious every year).. Scrutinizing little 'guys' while
making billions at the top.
johnny two shoes , 2 hours ago
Can't forget old Swiftboat Kerry...
At the time, Hunter Biden, now 49, and Christopher Heinz, the stepson of then-Secretary of
State John Kerry, co-owned Rosemont Seneca Partners, a $2.4 billion private equity firm.
Heinz's college roommate, Devon Archer, was managing partner in the firm. In the spring of
2014, Biden and Archer joined the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company that was
at the center of a U.K. money laundering probe. Over the next year, Burisma reportedly paid
Biden and Archer's companies over $3 million.
Electing a President is electing someone in formal command of enough power to kill most of
the people on the planet - perhaps three times over. Including you and me. This is not the
mayor of Minneapolis we're talking about.
vasilievich , 4 hours ago
To use biologists' terminology the species may not be adaptive. To be clever at graft does
*not* assure survival in the long run. It may assure extinction.
12Doberman , 4 hours ago
Biden wasn't clever. Hillary was a bit clever using a Foundation and a 'charity' to
launder her graft. Cost her 15% or so but she had the facade of the charity. Biden put his
crackhead son in charge of laundering the graft...needless to say it was careless in the
extreme...and the DNC knew all about this before they selected Biden. Stunning level of
arrogance.
chiquita , 4 hours ago
Nobody ever said Biden was a smart guy. He knew how to plagerize as in words (speeches),
but he didn't know how to copy as in ideas (charitable foundations)
SurfingUSA , 4 hours ago
Per someone on this forum who has met Biden, he is stupid not just by politician standards
but by everyday people standards.
coelacanth10 , 3 hours ago
Bill gets credit for using the Foundation, base on a undergraduate course at Georgetown on
non-profits and foundations.
chiquita , 4 hours ago
Obama had to know what was going on, if not a party to it. There was a clear distance
between the two of them--Obama did not show a great love for Biden and you have to wonder
what that was all about. He tried to tell Joe "he didn't have to do it" relative to running,
which leaves a lot open to interpretation. Trump keeps saying that Biden was not a bright guy
and that's pretty obvious in a lot of Biden's stories and his overall history. Obama knew
Biden wasn't the smartest guy too. Was Obama trying to tell Joe to leave well enough alone
and not run for the presidency, which would surely expose all this stuff? There was a good
chance Biden wasn't going to get this far, but now see what has happened. You have to wonder
what is at play with this--why didn't they shut Biden down before it got this far?
BREAKING NEWS: Here's Why the Mayor of Moscow's Wife Paid Hunter Biden $3.5 Million And
Likely More!
According to US treasury documents provided by the Senate Finance and Homeland Security
Committees, Hunter Biden was paid $3.5 million from the Mayor of Moscow's wife.
The report by the Senate Finance and Homeland Security Committees was released last month
and it was devastating.
Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Yelena Baturina, the wife of the
former mayor of Moscow.
Until today we didn't know why Yelena Baturina paid Hunter millions of dollars.
According to emails and documents, Yelena Baturina laundered funds into the US in
avoidance of sanctions, Devon Archer claimed the firm received $200 million.
Emails provided by Matthew Tyrmand come directly from Hunter associate's Gmail account.
They are still hosted on Google's servers. Bevan Cooney flipped and gave his login info.
The sky is blue, water is wet and women have secrets.
Might as well add: " Politicians are dishonest." That is not an "October Surprise". More
like ....duuuuuh.
Not sure where the moral contest lies between Biden and Trump. Perhaps that Trump wears
his corruption on his sleeve?
truth or go home , 26 minutes ago
Anyone who was paying attention knew all about this at least 5 years ago. It's not an
October surprise.
Biden has been successfully playing the political game for almost 50 years. He should know
better than to put his hand in the cookie jar for his son over and over, and yet he did it.
It shows you all you need to know about his character.
But you already knew that too. The fact that he is even in the position to run for
President at his age and with clear mental decline beginning to show means he is fully
beholden to the deep state. He is and will be a total puppet of the machine.
The election is down to this: Do you want a nice guy who is a sellout and a puppet and
will do and say whatever the money masters want him to? or do you want a complete ******* who
tells the truth, but gets shut down at every turn?
HarryKallahan , 4 minutes ago
Looks like Hunter's job has always been being the 'bag man'.
Collecting payoff money for daddy Joe Biden.
That's how Joe has lived in that big mansion on a senator's salary.
captain-nemo , 16 minutes ago
Breaking news
Holy ****. The Biden's received 3.5 million dollars in a wire transfer from Yelena
Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow , to launder Russian funds into the US in
order to avoid US sanctions. The fund that was laundered this way was 200 million dollars,
and for this job, the Biden's was compensated with the net sum of 3.5 million dollars. If
this is not a crime , what is?
Hunter Biden profited from his father's political connections long before he struck
questionable deals in countries where Joe Biden was undertaking diplomatic missions as vice
president. In fact, virtually all the jobs listed on his resume going back to his first
position out of college, which paid a six-figure salary, came courtesy of the former six-term
senator's donors, lobbyists and allies , a RealClearInvestigations examination has found.
Hunter Biden: Through a lawyer, he maintained he and his father dutifully avoided "conflicts
of interest." Democratic National Convention/YouTube
One document reviewed by RCI reveals that a Biden associate admitted "finding employment"
for Hunter Biden specifically as a special favor to his father, then a Senate leader running
for president. He secured a $1.2 million gig on Wall Street for his young son, even though it
was understood he had no experience in high finance. Many of his generous patrons, in turn,
ended up with legislation and policies favorable to their businesses or investments, an RCI
review of lobbying records and legislative actions taken by the elder Biden confirms.
That the 50-year-old Hunter has been trading on his Democratic father's political influence
his entire adult life raises legal questions about possible influence-peddling, government
watchdogs and former federal investigators say. In addition, the more than two-decades-long
pattern of nepotism casts fresh doubt on Joe Biden's recent statements that he "never
discussed" business with his son, and that his activities posed "no conflicts of interest."
No fewer than three committees in the Republican-controlled Senate have opened probes into
potential Biden family conflicts. Investigators are also poring over Treasury Department
records that have flagged suspicious activities involving Hunter's banking transactions and
business deals that may be connected to his father's political influence.
U.S. ethics rules require all government officials to avoid even the appearance of a
conflict of interest in taking official actions. The Bidens have denied any wrongdoing.
While most of the attention on Hunter has focused on his dealings in Ukraine and China when
his father was in the White House, he also cashed in on cushy jobs and sweetheart deals
throughout his dad's long Senate career, records reveal.
"Hunter Biden's Ukraine-China connections are just one element of the Biden corruption
story," said Tom Fitton, president of the Washington-based watchdog group Judicial Watch, who
contends Biden used both the Office of the Vice President and the Senate to advance his son's
personal interests.
In each case, Hunter Biden appeared under-qualified for the positions he obtained. All the
while, he was a chronic abuser of alcohol and drugs, including crack cocaine, and has cycled in
and out of no fewer than six drug-rehab treatment programs, according to published reports.
He's also been the subject of at least two drug-related investigations by police, one in 1988
and another in 2016, according to federal records and reports. A third drug investigation
resulted in his discharge from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014.
This comprehensive account of Hunter Biden's "unique career trajectory," as one former
family friend gently put it, was pieced together through interviews with more than a dozen
people, several of whom insisted on anonymity to describe private conversations, and after an
in-depth examination of public records, including Securities and Exchange Commission filings,
court papers, campaign filings, federal lobbying disclosures, and congressional documents.
Hunter Biden's resume begins 24 years ago. Here is a rundown of the plum positions he has
managed to land since 1996, thanks to his politically connected father and his
boosters:
1996-1998: MBNA Corp.
Fresh out of college, credit-card giant MBNA put him on its payroll as "senior vice
president" earning more than $100,000 a year, plus an undisclosed signing bonus. Delaware-based
MBNA at the time was Biden's largest donor and
lobbying the Delaware senator for bankruptcy reforms that would make it harder for consumers to
declare bankruptcy and write off credit-card debt.
When Tom Brokaw asked Biden in 2008 about whether his son's job was a conflict of interest,
he snapped "Absolutely not." It was an answer he'd repeat many times in the future. NBC
News/YouTube
Besides a job for Hunter, bank executives and employees gave generously to Joe Biden's
campaigns – $214,000 total, federal records show – and one top executive even
bought Biden's Wilmington, Del., home for more than $200,000 above the market value, real
estate records show. The exec paid top dollar – $1.2 million – for the old house
even though it lacked central air conditioning. MBNA also flew Biden and his wife to events and
covered their travel costs, disclosure forms show.
Sen. Biden eventually came through for MBNA by sponsoring and whipping votes in the Senate
to pass the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Act.
When NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw
asked Biden during the 2008 presidential campaign whether it was wrong "for someone like
you in the middle of all this to have your son collecting money from this big credit-card
company while you were on the (Senate) floor protecting its interests," Biden gave an answer he
would repeat many times in the future: "Absolutely not," he snapped, arguing it was completely
appropriate and that Hunter deserved the position and generous salary because he graduated from
Yale.
1998-2001: Commerce Department
Hunter also capitalized on the family name in 1998 when he joined President Clinton's
agency. In spite of having no experience in the dot-com industry, he was appointed "executive
director of e-commerce policy coordination," pulling down another six-figure salary plus
bonuses.
He landed the job after his father's longtime campaign manager and lawyer William Oldaker
called then-Commerce Secretary William Daley, who'd also worked on Biden's campaigns, and put
in a good word for his son, according to public records.
2001-2009: Oldaker, Biden &
Belair
After Republican President George W. Bush took over the Commerce Department, Hunter left the
government and joined Oldaker to open a lobbying shop in Washington, just blocks from Congress,
where he gained access to exclusive business and political deals.
Robert Skomorucha: Hunter had "a very strong last name that really paid off in terms of our
lobbying efforts." LinkedIn
Federal disclosure forms show Hunter Biden
and his firm billed millions of dollars while lobbying on behalf of a host of hospitals and
private colleges and universities, among other clients. In a 2006 disclosure statement
submitted to the Senate, Hunter said his clients were "seeking federal appropriations
dollars."
Hunter won the contract to represent St. Joseph's University from an old Biden family friend
who worked in government relations at the university and proposed he solicit earmarks for one
of its programs in Philadelphia. The friend, Robert Skomorucha, remarked in a press
interview that Hunter had "a very strong last name that really paid off in terms of our
lobbying efforts."
These clients, like MBNA, also favored bankruptcy reforms to make it harder for patients and
students to discharge debt in bankruptcy filings. At the same time Hunter was operating as a
Beltway lobbyist, he was receiving "consulting
payments" from his old employer MBNA, which was still courting his father over the bankruptcy
reforms.
In 2007, Hunter also dined with a private prison lobbyist who had business before a Senate
Judiciary subcommittee Joe Biden chaired, according to published reports. Senate rules bar
members or their staff from having contact with family members who are lobbyists seeking to
influence legislation.
William Oldaker: Did not just make Hunter a rich lobbyist, but secured him a $1 million loan
that went sour. ldaker & Willison
Hunter's lawyer-lobbyist firm was embroiled in a conflict-of-interest controversy in 2006
when it was criticized for representing a lobbyist under investigation by the House ethics
committee. The lobbyist was still taking payments from his old K street firm while working as a
top aide on the House Appropriations Committee. Hunter at the time was lobbying that same
committee for earmarks for his clients.
William Oldaker did not just make Hunter a rich lobbyist. Oldaker also secured a $1 million
loan for him through a bank he co-founded, WashingtonFirst, that Hunter sought for an
investment scheme, which later went sour.
Joe Biden deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign and political action
committee donations at WashingtonFirst, while funneling hundreds of thousands in campaign and
PAC expenditures to Oldaker, Biden & Belair. Joe Biden's payments to Hunter's lobbying
firm, including more than $143,000 in 2007 alone, were listed as "legal services" in Federal
Election Commission filings.
Oldaker did not respond to a request for comment left at his office.
National Group: Hunter won earmarks for the University of Delaware and other Biden
constituents. thenationalgroup.net
2003-2005: National Group
LLP
While serving as a partner at Oldaker, Biden & Belair, Hunter also registered as a
lobbyist for National Group, a lobbying-only subsidiary which shared offices with OB&B and
specialized in targeted spending items inserted into legislation known as "earmarks."
Hunter represented his father's alma mater, the University of Delaware, and other Biden
constituents and submitted requests to Biden's office for earmarks benefiting these clients in
appropriations bills.
2006-2007: Paradigm Companies LLC
In 2005, when Joe Biden was thinking about making another run at the White House, after a
1987 bid that ended in plagiarism charges, his lobbyist son was looking for a new line of work
too.
In early 2006, Wall Street executive and Biden family friend Anthony Lotito said, Biden's
younger brother, Jim, phoned him on behalf of the senator. He said Biden wanted his youngest
son – whom he still called "Honey" – to get out of the lobbying business to avoid
allegations of conflicts of interest that might dog Biden's presidential bid.
"Biden was concerned with the impact that Hunter's lobbying activities might have on his
expected campaign [and asked his brother to] seek Lotito's assistance in finding employment for
Hunter in a non-lobbying capacity," according to a January 2007
complaint that Lotito filed in New York state court against Hunter over alleged breach of
contract in a related venture. (Jim and Hunter Biden denied such a phone call took place as
described.)
Lotito told the court he agreed to help Hunter as a favor to the senator, who had served on
the powerful banking committee. He figured "the financial community might be a good starting
place in which to seek out employment on Hunter's behalf," the court
documents state. But he quickly found that Wall Street had "no interest" in hiring
Biden.
So the Bidens hatched a scheme to buy a hedge fund, "whereby Hunter would then assume a
senior executive position with the company." And Lotito helped broker the deal. Despite having
no Wall Street experience, Biden was appointed interim CEO and president of the Paradigm
investment fund and given a $1.2 million salary, according to SEC filings
. Lotito joined the enterprise as a partner, and agreed to shepherd Hunter, still in his
mid-thirties, through his new role in high-finance.
"Given Hunter Biden's inexperience in the securities industry," the
complaint states, it was agreed that Lotito would maintain an office at the new holding
company's New York headquarters "in order to assist Biden in discharging his duties as
president."
After the venture failed, Lotito sued the Bidens for fraud. The Bidens countersued and the
two parties settled in 2008.
2006-2009: Amtrak
During this same period, Hunter was appointed vice chairman of the taxpayer-subsidized rail
line, thanks to the sponsorship of powerful Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, a political ally of his
father.
Joe Biden: The "senator from Amtrak" had a son from Amtrak too. Michael Perez/AP for
Siemens
In a 2006 statement
submitted to the Senate during his confirmation, Hunter asserted that he was qualified for the
Amtrak board because "as a frequent commuter and Amtrak customer for over 30 years, I have
literally logged thousands of miles on Amtrak."
Amtrak has been a major supporter of Joe Biden, donating to both his Senate and presidential
campaigns and even naming a train station after him in Wilmington. In return, Biden has
supported taxpayer subsidies for the government railroad throughout his political career.
In his testimony, Hunter denied his Amtrak appointment pushed conflict-of-interest
boundaries.
2009- : Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC
Hunter co-founded the investment firm five months after his father moved into the White
House and incorporated it in his father's home state of Delaware, which has strict corporate
secrecy rules.
At the time, Obama had tapped Vice President Biden to oversee the recovery from the
financial crisis. Three weeks after Rosemont was incorporated, Hunter and his partners set up a
subsidiary called Rosemont TALF and got $24 million in loans from the federal program known as
the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. TALF was designed to help bail out banks and
auto lenders hit by the crisis.
Within months, Rosemont had secured a total of $130 million from the program. Some of the
government cash was then funneled into an investment fund incorporated in the Cayman Islands,
SEC records show. Such offshore
accounts are commonly used to evade taxes.
The move raised ethical flags with government watchdogs who suspected the bailout cash was
used to benefit a well-connected insider.
Other records reveal that another subsidiary created years later – Rosemont Realty
– touted to its investors that board adviser Hunter was politically connected. It
highlighted in a company prospectus that he was the "son of
Vice President Biden."
2009-2012: Eudora Global
On his resume, Hunter also lists himself as "founder" of yet another investment firm. But
Eudora's articles of incorporation show it was actually set up by a major Biden donor, Jeffrey
Cooper, who put Hunter on his board after his father became vice president.
A self-described "friend of the Biden family," Cooper also happened to run one of the
largest asbestos-litigation firms in the country -- SimmonsCooper LLC -- and had courted Biden
to make it easier to file asbestos lawsuits by defeating tort reforms. As a leader on the
Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden had blocked reform
of asbestos litigation every time bills reached the Senate floor.
Cooper's law firm, which directly lobbied the Delaware senator's office to kill such bills,
donated more than $200,000 to Biden's campaigns over the years, as well as his Unite Our States
PAC, FEC records show. In fact, SimmonsCooper was one of Biden's biggest donors
during his failed 2007-2008 run for president, pumping $53,000 into his campaign.
The firm also put up $1 million in investment capital to help his son buy out the Paradigm
hedge fund as part of the arrangement brokered by another Biden family friend, Lotito, to find
non-lobbying work for Hunter.. Thanks in large part to Biden's effort to kill bills reining in
asbestos trial lawyers, SimmonsCooper has hauled in more than $1 billion for alleged asbestos
victims.
Attempts to reach Cooper for comment were unsuccessful.
2009-2016: Boies Schiller
Flexner LLP
When Joe Biden became Vice President, Hunter landed a high-paying, no-show job at the New
York-based law firm, a Democrat shop long tied to the Clintons. Another major Biden donor, the
firm gave him the title "of counsel."
Boies Schiller Flexner: Got Fraud charges against Hunter Biden dismissed, then brought him
aboard. Boies Schiller Flexner
Boies Schiller brought Hunter aboard in 2009 after the Bidens hired the firm to defend
Hunter against charges he defrauded partners in the Paradigm investment venture. Boies Schiller
managed to get the case
dismissed .
In 2014, a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch, who was under investigation and looking to repair his
reputation to attract Western investors, started sending large payments to Boies to support
Hunter for unspecified work. It's unclear what Hunter did for the oligarch, who ran the gas
giant Burisma, but $283,000 showed up at the same time his father was tapped by Obama to play a
central role in overseeing U.S. energy policy in Ukraine.
Boies Schiller has pumped more than $50,000 into Biden's campaigns, Federal Election
Commission records show.
2013-2019: BHR Partners
After Obama named Biden his point man on China policy, Rosemont Seneca set up a joint
venture worth $1 billion with the Bank of China called BHR – and Hunter was named
vice-chairman and director of the new concern.
BHR Partners: Hunter arranged for one of his Chinese partners to shake hands with his
father, the vice president. Beijing approved a business license shortly afterward. BHR
Partners
Following in the shadow of his father's political trajectory, Hunter's new venture won the
first-of-its-kind investment deal with the Chinese government at the same time Biden was
jetting to Beijing to meet with top communist leaders. Secret Service records reveal Hunter
flew to China on Air Force Two with his father while brokering the December 2013 deal. He
arranged for one of his Chinese partners to shake hands with the vice president. BHR was
registered 12 days later. Beijing OK'd a business license shortly afterward.
"No one else had such an arrangement in China," said Peter Schweizer, president of the
Government Accountability Institute.
Hunter resigned from the board of the Beijing-backed equity firm earlier this year as his
father faced growing criticism on the campaign trail over what critics called a glaring
conflict of interest. He did not, however, divest his 10% equity stake in the Chinese fund,
which is estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
Schweizer, whose books include
"Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America's Progressive Elites," said Biden went
"soft" on the Chinese communists so his son could "cash in" on China business deals. Biden
insists he did not discuss the venture with his son before, during or after his official visit
to Beijing. But others see obvious hypocrisy at play in the Biden family's self-dealing in
notoriously corrupt China.
"Biden was one of the most vocal champions of anti-corruption efforts in the Obama
administration. So when this same Biden takes his son with him to China aboard Air Force Two,
and within days Hunter joins the board of an investment advisory firm with stakes in China, it
does not matter what father and son discussed," said Sarah Chayes, author of
"Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens National Security." "Joe Biden has enabled this
brand of practice."
2013-2014: U.S. Navy Reserve
Hunter was selected for a direct commission as a public affairs officer in a Virginia
reserve unit.
He clearly received special treatment in securing the part-time post. Officers had to issue
him two waivers – one for his age and one for a previous drug offense.
His vice president father swore him in at the White House in a small, private ceremony.
Barely a year later, authorities booted Hunter from the Navy for cocaine use after he tested
positive from a urine test. The reason for his discharge was withheld from the press for
several months.
2014-2019: Burisma Holdings
The Ukrainian gas giant added Hunter to its board soon after Obama named his father his
point man on Ukraine policy, focusing on energy. The company paid his son as much as $83,000 a
month, even though he had no energy experience to bring to the table and was required to attend
just one board meeting a year.
Golf buddies: White House visitor logs show that Joe Biden met with Hunter's business
partner Devon Archer, far left, on April 16, 2014. Burisma put Archer on its board shortly
thereafter, followed by Hunter, far right, the next month. Fox News
At the time, the vice president was steering U.S. aid to Kiev to help develop its gas
fields, which stood to benefit Burisma as the holder of permits to develop natural gas in three
of Ukraine's most lucrative fields. Biden promised Ukrainian officials the US would pump more
than $1 billion into their energy industry and economy during a visit to Kiev in late April
2014. He urged leaders to increase the country's gas supply and to rely on Americans to help
them. Less than three weeks later, Burisma appointed his son to the board, after already
retaining him for undisclosed services through Boies Schiller.
Burisma was run by an oligarch, Mykola Zlochevsky, who was under investigation at the time
and seeking Western protection from prosecution. In a move observers suspect was intended to
send a message to prosecutors, the company sent out a news release in May 2014 claiming,
falsely, that Hunter would be in charge of its "legal unit." Burisma also trumpeted the fact
that Hunter was "the son of the current U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden."
Biden's office was aware Burisma was under investigation. The administration had tried to
partner with the gas company through U.S. aid programs, but the outreach project was blocked
over corruption concerns lodged by career diplomats.
Viktor Shokin, ex-Ukraine prosecutor: "The truth is that I was forced out because I was
leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into Burisma, and Joe Biden's son was a member of the
board," he said in a recent sworn affidavit
prepared for a European court. AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov, File
In early 2016, Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine
did not dismiss the country's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma. "If
the prosecutor is not fired," Biden recalled telling Ukraine's leader, "you're not getting the
money."
Biden's muscling worked: Shokin was sacked in March 2016.
The former vice president says he was carrying out official U.S. policy that sought to
remove an ineffective prosecutor. But Shokin had raided the home of Burisma's owner and seized
his property.
In addition, Shokin said that as part of his probe he was making plans to interview Hunter
about millions of dollars in fees he and his partners had received from Burisma. He insists he
was fired because he refused to close the investigation.
"The truth is that I was forced out because I was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe
into Burisma, and Joe Biden's son was a member of the board," Shokin said in a recent sworn
affidavit
prepared for a European court. "I assume Burisma had the support of Joe Biden because his son
was on the board." He added that the vice president himself had "significant interests" in
Burisma.
The prosecutor who replaced Shokin shut down the Burisma probe within 10 months. Burisma's
founder was also taken off a U.S. government visa ban list.
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Burisma/Wikimedia
Biden claims he only learned of his son joining the Burisma board from the news media. But
there is evidence Biden had been consulted in advance. White House visitor logs show that Biden
met with Hunter's business partner Devon Archer on April 16, 2014. Burisma put Archer on its
board shortly thereafter, followed by Hunter the next month. (Both Archer and Hunter maintain
Burisma never came up during the private visit in Biden's office, which lasted late into the
night.)
The day after Joe Biden's meeting with Hunter's partner in the White House, Burisma
executive Vadym Pozharskyi reportedly emailed Hunter to thank him for inviting him to
Washington and "giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent[sic] some time together."
The Biden campaign asserts it cannot find a meeting with Pozharskyi on the former vice
president's "schedule," though it did not deny such a meeting could have taken place. The
Ukrainian official mentioned going out for coffee with Hunter on April 17, 2014, which
indicated he was physically in D.C. at the time. RCI has not confirmed the authenticity of the
April 17 email document, first disclosed by the New York Post after obtaining it from a hard
drive allegedly copied from a laptop of Hunter Biden left at a computer repair shop in
Wilmington, Del. Pozharskyi did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Hunter stepped down from Burisma's board in April 2019, a month before his father announced
his White House bid and after critics made an issue of the conflicts his sinecure posed. He has
since kept a very low profile. Unlike Trump's children, Biden's son is not out on the trail
campaigning for him.
1,850 Boxes Sealed Until After Election
"Hunter Biden had no experience in the field, but he did have a notable connection to the
vice president, who publicly has bragged about making clear to the Ukrainians that he alone
controlled U.S. aid to the country," noted Jonathan Turley, a public-interest law professor at
George Washington University.
Retired FBI official I.C. Smith, who led public corruption investigations in Washington and
Little Rock, Ark., said both father and son should have known joining Burisma was a bad idea,
adding that it gives at least the appearance he was leveraging his name for payoffs from shady
clients abroad.
I.C. Smith, ex-FBI official: "I would think, given Hunter's past, the father would have
asked more questions." icsmith.com
"Clearly he's led a troubled life and would be the sort of person susceptible to becoming
engaged in this sort of rather sordid deal," Smith said of Hunter.
"When he said his father asked if the deal was on the up and up and was assured it was, I
would think, given Hunter's past, the father would have asked more questions," he added.
Hunter acknowledged in an ABC News interview last year that he lacked experience in both
energy and Ukraine, but maintained that Burisma was impressed by other things on his
resume.
"Ironically, Hunter highlighted his work at MBNA and his work on the board of Amtrak as
evidence of his qualifications for the Burisma gig," said Fitton of Judicial Watch. "But both
the MBNA and Amtrak jobs, under any sensible analysis, were obvious favors for Joe Biden."
Fitton argued that Biden's claim he never discussed his son's jobs and business deals rings
hollow against the lengthy record of something-for-nothing nepotism.
"That's campaign spin," he said. "Hunter has already admitted to having at least one
conversation on the Ukraine issue with Vice President Biden."
Biden defenders argue that many relatives of politicians are often involved in government
and politics. Ivanka Trump and Don Trump Jr., for instance, have cozy relationships with, or
financial stakes in, companies that may benefit from those decisions. They also point out that,
while they may look bad, there's nothing illegal about such arrangements.
Fitton isn't so sure. He said Judicial Watch is demanding Obama administration documents
related to Hunter's Ukraine and China deals, as well as other business arrangements potentially
monetizing Biden's political power.
"We can't be sure if the arrangements were legal," he said. "If any payments or jobs were
neither ordinary nor customary, there may be legal issues."
It's a federal crime to provide a government benefit or favorable change in policy in
exchange for something of personal value. At a minimum, argued former federal prosecutor Andrew
McCarthy, Biden "had a conflict of interest with the position his son had" on the Burisma
board, noting that at the time, Biden was pushing energy policies that favored the gas
giant.
The Biden School, part of the University of Delaware, which is keeping a lid on Biden
records. Biden School of Public Policy and Administration
Not all of Hunter Biden's critics are coming from the right, either.
"It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Hunter's foreign employers and partners were seeking
to leverage Hunter's relationship with Joe, either by seeking improper influence or to project
access to him," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a liberal watchdog group
based in Washington.
The Biden Institute: Maggie Haberman, New York Times White House correspondent, was a
featured speaker in 2018, according to its website . The
University of Delaware holds more than 1,850 boxes of Biden records
under seal . Biden
Institute/University of Delaware
While Joe Biden insists "there's been no indication of any conflict of interest from Ukraine
or anywhere else," Senate investigators are seeking a number of related emails and memos
generated during the Obama administration, as well as his 36-year Senate career. That period,
spanning from 1973 to 2009, coincides with a large chunk of his son's resume.
However, Biden has sealed the bulk of the records at the University of Delaware Library,
which
refuses to release any of his papers until after the election. It maintains more than 1,850
boxes of Biden records, including his speeches, voting records, position papers and notes from
confidential interviews he's conducted with foreign leaders, among other documents. The
papers the
university is keeping a lid on could shed light on Biden's thinking behind foreign policies and
controversial bills he sponsored.
A spokeswoman said the library will not release any of Biden's papers to the public until
they are "properly processed and archived." Until then, "access is only available with Vice
President Biden's express consent," she said, while declining to answer whether the university
would comply if the Senate subpoenaed documents as part of its investigation of the Bidens.
The university houses the Biden Institute, which is part of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School
of Public Policy and Administration.
Through a lawyer, Hunter maintained he and his father dutifully avoided "conflicts of
interest" -- or even "the appearance of such conflicts." In every business pursuit, he
asserted, they acted "appropriately and in good faith."
However, in a moment of candor during a recent ABC News interview, Hunter confessed: "I
don't think that there's a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name
wasn't Biden," before adding, "There's literally nothing my father in some way hasn't had
influence over."
Still, the elder Biden argues it's the Trump family who has the nepotism problem. In a
recent CBS "60 Minutes" interview, he slammed the president for letting his daughter and
son-in-law "sit in on Cabinet meetings."
"It's just simply improper because you should make it clear to the American public that
everything you're doing is for them," he intoned. "For them."
play_arrow _triplesix_ , 10 minutes ago
Crickets from the MSM on the biggest political scandal in history. They can't refute it,
so they simply refuse to cover it.
I'm afraid the American Experiment is over either way, but if Biden and the Dems are
successful in stealing the election, we are destined to be the next Venezuela.
In Greek mythology, men used to fear the stony gaze of the snake-haired Gorgon. Today, men
once again feel such fear – but, ironically, no campaign has done more to impair women's
opportunities either.
A seven-foot statue of Medusa holding a man's severed head was
unveiled in New York this week. For six months, this sculpture, made by the
Argentinian-Italian artist Luciano Garbati, will be situated facing the Manhattan Supreme
Court, where Harvey Weinstein was prosecuted and
convicted of sex crimes against actresses and female film-production staff.
The statue is being used in this position as a symbol of justice enacted against male
rapists. However, it more accurately – and unintentionally – symbolises the
difference between the public triumphalism of the #MeToo movement and its negative
repercussions for women in the United States.
The most famous painting of Medusa – a female character from Greek mythology who had a
hair of snakes and could turn men to stone if they met her gaze directly – was painted by
Caravaggio in
1596. He was inspired by Vasari's account of a lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci. It has been
a common subject for artists since. Garbati's statue was made in 2008 and adopted by the #MeToo
movement subsequently. From moral outrage to financial advantage
The #MeToo movement hit prominence in 2017 and was initially primarily concerned with
incidents, and allegations, of sexual abuse in Hollywood. It quickly grew to include cases of
sexual impropriety in many fields, mainly in the US. However, as it expanded, it encompassed
rape, sexual abuse, inappropriate sexual contact, unwanted advances, and transactional sex.
By refusing to draw distinctions between actual crimes, ethical/professional infractions,
and consensual (but regretted) sex, the movement became diffusely broad. Allegations of sexual
abuse led to the accused losing contracts, jobs, and marriages; in some cases, it contributed
to suicide. In the ensuing storm of moral panic, actual rape was conflated with Ben Affleck's
groping of an actress
in a video interview , a woman complaining
about a date with Aziz Ansari and Louis CK
exposing himself to colleagues (with their consent).
By failing to distinguish between levels of seriousness, the movement lost what moral
credibility it had and became a means of gaining revenge and exacting extortion. If crimes have
been committed, then they should be reported to the police, not aired in a public forum. The
accused need anonymity just as the victims do, until justice can be served.
Sexual accusations have long been weaponized in American pop culture. It has already
been proven that a whisper network of female comic-book professionals has targeted male
colleagues with – alongside actual crimes – unfounded accusations, in order to
provide more opportunities for female creators. This is not a male/female problem; using deceit
and exaggeration to advance oneself is as old as language itself.
In American television and film production, #MeToo gained control of productions via Time's
Up, enforcing quotas of women and extracting payments. It became a grab to secure lucrative
work for women, relying on goodwill from the public and the fear of executives. The Time's Up
movement is co-led by Katie McGrath, who runs production company Bad Robot Productions with her
husband J.J. Abrams. Bad Robot has a history of presenting itself as a pro-social-justice
company. This summer, at a time when rioters were burning shops and destroying historic
monuments, Bad Robot made an
infamous announcement that there had been " Enough polite conversation. Enough white
comfort. "
By presenting a company as an ethical, socially conscious body, that company is an ideal
position to benefit from major firms being pressured into making decisions not based on
competence but politics. Individuals and companies have seen how they can manipulate public
sympathy about sexual abuse to their own advantage. But firms are now realizing this
danger.
No event has done more to impair women's opportunities in the workplace than the
#MeToo/Time's Up movement. Production companies – even those led by women – now see
female colleagues as a source of potential extortion and compensation claims. As a result, they
now
avoid hiring women in order to avert the possibility of costly legal claims and
reputation-impairing social-media campaigns. Following decades-long attempts to persuade
male-dominated industries that hiring women brought advantages and an expansion of the talent
pool, the moral panic of #MeToo has served only to reveal the disadvantages of employing
women.
When male executives see women today, they fear them, just as heroes in Greek mythology
feared the gaze of Medusa. Ironically, rather than celebrating female power, Garbati's statue
is instead a fitting symbol of the way a campaign that began well has, once again, made men
mistrust women.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
Alexander Adams
is an artist, art critic and author. His book 'Iconoclasm, Identity Politics
and the Erasure of History' is published by Societas. Follow him on Twitter @AdamsArtist
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
How COVID-19 may help IMF to reshape global economy (Full show) 16 Oct, 2020 20:42 17
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is offering loans to the world's poorest 81 countries
to help them rebuild their devastated economies, still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. But
accepting such loans paves the way for increased austerity, privatization, and greater income
inequality. RT America's Alex Mihailovich explains. Then former UK MP George Galloway joins RT
America's Faran Fronczak (in for Rick Sanchez) to weigh in. RT's Peter Oliver examines the
skyrocketing number of COVID-19 cases across Europe and the reimposition of harsh restrictions
to stymie its spread. Legal and media analyst Lionel and civil rights attorney Robert Patillo
debate proposals aimed at mitigating the perceived influence of the Federalist Society in US
courts. RT America's Trinity Chavez reports on the recent flyby of Venus where the BepiColombo
probe captured amazing new images of the planet. Plus, RT America's Steve Christakos joins for
"Jock Talk."
It appears the "Russia, Russia, Russia" cries from Adam Schiff and his dutiful media peons
is dead (we can only hope) as Director of National Intel John Ratcliffe just confirmed to Foxx
Business' Maria Bartiromo that:
"Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."
As Politico's Quint Forgey details
(@QuintForgey) , DNI Ratcliffe is asked directly whether accusations leveled against the
Bidens in recent days are part of a Russian disinformation effort.
He says no:
"Let me be clear. The intelligence community doesn't believe that because there is no
intelligence that supports that."
" We have shared no intelligence with Chairman Schiff or any other member of Congress that
Hunter Biden's laptop is part of some Russian disinformation campaign. It's simply not true.
"
"And this is exactly what I said would I stop when I became the director of national
intelligence, and that's people using the intelligence community to leverage some political
narrative."
"And in this case, apparently Chairman Schiff wants anything against his preferred
political candidate to be deemed as not real and as using the intelligence community or
attempting to use the intelligence community to say there's nothing to see here."
"Don't drag the intelligence community into this. Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of
some Russian disinformation campaign. And I think it's clear that the American people know
that."
So "the emails are Russian" narrative serves the interests of political convenience,
partisan media ratings, and the national security state's pre-planned agenda to continue
escalating against Russia as part of its
slow motion third world war against nations which refuse to bow to US dictates, and
you've got essentially no critical mainstream news coverage putting the brakes on any of it.
This means this narrative is going to become mainstream orthodoxy and treated as an
established fact, despite the fact that there is no actual, tangible evidence for it.
Joe Biden could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and the mainstream
press would crucify any journalist who so much as tweeted about it. Very
little journalism is going into vetting and challenging him, and a great deal of the
energy that would normally be doing so is going into ensuring that he slides right into the
White House.
If the mainstream news really existed to tell you the truth about what's going on,
everyone would know about every questionable decision that Joe Biden has ever made,
Russiagate would never have happened, we'd all be acutely aware of the fact that powerful
forces are pushing us into increasingly aggressive confrontations with two nuclear-armed
nations, and Trump would be grilled about
Yemen in every press conference.
But the mainstream news does not exist to tell you the truth about the world. The
mainstream news exists to advance the interests of its wealthy owners and the status quo upon
which they have built their kingdoms. That's why it's
so very, very important that we find ways to break away from it and share information
with each other that isn't tainted by corrupt and powerful interests.
As we detailed previously, as the Hunter Biden laptop scandal threatens to throw the 2020
election into chaos with what appears to be solid, undisputed evidence of high-level corruption
by former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, the same crowd which peddled the
Trump-Russia hoax is now suggesting that Russia is behind it all .
To wit, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who swore on National television
that he had evidence Trump was colluding with Russia - now says that President Trump is handing
the Kremlin a "propaganda coup from Vladimir Putin."
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) has gone full tin-foil , suggesting that Giuliani was a 'key
target' of 'Kremlin constructed anti-Biden propaganda.'
2/ Russia knew it had to play a different game than 2016. So it built an operation to cull
virulently pro-Trump Americans as pseudo-assets, so blind in their allegiance to Trump that
they'll willingly launder Kremlin constructed anti-Biden propaganda.
Yet, if one looks at the actual facts of the case - in particular, that Hunter Biden appears
to have dropped his own laptops off at a computer repair shop, signed a service ticket , and
the shop owner approached the FBI first and Rudy Giuliani last after Biden failed to pick them
up, the left's latest Russia conspiracy theory is quickly debunked .
This is the story of an American patriot, an honorable man, John Paul Mac Issac, who tried
to do the right thing and is now being unfairly and maliciously slandered as an agent of
foreign intelligence, specifically Russia. He is not an agent or spy for anyone. He is his own
man. How do I know? I have known his dad for more than 20 years. I've known John Paul's dad as
Mac. Mac is a decorated Vietnam Veteran, who flew gunships in Vietnam. And he continued his
military service with an impeccable record until he retired as an Air Force Colonel. The crews
of those gunships have an annual reunion and Mac usually takes John Paul along, who volunteers
his computer and video skills to record and compile the stories of those brave men who served
their country in a difficult war.
This story is very simple – Hunter Biden dropped off three computers with liquid
damage at a repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware on April 12, 2019. The owner, John Mac Issac,
examined the three and determined that one was beyond recovery, one was okay and the data on
the harddrive of the third could be recovered. Hunter signed the service ticket and John Paul
Mac Issac repaired the hard drive and down loaded the data . During this process he saw some
disturbing images and a number of emails that concerned Ukraine, Burisma, China and other
issues . With the work completed, Mr. Mac Issac prepared an invoice, sent it to Hunter Biden
and notified him that the computer was ready to be retrieved. H unter did not respond . In the
ensuing four months (May, June, July and August), Mr. Mac Issac made repeated efforts to
contact Hunter Biden. Biden never answered and never responded. More importantly, Biden stiffed
John Paul Mac Issac–i.e., he did not pay the bill.
When the manufactured Ukraine crisis surfaced in August 2019, John Paul realized he was
sitting on radioactive material that might be relevant to the investigation. After conferring
with his father, Mac and John Paul decided that Mac would take the information to the FBI
office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mac walked into the Albuquerque FBI office and spoke with an
agent who refused to give his name. Mac explained the material he had, but was rebuffed by the
FBI. He was told basically, get lost . This was mid-September 2019.
Two months passed and then, out of the blue, the FBI contacted John Paul Mac Issac. Two FBI
agents from the Wilmington FBI office–Joshua Williams and Mike Dzielak–came to John
Paul's business . He offered immediately to give them the hard drive, no strings attached.
Agents Williams and Dzielak declined to take the device .
Two weeks later, the intrepid agents called and asked to come and image the hard drive. John
Paul agreed but, instead of taking the hard drive or imaging the drive, they gave him a
subpoena. It was part of a grand jury proceeding but neither agent said anything about the
purpose of the grand jury. John Paul complied with the subpoena and turned over the hard drive
and the computer.
In the ensuing months, starting with the impeachment trial of President Trump, he heard
nothing from the FBI and knew that none of the evidence from the hard drive had been shared
with President Trump's defense team.
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The lack of action and communication with the FBI led John Paul to make the fateful decision
to contact Rudy Giuliani's office and offer a copy of the drive to the former mayor. We now
know that Rudy accepted John Paul's offer and that Rudy's team shared the information with the
New York Post.
John Paul Mac Issac is not responsible for the emails, images and videos recovered from
Hunter Biden's computer. He was hired to do a job, he did the job and submitted an invoice for
the work. Hunter Biden, for some unexplained reason, never responded and never asked for the
computer. But that changed last Tuesday, October 13, 2020. A person claiming to be Hunter
Biden's lawyer called John Paul Mac Issac and asked for the computer to be returned. Too late.
That horse had left the barn and was with the FBI.
John Paul, acting under Delaware law, understood that Hunter's computer became the property
of his business 90 days after it had been abandoned.
At no time did John Paul approach any media outlet or tabloid offering to sell salacious
material . A person of lesser character might have tried to profit. But that is not the essence
of John Paul Mac Issac. He had information in his possession that he learned, thanks to events
subsequent to receiving the computer for a repair job, was relevant to the security of our
nation. He did what any clear thinking American would do–he, through his father,
contacted the FBI. When the FBI finally responded to his call for help, John cooperated fully
and turned over all material requested .
The failure here is not John Paul's . He did his job. The FBI dropped the ball and, by
extension, the Department of Justice. Sadly, this is becoming a disturbing, repeating
theme–the FBI through incompetence or malfeasance is not doing its job.
Any news outlet that is publishing the damnable lie that John Paul is part of some
subversive effort to interfere in the United States Presidential election is on notice. That is
slander and defamation. Fortunately, the evidence from Hunter Biden's computer is in the hands
of the FBI and Rudy Giuliani and, I suspect, the U.S. Senate. Those with the power to do
something must act. John Paul Mac Issac's honor is intact. We cannot say the same for those
government officials who have a duty to deal with this information.
The recent
New York Post bombshell reports on Hunter Biden's alleged laptop contents included a
curious piece of evidence - a photograph of an FBI subpoena which bears the signature of the
agency's top child porn investigator, special agent Joshua Wilson .
According to the Post , a laptop was dropped off at a Delaware computer repair shop by a man
believed by the owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, to be Hunter Biden . The shop owner made a copy of
the hard drive before turning it over to the FBI, which includes incriminating emails detailing
alleged Biden family corruption in Ukraine and China, as well as a 'raunchy, 12-minute video
that appears to show Hunter smoking crack while engaged in a sex act with an unidentified
woman,' as well as ' numerous other sexually explicit images .'
FBI agent Wilson's identity was confirmed by both
Western Journal and
Business Insider , the latter of which compared his signature to a 2012 criminal complaint
and concluded that it "clearly matches the unreversed signature on the subpoena published by
the New York Post ."
As BI notes:
It's unclear whether the FBI employs more than one agent named Joshua Wilson. But the
available evidence seems to show **the Joshua Wilson who signed the subpoena for Hunter
Biden's laptop, and the Joshua Wilson who investigates child pornography for the FBI, are the
same person**. This raises the possibility, not explored by the Post, that the FBI issued the
subpoena for reasons unrelated to Hunter Biden's role in Ukraine and Burisma.
So why is the FBI's top child porn lawyer involved in the Hunter Biden laptop case? OANN 's
Chanel Rion says she's seen the contents of the hard drive, which includes "Drugs, underage
obsessions, power deals," which make "Anthony Weiner's down under selfie addiction look normal
. "
https://lockerdome.com/lad/13084989113709670?pubid=ld-dfp-ad-13084989113709670-0&pubo=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com&rid=www.zerohedge.com&width=890
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Meanwhile, if there is incriminating child porn on Hunter's computer, what has the FBI done
about it?
IP freely , 1 hour ago
Oh good....the FBI is involved. should go no where.
Spurius Lartius , 1 hour ago
Corruption and the FBI go together like hookers and blow. Or Lindsey Graham and little
boys.
Montana Cowboy , 1 hour ago
Project Veritas has produced more evidence than the corrupt Boy Scouts at the FBI.
SmokeyBlonde , 1 hour ago
People really need to get over the notion that the FBI is a law enforcement agency. They
have proven time and again that they only act on behalf of the deep state, oligarchs,
kleptocrats, and pederasts at the expense of the rest of us.
CrookedHillieLies , 1 hour ago
The FBI has been led by Prancing Gay Sissies, Crossdressers and Pedophiles since their
inception. Crack and Hooker Hunter Biden will never be convicted of child **** - he will
claim it was "planted" on his computer. The emails are a different problem and hopefully they
will cause him some problems with the IRS. What a dumbazz. I can't believe the DemonRATS
nominated his father to be their choice for President. Landslide for Trump / Pence / Senate /
House / Supreme Court / MAGA / KAG 2020! Let's Roll.
Cash Is King , 1 hour ago
What's that old adage about apples & trees?
Spurius Lartius , 1 hour ago
You could prolly hang anyone who has been in DC for >10 years and be sure you were
doing God's work.
OCnStiggs , 22 minutes ago
Why Is The FBI's Top Child **** Lawyer Involved In Hunter Biden Laptop Case?
Because the FBI has been covering like mad for the criminality in D.C. and they want Biden
to win.
Just sayin'.
Kan , 1 hour ago
Because he is working to hide any real evidence of any of it, please see weiners laptop
that had ALL the clinton emails and all the BIDEN corruption emails. ...
quanttech , 30 minutes ago
Tim Nolan, former judge & chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in
Kentucky, pled guilty to 19 counts of child sex trafficking and on February 11, 2018, he was
sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Republican Ralph Shortey, former state senator & chairman of Donald Trump's
presidential campaign in Oklahoma was indicted on 4 counts of child sex trafficking and child
*********** and on September 17, 2018, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Republican Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House from 1999 to 2007 & congressman
of Illinois, was indicted on federal charges of molesting 4 young boys and on April 27, 2016,
he was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
I could go on, but suffice to say that anyone who thinks it's just Dems or just Repubs
that are the problem... are wrong.
Gardentoolnumber5 , 1 hour ago
Again, the FBI is on the case! Whoa hahahahahaha! And how long have they had a copy of the
hard drive and under Wray's FBI buried it. Ya know... can't interfere in an election 6-8
months out. Abolish the FBI. Pass those who honor their oath over into the Marshals
office.
dogismycopilot , 1 hour ago
The Russians and Chinese would have set him up with underage Moldovan, Ukrainian or
Romanian trafficked girls.
100% so they could blackmail his dad when president.
chiswickcat , 1 hour ago
A Political family involved in sex with minors, drugs and corruption? I'm shocked. Shocked
I tell you.
CheapBastard , 1 hour ago
Odd the Epstain Island flight logs handed over to the FBi have mysteriously
disappeared.
OpenEyes , 39 minutes ago
As disgusting as child **** is, somehow it seems like when they put Capone away for tax
evasion.
First of all, the FBI has had this laptop since last December and done absolutely nothing
about it. But, with Rudy turning it over to the New York Post and making it public they have
to at least appear to be doing something. (something other than investigating Russia's part
in this, which nobody with an IQ above room temperature actually believes)
My guess is that they decided "we can get him for having child *********** on his computer
and everybody will forget about that other stuff."
IronForge , 1 hour ago
Looks like Hunter is Jail-bound.
Pop would have Pardoned Hunter, and Harris would have Pardoned Pop.
However, since someone who saw the laptop content mentioned the "UnderAged" matl on TWTR,
it's safe to presume that Hunter had access to or participated in Patronizing "UnderAged
Paedo" Photos, Site Memberships, Prostitutes, Hookups, or Trafficking Arrangements.
His Strip Club Posse probably had an UnderAged Member.
Hard to Pardon Paedophiles before the BodyPolitic.
Mayor Giuliani might have several Silver Bullets here. He'll need 24/7 Escorting now since
DNC/Bidens/Obama/RED_QUEEN may be Highlighted. He might as well send a Copy to Wikileaks just
in case he gets Nailed by Bidens' Owners.
RICO+Drug+NatSec Charges would have been enough; but we are obligated as a Society to Deal
With, Due Process, and Prosecute Allegations of Paedophilia/Child Abuse/Trafficking.
Most importantly, we will bring those Girls Out of Hunters' Alleged Patronage and into
Protective Custody.
***
What a Mess. I understand some Young Girls are attracted to and want to be
Married/InRelationship/Mating with those in Fame/Power/Money quickly; but once the Male is
Out Of HS, any new "relationship" he gets involved with needs to be with Dames 18+ and Out of
HS.
chiquita , 1 hour ago
"Leave my son outta this! He has a drug problem."
lennysrv , 1 hour ago
That Biden clan, what a wonderful familial role model for the rest of the nation. Further,
I'm amazed at how productive li'l Hunter is; from making mega-deals with the Chinese and
Ukrainians to banging his dead brother's widow to knocking up a stripper to being a deadbeat
dad to smoking crack and engaging in sex acts on video.
Joe Biden has to be so very proud of the family he has created. What a model
Democrat/Liberal.
HaywoodYaBlowMe , 29 minutes ago
There are rumors, that the horrific atrocities, on the anthony weiner tape are too horrid
for the public to find out. I call bulls**t! Release the kraken. To quote Louis Brandeis:
"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." Let the "people" be made aware of the
offensive behavior, perpetrated, and perpetuated by the dregs of our society. Our society
needs a good flushing. We have many turds who need to be flushed from our system. It's been
said that hardened NYPD officers, who have seen it all, were vomiting and having nightmares,
upon viewing what was on weiner's laptop. Deputy Chief Steven Silks, of the NYPD, was found
dead in his car of what was reported to be a suicide gun shot wound to his head. In fact, 9
of the 12 NYPD officials, who viewed what was on the lap top, have been found dead of
supposed suicide. This info needs to be revealed to the public.
Leguran , 1 hour ago
FBI again!!! Hunter is involved....good grief, get that to the top immediately! Now, start
the Kabuki Circus SHOW. Tarrah see, it we sent it right to the top in order to show the
complaint will be taken seriously. Meanwhile, all future information goes to the same guy at
the top and nowhere else. The job is to keep the lid on and under "investigation" so nothing
leaks. Well, Josh, I hope you do not mind me calling you Josh, where are the files and where
is the action? And, since you told the CIA Director, we can see the the present CIA Director
is involved as well.
I just do not see how the FBI can become more corrupt. Yep it is a culture of
corruption.
z tranche , 1 hour ago
Time to interview Ghislaine Maxwell and review the Epstein flight logs.
rockstone , 1 hour ago
Why? You think they were the only two people in the under age sex business catering to
Washington elites??
Lou Saynis , 1 hour ago
I think the only Washington elites who were engaging in underage sex are democrats. Maybe
I'm being biased but It's just a feeling.
DickStoneVan , 36 minutes ago
John Dennis Hastert. Longest running Republican Speaker of the house in history. A federal
judge referred to him as a "serial child molester" and sentenced him to a mere 15 months in
prison.
Lil Stevie , 1 hour ago
If there ever was a reason for TERM LIMITS this is it.
fnsnook , 1 hour ago
biden has ruling class qualified immunity. you must have missed that chapter of the
constitution.
chiquita , 1 hour ago
Hunter doesn't
Rhal , 1 hour ago
This still mild compared to what was on Anthony Wieners laptop -labeled "life insurance".
Yet no arrests were made there. I mean I get that Trump had to replace hundreds of
judges(literally) before justice could prevail, but we're still at peak corruption!.
Indictments plz.
Ecclesia Militans , 2 hours ago
The Swamp isn't going to let Joe off the hook, it's going to hold this over his head like
a Sword of Damocles to keep him at his desk for his full term, in line and compliant.
MadameDeficit , 10 minutes ago
If that computer repairman hadn't made a copy and gone to a lawyer, we never would have
heard about this.
On a similar note, it's very telling what the NY Post said about the contents - what
(aside from child p0rn) would be illegal for them to publish?
BugMan , 43 minutes ago
Hunter and Joe Biden Scandal Takes a Dark Turn -- FBI's Top Lawyer on Child **** Involved
in Case
Wray, that Deep State swamp creature, probably had the FBI remove the child **** from the
computer at Joe Biden's request. Thankfully, the computer repair agent is a super patriot
that copied the hard drive before it was seized by the FBI. Trump and Guiliani need to hide
the repair shop owner, and hire reliable protection for him, in order to protect him from
Deep State assassins.
Invert This MM , 1 hour ago
Yeah, poor little Joey. He just Quid Pro Quoed his whole carrier and got away with it
until that mean new boss came to town.
chiquita , 1 hour ago
What rock do you live under? Joe has been a horrible human being his whole adult
life--corrupt, lying, and cheating from the time he was in college. There's nothing
redeemable about him--don't ever think he "is not a terrible man"--he is and this new
information just opens up the final chapter that sheds light on a man who would use his son
for decades--going back into the early 1980s--to enrich himself and his family through
corruption that goes so deep, it's beyond criminal.
Brazillionaire , 1 hour ago
No. Biden is a pos. He's one of the main reasons so many Americans are in credit card debt
up to their eyeballs at ridiculous interest rates. And that's the legal stuff. He's corrupt
as hell. Maybe they all are. But he sure is.
Al Capone , 1 hour ago
You forgot the /sarc.
Goldencrapshoot , 1 hour ago
Anyone remember what happened to Nikolae Ceausescu?
Made in Occupied America , 1 hour ago
FBI = Friends of Biden Incorporated (in Delaware, of course)
"In this episode of Common Sense, Rudy Giuliani, who was the trailblazer for RICO
prosecutions in the 1980s, demonstrates how the thirty years of the Biden Family selling public
office, and many other crimes, makes a perfect RICO case." RICO case
Rudy lays out a solid case in the video. I'd say damning. I like the cigar ad too!
Biden has gone silent for four days. He apparently won't re-emerge until the debate
Thursday. That's what they say anyhow. How weird for this point in the election cycle! IMO,
he will probably dodge the debate because he knows Trump will hit him hard with this
material. I even think that at least one Biden will be leaving us, permanently, in the near
future.
Just when I thought the media couldn't defile themselves any further, they will sink to
the bottom of the abyss of unethical behavior to try to save the Democrats. They must either
accept defeat or go full on dictatorship, with all that implies. We are standing at the
crossroads.
The movement to discredit/disqualify any commentary on this story is intesifying. Biden's
cowering in the bunker and Obama's bringing what's left of his reputation to Philly. Lord
knows who'll attend that speech in person unless Covid, like in all the George Floyd events,
is declared risk free for his appearance. The real polling numbers must be horrendously bad
for the left.
What is your confidence that a second term Trump administration will bring those at the
highest levels of government to account unlike the current Trump administration?
What do you believe will change in a second Trump administration? Will Trump hire once
again the same types of people like Rosenstein, Wray, Kelley, Mattis, Bolton, Barr, et
al?
This is not leftist coup. This is intelligence agencies coup. Big difference. And Obama who
is the most probably mastermind and coordinator is as far from leftist as one can get, he is a
typical neoliberal with neocon inclinations, servant of the USA empire with probably some
delusions of American exeptionalism.
The statement " On August 18, 1991, with Mikhail Gorbachev preparing to sign a treaty that
would have decentralized the Soviet Union, his hardline political opponents in the Soviet
leadership arrested the father of perestroika at his Crimean dacha, proclaiming that the
Soviet State Committee on the State of Emergency was in charge." is naive and is not supported by
the facts. Gorbachov probably organized this coup to give himself a chance to get back control of
the country that was spinning out of his control. He failed and that was the end of his political
career of a sleazy second rate politician.
Our country seems headed for a political crisis, with the enemies of Deplorable America
making noises suggesting they are
planning a post-election "
Color Revolution "-type coup against Trump. As a long-time Russia-watcher,
I suggest that the failed Soviet coup of 1991, and the collapse
that it spurred on, is instructive.
The Soviet State Committee on the State of Emergency,
August, 1991
The key point that year came when Soviet military and security units refused to move against
Boris Yeltsin and his defenders. Could something like that happen here, with Trump playing the
Yeltsin role?
Meanwhile, the Democrats, with help from rabid Never Trumpers like Bill Kristol and
David Frum, have been " wargaming
" scenarios for preventing Trump from taking office should he win, developing a
plan for what Trump has correctly described as "an insurrection." [ The
Billionaire Backers of the 'Insurrection' , by Julie Kelly, AmGreatness.com, Sep 14, 2020]
The plan is to claim that Trump has stolen, or attempted to steal, the election. "As far as our
enemies are concerned," as I wrote here last month, "they are on the right side of history, and
neither election law nor the Constitution or any antiquated notions about fair play will stop
them." [
Revolution and Resistance: How can elections continue? , American Remnant, September 4,
2020]
The mail-in balloting plan plays into the Blob's wargaming. If the Democrats can't swing the
election their way by hook or crook, then the lengthy
process of
accounting for all the mail-in ballots could be used as a means to sow confusion and chaos,
giving them room to maneuver in the aftermath of Election Day.
The Blob's minions have been signaling their intention to drag out the vote count. Michigan
Governor
Gretchen Whitmer , for example, declared on Face the Nation that her state would not be
held to any "artificial deadlines" for reporting election results. [
MI Gov. Whitmer: No 'Artificial Deadlines' for Announcing Election Results , by Jeff
Poor, Breitbart, October 11, 2020] In an example of the psychological projection characteristic
of Democrats, Whitmer further claimed that those who might want to expedite the vote count had
"political agendas."
Meanwhile, the Blob's militant wing has been circulating a plan for post-election
disruption. [
READ: Left-wing Radicals Post Online Guide to 'Disrupting' the Country if Election is Close
, by Joel Pollak, Breitbart, October 12, 2020] A Leftist group calling itself ShutDownDC [ Tweet them ] plans to prevent a Trump "coup" -- more
projection
there -- by shutting down the country and forcing Trump out if the vote is too close to call.
The
plan calls for "sustained disruptive movements all over the country." The militants also
state that they intend to demand that "no winner be announced until every vote is counted."
ShutDownDC further proclaims that it has no intention of allowing the country to return to
normal. The goal is to "dismantle" what it calls "interlocking systems of oppression."
In the chaos that appears increasingly likely after Election Day, we may not even have a
clear idea of what happened–-and, indeed, that may be part of the Blob's design.
In a recent segment on "Critical Race Theory" gaining traction at the Pentagon, Tucker
Carlson wondered just why the Left was so intent on capturing the military.
My answer: the Blob was contemplating the possibility of using the military as part of an
attempt to block a second Trump term.
It's quite clear that the top military brass has been subject to "the Great Awokening"
and Trump Derangement Syndrome as much as the rest of the federal bureaucracy. The military
Establishment has steadfastly resisted Trump's inclination to disengage from foreign
interventions. Moreover, the Pentagon has also resisted Trump's order to stop
indoctrinating its personnel in "Critical Race Theory." [
Trump's Anti-Critical Race Theory Order is Necessary But Insufficient , By Timon Cline,
AmGreatness.com, October 5, 2020]
In his book Rage , Bob Woodward
reports that former Defense Secretary and retired Marine General James Mattis once
commented to then Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats that "There may come a time when
we have to take collective action" against Trump, since Mattis deemed the president "dangerous"
and "unfit." [
Mattis told Coats Trump is 'dangerous,' 'unfit': Woodward book , by Tal Axelrod, The Hill,
September 9, 2020]
It's likely that General Mattis's view of Trump is widely shared among top level military
officers.
So how might the military figure into the Blob's wargaming plans? Peter van Buren has
contemplated a post-election scenario in which a "temporary" military government might be
pitched as the only way to break an electoral deadlock and end post-election disorder. [
What
if Trump Won't Leave The White House? The fearmongers are at it again, this time with their
mantle-holder Biden, warning of the coming dictatorship. , American Conservative, June 30,
2020] Van Buren reminded us that Trump's opponents have never accepted his legitimacy, that
"RussiaGate" was good practice for them -- good practice for a coup, that is -- and that they
are gearing up for an all-out effort to dislodge him from the White House.
Obama, Comey And
Eric Holder In The White House
Van Buren further noted that Joe Biden, who has claimed that it is Trump who "is going to
try and steal this election," has also stated quite plainly that if Trump refuses to leave the
White House, he is "absolutely convinced" that the military would "escort him from the White
House with great dispatch." [
Biden: Military Will Remove Trump From the White House if He Refuses to Leave, by Julie
Ross, Daily Beast, June 11, 2020]
It's worth mentioning that van Buren is not a Trump supporter, was a career foreign service
officer, and is an honest man, an Iraq war whistleblower who wrote an excellent book,
We Meant Well: How I
Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People , on his
experiences in that country. I reviewed it here ). He
does not believe that a Pentagon-backed coup is merely "paperback thriller material." It's a
plausible scenario.
Nevertheless, an attempt to use the military to block Trump's re-election could result in
the coup plotters stepping into a trap of their own making.
This is what happened in the failed 1991 coup attempt in the Soviet Union.
On August 18, 1991, with Mikhail Gorbachev preparing to sign a treaty that would have
decentralized the Soviet Union, his hardline political opponents in the Soviet leadership
arrested the father of perestroika at his Crimean dacha, proclaiming that the Soviet
State Committee on the State of Emergency was in charge.
The conspiracy against Gorbachev had been organized by KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov,
Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov and six other top level political and security officials. They
were alarmed by Gorbachev's reforms, which had already loosed centrifugal forces in the USSR
that threatened the power of the Communist party and the Soviet apparatus.
But within three days, the coup attempt collapsed.
Boris Yeltsin at the Russian White
House, August 19, 1991.
The coup collapsed because of resistance by then-Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin
and his supporters, and the refusal of elite military and security units to move against
them.
On August 19, Muscovites gathered at the Russian "White House," the seat of Russia's
parliament in central Moscow, and erected barriers around it. Boris Yeltsin climbed atop a tank
to address the crowd. Yeltsin condemned the State Emergency Committee as an unlawful gang of
coup plotters and called for military and security forces not to support the "Gang Of
Eight."
Major Sergey Yevdokimov, a battalion commander in the Tamanskaya Division, had already
declared his loyalty to Yeltsin (hence the tank on which Yeltsin made his historic stand).
Yevdokimov later said that early on he had decided that he would not fire on any
Russian citizens. As his battalion approached the "White House," one of Yeltsin's supporters
climbed on Yevdokimov's tank and asked him to come over to their side. The major made his
historically-significant choice, setting in motion events that would help thwart the coup.
KGB special forces units never appeared at the scene. When the planned assault on the
Russian "White House" ("Operation Thunder") failed to materialize after a brief skirmish, it
was clear that the coup was over. This was quickly followed by the collapse of the Communist
party and the Soviet administrative apparatus; and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
That was an
enormous surprise to the majority of Western Kremlinologists at the time.
Of course, the situation in the U.S. today is not exactly analogous. For starters, Trump is
operating in a hostile environment ("the Swamp") dominated and controlled by his enemies. The
generals are not on his side. It seems unlikely that a large group of citizens from the DC area
would quickly materialize to support Trump against some sort of military-backed coup.
It's possible, however, that Trump may not even be in Washington when a coup is set in
motion. This would leave him an opportunity to do what he does best -- hold mass rallies to
fire up his support base in "Deplorable" areas of the country.
If general disorder and a deadlock over the elections acts as a cover to deploy military
units, it raises the same question Soviet officers and men were faced with in August 1991:
Would the "boots on the ground" obey orders?
Trump may be disliked by top-level officers. But my sense is that he is popular with the
rank-and-file. What if a significant number of them refused to obey a clearly illegal order? It
may take only one Major Yevdokimov refusing unlawful orders for the whole plot to unravel.
The Deplorables have good reason to think the Blob will rig or otherwise reverse the
election results. The past four years have already taught them that. And the Blob's Main Stream
Media arm has been hard at it selling the Narrative of Trump stealing the election. The
Democrats' base appears to be ready and willing to accept drastic measures against Trump
and the Middle Americans they loathe.
The potential for a seismic political crisis is clear.
What we are witnessing is what I've called " the end of politics ." [
Chronicles , May 2019] American elections are becoming more like the zero-sum games they
are in the undeveloped world -- and were to some extent in
pre-modern Britain . A post-election crisis, especially a force majeure situation
precipitated by military intervention, would accelerate the centrifugal forces already at work
in the United States.
The failure of a coup attempt could do to the Democrats' "Coalition of the Fringes" what the
failure of the August coup did to the Communists in the USSR -- opening up
room to maneuver for what I call the American Remnant and VDARE.com calls the Historic
American Nation.
Given the circumstances, with the demographic ring closing in, that may be a providential
outcome.
I'm not as optimistic as Allensworth. Only one escort of the elites moved against
Gorbachev in 1991. Most of the rest held back. That allowed elite sector 2 to help Yeltsin
resist. Plus, the Jew Wolves of Wall Street swarmed in. So there's that.
The military the rank and file is heavily black, especially the career sergeants petty
officers who really carry out the officers orders. I think the Hispanic and White tank and
file will stay loyal. But follow orders from the anti White officer corps and black
sergeants
Consider the French Revolution. It didn't start till most of the officer corps were
revolutionary masons. The National Guards were revolutionary and so were the judges and
lawyers.
Every elite sector from the clergy through academia media professions and occupations
education both unions and employers Chamber of Commerce Association of manufacturers nurses
teachers Drs. Engineers construction probably big Agricultural which is all that matters any
more. Every organized group is against Trump
All Trump has is us individuals maybe half the adult population but just unorganized
individuals The Republican Party is organized but just as anti Trump and anti White as the
most hysterical liberals and Democrats.
Vindemann Jew immigrant colonel inserted into a position where he could get General Flynn
charged wit crime and the elected president impeached. There's Millions of Vindemanns in
tactical and strategic positions all over the country in every sector. The anti Trump anti
White revolutionaries already own media and communications
I hope I'm wrong. But what's been happening in America for the last 56 years and the
acceleration since 2016 fits the pattern of every successful revolution in the last 500
years.
"... The neocon/NATO aggressive expansionism has many purposes, but one is surely domestic repression: to gaslight and cause fear-the-foreign-bogeyman trauma among the American and British people as a whole and make most of them become docile and lose their critical thinking skills and their ability to analyze their own societies. ..."
"... One of the best ways to lobotomize the publics of the US and UK is to very gradually impose martial law in the name of protecting national security and ensuring peace and harmony at home. ..."
The neocon/NATO aggressive expansionism has many purposes, but one is surely domestic
repression: to gaslight and cause fear-the-foreign-bogeyman trauma among the American and
British people as a whole and make most of them become docile and lose their critical
thinking skills and their ability to analyze their own societies.
One of the best ways to lobotomize the publics of the US and UK is to very gradually
impose martial law in the name of protecting national security and ensuring peace and harmony
at home.
After several color revolutions succeeded, the Russiagate/Spygate op was carried out in
the US, with British assistance. This op has been largely successful, though there has been
limited resistance against its whole fake edifice as well as with the logic of Cold War2.0.
Nevertheless, Spygate has shocked many tens of millions of Dems into a stupor, while millions
more are dazed and manipulated by the Chinese bogeyman being manufactured by Trump.
The most dangerous result of the martial law lite mentality caused by Spygate and its MSM
purveyors is the growing support for censorship of free speech coming mostly from the Dems,
such as Schiff and Warner. The danger inherent in this trend became very clear when FaceBook
and Twitter engaged in massive and unprecedented arbitrary censorship of the New York Post
and of various Trump-related accounts.
This is the kind of thing you do during Stage 1 of a coup. Surely it was at least in part
an experiment to see how various power points in the US would respond. Even though Twitter
ended the censorship later, it was probably a successful experiment designed to gauge
reactions and areas of resistance.
In November, there could be further, more serious experiments/ops. If so, the current
expansionist movements being made and planned by the US and NATO may well be integral parts
of a new non-democratic model of "American-style democracy" -- not constitution-based but
"rules-based."
This week, the New York Post
dropped a veritable bombshell smack in the middle of the 2020 presidential battlefield with
a story so explosive it should have reverberated from sea to shining sea for many weeks.
Instead, the news was duly squashed under the jackboot of Twitter and Facebook. The effort to
smother the news backfired, though, instead kicking up a discussion of the social media giants
having too much control over the spread of information that could be of interest to
millions.
As most readers probably know by now, the Post reported this week that Hunter Biden had
introduced his father, Joe Biden, the current Democratic presidential contender, to the head of
Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm where Hunter was a paid board member. What makes this
revelation so significant is that not only was Joe serving as vice president at the time of the
alleged introduction, but he has gone on record as saying he knew nothing about his prodigal
son's overseas business dealings.
The rabbit hole travels much deeper, however, considering that Joe Biden publicly bragged
about withholding one billion dollars from the Ukrainian government unless it removed a
prosecutor who was investigating Burisma at the time. And deeper still when it is remembered
that Donald Trump was impeached for simply asking the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe
Biden's activities in the country.
Had the social media monsters had no political 'dog in the fight,' so to speak, the Post
story would have lit up Twitter and Facebook like Saturday night at the amusement arcade.
Instead, both platforms quickly yanked the plug on the story, preventing even the Post from
tweeting it out. Twitter explained its decision by saying the article had violated its policy
with regard to "hacked material."
That excuse does not hold a drop of water. According to the Post, Hunter Biden's emails were
found in a laptop delivered to a computer repair shop in Delaware back in April 2019 –
allegedly by Hunter Biden himself. When the laptop was never retrieved, however, the shop owner
assumed legal ownership of the device as was his right. In other words, there was no
illegal hacking of the device, as suggested by Twitter. In fact, the computer repairman was
sufficiently concerned with what he had found on the laptop that he promptly handed the device
over to the FBI, also providing a copy of the hard drive to Rudy Giuliani, a member of Trump's
legal team.
If Twitter was genuinely concerned about the origins of the Biden email story, going so far
as to block even the
government's ability to retweet the Post story, then how does one explain the company's
decision not to interfere with the New York Times and its exposé on Donald Trump's tax
status? After all, the Times never mentioned who provided the US president's financial
documents, which have still not seen the light of day. Think about that. The Post story was
censored over documents it can actually produce, while the Times story was put on the fast lane
to public consumption with zero physical evidence to support its claims.
Why was Twitter not suspicious that the New York Times
had received hacked material, as very well could have been the case? It would be very difficult
to explain that as anything other than naked political interference and meddling, which Silicon
Valley and the Democratic Party, by the way, would have us believe is the sole purview of
Russia.
Should Twitter and Facebook lose Section 230 immunity?
Needless to say, the Republicans, forever whining that they have been unfairly targeted by
Big Tech, have called on Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear before the Senate as early as next
week. But we've been down this dead-end road before. Every several months, the Silicon Valley
CEOs make their star-studded photo-ops in Washington, swearing up and down before Congress that
they are detached, apolitical animals, with the end result being that absolutely nothing
changes. Maybe this time around, concerned Republicans (and Democrats) should finally do what
they've been promising for so long, and that is to deprive Big Tech of its immunity by
rescinding Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
For the uninitiated, Section 230 grants social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook
immunity from legal action taken as a result of bad information posted to its platforms. This
frees Big Tech from having to perform the grueling fact-checking demanded of regular
publishers; rather, they are simply supposed to serve as a free flow of information.
Yet ever since the defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 elections, and the concomitant rise
of Russiagate, Big Tech went against the spirit of Section 230, creating algorithms in its
alleged battle against 'fake news' as a back door to creating its desired narrative. At the
same time, it
outsourced fact-checking to third-party organizations, among them ABC News, Snopes,
Associated Press, and the Atlantic Council, each of which naturally has its own political ax to
grind. With unsettling frequency, however, the ax has an uncanny way of dropping on the
right-leaning creators.
In fact, back in May, Twitter even marked one of Donald Trump's tweets as potentially
misleading. And now it seems that more than just the Republicans have noticed.
This week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai promised to "move forward
with a rulemaking to clarify" the meaning of Section 230.
Judging by Pai's past record, this may signal a new dawn for social media, in which people
are granted access to platforms that do not censor their content based on political
considerations, as the First Amendment demands. Instead of taking away Big Tech's immunity from
legal responsibility, however, it would be best to keep it intact, on condition there would be
no more monkey business with users' accounts. Nothing less than total free speech. Is this a
dream too far? Possibly.
In any case, it would be poetic justice if the outcome of the 2020 presidential race between
Trump and Biden ultimately comes down to the actions of a Delaware computer repairman, for
repairs are certainly in order at this critical stage in US political history, dependent as it
now is on Big Tech.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is calling on the FBI to 'come clean' over the agency's involvement
with Hunter Biden's laptop , after refusing to 'confirm or deny' certain details contained in a
whistleblower complaint by a Delaware computer shop owner.
" The FBI has a duty to inform us . If they believe this was maybe Russian disinformation,
they should give us a defensive briefing," Johnson told Fox News ' "Sunday Morning
Futures."
"If, for example, they also believe that what information this whistleblower gave us is
fraudulent, that would also be a crime, and FBI should tell us that."
Host Maria Bartiromo brought up a salient point - that the FBI was allegedly in possession
of Hunter Biden's laptop which contains apparent evidence of pay-for-play corruption in
Ukraine, at the same time Congressional Democrats were impeaching President Trump for asking
Ukraine to investigate exactly that.
"If the FBI was in possession of these emails from Hunter Biden's computer indicating all
of these payouts, why did they not make this public, as President Trump was being impeached
in the Senate about Ukraine?"
Johnson replied: "the larger question really is; if they had this information - and these
are genuine emails which would probably reveal all kinds of things that would have been very
relevant to the impeachment case, why did they sit out? Are they covering up because Hunter
Biden might be engaged in things that also maybe should have been investigated and possibly
prosecuted? Dow we have two systems of justice? One for Democrats, one for Republicans, one for
the well connected, vs. one for the rest of the Americans."
Bartiromo then steered the conversation to national security risks - noting that the
signature of the FBI's top child porn lawyer appeared on the subpoena for Hunter's laptop.
"The subpoena was served by an FBI agent whose name is Joshua Wilson, and over the last five
years he has been working on child pornography issues. Connect the dots - if an FBI agent is
working on child pornography issues for five years, why is he subpoenaing the laptop of Hunter
Biden? Is there a connection here? Should this suggest that there's a child pornography issue
here on that laptop?"
"Well, I think you just made the connection ," Johnson replied. "This is what the FBI has to
come clean about . This isn't a standard investigation... this is something that, as we were
talking about, relates to national security. And if there's criminal activity involved that can
be tied to Hunter Biden or his business associates, or even possibly tied back to members of
the Biden family - well some of these emails indicate that Joe Biden is fully aware of this
."
As we noted on Friday, FBI agent Wilson's identity was confirmed by both
Western Journal and
Business Insider , the latter of which compared his signature to a 2012 criminal complaint
and concluded that it "clearly matches the unreversed signature on the subpoena published by
the New York Post ."
play_arrow 2 AlaricBalth , 8 hours ago
Hunter Biden has most likely been compromised by tapes of him with young girls while he
was in China. When I was traveling back and forth to China a few years ago, I was told by our
Chinese attorney to be very cautious because Americans were always recorded in their hotel
rooms.
It was the policy of the Chinese government. Privacy laws are non existent. All Americans
were taped in the event that any American could be utilized for the benefit of the CCP in the
future.
Also, there are many high end "Karaoke" parlors in China where horizontal refreshment can
be procured. Many Americans frequent these establishments. The girls are beautiful. The
places have cameras everywhere.
Urfa Man , 4 hours ago
Thanks for mentioning the Chicoms, TBT. None of the tabloid-level sex stuff counts nearly
as much as the fact that Joe Biden's secret payoffs from the Chinese (via Ye Jianming,
Biden's Chinese paymaster). The sneaky Chinese money for Biden makes this election a
dangerous national security crisis.
Joe Biden couldn't get a security clearance for even a low level government job now, let
alone C in C of the US armed forces.
Dogbreath15 , 1 hour ago
"It's not physically possible to shame a Democrat."
The Elite Democrats WANT to sell out the country, they welcome dragging the USA through
the sewer (and then blame the opposition!)
St. TwinkleToes , 6 hours ago
Makes you wonder how many of those Asian/Chinese massage parlors are spying and collecting
operations for the CCP, filming compromising acts to be used against you when the time comes
arrives.
DeathMerchant , 5 hours ago
It's referred to as the Epstein Protocol.
optimator , 5 hours ago
Credit where it's due. Cheaper to run a few massage parlors than running an expensive
island operation.
_arrow
Warthog777 , 4 hours ago
Chinese whistleblower provided 3 hard drives of damning info from the ccp on the Biden
family, biological weapons etc. , to the DOJ, Pelowsi, and eventually Trump.
@Dragonlord. - The TrumpTard that has gone completely out of his mind. The TrumpTard wants
to blame the Biden family for the corruption, perversion, the violence & destruction of
the moral fabric in the US - LOL
The TrumpTard believes that Trump is going to solve the corruption, the political and
racial divide in Yankeelandia - LOL
Sydney Powell should be near the top of the list for candidates to replace Wray. She's
familiar with a fair amount of the chain of corruption while dealing with the Flynn
railroading. She's seen what lengths they are willing to go to and would be less apt to think
she needs to play nice once appointed.
2banana , 8 hours ago
But yet a "noose" in a NASCAR garage gets 15 FBI agents.
Ex-NYPD Commissioner: I've Seen Hunter's Hard Drive; the Bidens 'Belong in Handcuffs'
He'll be another NYPD officer to "commit suicide" as others who saw Weiner's laptop.
SDShack , 7 hours ago
and Pizzagate is just a conspiracy...yep...right.
KnightOfSwords , 7 hours ago
Pizzagate is anything but a "conspiracy theory" These people are sick, evil, degenerates.
Take a real good look at John Podesta and Hillary Clinton.
Calibabe , 8 hours ago
What is contained on Hunter Biden's laptop is enough to put anyone on this site in prison
for a long, long, long time. Yet, he remains free, walking around, not a worry in the world.
I wonder how his "wife" and the stripper who had his child feel about him now? This guy is a
major creeper. The bigger question however isn't so much what the CCP has on Hunter, but what
does the CCP have on ole Joe? You can bet that file they have is thick and probably just as
bad.
Robert De Zero , 6 hours ago
Say what you will about Rudy Giuliani. None of this would be happening right now without
him. He's truly the best friend President Trump could have. He helped get him through 4 years
of hell with the fake Russia hoax and then hits a home run in the last inning leading up to
Election Day.
Now Rudy is taking massive flak from the corrupt liar media.
Rudy, my hat is off to you sir. You deserve medals.
Robert De Zero , 6 hours ago
The tired and failed "Russia is behind everything" trope never gets old for you guys or
the fake news. Get some new material, yawn.
indaknow , 8 hours ago
Not sure how the left can spin this as Russian disinformation when Hunter's own lawyer
just last week contacted the shop owner asking for the laptop back.
Chris Wray is a deep state swamp creature. Did anyone actually expect him, or the FBI to
do the right thing and indict Biden for corruption? They have been sitting on this laptop
evidence for almost a year!!
dibiase , 8 hours ago
Those q guys were telling us to trust him just a year or so back
Fishthatlived , 8 hours ago
"Us?"
SDShack , 7 hours ago
The timing of all this is what connects the dots. 3 Laptops were dropped off in early 2019
to the computer repair shop. Work was done and technician tried to get paid for 3-4 months
and have the laptops picked up. This is now fall 2019. Then the Russian Mueller Hoax
Impeachment hits the news, and the technician realizes he is holding dynamite with a lit
fuse, so he contacts the FBI. The coverup begins by December 2019.
NOTE - this is when the Dem Primary Season is kicking off. Bernie is the leader, but no
establishment demorat can stop him and are winnowed out, especially the big donor favorite
Kamalho early on. When Bernie is feared to be the nominee, a full court press for Senile Joe
is made by the establishment to stop him. Pretty obvious now that the establishment was being
extorted by the Chicoms with the original information on these hard drives. Who would be
video taping a PASSED OUT HUNTER, and sex romps by Hunter with chinese girls, other then the
CCP? The message was install compromised Joe...or we take down your party. And Lordy...look
what happened...Senile Joe steamrolled Bernie, and Kamalho became the fallback position. I
could never figure out the reason for the demorats to rig the system for Senile Joe, who was
clearly one of the weakest candidates. It all makes sense when you realize HE was the CCP
Favorite.
They thought the only people that had the blackmail info was the CCP and the demorat
establishment and swamp. The fix was in. They never figured on an idiot crackhead giving the
hard drive evidence to a 3rd party. That wrinkle is now beyond their control and is going to
blow up DC. The Mutual Assured Destruction card has just been played. The ***-puckering on
all sides has to be reaching nuclear levels.
mc888 , 6 hours ago
I could never figure out the reason for the demorats to rig the system for Senile
Joe
Remember Obama stating he wanted a "continuation" of his administration?
It didn't surprise the informed, and understandably a bit cynical, to hear that the FBI
sat on Hunter Biden's laptop instead of seeking justice. The bureau was previously involved
in an illegal plot to take down Donald Trump, after all, and its Deep State elements would
assuredly love to see Joe Biden succeed him in January. So why would they reveal damning
information on their establishment hope? Yet suppressing Huntergate perhaps provided a
secondary benefit:
The information could be used against Biden once he was in office.
This wouldn't be anything new. It's believed that longtime, legendary FBI director J.
Edgar Hoover used "dirt files" on politicians for leverage; for one thing, it's said, this
enabled him to remain bureau head for as long as he wished. William Sullivan, once the number
three official under Hoover,
put it this way: From the moment the director got damning information on a senator, the
man would be "right in his pocket."
So not only could suppressing Huntergate get Biden in office, but then maybe it's, "Nice
presidency you've got there, Mr. Biden -- I'd hate to see anything happen to it."
Didn't Guiliani tell the FBI that they had a copy of Humper's hard drive - or the owner of
the computer business? It all sounds so convenient. No wonder Biden went into hiding, his son
probably told dad what he did and that 50% of the take was too much. Humper maybe gave dad an
ultimatum. Drug addicts are like that "you bring me down, you go down lower." Blackmail can
be a bitch.
NumbNuts , 4 hours ago
Can they come clean on:
1) JFK assassination
2) WTC 93' bombing set up
3) OKC bombing set up
4) MLK death
5) Waco
6) Just about all other domestic terrorism activities
@therealOrangeBuffoon , 4 hours ago
Conspiracy theorists have no intention of believing anything provable. It's about chasing
rainbows.
NumbNuts , 4 hours ago
Then we should believe what they have to tell us about the Russian Collusion and all
things Biden? Naive, are we?
Stu Pedassle , 4 hours ago
I can prove that Building 7 fell uniformly on it's own footprint in what appears to be a
controlled demolition - does that count?
NumbNuts , 4 hours ago
According to @therealOrangeBuffoon , you have to go with what NIST told us, before they
changed their story, thanks to AE911truth.org .
"... Corporate Democrats' anxiety and fear that they could lose control over the party became quite evident during latest party convention, as they tried hard to "bury" their own progressives while gave plenty of time to neoliberal Republicans and war criminals to speak. ..."
globinfo
freexchange
As we explained
previously, what we see now in the United States with Trump, is a counter-attack by the part of
the American capital against the globalist faction. The faction that is primarily consisted by
the liberal plutocracy. Therefore, as the capitalist class splits, the capitalists around Trump
are now taking with them the most conservative part of the American society, as they need
electoral power. They have the money and their own media network. Their first big victory was
Trump in the US presidency and this explains why the liberal media attack him so hard and so
frequently.
The COVID-19 pandemic added more chaos in the ongoing civil war between capitalists and (as
always), the working class is paying the price for the additional mess.
The DNC
establishment fought hard, one more time, to get rid of Bernie Sanders in order to impose its
own - fully controllable and fully dedicated to the neoliberal status quo - Joe Biden/Kamala
Harris duo. Obviously, this was an attempt by the corporate Democrats to challenge and beat
Trump without harming neoliberal order through a Socialist like Sanders in the leadership of
the Democratic Party. Still, the DNC establishment couldn't take full control of the whole
situation as the most popular progressives, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, renewed their
position in the party through big victories in the 2020 primaries. Furthermore, the progressive
army came out stronger through significant
additional victories like Cori Bush's.
Corporate Democrats' anxiety and fear that they could lose control over the party became quite
evident during latest party convention, as they tried
hard to "bury" their own progressives while gave plenty of time to neoliberal
Republicans and war criminals to speak.
And, actually, this is the main reason that the corporate Democrats want so desperately to beat
Trump in November's election.
With a potential Biden victory the corporate Dems will re-establish their position in the party
against progressives, as they will be able to play the Trump-scare card for four more years.
During that time, they will get all the help they want from the liberal media to bury forever
the most popular Socialist policies. Simply by claiming that the Trump nightmare could return
in 2024. Therefore, they will demand "unity" from all party members under their own terms, in
short, under full restoration of the neoliberal status quo. Under these circumstances,
corporate Democrats will have plenty of time to assist the liberal plutocrats to
take over directly the party in 2024.
On the contrary, with a potential Trump victory the Trump-scare card will be burned for good
and corporate Democrats won't be able to use it as Trump won't be able to have another term in
2024.
In that case, corporate Democrats will receive additional pressure from the progressive wing
and progressive voters, as these will demand radical changes inside the party towards popular
policies. The liberal capitalist faction will face the serious threat to be left without
political power, which by 2024, will be restricted to some moderate Republicans who are
dedicated to the neoliberal doctrine. The dream of the liberal plutocrats to take over
political power directly will die forever.
And this could be proved decisive for the outcome of
the endo-capitalist war between the liberal plutocrats and the Trump-affiliated
capitalists.
"more interesting to me and my family ..." NY Post
"Hunter Biden pursued lucrative deals involving China's largest private energy company --
including one that he said would be "interesting for me and my family,"
emails obtained by The Post show .
One email sent to Biden on May 13, 2017, with the subject line "Expectations," included
details of "remuneration packages" for six people involved in an unspecified business
venture.
Biden was identified as "Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC," an apparent
reference to the former Shanghai-based conglomerate CEFC China Energy Co.
His pay was pegged at "850 " and the email also noted that "Hunter has some office
expectations he will elaborate."
In addition, the email outlined a "provisional agreement" under which 80 percent of the
"equity," or shares in the new company, would be split equally among four people whose initials
correspond to the sender and three recipients, with "H" apparently referring to Biden ."
------------
Well, you can see why the Chinese wanted and needed Hunter's expertise. He had demonstrated
his worth with the Ukrainian companies.
And who is the "big guy" for whom Hunter is said to be holding 1o M? pl
Well I expect by the end of next week all them Biden voters via mail will be running to
their Supervisor of Elections offices to retract their votes. Hopefully they are allowed to,
if not, run to the courts.
As to the "Big Guy" It's Pop, you know the one who gets 50% of everything. I read that in one
of Hunters texts to his daughter that Rudy is holding.
The not so widely read Breitbart has a doozy out about Hunter's early business associate
Devon Archer, one going back to 2011. If true it's another on-target salvo to the Biden
family reputation.
...You have undoubtablely heard about the Weineresque hard drive discovery involving Hunter
Biden and his emails. You probably didn't see it on Twitter or Facebook.
Censor the press? Why yes, that's exactly what was done here. Questions from other
competitors in the press? Well those aren't banned; however, it sure looks like the Biden
campaign supplies those to the fake news reporters. Let me suggest one.
Tor, IPFS, and I2P are still available for the moment. If a serious Iron Curtain descends,
uninformed Americans can ask their friends who pirate Internet content to teach them how to
use basic anonymity and pseudonymity tech. That should work for a while, at least.
Eventually, if any hardcore privacy tech attracts mainstream users, we can expect that every
nosy private detective and her cat will have exploits to defeat it, so the march of software
development is never-ending.
However, we are not at the stage where we must teach our neighbors how to use 8kun.top.
(If you want to learn, you're welcome to join us, but honestly it has a learning curve and it
is not optimal for the present situation.)
Currently clearnet sites are summarizing anonymous research. You can reach out to
convenient new sites such as:
to get user-friendly summaries of the news that the lamestream media doesn't want you to
see. You will note that many of the stories at that site come from user-friendly news sites
that you might already know about, such as:
Perhaps it's time for people to get back to simpler lives and just quit finding any reason to
use any of the services of the "Digital Iron Curtain" establishments.
You would be surprised how much more pleasant your life will become without them. Become a
"Luddite" for our time.
I've learned that it's easy not to use the services or products of companies that have
become too political.
All good points and a very timely reminder. How does this Biden total media blackout
control comport with Democrat claims Trump is a dictator, that we will lose America if Trump
is re-elected and we must all end Trump's reign of authoritarian control?
So glad I never signed up for Twitter, do not have a Facebook account and don't even own a
cell phone. Yet the Biden "news" still broke through the high-tech censorship Wall. Democrats
are patently schizophrenic about "open borders".
regarding C-Span: " In related news C-SPAN suspends political editor Steve Scully. Yes, he
was going to be the presidential debate moderator at the second debate; now he admits he lied
about his Twitter feed being hacked. Blue, check."
I watch C Span online; have done so for years. I think C Span is one of the more insidious
of the media outlets, precisely because people think it is so "fair and balanced," "not like
Fox or CNN" that have an obvious bias.
C Span's unobvious bias is what you don't hear -- never, ever hear, and that is any word
that disparages ADL, AIPAC, or the narratives they and their myriad associated organizations
hold dear.
Steve Scully has been one of the fiercest defenders of that invisible protective barrier,
their Golden Boy for most of his career and most of C Span's existence. Maybe Scully is
becoming too expensive: C Span has begun posting advertisements before granting access to
live stream programs.
Or perhaps he's aging out. The people who ensure the above-mentioned policies prevail are
unabashed about their practice of hand-picking people like Scully: Irish, Catholic, innocent
choir-boy appearance.
As Plaintiff's Exhibit #1 I offer statements from Anita Weiner's Expanding Historical
Consciousness: The Development of the Holocaust Education Foundationhttps://tinyurl.com/y5q7eg5v
a book describing how, in the late-1980s and early 1990s Zvi Weiss proceeded step-by-step to
include "holocaust education" first at Northwestern University, where Weiss selected Irish
Catholic scholar of German history Peter Francis Hayes, spent $3000 for a substitute teacher
for Hayes's classes while he spent the semester in Israel being prepped to spearhead Weiss's
agenda. Weiss's success at Northwestern propelled him next to Notre Dame, then to
universities across the country, and then to US military academies. In 2013 a department of
holocaust studies became fully integrated into Northwestern University; it's reasonable to
assume Northwestern is not alone in this.
With respect to this hard drive, the Washington Post has an article saying that the White
House was warned last year that Rudy Giuliani was "the target of an influence operation by
Russian intelligence." The source of that information is, of course, "sources who
demanded anonymity to discuss sensitive information" and some "intercepted
communications."
So from that we are to assume that the Hunter Biden hard drive is not real, but is a
subterfuge created by the FSB, or the GRU, or perhaps by Putin himself.
The absolutely dumbest part of it all was that, by banning the Post, Twitler and Faceplant
have created more interest in the story than had they ignored it. Even NPR had to cover the
reaction to the ban, whilst curiously omitting mention of the details of the EMails.
With respect to the reporters, did anyone call the referenced person in Ukraine? Did
anyone call the local FBI and ask what happened? Did anyone ask any of the Bidens? With
respect to discrediting anyone associated with Trump, including Guliani, where have you been
since 2016?
IRON CURTAIN - what an apt reference for these times of shameless, reckless, ruinous,
fascist-like censorship, intellectual dishonesty, and utter hypocrisy.
I wrote a blog post on censorship, your second resonse about events 15 years ago is almost
as long as what I wrote and is also irrelevant to what big tech is doing with the Hunter
Biden story. Take your axe and animus against CSPAN elsewhere.
Fred,
Apparently, in believing there is something to the Hunter Biden email story, you are the
victim of yet another Russian misinformation operation designed to help their good friend
Donald Trump. That was what I'm picking up from the MSM. The FBI is even about to
confirm...er uh...I mean investigate, Russian involvement. You should be more careful!
Thankfully, socially media continues to do their job of protecting you from the forces of
evil! Can I get an "amen"?
Fred,
Too late. I read it earlier today. But I swear I only so because I was just curious as to
what kind of sinister misinformation those dastardly Ruskies are putting out there to defame
noble Joe Biden and interfere with our system of government. And, to be clear, I only read
Breitbart to see what Russia aligned far-right terrorist white supremacists are plotting.
Have to be informed to be properly on guard, you know.
And if I was ever seen in a strip club, that wasn't me, but if it was, I was only there
for the music.
No need to put me on a list, to deactivate my internet access or contact my employer to
let HR know they have an employee wandering down the crooked path to the Wrong Side of
History.
nb. Ironic that you censored my comment that detailed the way that groups given a platform
by C Span are using the US legal system to **censor** people who legitimately sought to speak
out against the proposed, and now effected, removal of the statue of Robert E Lee in
Charlottesville.
When you live in a concrete jungle and the building burn down you are left with a field of
concrete dreams.
This is a private blog, not a commercial enterprise, to which I have been granted the
privelege of writing commentary. I deleted you 600+ words, as I felt them to be nothing more
than irrelevant trolling. Long and irreleven commentary being one of the halmarks of
trolling. But since you are requesting politely I'll post them in their entirety over on an
open thread, and perhaps our host will publish them.
Britain is riddled by a class system. This is largely down to the exaggeration of those who
self-identify as "working class".
A snapshot is the cliché thrown around that to be Prime Minister, you have to attend
either Oxford or Cambridge. For those outside of the UK, the insinuation is that you come from
an affluent background, can afford private education which enabled you to enter one of the two
famous universities. Boris Johnson is the poster child for this privileged group of blue
bloods.
But James Callaghan was Prime Minster before Margaret Thatcher took over in 1979, and
couldn't afford to go to university so never went. Neither did her successor, John Major.
Gordon Brown who followed Tony Blair, attended the University of Edinburgh and is well-regarded
as the most intellectual of recent PMs.
There's no denying the political system has a bias towards Oxbridge alumni, but people have
smashed the glass ceiling and, in fact, even of the PMs who did attend Oxford or Cambridge
between 1964 and 1997, Wilson, Heath and Thatcher, none were privately educated.
Why this is pertinent now, is because of the hysteria sweeping Britain's North complaining
of playing with a loaded deck. The gripe is that London and the wealthier pockets of society
are being allowed more attention and flexibility during Covid.
The South of England is the spiritual home of The Conservatives, the land of the millionaire
stockbroker and art history scholar. The North, Wales and Scotland have traditionally been
enemy territory, due to their cities being built on manufacturing, coal mining and industry. In
our current scenario, this Northern population are being driven by a chip on their
shoulders.
London dominates commerce and business, it's a global financial centre. Even so, some of the
capital city's inhabitants are under the misapprehension that Northerners dream of a "London
life". They don't.
The two pillars of British culture; football and music are defined far more successfully
outside of London, than they ever have been inside.
The same discombobulation happens in the other direction and because the Northern towns are
more parochial, they impact on a bigger scale.
Over the last few days, the British government has tightened restrictions particularly in
the North, across the three tiers - they are the only region in the most severe tranche. But
chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a new scheme to pay two-thirds of any employees' wages, if
their place of work is forced to shut.
Large firms who close can claim
grants up to £3,000 per month and smaller businesses are entitled to £1,300.
That's on top of the Job Support Scheme, which kicks-in for anyone working at least a third of
their normal hours. The government will subsidise the remaining two-thirds (up to
£2,100).
This follows furlough, which has been paying 80 percent of salaries (up to £2,500 per
month) of 12 percent of Britain's workforce. Sunak said : "The primary goal of our
economic policy remains unchanged - to support people's jobs...I cannot save every business, I
cannot save every job."
Northern politicians have been quick to dog whistle.
Mayor of Greater
Manchester , Andy Burnham complained: "They're trying to pressurise people into tier three,
even though it will do certain harm to those economies, often quite fragile economies in the
north."
Liverpool's mayor
Steve Rotheram felt he wasn't consulted enough and said: "it was made clear to us that
government would be doing this regardless of if we engaged with them or not."
Whipping up a frenzy ahead of the new rules, Frank McKenna, chief executive of lobby group
Downtown in Business , ranted: "I cannot overstate the devastation that this will cause to
Liverpool and other parts on northern England if these plans are adopted."
Covid is slitting the wrists of our economy. Unemployment has risen to 4.5 percent .
But the pain is everywhere.
National debt stands at £2 trillion and will remain at over 100 percent of GDP, until
2025 at least. New research shows Aberdeen
has the highest remaining income (£1,487.82), after monthly costs are deducted from
average salaries.
Liverpool, Sheffield, Hull, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle all rate above London
on the same scale. The residents of the capital are left with £260.97.
London has a glut of millionaires and average figures are distorting. But that's the crux -
statistics and points of view can be massaged.
This antipathy from the North is driven by rose-tinted spectacles. Those in the world of
financial services earn more than their blue-collar counterparts.
That's because fewer people are capable of these jobs and they generate significantly more
wealth than a manual or semi-skilled worker. This is not a criticism of manual workers, just a
fact of life. Parity would be neither fair nor achievable. Living standards are determined by
income, those working in commerce are also able to continue unabated, due to technology and
video conferencing.
The arrival of Covid wasn't Britain's doing and Boris Johnson has handled it appallingly,
for everyone. But even so there has been a herculean level of financial assistance, with The
Treasury opening the cheque book like never before. Along with the other schemes, they've just
handed £257 million to arts organisations across England.
Some elements of the Westminster machine are working for us all, the complaining masses in
the North need to respect that. Moaning about being left dangling by the upper classes is just
jealously at not having what others do.
Life isn't fair but the government's Covid assistance has been, so stop the self-pity.
Like this story? Share it with a friend!
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
At this point American politics is a dispute among two Jewish factions, Trump is a pawn
of the Zionist faction and was targeted for destruction by the Cosmopolitan faction. Whoever
wins, we loose!
@Ghali
ary. The Israeli/Zionist elites care about their constituents opinions about as much as the
elites in any group. ZERO. There's a big club and we ain't in it.
The Israeli/Zionist elites wanted war with Iran or slapping them back economically to the
middle ages. Hillary was going to leave the Iran deal in place and Trump was going to tear it
up.
Trump paid for his re-election by murdering Solemani. Trump felt he couldn't start a war
in his first term so offered that up to get their support. He will be re-elected in big part
because he solidified his position with them as the anti-Iran candidate.
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released an extraordinary statement on
Tuesday, decrying a political scene he said "has moved away from spirited debate to a vile,
vituperative, hate-filled morass, that is unbecoming of any free nation." "The world is
watching America with abject horror," he added.
Romney tweeted his statement under the title "My thoughts on the current state of our
politics." "I have stayed quiet," he said, "with the approach of the election." "But I'm
troubled by our politics," the sole Republican to vote to impeach Trump added in his
statement.
"The president calls the Democratic vice-presidential candidate 'a monster'. He repeatedly
labels the Speaker of the House 'crazy.' He calls for the justice department to put the prior
president in jail. He attacks the governor of Michigan on the very day a plot is discovered
to kidnap her. Democrats launch blistering attacks of their own, though their presidential
nominee refuses to stoop as low as others," Romney, a Utah senator who was the 2012
Republican nominee for president, complained in the statement.
Though superficially trying to appear "fair and balanced" in the didactic sermon
patronizingly delivered by the only adult in the room full of political upstarts, Romney's
perceptible bias in the polemical diatribe was hard not to be noticed.
It defies explanation if he didn't watch the presidential debate or consciously elided over
the sordid episode where the Democratic presidential nominee contemptuously sneered at his
political rival with derogatory epithets such as "a clown, a racist and Putin's puppy."
I'm not sure if Biden was high on meth during the debate, as Trump had repeatedly been
insinuating, or he lacks basic etiquette to act like a dignified statesman, but only
amphetamines could make a person take leave of his senses and insolently yell at the president
of the US, "Will you shut up, man," while ironically complaining, "This is so
unpresidential."
Though a longtime Republican senator, Mitt Romney's loyalty to the GOP was compromised due
to a personal spat with Trump. In the Republican primaries of the 2016 US presidential
elections, Romney severely castigated Trump, calling him "a phony and a fraud."
After Trump was elected president, he dangled the carrot of the secretary of state
appointment to Romney, invited him to a dinner in a swanky New York restaurant, made him eat
his words and fawn all over Trump like a servile toady. But later, he gave one of the most
coveted appointments in the US bureaucratic hierarchy to oil executive Rex Tillerson.
Romney felt humiliated to the extent that in Trump's vulnerable moment, after impeachment
proceedings were initiated against him in the Senate in February, Romney became the only US
senator in the American political history who voted against his own Republican Party
president.
Though lacking intellect and often ridiculed for frequent spelling errors on his Twitter
timeline, such as "unpresidented" and "covfefe," implying he gets his news feed from television
talk shows and rarely reads book and articles, Donald Trump is street smart and his
anti-globalization agenda and down-to-earth attitude appeal to the American working
classes.
Nevertheless, it's quite easy for the neuroscientists on the payroll of the national
security establishment to manipulate the minds of such impressionable politicians and lead them
by the nose to toe the line of the deep state, particularly on foreign policy matters. No
wonder national security shills disparagingly sneer at the president as the
"toddler-in-chief."
In 2017, a couple of caricatures went viral on social media. In one of those caricatures,
Donald Trump was depicted as a child sitting on a chair and Vladimir Putin was shown whispering
something into Trump's ears from behind. In the other, Trump was portrayed sitting in Steve
Bannon's lap and the latter was shown mumbling into Trump's ears, "Who is the big boy now?" And
Trump was shown replying, "I am the big boy."
The meaning conveyed by those cunningly crafted caricatures was to illustrate that Trump
lacks the intelligence to think for himself and that he was being manipulated and played around
by Putin and Bannon. Those caricatures must have affronted the vanity of Donald Trump to an
extent that after the publication of those caricatures, he became ill-disposed toward Putin and
sacked Bannon from his job as the White House Chief Strategist in August 2017, only seven
months into the first year of the Trump presidency.
Bannon was the principal ideologue of the American alt-right movement. Though the alt-right
agenda of the Trump presidency has been scuttled by the deep state, Trump's views regarding
global politics and economics are starkly different from the establishment Democrats and
Republicans pursuing neocolonial world order masqueraded as globalization and free trade.
Besides the Trump supporters in the United States, the far-right populist leaders in Europe
are also exploiting popular resentment against free trade and globalization. The Brexiteers in
the United Kingdom, the Yellow Vest protesters in France and the far-right movements in Germany
and across Europe are a manifestation of a paradigm shift in the global economic order in which
nationalist and protectionist slogans have replaced the free trade and globalization mantra of
the nineties.
Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from multilateral treaties, restructuring trade
agreements and initiating a trade war against China are meant to redress, at least
cosmetically, the legitimate grievances of the American working classes against the wealth
disparity created by laissez-faire capitalism and market fundamentalism.
Michael Crowley reported for the New
York Times last month that American allies and former US Officials fear Trump could seek
NATO exit in a second term. According to the report, "This summer, Mr. Trump's former national
security adviser John R. Bolton published a book that described the president as repeatedly
saying he wanted to quit the NATO alliance. Last month, Mr. Bolton speculated to a Spanish
newspaper that Mr. Trump might even spring an 'October surprise' shortly before the election by
declaring his intention to leave the alliance in a second term."
The report notes, "In a book published this week, Michael S. Schmidt, a New York Times
reporter, wrote that Mr. Trump's former chief of staff John F. Kelly, a retired four-star
Marine general, told others that 'one of the most difficult tasks he faced with Trump was
trying to stop him from pulling out of NATO.' One person who has heard Mr. Kelly speak in
private settings confirmed that he had made such remarks."
Crowley adds, "Donald Trump now relies on 'a team of inexperienced bureaucrats' and has
grown more confident and assertive, as he has already sacked seasoned national security
advisers, including John F. Kelly; Jim Mattis, another retired four-star Marine general and
Trump's first defense secretary; and H.R. McMaster, a retired three-star Army general and
Trump's former national security adviser."
In fact, the Trump administration announced plans in July to withdraw 12,000 American troops
from Germany and sought to cut funding for the Pentagon's European Deterrence Initiative. About
half of the troops withdrawn from Germany were re-deployed in Europe, mainly in Italy and
Poland, and the rest returned to the US.
Similarly, although full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan was originally scheduled
for April next year, according to terms of peace deal reached with the Taliban on February 29,
President Trump hastened the withdrawal process by making an electoral pledge this week that
all troops should be "home by Christmas." "We should have the small remaining number of our
BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas," he tweeted last week.
Even the arch-foes of the US in Afghanistan effusively praised President Trump's peace
overtures. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid
told CBS News in a phone interview last week, "We hope he will win the election and wind up
US military presence in Afghanistan."
The militant group also expressed concern about President Trump's bout with the coronavirus.
"When we heard about Trump being COVID-19 positive, we got worried for his health, but it seems
he is getting better," another Taliban senior leader confided to reporter Sami Yousafzai.
Moreover, Iran-backed militias
recently announced "conditional" cease-fire against the US forces in Iraq on the condition
that Washington present a timetable for the withdrawal of its troops. The US-led coalition has
already departed from smaller bases across Iraq and promised to reduce its troop presence from
5,200 to 3,000 in the next couple of months, though Iraq's parliament passed a resolution
urging the full withdrawal of US troops in January.
There is no denying the fact that the four years of the Trump presidency have been unusually
tumultuous in the American political history, but if one takes a cursory look at the list of
all the Trump aides who resigned or were otherwise sacked, almost all of them were national
security officials.
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In fact, scores of former Republican national security officials recently made their
preference public that they would vote in the upcoming US presidential elections for Democrat
Joe Biden instead of Republican Donald Trump against party lines.
What does that imply? It is an incontrovertible proof that the latent conflict between the
deep state and the elected representatives of the American people has come to a head during the
Trump presidency.
Although far from being a vocal critic of the deep state himself, the working-class
constituency that Trump represents has had enough with the global domination agenda of the
national security establishment. The American electorate wants the US troops returned home, and
wants to focus on national economy and redress wealth disparity instead of acting as global
police waging "endless wars" thousands of miles away from the US territorial borders.
Addressing a convention of conservatives last year, Trump publicly castigated his own
generals, much to the dismay of neoliberal chauvinists upholding American exceptionalism and
militarism, by revealing: "I learn more sometimes from soldiers what's going on, than I do from
generals. I do. I hate to say it. I tell the generals all the time."
At another occasion, he ruffled more feathers by telling the reporters: "I'm not saying the
military's in love with me. The soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren't
because they want to do nothing but fight wars so all of those wonderful companies that make
the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy."
Tom Fowdyis a British writer and analyst of politics and international relations
with a primary focus on East Asia.
His Holiness declining to meet the US secretary of state when he visited the Vatican on his
European tour further proves that his misguided America-first chauvinism is alienating more
nations than it's winning as friends.
Pompeo, everyone's favourite Cold Warrior and American chauvinist,
is on a European tour . Visiting Greece, Italy, Croatia, and notably, the Vatican, the
secretary of state is on a roll to win support for American security and energy interests
across the region. But he wasn't welcomed by all. Attending the Holy See today, the US' 'top
diplomat' found himself
snubbed by the Pope as he rolled into town peddling his vitriolic anti-China agenda, and
demanding the Church take on Beijing and refuse to renew a deal that gives it a say in the
appointment of bishops within that country. Pope Francis wasn't too impressed and refused to
meet him accordingly.
The snub is significant, because it reflects more broadly how Pompeo's highly aggressive and
evangelical foreign policy agenda is being received around the world. In short, it's a
shambles. Rather than respectfully and constructively engage with the interests of other
countries, on his watch, the State Department does nothing but pressure other nations. And it
does this while parroting the clichéd talking points of American exceptionalism,
hysterical anti-Communism, and a refusal to take into account the interests and practicalities
faced by its partners. The Vatican has its differences with Beijing, but how would embarking on
a collision course help it or the cause of Catholics in China? It wouldn't.
Pompeo is repeatedly described by major
US newspapers, the Washington Post among them, as "
the worst secretary of state in American history," and it's no surprise why. Diplomacy
requires the skills of understanding, prudence, compromise, calibration, and negotiation. The
current man in charge of America's relations with the rest of the world has none of those in
his armoury – only a one-sided diatribe about how every nation Washington holds a grudge
against is evil and a threat to the world, and the US' own political system is far superior (as
demonstrated by last night's presidential debate, perhaps ?). Pompeo repeatedly positions
himself as
speaking on behalf of other nations' people against their governments, while pushing a
policy that amounts to little more than bullying.
A look at Pompeo and the State Department's Twitter feed shows it to be a unilateral,
repetitive loop of the following topics: 'The Chinese Communist Party is evil and a threat to
the world', 'Iran is an evil terrorist state', American values are the best', 'We stand with
the people of X', and so on, ad nauseam. To describe it as hubris would be generous, and, of
course, it does nothing to support the equally inadequate foreign policy of the United States
in practice. This is further distorted by the unilateralist and anti-global governance politics
of Donald Trump, which place emphasis only on the projection of power to force other countries
into capitulating to American demands.
Against such a backdrop, it's no surprise that a toxic mixture of foreign policymaking has
led to other countries not being willing to take notice of Washington. It's winning neither
hearts nor minds, and it's this that has set the stage for not only the Vatican snub, but the
largely fruitless outcomes of his European adventures. Pompeo's visit to Greece produced no meaningful
agreements or outcomes of note , and he failed to get Athens to publicly commit to any
anti-China measures or even statements. A similar non-result was achieved from his visit to the
Czech Republic a month or so ago – the Czech prime minister even came out and
played down Pompeo's comments , after he engaged in a spree of anti-Beijing vitriol.
So, what's at stake for the Vatican? Undoubtedly, religion is a sensitive topic in mainland
China. The Chinese state sees unfettered religion as a threat to social stability, or as a
potential vehicle for imperialism against the country, and thus has aimed to strongly regulate
it under terms and conditions set by the state.
This has caused tensions with the Roman Catholic Church, which maintains a strict
ecclesiastical hierarchy, answering to the Vatican and not national governments. With China
being the world's most populous country, having among its vast population nine million
Catholics, this means the Church has had to negotiate and compromise with the Beijing
government to maintain its influence and control, and to secure the rights of its members to
worship. This has resulted in a 'deal' whereby the Vatican can have a say in the appointment of
its bishops in China, rather than the Church being completely subordinate to the
government.
But Pompeo doesn't care about these sensitivities – he wants one thing: Cold War. He
wants unbridled, unrestrained, and evangelical condemnation of China and, as noted above, is
utilizing his 'diplomatic visits' to push that demand. However, building a foreign policy on
preaching America First unilateralism, chauvinism, and zero compromise not surprisingly has its
limitations. As a result, Pompeo is finding himself isolated and ignored in more than a few
areas. Thus it was that, rather than completely squandering the Vatican's interests in
diplomacy with China, Pope Francis simply refused to meet him. For someone as fanatically
religious and pious as Pompeo, that's a pretty damning indictment of the incompetence within
the US State Department right now.
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"Joe Biden's 'war economy' policies are a radical break with the status quo."
Telegraph
"Bidenomics is a heady brew. The Democrats' $7.9 trillion blast of extra spending is a step
beyond Roosevelt's New Deal. It mimics the Keynesian expansion of the Second World War and
consciously aims to run the economy at red-hot speeds of growth.
If enacted in full, it is large enough to lift the US economy out of the zero-rate
deflationary trap of the last decade and entirely reshape the social and financial
landscape.
The stimulus will be corralled inside the closed US economy by Joe Biden's protectionist
"Buy America" policies, his industrial strategy, and his carbon border tax (i.e. disguised
tariffs against China). This limits leakage.
It is a laboratory of sorts for a post-globalisation experiment in what used to be called
"reflation in one country" – before the free flow of goods and capital emasculated
sovereign governments.
"It's quite likely that, just as in World War II, when we push down on the economic
accelerator, we will find that we have been running on one cylinder up until no w," said the
Roosevelt Institute, now advisors to the
Biden campaign .
This is why
Moody's Analytics estimates that Bidenomics accompanied by a Democrat clean sweep of
Congress would lift American GDP by an extra 4.8pc, add an extra seven million jobs, and raise
per capita income by an extra $4,800 over the next four years , compared to a clean sweep by
Donald Trump. Economic growth would rocket to 7.7pc in 2022." Telegraph -------------
Evans-Pritchard, the author of this piece baldly declares that the Trump tax cut failed to
stimulate economic growth and that a clean sweep by the Democrats in November would lead to
massive GDP growth and a reduction in present economic inequalities in American society. I will
be very interested in your comments. pl
That's a fine read Col. Thank goodness that after 47 years as a politician, including 8
years as VP - during which TARP did what? - Biden finally has a plan to Tax and Spend that
beats all the Tax and Spend plans that went before this one.
Just what is this getting spent on - the same things Obama-Biden promised, "green" (the
color of money) energy, solar charging stations and 1.5 million energy efficient homes
(didn't the Housing bubble cause a little economic problem?), 'educaiton'! I wonder if that
includes teaching us all critical race theory? and "infrastructure". And here I thought
broken records were out of style.
Where's the money coming from? According to Oxfordeconomics, which the Guardian links to,
Biden's raising taxes, but it won't lower consumer spending:
".... we estimate an overall multiplier of 0.25 for the individual provisions in Biden's tax
package. So, for every dollar of tax increase, households would reduce their spending by 25
cents. As such, while the proposal would generate a substantial revenue inflow, we
don'tbelieve it would significantly constrain consumer spending."
So what is the decline in corporate spending if you raise corporate taxes? The economists
at Oxfordeconomics conveniently left that out, nor did they eplicitly tell you that a decade
of tax revenue will still leave you with 60 years of tax burden from Joe's spending.
"On the corporate tax front, the most significant revenue raisers are:•A 7ppt
increase in the statutory corporate tax rate to 28%, which would raise $1.3tn over
10years.•An increase in taxes on foreign earnings.•A 15% minimum tax on global book
income.•The elimination of several real estate investment tax preferences." (Oooh look,
Trump's screwed! Yeah! I wonder how all those REITs look with that?)
Another unasked question: Who is going to do all that economy stimulating work if there is
a national lockdown due to Covid?
"LaRouche's comments were prompted by an article published in the Telegraph on May 19 by
British intelligence stringer Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, whose experience in orchestrating U.S.
impeachment drives for the British goes back to his attacks on President Bill Clinton.
Evans-Pritchard, on the eve of Trump's first trip abroad as President, is spreading the black
propaganda line that Trump might already be incapacitated, in much the same way as President
Richard Nixon was incapacitated by then-Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, who "instructed
U.S. military officials to ignore any order from the Oval Office to use nuclear weapons."
Evans-Pritchard asserts that the key to overthrowing Trump is to pull Republican support
away from him, which he admits is still strong. But what happens next? He quotes Sir Jeremy
Greenstock, former British UN ambassador and now chairman at Gatehouse Advisory Partners:
"America can be very powerful if it decides to act hard. Xi Jinping and Putin will probably
wait and see whether Trump self-destructs." Evans-Pritchard then raises the question: How
will Trump behave "when the special prosecutor [Robert Mueller] starts to let rip with a
volley of subpoenas."
I like the idea of a Carbon Border Tax. Or at least the one proposed by the EU, as I have
not seen Biden's proposal. It has never made sense to me that we import from countries with
low environmental standards when our own manufacturers are handicapped.
But unless Biden can carry Democratic Senatorial challengers against GOP incumbents it
ain't gonna happen. It will be stalled in the Senate. There is no way McConnell will even
allow it on the Senate floor.
This thinking has been wrong, repeatedly so, for the last 10 years. The idea that there is
just one more pedal to push down to jumpstart the economy belies the truth that we have
experienced the most accommodative and expansive monetary policy on a global level in modern
times.
Aside from the lack of efficacy, which I may look to discuss at length later on, there is
another striking thing about this plan, and that is how it will be paid for. The reason is
not the traditional "where will the money come from" I know where it will come from, cheap US
debt, but it tells us two key things. The first is that the functional ideas of Modern
Monetary Theory (MMT) that you can basically just issue debt and have your central bank both
monetize it and keep the interest payments low and use that to fund largely unlimited
government spending have for the most part been endorsed by those on the left as a mechanism
to deliver on their grand plans. The second thing that is striking though is what they want
to spend the money on, which is military spending and infrastructure and not healthcare and a
green new deal. This calls into question what alignment there is on the cadres of the left or
the possibility that starting with infrastructure is a way to run cover to expand these
fantasy economics to social projects without reorienting the economy towards their
achievement.
Evans-Pritchard's talents are wasted on economic commentary. He writes well, but in the
breathless tones of a failed thriller writer. His entire worldview is based on the notion
that it is always two minutes to midnight. It's a shame that they put all of his stuff behind
a paywall.
Maybe if Biden's plan is approved we will finally see the inflation that Wall Street and
its media minions have been whining about for the past forty years.
I have no doubt that the collapsing pocket that is Conservative Inc will luxuriate back on
the familiar loser's ground of "fiscal responsibility."
Biden's plan, such as it is, simply marries the essence of Trump's nationalist policies
with Great Society spending levels. Like so much of his platform, it is designed to keep the
progressives on the plantation until Nov 3 and not one minute beyond.
Sure it will. The devil is in the details. When has any Democrat economic plan ever
produced intended results. First they have to confess what went wrong with their trillion
dollar "War on Poverty" that now requires another trillion to pretend to clean up that
grotesquely distorted mess.
Until they confess to their sins of the past, they are doomed to repeat them. How are they
going to remedy their decades of teacher union K1-2 fail turning out entire generations of
dysfunctional illiterates who are somehow going to be absorbed into this dynamite
economy.
They are sitting in the back room smoking dope and spinning tales. What I hear is wealth
confiscation and/or turning on the printing presses. Time for a good recap of Obama's initial
"Green Jobs Revolution" from his first term - who did those promise work out and why are we
having to undo the piles of excrement Biden First Term left behind.
I have a bad case of deja vu When in fact the Trump Tweaking was paying long term
dividends, until the deep state hijacked covid to destroy any possible Trump bragging rights.
Never forget Nancy Pelosi tearing up Trump's SOTU address and declaring they were all lies --
and then carrying out her covid porn agenda to make sure she was proven correct.
Remember the three generation rule - all revolutionary and planned economies always fail
by the third generation. Soviet Union, Margaret Thatcher's warning, Cuba, etc ......if all
the wealth in the world was redistributed, it would be back in similar hands three
generations later. Societies always stratify, even since the Sumerians.
America is unique primarily because of the mobility it offers between the strata by its
relatively free market system. Don't mess with it. Democrat's heavy handed planned utopia is
a nightmare.
I am no economist. However, I am not in debt. I am not wealthy, but I have all I need and
want. I've worked very hard during my life and enjoyed my jobs because they were suited to my
training and kislls. My retirement funds keep me comfortable. My two sons are doing well in
our current economy. That's, of course, a self-centered view of the situation.
But, with that in mind, I say this: "beware of Greeks bearing gifts." (I know Biden is not
Greek, but I hope you get my point.)
I am also remembering the Obama administration. I may receive only an Obama phone and an
EBT card.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is generally a very astute writer. However, on economics and
national fiscal policies and central banking he has bought into the Davos sophistry that
defies common sense for over a decade.
An example of this sophistry is this line from the passage in your post - "..lift the US
economy out of the zero-rate deflationary trap of the last decade...". Ask an average
American if they've seen any price deflation in their rents or house prices, their kid's
tuition, their health care premiums, their cost of pharmaceuticals, the cost of tacos at
their neighborhood taqueria, the cost of getting their shirt cleaned, over the past decade
and they'll laugh at you. The cost of living of average Americans have risen and that is the
real living experience. But of course if you're Ben Bernanke or Mario Draghi or Jerome Powell
or Ms. Lagarde then we are in a "deflationary trap" and they should print more and more money
that gets shipped first to their friends on Wall St. The Party of Davos as Jack called
it.
Under the government enforced lockdown, how many trillions has the US federal government
under the Trump administration borrowed from future generations in the first and now the
second stimulus waiting for approval? How many trillions did Jerome Powell print up and send
to his friends at Blackrock and Citadel?
GDP is a useless indicator IMO. Digging trenches and filling them up will raise GDP. A
very important indicator however is productivity growth. That has been lagging for many
years. Another are median household income & wealth, which has also been lagging. What
we've seen in the US is a dramatic increase in wealth inequality between the top 0.1% vs the
bottom 80% over the past 50 years and this curve continues to accelerate - second order
derivative!! The second is the level of systemic debt across all sectors - individuals,
corporate and government at all levels that has continuously risen over 50 years increasing
systemic leverage to a point larger than during the civil war and WW II. This has occurred
under both parties and the Trump presidency has actually increased it despite the rhetoric.
Compare the Balance of Trade relative to the soundbites.
A systematic restructuring of our economy away from financialization, away from bailouts
of the oligarchy, away from unprecedented market concentration, away from untrammeled credit
expansion to back previous credit losses and having a monetary authority with a singular
focus on sound money is what's necessary. But that's not gonna happen under either Trump or
Biden as it will gore the ox of the Party of Davos whose interests is what both sides
primarily cater to. More debt-fueled government spending always ends up as socialism for the
oligarchy which is exactly what we've had for decades. It is an economic truism that as
productivity of debt continually declines, economic productivity also declines. That's the
trap we are in!
Been very happy with my gold investments these past two years and will stick with them
thanks, Biden would supercharge them.
Longer term I am looking to have most of my money in Asia, Russian oil companies also seem
to like drilling for oil, rather than desperately trying to be anything else than producing
oil like BP and the rest. Demographics are dire for most of the West and the US is likely to
continue transitioning in to a Latin American style country. People have been well
conditioned in to not talking about such things but no point talking about the increasing
economic dysfunction without talking about the underlying cause. A massive increase in
immigration will lead to a surge in inequality, anemic economic growth, fiscal deficits and a
decline in gdp per capita.
Time to start think about investments the way a well to do Latin would.
Well, Biden has to get elected first, we'll see. Carbon taxes, hmmm - another way to
destroy the middle-class?
Something to think about is the European Central Bank, they are a meeting late this month
with "experts" to determine if they will go to a digital currency. The ECB might then decide
the "experts" are right and go full digital on Jan 1st, 2021. We might see a whole lot of
Euro money coming into the USA, hope so. However, the Federal Reserve has not been printing
any new bank notes so you'll have trouble finding crisp bills for Christmas gifts.
IMO, based on the debt current and future we are loading on the backs of our children, it
matters not a whit which of the paths are chosen. Both will end in destruction of said debt
by some method - because you can only load so much on horseback and still ride. As we stand
now, we are walking alongside a swaybacked packhorse already. Closing off the country, where
the only growth has been in the services sector for decades, makes sense in what
universe?
Raise taxes? They have only ever increased in my lifetime, my fathers and his. At what
point does the Boston Tea Party repeat? From where I sit, everything either party does is
only adding fuel to a coming conflagration, as nothing is actually paid for - a ledger entry
is aggregated and we march on. The piper will get paid, as he has the children...
1.socialism and keynesian economics as a viable theory dead dead right now....today and
politicians know it
2. central banks are trapped at zero bound interest rates with no way under heretofore main
stream economic theories to stimulate their respective economies
3. politicians are largely dumb as a bag of hammers with not a shred of understanding what to
do other than to listen to think tanks warmed over rehashed ideas that have not worked in the
past and won't now.
4. what biden is proposing is MMT with communist thomas piketty theory disguised as classical
keynesian nonsense being sold to a public almost as dumb as those doing the selling
5. in order to make this works they will have to institute guranteed basic income for the
umpteen millions of people who will NEVER work again under this policy of bullshit
6. and lastly to ensure NO ONE can escape this trap which will evolve into an UGLY neo
feudalism for 99% of the populace this team of genuinely EVIL people will have to CANCEL ALL
paper money FORCING everyone to have a bank account for using digital money THE ONLY money
that can exist if this comes to pass. banks loves this as it gives them a cut of all the
action
7.as a result taxes will be anything they want and YOU have no escape or recourse
whatsoever
8. say the wrong thing, think the wrong thing and your economic life under digital money will
be cancelled placing you into destitution and death
9. this is a recipe for slavery on a gigantic scale ensuring the 1/10 of 1% can rule without
disturbance forever
10 revolution will be the only option at that point and since the police and military will
continue to be paid by the state it will be bloody
On the other hand, if this scheme promises to bring back the Jimmy Carter 14% interest
rates on CD's for us retired folks, I say bring it on. Everyone else will just have to deal
with the economic rubble later on their own.
I just need another good 15 years or so myself. In other words, never believe old people
when it comes to managing the US economy- our goals are selfish and very short term. So like,
what's in this for meeeeeee?
Biden must have listened to AOC for this fiscal policy advice. Bring back chicken coops
and victory gardens, and turn in your scrap metal because we are WAR.
What in God's name is Biden having a Brit pushing his economic plan. We all know they
embellish everything which then falls apart into pieces. Yes, Fred I remember those +14%
interest rates I paid on my mortgage and still kick myself for not taking the 100k down
payment and putting it into a 14% 30 year CD and renting. But then we all have those
memories. Sure would not want my grandchildren paying those rates on a 500k mortgage as it
would kill the real estate business and this country.
Sleepy Joe will be ready for the assisted living center by year two and we would be stuck
with Checkbook Harris, UGH. Vote for the Bullcrapper that gets things done.
Ahem; This has been done before: After Hitler was elected in 1933; He slammed the borders
shut to money transfer, then started building the autobahn. It worked, Germany came out of
the slump. Of course, Hitler then moved on to building planes & tanks. Also, Modern
Monetary theory says you can run the printing presses & print money like mad, as long as
that paper is going into a real, working economy, it gets recycled. That does not describe
the current 'developed world' economy; the FIRE economy (finance, insurance, real estate) has
eaten it's own tail. When all the other assets have jacked up half way to the moon, there
will be another gold rush (same as 1930s) & my shack in northern BC will shake with all
the helicopters flying around to work up new gold mines.
Candidate Donald Trump's 2016 programme was clear. Bring industry back home. Ditto the
troops. Ensure an adequate defence. Drain the swamp.
Looked good. I hadn't realised that his main achievement would be somewhat simpler. Stay
functioning in office in the face of the most dangerous series of attacks on an American
President that can have been seen since the early nineteenth century.
So clearly he's going to need another term in office to get on with all the things he
should have been able to get on with in the first.
Candidate Joe Biden was, I thought at first, stealing part of the Trump 2016 programme. Bring
industry back home. Turns out not - as far as I can see America will remain the most heavily
industrialised country going. But, as in my own country, much of the industry will still be
abroad. With the jobs.
As with my own country Biden's America will be environmentally virtuous. It'll hit some
good targets. It'll not use as much fossil fuel. Yesterday's heavy polluters - the coal mines
and steel mills - won't pollute any more.
Fake. Again as with my own country the dirty industries we still rely on will still be
roaring full steam ahead. Coal will still be mined. Steel will still be produced. But
elsewhere.
So Candidate Joe Biden will not be the man to put that part of the Trump 2016 programme
into action. He'll be the man who continues with the fake environmentalism we've already seen
so much of. Naturally, if the heavy industry is outsourced so is our pollution. Doesn't look
that clever a trick to me, even if it fools the eco-warriors.
In a recent op-ed on RT, I outlined the
puzzling and ironic configuration that is the anti-Trump 'resistance.' But I didn't explore one
important 'interest group' within a 'deep state' intent on destroying Trump's presidency at all
costs -- namely, the neocon
hawks of both major political parties and the
military and
intelligence establishments that defy strict party affiliation.
This contingent includes members of top military brass and intelligence
officers , of course, but also military and intelligence contractors, including those
employed by the permanent bureaucracy to foil Trump's first run for the presidency by
attempting to tie him to "Russian collusion ."
Condemn Trump all you want. It's quite fashionable and facile to do so. The penchant has
long since leaked across the Atlantic via the US and international media establishments. But
critics must be either uninformed or disingenuous to liken Trump
to Hitler . Hitler was, after all, a fascist strong man and supremacist intent on
militarism and world expansionism. And Trump is nothing of the sort.
Quite the contrary, Trump wants no part of expansionism. He has insisted that he deplores
the endless wars in the
Middle East and
Afghanistan . Trump has been removing troops from both
regions since his presidency began. And he's reportedly been foiled in efforts for a
complete withdrawal by his generals . But now he
may be prepared to flout their prerogatives and take matters into his own hands, if
given a second term.
While Trump touts a strengthened
military , the Trump Doctrine
involves a particular brand of populist American
nationalism . This includes a foreign policy stemming from 19th-century Republican
politics . Those who
have subscribed to this political position have been traditionally non-interventionist, while
demanding that a premium be laid on national self-determination, the protection of national
sovereignty via strong borders, and the promotion of national self-interest over international
or global entanglements.
Trump has suggested that the military brass wants to start wars to
enrich military contractors.
The hue and cry coming from the political establishment over Trump's foreign military
policy is a thin scrim to cover for the interests of the military industrial complex. And the
interests of the military industrial complex are for its own expansion and the profits that
derive from it.
Trump's foreign policy on the limited use of military force runs counter to those of the
Bush-Cheney and Obama-Biden administrations. Both of these followed the orders of neocon hawks.
Shocking his left-wing base, Obama retained many of
Bush's top cabinet members, including war hawk Defense Secretary Robert Gates. And, of course,
then-Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) voted in favor of
and championed
the invasion of Iraq in 2002.
The Obama administration not only continued the Bush campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, it
extended them with record-breaking bombings in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, and Libya. Recall that it was Obama who
murdered, via a drone bomb, sixteen-year-old US citizen Abdulrahman al-Awlaki. Abdulrahman was
the son of alleged al-Qaeda fighter (and American citizen) Anwar Awlaki, who Obama had
bombed two weeks earlier, in Yemen. In fairness it must be noted that a US raid in Yemen resulted
in the
death of Abdulrahman's 8-year-old sister in 2017. But it was Obama who exploded the
conflict in Yemen.
The Obama-Biden international adventurism extended to the invasion
of Libya and the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, an escapade that destabilized
that country and led directly to the arming of
jihadists. Under Obama, the Pentagon and CIA directly armed and trained Syrian "rebels"
fighting Bashar Assad, many of whom then
grew into the ISIS caliphate. A 2016 iconic headline in the Los Angeles Times said it all:
"In Syria, militias armed by the Pentagon fight those armed by the CIA
." It is interesting to note that it was Trump who ended the
CIA's training of the so-called "moderate" Syrian rebels whose intent was the
toppling Assad's government.
Obama was elected in 2008 on his promise to end Bush's war in Iraq, a conflict he said he
opposed from the
outset . Instead, Obama and his war hawks expanded this war and added several others. And
all of this after Obama was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize (for no apparent reason) in 2009.
The military escalation under Obama-Biden surely explains the deep state's preference for
Biden over Trump. But what about the voters? In opposing Trump and favouring Biden, the leftist
'resistance' is
supporting the continuation of dodgy and illegal US invasions and endless wars. An
achievement to be proud of. On the other hand, voters who support non-intervention and troop
withdrawal favour the Republican, Donald Trump.
So, tell me again: who's 'left' and who's 'right' in this US presidential election?
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
Before juxtaposing the U.S. and alternative responses to the corona virus's economic
effects, [1]
I would like to step back in time to show how the pandemic has revealed a deep underlying
problem. We are seeing the consequences of Western societies painting themselves into a debt
corner by their creditor-oriented philosophy of law. Neoliberal anti-government (or more
accurately, anti-democratic) ideology has centralized social planning and state power in "the
market," meaning specifically the financial market on Wall Street and in other financial
centers.
At issue is who will lose when employment and business activity are disrupted. Will it be
creditors and landlords at the top of the economic scale, or debtors and renters at the bottom?
This age-old confrontation over how to deal with the unpaid rents, mortgages and other debt
service is at the heart of today's virus pandemic as large and small businesses, farms,
restaurants and neighborhood stores have fallen into arrears, leaving businesses and households
– along with their employees who have no wage income to pay these carrying charges that
accrue each month.
This is an age-old problem. It was solved in the ancient Near East simply by annulling these
debt and rent charges. But the West, shaped as it still is by the legacy of the Roman Empire,
has left itself prone to the massive unemployment, business closedowns and resulting arrears
for these basic costs of living and doing business.
Western civilization distinguishes itself from its Near Eastern predecessors in the way it
has responded to "acts of God" that disrupt the means of support and leave debts in their wake.
The United States has taken the lead in rejecting the path by which China, and even social
democratic European nations have prevented the corona virus from causing widespread insolvency
and polarizing their economies. The U.S. corona virus lockdown is turning rent and debt arrears
into an opportunity to impoverish the indebted economy and transfer mortgaged property and its
income to creditors.
There is no inherent material need for this fate to occur. But it seems so natural and even
inevitable that, as Margaret Thatcher would say, There Is No Alternative.
But of course there is, and always has been. However, resilience in the face of economic
disruption always has required a central authority to override "market forces" to restore
economic balance from "above."
Individualistic economies cannot do that. To the extent that they have a strong state, they
are not democratic but oligarchic, controlled by the financial sector in its own interest, in
tandem with its symbiotic real estate sector and monopolized infrastructure. That is why every
successful society since the Bronze Age has been a mixed economy. The determining factor in
whether or not an economic disruption leaves a crippled economy in its wake turns out to be
whether its financial sector is a public utility or is privatized from the debt-strapped public
domain as a means to enrich bankers and money-lenders at the expense of debtors and overall
economic balance.
China is using an age-old policy common ever since Hammurabi and other Bronze Age rulers
promoted economic resilience in the face of "acts of God." Unless personal debts, rents and
taxes that cannot be paid are annulled, the result will be widespread bankruptcy,
impoverishment and homelessness. In contrast to America's financialized economy, China has
shown how natural it is for society simply to acknowledge that debts, rents, taxes and other
carrying charges of living and doing business cannot resume until economic normalcy is able to
resume.
Near Eastern protection of economic resilience in the face of Acts of God
Ancient societies had a different logic from those of modern capitalist economies. Their
logic – and the Jewish Mosaic Law of Leviticus 25, as well as classical Greek and Roman
advocates of democratic reform – was similar to modern socialism. The basic principle at
work was to subordinate market relations to the needs of society at large, not to enrich a
financial rentier class of creditors and absentee landowners. More specifically, the
basic principle was to cancel debts that could not normally be paid, and prevent creditors from
foreclosing on the land of debtors.
All economies operate on credit. In modern economies bills for basic expenses are paid
monthly or quarterly. Ancient economies operated on credit during the crop year, with payment
falling due when the harvest was in – typically on the threshing floor. This cycle
normally provided a flow of crops and corvée labor to the palace, and covered the
cultivator's spending during the crop year. Interest typically was owed only when payment was
late.
But bad harvests, military conflict or simply the normal hardships of life frequently
prevented this buildup of debt from being paid. Mesopotamian palaces had to decide who would
bear the loss when drought, flooding, infestation, disease or military attack prevented the
payment of debts, rents and taxes. Seeing that this was an unavoidable fact of life, rulers
proclaimed amnesties for taxes and these various obligations incurred during the crop year.
That saved smallholders from having to work off their debts in personal bondage to their
creditors and ultimately to lose their land.
For these palatial economies, resilience meant stabilization of fiscal revenue. Letting
private creditors (often officials in the palace's own bureaucracy) demand payment out of
future production threatened to deprive rulers of crop surpluses and other taxes, and
corvée labor or even service in the military. But for thousands of years, Near Eastern
rulers restored fiscal viability for their economies by writing down debts, not only in
emergencies but more or less regularly to relieve the normal creeping backlog of debts.
These Clean Slates extended from Sumer and Babylonia in the 3 rd millennium BC to
classical antiquity, including the neo-Assyrian, neo-Babylonian and Persian Empires. They
restored normal economic relations by rolling back the consequences of debts personal and
agrarian debts – bondage to creditors, and loss of land and its crop yield. From the
palace's point of view as tax collector and seller of many key goods and services, the
alternative would have been for debtors to owe their crops, labor and even liberty to their
creditors, not to the palace. So cancelling debts to restore normalcy was simply pragmatic, not
utopian idealism as was once thought.
The pedigree for "act-of-God" rules specifying what obligations need not be paid when
serious disruptions occur goes back to the laws of Hammurabi c. 1750 BC. Their aim was to
restore economic normalcy after major disruptions. §48 of Hammurabi's laws proclaim a debt
and tax amnesty for cultivators if Adad the Storm God has flooded their fields, or if their
crops fail as a result of pests or drought. Crops owed as rent or fiscal payments were freed
from having to be paid. So were consumer debts run up during the crop year, including tabs at
the local ale house and advances or loans from individual creditors. The ale woman likewise was
freed from having to pay for the ale she had received from palace or temples for sale during
the crop year.
Whoever leased an animal that died by an act of god was freed from liability to its owner
(§266). A typical such amnesty occurred if the lamb, ox or ass was eaten by a lion, or if
an epidemic broke out. Likewise, traveling merchants who were robbed while on commercial
business were cleared of liability if they swore an oath that they were not responsible for the
loss (§103).
It was realized that hardship was so inevitable that debts tended to accrue even under
normal conditions. Every ruler of Hammurabi's dynasty proclaimed a Clean Slate cancelling
personal agrarian debts (but left normal commercial business loans intact) upon taking the
throne, and when military or other disruptions occurred during their reign. Hammurabi did this
on four occasions. 2
Bronze Age rulers could not afford to let such bondage and concentration of property and
wealth to become chronic. Labor was the scarcest resource, so a precondition for survival was
to prevent creditors from using debt leverage to obtain the labor of debtors and appropriate
their land. Rulers therefore acted to prevent creditors from becoming a wealthy class seeking
gains by impoverishing debtors and taking crop yields and land for themselves.
By rejecting such alleviations of debts resulting from economic disruption, the U.S. economy
is subjecting itself to depression, homelessness and economic polarization. It is saving
stockholders and bondholders instead of the economy at large. That is because today's
rentier interests take the economic surplus in the form of debt service, holding labor
and also corporate industry in bondage. Mortgage debt is the price of obtaining a home of one's
own. Student debt is the price of getting an education to get a job. Automobile debt is needed
to buy a car to drive to the job, and credit-card debt must be run up to pay for living costs
beyond what one is able to earn. This deep indebtedness makes workers afraid to go on strike or
even to protect working conditions, because being fired is to lose the ability to pay debts and
rents. So the rising debt overhead serves the business and financial sector by lowering wage
levels while extracting more interest, financial fees, rent and insurance out of their
take-home pay.
Debt deflation and the transition from finance capitalism to an Austerity Economy
By injecting $10 trillion into the financial markets (when Federal Reserve credit is added
to U.S. Treasury allocation), the CARES act enabled the stock market to recover all of its 34
percent drop (as measured by the S&P 500 stocks) by June 9, even as the economy's GDP was
still plunging. The government's new money creation was not spent to revive the real economy of
production and consumption, but at least the financial One Percent was saved from loss. It was
as if prosperity and living standards would somehow return to normal in a V-shaped
recovery.
But what is "normal" these days? For 95 percent of the population, their share of GDP
already had been falling ever since the Obama Depression began with the bank bailout in 2009,
leaving an enormous bad-debt overhead in place. The economy's long upswing since World War II
was already grinding to an end as it struggled to carry its debt burden, rising housing costs,
health care and related monthly "nut." 3
This is not what was expected 75 years ago. World War II ended with families and businesses
rife with savings and with little debt, as there had been little to buy during the wartime
years. But ever since, each business cycle recovery has started with a higher ratio of debt to
income, diverting more revenue from business, households and governments to pay banks and
bondholders. This debt burden raises the economy's cost of living and doing business, while
leaving less wage income and profit to be spent on goods and services.
The virus pandemic has merely acted as a catalyst ending of the long postwar boom. Yet even
as the U.S. and other Western economies begin to buckle under their debt overhead, little
thought has been given to how to extricate them from the debts and defaults that have
accelerated as a result of the broad economic disruption.
The "business as usual" approach is to let creditors foreclose and draw all the income and
wealth over subsistence needs into their own hands. Economies have reached the point where
debts can be paid only by shrinking production and consumption, leaving them as strapped as
Greece has been since 2015. Rejecting debt writedowns to restore social balance was implanted
at the outset of modern Western civilization. Ever since Roman times it has become normal for
creditors to use social misfortune as an opportunity to gain property and income at the expense
of families falling into debt. Blocking the emergence of democratic civic regimes empowered to
protect debtors, creditor interests have promoted laws that force debtors to lose their land or
other means of livelihood to foreclosing creditors or sell it under distress conditions and
have to work off their debts.
In times of a general economic disruption, giving priority to creditor claims leads to
widespread bankruptcy. Yet it violates most peoples' ideas of fairness and distributive justice
to evict debtors from their homes and take whatever property they have if they cannot pay their
rent arrears and other charges that have accrued through no fault of their own. Bankruptcy
proceedings will force many businesses and farms to forfeit what they have invested to much
wealthier buyers. Many small businesses, especially in urban minority neighborhoods, will see
yeas of saving and investment wiped out. The lockdown also forces U.S. cities and states to
cope with plunging sales- and income-tax revenue by slashing social services and depleting
their pension funds savings to pay bondholders. Balancing their budgets by privatizing hitherto
public services will create monopoly rents and new corporate empires
These outcomes are not necessary. They also are inequitable, and instead of being a survival
of the fittest and most efficient economic solutions, they are a victory for the most
successfully predatory. Yet such results are the product of a long-pedigreed legal and
financial philosophy promoted by banks and bondholders, landlords and insurance companies
reject economy-wide debt relief. They depict writing down debts and rents owed to them as
unthinkable. Banks claim that forgiving personal and business rents would lead absentee
landlords to default on their mortgages, threatening bank solvency. Insurance companies claim
that to make their policy holders whole would bankrupt them. 4 So something has to give: either the population's broad economic interests, or
the vested interests insisting that labor, industry and the government must bear the cost of
arrears that have built up during the economic shutdown.
As in oligarchic Rome, financial interests in today's world have gained control of
governments and captured the political and regulatory agencies, leaving democratic reformers
powerless to suspend debt service, rent arrears, evictions and depression. The West is becoming
a highly centrally planned economy, but its planning center is Wall Street, not Washington or
state and local governments.
Rising real estate arrears prompt a mortgage bailout
Canada and many European governments are subsidizing businesses to pay up to 80 percent of
employee wages even though many must stay home. But for the 40 million Americans who haven't
been employed during the closedown, the prospect is for homelessness and desperation. Already
before the crisis about half of Americans reported that they were living paycheck to paycheck
and could not raise $400 in an emergency. When the paychecks stopped, rents could not be paid,
nor could other normal monthly living expenses.
America is seeing the end of the home ownership boom that endowed its middle class with
property steadily rising in price. For buyers, the price was rising mortgage debt, as bank
credit was the major factor in raising property prices. (A home is worth however much a bank
will lend against it.) For non-whites, to be sure, neighborhoods were redlined against racial
minorities. By the early 2000s, banks began to make loans to black and Hispanic buyers, but
usually at extortionately high interest rates and stiffer debt terms. America's white home
buyers now face a fate similar to that which they have long imposed on minorities:
Debt-inflated purchase prices for homes so high that they leave buyers strapped by mortgage and
compulsory insurance payments, with declining public services in their neighborhoods.
When mortgages can't be paid, foreclosures follow. That causes declines in the proportion of
Americans that own their own homes. That home ownership rate already had dropped from about 58
percent in 2008 to about 51 percent at the start of 2020. Since the 2008 mortgage-fraud crisis
and President Obama's mass foreclosure program that hit minorities and low-income buyers
especially hard, a more landlord-ridden economy has emerged as a result of foreclosed
properties and companies bought by speculators and vast absentee-owner companies like
Blackstone.
Many businesses that closed down did not pay the landlords. Realizing that if they are held
responsible for paying full rents that accrued during the shutdown, it would take them over a
year to make up the payment, leaving no net earnings for their efforts. That was especially the
case for restaurants with compulsory limited "distance" seating and other stores obliged to
restrict the density of their customers. Many restaurants and other neighborhood stores decided
to go out of business. For hotels standing largely empty, some 19 percent of mortgage loans had
fallen into arrears already by May, along with about 10 percent of retail stores. 5
The commercial real estate sector owes $2.4 trillion in mortgage debt. About 40 percent of
tenants did not pay their rents for March, April and May, from restaurants and storefronts to
large national retail markets. A moratorium on evictions put them off until August or September
2020. But in the interim, quarterly state and local property taxes were due in June, which also
was when the annual federal income-tax payment was owed for the year 2019, having been
postponed from April in the face of the shutdown.
The prospective break in the chain of payments of landlords to their banks may be bailed out
by the Federal Reserve, but nobody can come up with a scenario whereby the debts owed by
non-elites can be paid out of their own resources, any more than they were rescued from the
junk-mortgage frauds that left over-mortgaged homes (mainly for low-income victims) in the wake
of Obama's decision to support the banks and mortgage brokers instead of their victims. In
fact, it takes a radical scenario to see how state and local debt can be paid as public budgets
are thrown into limbo by the virus pandemic.
The fiscal squeeze forces governments to privatize public services and assets
Since 1945, the normal Keynesian response to an economic slowdown has been for governments
to run budget deficits to revive the economy and employment. But that can't happen in the wake
of the 2020 pandemic. For one thing, tax revenue is falling. Governments can create domestic
money, of course, but the U.S. government quickly ran up a $2 trillion deficit by June 2020
simply to support Wall Street's financial and corporate markets, leaving a fiscal squeeze when
it came to public spending into the real economy. Many U.S. states and cities have laws
obliging them to balance their budgets. So public spending into the real economy (instead of
just into the financial and corporate markets) had to be cut back.
Sales taxes from restaurants and hotels, income taxes, and property taxes from landlords not
receiving rents. U.S. states and localities are having a huge tax shortfall that is forcing
them to cut back basic social services and infrastructure. New York City mayor de Blasio has
warned that schools, the police and public transportation may have to be cut back unless the
city is given $7 billion. The CARES act passed by the Democratic Party in control of the House
of Representatives made no attempt to allocate a single dollar to make up the widening fiscal
gap. As for the Trump administration, it was unwilling to give money to states voting
Democratic in the presidential or governorship elections.
The irony is that just at the time when a pandemic calls for public health care, political
pressure for that abruptly stopped. Logically, it might have been expected the virus to have
become a major catalyst for single-payer public health care, not least to prevent a wave of
personal bankruptcy resulting from high medical bills. But hopes were dashed when the leading
torch bearer for socialized medicine, Senator Bernie Sanders, threw his support behind Joe
Biden and other opponents for the presidential nomination instead of focusing the primary
elections on what the future of the Democratic Party would be. It decided to focus the 2020
U.S. election merely on the personality of which candidate would impose neoliberal policy:
Republican Donald Trump, or his opponent running simply on a platform of "I am not Trump."
Both candidates – and indeed, both parties behind them –sought to downsize
government and privatize as much of the public sector as possible, leaving administration to
financial managers. Past government policy would have restored prosperity by public spending
programs to to rebuild the roads and bridges, trains and subways that have fallen apart. But
the fiscal squeeze caused by the economic shutdown has created pressure to Thatcherize
America's crumbling transportation and urban infrastructure – and also to sell off land
and public enterprises, basic urban health, schools – and at the national level, the post
office. Fiscal budgets are to be balanced by selling off this infrastructure, in lucrative
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) with financial firms.
The neoliberal rent-extractive plan is for private capital to buy monopoly rights to repair
the nation's bridges by turning them into toll bridges, to repair the nation's roads and
highways by making the toll roads, to repair sewer systems by privatizing them. Schools,
prisons, hospitals and other traditionally public functions. Even the police are to be
privately owned security-guard agencies and managed for profit – on terms that will
provide interest and capital gains for the financial sector. It is a New Enclosures movement
seeking monopoly rent much as landlords extract land rent.
Having given $10 trillion dollars to support financial and mortgage markets, neoliberals in
both the Republican and Democratic parties announced that the government had created so large a
budget deficit as a result of bailing out the banking and landlord class that it lacked any
more room for money creation for actual social spending programs. Republican Senate leader
Mitch McConnell advised states to solve their budget squeeze by raiding their pension funds to
pay their bondholders.
For many decades, public employees accepted low wage growth in exchange for pensions. Their
patient choice was to defer demands for wage increases in order to secure good pensions for
their retirement. But now that they have worked at stagnant wages for many years, the money
ostensibly saved for their pensions is to be given to bondholders. Likewise at the federal
level, pressure was renewed by both parties to cut back Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,
with Obama's 2010 Simpson-Bowles Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to reduce the
deficit at the expense of retirees and the poor.
In sum, money is being created to fuel the financial sector and its stock and bond markets,
not to increase the economy's solvency, employment and living standards. The corona virus
pandemic did not create this shift, but it catalyzed and accelerated the power grab, not least
by pushing public-sector budgets into crisis.
It doesn't have to be this way
Every successful economy has been a mixed public/private economy with checks on the
financial sector's power to indebt society in ways that impoverish it. Always at issue,
however, is who will control the government. As American and European industry becomes more
debt ridden, will they be oligarchic or democratic?
A socialist government such as China's can keep its industry going simply by simply writing
down debts when they can't be paid without forcing a closedown and bankruptcy and loss of
assets and employment. The world thus has two options: a basically productive public financial
system in China, or a predatory financial system in the United States.
China can recover financially and fiscally from the virus disruption because most debts
ultimately are owned to the government-based banking system. Money can be created to finance
the material economy, labor and industry, construction and agriculture. When a company is
unable to pay its bills and rent, the government doesn't stand by and let it be closed down and
sold at a distressed price to a vulture investor.
China has an option that Western economies do not: It is in a position to do what Hammurabi
and other ancient Near Eastern palatial economies did for thousands of years: write down debts
so as to keep the economy resilient and functioning. It can suspend scheduled debt service,
taxes, rents and public fees from having to be paid by troubled areas of its economy, because
China's government is the ultimate creditor. It need not contend with politically powerful
bankers who insist that the economy at large must lose, not themselves. The government can
write down the debt to keep companies in business, and also their employees. That's what
socialist governments do.
The underlying problem is finance capitalism. Its roots lie at the heart of Western
civilization itself, rejecting the "circular time" permitting economic renewal by Clean Slates
in favor of "linear time" in which debts are permanent and irreversible, without public
oversight to manage finance and credit in the economy's overall long-term interest.
It often is easier to get rich in such times of disaster and need than in times of normal
prosperity. While the U.S. economy polarizes between creditors and debtors, the stock market
anticipates fortunes being made quickly from the insolvency of business with assets and
property to be grabbed. Coupled with the Federal Reserve's credit creation to support the
financial and real estate markets, asset prices are soaring (as of June 2020) for companies
that expect to get even richer from the widespread distress to come in autumn 2020 when
evictions and foreclosures ae scheduled to begin again.
In that respect, the corona virus's effect has been to help defeat the financial sector's
enemy, governments strong enough to regulate it. The fiscal squeeze resulting from widespread
unemployment, business closedowns, rent and tax arrears is being seized upon as a means of
dismantling and privatizing government at the federal, state and local levels, at the expense
of the citizenry at large.
Notes
[1]WHEN CHINA SNEEZES: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic
Implications, Edited by Cynthia McKinney, Chapter 9, Economic Impact.
[2]
I provide a detailed history of Clean Slate acts from the Bronze Age down through Biblical
times and the Byzantine Empire in " and forgive them their debts" (ISLET 2018).
[3]
I provide the details in Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the
Global Economy ((SLET, 2015).
[4]
Lawsuits are exploding over the role of insurance companies supposed to protect business from
such interruptions. See Julia Jacobs, "Arts Groups Fight Their Insurers Over Coverage on Virus
Losses," The New York Times , May 6, 2020, reports that "insurance companies have issued
a torrent of denials, prompting lawsuits across the country and legislative efforts on the
state and federal levels to force insurers to make payments. The insurance industry has argued
that fulfilling all of these requests would bankrupt the industry."
[5]
Conor Dougherty and Peter Eavis, "In Commercial Real Estate, the Domino Effect Escalates,"
The New York Times , June 9, 2020.
As (an agnostic) buddhist I find this pope's words needed in this world now. He refused to
see Pompeo last week and then releases this letter. Take heed.
@ suzan | Oct 5 2020 0:48 utc | 79 with the link to the latest encyclical by the Catholic
pope
I skimmed the link to the pope's latest and the following are a few quoted paragraphs from
the more than 287 in the whole thing.
"
15. The best way to dominate and gain control over people is to spread despair and
discouragement, even under the guise of defending certain values. Today, in many countries,
hyperbole, extremism and polarization have become political tools. Employing a strategy of
ridicule, suspicion and relentless criticism, in a variety of ways one denies the right of
others to exist or to have an opinion. Their share of the truth and their values are rejected
and, as a result, the life of society is impoverished and subjected to the hubris of the
powerful. Political life no longer has to do with healthy debates about long-term plans to
improve people's lives and to advance the common good, but only with slick marketing
techniques primarily aimed at discrediting others. In this craven exchange of charges and
counter-charges, debate degenerates into a permanent state of disagreement and
confrontation.
16. Amid the fray of conflicting interests, where victory consists in eliminating one's
opponents, how is it possible to raise our sights to recognize our neighbours or to help
those who have fallen along the way? A plan that would set great goals for the development of
our entire human family nowadays sounds like madness. We are growing ever more distant from
one another, while the slow and demanding march towards an increasingly united and just world
is suffering a new and dramatic setback.
25. War, terrorist attacks, racial or religious persecution, and many other affronts to
human dignity are judged differently, depending on how convenient it proves for certain,
primarily economic, interests. What is true as long as it is convenient for someone in power
stops being true once it becomes inconvenient. These situations of violence, sad to say,
"have become so common as to constitute a real 'third world war' fought piecemeal".
28. The loneliness, fear and insecurity experienced by those who feel abandoned by the
system creates a fertile terrain for various "mafias". These flourish because they claim to
be defenders of the forgotten, often by providing various forms of assistance even as they
pursue their criminal interests. There also exists a typically "mafioso" pedagogy that, by
appealing to a false communitarian mystique, creates bonds of dependency and fealty from
which it is very difficult to break free.
44. Even as individuals maintain their comfortable consumerist isolation, they can choose
a form of constant and febrile bonding that encourages remarkable hostility, insults, abuse,
defamation and verbal violence destructive of others, and this with a lack of restraint that
could not exist in physical contact without tearing us all apart. Social aggression has found
unparalleled room for expansion through computers and mobile devices.
45. This has now given free rein to ideologies. Things that until a few years ago could
not be said by anyone without risking the loss of universal respect can now be said with
impunity, and in the crudest of terms, even by some political figures. Nor should we forget
that "there are huge economic interests operating in the digital world, capable of exercising
forms of control as subtle as they are invasive, creating mechanisms for the manipulation of
consciences and of the democratic process. The way many platforms work often ends up
favouring encounter between persons who think alike, shielding them from debate. These closed
circuits facilitate the spread of fake news and false information, fomenting prejudice and
hate".[47]
46. We should also recognize that destructive forms of fanaticism are at times found among
religious believers, including Christians; they too "can be caught up in networks of verbal
violence through the internet and the various forums of digital communication. Even in
Catholic media, limits can be overstepped, defamation and slander can become commonplace, and
all ethical standards and respect for the good name of others can be abandoned".[48] How can
this contribute to the fraternity that our common Father asks of us?
170. I would once more observe that "the financial crisis of 2007-08 provided an
opportunity to develop a new economy, more attentive to ethical principles, and new ways of
regulating speculative financial practices and virtual wealth. But the response to the crisis
did not include rethinking the outdated criteria which continue to rule the world".[147]
Indeed, it appears that the actual strategies developed worldwide in the wake of the crisis
fostered greater individualism, less integration and increased freedom for the truly
powerful, who always find a way to escape unscathed.
172. The twenty-first century "is witnessing a weakening of the power of nation states,
chiefly because the economic and financial sectors, being transnational, tend to prevail over
the political. Given this situation, it is essential to devise stronger and more efficiently
organized international institutions, with functionaries who are appointed fairly by
agreement among national governments, and empowered to impose sanctions".[149] When we talk
about the possibility of some form of world authority regulated by law,[150] we need not
necessarily think of a personal authority. Still, such an authority ought at least to promote
more effective world organizations, equipped with the power to provide for the global common
good, the elimination of hunger and poverty and the sure defence of fundamental human
rights.
173. In this regard, I would also note the need for a reform of "the United Nations
Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the
concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth".[151] Needless to say, this calls
for clear legal limits to avoid power being co-opted only by a few countries and to prevent
cultural impositions or a restriction of the basic freedoms of weaker nations on the basis of
ideological differences. For "the international community is a juridical community founded on
the sovereignty of each member state, without bonds of subordination that deny or limit its
independence".[152] At the same time, "the work of the United Nations, according to the
principles set forth in the Preamble and the first Articles of its founding Charter, can be
seen as the development and promotion of the rule of law, based on the realization that
justice is an essential condition for achieving the ideal of universal fraternity There is a
need to ensure the uncontested rule of law and tireless recourse to negotiation, mediation
and arbitration, as proposed by the Charter of the United Nations, which constitutes truly a
fundamental juridical norm".[153] There is need to prevent this Organization from being
delegitimized, since its problems and shortcomings are capable of being jointly addressed and
resolved.
177. Here I would once more observe that "politics must not be subject to the economy, nor
should the economy be subject to the dictates of an efficiency-driven paradigm of
technocracy".[158] Although misuse of power, corruption, disregard for law and inefficiency
must clearly be rejected, "economics without politics cannot be justified, since this would
make it impossible to favour other ways of handling the various aspects of the present
crisis".[159] Instead, "what is needed is a politics which is far-sighted and capable of a
new, integral and interdisciplinary approach to handling the different aspects of the
crisis".[160] In other words, a "healthy politics capable of reforming and coordinating
institutions, promoting best practices and overcoming undue pressure and bureaucratic
inertia".[161] We cannot expect economics to do this, nor can we allow economics to take over
the real power of the state.
"
Nice words but Pope Francis is still pulling punches. He knows exactly how global private
finance works because before the Enlightenment the religious folk in the West ran the money
system for a while. Pope Francis knows that finance is private in the West but not in China.
The problem Pope Francis has with China is that the China government is the religion in China
and governance is otherwise totally secular. In the West, monotheistic religions are given
lots more than the lip service they are suppose to get in governance.....in the US there is
suppose to be separation of church and state, correct? Do the financial holdings of the
Catholic church make Pope Francis one of the elite that own global private finance in the
West that I keep writing about?...I wouldn't be surprised
The words "oligarchy" and "plutocracy" do not appear in the Pope's Encyclical. The Pope
argues a moral case for feeding the poor and even calls for directing money spent on arms to
the third world but he steers clear of any concern about class inequity in an age of record
wealth inequality.
In this way, he "pulls punches" (as psychohistorian notes) as much as any Western
politician. Many of the evils that the Pope rails against - including his remarks regarding
populism vs popular government - have their origin in the extreme wealth of a small number of
people.
<> <> <> <> <> <>
Capitalism vs. Socialism is a red herring. The real problem is oligarch capitalism which
leads to neoliberalism (a sort of fascism) and supremacist thinking of neoconservativism (a
sort of aristocracy) and zionism (a sort of colonialism).
Thanks for the link to the latest encyclical by the Catholic pope
Some of the WOKE crowd take offence to Pope Francis encyclical. Pathetic.
"Pope slams capitalism & injustices in WOKE view on post-Covid world but gets heat for
insufficiently inclusive letter"
"Although the encyclical was woke-friendly in many respects, its title, "Fratelli Tutti,"
translates to "Brothers All" in English – connoting male dominance to some. The Vatican
said the title was taken from the words of St. Francis of Assisi, the pope's namesake, and
couldn't be changed. And in any case, an encyclical is inherently addressed to the whole
world, and the Italian word "Fratelli" means brothers but can be used to mean brothers and
sisters."
@ uncle tungsten | Oct 5 2020 3:28 utc | 89 who I think meant "..no one is being
prosecuted in the courts."
uncle tungsten also wrote
"
So the head of the Roman Catholic Church is expressing compassion.
"
That compassion, if you read the screed, is coming from Saint Francis who was showing all
this compassion to folks during the time of the Crusades......
The anglican church is a front for the faith based belief that global finance leaders are
doing God's work.
.............
The commenters here making fun of the visceral fear associated with potential impending
death have never faced such themselves it is clear. I am not excusing Trump's actions but
Trump is having to face his mortality in a way he has not had to before and he doesn't want
to give up the reins of power so he has to look like still in control. I don't think Trump is
out of the woods yet and may be setting himself up for a bigger crash given all the drugs he
has crammed into his body in the past 72 hours.
I was taught in my Christian youth that my body was just a vessel in the here and now but
what is more important than ones body is their soul. I blame that stupidity for much of the
obesity in the US....and I blame genius Trump for that stupidity as well...
Michael
Hudson's newest interview on the Macro N Cheese Podcast either as a transcript or via
audio is all about the coming debt deflation and what he calls the Neofeudal Empire.
If you haven't already known, Hudson reminds you that:
Who is the dumbest economic Nobel Prize winner? [Paul Krugman?] Paul Krugman. That's right.
He was given a Nobel Prize for not understanding what money was. If he would have
understood it, that would've excluded him from getting the Nobel Prize.
A buzz-phrase I keep noticing is the use of "without evidence". For example, when Trump,
or anyone the MSM wants to target, makes an accusation and the MSM has to discuss that
accusation it is unsurprising to encounter the phrase "without evidence"
as seen
here
If only the anonymous "US intelligence sources"
(here)
that the Mouthpiece Media echo so frequently were qualified with "without evidence".
I tried combining the two phrases and instead of receiving thousands of results I
received
three .
Posted by: snake | Oct 5 2020 4:02 utc | 93 430,000,000 virgin Americans
Thought the population as of this year was 331 million? Typo?
True, dissatisfaction with states appears to be on the rise world-wide. The problem is
that people still are still thoroughly brainwashed into believing the problem is *their*
state, not "state" in the abstract. And because of that, *any* change they make is likely to
be for the worse, a la National Socialism. The likelihood of some form of "Chinese Communism"
in this country is next to zero - not that I would welcome that, either, but some here would.
France might swing toward some form of "council socialism", given their previous history with
left revolutions, but I don't see that spreading anywhere else; maybe Spain given their
anarchism history. No, I don't see any evidence that the state itself is under any
significant threat anywhere. States may collapse, even in the US, but they will reform almost
immediately. Any positive changes will be unlikely and even if implemented will quickly be
eroded.
The *only* solution is extermination of the ruling class. "The world will only be free
when the last politician is strangled with the guts of the last priest." And even then,
without some kind of "re-education" of everyone else, it won't last. A new ruling class will
simply arise.
Just looked up that Ben Franklin quote:
First reported by James McHenry, a Maryland delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
This is what he wrote: "A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or
a monarchy. A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it." Another of his famous quotes
from that era comes just after Washington had been elected the first president. "The first
man put at the helm will be a good one. Nobody knows what sort may come afterwards," he said.
But that isn't the full quote. He continued, "The executive will be always increasing here,
as elsewhere, till it ends in a monarchy."
Well, here we are. We didn't keep it. And here we are: a lunatic in office who thinks he's
King George.
...but 4,500 years of mercantilism were not going down without a fight. Fractional reserve
banking had been steadily growing since the 14th century but was exclusively a private business
affair unrelated to the state. These early fractional reserve "banks" began as safe stores for
gold and silver but it did not take long for their unscrupulous owners to start speculating
with their customers' deposits, thus the nascent fractional reserve nature of these deposits
where redemption coupons in circulation outnumbered physical gold and silver held in "trust".
After many rounds of speculative losses with other people's gold and silver, "banks" crashed,
losses accumulated, and the Renaissance city states ultimately stepped in to ban this
fractional reserve practice and re-enforce the Catholic prohibitions against usury. As a
result, the early 16th century mercantile "banking" industry evolved into a transparent and
audited business based upon fees received for the facilitation of foreign coin exchange, notary
services, and the provision of letters of account credibility. With usury removed, the business
of transparent and audited mercantile banking spread from Northern Italy throughout Western
Europe and control of the banking industry transferred to Catholic and later, Protestant
businessmen. So from 1585 to 1650 the golden age of transparent and audited mercantile banking
laid the groundwork for the rise and exploitation of the Dutch and English colonial empires,
and the success of mercantile banking also sowed the seeds for its eventual corruption by
unscrupulous players in usury friendly Protestant England.
With the resurrection of the European super-state after centuries of dormancy, the various
crowns found it increasingly difficult to secure funding to fight their continental wars of
ego, secure their growing colonial empires, and fund their increasing opulence at home, so
sovereigns began to form nascent "central banks" within their court administrations. These
nascent "central banks" served the crown and the crown alone and existed as polite shake-down
operations as wealthy subjects placed themselves in peril if they refused to lend their gold
and silver despite high probability the sovereign would default as was his divine right. So
after depleting the royal treasury during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the English crown
initiated a shakedown of the goldsmith bankers when Parliament passed The Great Stop of the
Exchequer in 1672 which repudiated all outstanding loans and all but destroyed the English
mercantile banking system. What gold and silver was left to the Exchequer immediately went to
use in prosecuting both the Third Anglo-Dutch War and the Franco-Dutch War, which by 1678 left
the Exchequer in such dire financial circumstances that it put national security at serious
risk. A funding void followed where loans to the crown in gold and silver were nearly
impossible to secure, so a first attempt at pure fiat money promoted as "legal tender" followed
without success. Then in 1685 Charles II died and the Catholic James II ascended the throne
putting usury and national finances at risk of eliminating any recourse at replenishing the
depleted Exchequer. So under cover of religion, the Catholic king's authority was nullified,
his Protestant daughter ascended the throne, usury was preserved, and Parliament with its
powers to raise funds acquired legal supremacy over the crown.
With a weakened monarchy, new relative strength in Parliament, and a depleted Exchequer,
Parliament pulled itself together and got to work and, once lingering legal succession issues
surrounding James II were resolved, it passed the Bank of England Act of 1694. The overt
exigencies in this act were related to funding the new war with France and controlling
rebellion in Ireland. But the act also replaced the old rarely used pure fiat money of Charles
II with bills redeemable in gold which also paid interest to their holders. Thus usury was
legally preserved by an act of Parliament which a weakened future potentially Catholic monarch
could not overturn. These bills backed with gold gained in popularity and filled the
Exchequer's immediate funding gap and allowed England to continue prosecuting its wars against
the Dutch. For a brief eleven years, from 1696-1707, England had returned to sound mercantile
banking practice and acceptance of these interest bearing bills spread, filling the Exchequer
with physical gold and silver.
But then enter one Sir William Paterson. This same Sir William – chief organizer of
the ill-fated Darien Scheme where investors lost everything and 1,200 Panamanian colonists
perished – in 1694 was the primary promoter behind the joint stock incorporation and
charter of the privately owned Bank of England. A major conflict of interest – not
recognized by divine right – arose here whereby King William III was himself a major
shareholder in this newly chartered bank. But this bank was merely one of many banks chartered
at the time operating under the ruinous fractional reserve practice, and nearly all these banks
eventually failed save one – the Bank of England. What made this bank charter special was
its inside connection to the House of Stuart and its location inside the untouchable City of
London Corporation – that one square mile of sovereign within a sovereign ceded in 1067
by William the Conqueror to the inhabitants of London. And, this special Bank of England had
discovered the magic formula that transformed Parliament into a perpetual debtor, turned the
bank's liabilities into assets, and as the money they created had zero cost, afforded the
owners of this special Bank of England an infinite rate of return on fiat issuance. Not since
the Pharaohs convinced the Egyptians they were Gods had such an elaborate fraud been
perpetrated upon mankind.
To coincide with the Union of England and Scotland in 1707, this special Bank of England
– one of many chartered banks at the time – was awarded responsibility for managing
the issue and redemption of the popular interest bearing bills of what was now the Exchequer of
Great Britain. Given the enticement of near infinite rates of return, it did not take the Bank
of England long to begin issuing its own fiat money for use by Parliament and to retire the old
interest bearing bills with redemptions. The magic formula was set – the Bank of England
had figured out not how to receive interest from lending its own money, but how to receive
interest by creating new money. And the opaque nature of the magic formula with its unknown
gold and silver reserves held in "trust", together with pomp and trappings, gave the fiat money
financial process the appearance of authority and legitimacy. Parliament got its means to fund
a new round of wars of attrition with France, the people got taxed at a slower rate of
increase, and the House of Stuart and their banker friends got wealthy beyond belief. And to
the holders of accumulated fiat money, they discovered a way how to transfer the bulk of a
society's real wealth – land, gold, labor, and raw materials – into their own
possession for free, using this fiat money of no inherit value to purchase things having real
intrinsic value. Therefore, at its most fundamental level, capitalism became the mechanism by
which one trades the family cow for a bag of magic beans.
This special relationship between Parliament and its wars of attrition and the House of
Stuart and its banker friends had solved the riddle of Exchequer funding so Great Britain could
now focus on its primary 18th century endeavor – war with France. From 1701 to the final
defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Great Britain prosecuted eighteen officially declared wars against
France. The stakes were serious now as France and its livre had wrested control of the world's
reserve currency from the mercantile banking Dutch after their late 17th century wars with both
England and France had exhausted the Dutch treasury and the Dutch, with their mercantile
banking model, could not print their way back from defeat. The House of Stuart and its banker
friends now saw defeating France and appropriating the world reserve currency to their Bank of
England as the overriding collective purpose of Great Britain, and Parliament was ready and
eager to assist for the "Glory of Britannia". But neither France's nor Great Britain's empires
contained large quantities of gold or silver, so privateers on both sides played a large role
in wartime funding but this stolen loot was especially important to the French corsairs and
their mercantile banking system. Thus the inherent empire self-destruct mechanism latent in all
physical money based commercial models – depleting the crown treasury – would play
a major strategy in the prosecution of Great Britain's prolonged wars of attrition with France.
Thus 18th century Europe pitted infinite paper fiat money versus limited physical gold and
silver to the death in winner-take-all stakes for control of the world reserve currency.
The first Industrial Revolution from 1760–1820 did not create a large "virtuous cycle"
for British fiat money, and given the fractured nature of the British chartered banking system,
this early land empire was not yet conducive to establishing a fiat money empire. For an idea
of the imbalance in economic scale versus land size existing within the 18th century British
colonies, at the cusp of the 1755 tobacco price crash the tiny Caribbean island of Barbados
brought in more customs and excise income to the crown than all American colonies combined.
And, economic depressions in the colonies caused by events in and taxes imposed by the home
country were common which prompted early colonialists to build up a high degree of productive
diversification and self-sufficiency. However, after more than 100 years of war against France
and the final defeat of Napoleon, the mantle of world reserve currency passed to the House of
Hanover and its banker enablers, so Parliament's favorite charter bank began in earnest to
churn out incredible amounts of bank notes that were now no longer needed to fund wars of
attrition. Other charter banks knew well of this special relationship between Parliament and
the Bank of England so these banks began accumulating the Bank of England fiat money to use as
their "reserves" held in "trust". The inflation caused by this round of excessive money
printing, combined with little to no increase in wages, reached the point of starvation in the
London streets, and Parliament's disastrous Corn Act of 1815 drove grain prices even higher
resulting in food riots and complete economic stagnation. Thus to this point first the House of
Stuart and their banking friends, then the House of Hanover and its banker enablers, through
the magic formula of fiat money, had brought the United Kingdom 121 years of near continuous
war, recurring national bankruptcies, and now open starvation. Something had to be done.
So Parliament set about to save its favorite banking charter. Six years after the London
food riots, it required the Bank of England to maintain a minimum reserve held in "trust" and
to facilitate conversion of its fiat money into gold. So the House of Hanover and its banker
enablers discovered the new magic trick of borrowing gold to fulfil this new inconvenience, and
promptly went back to churning out more fiat money and by 1825 had precipitated a collapse of
the United Kingdom banking system that effectively eliminated nearly all competing charter
banks. For their disastrous actions, in 1833 the Bank of England was again rewarded by
Parliament with the Bank of England Act granting its fiat money monopoly status as "legal
tender" for a "limited period" under "certain conditions", which over time became unlimited and
unconditional as no certain conditions were ever enumerated. Thus the act wiped out all
competing charter banks and forced every person and entity in the British empire to either use
or pay exchange fees to use the Bank of England's fiat money. And on top of all this, the House
of Hanover and its banker enablers, ensconced within the untouchable City of London
Corporation, from the safety of this "anachronism gifted by the Normans", found even more
profitable ventures than fraudulent banking and war funding in the forms of the slave and opium
trades. So by 1833 the same people behind slavery and opium were handed gratis sole control
over the fiat money that would soon engulf 26% of the world's land surface. What could possibly
go wrong?
The Bank of England itself, that's what went wrong. Another major financial crisis initiated
by the House of Hanover and its banker enablers' boom-bust magic formula was "solved" by
Parliament's Bank Act of 1844 that set a fictional amount of imaginary gold as a fabricated
"reserve" held in opaque "trust" and thereby "limited" the amount of fake fiat money the Bank
of England could issue out of thin air against its imaginary gold reserves, but excluded loans
to the public whose losses bothered no one in the House of Lords. The Bank Act worked so well
that by 1847 the Bank of England itself teetered on the brink of insolvency, so to retain their
special relationship, Parliament repealed the Bank Act of 1844 and now the Bank of England was
legally free again to print as much fiat money as it wanted. And so economic crises and near
collapse followed again from 1857-8, 1867-9, and 1873-96, each time fixed by Parliament with a
tweak here, and act there, and a new unenforced regulation or two. Thus following the 1833
grant of "legal tender" status, during their 67 years of 19th century money monopoly the House
of Hanover and its banker enablers gave the United Kingdom 32 years of recession, depression,
bankruptcy, and financial collapse. But despite its delivery record its special relationship
with Parliament continued into the 20th century where it once again found its raison
d'être – war funding.
One side benefit inadvertently derived from the never ending 19th century financial crises
precipitated by Bank of England fiat money mis-managers was Parliament spent so much time
dealing with economic problems at home and unrest in the colonies abroad that it had little
time to prosecute new European wars of attrition. With the Crimean War excepted, a sort of Pax
Decoctur gripped the United Kingdom's European aspirations as it focused on its Second
Industrial Revolution at home and small scale conflicts abroad to secure far flung provinces
against both people that mostly didn't use money and people that mostly did use opium. This
"Peace through Insolvency" enabled the United Kingdom to continuously reduce its national debt
without exception from a level of about 265% of GDP in 1820, down to around 40% of GDP at the
start of the 20th century. As a result, the House of Hanover and its banker enablers were able
to finally develop the "virtuous cycle" necessary for the proper function of a true fiat money
empire – the colonies ship raw materials to the home country and receive fiat money in
payment, the home country took those raw materials and produces value added manufactured goods,
then exported those manufactured goods back to the colonies that paid for these value added
goods with fiat money received from the sale of raw materials. All value added activities
remained in the home country, and with European populations increasing across the colonies,
this "virtuous cycle" generated economic "growth" and "profit" across the United Kingdom's
industrialized areas. However, these cheap raw materials from abroad also sealed the demise of
domestic producers, promoting urbanization at home that stagnated factory wages and led to
large scale emigration to the colonies abroad, both phenomena adding to the "virtuous cycle"
and increasing "value add" to those with access to capital and ownership of the means of
production.
A key component to this British "virtuous cycle" was the House of Hanover and its banker
enablers were able to capture the bulk of world raw material sales and thus expand its fiat
money empire outside the colonies by the process of commoditization. Large brokerage houses,
often controlled by subsidiaries of the Bank of England, bought and sold such huge quantities
of these raw materials on forward contracts that they were able to manipulate their prices.
These hedge purchases and sales not only provided trading income, but also ensured all
contracts were settled in Bank of England fiat money regardless of point of sale or purchase.
To squeeze even more profit from this "value chain", other Bank of England subsidiaries
expanded into corporate plantation holdings throughout the colonies, especially in India
following the 1862 Cotton Famine. This practice then spread to mining tenements following the
discovery of huge gold deposits throughout Australia and the annexation of the Transvaal. Thus
the vast majority of the "virtuous cycle" was captured and maximum "value" squeezed out the
entire "value chain" and into the hands of the House of Hanover and its banker enablers. And so
began a new line of exploitation for capitalism – the manipulation of commodity prices
via the coordinated bulk purchase and sale of these commodities in concert with the
manipulation of the "value" of fiat currency. Entire sectors of commodity production around the
world were sent into financial ruin by a coordinated attack from both the brokerages and Bank
of England monetary policy, these sectors bought nearly en toto for a shilling on the pound,
then pumped and dumped using the same coordinated mechanism but in the opposite directions.
Large swaths of entire industries like cotton, land, oil, wheat, coal, iron ore, et cetera
regularly passed into and out of the hands of the House of Hanover and its banker enablers
generating tremendous profits for them and debilitating losses for others.
At the dawn of the 20th century, capitalism had fully matured, sound money mercantile
banking no longer existed, and the magic formula had made the United Kingdom the most powerful
financial, economic, and political empire ever assembled. The covert secret formula however was
it had fought only one major European war – The Crimean War – since the defeat of
Napoleon, and since then the Exchequer had reduced its outstanding budget deficit relative to
GDP a full 85%. And for the first time in the fiat empire's history, it began delivering large
amounts of gold into the City of London Corporation. The sun never set on Britannia, it ruled
the waves, it had commoditized every basic raw material important to the Second Industrial
Revolution, and it had subjugated nearly every primary producer on the planet to its service
through price manipulated contracts denominated in Bank of England fiat money. The United
Kingdom was in a commanding position but had not yet proven itself as undisputed world military
power, and the German Empire was beginning to accumulate victories and influence on the
Continent. So it was inevitable that the egos in Parliament would go back to their old bad
habits of 100 years ago and start looking for a major fight to revive the "Glory of Britannia".
And thus began a 50 year effort to destroy the rising European star of Germany, with its
formidable military, efficient and technologically advanced industry, growing colonial empire,
and Hegelian guiding principles of "objectivity, truth, and ethical life" which now threatened
to not only swallow up and assimilate all the Germanic peoples of Europe, but to swallow up and
eliminate their privately owned central banks as well. The City of London Corporation would
tolerate no fiat money rival and Germany could not continue to grow unchecked in influence
– nigh, could not continue to exist – and put at risk ownership of the Bank of
England's magic money formula.
This is where the banking story of the United States merges with that of the House of
Hanover and its banker enablers. To its great credit, the United States had three times in its
early history repelled the external imposition of a privately owned central bank. After Andrew
Jackson allowed the Federal charter for the den of vipers – aka Second Bank of the United
States – to expire in 1837, the existing network of disunited state chartered banks grew
across the young country with the addition of every new state, each charter issuing its own
semi-fiat money backed by reserve requirements dictated by each state. Fiat money from the
states varied in exchange value and bank failures were common, but the distributed and
discretized nature of this Free Banking Era localized the crises and generally did not lead to
national economic disasters as did the regular and recurring management failures of the Bank of
England. It was during this laisse-faire period that the United States experienced incredible
growth of territory, population, political clout, and economic output, and the Federal Treasury
had financially strengthened to the point where the country had the temerity to negotiate for
territory, wage its own wars of conquest, and purchase new territories without serious economic
repercussion. With regards to banking it seemed the United States had found the magic money
formula by not finding the magic money formula and had instead wandered into a kind of balanced
budget quasi-capitalism where state charter banks issued local fiat money that few wanted as it
had to compete with the gold and silver specie put in circulation by the Federal Treasury. But
then every balanced budget just begs for a good war of attrition and that's exactly what came
next.
At the cusp of the American Civil War, the Bank of England had coopted the South into its
commoditized fiat empire as most of their raw cotton exports went to British textile mills.
Thus the Bank of England's fiat empire had crept quietly into America when the London
financiers gave full support to Confederate war funding by purchasing its heavily subscribed
and sterling denominated Cotton Bonds. To facilitate war funding at home, both the Union and
Confederacy resorted to fiat money issue, with the Confederacy printing greybacks and the Union
printing greenbacks. To enforce these new greenbacks as Union fiat money, Congress passed the
National Banking Act of 1863 establishing a system and network of national banks using a
uniform fiat money with a stipulated uniform fractional reserve requirement mandating these
banks purchase and hold US Treasury bills as "reserves". Both sides struggled with inflation,
but the Confederacy, if not defeated in battle, would likely have succumbed eventually to
inflation that by war's end ran at 9,000% of prewar levels rendering the greybacks effectively
worthless. But the old magic money formula of turning liabilities into assets worked just well
enough for the Union and with this National Banking Act their greenbacks replaced the former
hocus pocus uncoordinated sideshows from state charter bank fiat issue antics commonly backed
with no more than borrowed gold. Ironically, counterfeiting during the Civil War was a
persistent problem, so the National Banking Act not only removed gold convertibility and gold
and silver reserve requirements, but also established the United States Secret Service to
ensure the Union's new fake paper money was not fake fake paper money. And just like the
creation of its progenitor the Bank of England, greenbacks were only to be in circulation for a
limited time, which in 1878 became legally unlimited time but with the re-imposition of
convertibility into gold. America had officially entered into the world of capitalism, and for
the first time had a uniform national banking system under the control of the US Treasury using
a single fiat currency convertible into gold with a fractional reserve requirement. But the
greenback was finding itself more and more controlled by Wall Street proxies of the City of
London Corporation, Wall Street's influence was growing immensely within the US Congress, and
the bankers of the City of London Corporation had set their sights on gaining control of the
levers of America's new magic formula.
But full control of that magic formula would take some time to acquire as the American
people proved more intractable than the pliant Dickensian subjects of the City of London
Corporation. The weakened post bellum United States with its new national bank network, huge
Federal budget deficit, new fiat money empire throughout the defeated Confederate States, and
fast expanding Northern modern industrial base presented the City of London Corporation bankers
with proverbial low hanging fruit. After both sides weathered the depression caused by the
Panic of 1873, the City of London Corporation bankers' first salvo at usurping the American
money creation mechanism was the financially engineered Panic of 1893 where a coordinated
commodity price crash was timed with a run on the US Treasury gold holdings that nearly drew
down the country's entire gold reserve and sent the United States into prolonged depression.
But there's no depression a good war can't fix, so the politically popular 1898
Spanish-American War was prosecuted and with a quick victory the US spirits and economy sprang
back to life. The City of London Corporation bankers' initial crude efforts was thwarted, so a
second better organized salvo was launched in 1907, this time at the undertaking of Wall Street
proxies, complete with a ready-made plan to fix everything and paid agents ready in Congress to
promote the benevolence and virtue of the Money Trust. And to show the American people their
selfless good intentions, both J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller magnanimously gifted their
own money to acquire and "save" insolvent banks after the US Secretary of the Treasury secretly
pledged taxpayer bailout money should Morgan's and Rockefeller's bank investments fail. Wall
Street began its marketing campaign through Congress for the privatization of both the national
currency issue and monetary policy, promising America that once control of these powers passed
into secret hands all these recurring depressions caused by these very same secret hands would
immediately cease. But not all members of Congress were yet paid agents of Wall Street, and in
1913 the Pujo Committee released the results of its scathing Money Trust investigations. The
American public was in no mood to submit their sovereignty to the Wall Street Money Trust on
behalf of the City of London Corporation bankers, and time was running out for the bankers to
get America ensnared into their plans to deal with the new, powerful Continental upstart that
threatened the Bank of England's fiat empire gravy train – Germany.
The second half of the European 20th century following the brutal wars of unification saw
the Prussian state and its German coalition fiefdoms start to grind out military victories over
first Denmark and next Austria, but it wasn't until the German Empire coalesced after its
decisive and highly efficient defeat of world power France in 1871 that alarms began ringing in
the City of London Corporation. The German people, united under one state and the Hegelian
principles of "objectivity, truth, and ethical life", was one thing, but this Hegelian destiny
to unite all Germanic peoples under that state – including Germanic peoples living in
states with privately owned central banks – was another thing entirely. But the German
Empire with its sound monetary policy, advanced high tech ground based military capability, and
expanding colonial empire presented a formidable adversary, one that guaranteed mutually
assured destruction if challenged alone. Initial efforts to destabilize the German Empire from
within using communist agitators all fell flat as the German government enacted liberal labor
and social reforms blunting each new call for a general strike. Against this rising German
Empire stood a United Kingdom that had won just one major war in 85 years, was crawling out of
the 20 years Long Depression, and whose banks and investment houses were clear culprits in ever
recurring financial panic, one after the other, that had disastrously rippled throughout the
global economy. The limits of growth had been reached with the industrial-colonial model of the
British Empire, the system was devolving into stasis, and the Exchequer's budget deficit had
been reduced to the point where a new major war of attrition could now be prosecuted.
On the American home front the Jekyll Island conspiracy between the Wall Street proxies for
the City of London Corporation bankers and the US Congress had been in play since 1910. Its
success was a crucial step for the Exchequer to gain a reliable overseas source of credit and
for the Ministry of Defense to establish a supply chain prior to prosecuting its coming war of
attrition against the German Empire. It is likely these conspirators knew full well their plans
would commit the United States to not only massive war funding to Great Britain, but also pit
the Americans as enemy against whatever countries Parliament might declare war upon for the
"Glory of Britannia". So in practice, when Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act in August
1913 despite the Pujo Committee findings, it not only robbed the American people of control
over its monetary policy, but to a large extent robbed it of control over much of its foreign
policy as well. Thus this fateful act of betrayal to both American citizens and British
subjects joined the eventual downfall of the British fiat empire with an American commitment to
Endless Wars in defense of its coming fiat empire. This was a master stroke for the City of
London Corporation bankers that brought the Federal Reserve System into its cross ownership
nexus that now facilitated trans-continental coordination of both monetary and foreign policies
that assured aggregate coordinated outcomes always resulted in a net gain to the City of London
Corporation bankers, regardless of which side of the Atlantic experienced victory or defeat.
And this new Federal Reserve System was isolated from all direct European land based military
threats and had the ability to create huge quantities of fiat money adsorbed by a brand new tax
base within the expanding American industrial economy which was now inescapably locked into
ever growing Federal debt by the XVI Amendment. Thus not since the fall of Troy had a free and
independent people willingly invited such unseen dangers into their midst, and by subterfuge
the Federal Reserve Act ended 137 years of fierce American independence with a single
unconscionable law and just 30 words contained in a new constitutional amendment.
Within four years of the Federal Reserve Act's passage, the City of London Corporation
bankers were victorious, the German Empire crushed absolutely, and the flame of "objectivity,
truth, and ethical life" extinguished. There would be no consolidation of the Germanic peoples
under a single state controlled central bank, and no challenge to the Bank of England's control
over its fiat empire. The costs were staggering – 20 million dead, 21 million injured,
1.2 million Queen's subjects killed, USD $3.2 trillion. Despite these losses, the combined
ownership nexus of the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve System saw the City of London
Corporation bankers in an even more powerful position that before the war, and for the first
time since wresting control of the world reserve currency from France in 1815, the Bank of
England began to share this status with the United States dollars it also controlled. And to
ensure the permanent dominance of the Federal Reserve System and avoid any resurrection of
populist economic policy threats like the Free Silver Movement, or for that matter, to forever
eliminate serious economic policy discussion from public debate, in 1920 Congress ratified the
XIX Amendment. Accumulated post-WWI budget deficits on both sides of the Atlantic ballooned
– the Exchequer's climbed from a prewar 20% of GDP to 180%, and the Treasury's increased
from 10% to 40% of GDP, with both countries finding themselves in the usual post-war
recessions. Time to fire up the post-war printing presses – but this time, only on the
other side of the Atlantic as the City of London Corporation had grand plans for its new
American vassal.
And for all that post-war M2 fiat money now flooding into America – from a total of
$18 billion circulating in 1915 to $47 billion in 1929 – the United States got things
like flappers, guys going over waterfalls in barrels, jazz clubs, ultra-rich organized crime
families, a mass entertainment industry, and through that cultural miasma somehow managed to
build thousands of factories, make millions of cars, pave thousands of miles of roads, erect
skyscrapers, and electrify cities. But the average Queen's subject didn't even get so much as
an extra helping of pudding. What were the Roaring 20s in America, where industrial and service
jobs abounded with the flood of fiat money created out of thin air, were more like the Boring
20s in the United Kingdom, where the printing presses remained idle and recession and mass
unemployment were the order of the decade. But then under orders from the City of London
Corporation bankers the Federal Reserve System raised interest rates from 4% to 6%, and
suddenly the jazz music stopped, the flappers quit flapping, and the bills for all that art
deco came due in October 1929. We all know the story of what happened next.
One side benefit of the Great Depression in the United States was so many people were
unemployed that few paid income taxes, so Congress could not immediately start a new war of
attrition to right the ship of finance at Wall Street's behest. Learned advisors first had to
resort to their old bag of tricks with a tweak here, a Congressional rider there, a new
regulation or two, and even introduced the new academic driven massive Keynesian make-work
stimulus programs. Nothing worked no matter how rarefied or how many respected monetary
scientists offered lofty solutions, so with the Federal Reserve insolvent and out of gold,
President Roosevelt resorted to the old goldsmith shakedown tactic and issued Executive Order
6102 in April 1933, followed by Congress and its Gold Reserve Act of January 1934. The EO
effectively confiscated all gold in the United States, gave it to the privately owned Federal
Reserve System at $20.67 per troy ounce, removed the gold standard again, then raised the gold
price to $35 a troy ounce and began printing massive amounts of pure fiat money. That gave the
appearance of working, and industrial output slowly rose to greater than 1929 pre-crash gold
standard levels entirely on the back of the inflation unleashed by pure fiat issuance until
everything collapsed again in 1937. It began to look more and more like the fog of war was the
only solution to pull America out of this depression and unbeknownst to most, the country had
been rearming itself since early 1940, nearly two years before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The United Kingdom was in serious economic trouble too, having spent the entirety of the
1920s in deep recession and now hopelessly mired in a depression it could not shake. The old
18th century playbook would have to be dusted off, but at a great cost – financial
destruction of the British Empire and sacrifice of the Bank of England for the greater good of
the City of London Corporation's central bank cross ownership nexus. Starting in the early
1920s, the City of London Corporation bankers had recalled their communists to kick in the
teeth and pick whatever flesh was remaining from the bones of the Weimar Republic, and the now
worthless Reichsbank was put to work printing up never before seen hyper-inflation. These
actions not only plunged Germany into the economic stone ages, but deprived nexus owned Bank of
France of war reparations desperately needed to modernize its industrial base. Such was the
threat posed by even the remains of a German Empire that such actions were deemed acceptable
losses so long as "objectivity, truth, and ethical life" were sent to the unequivocal dustbin
of history. Now, on its knees before the world's creditors and on the brink of devolving into a
failed state, Germany was needed once again by these same creditors – and needed fast by
Great Britain. Despite having few natural resources within its borders, Germany's military
machine would be resurrected from the dead and come roaring back with a vengeance on a mission
to once again unite all Germanic peoples under the banner of a revisionist version of
"objectivity, truth, and ethical life", and it could only do that through the magic formula of
central banking foreign credit.
Within six years of Hitler's ascension to the German Chancellery, Wall Street and the City
of London Corporation bankers had financed the greatest mechanized military ever assembled
– the Wehrmacht. The Dawes plan of 1924 had initiated the linkage between German industry
and Wall Street finance for which the American banker Charles G. Dawes shared the 1925 Nobel
Peace Prize. Under the Dawes Plan, prior to the 1929 crash, the Weimar Republic had paid its
war reparations not to France or England, but to a consortium of Wall Street investment banks.
This Dawes Plan gave Germany a life-sustaining infusion of US dollar credit that would in
theory produce trade that would hypothetically generate customs and excise taxes that were
surmised to eventually go towards war reparations to England and France. But then Hitler
repudiated the Versailles Treaty, and the Gold Reserve Act allowed millions more pure fiat US
dollars to flow out of Wall Street to their agents in "neutral" Stockholm and into the Nazi
controlled Deutsche Reichsbank. Wall Street and the City of London Corporation loved Hitler and
the House of Windsor openly saluted him. Nazism was to be a great boon to the trans-Atlantic
financiers as Hitler would devoured the expendable and unprofitable Slavic peoples and ensured
a never ending stream of new revenue with every eastern conquest. It was a foolproof plan
– the Atlantic Ocean was wide, the Kriegsmarine small, the Luftwaffe would run out of gas
before it arrived over New York City, and the communist martyrs installed in Russia would put
up a fierce and expensive fight until Lebensraum ran out of room. But what Wall Street had not
figured into its equations was that Hitler would sign an Anti-Comintern Pact, a Phony War would
transform into a hot war, and another go at uniting all the Germanic peoples of Europe would
commence under the new banner of Blut und Boden. The City of London Corporation bankers would
have to fix this Wall Street mess themselves and call up the blue blooded true believers, those
who existed for one purpose and one purpose only – the "Glory of Britannia".
We all know the story of what happened next and how WWII dragged in the entire central bank
cross ownership nexus to secure victory for the "Glory of Churchill". But for all the tens of
thousands of pages published in the learned journal tomes, there is not one observation made
how the Federal Reserve System failed to deliver the expectations sold to America that it would
end the boom-bust cycles inherent under post bellum 19th century quasi-capitalism. There was
not one erudite call to re-examine the "special relationship" now cemented between Congress and
the Federal Reserve System, and not one monetary scientist noticed the Federal Reserve System
cross ownership nexus came out of the Great Depression – the depression it created
– more powerful than when it entered. Instead, the world got lofty excuses like The
General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money proclaiming that more of the same failures
would make everything indubitably jolly good. Not one political scientist noticed the Great
Depression was used to eliminate banks not in favor with the elite ownership hierarchy within
the trans-Atlantic central bank cross ownership nexus. And, not one scholarly paragraph
examined how depressions are, and have always been, financially engineered mechanisms to
destroy competitor banks and consolidate increasing power into a handful of fewer banks owned
by a shrinking secret ownership pool.
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With the conclusion of WWII, the Exchequer was broke as it had issued such an immense
quantity of debt to finance the war that it could never be repaid without resorting to harsh
austerity measures at home that would threaten social unrest during a period of national
weakness. But with the Bank of England in control of monetary policy, any semblance of economic
recovery would be impossible, so after 252 years of their "special relationship", Parliament
made the only logical choice available to it and in 1946 the Bank of England was nationalized
and played no further dominant role in world capitalism. But the central bank cross ownership
nexus made out just fine as the Bank of England wiggled out of holding the bag on all those
unpayable war debts as the nationalization dumped them onto the backs of the Queen's subjects
in another miraculous "heads they win, tails you lose" event. Thus 1946 begins the British
period of state controlled capitalism that was in effect a transition period into
de-industrialization where large segments of its economy were nationalized to ensure they were
not revived through modernization and thus would never be placed into competition with industry
in the United States or other European countries that were using their post-WWII rebuilding
programs to modernize their industries.
After both the Bank of England and Bank of France were lost to nationalizations, Wall Street
tool the pre-eminent role within the central bank cross ownership nexus and got straight to
work on elevating the US dollar to the status of undisputed world reserve currency, thus ending
the 130 year run of the pound sterling.
And a modern world reserve currency needed a colonial fiat empire, so the United States
started with Western Europe via the Anglo-American Loan Agreement of 1946 and later the
Marshall Plan of 1948 to kick off its "virtuous cycle". The Russian financial system remained
unchanged, and it absorbed Eastern Europe into its new expanded fiat empire. Thus, the true
winners at the cessation of hostilities from a purely financial perspective were the United
States and the Soviet Union.
In 1951 during the fog of the Korean War and with the Secretary of the Treasury in the
hospital, the Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury – not Congress – handed the
power to set interest rates independently of government economic policy entirely to the Federal
Reserve System. Like the original Federal Reserve Act, this additional power grab was sold to
the American people on the premise the privately owned Federal Reserve System would "tame
inflation" and "foster economic stability without responding to short-term political pressure".
This single act by an adjutant set the stage for the Federal Reserve System to wield incredible
power over government policy and essentially hold Congress to ransom, where although the US
Treasury was responsible for raising government money, the privately owned Federal Reserve
System was now responsible for setting that money's price paid to it for creating it out of
thin air. So the Federal Reserve System now had the power to create or destroy national wealth
by reducing or raising interest rates and there was no legal stipulation for whom their
policies should benefit. Thus unbeknownst to the American people, this unnecessary power
relinquishment was, in effect, the crucial piece that would set the stage for enabling the
financialization of the America economy.
Post-WWII capitalism under the American fiat leadership functioned much like it did prior to
the war except where the fiat empire was concerned. Instead of conquest and physical occupation
of resource rich lands and filling these lands up with colonists, the United States resorted to
a proxy conquest model where it initiated coup d'états, assassinations, foreign
espionage, fraudulent elections, and foreign propaganda campaigns to install pliable dictators
and friendly juntas. These leaders were amicable to pursuing "growth" policies, allowed
American military bases on their soil, and had no qualms about crushing dissent at home or
piling billions of US dollar denominated debt onto the heads of their citizenry. In exchange
for their compliance, these dictators and juntas were kept in power with generous foreign aid
packages, and they in turn doled out lucrative resource development concessions, purchased US
made military hardware, and awarded contracts to US corporations for industrial, civil, and
defense projects. In a new twist on colonization, many of these American proxy conquests
created large numbers of emigres into the United States and provided a mechanism to ensure the
consumer base at home continued to grow and devour excess production capacity as American
living standards rose and native born birth rates declined. A new "virtuous cycle" evolved
whereby industry in the conquered fiat empire eventually began to generate export income sold
into the US dollar denominated commodity markets, and those US dollars returned to the United
States to purchase US value added exports and services. And to secure this new "virtuous
cycle", in 1947 the Central Intelligence Agency was born out of the National Security Act, and
it quickly evolved into its main directive of waging clandestine foreign hybrid wars to
consolidate and grow the American fiat empire, install and keep friendly governments investing
in US exports – especially military equipment – and defeat the competing Soviet
fiat money empire. Thus with its responsibility of maintaining its new global fiat empire, the
United States entered into its historical phase of Endless War.
The United Kingdom on the other hand could no longer afford control over its fiat empire as
it had no viable value added export capability at war's end and thus its "virtuous cycle"
stopped functioning. It instead resorted to de-colonialization, but only in terms of physical
land holdings. The City of London Corporation bankers either kept effective control over these
former colonies' new central banking systems or was its primary beneficiary, and in either case
it retained the majority of financial profits derived from these newly created banking systems.
This "de-colonized" banking model was similar to the false "independence" of the Federal
Reserve System, but here the City of London Corporation bankers retained control through
majority stock ownership of the member banks that comprised the new banking systems. In the
English speaking constitutional monarchies where the serious financial profits were generated,
an additional failsafe was guaranteed by the Queen's appointment of Governor Generals who could
– and once did in Australia – sack recalcitrant duly elected governments that did
not put the City of London Corporation's interests above those of their own people.
One post-WWII change with huge repercussions to American capitalism was the US dollar
denomination takeover of global commodities trade from the pound sterling. As world population
and industrialization increased and Western Europe crept back into consumer manufacturing, the
volume of forward contracts traded in dollars grew in step. However, all that American
ingenuity put into its fiat empire's "virtuous cycle" began to work too well in the Middle East
and North African oil sectors. By 1965 the combined dollar revenues received from new oil
exports, taken together with all Western European dollar revenue streams, were greater than
what the US domestic export capacity could absorb through its "virtuous cycle". Instead of
buying US value added exports, these surplus overseas dollars went searching for investments
and with limited low risk opportunities available, they eventually found the US Treasury Gold
Window. The 1934 Gold Reserve Act had ended domestic dollar convertibility into physical gold
but not international convertibility, which was retained as per the Bretton Woods agreement,
and during the second half of the 1960s these foreign dollars began to drain the US Treasury of
its gold reserves. Despite the gold rush, the US Treasury held its official exchange price
constant at $35 an ounce – the same price set after the depression era Gold Reserve Act.
When the House of Rothschild finally raised the gold price in 1968, it signaled US gold
reserves were in decline and prompted frenzied buying from Western Europe up until the day that
American capitalism ended.
Western society is extremely destructive and self-destructive. At a time when humanity
abandoned matriarchy even before the new era, feminism is flourishing in the West.
Homosexuality was the cause of the fall of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, but in the West
it is believed that after 2 thousand years it is still supposedly fashionable. Back at the
beginning of the 6th century BC. e.
Solon decreed to punish any adult male found in the premises of a school where young boys and
girls studied. However, in the West, pedophilia still flourishes and the Lolita Express
runs.
Western decrepit pedophile elites deserve a replacement and a kick in the ***! The West will
fall just like the depraved, pedophilic, homosexual Ancient Rome fell. No huge amount of
money and no huge army will save the West. Why do you need to save yourself? What would be
the next generation of soulless and godless pedophiles, homosexuals and money-gamblers? Why
do you need money if you sold your soul?
HoodRatKing , 1 hour ago
I believe the 3rd world doesn't need a constitution to shoot weapons at the bankers... Some are quite good at it too!
Talk about a cut and paste Job. This article has so many inaccuracies that I would need to
write a book to refute them. Unlike CHS I don't write endlessy to flog eBooks on line while
begging for donations to constantly advertise myself. I don't want to bore anyone with an
endless monologue to counter some of the huge errors in this article. I am just stunned he
can chuck this out when it is truly shoddy.
The guy is very bright and he usually writes very well, but this article from him is an
utter mess.
Krinkle Sach , 3 hours ago
This generation
Rules the nation
With version
Music happen to be the food of love
Sounds to really make you rub and scrub
I say
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side (I say)
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side
It a go bun, give me music, make me jump and prance
It a go dung, give me the music, make me rockin' at the dance (Jah know!)
It was a cool and lonely breezy afternoon
(How does it feel when you got no food?)
You could feel it 'cause it was the month of June
(How does it feel when you got no food?)
So I left my gate and went out for a walk
(How does it feel when you got no food?)
As I pass the dreadlocks' camp I heard them say
(How does it feel when you got no food?)
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side (I say)
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side
It a go bun, give me music, make me jump and prance
It a go dung, give me the music, make me rockin' at the dance (Jah know!)
So I stopped to find out what was going on
(How does it feel when you got no food?)
'Cause the spirit of Jah, you know he leads you on
(How does it feel when you got no food?)
There was a ring of dreads and a session was there in swing
(How does it feel when you got no food?)
You could feel the chill as I seen and heard them say
(How does it feel when you got no food?)
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side (I say)
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side
It a go bun, give me music, make me jump and prance
It a go dung, give me the music, make me rockin' at the dance (Jah know!)
'Cause me say listen to the drummer, me say listen to the bass
Give me little music make me wind up me waist
Me say listen to the drummer, me say listen to the bass
Give me little music make me wind up me waist, I say
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side (I say)
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side
It a go bun, give me music, make me jump and prance
It a go dung, give me the music, make me rockin' at the dance (Jah know!)
You play it on the radio
And so me say, we a go hear it on the stereo
And so me know you a go play it on the disco
And so me say we a go hear it on the stereo (bow!)
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side (I say)
Pass the dutchie 'pon the left hand side
It a go bun, give me music, make me jump and prance
It a go dung, give me the music, make me rockin' at the dance (Jah know!)
On the left hand side (I say)
On the left hand side (I say)
On the left hand side
(We meet) On the left hand side (say man)
On the left hand side
Me say east, say west, say north and south (on the left hand side)
This is gonna really make us jump and shout (on the left hand side)
Me say east, say west, say north and south (on the left hand side)
Not sure if this passes ZH / United States Censors:
Those who studied recent-Ancient History - Plato or Socrates - shall understand
Athens.
Athens ( Greece ) domination over 200 plus city states. Athens was the center where the
Wealthiest Families of Planet Earth resided at the time. Athens is where the 200 plus city
states paid their tribute (taxes) for Military Protection and maintenance of basic civil
human-to-human peaceful exchanges. Athens Wealthy fed and protected the 200 plus city
states.
The elites in Italy, the Medici's provided food, clothing, housing and other to the
general populations - all this easily understood including the Medici Parties for the entire
town for free!
Those of yester years did not: take the wealth they dug from Planet Earth, put it in their
pockets, then later put the wealth back into Planet Earth, that wealth is here today.
Plus new wealth is created.
FIRST LIST - UPPER CLASS
Here is a brief Modern List of "The Elites" "The Globalists" "The Powers That Be (TPTB)"
that feed, clothe, house, and entertain the populations encased this larger Western World
Superstructure:
* Rothschild Family of Paris
* Warburg Family of Hamburg
* Lazard Family of Paris
* Israel Moses Seif Family of Rome
* Goldman / Sachs Family
* Rockefeller Family
* Lehman Family
* Kuhn Loeb Family of New York
These families similar to the ultra-wealthy families in Athens give everyone food,
clothing, shelter, cities, education, and everything one has or knows others have.
These are the New Athens Families of the Western World on Planet Earth.
The reader has a very difficult time enjoying the fact the reader is a Common Ordinary
Pedestrian Modern Peasant whose existence is sustained by the Super Ultra Wealthy as in the
days of Athens where nameless faceless common folk depended on similar Super Ultra Wealthy to
merely survive day-to-day.
Without these Super Ultra Wealthy Families - "The Elites" or "The Globalists" or "The
Powers That Be (TPTB)" - on the afore list, dominating other Human Populations on Planet
Earth, most reading would be starving To Death existing during a pitiless life in less than
abject poverty.
2020: 178 Nation-States use the New Families of the Western World on Planet Earth
"Reserve" Currency to pay Tribute for Military Protection and Trade and Simple Sustenance -
fed and protected. Whole cities would cease to exist, the electricity, gas, and tap water
would stop flowing immediately.
The mass illusions provided by the Athens-like Super Ultra Wealthy Western World Families'
Personal Servants are imaginative and entertaining.
Common ZH Readers would have a very, very difficult time conceiving through the Haze the
reader is nothing more than a Dependent Common Ordinary Pedestrian Modern Peasant because of
the Haze.
Lessee - remove the Haze of the Super Ultra Wealthy Western World Families and see their
Servants:
SECOND LIST - MIDDLE CLASS
United States Government(s) / Economy is Infected and Infested with Middle Eastern
Arabs:
United States Federal Reserve Branch: BERNANKE, YELEN, ROSENGREN, GREENSPAN, et al.
United States Military Branch: WOLFOWITZ, WILLIAM "BILL" KRISTOL, ROBERT KAGAN, RICHARD
"****" N. PERLE, VICTORIA NULAND, ELLIOTT ABRAMS, ELIOT A. COHEN, AARON FRIEDBERG, I. LEWIS
SCOOTER LIBBY, NORMAN PODHORETZ, PETER W. RODMAN, STEPHEN P. ROSEN, MARK GERSON, RANDY
SCHEUNEMANN, et al.
United States Judicial Branch: MUELLER, ROSENSTEIN, WASSERMAN, HOROWITZ, BADER, GOLDMAN,
WEISMAN et al.
United States National Medical:
Deputy Attorney General ROD ROSENSTEIN's SISTER: The United States Center For Disease Control
(CDC), Atlanta, Georgia, United States, Dr. Nancy Messonnier (Nanc married a white) et
al.
United States Political (in ur face):
BLOOMBERG, SANDERS, STEYER, et al.
Add Commercial Real Estate: SAM ZELL, COOPERMAN, SILVERSTEIN Properties, and
Middle-Men.
The afore are all from the Middle East.
Middle Eastern Arabs are J's by a different name - same.
Now there is clearer focus for the Dependent Common Ordinary Pedestrian Modern Peasant ZH
Reader. Less Haze.
THIRD LIST - LOWER CLASS
The Second List afore controls these Democrats and Republican Party Gang Member
Servants.
Party Member Servants: "vote" to appear to control the United States Federal, State,
County, City, Town, Village Governments. For example:
United States House of Representatives,
United States Senate,
United States Judicial,
United States Executive,
- Democrats and Republicans -
all signed the papers to transfer
United States Intellectual Property,
United States Agriculture,
United States Financial Services,
United States Technology Transfer (Patents, Software Code, Aero/Astro -nautical, et al.),
United States Currency and Foreign Exchange, and Other
to China.
FOURTH LIST - PEASANT CLASS
* Lifetime Debt - give me house, gimme car, gimme food, gimme water, gimme clothes.
Wherefore art thou u?
Thomas Paine you rascal!
conraddobler , 1 hour ago
What's going on is painfully obvious. It has been for decades, nothing is done except to
continue taking it up another notch. When it all collapses those who set the fire will show
up to sell fire insurance.
Nothing will ever change.
People will breathlessly bow down before those who caused the mess, anything to get some
access to more debt at low rates.
Since the largest threat facing the country is white supremacists, according to FBI Director
Chris Wray and Homeland Security acting chief
Tom Wolf , the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to provide $10 million in grants
to organizations which combat 'far-right extremism and white supremacy , ' according to the
Wall Street Journal .
The department's Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention program will fund groups such as
Life After Hate - founded by reformed white supremacists, which helps people trying to do the
same. Another group, the School of Communication at American University, will develop a
strategy to combat disinformation 'circulated by the far right online,' and others. Life After
Hate was awarded nearly $750,000, while the School of Communication received a $500,000
grant.
One of the largest grants, nearly $750,000, went to Life After Hate, which was founded by
former white supremacists and neo-Nazis and works with people trying to leave violent
far-right movements. The group was first awarded funding under the Obama-era program but had
its grant rescinded soon after Mr. Trump took office. -
Wall Street Journal
Life After Hate says they will use the funding for its ExitUSA initiative. Executive
director Sammy Rangel says their work "has never been more important," adding "This project
follows years of innovation in a space that was largely uncharted."
Another group, the Counter Extremism Project, was awarded $277,755 to collaborate with
Parallel Networks, which works with inmates at a San Diego County correctional facility who
adhere to both white supremacist of jihadi ideology .
When we hear discussions today about imperial 'conquests' and 'takeovers,' the natural
assumption is that some form of military aggression is being alluded to. Yet that's not always
the case. In fact, attacks on national traditions are occurring every single day on the social
and cultural fronts, and it should come as no surprise that America is the driving force behind
this juggernaut.
Presently, the US is undergoing a radical transformation the likes of which the world has
never seen. Across the country, liberal progressives, captivated by the allure of 'wokeness'
and extreme social justice, are overturning the 'natural order of things' by placing minorities
and their controversial movements to the front of the serving line. This can be witnessed, for
example, by the almost fanatical promotion of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and queer) community, which has its own flag, gratuitous corporate
sponsorship, and even the entire month of June set aside in its honor.
Perhaps the most provocative part of this movement, however, involves the idea of
transgender, which postulates that the sex of a biological male or female is not determined by
its genitalia, but rather by what each individual person feels. Personally, I have no problem
with any adult who accepts such beliefs, even if they wish to submit to a sex-change operation.
The problem, however, is when the wants and desires of a miniscule segment of the population
begin to adversely affect those of the majority. It seems we have reached that point.
Just this week, for example, California Governor Gavin Newsom
signed a law requiring authorities to house transgender inmates based on their gender
identity. The law forbids the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from
denying such requests solely based on the inmates' anatomy, sexual orientation or "a factor
present" (i.e. female inmates) at the facility. This echoes legislation put forward by
former president Barack Obama in 2016 that threatened to cut funding to any public school that
refused to let transgender students use the bathrooms matching their chosen gender identity.
Upon entering office in 2017, Donald Trump, taking a cue from the social warriors' playbook, '
canceled ' the
legislation.
The controversy surrounding this one US cultural issue, as well as numerous others, is meant
to illustrate a point: if the American people themselves cannot agree on such radical concepts,
why are Americans slowly but surely forcing them on the world?
Thanks to America's undying belief in its 'exceptional' character, it has deemed itself the
arbiter as to what values the world should hold dear, democracy be damned. Last year, for
example, in a bid to curry favor with the radical leftists inside of the Democratic Party, Joe
Biden, who could end up being the next US president, said he would "curtail foreign
assistance to countries" who do not uphold the values of the LGBTQ community, and
regardless if they clash with the traditions and beliefs of the country in question. The former
vice president was also quoted as saying he would establish an office in the State Department
with the job of promoting LGBTQ rights around the world .
This sort of sex-based foreign policy, however, is not solely the domain of the Democratic
Party. In April, Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence in the
Trump government, said
the US would consider the possibility of not sharing intelligence with countries that
discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender lifestyles. Not only is that an
obscene amount of meddling in the affairs of foreign states, which borders on blackmail, it
could throw an potentially dangerous monkey wrench into the world of espionage.
Maybe if Uncle Sam would spend less time policing the world's bedrooms, it would discover
that not every nation agrees with its homegrown cultural experiments.
Consider the issue of homosexuality and same-sex marriages, for example. A recent survey by
Pew
showed that the world continues to remain very much divided on the matter. While many
countries in the western hemisphere show a high acceptance of such lifestyles, the more
conservative countries in the East generally do not share those sentiments. For example, 72
percent of the US population said they accept homosexuality, whereas in distant Ukraine just 14
percent agreed.
Such polls, however, can be very misleading. In Russia, for example, which also shows 14
percent acceptance rates, there is no legislation on the books outlawing homosexuality, as has
been recklessly reported in
the Western media. Instead, Russia passed a law in 2013 ( "For the Purpose of Protecting
Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values" ) that
works to prevent the "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships" among minors.
In other words, let's wait until children are 18 to begin such heavy conversations. All things
considered, this seems to be a very reasonable idea, and one that conforms to Russian
traditions. Yet the US establishment simply wrote it off as "anti-gay."
Meanwhile, back in the gold-paved streets of America, many children are learning about
alternative sexual lifestyles in grade school, occasionally with the help of 'drag queen story
time' at the local library. At the same time, an increasing number of adolescents, with the
full support of the psychiatric community, are being allowed to start 'gender-transitioning'
operations – which many of these youngsters live to
regret later, and there is little chance of 'turning back.'
The main point, however, is that although other countries may have severe reservations over
such radical new practices, ultimately it comes down to the choice of the American people
whether to continue with them or not. After all, that's what democracy is all about –
respecting those ideas, however strange they may seem to outsiders, that a people hold dear.
The US, however, does not seem ready to play by such rules as it continuously pushes its
version of the 'new world order.'
Just like the American people, the emotion-fueled woke train is bearing down not only on the
United States, but the entire world. And with the crackdown on open democratic debate, as
witnessed at the most unlikely of places – from US college campuses to the increasingly
totalitarian world of social media – many people will be powerless to stop the onslaught.
After all, if the United States forbids its own people from questioning the wisdom of the brave
new woke world, foreign countries should not expect any special favors either.
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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
"... AP is hardly the Ministry of Truth, dictating Newspeak under the penalty of torture. As it turns out, it doesn't have to be. A bit of updated style – and thought – guidance announced on Twitter from time to time will do. ..."
Used as the journalism Bible by most English-language media, the AP Stylebook has updated its guidance for employing the word 'riot,'
citing the need to avoid "stigmatizing" groups protesting "for racial justice."
While acknowledging the dictionary definition of riot as a "wild or violent disturbance of the peace," AP said the word
somehow "suggests uncontrolled chaos and pandemonium."
Worse yet, "Focusing on rioting and property destruction rather than underlying grievance has been used in the past to stigmatize
broad swaths of people protesting against lynching, police brutality or for racial justice " the Stylebook account tweeted on
Wednesday.
The claim that something has been used in the past in a racist way has already led to banishing many English terms to the Orwellian
"memory hole." It certainly appears the AP is trying to do the same with "riot" now.
Instead of promoting precision, the Stylebook is urging reporters to use euphemisms such as "protest" or "demonstration."
It advises "revolt" and "uprising" if the violence is directed "against powerful groups or governing systems,"
in an alarming shift in focus from what is being done towards who is doing it to whom .
There is even a helpful suggestion to use "unrest" because it's "a vaguer, milder and less emotional term for a condition
of angry discontent and protest verging on revolt."
Translated to plain English, this means a lot more mentions of "unrest" and almost no references to "riot," in media
coverage going forward, regardless of how much actual rioting is happening.
Mainstream media across the US have already gone out of their way to avoid labeling what has unfolded since the death of George
Floyd in May as "riots." Though protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota turned violent within 48 hours, before spreading to other
cities across the US – and even internationally – the media continued calling them "peaceful" and "protests for racial
justice."
Yet in just the first two weeks of the riots, 20 people have been killed and the property damage has
exceeded $2 billion , according
to insurance estimates – the highest in US history.
AP is no stranger to changing the language to better comport to 'proper' political sensitivities. At the height of the riots in
June, the Stylebook decided to capitalize"Black" and "Indigenous" in a "racial, ethnic or cultural sense."
A month later, the expected decision
to leave "white" in lowercase was justified by saying that "White people in general have much less shared history and culture,
and don't have the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color."
Moreover, "Capitalizing the term 'white,' as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs,"
wrote AP's vice-president for standards John Daniszewski.
The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, as its full name goes, has effectively dictated the tone of English-language
outlets around the world since it first appeared in 1953. It is also required reference material in journalism schools.
So when it embraces vagueness over precision and worrying about "suggestions" and "subtly conveying" things over
plain meaning, that rings especially Orwellian – in both the '1984' sense of censoring speech and thought and regarding the corruption
of language the author lamented in his famous 1946
essay 'Politics and the English language.'
AP is hardly the Ministry of Truth, dictating Newspeak under the penalty of torture. As it turns out, it doesn't have to be.
A bit of updated style – and thought – guidance announced on Twitter from time to time will do.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent
those of RT.
Nebojsa Malic is a Serbian-American journalist, blogger and translator, who wrote a regular column for Antiwar.com from
2000 to 2015, and is now senior writer at RT. Follow him on Twitter @NebojsaMalic
"... The reason that the "mainstream" parties are in decline is that they are no longer willing to represent the interests of ordinary people. Both are the captives of special interest groups ..."
"... What I see happening seems to me to be less explained by Hannah Arendt than by Eric Hoffer in his book The True Believer. ..."
"... They are not accepting an evil, just banality of evil that goes unrecognized as evil for its very banality. They see the extremes, and as Hoffer wrote they are drawn by that extreme; that is the very appeal of it, not just something they excuse as if banal. ..."
The one thing I see in Maoist China, Nazi Germany and Czarist Russia/Soviet Union is that "freedom was curtailed" and the government
cracked down on "law and order." If you look at the intimidation tactics of individuals, couples, families at restaurants and
the assassinations of Police Officers, the violent riots, arson and looting in american cities you can see the justification for
the government to "crack down on freedoms" and restore "law and order" similar to Maoist China and Pre-War Germany but for different
reasons and justifications. If you look at the lefts handling of the Chinese biological weapon of terrorism COVID19 and the resulting
lock down of the economy and the enforced government closing of churches, synagogues and mosques then you can see similarities
in Maoist China, Nazi Germany and Bolshevik/Stalinist Soviet Union (and its satellites) but for different reasons and different
justifications.
-The radical elements pushing for civil war and revolution in the US arent reacting to hunger or the economy as they did in
Germany or Russia.
-The radical elements pushing for civil war and revolution in the US are fundamentally Marxist and are using feminism to pit
men and women against one another, to destroy marriage and family to abort children. Marxists are using Gay Rights to pit sexual
orientation of gays against sexual orientation of straights. Marxists are using the prejudice of minorities against the whites.
Marxists are again pitting poor against rich. Marxists fracture society into entitled and embittered tribes. Radical elements
are pushing for reparations and re-indoctrination as well as civil war and revolution. This is very close to the tactics of Maoist
China and it has been proven that George Soros and Peoples Republic of China are financing Antifa and Black Lives Matters..China
was too weak to fight the Maoist Communists so many fled to Taiwan. Russians were bribed to revolt against the Czar and put the
Bolsheviks into power. Germans were desperate and the Pre-Nazi government was to weak to restore the economy. Americans aren't
desperate. Americans are rich fat entitled and ridden with guilt for their blessings to the point where they are self destructive
so Americans dont have motivational similarities to the Germans or the Russians for revolution.
Strong Correlation to today
Todays indoctrination youth with their rabid faces and penchant for violence remind me much more of indoctrinated Maoists destroying
Chinese culture, attacking Chinese business owners and property owners to enforce a Cultural Revolution.
There was a fairly large economic diaspora during the Reagan years, as the heavy manufacturing (steel) and assembly (auto)
factories in what became know as the Rust Belt closed down and people moved South and West for better opportunities. (One of the
results of that diaspora s the nationwide popularity of the Pittsburgh Steelers, as thousands upon thousands of fans left western
PA and moved elsewhere but maintained their loyalty.)
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction
between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards
of thought) no longer exist."
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Now, is it the right or left that is more anti-science and anti-fact? Who lies to us more, the right or left? Check PolitiFact
or any other reasonably balanced fact checker before you answer (No, Media Matters doesn't count). Which party's leader said:
"Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what's happening,"
I mean neither have a clean slate here, they are human and are politicians, too. But Trump's avalanche of lies and unsupported
claims in Tuesday's "debate" makes it ridiculous to argue that Trump is on the side of fact, truth, and evidence.
Bingo. I live in an overwhelmingly liberal suburb of NYC. This place is sleepier than Mayberry. My wallet (with over $200 inside)
slipped out of my pocket while I was riding my bike. The police had called me to pick it up before I even realized that it was
missing.
Last week a two motorized skateboards were stolen, and someone shoplifted 5 cigars from the local tobacconist.
There is little sexual adventurism, no visible celebrations of perversion, and sexuality is largely a private matter. If you
told an off-color sexual joke at the local bar, you'd likely be asked to leave.
For a guy who cautions against living by lies, Rod would do well to engage some social and intellectual elites on a regular
basis. Visit places like Potomac, Maryland, or Princeton, New Jersey, or Swampscott, Massachusetts. The reality is that it's out
in "Christian America" that all of this stuff is running rampant.
"Democratic norms are under strain in many industrialized nations, with the support for mainstream parties of left and
right in decline."
The reason that the "mainstream" parties are in decline is that they are no longer willing to represent the interests of
ordinary people. Both are the captives of special interest groups (ethnic minorities and the radical Left in the case of
the Dems, and corporations and wealthy individuals in the case of the GOP). Middle America no longer has any place to go.
Thanks for this overview of Hannah Arendt's thought and its relation to current circumstances. Very insightful. I've been wanting
to read her book for a while now but have not yet done so.
"who today talks about totalitarianism?"
Political libertarians and social conservatives have for over 100 years been warning us of this coming totalitarianism. One
was even so astute as to see past the absolute dictatorships of the 20th century to what we have at our doorstep today.
"Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications
and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority
of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them
in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For
their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness;
it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal
concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to
spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living? Thus it every day renders the exercise of the free agency
of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range and gradually robs a man of all the
uses of himself. The principle of equality has prepared men for these things;it has predisposed men to endure them and often
to look on them as benefits. After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned
him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network
of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot
penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced
by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it
does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing
better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd." - Alexis de Tocqueville
Another Tocquevillian quote that commands attention today:
"What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will be tranquil
and races ahead of me to ward off all danger, sparing me the need even to think about such things, if that authority, even
as it removes the smallest thorns from my path, is also absolute master of my liberty and my life; if it monopolizes vitality
and existence to such a degree that when it languishes, everything around it must also languish; when it sleeps, everything
must also sleep; and when it dies, everything must also perish? There are some nations in Europe whose inhabitants think of
themselves in a sense as colonists, indifferent to the fate of the place they live in. The greatest changes occur in their
country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard
of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets,
the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful
stranger called "the government." They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought
to how they might be improved. They are so divorced from their own interests that even when their own security and that of
their children is finally compromised, they do not seek to avert the danger themselves but cross their arms and wait for the
nation as a whole to come to their aid. Yet as utterly as they sacrifice their own free will, they are no fonder of obedience
than anyone else. They submit, it is true, to the whims of a clerk, but no sooner is force removed than they are glad to defy
the law as a defeated enemy. Thus one finds them ever wavering between servitude and license. When a nation has reached this
point, it must either change its laws and mores or perish, for the well of public virtue has run dry: in such a place one no
longer finds citizens but only subjects."
You know, I'm a full Republican conservative, but in a way, I kinda think that maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a similar
economy like what's in Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, North Korea, etc, etc, etc, so that idiots that think that kind of life style
is good. THEN when they find out what it's like living in a WORKER'S PARADISE, they'll know.
What I see happening seems to me to be less explained by Hannah Arendt than by Eric Hoffer in his book The True Believer.
We are surrounded by the extreme emotions of people feeling desperate. They are grasping at whatever is on offer, and equally
likely to grasp at anything else offered.
They are not accepting an evil, just banality of evil that goes unrecognized as evil for its very banality. They see the
extremes, and as Hoffer wrote they are drawn by that extreme; that is the very appeal of it, not just something they excuse as
if banal.
The emotions are running to such extremes that politics breaks up longstanding friendships, and even families, as we saw in
the American Civil War. That did not happen in Germany's banal acceptance of evil and power.
Control requires widening the net, which requires expanding the parameters of government, which requires centralizing government
power, which when done in boiling frog manner, can take a couple of centuries or so. Yet here we have arrived.
It took a long time to get from there to here and getting from here to there will require tough duty.
Sensible people might opt for a modernized Articles of Confederation with reasonable limited taxation privileges and a modified
defense arrangement but of course sensible people are in low demand.
Should quoting you include that perhaps as many as 5 million Russian POW's also perished in the holocaust, and that it was
a good thing? I am saving this RD article much more for the commentary than what rod said. Anti-fascists and the radical left?
Yeah, right. Okay folks, show of hands. How many out there, identifying themselves as left or right, wish that world war 2 had
lasted longer? Bone spur patriotism seems to be on full display here.
"At universities within the University of California system, for example, teachers who want to apply for tenure-track
positions have to affirm their commitment to "equity, diversity, and inclusion" -- and to have demonstrated it, even if it
has nothing to do with their field."
It isn't just the U.C. schools. Here in Thousand Oaks, California, sits the campus of California Lutheran University - a private
institution ( though no longer "Lutheran" or indeed "Christian" in any meaningful sense of those words ). The faculty and staff
are undergoing frank re-education, in preparation for the loyalty oath. And, those who dare resist ( sadly, there are few ) are
simply shown the door. Any dissent is labelled "racist", "homophobic", etc., etc. The jackboots are echoing even in the quiet
streets of suburbia...
And the so-called California Ethnic Studies Curriculum ( based on critical race will soon be introduced as a mandatory high
school class. No class, no graduation. It's utterly chilling.
Fox News
Fox News
5.73M subscribers
SUBSCRIBE
White employees were informed that their so-called 'white' qualities were offensive and unacceptable.
#FoxNews
#Tucker
Hannah Arendt books is junk, as elements of totalitarim are present inmst modern sociery,
espcally neoliberal. The USA after 9/11 is one example.
Notable quotes:
"... Some émigrés who grew up in Soviet-dominated societies are sounding the alarm about the West's dangerous drift into conditions like they once escaped. They feel it in their bones. Reading Arendt in the shadow of the extraordinary rise of identity-politics leftism and the broader crisis of liberal democracy is to confront a deeply unsettling truth: that these refugees from communism may be right. ..."
"... Regarding transgressive sexuality as a social good was not an innovation of the sexual revolution. Like the contemporary West, late imperial Russia was also awash in what historian James Billington called "a preoccupation with sex that is quite without parallel in earlier Russian culture." Among the social and intellectual elite, sexual adventurism, celebrations of perversion, and all manner of sensuality was common. And not just among the elites: the laboring masses, alone in the city, with no church to bind their consciences with guilt, or village gossips to shame them, found comfort in sex. ..."
"... Heda Margolius Kovály, a disillusioned Czech communist whose husband was executed after a 1952 show trial, reflects on the willingness of people to turn their backs on the truth for the sake of an ideological cause: It is not hard for a totalitarian regime to keep people ignorant. Once you relinquish your freedom for the sake of "understood necessity," for Party discipline, for conformity with the regime, for the greatness and glory of the Fatherland, or for any of the substitutes that are so convincingly offered, you cede your claim to the truth. Slowly, drop by drop, your life begins to ooze away just as surely as if you had slashed your wrists; you have voluntarily condemned yourself to helplessness. ..."
"... You can also surrender it by hating others more than you love truth. ..."
"... In 2019, Zach Goldberg, a political science PhD student at Georgia Tech, found that over a nine-year period, the rate of news stories using progressive jargon associated with left-wing critical theory and social justice concepts shot into the stratosphere. The mainstream media is framing the general public's understanding of news and events according to what was until very recently a radical ideology confined to left-wing intellectual elites. ..."
"... For a man desperate to believe, totalitarian ideology is more precious than life itself. "He may even be willing to help in his own prosecution and frame his own death sentence if only his status as a member of the movement is not touched," Arendt wrote. Indeed, the files of the 1930s Stalinist show trials are full of false confessions by devout communists who were prepared to die rather than admit that communism was a lie. ..."
"... Similarly, under the guise of antiracism training, U.S. corporations, institutions, and even churches are frog-marching their employees through courses in which whites and other ideologically disfavored people are compelled to confess their "privilege." Some do, eagerly. ..."
"... "Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intellect and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty," wrote Arendt. ..."
"... President Donald Trump is a rule-breaker in many ways. He once said, "I value loyalty above everything else -- more than brains, more than drive, and more than energy." ..."
"... Trump's exaltation of personal loyalty over expertise is discreditable and corrupting. But how can liberals complain? Loyalty to the group or the tribe is at the core of leftist identity politics. This is at the root of "cancel culture," in which transgressors, however minor their infractions, find themselves cast into outer darkness. ..."
"... Beyond cancel culture, which is reactive, institutions are embedding within their systems ideological tests to weed out dissenters. At universities within the University of California system, for example, teachers who want to apply for tenure-track positions have to affirm their commitment to "equity, diversity, and inclusion" -- and to have demonstrated it, even if it has nothing to do with their field. ..."
"... De facto loyalty tests to diversity ideology are common in corporate America, and have now found their way into STEM faculties and publications, as well as into medical science. ..."
"... A Soviet-born U.S. physician told me -- after I agreed not to use his name -- that social justice ideology is forcing physicians like him to ignore their medical training and judgment when it comes to transgender health. He said it is not permissible within his institution to advise gender dysphoric patients against treatments they desire, even when a physician believes it is not in that particular patient's health interest. ..."
"... Like the imperial Russians, we Americans may well be living in a fog of self-deception about our own country's stability. It only takes a catalyst like war, economic depression, plague, or some other severe and prolonged crisis that brings the legitimacy of the liberal democratic order into question. ..."
"... If totalitarianism comes, it will almost certainly not be Stalinism 2.0, with gulags, secret police, and an all-powerful central state. That would not be necessary. The power of surveillance technology, woke capitalism, and fear of losing bourgeois comfort and status will probably be enough to compel conformity by most. ..."
"... At least at first, it will be a soft totalitarianism, more on the Brave New World model than the Nineteen Eighty-Four one -- but totalitarianism all the same. ..."
n 1951, six years after the end of World War II, the political philosopher Hannah Arendt
published The Origins of Totalitarianism , in an attempt to understand how such radical
ideologies of both left and right had seized the minds of so many in the 20th century. Arendt's
book used to be a staple in college history and political theory courses. With the end of the
Cold War 30 years behind us, who today talks about totalitarianism? Almost no one -- and if
they do, it's about Nazism, not communism.
Unsurprisingly, young Americans suffer from profound ignorance of what communism was, and
is. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit educational and research
organization established by the U.S. Congress, carries out an annual survey of Americans to
determine their attitudes toward communism, socialism, and Marxism in general. In 2019, the
survey found that a startling number of Americans of the post-Cold War generations have
favorable views of left-wing radicalism, and only 57 percent of Millennials believe that the
Declaration of Independence offers a better guarantee of "freedom and equality" than The
Communist Manifesto .
Some émigrés who grew up in Soviet-dominated societies are sounding the alarm
about the West's dangerous drift into conditions like they once escaped. They feel it in their
bones. Reading Arendt in the shadow of the extraordinary rise of identity-politics leftism and
the broader crisis of liberal democracy is to confront a deeply unsettling truth: that these
refugees from communism may be right.
What does contemporary America have in common with pre-Nazi Germany and pre-Soviet Russia?
Arendt's analysis found a number of social, political, and cultural conditions that tilled the
ground for those nations to welcome poisonous ideas.
Loneliness and Social Atomization
Totalitarian movements, said Arendt, are "mass organizations of atomized, isolated
individuals." She continues:
What prepares men for totalitarian domination in the non-totalitarian world, is the fact
that loneliness, once a borderline experience usually suffered in certain marginal social
conditions like old age, has become an everyday experience of the ever-growing masses of our
century.
The political theorist wrote those words in the 1950s, a period we look back on as a golden
age of community cohesion. Today, loneliness is widely recognized by scientists as a critical
social and even medical problem. In the year 2000, Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam
published Bowling Alone , an acclaimed study documenting the steep decline of civil
society since midcentury and the resulting atomization of America.
Since Putnam's book, we have experienced the rise of social media networks offering a
facsimile of "connection." Yet we grow ever lonelier and more isolated. It is no coincidence
that Millennials and members of Generation Z register much higher rates of loneliness than
older Americans, as well as significantly greater support for socialism. It's as if they aspire
to a politics that can replace the community they wish they had.
Sooner or later, loneliness and isolation are bound to have political effects. The masses
supporting totalitarian movements, says Arendt, grew "out of the fragments of a highly atomized
society whose competitive structure and concomitant loneliness of the individual had been held
in check only through membership in a class."
A polity filled with alienated individuals who share little sense of community and purpose,
and who lack civic trust, are prime targets for totalitarian ideologies and leaders who promise
solidarity and meaning.
Losing Faith in Hierarchies and Institutions
Surveying the political scene in Germany during the 1920s, Arendt noted a "terrifying
negative solidarity" among people from diverse classes, united in their belief that all
political parties were populated by fools. Likewise, in late imperial Russia, Marxist radicals
finally gained traction with the middle class when the Tsarist government failed miserably to
deal with a catastrophic 1891-92 famine.
Are we today really so different? According to Gallup, Americans' confidence in their
institutions -- political, media, religious, legal, medical, corporate -- is at historic lows
across the board. Only the military, the police, and small businesses retain the strong
confidence of over 50 percent. Democratic norms are under strain in many industrialized
nations, with the support for mainstream parties of left and right in decline.
In Europe of the 1920s, says Arendt, the first indication of the coming totalitarianism was
the failure of established parties to attract younger members, and the willingness of the
passive masses to consider radical alternatives to discredited establishment parties.
A loss of faith in democratic politics is a sign of a deeper and broader instability. As
radical individualism has become more pervasive in our consumerist-driven culture, people have
ceased to look outside themselves to religion or other traditional sources of authoritative
meaning.
But this imposes a terrible psychological burden on the individual. Many of them may seek
deliverance as the alienated masses of pre-totalitarian Germany and Russia did: in the
certainties and solidarity offered by totalitarian movements.
The Desire to Transgress and Destroy
The post-World War I generation of writers and artists were marked by their embrace and
celebration of anti-cultural philosophies and acts as a way of demonstrating contempt for
established hierarchies, institutions, and ways of thinking. Arendt said of some writers who
glorified the will to power, "They read not Darwin but the Marquis de Sade."
Her point was that these authors did not avail themselves of respectable intellectual
theories to justify their transgressiveness. They immersed themselves in what is basest in
human nature and regarded doing so as acts of liberation. Arendt's judgment of the postwar
elites who recklessly thumbed their noses at respectability could easily apply to those of our
own day who shove aside liberal principles like fair play, race neutrality, free speech, and
free association as obstacles to equality. Arendt wrote:
The members of the elite did not object at all to paying a price, the destruction of
civilization, for the fun of seeing how those who had been excluded unjustly in the past forced
their way into it.
One thinks of the university presidents and news media executives of our time who have
abandoned professional standards and old-fashioned liberal values to embrace "antiracism" and
other trendy left-wing causes. Some left-wing politicians and other progressive elites either
cheered for the George Floyd race riots, or, like New York mayor Bill De Blasio, stood idly by
as thuggish mobs looted and burned stores in the name of social justice.
Regarding transgressive sexuality as a social good was not an innovation of the sexual
revolution. Like the contemporary West, late imperial Russia was also awash in what historian
James Billington called "a preoccupation with sex that is quite without parallel in earlier
Russian culture." Among the social and intellectual elite, sexual adventurism, celebrations of
perversion, and all manner of sensuality was common. And not just among the elites: the
laboring masses, alone in the city, with no church to bind their consciences with guilt, or
village gossips to shame them, found comfort in sex.
The end of official censorship after the 1905 uprising opened the floodgates to erotic
literature, a prefiguration of our century's technology-driven pornographic revolution. "The
sensualism of the age was in a very intimate sense demonic," Billington writes, detailing how
the figure of Satan became a Romantic hero for artists and musicians. They admired the diabolic
willingness to stop at nothing to satisfy one's desires and to exercise one's will.
Propaganda and the Willingness to Believe Useful Lies
Heda Margolius Kovály, a disillusioned Czech communist whose husband was executed after a 1952 show trial,
reflects on the willingness of people to turn their backs on the truth for the sake of an ideological cause: It is not hard for a totalitarian regime to keep people ignorant. Once you relinquish your
freedom for the sake of "understood necessity," for Party discipline, for conformity with the
regime, for the greatness and glory of the Fatherland, or for any of the substitutes that are
so convincingly offered, you cede your claim to the truth. Slowly, drop by drop, your life
begins to ooze away just as surely as if you had slashed your wrists; you have voluntarily
condemned yourself to helplessness.
You can surrender your moral responsibility to be honest out of misplaced idealism. You can
also surrender it by hating others more than you love truth. In pre-totalitarian states, Arendt
writes, hating "respectable society" was so narcotic, that elites were willing to accept
"monstrous forgeries in historiography" for the sake of striking back at those who, in their
view, had "excluded the underprivileged and oppressed from the memory of mankind."
For example, many who didn't really accept Marx's revisionist take on history -- that it is
a manifestation of class struggle -- were willing to affirm it because it was a useful tool to
punish those they despised. Consider the lavish praise with which elites have welcomed The
New York Times 's "1619 Project," a vigorously revisionist attempt to make slavery the
central fact of the American founding.
Despite the project's core claim (that the patriots fought the American Revolution to
preserve slavery) having been thoroughly debunked, journalism's elite saw fit to award the
project's director a Pulitzer Prize for her contribution.
Along those lines, propaganda helps change the world by creating a false impression of the
way the world is. Writes Arendt, "The force possessed by totalitarian propaganda lies in its
ability to shut the masses off from the real world."
In 2019, Zach Goldberg, a political science PhD student at Georgia Tech, found that over a
nine-year period, the rate of news stories using progressive jargon associated with left-wing
critical theory and social justice concepts shot into the stratosphere. The mainstream media is
framing the general public's understanding of news and events according to what was until very
recently a radical ideology confined to left-wing intellectual elites.
A Mania for Ideology
Why are people so willing to believe demonstrable lies? The desperation alienated people
have for a story that helps them make sense of their lives and tells them what to do explains
it. For a man desperate to believe, totalitarian ideology is more precious than life
itself. "He may even be willing to help in his own prosecution and frame his own death sentence if
only his status as a member of the movement is not touched," Arendt wrote. Indeed, the files of
the 1930s Stalinist show trials are full of false confessions by devout communists who were
prepared to die rather than admit that communism was a lie.
Similarly, under the guise of antiracism training, U.S. corporations, institutions, and even
churches are frog-marching their employees through courses in which whites and other
ideologically disfavored people are compelled to confess their "privilege." Some do,
eagerly.
One of contemporary progressivism's commonly used phrases -- the personal is political --
captures the totalitarian spirit, which seeks to infuse all aspects of life with political
consciousness. Indeed, the Left today pushes its ideology ever deeper into the private realm,
leaving fewer and fewer areas of daily life uncontested. This, warned Arendt, is a sign that a
society is ripening for totalitarianism, because that is what totalitarianism essentially is:
the politicization of everything.
Early in the Stalin era, N. V. Krylenko, a Soviet commissar (political officer), steamrolled
over chess players who wanted to keep politics out of the game.
"We must finish once and for all with the neutrality of chess," he said. "We must condemn
once and for all the formula 'chess for the sake of chess,' like the formula 'art for art's
sake.' We must organize shockbrigades of chess-players, and begin immediate realization of a
Five-Year Plan for chess."
A Society That Values Loyalty More Than Expertise
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their
sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intellect and creativity is still the
best guarantee of their loyalty," wrote Arendt.
All politicians prize loyalty, but few would regard it as the most important quality in
government, and even fewer would admit it. But President Donald Trump is a rule-breaker in many
ways. He once said, "I value loyalty above everything else -- more than brains, more than
drive, and more than energy."
Trump's exaltation of personal loyalty over expertise is discreditable and corrupting. But
how can liberals complain? Loyalty to the group or the tribe is at the core of leftist identity
politics. This is at the root of "cancel culture," in which transgressors, however minor their
infractions, find themselves cast into outer darkness.
Beyond cancel culture, which is reactive, institutions are embedding within their systems
ideological tests to weed out dissenters. At universities within the University of California
system, for example, teachers who want to apply for tenure-track positions have to affirm their
commitment to "equity, diversity, and inclusion" -- and to have demonstrated it, even if it has
nothing to do with their field.
De facto loyalty tests to diversity ideology are common in corporate America, and have now
found their way into STEM faculties and publications, as well as into medical science.
A Soviet-born U.S. physician told me -- after I agreed not to use his name -- that social
justice ideology is forcing physicians like him to ignore their medical training and judgment
when it comes to transgender health. He said it is not permissible within his institution to
advise gender dysphoric patients against treatments they desire, even when a physician believes
it is not in that particular patient's health interest.
Intellectuals Are the Revolutionary Class
In our populist era, politicians and talk-radio polemicists can rile up a crowd by
denouncing elites. Nevertheless, in most societies, intellectual and cultural elites determine
its long-term direction.
"[T]he key actor in history is not individual genius but rather the network and the new
institutions that are created out of those networks," writes sociologist James Davison Hunter.
Though a revolutionary idea might emerge from the masses, says Hunter, "it does not gain
traction until it is embraced and propagated by elites" working through their "well-developed
networks and powerful institutions."
This is why it is critically important to keep an eye on intellectual discourse. Arendt
warns that the twentieth-century totalitarian experience shows how a determined and skillful
minority can come to rule over an indifferent and disengaged majority. In our time, most people
regard the politically correct insanity of campus radicals as not worthy of attention. They
mock them as "snowflakes" and "social justice warriors."
This is a serious mistake. In radicalizing the broader class of elites, social justice
warriors (SJWs) are playing a similar historic role to the Bolsheviks in prerevolutionary
Russia. SJW ranks are full of middle-class, secular, educated young people wracked by guilt and
anxiety over their own privilege, alienated from their own traditions, and desperate to
identify with something, or someone, to give them a sense of wholeness and purpose.
For them, the ideology of social justice -- as defined not by church teaching but by
critical theorists in the academy -- functions as a pseudo-religion. Far from being confined to
campuses and dry intellectual journals, SJW ideals are transforming elite institutions and
networks of power and influence. They are marching through the institutions of bourgeois
society, conquering them, and using them to transform the world. For example, when the LGBT
cause was adopted by corporate America, its ultimate victory was assured.
Futuristic Fatalism
To be sure, none of this means that totalitarianism is inevitable. But they do signify that
the weaknesses in contemporary American society are consonant with a pre-totalitarian state.
Like the imperial Russians, we Americans may well be living in a fog of self-deception about
our own country's stability. It only takes a catalyst like war, economic depression, plague, or
some other severe and prolonged crisis that brings the legitimacy of the liberal democratic
order into question.
As Arendt warned more than half a century ago:
There is a great temptation to explain away the intrinsically incredible by means of
liberal rationalizations. In each one of us, there lurks such a liberal, wheedling us with
the voice of common sense. The road to totalitarian domination leads through many
intermediate stages for which we can find numerous analogues and precedents. . . . What
common sense and "normal people" refuse to believe is that everything is possible.
If totalitarianism comes, it will almost certainly not be Stalinism 2.0, with gulags, secret
police, and an all-powerful central state. That would not be necessary. The power of
surveillance technology, woke capitalism, and fear of losing bourgeois comfort and status will
probably be enough to compel conformity by most.
At least at first, it will be a soft
totalitarianism, more on the Brave New World model than the Nineteen Eighty-Four
one -- but totalitarianism all the same.
A Czech immigrant to the U.S. who works in academia told me that this "is not supposed to be
happening here" -- but it is.
"Any time I try to explain current events and their meaning to my friends or acquaintances,
I am met with blank stares or downright nonsense," he says. His own young adult children, born
in America and indoctrinated into identity-politics ideology by public schooling, think their
father is an alarmist kook. Can anyone blame a man like this for concluding that Americans are
going to have to learn about the evils of totalitarianism the hard way?
I grew up under a socialist authoritarian state and I recognized it in the US 20 years
ago. In the Patriot Act, to be more precise. It was the very same kind of law that I saw
enacted in the early 70s back home that turned the tide of the regime to full out repression.
You're noticing it just now because authoritarianism became bipartisan, though you have been
quite comfortable since your tribe started it.
The week after 9/11, I wrote President Bush asking him not to let something like the
Patriot Act happen. I never got a reply and wondered ever since if it went astray (it was via
email) or if anyone even read it.
<sigh> There are credible arguments to be made against the drug war, for sure, but
how exactly did the Bill of Rights get "dumped"? OK I'm willing to concede that the Fourth
Amendment got stretched beyond recognition to accommodate no-knock warrants and the like.
Which of the rest of the Bill of Rights got dumped by the drug war?
If only liberals actually understood and believed in the 9th and 10th amendments, OTOH, we
might be able to restore federal governance to something resembling sanity.
Both the 9th and 10th Amendments were finally destroyed due to the drug war. The 2nd is
collateral damage due to the increased use of home invasion raids by law enforcement see the
"firearm enhancements". It can easily be argued that the increased militarization of law
enforcement due to the drug war is a violation of the 3rd Amendment. The long sentences due
given to people for possessing or selling a plant are a violation of the 8th Amendment. The
right to a jury trial has been gutted via voir dire and the refusal of courts to recognize
the natural right of all citizens to nullify unjust laws.
I am a liberal in the sense Patrick Henry was a liberal. We should have stuck with the
Articles of Confederation.
It can't be easily argued that the drug war runs into the 3rd amendment, that is
ridiculous. Nor is the 8th amendment really a great argument, although I do get where you're
coming from.
It's obviously completely contemptuous of the idea of enumerated powers like you said
before though. Why would you not mention the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments, which had to be
gutted for it, or the ways it runs afoul of the 14th, or basically ignores the precedent set
by the 18th and 21st amendments.
I too see where you're coming from, though I think the 9th and 10th amendments were
already in tatters long before the drug war began. For that blame the now 100 year plus build
up of the administrative state (particularly under FDR and LBJ) and the Court's enabling of
it through imaginative readings of the Commerce Clause, delegation of powers, etc. Also blame
Congress's total dereliction of duty per the above.
Add on the scheme by which the Federal govt takes everyone's money, shuffles it around and
then hands it back to the states, but only under the condition that they do what the Federal
govt tells them to do. Thus no state actually gets to build/maintain roads, develop housing
programs, expand educational access or testing, and essentially anything else without
following a million federal edicts.
The very fact that a website like this exists, and we comment on it, suggests that.. No,
we are nit under Totalitarian oppression or even an authoritarian regime. Would Stalin or
even Brezhnev have tolerated a TAC critical of the ruling party? How about Hitler, Mussolini
or Franco?
Excellent point. There are, however, concepts such as "controlled opposition" and "soft
totalitarianism" as outlined recently in Rod Dreher's piece. The latter concerns me more.
As long as Americans believe that they are getting the carrot they will not notice the
slow encroachment of the stick, particulary if it's in the hands of large
mega-corporations.
You, sir, are correct. The totalitarianism rampaging toward us is going to be a
paradoxical mix of Sexual Revolution, Cultural Marxism, and Globalist Vampire Capitalism. It
will feature elements that seem to have been predicted in Zamyatin's We , Huxley's
Brave New World , and Orwell's 1984 . It also has been foretold in Robert Hugh
Benson's Lord of the World .
I'm sure you are well aware that Rod is not suggesting such a regime is here or coming. He
has described how censorship will work / is working in painfully repetitive detail (because
obviously people need to hear it over and over again).
Under soft totalitarianism, you will make the wrong response or refuse to affirm or refuse
to attend the required re-education workshop and your job and livelihood will be gone. Don't
pretend you don't understand Rod's argument.
Jonf is for the woke soft totalitarianism, a dangerous element in the church, we Orthodox
Christian's need to be on guard with Catechumens , and their motives for joining the Church,
as well as Cradle liberals who dominate institutions in jurisdictions like GOARCH
It had bipartisan support in Congress. Do you understand how the US legislative system
works? Presidents don't unilaterally introduce and approve legislation.
It wasn't introduced by Bush, but by a nobody Republican in Congress. The act has the paw
marks of Republicans through and through. Just 3 Republican congressmen voted against.
There's no point hiding behind the bipartisan curtain.
There is much yet to be answered for in the Patriot Act origins and how it came to be
passed before anyone voting on it had a chance to read it once much less review it with
propper staffing.
That Act was sitting on a shelf, like a time bomb, waiting for its chance. I suspect it
was part of the preparations for an apocalyptic, dystopian America after a nuclear war.
It was pulled off that shelf because it was what they had on the shelf, it was there so
they used it.
"Can anyone blame a man like this for concluding that Americans are going to have to learn
about the evils of totalitarianism the hard way?"
Americans have never learned anything the easy way. They don't learn the hard way
either.
"Among the social and intellectual elite, sexual adventurism, celebrations of perversion,
and all manner of sensuality was common."
Let no future commisar say that I didn't do my part for the revolution! I stand ready to
humbly serve the people in the creation of an appropriate ministry for perversion.
Those who will have less than five sexual partners a year and do not switch gender in over
two years will be chastised for the term of 10 years by legislation.
When you remove God from your life, the inner desire implanted by God to look for the true
meaning in life, & the desire to do good instead of evil remain strong. For most people,
the "obvious" path is to give meaning to one's life is to follow the feel-good "social
justice" road, a form of false humanism (for man & by man alone), ie, social justice
without God that tries to create a paradise on earth (same way that communism tried to create
a utopia without God).
Many young Americans no longer believe in God's relevance & His authority over their
lives. This normally starts with the loss of respect for the authority of parents who
represent God in the home (even Jesus was obedient to his mortal parents). The gradual
destruction of the "domestic church", the family, in American homes is one of the immediate
goals of radical agenda (eg, gender conflicts & confusion, gender id, gender choice,
abortion, contraception, women liberation, etc) that results in increasing number of divorce
& single-parent homes.
The only way to correct the path to a radical secular future is for people, esp the young,
to regain their faith in God. The question is how. Evangelization is one. One can evangelize
by words &or by acts. St Franscis of Assisi is often quoted to have said: When you
evangelize, sometimes you need to use words. I think Rod is doing both through his books.
If God isn't implanted in a child's mind at a young age, it most likely never will.
People, in there 20's, who never went to church are unlikely to ever become Christians. If
you don't believe Heaven and Hell exist, why do you need a Savior? Look at the number of
young families with young children at Church, and consider how many aren't there. That's the
future.
The idea of God doesn't need to be implanted in a child's mind. A child (and every person
for that matter) intuitively knows that there has to be a Creator, an afterlife, and Divine
Justice. As proof, I offer the fact that every civilization that has ever existed has had a
religion with the aforementioned elements. Atheism did not appear until Marxism, and even
then, in the Soviet Union / Russia, it did not succeed in eradicating faith and religion,
which are as innate as love and sex.
Unfortunately for you atheism long predates Marxism. Look to the early Greeks for the
first recorded instances of non-believers. Try
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi... for a overview.
>"The only way to correct the path to a radical secular future is for people, esp the
young, to regain their faith in God."
Exactly the thinking powering Daesh. What is wrong with people being able to decide for
themselves what religion if any they want? Why is a secular state a radical idea? The US is a
secular state and it has served the US well.
So Revolution or Civil War?
I keep hearing about one or the other, but only on the Internet.
I am of the opinion that we Americans are far too comfortable and have no stomach for
privation.
We will continue to lurch along as always.
Does it really matter what "Americans" want? The very thesis of the article is that 'we'
will do the bidding of the influential elites, regardless of whether we a) approve of their
objectives, or b) are even aware of them. Like the article says, the vast majority of
Americans mistakenly think that, so long as they have their routine, their job, their kids,
their personal little patch of America complete with white picket fence, then, hey, how can
things go wrong? "We" won't, wouldn't, couldn't, allow such a revolution or civil war to
happen---why, there isn't even enough time to worry about it!
When a riotous mob of crazed BLM/ANTIFA soldiers comes marching up your peaceful street,
you will become part of the 'revolution', like it or not.
Totalitarian Romanov Russia united with secular pluralist France against Germany in the
lead-up to WWI. Similarly in WWII, totalitarian Marxist Russia united with the Western
democracies to defeat Nazi Germany. The pattern is common place in history. Alliances reveal
countries' motivations for war. And all are motivated by power.
https://www.ghostsofhistory...
I'll ask again (serious question): for conservatives who think we live in "Weimar
America", isn't one of the major lessons for conservatives from Weimar Germany that when
you're faced with the distasteful option of allying yourselves with liberals and the
center-left, or allying yourselves with fascists and their street militias, it's important
not to make the decision that German Nationalists did in the early 1930s?
We were allied with one of the biggest mass murderers in history during World War 2.
Joseph Stalin. Facts are facts and the facts are fascism is a leftist ideology.
To be fair, you can 'love' someone's ruling style and still go to war with them. Politics
and warfare are about seizing power, not expressing admiration for the qualities of
rivals.
To clarify, I didn't mean "love" in a personal or an emotional sense. In the case of World
War II, democratic nations were opponents of fascist nations.
I don't know what histories you have been reading but Adolph Hitler had no use for FDR as
like many other European politicians of the day, they saw FDR as a relatively ignorant
man.
The Nazis were basically 1848 (leftist) revolutionaries, who supported egalitarianism for
German men and ethnonationalism (which was a very leftist idea when it was new). True
reactionaries, like the King of Prussia in 1848, definitely did not share those values.
Can someone explain to me what the point of these arguments are? I always see people
saying the Nazis were leftists, but even if I agreed with the claim what difference does it
make to massappeal's point?
Most commentators put the Nazis on the far right. They themselves considered Nazism to be
a "third way" between Capitalism and Communism. It's clear that the defining traits of Nazism
are totalitarianism, nationalism, social darwinism, and virulent anti-semitism. Like
communism and other forms of Facism, it is a revolutionary political movement. They also
supported massive government spending and social welfare programs for "aryans", in a kind of
state-dominated capitalism. It is also true that Ernst Rohm and the SA wanted a socialist
revolution to follow the Nazi's national revolution, but they were betrayed and Rohm was
executed for being too radical.
There's the truth. Facts are Facts. So what if they are leftist or rightist? I really
don't understand the value of this argument. Is this a way to link Democrats to Nazis? Seems
as ridiculous as trying to link Republicans to them.
The point is obfuscation of reality from the US right, which has increasingly become
enmeshed in world divorced from reality. Of course no respected historian places the Nazis as
a Left ideology. There is some argument as to whether fascism/Nazism was Right, or neither
left or right. But as an ideology, fascism and Nazism are illiberal, nationalist, and
concerned with "natural hierarchies" which are anathema to "left" thought.
Anyone stating otherwise is either exceedingly stupid or not arguing in good faith. Either
way, there is no point in engaging them or in giving them any platform to spout their
nonsense. Shut them down, block them, mock them, and move on.
And conservatives wonder why they've "unwelcome" in academia...If you want to be taken
seriously, you need to think seriously.
Penetrating insight. Of course, I am sure you are right. I want to give people a chance to
defend themselves though, because I would truly love to be proved wrong and shown something
of which I am ignorant.
I really appreciate the response. I read the synopsis and gather that the argument is
somewhat similar to one which I have heard before, which is that all modern political
movements are borne of the enlightenment, which is something I certainly agree with. There
are certainly underpinnings under every modern party that find their root in the
enlightenment.
The book you provided seems to be not quite that exact theory though, and of course I
haven't read the whole thing...yet. But I honestly will, and I really appreciate the
recommendation! Truth is truth, and it has no ideology. I will read it with an open mind.
The history of right and left, nationalist and internationalist, liberal and conservative
is very complex and confusing. And it is different in America than it is in Europe. America
started out mostly Protestant and Liberal (in the classical sense), so any right wing or
conservative movement in the US would have these foundations. In Europe, conservatives were
Catholic and Monarchist.
But Monarchy gets a bad rap in American public schools and universities, dominated as they
were by Protestant and Liberal thinking at their founding and by Progressive and Socialist
thinking now.
Here is a definition of the Right by EvKL (in the book):
"The true rightist is not a man who wants to go back to this or that institution for the
sake of a return; he wants first to find out what is eternally true, eternally valid, and
then either to restore or reinstall it, regardless of whether it seems obsolete, whether it
is ancient, contemporary, or even without precedent, brand new, "ultramodern." Old truths
can be rediscovered, entirely new ones found. The Man of the Right does not have a
time-bound, but a sovereign mind. In case he is a Christian he is, in the words of the
Apostle Peter, the steward of a Basileion Hierateuma, a Royal Priesthood"
And here the difference between Right and Left:
"The right stands for liberty, a free, unprejudiced form of thinking, a readiness to
preserve traditional values (provided they are true values), a balanced view of the nature
of man, seeing in him neither beast nor angel, insisting also on the uniqueness of human
beings who cannot be transformed into or treated as mere numbers or ciphers; but the left
is the advocate of the opposite principles. It is the enemy of diversity and the fanatical
promoter of identity. Uniformity is stressed in all leftist utopias, a paradise in which
everybody should be the "same," where envy is dead, where the "enemy" either no longer
exists, lives outside the gates, or is utterly humiliated. Leftism loathes differences,
deviation, stratifications. Any hierarchy it accepts is only "functional." The term "one"
is the keynote: There should be only one language, one race, one class, one ideology, one
religion, one type of school, one law for everybody, one flag, one coat of arms and one
centralized world state"
"The rightists are "federalists" (in the European sense), "states' righters" since they
believe in local rights and privileges, they stand for the principle of subsidiarity."
Beautiful quotes, my friend, I especially appreciate the latter one. I have not gotten far
in the book, only 60 pages or so but I already find it fascinating, and I have gotten to that
quote exactly, actually.
As a passing note, I will say that I doubt WilliamRD meant what you mean, though I could
be mistaken. And I think defining Nazism as a leftist philosophy requires a semantic
argument, which redefines "right" and "left" into something different than popular American
political discourse defines it. And in fact, under these definitions, the Republican Party is
at least partially leftist.
However, EvKL is clear that this is what he is doing, and you were clear yourself that we
need to break out of these definitions. I couldn't agree more with you on that. Thanks for
sending me the link, you've made me wiser.
You are a rare and beautiful soul! I can't believe you've already read that far into the
book. I will try and learn from your example, the next time someone sends me a link.
And yes, the Republican party has been infiltrated by Leftism. I'm going to give you a
book link on this too, but you don't have to read it right away! Just download it, and put it
away in your files for later. It's a true story that is important to know and it gets to the
heart of the American Conservative / Neoconservative divide.
Fair enough. To me it's analogous to listening to someone try and argue that 1+1=7. I'm
just not sure that someone attempting such a calculation has the rational faculties to
provide anything worth hearing, and I don't like lending legitimacy to every silly position
that a person can take. Life is short, and I prefer to hear from people who demonstrate that
they're playing with a full deck and arguing in good faith. The "Leftists are the Real
Racists" crowd is certainly neither of those.
Edit: And hilariously, there is an actual RW goofball on this article's comment section,
posting Nazi/Fascist sympathies (@Raskolnik) . So, the proof is in the TAC comments I
guess...
The genetic fallacy definition can be found many places. If you read it, you might sound a
little less dumb in public. And the AAIHS is not a racist journal. I know anything with
"African American" in it seems to set off a very fragile segment of aggrieved whites, but I'm
sure you could judge the article based on its content. I'd link to some others, but given
what you've said so far, it seems unlikely you have access to JSTOR or any other legitimate
academic resources. At this point all you're really accomplishing is offering more evidence
that Right Wingers are almost allergic to information that contradicts their indoctrination.
There's a reason your numbers are falling in legitimate academic institutions, and it isn't
due to the secret cabal of communists that seem to haunt your daydreams. It's that your
positions are asinine and you're incapable of arguing effectively and supporting your
positions with evidence.
I'm just applying the same rules to blacks as get applied to whites. Imagine what the ADL
or SPLC would say of an online journal called "White Perspectives" that teaches "white
history."
I have not committed the genetic fallacy. I not only attack the source of Leftism. I
attack it's present manifestation and the false Left / Right paradigm those in its service
have constructed in order to lead us ever leftward.
Leftism's founding principle is equality. Stated synonymously, and with much historical
affirmation, this means uniformity.
The modern Left supposedly prides itself on diversity but this diversity is only skin
deep. It still craves uniformity. It has just learned that it needs brown skin in positions
of power to supplant white nonconformance, it's main opponent. The Left cannot even tolerate
the opinions of those it disagrees with. This is why it labels everyone who disagrees with
it's radical social engineering program a deplorable or a racist or an outright Nazi.
An actual theocratic monarchist reactionary would consider Nazism to be leftist, and ideas
of 'racial superiority' or 'racial guilt' or whatever to be very modern ideas.
Please expurgate your naïve realism - it's all a matter of perspective. To someone
with current mores, the Nazis, a rehash of the ethno-nationalist 1848 Revolutions in Germany,
are unspeakably reactionary. To someone with pre-Enlightenment values, they're beyond far
left. Please read something written by someone who was a 'leftist' in his own day, and it
will almost always be unspeakably reactionary by the contemporary standards of even those
'white supremacists' that you so hate. Here's some anti-immigrant racist Benjamin Franklin
for you:
"Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will
shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never
adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion.
24. Which leads me to add one Remark: That the Number of purely white People in the World
is proportionably very small. All Africa is black or tawny. Asia chiefly tawny. America
(exclusive of the new Comers) wholly so. And in Europe, the Spaniards, Italians, French,
Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans
also, the Saxons only excepted, who with the English, make the principal Body of White People
on the Face of the Earth. I could wish their Numbers were increased. And while we are, as I
may call it, Scouring our Planet, by clearing America of Woods, and so making this Side of
our Globe reflect a brighter Light to the Eyes of Inhabitants in Mars or Venus, why should we
in the Sight of Superior Beings, darken its People? why increase the Sons of Africa, by
Planting them in America, where we have so fair an Opportunity, by excluding all Blacks and
Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and Red? But perhaps I am partial to the Complexion
of my Country, for such Kind of Partiality is natural to Mankind. "
This block of text is nothing but another incoherent rambling from a markedly unserious
thinker. You've outed yourself repeatedly as an idiot or an ideologue. Either way, you're not
worth another breath of response.
Yes, if you simply throw out all logic and available evidence, Hitler and Mussolini were
on the political left. And if you simply redefine the entire color spectrum, the sky is green
and the sea is orange.
This is like History 101 people, get with the damn program.
Jack, if there is a nail and a head---you HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD!
People do seem to try to put all of this in a left-right mindset which is more "tribal
identity" than reality.
Broadly speaking ...repeat....broadly speaking----Russia and Stalin were an economic
system-philosophy while Hitler carried on the German culture model of Martin Luther, which
was much more GERMAN NATIONALISM -with a well documented anti-Semitism on steroids.
One was economic systems and the other one was nationalism. To put either into a
leftist-rightist camp doesn't work with today's terminology.
The same way that it is not possible to call Trumpicans either conservative or liberal.
The economic policies put in by Trump are reckless and certainly not conservative.
The 'point' is to establish stigma by association. History is only useful in politics when
it can used against one's enemies, either by associating with something valued or associating
stigmatized history with one's enemies. It's also possible for history to be stigmatized due
to its use by political enemies.
The point is to score points for your tribe. I find the terms "left" and "right"
increasingly useless. If they ever had value, that value is largely lost. This is especially
true in the US, where left and right seem determined to degenerate into each's caricature of
the other.
The point is to break out of the Left / Right paradigm as it's been presented to us by
those who mean to rule us. Anybody who seriously opposes the Leftwing's steady march towards
Communism, is labeled a far-right winger, and is put in the company of Nazis. They then
become untouchable by normal people who have not devoted any time into historical or
ideological inquiry.
This game forces normal people into the middle, and in the middle they pose no meaningful
threat to the Leftward march of the establishment, because the middle cannot find the
leverage to arrest its progress. The middle's only hope is to slow it down somewhat.
Fascism has perhaps not been 'on the Left' because, historically it has always arisen to
fight communism, which is the farthest Left you can get (so anything opposed to it seems, by
comparison, Right), but it is fully a child of the radical Left nationalism born of the
French Jacobins. It's certainly not a grandchild of the European monarchies, though
conservatives have at times had to ally with it as the lesser of two evils when confronted by
communism.
In the end it was a catastrophic economic meltdown--in their case taking the form of
metastatic inflation--which sent Germany off the edge of the cliff and into the abyss. So it
will be with the US. Pray we don't have a recurrence of 2007. Or worse!
There was a thing called the Great Depression that started in America but spread to Europe
quickly in 1929. Hitler came to power when millions of German workers lost their jobs and had
no way of supporting themselves and their families.
Yep. And Hitler came to power because German Nationalists (the conservative party) formed
an alliance with him, rather than with the center-left and liberal parties.
Nationalism, German or otherwise, is not particularly conservative. The most intelligent
conservative since Burke was Prince Metternich, who regarded nationalism as his greatest
enemy, especially German nationalism.
Yes, the actual hyperinflation did indeed end around that time but by then the economic
die had already been cast. The cumulative effect upon the German middle and, especially, the
working class, farmers, "petite bourgeoisie" etc.,would devastate the country through the
remainder of the 20s and into the 30s (my father and his parents, who were working class
Social Democrats, had to get out by 1928 and were lucky to gain admittance into the US as the
doors were being closed on immigration at the time). As to 2007 I totally agree that
inflation was not a factor. I was evidently unclear but--that really wasn't my point. The
absence of inflation notwithstanding, we know that the economy went into the soup in 2007--so
much so that, to date, we have not fully recovered. My main point is to express the fear that
if it were to happen again for whatever reason, if you factor in the "Kulturkampf" within
which American society is currently embroiled we are going to have one HELL of a mess on our
hands.
And given that, isn't it all the more important to try to avoid the political mistakes
German conservatives made in the early 1930s when they chose to ally themselves with the
Nazis?
Yes, it is. As we see here, conservatives like Rod think they can control the extremists.
No snark this time, they really believe that.
They couldn't even control Trump.
I think the bigger concern is the alliance of the center left with two marxist movements
especially considering the right cannot ally with nazis as there are no comparable nazi
organizations available
One of the three co-founders of BLM stated in an 2015 interview that she, Patrice Collers,
and one other cofounder, Alizia Garza, are trained marxists. If the leadership claims they
are marxist, then what is the BLM movement?
Anarchists and Marxists simply have different methods of achieving the same goal. For an
example of anarchist goals, see the collectivist actions of the Catalonian anarchists during
the Spanish Civil War.
These are both anti-democratic and dangerous movements which the center left is happy to
work with.
It was the ruinous inflation of 1923 COMBINED with the high unemployment in 1932 that
encouraged millions of ordinary Germans to vote for the Nazis twice in 1932. Some wealthy
Republicans seem to forget this as they lobby for more tax cuts and foreign aid to Israel.
They also appear to forget that the period 1871-1914 was something of a "Golden Age" for
German Jews. Germany's defeat in WWI AND the harsh peace treaty imposed on it by the other
side were more than enough to offset the benefits of a new democratic constitution adopted in
Weimar in 1919.
It is hard to believe that two decades ago, the US budget actually turned positive for a
brief period of time, that the national debt was expected to be paid off in a decade or so
and that some economists were wondering how the Fed would conduct monetary policy if there
were no Treasury securities to buy and sell. They need not have worried. These days, the
national debt is out of control. Instead of worrying about the future, I can take consolation
in the fact that I have outlived (by more than a decade) all of my father's relatives who
were still living in Poland in 1939. For them, the end of the line was an extermination camp
called Belzec.
It wasn't just the 1929 Depression that caused so much hardship in Germany. In 1933 after
Adolph Hitler came to power and Germany was just beginning to crawl out of the shock of their
own depression, the international Jewish Community (Zionists) launched its economic war on
Germany, which native, German Jews pleaded with their western brethren to not do. Ignoring
the German Jews requests, the economic war against Germany persisted, causing massive
economic disruptions as the popularity of this endeavor was picked up around the world...
The first anti-Jewish measure put in place by Nazi Germany started on April 1, 1933 when
Aryan Germans were encouraged by the government to boycott Jewish businesses in Germany. The
boycott was the first of many anti-Jewish measures taken by the Nazis over the next 12 years.
This boycott was followed on April 7, 1933 with the forced retirement of most non-Aryan (i.e.
Jewish) civil servants in the country and a book burning of books by Jewish authors on May
10. There is a whole list of anti-Jewish measures taken by Nazi Germany in the museum catalog
"Jews in German under Prussian Rule". Used copies are available at Amazon.
The economic response by Jews living outside Germany was a failure. It was the Battle of
Stalingrad and the brutal Russian winter of 1942-43 that turned the tide of WWII in
Europe
Bit off topic but not long ago I read that of all the major industrial countries the one
that supposedly suffered the least from the effects of the Depression-- was England!
The conservatives (right-liberals) have done nothing but ally with the left-liberals
against the "fascists" (actual right wing) since 1945. Their entire raison d'etre is to lose
gracefully while preventing the actual right wing from ever coming anywhere near power.
I would call that "overfitting," expecting to find exact matches among the parties
involved. My lessons:
- people can be given scapegoats in lieu of hope. "Yes, we've gutted manufacturing and
flooded the country with low-skill illegal labour, but what's keeping you down is systemic
racism. There is a secret hatred for the colour of the skin inside all white people. They
can't even see it themselves, but it's there. Just look at all these stories from the Jim
Crow era and get angry about them again, and you'll find that if you don't for me you're not
really black."
- nothing's more dangerous than a well-meaning good person convinced they're better than
everyone else, led about by skilled propagandists with total control of news and
entertainment.
- projection and false flag operations are at the top of the propagandist's toolbox. If
you're "fighting racism," you can see race everywhere and treat it as the defining aspect of
every person you meet and the source of all their opinions. If you're "fighting fascism" you
can dress in black and run around starting fires, attacking Senators, and shooting people for
their political beliefs. If you convince everyone "white supremacist terror groups" are the
biggest threat to the country you can unleash rioters on every major city to fight one rather
well-behaved seventeen-year-old in one city. You can unleash a steady stream of hoaxes:
Russiagate, a short clip of the longer George Floyd video that obscures why he died, the
Covington Catholic Smirk of Supremacy, bleach and "This is MAGA country." It doesn't matter.
The bigger the better: people will always believe the big lie.
You should think about your own role in all this. What part of Weimar are you playing?
Thanks for your thoughtful response. To answer your question, I play a
small-to-the-point-of-insignificance role these days, trying to lower the political
temperature in this time of pandemic, and trying to make the case for small 'd' democracy as
the best (and highly imperfect) method for dealing with the challenges we face.
It's in that context that I find hope in the growing number of conservatives (most
recently, former Montana governor and RNC chair Marc Racicot) who are placing "country over
party" and stating their support for Biden, not because they agree with his policies but
despite their disagreement with them.
These folks are not putting "country over party". They are tied into the Uniparty ruled by
the oligarchs doing the bidding of their masters.
Putting "country over party" would require them calling for the arrest of all those who
were involved in the Russian collusion hoax, Spygate, and everything else, from Obama on
down.
Putting "country over party" would require them to put the well-being of the citizens
first and support an end to endless war and to support enforcing immigration law and fixing
trade.
No, these every alleged Republican or conservative supporting Biden is showing that they
are and have always been a fraud who doesn't believe what they preached and would rather
continue in the good graces of the rich and powerful that really rule the country.
Support for country over politics and personal gain. Going back to the "normalcy" of the
pre-Trump political order. Pick one. You don't get both.
Anyone who tells you how important it is for "the good of the nation" to go back to the
long list of careerist politicians, hacks, and establishment elite who have governed it
towards its ruination must first make the case that the "norms" of American political culture
were good and righteous or (even from a strictly amoral view) practically useful. They never
do, though.
It's always asserted as if it is a self-evident fact that we need to go back to the days
of Bushes, Clintons, and Bidens, but nobody can really explain why.
Leftists don't want us as allies, and the 'street militias' are almost entirely leftist.
Institutional elites in Germany supported National Socialism, while in the US today they
support leftists.
Thanks for your response. Sure, there are those on the left who want nothing to do with
centrists and conservatives. (Heck, some of them barely tolerate liberals.) But the
Democratic party chose its most moderate candidate as its standard-bearer in this election,
and Biden has made clear he welcomes the support of centrists and conservatives and
Republicans.
(As for militias, per the FBI (not known as a bastion of liberalism) right-wing militias
are by far the largest domestic terrorism threat.)
Like the Republican party in the Trump era, there is no longer such a thing as the
Democratic party in its traditional sense. As the GOP is an empty vessel now filled with
Trumpism, the Democratic party is an empty vessel being filled with progressivism (an ongoing
process). The traditional Democrats (like old-school moderate African-Americans) who put
Biden over the top in the primary are otherwise powerless in the party.
Biden has made it clear that he will not push back against the far Left in any way - in
his refusal to comment on packing SCOTUS, ending the Senate filibuster, ending the electoral
college (the lack of an answer to these being itself an answer), in his absorption of much of
Bernie's platform into his own, in his silence on urban riots and looting until campaign
people told him it was affecting polling (and his response since has been tepid at best).
He lied gleefully (Trumpily?) during the debate about the prog platform - his own campaign
website lists support for GND and an expanded "reimagining" of the suburbs among many other
progressive goals which Trump is too inarticulate and ignorant to frame sensible arguments
against.
The Democrats are planning to govern on the basis of vengeance and revolution. The mood of
the base could not be more clear.
Thanks for your response. Unlike the Republican party, the Democratic party still has a
party platform that extends beyond (far beyond, 90 pages beyond) fealty to its party leader.
As Biden won a majority of the delegates, the platform those delegates adopted reflects the
views of the factions that chose Biden more than it does any other faction in the party.
Biden has pointedly and repeatedly distanced himself from the policy wishes (e.g.,
Medicare for All, Green New Deal, defund the police) of the left-wing of the Democratic
party.
Vice President Biden knows there is no greater challenge facing our country and our world.
Today, he is outlining a bold plan – a Clean Energy Revolution – to address
this grave threat and lead the world in addressing the climate emergency.
Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate
challenges we face. It powerfully captures two basic truths, which are at the core of his
plan: (1) the United States urgently needs to embrace greater ambition on an epic scale to
meet the scope of this challenge, and (2) our environment and our economy are completely
and totally connected.
Biden will implement the Obama-Biden Administration's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
Rule requiring communities receiving certain federal funding to proactively examine housing
patterns and identify and address policies that have a discriminatory effect. The Trump
Administration suspended this rule in 2018.
Giving Americans a new choice, a public health insurance option like Medicare. If your
insurance company isn't doing right by you, you should have another, better choice. Whether
you're covered through your employer, buying your insurance on your own, or going without
coverage altogether, the Biden Plan will give you the choice to purchase a public health
insurance option like Medicare. As in Medicare, the Biden public option will reduce costs
for patients by negotiating lower prices from hospitals and other health care providers. It
also will better coordinate among all of a patient's doctors to improve the efficacy and
quality of their care, and cover primary care without any co-payments. And it will bring
relief to small businesses struggling to afford coverage for their employees.
I don't deserve your thanks, kind sir. You're vastly overestimating the social importance
of presidential elections, imo. And I don't believe the FBI. Every other institution in
American society is virtue signaling support for the woke left, so why not them? They know
who is going to run the country next year. Do you believe that the rioting and destruction
this summer was caused by right-wingers? I have heard that conspiracy theory before, and I
suppose it's the closest thing we'd ever get from leftists to an admission that the events
were negative.
I think that there is definitely a strong double standard when it comes to media reporting
and institutional acknowledgment of violence based on the demographics and politics of the
perpetrator. There was a huge mass shooting in the city I live in last year, but the shooter
(DeWayne Craddock) was black and had a stereotypically black given name. There was very
little reporting on it as compared with the Texas church shooter that occurred at about the
same time.
No, because we on the Left are always the greater evil.
Always.
The (few) bad tendencies of (some, very few) people on the Right can be contained and
governed by the other conservatives.
/SNARK
In Germany, the national socialists and communists were battling for totalitarian control.
Both of them were on the left. Dictatorship either way.
The real question today in the US is whether old fashioned liberals [belief in free
speech, political discourse without threats or actual violence, natural American patriotism,
etc] will disavow the violence and intimidation from the leftist totalitarianism that is the
democrat party today.
The rioting, the burning, the street violence, the death threats of lining people against the
wall, etc., etc., is pretty much all from the totalitarian left. I could give you hundreds of
examples, the most recent the former CEO of Twitter wanting to shoot political opponents.
This hate-filled rhetoric from the totalitarian left is an attempt to dehumanize people
they disagree with, to hate them. This is simply preparing for the stage that those the
totalitarian left disagrees with should be sent to gulags at a minimum, or killed.
This is all with the approval and help of the "mainstream' democrat party. Denying this
just makes you not credible.
p.s. Biden, at best, is a partial senile figurehead, whose function is to mask what the
totalitarian left really wants to do.
Oh what Jonah Goldberg has wraught with this "NAZI's we're leftists" horseshit. I guess
when you be been absolved of the notion that right wing thought had anything to do with the
rise of fascism in Europe, you can say any horrible thing you'd like about people of another
race, ethnicity, or religion ruining your pretty Lilly white country.
From Wikipedia:
"As the eldest son of Bertha Krupp,
Alfried was destined by family tradition to become the sole heir of the
Krupp concern. An amateur photographer and Olympic sailor, he was an
early supporter of Nazism among German industrialists, joining the SS in
1931, and never disavowing his allegiance to Hitler."
Thanks for your response. In case anyone else still isn't clear, and just for the record,
the Nazis were not "on the left".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
The national socialists were on the left. You may lie about it, I can't stop you.
But what is definitely clear is the national socialists were brutal evil totalitarianists
[new word?]. Just like the communist dictatorships in russia, china, cambodia, cuba, etc.
This is the leftists/wokesters blm antifa [the brownshirts of today] in the US, with the
tacit/explicit approval of democrat leadership.
They would not have been better off aligned with Stalin, which was the other side in their
domestic political extremes. It too was rioting in the streets.
The middle got too narrow to survive. That does not mean the other extreme was an
acceptable choice, much less a better choice.
No. For example, the Nazis and the Communists *combined* only accounted for 40% of the
parliamentary seats after the 1930 election. If the center-right, centrist, and center-left
parties had formed an alliance, they could have governed the country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
I'm not really a conservative, but I share many concerns and values with conservatives. I
do agree that it's better to ally with liberals and the center-left than to join right-wing
authoritarians, and for that reason I have, however reluctantly, cast my mail-in vote for Joe
Biden.
That said, I think you misinterpret the choice that ultimately faced German nationalists
in 1932. By that time, the liberals and center-left had shrunk to powerlessness at the
national level, and the republic itself was dead in all but name. The choice as the German
nationalists saw it, and very likely as it actually was, was to join the communist KPD or the
fascist National Socialists, both of whom were determined to kill the republic. Even a
friggin' restoration of the Kaiser would have found more support at that point than the
continuation of a liberal center-left republic which had been thoroughly repudiated by all
the strongest players.
In retrospect, we know that even the KPD might have been less bad than the National
Socialists, because the KPD probably wouldn't have blundered into another world war
like the National Socialists did (Stalin, after all, avoided war with the USA and UK). But
that would have been hard for German nationalists to foresee in 1932. The obvious question
for them in making their choice was "Whose death list am I on?" If you were a business owner,
independent farmer, or churchman, your chance of survival seemed better under the National
Socialists; if you were nonwhite, or gay, or Jewish (always remember many German Jews were
fervently nationalist; some of the men murdered in the camps had won Iron Crosses in World
War I), you would have a better chance of survival under the KPD. If the businessmen, farmers
and churchmen could have foreseen that the National Socialists were going to throw away their
lives in another pointless war, they might have taken their chances with the communists
instead.
Switching now to modern America, it seems as hard to predict now as it was for the Germans
in 1932 which party will get us into a massive bloodbath overseas. Trump talks the
nonintervention talk sometimes, but he never withdraws troops, twice came within a micron of
getting us into a war with Iran, and consistently behaves bellicosely with foreign powers.
Biden's record in supporting the Iraq War and the Libya intervention show that a vote for
Democrats is no sure vote for peace either. In any case, dying in a conventional war is a
very remote risk for most Americans; our forces are too strong and technologically advanced.
Nazi Germany lost seven times more dead just invading Poland than America lost in the whole
Afghanistan war. The true nightmare scenario for America is nuclear war with Russia, and
there's no dispute about which party is more hostile to Russia.
My point is, if we've truly reached 1932 Weimar, it's already too late to ally with
liberals and the center-left. The far right and the far left were their only options, and
both led to disaster.
My fervent hope is that we're still closer to 1929 Weimar than 1932. The republic is sick,
perhaps dying, but not everyone has lost faith in it; below the level of the political and
media elites, confidence in the republic is still strong. The US military still supports the
republic to an extent the Reichswehr never did. Biden is no fire-breathing radical; he's an
establishment man to his bones. He has no idea how to cure the republic, and his policies
helped bring it to this low ebb, but at least he isn't out to murder it. That's why I was
willing to vote for him. But it's merely a stopgap measure. The far left is busily taking
over Biden's party, and far from resisting it, he sees it as a useful ally against the right.
The far right, of course, has long been doing the same to the Republican Party. We may not
have arrived yet at 1932's dreadful choice between cutthroats, but we are speeding down that
road, and it is crazy to imagine that a mere presidential vote for either of these two clowns
is going to change our course.
What will change our course? I have only the haziest idea, and I'm eagerly looking forward
to Rod's book for suggestions.
This is the best answer, but radicals will just look at your "whose death list am I in"
argument and say "yep the bourgeoisie should die, and so should anyone who supports
them".
Agreed that this is a thoughtful response. While I may even more reluctantly cast my
ballot for a despicable lunatic instead, I relate to much of the above.
In the 1928 German elections, 15 political parties won seats in the Reichstag
(parliament), with the Nazi party winning fewer than 3% of the seats. Germany's proportional
system of allocating seats meant that even small parties could end up with a small number
seats. Two years later, 15 parties again won seats in Reichstag elections. The Nazi party
made the biggest gain in seats at the expense of more centrist parties. In both national
elections held in 1932, 14 political parties won seats, with the Nazi party winning the most
seats. The popularity of the Nazi party grew as economic conditions in the country
worsened.
In 2020, the Covid-19 virus may have merely accelerated trends which were already in place
in the US.
That's a stupid false equivalency and a scarecrow argument in one, maybe even a no true
scotsman to go with that. You're aware that there were several conservatives opposing Hitler,
right? Opposition wasn't just carried out by the far-left, some of which were in the
SA/The Nazi party themselves . See: strasserism.
Rod, I agree with you about Arendt and her classic work, the best work in political
history/theory of the 20th Century imo. But there is a reason why no one quotes it today. You
mention only the last chapter of TOoT, but in Part II she goes into great detail about how
capitalism led to imperialism which used racism as a means to that end. The "mob" originates
with those displaced by The Great Transformation (Polyani's term) brought about by capitalism
and the rise of bourgeois society . . . it is this mob that later forms the basis for
totalitarian movements. Arendt's analysis covers a period of about 400 years, not simply the
aftermath of World War I which was a result of the crisis that had already begun, that is the
dissolution of the nation state . . .
But that would be uncomfortable to point out, as it is the rise of right wing economics
that was destroyed the middle class in this country, and lead us to this parlous state.
For a long time, the right has happily embraced the culture wars to hide the destruction
of the libertarian economic policies, that as always are looking for a way to crush labor
power.
An anaylsis of the Communist takeover of Eastern Europe and East Asia that leaves out the
World Wars is like an American history text that leaves out the Civil War. In every single
Eurasian country from Hungary east to North Korea where the Communists came to power WWI
and/or WWII was a key factor. No war, no Communist takeover. (And it regards to the Nazis in
Germany WWI is also a crucial factor on their coming power)
What would play the role of those wars in our future if some manner of totalitarian
government of the Left or Right junked the Constitution and seized power by force?
To be sure, none of this means that totalitarianism is inevitable. But they do signify that
the weaknesses in contemporary American society are consonant with a pre-totalitarian
state. Like the imperial Russians, we Americans may well be living in a fog of
self-deception about our own country's stability. It only takes a catalyst like war,
economic depression, plague, or some other severe and prolonged crisis that brings the
legitimacy of the liberal democratic order into question.
Again, why are you responding to an argument that Rod is not making? He didn't write The
Handmaid's Tale,
What were the catalysts for Cuba or Venezuela? Or the many socialist regimes in Africa,
the Middle East and Latin America during the postwar decades?
Revolutions against outside imposed dictatorships left over from a soft imperialism.
Platt Amendment, Banana Wars, School of the Americas and coups for days set up the
conditions for people to not trust there near neighbor oppose to its distant enemies during
the Cold War and the legacies from it created the social conditions for. We as a state
literally supported death squads in Central America. Leading to the weak states and strong
gangs in the region. The seeds of any empire bear bitter fruits. It is also where the police
state we now see was created and imported home.
As is so often the case, there are various partial truths in what you say but they don't
add up to the simplistic conclusion. BTW Venezuela was a relatively wealthy and successful
country when Chavez took over; the factors you list were long before and not involved. Rather
what happened was existing inequities and problems were utilized to enable a power grab. In
the same way that poor blacks and other minorities are being used to enable the current power
grab, divide and conquer as always - in the end, they will be just as removed from power as
they are now. Like all the woke white chicks, they are just considered useful idiots for the
progressives seeking power.
We as a state literally supported death squads in Central America. Leading to the weak
states and strong gangs in the region. The seeds of any empire bear bitter fruits.
Not that simple. The weak states and strong gangs came first. The weak states and corrupt
governments and deep inequities created the instabilities that motivated insurgencies. Lack
of a rule of law and the inability of the state to protect you forces people to turn to (and
form) gangs for protection. All of this played out against a backdrop of a global conflict
between two empires, two ideologies which further fueled all the conflicts.
There were death squads and all sorts of other abuses on all sides. There are no clean
hands in such a conflict. It was not possible to remain neutral unless you were Swiss.
All of the problems you cite concerning central america are an outgrowth of the
"governments" the US government/business imposed on those countries. The societies of central
and south america were and are highly stratified with "Europeans"--ancestry--occupying the
highest rung and receiving the lions share of the wealth. That's the reason Castro and Chavez
had such an easy time overthrowing the governments and why there is so much resistance to a
return of the previous conditions.
International relations and history are a lot more complicated than you think they are.
The endless desire for Americans to find quick and dirty feel-good good vs bad answers to
everything goes a long ways towards explaining the degrading of this society and its
governance.
I note again that Venezuela was in a rather different state than pre-Castro Cuba. But yes
having a large underclass that feels disconnected and deprived of what the rest of a society
has goes provide fertile fuel for revolution.
MS13 and Barrio 18 were born in the US from refugees fleeing our dirty wars in Central
America. Poor wealth distribution leads to it. So glad you realize wealth focus is bad. Also
oligarchs are bad. We supported those corrupted governments leading to the revolutions
leading to the net result. Ever hear of United Fruit and the banana men? Imperial Companies
support weak government because they can influence it.
Well the catalyst for Cuba was Batista staging a coup, seizing power, and destroying the
democratic process (with full US support) in 1952. Less than 10 years later, a popular
revolution overthrew him. That revolution has proven a much tougher nut to crack. It's almost
as if overthrowing democracy and giving into a strongman's appetite for power has
consequences down the road.
One could also say that trying to jump start / leap frog your way into equality and
"justice" also has consequences down the road. A lesson that humans absolutely refuse to
learn, thus condemning generation after generation into misery.
No one "gives into a strongman's appetite for power". People make choices based on
incentives and possible outcomes. Rod uses the Franco example often. People often have to
choose between two terrible outcomes - in which case they choose the one that has a better
chance of their own survival or the survival of what they care about.
I can't comment about east Asia because I don't now enough about it, but as the great
historian John Lukacs never tired of saying, the only country in Europe where the Bolsheviks
triumphed politically was Russia. The Spartacists and the Bela Kun horror fizzled out. After
the second war the Communists needed the Red Army to set up puppets. There was no
"revolution" in Poland, Czech, Hungary or anywhere because nobody wanted it. Yugoslavia may
be a partial exception, but look what happened to Yugoslavia.
Good point. I guess we could make the argument that the Red Army sweep over Eastern Europe
and absorption of all those countries into the Soviet empire required WW2 to occur, but that
seems like not the argument that Jon is making in response to Rod's thesis.
I was agreeing with him. But "what would play the role of those wars in our future" would
be...a war. Which Biden (or, the Pentagon) has up his sleeve ("America is Back"). Experto
crede. Do you not believe that the Kagan/Rubin/Boot crowd would shy from a shooting war with
Russia? Because I don't.
Thankfully empty-headed blabbers like Rubin and Boot are well removed from actual power
(and even, I would say, influence - in fact it is unclear to me why anyone publishes their
rantings). The people with influence in a Biden administration will be people like Harris,
Warner, AOC, etc. I don't think they're really aching for a war.
But the point is that you don't need a war - the catalyst can be another major event like
economic depression, a global pandemic, etc, etc.
Well, we're asking the who/whom question only one way, it seems to me. Everybody is
rightly convinced that on social and economic issues AOC and Princess Tiger Lily will have
the wheel in a Biden administration. But who's to say that in foreign policy Gersonism won't
prevail? All these never Trumpers are going to be looking for their rewards. Remember,
Hillary destroyed Libya as a resume enhancer. And the Army has gone left. One of the things
Trump mideast deal has done is set up a Sunni/Shia showdown. Why not follow through?
Fair enough. I suppose that's possible, and the young AOC type progs barely know where
anything on the globe is outside the US so they might be happy to let the old "experts" take
back over foreign policy. Not where their interests lie, for sure.
I disagree about the mideast deals, though - a Sunni vs Shia conflict has been baked into
the cake from the beginning (see: Iran Iraq war), and it was Obama's crazy Iran deal that
started everyone back on that path by strengthening Iran and trying to push it into place as
a regional hegemon. That was never going to go down with the Sunni countries.
The apparently not actually so naive Kushner was able to take advantage of new incentives
that Obama's machinations created. I see this as quite positive.
We'll agree to disagree about the mideast, which I really just brought up e.g. The one
they're really lusting for is a shooting war with Putin. Have you read Gerson on that
subject? What's the outcome of Mrs. Sikorsky's bellicosity but that? What else has all this
NATO expansion been for, anyway?
Haven't read Gerson in a while. I see your point, though I don't really think any of these
people are quite reckless enough to lust for a war with a nuclear power.
Partially correct. Czechoslovakia was an exception: Communists came to power as a result
of a free election in 1946. But it was something of an outlier, probably the most left-wing
country in Europe.
It was Bush 43's costly Middle East adventures at a time when he was cutting income taxes
that set the US economy on the terrible path it is on now. Our national debt is out of
control. Many young people will leave college with massive student loan debt, poor job
prospects and, in many areas, very expensive housing. We have paid and will continue to pay a
very high price for trying to be the world's policeman.
Obama, the wild eyed leftist spender, cut the 1.2 trillion dollar deficit that W ran up
with his tax cuts and catastrophic war down to 585 billion. By the end of '19, before any
Covid-19 spending took place, Trump had run it back up to 984 billion. Growth has been a
meager two tenths of one percent higher in the first three years of Trump's presidency than
it was during the last three years of Obama and it has come at a high cost.
"...which seeks to infuse all aspects of life with political Consciousness."
Which explains the absurd phenomenon of polically-correct stand-up comics. Guess what?
They're not funny. 'Whimsy' won't get you belly laughs. Trump still gets the belly laughs.
Even from me, and I hate his rotten stinking guts with the white hot fury of a thousand
suns.
A hundred years ago, Newtonian physics got nuked. Goodbye ordered universe, hello entropy
and chaos. And we've been mopping up the fallout ever since. Ironically, years before, The
Enlightenment had already started this dissolution process. So can you blame Picasso and
Joyce for just trying to see things as they really are(?)
Griel Marcus traces this process in his great book Lipstick Traces. From The Brethren of
the Free Spirit to the Cathars to St. Just to the Paris Commune to Duchamp and right up to
The Sex Pistols, we are either fallen, or trying to achieve the colliding energy of a mere
collection of atoms. The Lettrists even took a cue from Finnegans Wake and carved up the damn
language, for Chr--sakes. And they've been doing it ever since.
So can you blame the great Stockard Channing, in Six Degrees of Seperation, 1993, for
meditating on a Kandinsky and then coming to the same conclusion that many of us poor
benighted souls have in these absurd times: 'I am all random.'
Arendt's fine. But I'll go with Carville's "It's the economy stupid".
When a young man who isn't "college material" has no economic future, he's going to find a
way to make one. If it requires totalitarianism, so be it. Indeed, totalitarian ideologies
can only flourish in an environment when bored, penniless young men have the time to read up
on them.
Imagine all of those black guys rioting or white skinheads having to get up early in the
morning for 10 hours of hard-work at the factory or on someone's roof. A couple of beers
after work and your ready for bed, not revolution. Hence the great America of the '50's - the
'80's.
I have no idea what's coming, but we are trying to reduce our exposure by moving out of
the city, as far as we can reasonably go for now until retirement. We are frantically trying
to get our house on the market and hoping that thanks to the magic of "gentrification"
(hopefully prospective buyers won't notice the giant "F*** Gentrifiers" spray painted on a
nearby wall) we can trade our overvalued home into two properties - one in a distant town
past the outer suburbs and another somewhere overseas where we can run to when things get
really bad. That's the dream, at least. But the city we have already left and won't be going
back.
I'm sure the overseas locations will be absolutely overjoyed to have a couple of US
refugees, with no ties to the country or area, who don't speak the language or have any
cultural understanding or background, and expect to instantly be fully integrated into the
economic and social fabric, showing up.
Have you considered that you'll be akin to a Central American family moving into the outer
suburb neighborhood you desire to live in, albeit one with more resources and legal
status?
"Trump's exaltation of personal loyalty over expertise is discreditable and corrupting.
But how can liberals complain? Loyalty to the group or the tribe is at the core of leftist
identity politics."
Just when you thought the hypocrisy and the double-standard had reached the limits of what
is humanly possible, Biden takes it up a notch.
After spending the last few months tearing up cities and threatening to burn down the country
if they don't win in November, the Democrats now accuse Trump of putting the Proud Boys on
stand-by???
Even my dog is laughing at this.
[How do these kooky communists even get elected to dog-catcher???]
Just saying both sides are playing this game. One is just doing it with more guns and
state security support. The left has greater cultural focus cause those are the positions
that interest them. This is the creation of capitalism.
If Rod paid more attention to all the data and not just those that feed his hysteria, he'd
learn that there are all kinds of backlash within liberal and far left circles to the
excesses he rightly decries. In fact, I think there is more self-correction and
self-regulation going on within "the left" than on Rod's side of the spectrum
Do you have any examples of this self correction? I've been living in a far left
neighborhood in a permanent liberal Democratic city for decades, and I don't see it (well now
we fled so I can't speak for what happens next).
There are occasionally people who will whisper something in my ear or my wife's ear that
suggests they recognize some lunacy that's going on. But they would never admit that
publicly. And all evidence suggests there are still very few of such people.
The whole point of Rod's thesis is that the vast majority of people will go along with the
tide even if they don't believe it - they will live their lives by lies. Very few people have
the courage to take a stand in such circumstances, as history makes all too clear. The
progressive left, again as has been made clear over and over, now owns all the institutions
that matter in the US - with woke capitalism being the final crown. What Rod says is coming,
is coming.
Without the '65 "immigration reform" act none of this would be happening. This isn't the
result of personal loneliness, it's the inevitable result of becoming, in Eugene McCarthy's
phrase, a colony of the world. The radical turn to the left is a direct result of anti-white
bloc voting by immigrants. (Indeed you have to be willfully blind not to notice the high
percentage of spokesmen for the extreme left who are immigrants or the children of
immigrants.) This is a race war against white America, in which the cultural establishment
and the government they shape are the leading protagonists. Classic racist colonialism, with
the bizarre twist that perhaps a third of the white population supports the annihilation of
their own peoples and cultures. For the others it's simply a Scramble For America, a rush to
get money, territory, and power with the natives footing the bill.
Irrelevant. It's the immigrant vote that puts them over. The vast majority of immigration
is non-white. It's immigration that has California not electing a Republican to statewide
office in 15 years, and nothing else. Don't take my word for it, the left itself has been
telling Republicans for decades that the demographics are against them. It's an
acknowledgement of the reality of identity bloc voting and the reason they support open
borders. In any case, I mentioned you when I wrote about that mentally ill third of whites
that supports self-annihilation.
"""It is probably as true that violence breeds fanaticism as that fanaticism begets
violence. Fanatical orthodoxy is in all movements a late development. There is hardly an
example of a mass movement achieving vast proportions and a durable organization solely by
persuasion. It was a temporal sword that made Christianity a world religion. Conquest and
conversion were hand in hand. Reformation made headways only where it gained the backing of
the ruling prince or local government. The missionary zeal seems rather an expression of some
deep misgivings. Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than
to bestow upon the world something we already have. The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his
own faith by converting others.
A true believer is eternally incomplete and eternally insecure.
Mass movements do not usually rise until the prevailing order has been discredited. A full
blown mass movement is a ruthless affair, and its management is in the hands of ruthless
fanatics. A Luther who when first defying the established church, spoke feelingly of "the
poor, simple, common folk," proclaimed later when he allied with the German princelings, that
"God would prefer to suffer to government to exist no matter how evil, rather than allow the
rabble to riot, not matter how justified they are in doing so."
"Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass
movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a
devil."
However, the freedom the masses crave is not freedom of self-expression and
self-realization, but the freedom from the intolerable burden of an autonomous existence.
They want freedom from the arduous responsibility of realizing their ineffectual selves and
shouldering the blame for the blemished product. They do not want freedom of conscience, but
faith -- blind, authoritarian faith. """"""
Biden of course is scarcely a totalitarian figure--Trump is more suited to that role. But
Biden would fit nicely as a von Hindenburg for the Loony Left.
How in the hell is Trump a totalitarian figure? I hear this calumny hurled at him time and
time again, but without any specifics. Tell me, what specific totalitarian actions has he
actually taken?
Support for violent white supremacist groups. Using the Dept. of Justice to target
political enemies. Adopting a Republican platform that consists solely of fealty to the party
leader.
Over the past 6 months or so, my husband has been listening to a lot of Jordan Peterson
and I have definitely noticed a shift in his thinking. A good one! I, myself, just finished
listening to his book, 12 Rules For Life and am now going through his Podcast episodes. It's
quite fascinating! Rogan has also received a lot of flak for having Peterson on his show
several times.
I went and listened to the episodes with Abigail Shrier and Douglas Murray (at your
suggestion) and now have their books (as well as your's) sitting in my audible library.
Most of what you say is true, save for the usefulness of the "experts", the credentialed
ones who have shown themselves to be absolute morons, incompetents and political hacks.
(Think, Fauci.)
Imagine if one hundred years ago you told the founding stock of this nation that every
American institution would be weaponized against their own history and heritage. Imagine if
you told them our universities, media, churches and immigration system were all being used to
demonize and demographically displace their own posterity. They must be rolling over in their
graves because that is exactly what is happening.
In 1920? Large numbers of them absolutely would have believed it. In fact, millions of
them *did* believe it. The country was being overrun by Italians, Poles, Greeks, Serbs,
Russians. A frightening number of them were Jews and Catholics. They smelled funny, spoke
weird languages, had bizarre beliefs and customs, cooked and ate strange foods. They were
lazy bums who were taking all our jobs. At a rally in Rhode Island, the Grand Imperial Wizard
proclaimed to thousands that the KKK stood for undying opposition to "Koons, Kikes, &
Katholics".
And it's come true! Look, for example, who's on the Supreme Court.
Not to mention that the Jews were over-running colleges. Keeping them out required changes
to admissions practices to make things other than pure academic ability deciding factors.
Hence the emphasis on "the whole person", where a good background, good family, athletic
ability, and being someone you'd want to associate with in your club began to over-ride
performance on the academic tests that had previously been used to determine admissions.
Just soft totalitarianism? That seems incredibly pollyann-ish - delusionally
optimistic.
If Biden wins, the USA, the EU and Red China will move swiftly to exterminate the remnants of
Christian Civilisation - and anybody associated with it.
Bishop Vigano seems to share this view. (
https://www.lifesitenews.co...
[Anyway, we ALREADY have "soft totalitarianism". Need proof? Just go down to your HR
department and tell them that you believe homosexual activity is immoral.]
As much as somebody may dislike Trump's personality, Biden is just not an option.
Biden = ethno-cultural extinction
As adults, we don't get to indulge our own childish sensitivities. We don't get to
participate in this political fantasy-land alt-universe - where monstrous evil is praised as
virtuous, and goodness is labelled as vice.
Just go down to your HR department and tell them that you believe homosexual activity
is immoral.
I imagine you'll get a reaction similar to that if you went down to HR and ranted about
how sex outside of marriage is immoral, or lectured how sodomy is a crime against nature and
its practitioners deserve to burn in Hell.
I used to have a Ukrainian woman on my staff. When my younger staff all started in 2016
expressing support for Sanders she freaked. Then she freaked over Trump.
We are screwed. My decision to vote for Biden is predicated upon the hope that a boring
gaff prone Biden presidency will allow a return to normalcy.
A vote for Biden is a vote for the radical totalitarian left. Packing the supreme court.
Ending the Senate Filibuster and open borders. The country as we know it will be over.
Certain end of the First and Second amendments. I don't find you credible at all
"... The REASON they won't release them: The TRUMP Collusion wasn't with the Russians , but with APARTHEID Isra-h-e-l-l. But NO ONE will investigate that. M.A.G.A. is out. M.I.G.A is in. ..."
"... 'Bloody Gina' is Trump's loyalist appointee, following through on what loyalist Pompeo started to protect Trump Crime Family Corruption, Chabad Mafia, and ZOG. ..."
"... please allow me to still congratulate Gina on reducing the almighty Third Option into the Toiletpaper Option. ..."
"... 2018, BREAKING: Trump appoints Haspel as first female CIA director ..."
"... 2017: Breaking: CIA Director Mike Pompeo appoints Haspel as the first female CIA officer to be named deputy director. ..."
"... Fathead and Esper were best buds at West Point.. ..."
"... Evidence destruction was one the main purposes of the Mueller "investigation". ..."
"... Please. If you can see what Trump has done, basically bending the US and its taxpayers over for Israel, you'd realize he's just another in a long line of AIPAC Presidents. Ain't nobody opposing him. CIA knows what Russia knows about him, and they're just using him as bait. ..."
"... proof is in the pudding, Hillary still walks free, none of the corrupt ones are in jail and won't ever go to jail. Face it, Biff has many fooled. ..."
"... U.S. Navy Reserve Doctor on Gina Haspel Torture Victim: "One of the Most Severely Traumatized Individuals I Have Ever Seen" ..."
"... What bothers me more is how deep the Deep State goes in Washington. They totally control the government and without mass firings it is impossible to even make a dent in it. This country is gone and just doesn't know it yet. Once Kamala is crowned as queen reality will come slamming home pdq. By the time the country realizes what has happened to them it will be way too late, no matter how many guns they have at home. Once they cut off access to your money, very few people will be independent enough to survive on their own. ..."
"... Trump has opened the eyes of more Americans to the simple fact that an unelected bureaucracy is running the country ..."
"... DJT hired this c8nt, sure, but the pool of candidates equipped to take over the CIA is very small, and all are career swamp things. If DJT put in a true outsider, the ranks would close and the "Director" would know nothing, could do nothing, and nothing would change. The ranks would just wait for another President. Trump is powerless over the CIA. After all, they could easily have him 'accidentally' killed; they've done it before. ..."
"... The CIA just needs to be dissolved in acid. The political, psychological and historical deep-rooted corruption isn't fixable by anyone. ..."
"... McConnell would never confirm a "true outsider". Mitch is the real problem here, he tells Trump who he will and will not confirm, so Trump has to accept one of Mitch's choices. ..."
"... He could put in Mike Flynn. And any vested employee who "closed ranks" would go on immediate and permanent furlough. ..."
"... Here's something we Americans can learn from the Russians. In August 1991 after Gorbachev left to the Black Sea for a short vacation, the heads of the USSR "power ministries" (KGB chairman, armed forces chief of staff, Minister of Interior, etc. etc.) formed the "State Committee for Extrordinary Situation" ( G.K.Ch .P.) and tried to overthrow the government. ..."
"... That's what happened in Washington in 2016-2018 - "GKChP Lite." ..."
"... After the putsch attempt failed, the leaders were arrested and the power ministries reorganized - the KGB was split into several departments including the FSB and SVR for internal and external intelligence. ..."
"... Trump can declassify these personally if he wants, at any time. He could even go live on air and read portions of it to the public. He has the power, but he refuses to use it. ..."
"... Trumps entire cabinet is full of Goldman Sachs, Skull and Bones, CFR, Pentagon, CIA, Career politicians... at what point do you realize he was never going to drain the swamp? Both candidates are a joke and so is this website for becoming a Big R Republican website. ..."
"... This is all kabuki theater because Trump could have signed an Executive Order releasing everything back to JFK 3 years ago instead of flapping his yap. Comey has a Hollywood movie coming out this fall, As Biden said, "Shut up, man". ..."
"... No one is going to prison that deserves to over this. They'll crucify some desk monkey or intern, pat each other on the back and brag about a job well done. We've seen it the last four years, some low level schmuck changes the footer on some emails and the DOJ is all over it like white on rice. Totally ignoring the fact there is a seditionist movement, maybe even treasonous, happening at a systemic level throughout government. Four years is enough time to build a case, lord knows any one with half a mind can find all the evidence needed in four damned days. ..."
"... The a-holes running the DOJ won't prosecute Comey, or Clinton, or Brennan or any other name we know. Because they're doing dirty deeds themselves and don't want to set the precedent in fear those who come after them might in turn prosecute them ..."
"Federalist" co-founder Sean Davis reports that CIA Director Gina Haspel is personally
blocking the release of documents that will show "what actually happened" with Russiagate.
" This isn't just a scandal about Democrat projection, this is a scandal about what was a
coup planned against the incoming administration at the highest levels and I can report here
tonight that these declassifications that have come out," Davis told FOX News host Tucker
Carlson on Wednesday. "Those weren't easy to get out and there are far more waiting to get
out."
"Unfortunately those releases and declassifications according to multiple sources I've
talked to are being blocked by CIA director Gina Haspel who herself was the main link between
Washington and London ," Davis said.
"As the London station chief from John Brennan's CIA during the 2016 election. Recall, it
was London where Christopher Steele was doing all this work. And I'm told that it was Gina
Haspel personally who is blocking a continued declassification of these documents that will
show the American people the truth of what actually happened."
Watch:
pier , 1 hour ago
The REASON they won't release them: The TRUMP Collusion wasn't with the Russians , but with APARTHEID Isra-h-e-l-l. But NO ONE will investigate that. M.A.G.A. is out.
M.I.G.A is in.
Joseph Sullivan , 1 hour ago
No. This is all the UK. And Brit east India/pharma complex I'm serious. Israel is a UK proxy.
tion , 1 hour ago
True. 'Bloody Gina' is Trump's loyalist appointee, following through on what loyalist
Pompeo started to protect Trump Crime Family Corruption, Chabad Mafia, and ZOG.
My last
comment including my sentiments towards Gina got eaten by censorship for reasons obvious to
me, but please allow me to still congratulate Gina on reducing the almighty Third Option into
the Toiletpaper Option.
acetrumchura , 1 hour ago
2018, BREAKING: Trump appoints Haspel as first female CIA director
acetrumchura , 1 hour ago
2017: Breaking: CIA Director Mike Pompeo appoints Haspel as the first female CIA officer
to be named deputy director.
BGen. Jack Ripper , 49 minutes ago
Fathead and Esper were best buds at West Point..
NoWorries77 , 1 hour ago
Evidence destruction was one the main purposes of the Mueller "investigation".
realitybiter , 2 hours ago
Trump Has played like Tom Brady. Without either guard or tackle. Take the CIA and the FBI. They are both still ran by rats. Tree of liberty is VERY thirsty.
eatapeach , 1 hour ago
Please. If you can see what Trump has done, basically bending the US and its taxpayers
over for Israel, you'd realize he's just another in a long line of AIPAC Presidents. Ain't
nobody opposing him. CIA knows what Russia knows about him, and they're just using him as
bait.
GreatUncle , 57 minutes ago
Either they are accountable or they are treasonous. CIA is the globalist intelligence agency now.
MAGAMAN , 2 hours ago
It will happen, the fuse just keeps getting shorter. Nobody even refutes that Obama is a
traitor that spied on Trump's campaign and tried to overthrow the President. The evidence is
overwhelming and continues to snow ball.
ChiangMaiXPat , 1 hour ago
It will never happen as Trump appointed these Clowns. Imagine appointing people working
DIRECTLY against your self interest. Does this sound logical or even remotely plausible? I
don't recall it EVER happening in any other administration.
spqrusa , 2 minutes ago
He cannot do anything without Consent from the Privy Council and the circle of demons.
ThaBigPerm , 2 hours ago
Aaaand Trump can just order declassification over "her" head. Do it.
Lather Rinse Repeat , 1 hour ago
Surfaces the cabal's foot soldiers. CIA Director Haspel was a great leader when appointed. But when process drives Haspel to
block an action, the message is that Haspel is rot and so is Haspel's network. These networks run deep and wide and prosecuting 1 or 10 does nothing - you need them all,
or the problem comes back in 5 years.
Lokiban , 2 hours ago
He won't
proof is in the pudding, Hillary still walks free, none of the corrupt ones are in jail
and won't ever go to jail. Face it, Biff has many fooled.
spam filter , 2 hours ago
The way he's constantly saying, "someone should do something about this" ...Tells my
spidey sense that he has little power in the swamp.
Propaganda Phil , 2 hours ago
Isn't she the same chick who destroyed all the torture tapes? Good luck.
Mr. Bones , 1 hour ago
All power of classification is derived from the office of the executive.
He could do exactly this, unilaterally.
Farmer Tink , 1 hour ago
First, normal people who consume news from the networks, particularly those that get their
news from MSNBC and social media, would never hear this. Second, if they did find out about
this, they'd never believe it. It would cause too much cognitive dissonance for them to
believe.
They wouldn't believe it unless the four legacy broadcast media told them so. They
just live in a land of Orange Man Bad as far as news go. A plot to overthrow the US
government by Obama and the Brits would be unfathomable to them.
Someone Else , 2 hours ago
Trump had an abrasive demeanor during the debate and in general.
How could he not, when truly everybody for four years HAS fought him tooth and nail? Few
would have had the ability to stand up to what he has stood up to.
Quia Possum , 1 hour ago
He had that demeanor before he was president too, so I don't accept that excuse.
desertboy , 27 minutes ago
U.S. Navy Reserve Doctor on Gina Haspel Torture Victim: "One of the Most Severely
Traumatized Individuals I Have Ever Seen"
justyouwait , 2 hours ago
All this crap needs to come out. Any date for the release before the election will have
the Dems and their media lap dogs crying foul. It just doesn't matter. They will NEVER
support the release of any documents that are damming to them. He should release it all right
up to the day of the election. This country needs to know all the criminality that went down.
That goes for the so called Durham report too, of which there have been so many rumors. That
one is likely to be a huge zero though by the time Barr gets done with it and then tells us
there were "improprieties" but nothing really bad. What a joke.
What bothers me more is how deep the Deep State goes in Washington. They totally control
the government and without mass firings it is impossible to even make a dent in it. This
country is gone and just doesn't know it yet. Once Kamala is crowned as queen reality will
come slamming home pdq. By the time the country realizes what has happened to them it will be
way too late, no matter how many guns they have at home. Once they cut off access to your
money, very few people will be independent enough to survive on their own.
John Couger , 2 hours ago
Trump has opened the eyes of more Americans to the simple fact that an unelected
bureaucracy is running the country
Sigh. , 2 hours ago
DJT hired this c8nt, sure, but the pool of candidates equipped to take over the CIA is
very small, and all are career swamp things. If DJT put in a true outsider, the ranks would
close and the "Director" would know nothing, could do nothing, and nothing would change. The
ranks would just wait for another President. Trump is powerless over the CIA. After all, they
could easily have him 'accidentally' killed; they've done it before.
The CIA just needs to be dissolved in acid. The political, psychological and historical
deep-rooted corruption isn't fixable by anyone.
Mclovin , 1 hour ago
McConnell would never confirm a "true outsider". Mitch is the real problem here, he tells
Trump who he will and will not confirm, so Trump has to accept one of Mitch's choices.
gcjohns1971 , 1 hour ago
He could put in Mike Flynn. And any vested employee who "closed ranks" would go on immediate and permanent
furlough.
There are only a couple or three thousand CIA agents and analysts. The rest are
contractors.
To bypass the swamp things you sideline them and put your own people in charge of the
contracts.
otschelnik , 1 hour ago
Here's something we Americans can learn from the Russians. In August 1991 after Gorbachev
left to the Black Sea for a short vacation, the heads of the USSR "power ministries" (KGB
chairman, armed forces chief of staff, Minister of Interior, etc. etc.) formed the "State
Committee for Extrordinary Situation" ( G.K.Ch
.P.) and tried to overthrow the government.
That's what happened in Washington in 2016-2018 - "GKChP Lite."
After the putsch attempt failed, the leaders were arrested and the power ministries
reorganized - the KGB was split into several departments including the FSB and SVR for
internal and external intelligence.
Trump has to do the same thing - break them up.
Occams_Razor_Trader , 1 hour ago
Kennedy wasn't a big fan................. look where it got him......................
Back and to the left.................................
LostinRMH , 2 hours ago
Trump can declassify these personally if he wants, at any time. He could even go live on
air and read portions of it to the public. He has the power, but he refuses to use it.
LostinRMH , 2 hours ago
The only timing Trump is interested in is running out the clock. If he get's a second term, a lot of these current issues will magically vanish, and new
ones will appear. This is just a scripted political show for the sheeple. It's all fake.
Oldwood , 2 hours ago
The swamp owns the government's employment agency. All hires come from within the swamp.
LooseLee , 1 hour ago
Sorry Old Man. Trump could have handled this sooooo much better and differently. I call
BS.
knightowl77 , 50 minutes ago
Here is the "B.S."
80 to 90% of the Federal Government are swamp creatures or friendly to the swamp...90 out
of 100 U.S. Senators are either swamp members or at least friendly to the swamp....Trump can
only get people confirmed to certain agencies who are Not hostile to the swamp...McConnell
and company are blocking the draining....The Dems would be even worse or just impeach
Trump....
No One else has even tried...I doubt anyone else could've survived the swamp as long as
Trump has....So you tell us HOW he could have done it better and differently?????????
AlexTheCat3741 , 1 hour ago
Not one person who has had a prior association with John Brennan should be doing anything
in the Trump Administration. And if that person cannot be fired, then reassign them to
cleaning toilets or picking up trash.
WHERE IS PRESIDENT TRUMP GETTING HIS PERSONNEL CHOICES FROM? We know Chris Cristie was one
who recommended director of the "Fibbers Bureau of Insurrection", Chris Wray and he is an
absolute disaster AND NEARLY AS BAD AS JAMES COMEY WHO MUST BE SUFFERING FROM DEMENTIA TOO AS
HE CANNOT SEEM TO REMEMBER ANYTHING WHILE UNDER OATH BEFORE A SENATE COMMITTEE.
And now we have this Gina Haspel running the CIA? ARE YOU F CKING KIDDING??
The first person to next get the ax in the Trump Administration is whoever it is that is
giving him these personnel choices, e.g., Rex Tillerson, James Matis, John Kelly, Kirsten
Nielson, Mark Esper, Mark Miley..........WHO IS PICKING THIS TRASH WHEN THE PRESIDENT NEEDS
REAL HELP PERFORMING A COLON FLUSH ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO GET THE GARBAGE OUT AND TO
UNDO THE DAMAGE DONE BY 8 YEARS OF BARACK O'DINGLEBARRY AND SLOW JOE BIDEN??
Citi The Real , 1 hour ago
Trumps entire cabinet is full of Goldman Sachs, Skull and Bones, CFR, Pentagon, CIA,
Career politicians... at what point do you realize he was never going to drain the swamp?
Both candidates are a joke and so is this website for becoming a Big R Republican
website.
DeeDeeTwo , 1 hour ago
This is all kabuki theater because Trump could have signed an Executive Order releasing
everything back to JFK 3 years ago instead of flapping his yap. Comey has a Hollywood movie
coming out this fall, As Biden said, "Shut up, man".
Alfred , 2 hours ago
The Director of the CIA is a cabinet position. If she doesn't want to take direction from POTUS, she should be fired.
Wild Bill Steamcock , 53 minutes ago
Yeah, there's a reason she's blocking it. If those papers are released, it'll lead to
someone high up the food chain facing a courtroom out of necessity because people will lose
their goddamed ****.
Once that happens, you'll by necessity have to go after six more. Then six more. Then
everyone in D.C., their families, friends, and pet dogs are gonna be locked up.
They protect themselves. "Obeyance of the law is for thee, not for me."
Wild Bill Steamcock , 41 minutes ago
No one is going to prison that deserves to over this. They'll crucify some desk monkey or
intern, pat each other on the back and brag about a job well done. We've seen it the last
four years, some low level schmuck changes the footer on some emails and the DOJ is all over
it like white on rice. Totally ignoring the fact there is a seditionist movement, maybe even
treasonous, happening at a systemic level throughout government. Four years is enough time to
build a case, lord knows any one with half a mind can find all the evidence needed in four
damned days.
The a-holes running the DOJ won't prosecute Comey, or Clinton, or Brennan or any other
name we know. Because they're doing dirty deeds themselves and don't want to set the
precedent in fear those who come after them might in turn prosecute them
radical-extremist , 1 hour ago
Be aware CIA people stick together like glue. They're more loyal to each other than they
are the US or any president. Once you're in the CLUB, you're in the CLUB for life. Trump was
absolutely right about not trusting "our intelligence agencies".
12Doberman , 1 hour ago
I hate the CIA...and it's been a power unto itself for a very long time. The idea that it
is under civilian oversight is a joke.
Max21c , 1 hour ago
the CIA...and it's been a power unto itself for a very long time. The idea that it is
under civilian oversight is a joke.
Quite true there is no oversight and the secret police community and intelligence
community are presently and have been for a long time above the law, above the Constitution,
above the very framework of government per above Congress & above the President and above
the Courts... and everybody just goes along with the pack of criminals in the security state
and accepts that they have the right to commit crimes, run criminal activities, and abuse
secret police powers... and nobody ever stands up to the Nazis and NeoNazis and these
radicals in the military secret police, military intelligence, Pentagon Gestapo, National
Security Council, FBI & CIA and the rest of the criminal underworld network inside and
around the organized criminal enterprises and organized criminal networks of the security
state...
12Doberman , 1 hour ago
That's right and the civilian government is largely just a facade.
ken , 1 hour ago
CIA wasn't W-A-S for preventing 9/11...or were they involved in it? Did the missing
trillions go to Israel, and that other country, as payment for services???
_arrow
protrumpusa , 2 hours ago
Someone asked in previous post - why do democrats hate Trump? Good question.
It can't be his policies - who except illegals don't want secure borders, who doesn't want a
strong private buisiness economy, who doesn't want manufacturing jobs to be brought back from
China.
Our democrat leaders, plus Romney all have a connection to Ukraine's stolen treasury money
and Soros's money too, and Trump doesn't . This I believe is the reason democrats hate
President Trump
protrumpusa , 2 hours ago
The Obama administration and the FBI knew that it was they who were meddling in a
presidential campaign - using executive intelligence powers to monitor the president's
political opposition. This, they also knew, would rightly be regarded as a scandalous abuse
of power if it ever became public. There was no rational or good-faith evidentiary basis to
believe that Trump was in a criminal conspiracy with the Kremlin or that he'd had any role in
Russian intelligence's suspected hacking of Democratic Party email accounts.
[snip]
In the stretch run of the 2016 campaign, President Obama authorized his administration's
investigative agencies to monitor his party's opponent in the presidential election, on the
pretext that Donald Trump was a clandestine agent of Russia. Realizing this was a gravely
serious allegation for which there was laughably insufficient predication, administration
officials kept Trump's name off the investigative files. That way, they could deny that they
were doing what they did. Then they did it . . . and denied it.
LEEPERMAX , 30 minutes ago
Gina Haspel worked directly for the instigator of the Crossfire Hurricane operation
– John Brennan. It would have been impossible for Haspel not to have known about the
British spying from London since it was reported in UK newspaper on a weekly basis.
She certainly was controlling Stefan
Halper , Josef
Mifsud ,
Stephan Roh , Alexander Downer, Andrew Wood, John McCain, Mark Warner, Adam Schiff and
the other conspirators.
Kan , 2 hours ago
The FBI and CIA are the enemy of the people. There is little doubt at this point that they
serve nobody but the bankers that formed the organization and themselves.
Gunston_Nutbush_Hall , 2 hours ago
How convenient.
CIA operative Trump nominates Haspel to be the CIA director, after CIA Operative Trump
picked CIA chief Mike Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, thereafter
Epstein is Trumpincided on CIA Operatives Barr Pompeo Trump's watch, while running smoke
cover for the CIA's Obama's False Flag National Government.
Shortly after taking office in 1999, Jesse Ventura writes he was asked to attend a meeting
at the state Capitol. He says 23 CIA agents were waiting for him in a basement conference
room.
The greatest False Flag ever? Brainwashing Americans to think Constitutional Federal
Government exists.
Kefeer , 17 minutes ago
The people who want to know and care to know the truth already know the truth. It is
suspect that Trump appoints people like Christopher Wray and Gina Haspel and I really do not
know what to make of it - is he part of the swamp or making bad decisions? I honestly do not
know, but my biblical lens filter tells me we are in trouble regardless of the outcomes
because so many of the institutions in government and industry are so corrupt.
Maltheus , 29 minutes ago
Trump is absolutely incompetent, when it comes to selecting people. He always has been.
Flynn was one of the few, who was halfway decent, and he got thrown to the wolves. Pretty
much everyone else, he's ever chosen, has knifed him in the back, and most of us saw it
coming a mile away.
Tuffmug , 13 minutes ago
The Swamp is deep and has had twenty + years to grow . Trump had to chose the ones who
stunk least from a slimy pool of corrupted officials and fight against every agency, each
filled with deep state snakes. I'm just surprised he is still breathing.
Kinskian , 29 seconds ago
So his incompetence begins and ends with "selecting people" and that gets no downvotes
from the 'tards. I understand why. You're still blaming other people for Trump's failures in
office instead of placing the blame squarely with HIM. He is incompetent in his role as
President, and that is his responsibility.
LEEPERMAX , 36 minutes ago
Gina Haspel would have known about the coup. If she has not reported all of this to the
President Trump, she is complicit in the overthrow attempt and is guilty of HIGH TREASON.
Wild Bill Steamcock , 49 minutes ago
Spooks run this world. And they certainly like power, and money. But do you want to know
what they like most of all?
Information.
Control of information drives everything else. And anyone who has even sniffed that world
knows to get quality information you can't buy it. Instead you have to trade information of
equal value.
We're not important enough to have the opportunity to know what they know. I don't know
about you, but I'm a little angry about that.
StealthBomber , 30 minutes ago
That is because they are un-accountable.
Wild Bill Steamcock , 30 minutes ago
and untouchable.
Take one out and the whole thing collapses.
insanelysane , 51 minutes ago
Don't think we need declassifications to know what happened. We know what
happened.
as I've stated many times, governments would be completely unstable if the government
legally proved that organizations within the government were involved is sedition. With the
IRS scandal the deflection was that a few rogue employees did some things even though the
entire IRS was involved in harassing far right and far left organizations.
The problem with Russiagate is that none of the rogue employees are willing to to go down
without taking everyone involved down. The IRS rogues got nice payouts and no prison
time.
radical-extremist , 1 hour ago
She doesn't want them released because obviously it implicates her in Strzok's Crossfire
Hurricane scheme. It also puts mud on the face of MI6, which is why Trump might be
hesitant.
October is young.
12Doberman , 1 hour ago
Haspel is also likely a figurehead in many respects. From what I've read about CIA over
the years those at the top have competing agendas and don't trust and share information with
each other. The idea that a president is sworn in ever 4-8 years and is brought up to speed
on everything they are doing is laughable...and likely impossible. No president fully
controls the CIA and it has it's own agenda that runs across and through
administrations...may as well call it the head of the deep state snake.
Felix da Kat , 2 hours ago
Haspel is a Brennan redux.
The deep state is much deeper than anyone dare thought.
If Trump cannot do unwind the DS,then all is lost.
If Biden gets in, he will only serve to further entrench DS operatives.
Looking bleak out there, folks.
1nd1v1s1ble1 , 3 hours ago
*sigh* As if anything is going to come of this...when has any high ranking politician EVER
been taken to task or incarcerated for their crimes? It's the same political theater brought
to you by the MSM/Jesuit/Jooish/Freemason cult who ritually perform their televised 'skits'
to the masses to make it appear as if justice exists or better yet, we have a Republic-
newsflash: it died a long, long time ago. The frightened mask-wearing, compliant sheeple lap
it up every f'n time-when do you awake and realize there is no bi-partisan political machine,
there is no blue versus red, just like their cronies in Hollyweird, these politicians are
simply actors who were too ugly to make it there, orange man aint gonna save ya, bumbling joe
aint gonna save ya, understand Stockholm Syndrome-survivors of 'merica....they DO NOT GIVE A
F#*K ABOUT YOU OR YOUR FAMILY and would prefer you were dead.
Even the POTUS cannot do anything in DC alone, no matter what he wants to do. He needs
people to cooperate or follow orders. It seems many or most of the people around him are deep
state spies. I think they are scared ****less of what Trump might try to declassify. I think
the CIA would destroy evidence before providing proof of a seditious coup. If you've
committed murder or treason, destroying evidence seems like jaywalking.
Now we know Haspel is personally involved and we probably know exactly why she is blocking
the release of this information.
Jack_Ewing , 17 minutes ago
Trump was supposed to drain the swamp but surrounded himself with the scariest of swamp
creatures, this Medusa-like entity being one of the most terrifying. Pompeo, Mnuchin, Wray,
Miller, Haspel, Kushner, and the chief of the all, the official cover-upper for the Deep
State for the last 40 years, William Barr.
donkey_shot , 45 minutes ago
surprise, surprise: one-time iraqi detainee torturer and current CIA chief gina haspel is
a nasty piece of work: geez, whodathunk?
The only reason I can think of for holding these documents is that the conspiracy is so
vast and intricate, it might destroy 80 plus percent of the government! If that's what it
comes down to, so be it! Blow the whole PHUCKING thing to kingdom come!
Philthy_Stacker , 45 minutes ago
An accurite assumption.
LOL123 , 1 hour ago
Gina Haspel doesn't have a legal leg to stand on.
"The most explosive revelation was that the dossier was
bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee , a
fact that the Clinton campaign took pains to hide, that Clinton officials lied about, and
that Fusion GPS refused to reveal on its own. It wasn't an intelligence report at all. It was
a political hit job paid for by Trump's opponent."
Political issues " incorporated" into public stock holding corporations.
"Individual shareholders cannot generally sue over the deprivation of a corporation's
rights; only the board of directors has the standing to assert a corporation's constitutional
rights in court. [7]
-USA
Ever since Citizens United, the Supreme Court's 2010 decision allowing unlimited
corporate and union spending on political issues, Americans have been debating whether, as
Mitt Romney said, "Corporations are people, my friend."
The question came to the Supreme Court in a challenge to regulations implementing
President Obama's landmark health care law. Those regulations require employers with 50 or
more employees to provide those employees with comprehensive health insurance, which must
include certain forms of contraception. The contraception requirement was designed to protect
the rights of women. Studies show that access to
contraception has positive benefits for women's education, income, mental health, and family
stability.
since a political entity ( DNC and Hillary Campaign funded a public corporation which
is a " corporate personhood" and can be sued it is open to discovery in a court of
law.
the chickens have come home to roost....as Mitt Romney says....corporations are the
citizens "best friend".
R.G. , 1 hour ago
Citizens ARE corporaions.
4Y_LURKER , 1 hour ago
Finkel is Einhorn!
Einhorn is Finkel!
Totally_Disillusioned , 1 hour ago
If Sean Davis was able to unearth this, President Trump, Pompeo have known this for some
time and Ratcliffe certainly knows this. the question is "why is she allowed to block
disclosure?". None of the players are currently in service and would not be at risk if their
involvement was disclosed. What possibly is the excuse? Are they using the old excuse of not
revealing sources and methods?
All these people need a stern reminder the govt is owned by the people...they work for us.
So far we are the only people kept in the dark. Breakup the intel 17 agencies and re-engineer
down to two - one domestic and one international.
SirBarksAlot , 1 hour ago
It's always a national security issue when it's your responsibility to release the
documents that would incriminate you.
Gunston_Nutbush_Hall , 3 hours ago
Exactly why CIA Trump hand selected her. Exactly for the same reason CIA Trump hand
selected BARR.
TO PROVIDE CLEAN SMOKE N COVER FOR THEIR CIA NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
Barr: CIA operative
It is a sobering fact that American presidents (many of whom have been corrupt) have gone
out of their way to hire fixers to be their attorney generals.
Consider recent history: Loretta Lynch (2015-2017), Eric Holder (2009-2015), Michael
Mukasey (2007-2009), Alberto Gonzales (2005-2007), John Ashcroft (2001-2005),Janet Reno
(1993-2001), **** Thornburgh (1988-1991), Ed Meese (1985-1988), etc.
Barr was a full-time CIA operative, recruited by Langley out of high school, starting
in 1971. Barr's youth career goal was to head the CIA.
CIA operative assigned to the China directorate, where he became close to powerful CIA
operative George H.W. Bush, whose accomplishments already included the CIA/Cuba Bay of
Pigs, Asia CIA operations (Vietnam War, Golden Triangle narcotics), Nixon foreign policy
(Henry Kissinger), and the Watergate operation.
When George H.W. Bush became CIA Director in 1976, Barr joined the CIA's "legal office"
and Bush's inner circle, and worked alongside Bush's longtime CIA enforcers Theodore "Ted"
Shackley, Felix Rodriguez, Thomas Clines, and others, several of whom were likely involved
with the Bay of Pigs/John F. Kennedy assassination, and numerous southeast Asian
operations, from the Phoenix Program to Golden Triangle narco-trafficking.
Barr stonewalled and destroyed the Church Committee investigations into CIA
abuses.
Barr stonewalled and stopped inquiries in the CIA bombing assassination of Chilean
opposition leader Orlando Letelier.
Barr joined George H.W. Bush's legal/intelligence team during Bush's vice presidency
(under President Ronald Reagan) Rose from assistant attorney general to Chief Legal Counsel
to attorney general (1991) during the Bush 41 presidency.
Barr was a key player in the Iran-Contra operation, if not the most important member of
the apparatus, simultaneously managing the operation while also "fixing" the legal end,
ensuring that all of the operatives could do their jobs without fear of exposure or
arrest.
In his attorney general confirmation, Barr vowed to "attack criminal organizations",
drug smugglers and money launderers. It was all hot air: as AG, Barr would preserve,
protect, cover up, and nurture the apparatus that he helped create, and use Justice
Department power to escape punishment.
Barr stonewalled and stopped investigations into all Bush/Clinton and CIA crimes,
including BCCI and BNL CIA drug banking, the theft of Inslaw/PROMIS software, and all
crimes of state committed by Bush
Barr provided legal cover for Bush's illegal foreign policy and war crimes
Barr left Washington, and went through the "rotating door" to the corporate world,
where he took on numerous directorships and counsel positions for major companies. In 2007
and again from 2017, Barr was counsel for politically-connected international law firm
Kirkland &
Ellis . Among its other notable attorneys and alumni are Kenneth Starr, John Bolton,
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and numerous Trump administration attorneys.
K&E's clients include sex trafficker/pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and Mitt Romney's Bain
Capital.
A strong case can be made that William Barr was as powerful and important a figure in the
Bush apparatus as any other, besides Poppy Bush himself.
...Shortly after taking office in 1999, Jesse Ventura writes he was asked to attend a
meeting at the state Capitol. He says 23 CIA agents were waiting for him in a basement
conference room.
Bobby Farrell Can Dance , 3 hours ago
The Navalny "incident" is the latest pathetic CIA and British MI6 operation and the
Belarus incitement. Sloppy, unoriginal and going to backfire in their stupid faces.
Everybody knows the evil empire wants Nordstream II dead, Navalny is the latest lever and
that woman they recognized as leader of Belarus is as laughable as that Guaido goon they
recognized in Venezuela, but he's actually outside of Venezuela - yeah that's how popular he
is. Western intelligence agenices are hacks, they are past their peak.
John Hansen , 3 hours ago
The real stupid thing is the West will succeed.
Spinifex , 20 minutes ago
Christopher Steele is THE GUY who 'doctored all this up'. Why has he not been bought
before congress and asked questions?
Sergi Scripal worked for Christopher Steele. Sergi Scripal earned tens of thousands of
pounds 'providing information' to Christopher Steele. Why is he 'not being asked questions?
He's not 'dead'. Sergi Scripal is 'alive and well' and 'being hidden' by the U.K. Government
'for his own safty.' The U.K. can provide 'access to Sergi Scripal.
Pablo Miller worked for Christopher Steele. Pablo Miller was Sergi Scripals 'handler' with
MI6. Pablo Miller was also the 'last person to talk to Sergi Scripal' before Sergi Scripal
'surccumed to Novichok poison.' Why is Pablo Miller (aka: Antonio Alvarez de Hidalgo -
https://gosint.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/who-is-mi6-officer-pablo-miller/
All three worked for Orbis Business Intelligence the company that wrote the 'Steele
Dossier' that Gina Haspel had access to and 'approved' sending onto the FBI and CIA. All
three, Christopher Steele, Sergi Scripal and Pablo Miller are 'alive and well' and all three
are able to provide information about the Steele Dossier, what was in the Steele Dossier, and
WHERE the information in the Steele Dossier came from. Ask the questions dammit, and you'll
get the answers.
headless blogger , 58 minutes ago
Not a fan of Trump, although I voted for him the first time, but he will be in serious
trouble if Biden gets into office as there are too many vengeful people on that side of the
isle. They attempted a coup d'etat which is the worse treason, where most of these people
would be executed in "normal" times.
So, they HAVE TO win at all costs, in their thinking. They will then turn the tables on
Trump as well as the entire Conservative camp. It looks like an ugly future if they win. If
Trump wins, it will be ugly too.
Sure signs to get the hell out now if you can.
The Technocracy crowd is behind all of this, btw. They are waiting for the full collapse
at which time we will be inundated with Tech Billionaires coming forward to "save us".
BEWARE!!
4 play_arrow 1
1nd1v1s1ble1 , 1 hour ago
*sigh* As if anything is going to come of this...when has any high ranking politician EVER
been taken to task or incarcerated for their crimes? It's the same political theater brought
to you by the MSM/Jesuit/Jooish/Freemason Satanic cult who ritually perform their televised
'skits' to the masses to make it appear as if justice exists or better yet, we have a
Republic- newsflash: it died a long, long time ago. The frightened mask-wearing, compliant
sheeple lap it up every f'n time-when do you awake and realize there is no bi-partisan
political machine? There is no blue versus red, just like their cronies in Hollyweird, these
colluding politicians are simply actors who were too ugly to make it there, orange man aint
gonna save ya, bumbling joe aint gonna save ya, understand Stockholm Syndrome-survivors of
'merica....they DO NOT GIVE A F#*K ABOUT YOU OR YOUR FAMILY and would actually prefer you
were dead.
Better/cheaper than sending US military to fight in another useless war.
headless blogger , 1 hour ago
Gina Haspel was selected by Trump!! When you take into consideration Trump's selections of
Haspel, Bolton, and many others, it becomes obvious there is someone in his admin that is
directing him to bring these people on. He brings them on and then they betray him.
5onIt , 1 hour ago
Pence is the dude you are looking for.
Haspel was the CIA Station Chief in London, when this was all going down.
Be sure, she has chit to hide.
LEEPERMAX , 1 hour ago
John Brennan led the coup this side of the Atlantic, while Gina Haspel , who was in the
CIA London office at the time, worked the coup from London as the CIA chief in cooperation
with GCHQ and Robert Hannigan. Both are creepy, corrupt traitors of America.
The current head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Gina Haspel, oversaw one such site
where torture was carried out. ... Abu Zubaydah, Courtesy Professor Mark P. Denbeaux, Seton
Hall University ...
y_arrow
Mister Delicious , 2 hours ago
She was Brennan's London pet.
She should be fired and escorted from the building, and then DOJ NSD should open an
investigation into her contacts with Brennan.
Think there might be a Demstate coup attempt?
Well, don't you imagine any friend of John Brennan's is not a friend of Trump.
I don't care how much you love Orange Jesus - he has picked absolutely terrible people
over and over and over.
Good DNI now but he needs to take charge.
richsob , 3 hours ago
Orange Fat Boy is getting played like a violin. You and I both know it. Does he? Probably
because you can see it on his face but he's just not willing to do what it would take to get
everything out into the open. And if he tries to expose everything after he's lost the
election nobody will listen to him......even you and I. It will be too late then.
We would think that the New York Slimes would know something about losses. After all, they
paid $1.1 Billion in 1993 for The Boston Globe and in 2013, sold it for $70 Million to
businessman John Henry, the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, and a massive 93%
loss.
But it's worse than that because included in that sale is BostonGlobe.com ; Boston.com ; the direct-mail marketing company Globe Direct; the
company's 49 percent interest in Metro Boston, a free daily paper; Telegram.com and The Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The Times
bought the Telegram & Gazette for $295 million in 1999.
We should be convinced to pay any attention to Fake News Tabloid, The New York Slimes,
given that kind of Business Acumen? I don't think so.
rwe2late , 3 hours ago
Hope & Change, Drain the swamp, End the wars
Angelic Obama allegedly prevented from saving us by "deep state" Republicans.
Angelic Trump allegedly prevented from saving us by "deep state" Democrats.
Poor us, our chosen leaders and parties are always so blameless in failing us.
protrumpusa , 4 hours ago
President Trump has gotten rid just about everyone in this article I found 3 years ago
> The ATLANTIC COUNCIL is funded by BURISMA, GEORGE SOROS OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION &
others. It was a CENTRIST, MILITARISTIC think tanks,now turned leftist group
> JOE BIDEN extorted Ukraine to FIRE the prosecutor investigating BURISMA, HUNTER's
employer.
> LTC VINDMAN & FIONA HILL met MANY TIMES with DANIEL FRIED of the ATLANTIC
COUNCIL. FIONA HILL is a former CoWorker of CHRISTOPHER STEELE !
> AMBASSADOR YOVANOVITCH is connected to the ATLANTIC COUNCIL, is PRAISED in their
documents, gave Ukraine a "do not prosecute" list, was involved in PRESSURING Ukraine to not
prosecute GEORGE SOROS Group.
> BILL TAYLOR has a financial relationship with the ATLANTIC COUNCIL and the US UKRAINE
BUSINESS COUNCIL (USUBC) which is also funded by BURISMA.
> TAYLOR met with THOMAS EAGER (works for ADAM SCHIFF) in Ukraine on trip PAID FOR by
the ATLANTIC COUNCIL. This just days before TAYLOR first texts about the "FAKE" Quid Pro Quo
!
> TAYLOR participated in USUBC Events with DAVID J. KRAMER (JOHN MCCAIN advisor) who
spread the STEELE DOSSIER to the media and OBAMA officials.
> JOE BIDEN is connected to the ATLANTIC COUNCIL, he rolled out his foreign policy
vision while VP there, He has given speeches there, his adviser on Ukraine, MICHAEL CARPENTER
(heads the Penn Biden Center) is a FELLOW at the ATLANTIC COUNCIL.
> KURT VOLKER is now Senior Advisor to the ATLANTIC COUNCIL, he met with burisma
President Trump took to the debate stage tonight shortly after Tucker Carlson aired and it
seemed like he was on the right track with his feisty hits on Joe Biden and plan to help all
Americans by rebuilding the economy. Pedro Gonzalez, a popular guest of top-rated Tucker
Carlson's show spoke to Tucker about why more Hispanics may be supporting President Trump.
Here's a clue, it's not by pandering. It's by showing the American people that he is a strong,
alpha leader.
It's by not treating Hispanics as though they need to be put on some higher playing field
than White Americans to show them they matter. They already know they matter, they just want to
know what President Trump is going to do to make America a safer country for business owners
and law-abiding citizens who don't care to be known by their race, to begin with.
"People who work for a living don't like disorder because they're vulnerable to it". "You're
right," Pedro says. "The GOP is starting to recycle these talking points while denigrating
their white base they patronize Latinos by saying things like, one group of people does the job
that another group doesn't want to do, it's not just untrue, it's morally repugnant," he says.
Gonzales goes on to say that the GOP should stop trying to beat the Democrats at their own
game. He says Trump should play his own game because "he's good at it and it's more popular"
and he goes on to describe his thoughts more below.
Perhaps President Trump should start listening to the organic voices from the right and stop
listening to paid bureaucrats who are out of touch with reality going into the election as he
faces a more challenging demographic voter situation than any Republican presidential candidate
ever.
During a 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, I served presidents of both parties -- three Republicans and three
Democrats. I was at President George W. Bush's side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with
President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
I am neither a registered Democrat nor a registered Republican. In my 40 years of voting, I have pulled the lever for candidates
of both parties. As a government official, I have always been silent about my preference for president.
No longer. On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is
elected as our 45th president.
Two strongly held beliefs have brought me to this decision. First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief.
I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president -- keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only
unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.
I spent four years working with Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state, most often in the White House Situation Room. In
these critically important meetings, I found her to be prepared, detail-oriented, thoughtful, inquisitive and willing to change her
mind if presented with a compelling argument.
I also saw the secretary's commitment to our nation's security; her belief that America is an exceptional nation that must lead
in the world for the country to remain secure and prosperous; her understanding that diplomacy can be effective only if the country
is perceived as willing and able to use force if necessary; and, most important, her capacity to make the most difficult decision
of all -- whether to put young American women and men in harm's way.
Mrs. Clinton was an early advocate of the raid that brought Bin Laden to justice, in opposition to some of her most important
colleagues on the National Security Council. During the early debates about how we should respond to the Syrian civil war, she was
a strong proponent of a more aggressive approach, one that might have prevented the Islamic State from gaining a foothold in Syria.
I never saw her bring politics into the Situation Room. In fact, I saw the opposite. When some wanted to delay the Bin Laden raid
by one day because the White House Correspondents Dinner might be disrupted, she said, "Screw the White House Correspondents Dinner."
In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits
he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.
These traits include his obvious need for self-aggrandizement, his overreaction to perceived slights, his tendency to make decisions
based on intuition, his refusal to change his views based on new information, his routine carelessness with the facts, his unwillingness
to listen to others and his lack of respect for the rule of law.
The dangers that flow from Mr. Trump's character are not just risks that would emerge if he became president. It is already damaging
our national security.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was a career intelligence officer, trained to identify vulnerabilities in an individual
and to exploit them. That is exactly what he did early in the primaries. Mr. Putin played upon Mr. Trump's vulnerabilities by complimenting
him. He responded just as Mr. Putin had calculated.
Mr. Putin is a great leader, Mr. Trump says, ignoring that he has killed and jailed journalists and political opponents, has invaded
two of his neighbors and is driving his economy to ruin. Mr. Trump has also taken policy positions consistent with Russian, not American,
interests -- endorsing Russian espionage against the United States, supporting Russia's annexation of Crimea and giving a green light
to a possible Russian invasion of the Baltic States.
In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.
Mr. Trump has also undermined security with his call for barring Muslims from entering the country. This position, which so clearly
contradicts the foundational values of our nation, plays into the hands of the jihadist narrative that our fight against terrorism
is a war between religions.
In fact, many Muslim Americans play critical roles in protecting our country, including the man, whom I cannot identify, who ran
the C.I.A.'s Counterterrorism Center for nearly a decade and who I believe is most responsible for keeping America safe since the
Sept. 11 attacks.
My training as an intelligence officer taught me to call it as I see it. This is what I did for the C.I.A. This is what I am doing
now. Our nation will be much safer with Hillary Clinton as president.
Michael J. Morell was the acting director and deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2010 to 2013.
Two-thirds of the newly laid-off workers are part-time employees: they will be happy to know
that Disney loaded up on massive debt so it could fund stock buybacks.
"The middleman and the host society come in conflict because elements in each group have incompatible goals. To say this is
to deny the viewpoint common in the sociological literature that host hostility is self-generated (from psychological problems
or cultural traditions)."
Edna Bonacich, "A Theory of Middleman Minorities," 1973.
[1]
An interesting accompaniment to Nathan Cofnas's 2018 attempted debunking of Kevin MacDonald's work on Jews was the subtle resurfacing
of Steven Pinker's claim that a more plausible theory of the Jewish historical experience can be found in "Thomas Sowell's convincing
analysis of 'middleman minorities' such as the Jews, presented in his magisterial study of migration, race, conquest, and culture."
Pinker first involved himself in criticism of MacDonald's work in a
letter to Slate , in January 2000, where he made the
above comment. A mere teenager in January 2000, it was only in the wake of the Cofnas affair that I first discovered and read Pinker's
initial response to MacDonald's theory. It goes without saying that I disagreed with almost everything Pinker had to say, but I was
especially vexed by his invocation of the "middleman minority" theory, something I've been familiar with for over a decade and always
found strongly lacking. Pinker himself, of course, has relatively little expertise in the area, his only comment on the theme coming
from a quasi-memoir on Jewish intelligence written for
New Republic . Additionally, his gushing use
of persuasive language ("convincing," "magisterial") to describe Thomas Sowell's extremely derivative and now rather dated Migrations
and Cultures: A World View (1996) struck me as a wholly contrived inflation of what isn't really a rival theory at all,
and certainly not a Sowell innovation. In fact, the history of "middleman minority" theory, and especially its application to the
Jews, has a patchy, chequered, and ambiguous history that is worth exploring in its own right. The following essay is intended to
provide such a history, as well as to broadly assess the merits and inadequacies of exploring Jewish history through this lens, and
also the ways it complements, and falls short of, Kevin MacDonald's theory.
History of the Theory
The comparing of Jews with other sojourning or diaspora trading peoples is far from new, and has even been a staple of anti-Jewish
writing since at least the Enlightenment. Voltaire, for example, wrote in his Oeuvres Complètes (Geneva, 1756) and Dictionnaire
Philosophique (Basle, 1764) that "The Guebers [Parsis in the modern terminology], the Banyans [Indian merchants] and the Jews,
are the only nations which exist dispersed, having no alliance with any people, are perpetuated among foreign nations, and continue
apart from the rest of the world." [2]
In the course of his essay, however, Voltaire concluded that, some surface similarities aside, "It is certain that the Jewish nation
is the most singular that the world has ever seen." Bruno Bauer (1809 -- 1882), the German Protestant theologian, philosopher and
historian, also used the example of the Parsis and Overseas Indians, writing in The Jewish Problem (1843),
The base [of the tenacity of the Jewish national spirit] is lack of ability to develop with history, it is the reason of the
quite unhistorical character of that nation, and this again is due to its oriental nature. Such stationary nations exist in the
Orient, because there human liberty and the possibility of progress are still limited. In the Orient and in India, we still find
Parsees [sic] living in dispersion and worshipping the holy fire of Ormuz.
[3]
After Voltaire, commentary on the relationship between the economic activity of the Jews and other aspects of their behavior and
history, a key theme in modern middleman minority theory, were common points of discussion and debate. Jakob Friedrich Fries (1773
-- 1843), an avowedly anti-Semitic German philosopher, argued in his essay On the Danger to the Well-Being and Character of the
Germans Presented by the Jews (1816), that Jews adopted their historical middleman role willingly, out of a hunger for profit
and an innate sense of separateness, rather than being forced into it by broader economic structures and contexts (which again are
a major focus of modern middleman minority theory). For Fries,
Both in Germany and abroad the Jews had free states where they enjoyed every right, and even countries where they reigned --
but their sordidness, their mania for deceitful, second-hand dealing always remained the same. They shy away from industrious
occupations not because they are hindered from pursuing them but simply because they do not want to.
Following Bauer and Fries -- and before modern scholarship on the subject, the most prominent invocation of ideas similar to modern
middleman minority theory can be observed in the work of Karl Marx. In fact, Marx's essay On the Jewish Problem is an explicit
reply to Bauer, with Marx accusing Bauer of "a one-sided conception of the Jewish problem."
[4] Marx decried Bauer's focus on religious
matters, perceiving the roots of the Jewish problem to reside instead in resource competition and raw economics. In many of his arguments
and assessments of the economic and sociological position of the Jews, Marx anticipated Edna Bonacich (1940 -- ), the Jewish Marxist
anti-Zionist sociologist who essentially invented middleman minority theory in its modern form (and whose work will be discussed
below), in arguing for a structural-contextual explanation of the middleman role of the Jews. In this view, the historical development
of Capital essentially invites and entices certain sojourning or diaspora groups, including the Jews, to adopt lucrative but exploitative
and antagonistic roles within society. In the words of Marx, "we recognize therefore in Judaism a generally present anti-social element
which has been raised to its present peak by historical development , in which the Jews eagerly assisted ." [emphasis
added] These antagonistic roles then generate host hostility, which reinforces ethnocentrism and negative characteristics in the
minority, accelerating and deepening conflict.
Marx's emphasis on economic opportunity and the capitalist superstructure influenced later writers such as the German economist
Wilhelm Roscher (1817 -- 1894), Werner Sombart (1863 -- 1941), Max Weber (1864 -- 1920), and Georg Simmel (1858 -- 1918), all of
whom attempted in some form to trace the relationship of ethnicity to occupational choice (a major concern of modern middleman minority
theory), with particular attention paid to the Jews. In keeping with his flamboyant Marxism, Sombart was closest to Marx's ideas
on the Jews, arguing in The Jews and Modern Capitalism (1911) that Capital had drawn Jews into their influential, exploitative,
and lucrative roles in such a comprehensive manner that Jews had become a kind of ur-middleman minority, and thus were both the prime
movers of modern capitalism and the very embodiment of exploitative capital itself. Later, in Der moderne Kapitalismus (1913),
Sombart claimed that the middleman nature of the Jews had become endemic in society, creating generations of mere "traders," a bourgeois
"Jewish species" whose entire intellectual and emotional world is "directed to the money value of conditions and dealings, who therefore
calculates everything in terms of money." This "spirit of Moloch" compelled the entrepreneur to "make money relentlessly until at
last he conceives this as the real goal of all activity and all existence."
[5] For Sombart, the origins of the
worst of modern capitalism can be found in the early middleman role of the Jews, their medieval semi-nomadic quest for usury-derived
profit and Victorian hawking of shoddy goods being a precursor to modern advertising and the mass production of superfluous and quickly
obsolete consumer products.
Max Weber's interpretation of the Jewish middleman role was slightly softer, with Weber advancing the notion of "pariah capitalism."
Pariah capitalists, who include the Jews as well as the Parsis, the Overseas Indians, and the Overseas Chinese, are groups whose
characteristics and situational contexts make them prone to willingly adopt socially negative positions in order to obtain wealth
and influence. For Weber, capitalism itself was not intrinsically bad. The Puritans, with their industry and hard work, were held
up in Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904/5) as exemplars of positive, "rational" capitalism.
Jews, and other pariah capitalists, however, invariably advanced a negative "irrational" capitalism typified by consumer credit,
speculation, and colonialism. According to Weber, middleman minorities or "pariah capitalist groups" perverted the essentially good
nature of capitalism because of their practice of "dual ethics," or moral double-standards, which was itself a product of their sojourning
nature and situational context. Weber also perceived Judaism itself as reinforcing the Jewish preference for pariah capitalism.
[6]
Softer still were the ideas of Wilhelm Roscher, one of the founders of the historical school of political economy. Roscher was
part of the historical economist or European Institutionalist movement (which also influenced Weber) that argued for a study of economics
based on empirical work that laid special methodological emphasis on context, rather than logical philosophy. Roscher's emphasis
on context and the historical development of capitalism are exemplified in his 1875 essay "The Status of the Jews in the Middle Ages
Considered from the Standpoint of Commercial Policy."[7] In this essay, Roscher presented capitalism as neither inherently good or
bad, and he made the argument that Jews, who like other middleman minorities were economic modernizers, were positive influences
and crucial to the development of a burgeoning economic trading system. Gideon Reuveni offers the following summary:
According to Roscher, the modernizing role of the Jews explains the change in attitudes within the social majority: from tolerance
and acceptance to exclusion and persecution. In other words, once, in the eyes of the majority the role of the Jews becomes superfluous,
resentments towards the Jews become more prevalent. This cycle in relations towards Jews, Roscher observed, was not specific to
the relationship between Jews and non-Jews but was rather a general development among many peoples who allow their economies to
be administered by a foreign and more highly cultivated people, but later, upon having reached the necessary level of development
themselves, often after intense struggles, try to emancipate themselves from this tutelage. According to Roscher, "one may defiantly
speak in this connection of a historical law here."
[8]
Similar to Roscher's ideas were the theories of the Jewish Marxist anti-Zionist Abram Leon (1918 -- 1944). Leon, a Polish Jew
said to have been executed at Auschwitz at the age of 26, published
The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation around 1942, in
which he proposed that Jews were a "people-class." For Leon, "Judaism mirrors the interests of a pre-capitalist mercantile class."
He explains,
Judaism was an indispensable factor in precapitalist society. It was a fundamental organism within it. That is what explains the
two-thousand-year existence of Judaism in the Diaspora. The Jew was as characteristic a personage in feudal society as the lord and
the serf. It was no accident that a foreign element played the role of "capital" in feudal society. Feudal society as such
could not create a capitalist element; as soon as it was able to do so, precisely then it ceased being feudal. Nor was it accidental
that the Jew remained a foreigner in the midst of feudal society. The "capital" of precapitalist society existed outside of its economic
system. From the moment that capital begins to emerge from the womb of this social system and takes the place of the borrowed organ,
the Jew is eliminated and feudal society ceases to be feudal. It is modern capitalism that has posed the Jewish problem. Not because
the Jews today number close to twenty million people (the proportion of Jews to non-Jews has declined greatly since the Roman era)
but because capitalism destroyed the secular basis for the existence of Judaism. Capitalism destroyed feudal society; and with it
the function of the Jewish people-class. History doomed this people-class to disappearance; and thus the Jewish problem arose. The
Jewish problem is the problem of adapting Judaism to modern society.
Georg Simmel, an ethnically Jewish sociologist, philosopher, and critic, moved in much the same theoretical direction as Roscher
and Leon, as evidenced in his famous and still influential essay "Der Fremde" ("The Stranger") (1908). Simmel argued that certain
groups like Jews and other diaspora peoples may be members of host nations in a spatial sense but not in a social sense. They may
be in the nation, but not of it. These groups are both near and far, familiar and foreign. This contextual scenario
influences the behavior of "stranger" groups by permitting them freedom from convention and allowing them access to an alleged greater
objectivity. For Simmel, "the Stranger," the classic example of which in his estimation is the Jew, is "the person who comes today
and stays tomorrow. He is, so to speak, the potential wanderer: although he has not moved on, he has not quite overcome the freedom
of coming and going." [9] This freedom,
argues Simmel, makes "the Stranger" ideally suited to fulfil the role of middleman minority.
[10] As with Roscher's theory, which
is markedly contradicted in several key areas of the historical record, there are a number of obvious logical and evidential problems
with Simmel's theory, and these will be discussed later.
Between Simmel's 1908 essay and the 1970s, middleman minority theories continued to be advanced. With the exception of Philip
Curtin and his Cross-cultural Trade in World History (1984), these efforts were developed primarily by Jewish scholars, and
overwhelmingly within the context of trying to explicitly or implicitly explore, explain, or offer apologetics for the Jewish experience.
For example, Abner Cohen (1921 -- 2001), was an anthropologist at the University of London, who advanced, in his influential work
Urban Ethnicity (1974) and numerous other publications, the idea that there are "trading diasporas."
[11] Of particular interest are Cohen's
ideas about "visibility strategies" pursued by such groups:
The use of symbols to maintain group boundaries can thus be seen as a cultural strategy. In fact, many groups in traditional
and modern societies find that their interests are guarded better through invisible organisations such as cousinhoods, membership
in a common set of social clubs, religious ties, and informal networks, than through a highly visible, formally recognised institution.
At times, ethnic groups may need to heighten their visibility as strangers to maintain their interests while in other instances
they may wish to lower their profile and appear to be an integral part of the society.
[12]
This bears a striking similarity to the sixth chapter of Kevin MacDonald's Separation and Its Discontents , which is concerned
with visibility strategies, especially among crypto-Jews, and concludes with the argument that "this attempt to maintain separatism
while nevertheless making the barriers less visible is the crux of the problem of post-Enlightenment Judaism."
[13] In fact, beginning in the 1970s,
middleman minority theory began to develop several ideas that dovetail very well with the concept of Judaism as a group evolutionary
strategy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of Edna Bonacich.
Although the modern refinement of middleman minority theory is often traced to Hubert Blalock's 1967 Toward a Theory of Minority-Group
Relations , the greater scholarly interest has been shown in Edna Bonacich's 1973 American Sociological Review article
"A Theory of Middleman Minorities." [14]
Bonacich sought to refine and systematize Blalock's theory within an anti-capitalist framework, essentially making the argument that
all group conflict in such scenarios is the result of a rational competition for resources in which group characteristics and interests
play a crucial role. A Jewish Marxist and anti-Zionist, Bonacich's interpretations borrow heavily from Marx, Sombart, Weber, Roscher,
and Leon, to the extent that Bonacich essentially concurs that capitalism created opportunities for exploitative middleman communities
and the Jews and other middleman minorities, who possess certain predisposing characteristics including dual loyalty and a level
of unscrupulousness, willingly and enthusiastically engaged in these roles.
Bonacich is well-known for her work on East Asian middleman minorities in the United States, especially her 1980 monograph
The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity: Small Business in the Japanese American Community , but her earliest work on middleman
minorities clearly demonstrates a concern with the Jewish experience.
[15] In her discussion of middleman
minorities in the 1973 article, Bonacich describes Jews as "perhaps the epitome of the form." Some of the key features of the 1973
article include the arguments that Jews and other middleman minorities are essentially economic "teams," and that these teams rely
upon very high levels of ethnocentrism and related social and economic strategies, which in turn enable them to succeed in individualistic
societies. Bonacich writes,
The modern industrial capitalist treats his workers impartially as economic instruments; he is as willing to exploit his own
son as he is a stranger. This universalism, the isolation of each competitor, is absent in middleman economic activity, where
primordial ties of family, region, sect, and ethnicity unite people against the surrounding, often individualistic economy
. [emphasis added] [16]
Bonacich makes some very interesting, and controversial, remarks on the nature of conflict between middleman minorities and their
hosts, with special reference to Jews. For Bonacich, accusations that Jews have simply been scapegoats for the woes of Europeans
are based on nothing more than a "surface impression."
[17] While noting that middleman minorities "are noteworthy for the acute hostility they have faced," it remains that,
host members have reason for feeling hostile toward middleman groups. Even the extremity of the host reaction can be
understood as "conflict" behavior. The reason is that the economic and organisational power of middleman groups makes them
extremely difficult to dislodge. The difficulty of breaking entrenched middleman monopolies, the difficulty of controlling
the growth and extension of their economic power, pushes host countries to ever more extreme reactions. One finds increasingly
harsh measures, piled on one another, until, when all else fails, "final solutions" are enacted.
[18] [emphasis added]
Bonacich has also argued that Jews and other middleman minorities do engage in economic and social "dual loyalty," and that middleman
minorities do in fact "drain" resources away from host populations and can become very powerful as a result. This then frequently
causes host elites and masses to unite against the sojourning element, a conflict that can escalate rapidly if the sojourning element
refuses to give up its monopolies. Bonacich explicitly rejects any idea that "host hostility is self-generated (from psychological
problems or cultural traditions)," arguing instead that "the middleman and the host society come in conflict because elements in
each group have incompatible goals." With her apparent justification of host violence against middleman minorities, including Jews,
as well as her objective view of certain Jewish characteristics, Bonacich's theory has been heavily criticized in some quarters,
despite its ongoing influence in contemporary sociology. Robert Cherry, for example, has lamented that Bonacich's ideas on middleman
minorities "reinforce persistent, negative Jewish stereotypes."
[19]
Discussion
Before moving to an assessment of the merits and inadequacies of middleman minority theory in explaining Jewish history, it's
worth reflecting on the history of the theory in light of Steven Pinker's claim that it represents a rival, or "more convincing,"
analysis of the Jewish historical trajectory. The first problem, of course, is that, despite Pinker's lavish praise, Thomas Sowell
is not remotely regarded within scholarship as a leading or original thinker in the area of middleman minority theory. Not only does
discussion of middleman minorities form a relatively small element of Sowell's Migrations And Cultures , but what does appear
is highly derivative of the work of Edna Bonacich, Walter Zenner, and others.
A further problem is Pinker's assumption that there exists a single, unified theory on middleman minorities that will help explain
the Jewish historical experience, and that somehow this will also be sufficient to counter the theory of Kevin MacDonald, or at least
offer a more convincing framework that would allow MacDonald's ideas to be dispensed with. As should already be clear from this brief,
and incomplete, bibliographical overview, within middleman minority theory there is a plethora of often competing interpretations,
as well as a general problem of definitions. Walter Zenner, a key proponent of middleman minority theory, concedes that "we tend
to make our definitions and models fit the prototypical group. For decades, the Jews were the archetype."
[20] In other words, for a considerable
time, middleman minority theory was built around trying to explain the experience of Jews, with other groups haphazardly mapped onto
the theory in way that tried to give the impression of similarity, even where these similarities were thin to non-existent. Bonacich
has made roughly the same argument, asserting that middleman minority theory should be regarded as incomplete because it can only
point to an "ideal type," and
In reality there are problems of fit between any actual ethnic group and this picture, problems in establishing which or how
many of the traits a population need have before it can be classified as a middleman minority.
[21]
Bonacich, very reasonably in my opinion, proposes that middleman minority theory, of which she herself is a pioneer, is something
of a misnomer and should be regarded as little more than "a useful sensitiser to a host of interrelated variables."
[22] One is therefore pressed by Pinker's claim to ask not only which of the many strands of middleman minority theories Steven
Pinker is praising, but also just how "convincing" and "magisterial" he can find it given the field's leading contemporary thinkers
regard their work in such ambiguous terms.
Finally, it is not at all clear how any of the aspects of middleman minority theory obviate the need for a deeper theoretical
framework in which to understand the behaviors and contexts under study. Middleman minority theory, as remarked above, is an incomplete
tool, and has little to offer in terms of deeper explanatory value for such relevant key concepts under discussion as resource competition,
ecological strategies, visibility strategies, psychological attitudes toward the majority, and social identity theory. One of the
strong points of Kevin MacDonald's work, which is truly cross-disciplinary and unusually well-equipped in terms of the relevant historical
literature, is that is does offer such an analysis, and can be argued to fill a lot of the logical and evidential gaps of middleman
minority theory. This is not to say that the two frameworks are in opposition, but that the concept of a group evolutionary strategy
can be usefully and seamlessly integrated into middleman minority theory, especially in relation to Jews.
It's been continually remarked by many scholars in the field that Jews should be regarded as either an "ideal type," "the epitome
of the form," a singular example, or otherwise unique case -- even within the context of broad comparative approaches with other
trading diaspora peoples. The qualities that have made Jews so unique -- cultural, historical, religious, and even biological --
are rarely remarked or elaborated upon in sociological studies of middleman minorities, which are often lacking in depth in terms
of their historical analysis. As will be discussed below, Zenner, in particular, has highlighted ways in which Jews do not fit the
standard middleman minority pattern, especially in terms of their extravagant and influential involvement in the culture and politics
of the host nation (see also MacDonald's Diaspora
Peoples on the Overseas Chinese, xlii ff). Unfortunately, middleman minority literature has little to say in terms of further
explanatory theory on how or why Jews came to both define and exceed the middleman typology. Here, middleman minority theory not
only isn't a rival for MacDonald's work, it positively cries out for it.
"American Jews do not fit the sojourner pattern, since their political involvement goes far beyond the support of Jewish causes.
Much Jewish political activity, whether right, center, or left, can be related to a perception of how to make America and the
world safe for Jews. American Jewish support for domestic liberalism and internationalism can be interpreted in this way."
Walter Zenner, "American Jewry in the light of Middleman Minority Theories," 1980.
[23]
Merits of Middleman Minority Theory
The most obvious merit of middleman minority theory is that, like Kevin MacDonald's theory of a group evolutionary strategy, it
places an unusual and welcome emphasis on rational resource competition as the basis for social conflict involving certain minorities.
By offering a socio-economic explanation for hostility toward Jews, middleman minority theory represents a unique space within academia
where the otherwise ubiquitous "pure prejudice" idea that host hostility is self-generated (from psychological problems or cultural
traditions) is summarily and comprehensively dismissed. Although this has not come without criticism, as seen in Robert Cherry's
denunciation of Edna Bonacich's work as reinforcing bigotry
[24] , this emphasis has been able
to continue largely untroubled thanks to its advancement under a hardline traditional Marxist interpretive veneer.
Middleman minority theory, especially the variant advanced by Bonacich, also insists that host populations do have interests,
and that these interests are genuinely and seriously threatened by middleman minorities who drain away resources. These minorities
then use their accumulated resources to build up power and influence, sometimes even to the extent of gaining considerable economic,
social, and political monopolies over the hosts. Since these monopolies can be very difficult to dislodge, and since monopolies may
satisfy some interests of host populations or segments of host populations, middleman minority theory insists that it is rational
and somewhat inevitable that increasingly harsh and even violent measures will be taken against the offending minority. As a result,
middleman minority theory offers a far more plausible and objective understanding of group conflict than many of the ideas that dominate
the academic discussion of group conflict, especially conflict involving Jews. In addition, the outright rejection of "scapegoat"
theories as "superficial," and the lack of appeals to concepts of victimhood in such a framework, can only be described in the context
of the current academic climate as utterly refreshing.
A second major merit of middleman minority theory is the emphasis that some strands place on the characteristics of the
minorities themselves. Middleman minority theory contains within it three basic theoretical approaches. Context-based theories like
that of Roscher, and revived to some degree by Nathan Cofnas (who is particularly concerned with the urban environment-context),
argue that middleman minorities are essentially creatures of the societies in which they are found, and are for the most part created
by opportunities, status gaps, and vacuums over which they have no control and which have nothing to do with their inherent characteristics
(a slight advantage in intelligence being the only characteristic that Cofnas feels comfortable in applying). Situational theories,
like that advanced by Simmel are similar, but place more emphasis on the culturally-located role of the trader, the Stranger, and
the "sojourner as trader," as the determinant factor in the creation of middleman minorities. Culture-based, or characteristic-based,
middleman minority theories, however, tend to be more numerous, and more convincing. These theories, like that advanced by Weber
and given tacit assent by Bonacich and Zenner, place strong emphasis on the broad range of traditions, ideologies, behaviors, and
aptitudes of middleman minority groups.
The most frequently highlighted of such traits within middleman minority theory is ethnocentrism, which again dovetails with the
primary emphasis of Kevin MacDonald's theory. Ethnocentrism is acknowledged as a central factor in the maintenance of self-segregation
among middleman minority groups, and is often supported by ideological beliefs such as the caste system, or what Zenner describes
as "the Chosen People complex." [25]
Ethnocentrism in middleman minorities is presented as crucial to understanding host hostility not only because of the way it facilitates
the draining of resources from the host population, but also because of highly antagonistic correlates such as dual loyalty and a
willingness to engage in lucrative but morally destructive (for the host) trading. Walter Zenner speaks of a "double standard of
morality" that is
Expressed in dealings with outsiders, such as lending to them with interest, unscrupulous selling practices, and providing
outsiders with illicit means of gratifying their appetites, while at the same time, denying the same means to in-group members.
[26]
An excellent example of this process in action is the fact
Israel
is the largest producer and host of international online gambling sites , while making it illegal for its own citizens to use
such sites. Of course, we are talking here about a nation state rather than a minority population, but this contradiction, and the
nature of Israel within the international community, will be discussed in a critique of the narrowness of middleman minority theory
later.
A further merit of middleman minority theory is the heavy emphasis the cultural-characteristic interpretation places on group
strategies. Middleman minorities, again with Jews being held up by both Zenner and Bonacich as an exemplar or especially acute case,
are said to engage in constantly adaptive activity in order to manage their visibility, ensure their safety, advance their interests,
accumulate power and wealth, and entrench themselves ever deeper within the host. Bonacich has indicated that Jews are especially
keen to remain entrenched in the West, and the United States in particular, because it is financially and politically lucrative,
and only a catastrophic weakening of their monopolies would bring an end to existing strategies.
[27] Zenner goes as far as to claim
that "much of the content of American Jewish life can be seen as visibility strategies. Strategy here includes both unconscious mechanisms
of coping with situations and consciously formulated plans."
[28] Zenner speaks of a "dynamic process"
whereby Jews minimise visibility to avoid hostility, maximise visibility when pursuing certain interests, and generally work unceasingly
to make their image more favorable in the minds of the host. Again, all of this corresponds very well with one of the central themes
of the Culture of Critique -- the idea that Jewish involvement in certain intellectual movements could be seen in the context
of a pursuit of Jewish interests either consciously or in ways that involved unconscious motivations and self-deception. It also
maps very closely to MacDonald's framework on Jewish crypsis and other attempts to mitigate anti-Semitism, advanced in the sixth
chapter of Separation and Its Discontents .
Problems in Middleman Minority Theory
Given the prevalence of Jews in the development and promotion of the modern incarnation of middleman minority theory, including
Georg Simmel, Edna Bonacich, Abner Cohen, Abram Leon, Walter Zenner, Werner Cahnman,
[29] Donald Horowitz,
[30] Gideon Reuveni,
[31] Ivan Light, Steven J. Gold,
[32] and Robert Silverman,
[33] a reasonable concern might be
that middleman minority theory is itself an intellectual "visibility strategy." Just as it has been posited that Jews tend to support
mass migration because it will result in Jews becoming "one among many" ethnic minorities, and thus in their logic less conspicuous
and therefore safer, middleman minority theory can act to reduce Jewish visibility by offering the idea that Jews are just one among
many diaspora trading groups and their history and behavior is therefore not unique or worthy of special attention. It remains the
case that even in those interpretations which highlight negative Jewish behavior and portray host responses as rational (e.g. the
work of Bonacich and Zenner), the proposed framework still insists on some level of commonality, no matter how tenuous, with the
experiences of other minority groups, and it ultimately places the blame for conflict on a much broader context, often the impersonal
historical development of capitalism.
In other words, while the framework can deny that Jews are "victims" of host nations, these theories also deny that host nations
are truly the victims of Jewish exploitation. Both are simply argued to be the victims of capitalism, and any sense of individual
or group agency is rhetorically dissolved. Again, this acts to lower Jewish visibility and culpability and remains attractive for
that reason. There are certainly good reasons along this line of thought for proposing that Steven Pinker's promotion of the theory
over Kevin MacDonald's ideas has less to do with a serious engagement with the content of the work of Bonacich et al. and significantly
more to do with deflecting the entire conversation into an area of discussion in which Pinker feels Jews are less visible.
A major problem with middleman minority theory is that it has a very uncomfortable and unsatisfactory way of handling the obviously
unique aspects of the Jewish experience, especially in relation to the unprecedented involvement of Jews in post-Enlightenment Western
culture and politics, something for which there is absolutely no parallel among other diaspora trading groups anywhere. As has been
discussed, middleman minority theory was essentially first created, consciously or unconsciously, by scholars anxious to find a way
to explain the Jewish experience. Attempts to connect this experience, amounting to some two millennia of history, with the much
more modern and straightforward experiences of, for example, the Chinese in the Philippines or the Japanese in America, have been
doomed to the grossest of generalizations and the clumsiest of associations. This has resulted in a steady stream of admissions within
the field that the best way to interpret middleman minority theory is simply that it proposes an "ideal type" (essentially the Jews)
with unfortunate "problems of fit between any actual ethnic group and this picture [the Jewish experience]."
[34] Zenner has conceded that the
concept has been very "difficult to define so as to cover all groups so designated."
[35] All of which calls into question
whether this concept possesses any real efficacy as an analytical or predictive tool in a comparative sense at all.
An interesting point of difference between the Jewish experience and that of other diaspora trading peoples is that the latter
are acknowledged as possessing a genuine sense of sojourn. In other words, their first generations tend to be truly temporary, semi-nomadic
groups who aim to make money before eventually returning to a homeland. A subtly different experience is observed in the Jews, as
noted by Jack Kugelmass in his 1981 PhD thesis Native Aliens: The Jews of Poland as a Middleman Minority . For Kugelmass,
"the so-called "middleman" character of the Jew is seen as an aspect of the Jewish sense of sojourn, which unlike most sojourns
is ideological rather than sociological in nature ." [emphasis added] Another way of phrasing this would be to say that the Jewish
sense of sojourn is cultural-biological rather than contextual, and since the concept of sojourning has been a major feature of Jewish
life since at least the writing of the Exodus, this difference between other groups is really so stark as to require a distinct analysis
-- something offered to an unparalleled degree in Kevin MacDonald's A People That Shall Dwell Alone . In this analysis, it
would appear that, unlike a relatively small number of other peoples who have merely adopted some tactics in order to pursue a specific
diaspora trade role, Jews have, from time immemorial, given themselves over entirely to these strategies as an entire way of life
-- the "middleman minority" as a raison d'être .
This absolutely crucial distinction is linked to the remarkable fact of contemporary political life that the state of Israel exists
largely according to the same strategies employed by Jews when in a diaspora condition. As stated above, an excellent example of
the dual morality process in action is the fact Israel is the largest producer and host of international online gambling sites
, while making it illegal for its own citizens to use such sites. The creation of the state of Israel has also exacerbated, rather
than ameliorated, issues of dual loyalty in Jewish minority populations, even if these issues are more or less kept out of the public
eye through diplomatic soothing around Israeli spying and the maintenance of certain taboos in the mass media. Israel itself would
appear to be a kind of middleman minority archetype within the international community, cultivating close and lucrative ties with
the elite (the United States), while engaging in more or less unchallenged exploitative and oppressive activities against lower social
orders (Palestinians, and other
vulnerable or indebted population groups in South America).
Like the "ideal type" of middleman minority, Israel heavily drains the resources even of its allies (U.S. military and diplomatic
aid) and pursues its strategies in a ceaseless quest for security, while maintaining moral double standards and being rather shameless
in engaging in what Zenner has described as the classic overrepresentation of middleman minorities in "morally shady" activities.
[36] Even in recent years, Israel has become notorious in the
international organ trade ,
moneylending , and allegations of humanitarian atrocities. Israeli newspapers have also described their country as a "
monopoly nation " due to the intense tendency towards economic monopoly in the country's business life -- a key feature of middleman
minority life that Jews appear to continue to embody to an extent unparalleled in any other ethnic group. Further evidence for the
apparently deep-seated, rather than contextual, nature of "middleman" traits in Jews might be found in studies indicative of a biological
underpinning to Jewish ethnocentrism, such as that described by Kevin MacDonald in the Preface to the Culture of Critique
:
Developmental psychologists have found unusually intense fear reactions among Israeli infants in response to strangers, while
the opposite pattern is found for infants from North Germany. The Israeli infants were much more likely to become "inconsolably
upset" in reaction to strangers, whereas the North German infants had relatively minor reactions to strangers. The Israeli babies
therefore tended to have an unusual degree of stranger anxiety, while the North German babies were the opposite -- findings that
fit with the hypothesis that Europeans and Jews are on opposite ends of scales of xenophobia and ethnocentrism.
As well as dealing poorly with obviously unique aspects of the Jewish experience, a significant portion of middleman minority
theory is devoted to context-based narratives that are often in stark contrast to, or completely disproven by, the historical record.
With the exception of the work of Kevin MacDonald, which demonstrates a very extensive engagement with works of history, a general
weakness in all of the late twentieth-century sociological studies discussed above is the fact that, despite their incredibly ambitious
claims about the historical trajectory of capitalism or middleman minority populations, there is a quite serious neglect of any of
the relevant historiography. This leads, in the case of the modern adherents of Simmel, Roscher, and Leon, to the constant repetition
of error-laden tropes such as the idea that Jews turned to commerce because they were prohibited from owning land (rather than arriving
as profit-seeking financiers), that Jews were most often invited into nations by elites seeking a financial stimulus, or that Jews
were banished from countries once their position as loan merchant was superfluous. In fact, these three tropes, all of which remove
Jewish agency and characteristics from consideration, are essentially the pillars of context-based middleman minority theory pertaining
to Jews, and are absolutely crucial to Roscher's ideas in particular.
The historical record is now acknowledged as more or less complete in relation to the issue of the Jewish ownership of land. It
has been conclusively established, for example, that the general trend across Europe was that Jews were in fact able to possess and
own land during the centuries immediately following their initial spread and expansion in Europe (c.1000 -- 1300). Restrictions on
land ownership were later enacted as penalties for exploitation or as part of a system of elite land transfer -- e.g., the desire
of the English kings to obtain the land of indebted lesser knights, and doing so by financially compensating Jewish moneylenders
for forfeited lands they could no longer legally hold.
One of the correlates of the land ownership trope is the astonishingly naive assumption that land ownership would preclude involvement
in financial speculation. Again, the historical record contradicts this. Mark Meyerson's Princeton-published A Jewish Renaissance
in Fifteenth-Century Spain (2010), for example, offers an expansive analysis of Jewish landowners in Spain who "did not necessarily
cultivate the land themselves" and combined wine production operations worked by non-Jewish peasants with "lending operations and
tax farming." [37] Pointing to the
prevalence of early Jewish land ownership in Poland, France, and Germany, in which Jews enjoyed a "privileged status available to
few Christians," Norman Roth has described the trope that Jews were forced out of agriculture by restrictive laws and the violence
of the Crusades as "patently absurd."
[38]
The theory that Jews, and by tenuous implication other middleman minorities, were most often invited into nations by elites
seeking a financial stimulus or to fill a "status gap," is also contradicted by the historical record. The early entry and expansion
of Jews in Europe is relatively well-documented, the dominant trend being that Jews either presented themselves before elites in
order to solicit business, or that they acted as financiers for conquest and then followed in the wake of the conquerors (e.g., the
well-documented role of Jewish financiers in Norman Conquest of England and Strongbow's conquest of Ireland).
[39] Ireland's Annals of Innisfallen
(1079 A.D.) record: "Five Jews came from over sea with gifts to Tairdelbach [King of Munster], and they were sent back again over
sea." Unless Tairdelbach (Turlough O'Brien, 1009 -- 86) had undergone a dramatic change of mind, it's likely that the arrival of
the Jews hadn't been preceded by an invitation. In fact, unsolicited approaches for request to settle and establish financial activities
are in evidence from the time of O'Brien to the 1655 "Humble Address" of Manasse ben Israel to the English government.
A very common form of government documentation found in the study of Early Modern Jewish communities are the charters outlining
their terms of settlement, and these are very revealing. Rather than act as economic catalysts, Jews are more frequently observed
following the trail of already economically improving areas, hoping to profit from their advancement. As Felicitas Schmeider has
pointed out, in terms of the German context, "permission to settle Jews in a newly privileged town is one thing kings were frequently,
if not regularly, asked for, especially in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries."
[40]
The theory that Jews were banished from countries once their position as loan merchant or general role as a middleman minority
was superfluous is also forcefully contradicted by the historical record. Just as medieval Jews perceived that they were the innocent
victims of evil Gentiles, so Jewish historiography has overwhelmingly portrayed the expulsions as the result of "rumors, prejudices,
and insinuating and irrational accusations."
[41] Context-based middleman minorities
theories absorbed these tropes and reinvented them in narratives that blamed the expulsions on the fact that Capital had simply exhausted
the usefulness of the Jews. Such understandings of the expulsions have only very recently come to be revised, most saliently in the
work of Harvard historian Rowan W. Dorin, whose 2015 doctoral thesis and subsequent publications have for the first time helped to
fully contextualize the mass expulsions of Jews in Europe during the medieval period, 1200 -- 1450.
[42]
Dorin points out that Jews were never specifically targeted for expulsion qua Jews, but as usurers, and notes that the
vast majority of expulsions in the period targeted "Christians hailing from northern Italy." Jews were expelled, like these Christian
usurers, for their actions, choices, and behaviors. What the period witnessed was not a wave of irrational anti-Jewish actions, or
for that matter an impersonal reflex of glutted Capital, but rather a widespread ecclesiastical reaction against the spread
of moneylending among Christians that eventually absorbed Jews into its considerations for common sense reasons. A number of laws
and statutes, for example Usuranum voraginem , were designed in order to provide a schedule of punishments for foreign/travelling
Christian moneylenders. These laws contained provisions for excommunication and a prohibition on renting property in certain locales.
The latter effectively prohibited such moneylenders from taking up residence in those locations, and compelled their expulsion in
cases where they were already domiciled. It was only after these laws were in effect that some theologians and clerics began to question
why they weren't also applied to Jews who, in the words of historian Gavin Langmuir, were then "disproportionately engaged in moneylending
in northern Europe by the late 12th century."
[43] The Church had historically objected
to the expulsion of Jews in the belief that their scattered presence fulfilled theological and eschatological functions. It was only
via the broader, largely common sense, application of newly developed anti-usury laws that such obstructions to confrontations with
Jews became theologically and ecclesiastically permissible, if not entirely desirable. And once this Rubicon had been crossed, it
paved the way for a rapid series of expulsions of Jewish usury colonies from European towns and cities, a process that accelerated
rapidly between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.
The lack of engagement with developments in historiography is worsened to a large extent by the absence of a truly cross-disciplinary
approach in most, if not all, existing middleman minority analyses. This is particularly glaring in the works of Bonacich and Zenner
which, while making multiple and apparently crucial references to conscious and unconscious group "strategies," fail to engage in
any kind of historiographical or psychological scholarly contextualization. How exactly such strategies as "visibility strategies"
can operate at group level are left completely unexplained and without any substantial evidence beyond common sense observations
of Jewish behavior. The lack of a cross-disciplinary approach in such instances doesn't necessarily mean that these ideas are wrong,
or that "visibility strategies" don't exist, but it does mean that explanations and evidence are still required. To date, the only
convincing attempt to fill in such gaps, and offer a truly cross-disciplinary approach (incorporating history, sociology, and psychology)
to the idea of group strategies, is found in the work of Kevin MacDonald.
Conclusion
As stated at the outset of this essay, it isn't at all clear how any of the aspects of middleman minority theory obviate the need
for a deeper theoretical framework in which to understand the behaviors and contexts under study. Middleman minority theory, as remarked
above, is an incomplete tool, and has little to offer in terms of deeper explanatory value for such relevant key concepts under discussion
as resource competition, ecological strategies, visibility strategies, and social identity theory. Middleman minority theory, or
at least some strands of it, is useful and valuable in the study of Jews to the extent that it places an unusual emphasis on group
conflict as arising from resource competition, the characteristics of Jews (including Jewish ethnocentrism), and the existence of
group strategies. There are, however, multiple, serious inadequacies in middleman minority theory, including the possibility that
it is in part itself a "visibility strategy," that is has a general problem of definitions, that it fails to adequately deal with
unique qualities of the Jews and their experiences, that it generally fails to engage with the historical record, and that it has
no real explanatory or predictive frameworks for many of the ideas it discusses, including group strategies. I am forced to concur
with Edna Bonacich that, in regards to the study of Jews, middleman minority theory should be conceived, at best, as "a useful sensitiser
to a host of interrelated variables."
[44]
Notes
[1] Bonacich, Edna. "A Theory
of Middleman Minorities." American Sociological Review 38, no. 5 (1973): 583 -- 94, (589).
[2] Francois-Marie Arouet de
Voltaire, Oeuvres Complètes (Geneva, 1756), Vol. 7. Ch.1. See also Dictionnaire Philosophique (Basle, 1764), Vol. 14
.
[3] B. Bauer, The Jewish Problem
( Die Judenfrage , 1843) ed Ellis Rivkin and trans. Helen Lederer (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College -- Jewish Institute of
Religion, 1958).
[4] K. Marx, On the Jewish
Problem ( Zur Judenfrage , 1844) ed Ellis Rivkin and trans. Helen Lederer (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College -- Jewish
Institute of Religion, 1958).
[5] W. Sombart, Der moderne
Kapitalismus , Munich and Leipzig 1913. This work was published in an English translation by E. Epstein under the title, The
Quintessence of Capitalism , London, 1915.
[6] W. P. Zenner, Minorities
in the Middle: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (Albany: State University of New York, 1991), 5.
[7] W. Roscher, "Die Stellung der Juden im Mittelalter, betrachtet vom Standpunkt der allgemeine Handelspolitik," Zeitschrift
für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft Bd. 31 (1875) S. 503 -- 526.
[8] G. Reuveni, "Prolegomena
to an "Economic Turn" in Jewish History," in G. Reuveni (ed) The Economy in Jewish History: New Perspectives on the Interrelationship
Between Ethnicity and Economic Life (Berghahn, 2011), 3.
[9] As the son of Catholic and
Lutheran converts from Judaism, Simmel's relationship to his Jewishness is fascinating in itself. See A. Morris-Reich, The Quest
for Jewish Assimilation in Modern Social Science , (New York: Routledge, 2008), chapter 4. For the influence of Simmel's stranger
minority theory see Werner Cahnman, "Pariahs, Strangers, and Court Jews -- A Conceptual Classification," Sociological Analysis, 35
(1974); C. R. Hallpike, "Some problems in Cross-Cultural Comparison," in The Translation of Culture , T. Beidelman (ed), (London:
Tavistock, 1971); Hilda Kuper, "Strangers in Plural Societies: Asians in South Africa and Uganda," in Pluralism in Africa
, Leo Kuper and M. G. Smith (eds) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971); Jack H. Porter, "The Urban Middleman: A Comparative
Analysis," Comparative Social Research , 4 (1981); R. A. Reminick, "The Evil Eye Belief among the Amhara of Ethiopia," Ethnology,
13 (1974), W. Shack and E. Skinner, Strangers in African Societies (Berkelely: University of California Press, 1979); Paul
Siu, "The Sojourner," American Journal of Sociology , 58, (1952).
[10] J. Stone, Racial Conflict
in Contemporary Society , (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985), 96.
[11] This coinage is frequently
attributed to Philip Curtin, who employs the term in his Cross-cultural Trade in World History (1984), but the term was in
use by Cohen, within a strict thematic sense, as early as the latter's 1974 chapter "Cultural Strategies in the Organisation of Trading
Diasporas," in C. Meillassoux (ed) The Development of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa (London, 1971).
[12] Quoted in W. P. Zenner,
Minorities in the Middle: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (Albany: State University of New York, 1991), 8.
[13] K. MacDonald, Separation
and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism , 187.
[14] E. Bonacich, "A Theory
of Middleman Minorities." American Sociological Review 38, no. 5 (1973): 583 -- 94.
[15] E. Bonacich, The Economic
Basis of Ethnic Solidarity: Small Business in the Japanese American Community (Berekely: University of California Press, 1980).
[19] R. Cherry, "American Jewry
and Bonacich's Middleman Minority Theory," Review of Radical Political Economics , 22 (2 -- 3), 158 -- 173, 161.
[20] W. P. Zenner, Minorities
in the Middle: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (Albany: State University of New York, 1991), 10. See also W. Zenner, "American Jewry
in the light of middleman minority theories," Contemporary Jewry , 5:1 (1980), 11 -- 30, 18. Zenner argues that "As a synthetic
concept, the phrase "middleman minority" is difficult to define so as to cover all groups so designated."
[21] E. Bonacich, The Economic
Basis of Ethnic Solidarity: Small Business in the Japanese American Community (Berekely: University of California Press, 1980),
22. See also E. Bonacich, "A Theory of Middleman Minorities." American Sociological Review 38, no. 5 (1973): 583 -- 94, 585.
[27] E. Bonacich, "A Theory
of Middleman Minorities." American Sociological Review 38, no. 5 (1973): 583-94, 592.
[28] W. Zenner, "American Jewry
in the light of middleman minority theories," Contemporary Jewry , 5:1 (1980), 11-30, 23.
[29] W. Cahnman, "Pariahs, Strangers
and Court Jews," Sociological Analysis 35, 3 (1974): 155-66.
[30] D. Horowitz, Ethnic
Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).
[31] G. Reuveni (ed) The
Economy in Jewish History: New Perspectives on the Interrelationship Between Ethnicity and Economic Life (Berghahn, 2011).
[32] I. Light & S. J. Gold,
Ethnic Economies (Bingley: Emerald, 2000).
[33] R. Silverman, Doing
Business in Minority Markets (New York: Garland, 2000).
[34] E. Bonacich, The Economic
Basis of Ethnic Solidarity: Small Business in the Japanese American Community (Berekely: University of California Press, 1980),
22.
[35] W. Zenner, "American Jewry
in the light of middleman minority theories," Contemporary Jewry , 5:1 (1980), 11-30, 13.
[37] M. D. Meyerson, A Jewish
Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010), 111.
[38] N. Roth, Medieval Jewish
Civilization: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 2003),
[39] J. Hillaby, "Jewish Colonisation
in the Twelfth Century," in P. Skinner (ed), The Jews in Medieval Britain: Historical, Literary, and Archaeological Perspectives
(Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2003), 36.
[40] F. Schmeider, "Various
Ethnic and Religious Groups in Medieval German Towns? Some Evidence and Reflections," in, Segregation, Integration, Assimilation:
Religious and Ethnic Groups in the Medieval Towns of Central and Eastern Europe (Burlington: Ashgate, 2009), 15.
[41] Joseph Pérez, History
of a Tragedy: The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007), 60.
[42] R. W. Dorin, Banishing
Usury: The Expulsion of Foreign Moneylenders in Medieval Europe, 1200 -- 1450 (Harvard PhD dissertation, 2015); R. W. Dorin, "Once
the Jews have been Expelled," Intent and Interpretation in Late Medieval Canon Law," Law and History Review , Vol. 34, No.
2 (2016), 335-362.
[43] G. Langmuir, History,
Religion, and Antisemitism (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990), 304.
Sowell’s A Conflict of Visions has nothing to say about race, but it and its successors pretty much nail what is wrong
with today’s progressives. And it’s the same as what was wrong with yesterday’s progressives.
If we survive 2020, this volume will be what he’s remembered for.
The Zionist thinkers understood the unnatural and dangerous situation of the Jews in the Diaspora, and seized the first opportunity
to re-reform the Jewish people as a normal nation in its homeland. In only one generation, all the Jewish communities in the Eastern
lands liquidated their affairs and joined movement. The same with the powerful Russian and Ukrainian communities, they moved (mostly)
to Israel. Last year, about 30,000 American Jews gave up their precious citizenship and moved to Israel. I foresee in two generations
a more or less Jew-less America. What I am saying is that the Jews do not like their middleman foreigner status. In Marx etc.
time there were no alternatives. Now there is Israel. Some 55% of the Jews have already moved there.
Israel is the largest producer and host of international online gambling sites, while making it illegal for its own citizens
to use such sites
It should be noted that Monaco does the same thing with its gambling casinos. It has long been unlawful for Monaco’s own Monégasque
citizens to enter into those casinos to gamble.
Also, the ultra-high level of Jewish involvement in pornography sales is another relevant area here.
One of those Jewish pornography-meisters was Jimmy ‘Jimbo’ Wales, afterwards recruited to head the CIA-Mossad Wikipedia, where
paedophilic persons have been able to persistently post fake biographies of themselves and smears against their victims. Jimmy
Wales has attended birthday parties of Israeli Presidents, and received a $1 million ‘prize’ from Tel Aviv University.
The most obvious merit of middleman minority theory is that, like Kevin MacDonald’s theory of a group evolutionary strategy,
it places an unusual and welcome emphasis on rational resource competition as the basis for social conflict involving certain
minorities. By offering a socio-economic explanation for hostility toward Jews, middleman minority theory represents a unique
space within academia where the otherwise ubiquitous “pure prejudice” idea that host hostility is self-generated (from psychological
problems or cultural traditions) is summarily and comprehensively dismissed.
The Jews like to cast themselves as “just another struggling minority trying to make it among the oppressive majority.” This
ignores the international Zionist (Jewish supremacist) agenda, and the pathological Jewish drive for totalitarian control.
Where does that drive originate? Jesus of Nazareth, apparently Hebrew, preached the opposite, and called organized Jewish hypocrisy,
greed, corruption and double standards “the Synagogue of Satan.” Of course, the corrupt Jewish Moneychangers (the Jewish establishment
of his era) in bed with the Roman Empire didn’t like that one bit, and so instigated his murder. When the cosmopolitan Hebrew
mob, prompted by the corrupt Jewish establishment, chose the criminal Barabbas over Jesus, the Jews made their choice for ideological
evil and corruption.
That is a choice they affirm time and again, day after day, year after year, century after century.
Whether one wants to read this decision as a cosmic moral judgement on the Jews, or simply as a rational economic decision
by the Jews (choosing systematic corruption and shady insider back room deals over honest work) makes no difference. They chose
the path they chose, and they affirm that decision every day through their corrupt, criminal and murderous international Zionist
works.
One doesn’t have to be a Christian to wear the Jon Carpenter sunglasses from The Live which allow one to see that the Judeo-Imperial
“ruling class are [social] aliens concealing their appearance and manipulating people to spend money, breed, and accept the status
quo with subliminal messages in mass media,” but it helps.
One doesn’t have to be a Christian to know that Jewish infiltrated Empires working in concert with a corrupt establishment
are bad news, but again, it helps.
In Britain Jews are clearly influential but the Norman ruling class has had it’s grip on the UK ever since they landed here
in 1066, indeed William the Conqueror was mentioned in the article above, he certainly had his uses for Jews, there is little
information available though as to just how many Jews arrived and what lead King William 1 to bring them over with his troops.
As of present much of inner London is owned by aristocratic families who can trace their descent to King Williams troops
Also a considerable proportion of high status people in Britain were educated at just a few private schools including a great
deal of our present government
In Britain it is often a case of who you know, not what you know that determines whether you will reach the top of society
or not, compared to other European countries like Germany and Finland in Britain there is a tendency for the higher classes to
promote people on the basis of whether they have a background in common with them rather than merit, just like the Jews.
When I was going to university there, the corner stores were all Chinese. As were the Laundromats. I suspect the children all
became doctors and lawyers and graduated from the need to continue operating them.
As per usual, Andrew Joyce demonstrates that he is an objective social scientific historian by flooding his article with a
preponderance of documentable verifiable factual data.
However, to my mind there is one ‘word’ in this 8,000+ word tour de force; one very important word that all lovers of Western
history and culture dedicated to the perpetuation of that history and culture should focus on … one word: ‘NATION’!
At the very top of his essay Joyce quotes Voltaire:
“Voltaire concluded that, some surface similarities aside ,
‘It is certain that the Jewish nation is the most singular that the world has ever seen.
’ ”
Similarly he quotes Bruno Bauer:
“The base [of the tenacity of the Jewish national spirit ] … the character of that [Jewish] nation.
..”
Some say Jews are a ‘ race’ , some say they are an ‘ethnicity’, some say they are a ‘religion’. The case
can be and is made for all these, in Voltarie’s words, “surface similarities” . However, none capture the essence of what
constitutes the basis for Jewish POWER.
Jews are a worldwide profoundly unified ideological NATION. And that ideological unity is the basis of their national power.
This unity was succinctly captured in an interview with a Mossad agent when he said:
“I can knock on the door of any Jew in the world and I will be invited in.”
Ideological unified nations are powerful nations, and are conquers. The Jews are one of the most ideologically unified nations
in the world. The power derived from that unity has allowed them to conquer the most economically and militarily powerful country
in the world – America.
Further, by conquering America, the wealthiest and most powerful country in Western Civilization, the Jews have de facto conquered
the whole of the West.
Ideological unified nations are strong.
Ideological dis-unified nations are weak.
So call ‘Color Revolutions’ are manifestations of dis-unified nations who in turn are weak and conquerable by strong unified nations.
We have seen numerous weak nation color revolutions in Africa, Middle East and Europe. Now we are experiencing an American
color revolution.
The American ‘color revolution’ is the Jewish nation delivering the ‘coup de grace’ to America and the West.
Andrew Joyce, your articles are so God-damned good!
Jewish behavior reminds me of narcissism: sense of entitlement, self-centered, feeling of superiority, manipulative and deceitful
behavior, desire for power and control, will suck a host dry, and once they’ve gotten what they want, will easily discard the
host. Highly competitive, status-oriented.
Don’t dare call them out on anything because that causes them to feel shame, and that’s like driving a stake through them.
They work behind the scenes, secretly. They must always be seen in a good light. They will smear and destroy you (your reputation,
your job, your life) if you expose them. They will retaliate in ways you would never be able to because they don’t have a conscience,
and this is why they win and are so hard to fight. Very vindictive. No qualms about lying or twisting the truth.
They are never content, always working to change things in their favor, to get the upper hand. Most people just want to live
their lives, so they acquiesce, but this is a mistake because one day you turn around to realize they now own the farm! If they
don’t get their way, they just regroup and come at you from another angle. They keep wearing you down, chipping away at you until
you give in. It is really something to behold because you just can’t believe their gall.
Their rabbis keep them in line by using fear (fear of the other), and fear is the greatest motivator/persuader. Keeps them
solidly as one. They’re constantly reminded of the Holocaust, the ovens that are lurking around every corner, as well as the injustices
they have suffered (through no fault of their own – ha!). Keeps them neurotic and they don’t stray.
@Oliver Elkington rville, Fitzroy,
Marshall, and Spencer. The Guardian , Independent and Telegraph wrote articles in 2011 and 2013 alleging such persons
still ‘run’ Britain. Lefties use this ploy to attack the Conservative Party whose members tend to be wealthy like champagne socialists.
Back to the point raised by neutral , none of the above mentioned newspapers would run similar stories on Jewry. That
is the litmus test of who really rules.
Despite being a tiny minority Jews have shaped modern Britain. This has been documented here by Joyce, Langdon and others.
Sure the middle man theory explains everything, but needs some footnotes:
-These middle men are specifically encouraged to cheat us, it’s written in their holy books
-they regard us as animals in human form, with either no souls or much lesser souls
-they regard us as having been created ONLY to serve them.
The modern industrial capitalist treats his workers impartially as economic instruments; he is as willing to exploit
his own son as he is a stranger. This universalism, the isolation of each competitor, is absent in middleman economic activity,
where primordial ties of family, region, sect, and ethnicity unite people against the surrounding, often individualistic economy.
The modern finance capitalist …..
Industrial capitalism after it was invented in the American Colonies, was characterized by injection of state capital (not
Jewish finance capital) into industry, to then improve the labor value of the population. American labor was in short supply relative
to the large land mass available.
Industrial Capitalist will treat his workers as valuable contributors, because their labor value is constantly being improved
upon by improved public health, and improved infrastructure such as roads and phone systems. Industrial Capitalist economic method
is to raise up the existing people, and not import low wage “coolie labor.”
The highest form of industrial capitalism was probably Germany, which adopted the American System through Frederick List.
Workers in industrial capitalist Germany had access to best facilities of that era, their work hours were made sensible (no
longer exploitative). Autobahns were built, and industry was built up using state capital (not finance capital) to high levels
of productivity.
Finance Capitalism is Jewish usury method. Finance Capitalism is middleman theory taken to extremes.
The middleman is a hidden string puller whose god is Moloch. The middleman is the third entity in man’s relations, usurping
the role of the King.
It is the King who is to have the role of settling disputes, dispensing with just law, and overseeing high civilization. It
is impossible to have high civilization with Jews operating as middlemen.
Finance capitalism’s big bang event is traced to Amsterdam’s Jews invading Britain.
1) Debt Spreading Private Banking .. the Bank of England in 1694. This event stripped the sovereign King of his money power
and transferred it to hidden bank stock owners.
2) Stock Market Capital. Absentee ownership of Companies. Hidden String Pullers control corporations, rather than the employees
of said companies. The first manifestation was both the Dutch and English India Companies.
3) Allowing Company stock to be on-sold into markets. The logic of prices and money (Moloch) is now tied to private banking
ledger credit entry. BOE creates the private bank credit that is used in “free markets.”
4) Corporation charters are now perpetual, and corporations are held up as being more than a god created human. Being perpetual
is more than being a human, where said human has a finite life span.
Jews are anti-logos, so everything they touch turns to shit. There is a religious and spiritual element to Jews, who are against
the natural order.
Virtually all of the “American System” politicians were assassinated. Countries that attempted to adopt “industrial capitalism”
of the American system were invaded and destroyed in world wars. The world wars were engineered in back room deals, using hidden
string pulling tactics.
America was turned in 1912, and is now under Jewish finance capitalism control. The founding fathers of America would be appalled
if they were alive today.
Hindus are like Jews–they love money and believe themselves to be a special people (as exemplified by your PM Modi and his
RSS buddies). Because of the caste system, Hindus barely tolerate lower caste Hindus.
This comment is aimed at Andrew Joyce, the writer of the article. Good job Andrew.
In addition to finance big bang event I discuss above, there was also the attack on Christianity. So the big bang event was
multi-dimensional, and informs today’s reality.
Here is your quote on Sombart:
For Sombart, the origins of the worst of modern capitalism can be found in the early middleman role of the Jews, their medieval
semi-nomadic quest for usury-derived profit and Victorian hawking of shoddy goods being a precursor to modern advertising and
the mass production of superfluous and quickly obsolete consumer products.
Here is another quote from Sombart, which I think is critical:
Werner Sombart in his book “The Jews and Modern Capitalism” came to an important conclusion.”That which is called Puritanism
is in reality Judaism.”
Our Jewish friends in Amsterdam created puritan Judeo-Christianity, which is a perversion of Jesus’ teachings. Jesus started
his mission on the Jubilee year, aiming precisely at the Pharisee class. Jesus also whipped the money changers, his only act of
violence.
Weber also has some problems in his non treatment of usury:
Max Weber’s book, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” created a split definition. Jewish capitalism on
one side, and Puritan (Calvanist) on the other. Jewish capitalism was speculative pariah capitalism, while Puritan was bourgeois
organization of labor. Weber excluded the problem of usury, thus obscuring what is necessary to see. The Puritan was excluded
from blame.
Let that sink for a moment. I think you understimate – as did I – just how radical this site and it’s owner are, as well as
the majority of the commenters, and just what they are tiptoeing around, and have been for some time. I also think within another
few years, their position will become explicit.
Incidentally, I argely agree that in a few decades most Jews will be flourishing in Israel, but I do think the US will always
have a large and prosperous Jewish community as well, forever. It isn’t going anywhere.
@Tom Verso th the surface of
JSI’s success that they rarely, if ever, see beheath that surface to what is obviously the real cancer of the human race. That’s
why what we’re witnessing today is nothing less than
The Pyrrhic Victory of Jewish Supremacy Inc.
For evidence look at the following:
City – New York
State – California
Country – The USA
Continent – Europe
Civilization – The West
They have conquered the above the way a tumor conquers a human organism.
He can’t – yet – express what he is really trying to say clearly and simply, he has to bury it in a thicket of dense verbiage
which is tedious to cut through.
In a few years, I think Unz will have developed to the point where writers like Joyce can make their point crystal clear in
simple language.
@AaronB e that they have developed
may eventually topple under its own weight, thereby liberating them from their tragic quest to find and hold external phantoms
responsible for their own traumas.
Clarity for Joyce would likely be something like “my father was mean, controlling and made me feel bad, he was always
trying to bring me low to make him feel big, I now need to heal to come to terms with it.”
Sorry Joyce that you feel bad. That’s real. Stop doing yourself the disservice of pretending your hurt is actually your concern
for the world or whatever. That is stupid.
Judaism is an ethnic/religious supremacist ideology that sees the rest as nothing more than cattle to be exploited, so according
to Jewish dogmas if you don’t declare the Jews to be your masters, you are technically anti-Semitic.
When the "Fox News Sunday" host takes the stage on Tuesday to moderate the first
presidential debate of 2020, he will for 90 minutes be the most important person in the
world.
His questions, his demeanor, his raised eyebrow will signal to millions of voters how they
are to assess the two candidates -- President Donald John Trump and former Vice President
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
If his questions are piercing for both, if his skepticism is applied equally to both the
Republican and Democrat, then all is well in this corner of the world of journalism. But if
instead Wallace accuses Trump and coddles Biden, we will have one more instance of media bias,
which has become so rampant that President Trump had to christen it with a pet name -- Fake
News.
Every day, the supposedly professional press corps cozies up to Biden with softball
questions ("Why aren't you more angry at President Trump?" has to be my favorite!) while
accusing Trump of being a mass murderer, a racist and a Putin puppet. So conservatives are
entirely justified in having low expectations for the debate and for Wallace, who has
exhibited symptoms of Trump Derangement Syndrome more than once.
Wallace can ask anything he wants of Trump. I am confident the president will acquit himself
admirably, but the litmus test for Wallace playing fair in the debate will be whether or not he
asks any hard-hitting questions of Biden -- especially about the new Senate
report on the corrupt activities of his son Hunter in Ukraine and elsewhere.
If you have heard anything about the Biden report on CNN and MSNBC, or read about it in your
newspapers, chances are you came away thinking that Republicans had made up a series of fake
charges against the Bidens. "Nothing to see here. Move along."
The
Washington Post , as usual, was at the front of the pack for Fake News coverage. The Post
used its headline to focus entirely on Hunter's position on the board of the corrupt Ukrainian
energy company Burisma, and claimed that the report doesn't show that the cozy arrangement
"changed U.S. policy" -- as if that were the only reason you would not want a vice president's
son enriching himself at the trough of foreign oligarchs.
The story then spent most of its 35 paragraphs excusing Hunter's behavior either directly or
through surrogates such as Democrat senators, and most nauseatingly by quoting Hunter Biden's
daughter, Naomi, who "offered a personal tribute to her father" in the form of a series of
tweets, including the following:
"Though the whole world knows his name, no one knows who he is. Here's a thread on my dad,
Hunter Biden -- free of charge to the taxpayers and free of the corrosive influence of
power-at-all-costs politics. The truth of a man filled with love, integrity, and human
struggles." Oh my, that's convincing evidence of innocence of wrongdoing. I imagine she also
endorses her grandfather for president, for what it's worth.
The three reporters who wrote the Post piece also spin the facts like whirling dervishes.
They say that the report by Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley "rehashes" known details of
the matter. They quote Democrats to say without evidence that the report's key findings are
"rooted in a known Russian disinformation effort."
The following passage in particular shows how one-sided the story is:
"Democrats argue that Johnson has 'repeatedly impugned' Biden, and they pointed to his
recent comments hinting that the report would shed light on Biden's 'unfitness for office,'
as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, to argue that the entire investigation was
orchestrated as a smear campaign to benefit Trump."
Using the "shoe on the other foot" test, can you ever imagine a similar statement being made
in the Washington Post about the Trump impeachment investigation? Let's see. How would that
go?
"Republicans argue that Rep. Adam Schiff has 'repeatedly impugned' Trump, and they pointed
to his recent comments hinting that the report would shed light on Trump's 'unfitness for
office' to argue that the entire investigation was orchestrated as a smear campaign to
benefit Biden."
Oh yeah, sure! The chance of reading that paragraph in the Washington Post news pages would
have been absolutely zero.
Perhaps even more insidious was the decision by the editors to push the most significant
news in the report to the bottom of the Post's story. That is the lucrative relationship that
Hunter Biden established in 2017 with a Chinese oil tycoon named Ye Jianming. Biden was
apparently paid $1 million to represent Ye's assistant while he was facing bribery charges in
the United States.
Even more disturbing, "In August 2017, a subsidiary of Ye's company wired $5 million into
the bank account of a U.S. company called Hudson West III, which over the next 13 months sent
$4.79 million marked as consulting fees to Hunter Biden's firm, the report said. Over the same
period, Hunter Biden's firm wired some $1.4 million to a firm associated with his uncle and
aunt, James and Sara Biden, according to the report."
Then, in late 2017, "Hunter Biden and a financier associated with Ye also opened a line of
credit for Hudson West III that authorized credit cards for Hunter Biden, James Biden and Sara
Biden, according to the report, which says the Bidens used the credit cards to purchase more
than $100,000 worth of items, including airline tickets and purchases at hotels and
restaurants."
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The Post also glossed over payments received by Hunter Biden from Yelena Baturina, who the
story acknowledges "is the widow of former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and is a member of
Kazakhstan's political elite." What the story doesn't say is that the payments received by
Hunter Biden's companies while Joe Biden was vice president totaled close to $4 million. Does
anyone have even the slightest curiosity why Hunter's companies received these payments from a
Russian oligarch? As Donald Trump Jr. noted, if he had the same record of taking money from
foreign nationals, he "would be in jail right now."
In other words, the headline and the lede of the Washington Post story were entirely
misleading. What readers should have been told is that there is a pattern of corruption and
inexplicable enrichment in the Biden family that has continued for years and that Joe Biden has
turned his back on it.
Seems worthy of the attention of the voters who will determine the nation's leadership for
the next four years. So the most important question at the debate Tuesday night is the
following: Will Chris Wallace take the same cowardly path as the Washington Post, or will he
demand an answer from candidate Biden as to why influence peddling, conflicts of interest and
virtual money laundering are acceptable?
Based on Wallace's track record, I'm not holding my breath that we will get either the
question or the answer, but if we do, I will happily applaud him as the tough-as-nails
journalist he is supposed to be.
play_arrow chubbar , 1 hour ago
Wallace is co-opted, he's a plant. NO way does he ask about corruption or go after
Joe.
CosmoJoe , 1 hour ago
All Trump needs to do is jab Biden every time his brain locks up; toss in phrases like
"Its OK Joe, take your time". Keep doing that until Biden gets angry and its all over. (Well,
its over anyhow, but....)
Karl Malden's Nose , 1 hour ago
He knew how to push Hillary's buttons and even though she's a spaz she's lightyears
smarter than Joe. Biden is going to fume and crap his depends because Trump is about to knock
him flat on his ***. He'll be stammering to answer while Trump has already moved on to the
next gut punch. There's no gotcha's on Trump, only Biden. Trump is plugged in to everything
and sharp as a knife. Biden will be struggling to remember his instructions and I'm sure
they'll have an ear piece on him he won't hear too clearly.
Hoax Fatigue , 25 minutes ago
Nobody is expecting (((Wallace))) to be fair.
High Vigilante , 1 hour ago
Trump should bring it up, as soon as possible.
There is no guarantee Biden won't skip other debates.
Plus it would make Biden angry and negate the effect of drugs he will be loaded with.
True Historian , 1 hour ago
I have watched Wallace and he is a pretentious pile of excrement. FOX with its "Fair and
Balanced" left the station when they were bought out by Disney.
Wallace sample questions:
Trump : When did you stop being a corrupt NAZI/Russian bitch?
Biden : Are you feeling OK today? If not, how can I make you more comfortable.
CosmoJoe , 1 hour ago
Trump had some fairly hostile moderators in the 2016 debates and he held his own. He has
to be just as merciless with Biden as he was with Hillary. The news doesn't want to talk
about Hunter and his wire transfers from Russia. This is Trump's chance to throw that crap
right into the spotlight.
alexcojones , 1 hour ago
Quote : "Every day, the supposedly professional press corps cozies up to Biden with
softball questions... while accusing Trump of being a mass murderer, a racist and a Putin
puppet."
Why? That's because the so-called "Legacy" media is now the Enemy of The American
People.
Soloamber , 1 hour ago
The question is how long can Wallace hide his anti-Trimp bias ?
Mr. Biden ...what is your favorite color ?
President Trump why do you pay no tax ?
Mr. Biden Isn't China our greatest ally ?
President Trump have you heard from Stormy lately ?
Mr . Biden Please provide your wife's first name .
President Trump.... You appear over weight have you had your blood pressure checked ?
Would you agree to do it now ?
Mr . Biden what are some of your greats political achievements in your distinguished
political legacy ?
President Trump why have you caused global warming ?
DeplorableGlobalConflictWatch , 1 hour ago
Chris Wallace is a joke. Make sure he's sick and replaced by Tucker Carlson.
RealEstateArbitrage , 1 hour ago
Wally is a plant by the deep state. He is a liar and a fool.
Migao , 1 hour ago
Wallace, like his dad, pretentious snob. Yeah, Trump's a jerk, but he's a lovable jerk.
Wallace is a pretentious snob.
JUICE E SMALL IT EMPIRE , 2 hours ago
No, Ukraine and China should be front and center. It is an election year. And the Dems
have screwed us royally.
Recruiting for military is much easier if there is no jobs.
Notable quotes:
"... They want to eliminate the EPA, vacate the State Dept and many other Depts, except for a few high-placed cronies, wipe all financial, labour, consumer and environmental regulations off the books; eliminate or reduce to a bare minimum federal health insurance, medicaid, medicare and Social Security, crush public education, privatize everything they can sell, and so on. They are not in power to "govern" but to destroy government. This is all being done with a fairly unified agenda: to free "the market" from any restrictions whatsoever, so that they -- global elites -- can make as much money as possible. It's a cabal of global corporations, militarists, Christian sovereign white supremacists, fossil fuel giants and bankers ..."
I wonder if any of the commentators here have considered that the [neoliberal] cabal now
in power in the US (not elsewhere) are not in power to "take power" except for a temporary
period. They don't want to run the federal government, they want to destroy it, except for
the police state and the military.
They want to eliminate the EPA, vacate the State Dept and many other Depts, except for
a few high-placed cronies, wipe all financial, labour, consumer and environmental regulations
off the books; eliminate or reduce to a bare minimum federal health insurance, medicaid,
medicare and Social Security, crush public education, privatize everything they can sell, and
so on. They are not in power to "govern" but to destroy government. This is all being done
with a fairly unified agenda: to free "the market" from any restrictions whatsoever, so that
they -- global elites -- can make as much money as possible. It's a cabal of global
corporations, militarists, Christian sovereign white supremacists, fossil fuel giants and
bankers , and I think there's a high degree of cooperation for the agenda. The
revolution is the cabal run by Trump/Bannon who are more extreme and ideological than any
previous faction, who have no tolerance for compromise. They have an apocalyptic vision of
grinding it all down to a bare minimum police state.
Formation of the ruling classes has a close relation with the level of civilization and the
type of society. Ruling class under every condition try to reproduce itself particularly by
domination on political forces like power, wealth and the ruling class tends to be come
hereditary. In fact, descents of ruling class members have a high life chances to have the
traits necessary to be a ruling class member (Mosca 1939, pp. 60-61). In general, prior to
democracy, membership of ruling class was not only de facto but also de jure. In democracy, de
jure transfer of political possession to descendants of ruling class members impossible and not
legitimized but it is now de facto.
According to Mosca, historically, ruling class try to justify its existence and policies by
using some universal moral principles, superiority etc., lately, scientific theory and
knowledge like Social Darwinism, division of labor is also employed for the same purposes.
Mosca particularly rejects these two theses to use in political purposes. To Mosca, at a
certain level of civilization, ruling classes do not justify their power exclusively by de
facto possession of it, but try to find a moral and legal basis for it. This legal and moral
basis or principles on which the power of the political class rests is called "political
formula" by Mosca. The formula has a unique structure in all societies.
"lTjhe political formula must be based on the special beliefs and the strongest sentiments
of the current social group or at least upon the beliefs and sentiments of the particular
portion of that group which hold political preeminence"(Mosca 1939, p.71,72).
In fact ruling class like Pareto's elite strata consist of two strata: (a) the highest
stratum; and (b) second stratum. The highest stratum is the core of the ruling class but it
could not sufficiently lead and direct the society unless the second stratum helps. Second
stratum is the larger than the higher stratum in number and has all the capacities of
leadership in the country. Even autocratic systems do have it. Not only political but also any
type of social organization needs the second stratum in order to be possible (Mosca 1939,
p.404, 430).
The members of the ruling class are recruited almost entirely from the dominant, majority
group in the society. If the society has a number of minorities and if this rule is not
followed due to weaknesses of dominant group, political system can meet serious political
crisis. The same thing occurs when there are considerable differences between in the
culture, and in customs of the ruling class and subject classes (Mosca 1939, p.l05,106-7).
Weaknesses of dominant group in society and isolation of lower classes from the ruling
classes can lead to political upheaval in the country and as a result of this upheaval subject
classes' representatives can have places in the ruling class. Because when isolation takes
place, another ruling class emerges among the subject classes that often hostile to the old
ruling class (Mosca 1939, pp. 107- 8). Furthermore, due to reciprocal isolation of classes,
the character of upper classes change, they become weak in bold and aggressiveness and richer
in "soft" remissive individuals. On the same track, when there is fragmentation in the
society, new groups form and each one of them makes up of its own leaders and followers. In
fact, revolutions are another source of replacement of ruling class (Mosca 1939, p.163,
199).
When Mosca compares the political systems, he says that communist and socialist societies
would beyond any doubt managed by officials and he sees these regimes as utopia. On democracy,
he says, although gradual increase of universal suffrage, actual power has remained partly in
wealthiest and the middle classes. At the same time, for Mosca, middle class is necessary
for democracy, and when middle class declines, politic regimes in democratic countries turns to
a plutocratic dictatorship, or bureaucratic dictatorship. (Mosca 1939, p.391).
According to Mosca, ruling class has a responsive character to social change in the society
and there is a close relation between level of civilization and character of ruling classes.
According to these two complementary proposition, it can be said that ruling class is subject
of social change rather than actor of it. For example, change in division of labor from lower
to higher and change in political force from military to wealth have changed the type of state
from federal to bureaucratic state (Mosca 1939, p. 81, 83 ). There it seems that Mosca admits a
linear social change in history, as opposite to Pareto.
As seen, Mosca's theory is basically based on organized minorities' superiority over
unorganized majority. This organized minority consists of ruling class, but for Mosca it is not
necessarily mean that always interest of ruling class and subject classes are different. To him
,in contrast they coincide many times. He saw the future of socialist system by saying that it
will be governed by officials.
This feature of socialist system is well documented by Milovon Dijilas in his work: New
Classes. But Mosca failed to see that one day, majority will also be able to organize. As C. W.
Mills pointed put, democratic western societies have experienced important transformations: (1)
from the organized minority and unorganized majority to relatively unorganized minority and
organized majority, and (2) from the elite state to an organized state.( Mills 1965, pp.
161-162).
Therefore minorities and elites in today's society are less powerful than majorities. Elites
have relatively lost their privileges, and more importantly, their monopoly over society.
"... Elites are a small proportion of the population (on the order of 1 percent) who concentrate social power in their hands (see my previous post and especially its discussion in the comments that reveal the complex dimensions of this concept). In the United States, for example, they include (but are not limited to) elected politicians, top civil service bureaucrats, and the owners and managers of Fortune 500 companies (see Who Rules America? ). ..."
"... As individual elites retire, they are replaced from the pool of elite aspirants . There are always more elite aspirants than positions for them to occupy. Intra-elite competition is the process that sorts aspirants into successful elites and aspirants whose ambition to enter the elite ranks is frustrated. Competition among the elites occurs on multiple levels. ..."
"... Excessive elite competition, on the other hand, results in increasing social and political instability. The supply of power positions in a society is relatively, or even absolutely, inelastic. For example, there are only 435 U.S. Representatives, 100 Senators, and one President. A great expansion in the numbers of elite aspirants means that increasingly large numbers of them are frustrated, and some of those, the more ambitious and ruthless ones, turn into counter-elites . In other words, masses of frustrated elite aspirants become breeding grounds for radical groups and revolutionary movements. ..."
"... Intense intra-elite competition, however, leads to the rise of rival power networks, which increasingly subvert the rules of political engagement to get ahead of the opposition. Instead of competing on their own merits, or the merits of their political platforms, candidates increasingly rely on "dirty tricks" such as character assassination (and, in historical cases, literal assassination). As a result, excessive competition results in the unraveling of prosocial, cooperative norms (this is a general phenomenon that is not limited to political life). ..."
"... Because the supply of power positions is relatively inelastic, most of the action is on the demand side. Simply put, it is the excessive expansion of elite aspirant numbers (or "elite overproduction") that drives up intra-elite competition ..."
"... There are two main "pumps" producing aspirants for elite positions in America: education and wealth. On the education side, of particular importance are the law degree (for a political career) and the MBA (to climb the corporate ladder). Over the past four decades, according to the American Bar Association, the number of lawyers tripled from 400,000 to 1.2 million. The number of MBAs conferred by business schools over the same period grew six-fold (details in Ages of Discord ). ..."
"... It's contradictory to bemoan the spread of the 'neoliberal' ethos, and simultaneously talk about elite fragmentation. The evidence Turchin marshalls for elite fragmentation is basically the bimodal distribution of lawyers' incomes, and the degree of legislative polarisation. He ignores the much wider evidence of capitalist unity and concentration in support of 'neoliberal' policies. ..."
"... while elites have colluded to capture the political process we might not expect them to all agree on what to do with the political process once it has been captured. ..."
"... There is no intra-capitalist unity. Some elites shouldn't even be called capitalists because the monopoly power they seek completely eliminates the free market. Other elites who want to control the political process do want a free market. They are in conflict. ..."
"... The concept of "ecological overshoot and collapse" applies to human ecology too. We're certainly in overshoot, so some form of collapse is coming (even if a technological miracle occurred, like cheap energy from nuclear fusion, it would only postpone the day of reckoning). ..."
"... As to "intra-elite competition", it is well underway in much of the upper middle class and the 1%, according to the statistics documented by Peter Turchin above. But it is just revving up among the super-elites – the billionaire class, with Trump being the first really visible eruption. ..."
"... When an imperial economy can longer expand easily, all of Peter's dynamics come into play with greater force, not just the elite competition, but the increasing exploitation of the common people in order to maintain elite expansion. The latter has been going on since Reagan in the form of escalating economic inequality. = popular immiseration. ..."
"... I liked the intra-elite discussions in "Ages of Discord" and it made me an even more strident believer in term limits. At least moving people out of the Congress after eight years will "free up" some space for other elite aspirants. ..."
"... Political elites are the proxies PT uses as evidence for his theory, but as he himself says, "American power holders are wealth holders". And I believe the definition I have effectively used here, "owners of capital", is consistent with his concept of elites or magnates in Secular Cycles -- a book I admire tremendously. ..."
"... Your average Congressman is not as powerful today as he was 100 years ago. Cabinet members used to do something of substance and now act more like front men, while policy making is centralized in the White House. You have more and more aspirants for fewer and fewer positions of substance. That ramps up intensity of competition even more than just over-production of JDs and MBAs. ..."
"... Agreed, the overproduction of elites developed in parallel with the change in social norms that extolled competition and downplayed cooperation. But these two dynamics may be causally related -- it's not a pure coincidence that the two trends developed in parallel. ..."
"... It seems to me that one of the most important factors in intra-elite competition, is the degree of skill of the frustrated aspirants. If there are lots of people who want to be elite but can't crack the system to get in, that may not be a problem if those frustrated aspirants aren't particularly good at organization, motivation, leadership, etc. ..."
"... If, on the other hand, the frustrated aspirants are nearly as good at this sort of thing as those actually in power, and especially if they are better at it than the incumbents (who somehow through tradition or family connections or what-have-you remain on top), then you have a much better chance of the frustrated aspirants being able to kick up trouble. ..."
"... I wonder if any of the commentators here have considered that the [neoliberal] cabal now in power in the US (not elsewhere) are not in power to "take power" except for a temporary period. They don't want to run the federal government, they want to destroy it, except for the police state and the military. ..."
Intra-elite competition is one of the most important factors explaining massive waves of
social and political instability, which periodically afflict complex, state-level societies.
This idea was proposed by Jack Goldstone
nearly 30 years ago . Goldstone tested it empirically by analyzing the structural
precursors of the English Civil War, the French Revolution, and seventeenth century's crises in
Turkey and China. Other researchers (including Sergey Nefedov, Andrey Korotayev, and myself)
extended Goldstone's theory and tested it in such different societies as Ancient Rome, Egypt,
and Mesopotamia; medieval England, France, and China; the European revolutions of 1848 and the
Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917; and the Arab Spring uprisings. Closer to home, recent
research indicates that the stability of modern democratic societies is also undermined by
excessive competition among the elites (see Ages of Discord for a
structural-demographic analysis of American history). Why is intra-elite competition such an
important driver of instability?
Elites are a small proportion of the population (on the order of 1 percent) who
concentrate social power in their hands (see my previous post and especially
its discussion in the comments that reveal the complex dimensions of this concept). In the
United States, for example, they include (but are not limited to) elected politicians, top
civil service bureaucrats, and the owners and managers of Fortune 500 companies (see
Who Rules America? ).
As
individual elites retire, they are replaced from the pool of elite aspirants . There are
always more elite aspirants than positions for them to occupy. Intra-elite competition
is the process that sorts aspirants into successful elites and aspirants whose ambition to
enter the elite ranks is frustrated. Competition among the elites occurs on multiple levels.
Thus, lower-ranked elites (for example, state representatives) may also be aspirants for the
next level (e.g., U.S. Congress), and so on, all the way up to POTUS.
Moderate intra-elite competition need not be harmful to an orderly and efficient functioning
of the society; in fact, it's usually beneficial because it results in better-qualified
candidates being selected. Additionally, competition can help weed out incompetent or corrupt
office-holders. However, it is important to keep in mind that the social effects of elite
competition depend critically on the norms and institutions that regulate it and channel it
into such societally productive forms.
Excessive elite competition, on the other hand, results in increasing social and political
instability. The supply of power positions in a society is relatively, or even absolutely,
inelastic. For example, there are only 435 U.S. Representatives, 100 Senators, and one
President. A great expansion in the numbers of elite aspirants means that increasingly large
numbers of them are frustrated, and some of those, the more ambitious and ruthless ones, turn
into counter-elites . In other words, masses of frustrated elite aspirants become
breeding grounds for radical groups and revolutionary movements.
Another consequence of excessive competition among elite aspirants is its effect on the
social norms regulating politically acceptable conduct. Norms are effective only as long as the
majority follows them, and violators are punished. Maintaining such norms is the job for the
elites themselves.
Intense intra-elite competition, however, leads to the rise of rival power networks, which
increasingly subvert the rules of political engagement to get ahead of the opposition. Instead
of competing on their own merits, or the merits of their political platforms, candidates
increasingly rely on "dirty tricks" such as character assassination (and, in historical cases,
literal assassination). As a result, excessive competition results in the unraveling of
prosocial, cooperative norms (this is a general phenomenon that is not limited to political
life).
Death of Gaius Gracchus (François Topino-Lebrun)
Source
Intra-elite competition, thus, has a nonlinear effect on social function: moderate levels
are good, excessive levels are bad. What are the social forces leading to excessive
competition?
Because the supply of power positions is relatively inelastic, most of the action is on the
demand side. Simply put, it is the excessive expansion of elite aspirant numbers (or "elite
overproduction") that drives up intra-elite competition. Let's again use the contemporary
America as an example to illustrate this idea (although, I emphasize, similar social processes
have operated in all complex large-scale human societies since they arose some 5,000 years
ago).
There are two main "pumps" producing aspirants for elite positions in America: education and
wealth. On the education side, of particular importance are the law degree (for a political
career) and the MBA (to climb the corporate ladder). Over the past four decades, according to
the American Bar Association, the number of lawyers tripled from 400,000 to 1.2 million. The
number of MBAs conferred by business schools over the same period grew six-fold (details in
Ages of Discord ).
On the wealth side we see a similar expansion of numbers, driven by growing inequality of
income and wealth over the last 40 years. The proverbial "1 percent" becomes "2 percent", then
"3 percent" For example, today there are five times as many households with wealth exceeding
$10 million (in 1995 dollars), compared to 1980. Some of these wealth-holders give money to
candidates, but others choose to run for political office themselves.
Elite overproduction in the US has already driven up the intensity of intra-elite
competition. A reasonable proxy for escalating political competition here is the total cost of
election for congressional races, which has grown (in inflation-adjusted dollars) from $2.4
billion in 1998 to $4.3 billion in 2016 ( Center for Responsive
Politics ). Another clear sign is the unraveling of social norms regulating political
discourse and process that has become glaringly obvious during the 2016 presidential
election.
Analysis of past societies indicates that, if intra-elite competition is allowed to
escalate, it will increasingly take more violent forms. A typical outcome of this process is a
massive outbreak of political violence, often ending in a state collapse, a revolution, or a
civil war (or all of the above).
Works for China too. One can see two main sources: The Imperial family, which with
vast-scale polygyny grew inordinately in a short time; and the examination system,
producing more and more successful candidates over time (this was a problem mainly after
Song greatly expanded the exams). The poor Imperial family deserves some pity–toward
the end of a dynasty you had all these 13th cousins 10 times removed starving to death on
the Russian frontier. (I exaggerate only slightly. By the end of the empire in 1911, there
were tens of thousands of Imperial relatives.) Naturally the competition got pretty fierce
late in the dynasties. When the empire thrived, the system could blot all these people up,
and find places for them. When the empire was going down hill, or conflicted, it meant
trouble.
I believe Peter Turchin is deeply mistaken about elite competition in modern societies.
I repeat my comment on intra-elite competition from a previous post:
In an agrarian society, elite wealth was based on land, more specifically, on extracting
a fraction of the output of the commoners working the land. When there was a demographic
crisis (land-labour ratio fell and immiseration set in), elite incomes fell, and elites
sought to maintain their lifestyles by increasing the rate of extraction. But squeezing
peasants even more when there's already a demographic crisis only exacerbates popular
immiseration. At some point the only way for elites to increase, or even just preserve,
their incomes was at the expense of other elites. Thus you have elite fragmentation and
internecine competition. And thus sociopolitical instability. Makes a lot of sense. It fits
a lot of historical cases.
However, this theory makes no sense in modern industrial societies.
(1) Wealth is no longer fixed in the long run. Modern economies reliably grow at 1-2%
rates. Much of that growth is concentrated at the top, even when measured income inequality
is relatively low. So the competitive pressure within elites is much less than in any
agrarian society governed by Malthusian-Ricardian-Brennerian-Goldstone-Turchin cycles.
(2) Besides, in a modern society, you need *more*, not less, intra-elite cooperation (a)
in order to increase economic inequality; (b) in order for the elites to capture a greater
share of the economic growth; (c) in order for capitalists reduce the bargaining power of
labour; and (d) in order for elites to capture the state.
In fact, politics in a modern society is a pretty small part of the field in which elites
can play compared with anti-competitive practices -- i.e., collusion, mergers, monopolies,
trusts, and other ways of reducing competition and concentrating power in the supply of
goods and the demand for labour. These are all acts of elite cooperation. Capitalists are,
right now, in unprecedented unity. They agree on unions, immigration, wages, trade,
regulations, etc. That unity is necessary to generate the inequality in the first
place.
Therefore, state capture and rent-seeking are now *cooperative*: conspiracies to rig the
rules and increase markups against the public interest require collusion. Owners of one
mobile telephony operator don't have to clash with the owners of another mobile telephony
operator: they can band together to lobby the government. Compared with the rise of
monopoly concentration, elites wrangling over Trump or Brexit is a sideshow.
Almost everybody who is concerned about rising inequality implicitly recognises this:
from Krugman to Stiglitz to Milanovic to even Turchin's friends at Evonomics, they have
argued that inequality stems in great measure from anti-competitive practises.
It's contradictory to bemoan the spread of the 'neoliberal' ethos, and simultaneously talk
about elite fragmentation. The evidence Turchin marshalls for elite fragmentation is
basically the bimodal distribution of lawyers' incomes, and the degree of legislative
polarisation. He ignores the much wider evidence of capitalist unity and concentration in
support of 'neoliberal' policies.
Fernando E.Mora December 31, 2016 at 4:05 am
I think you must read Fred Hirsch's "Social Limits to Growth" to understand the
difference between the always possible growth in MATERIALl wealth and the (no-)growth
of POSITIONAL wealth in which Peter's point can also be solidly (and perhaps more
accurately) based.
I would certainly agree that if economic growth were zero or negative, PT's
elite competition theory might make more sense. Which is why I think SD theory is
still quite applicable to many contemporary developing countries, such as those in
the Arab world. Also, the collapse into civil wars in many African countries in the
1980s and 1990s was preceded by a large expansion of educated people at the same
time economic growth more or less came to a halt.
Peter Turchin January 1, 2017 at 7:17 pm
This comment requires a lengthier rebuttal, but for now just two points:
1. In the blog post I specifically used the political elites to illustrate my major
point. Your response, unfortunately, is a standard economic one that measures
everything in money. As I said, I will probably have to write another post to explain
why this is wrong-headed.
2. Why do you assume that the "capitalist class" will be automatically able to
cooperate to impose their will on the rest of the society? There is, after all, the
problem of collective action.
Stephen Morris January 1, 2017 at 8:04 pm
Speaking as a former investment banker involved in the privatisation of public
assets – who has seen at first hand generations of politicians captured by
business interests – I suggest that anyone with direct experience of this
matter would realise that any collective action problem faced by the capitalist
class in negligible in comparison which the collective action problem faced by
citizens under the non-democratic system of purely "elective" goverrnment (i.e.
"government-by-politicians').
Re #1 -- No, I do not measure everything in money, so please do not write a
whole post as though that's what I argued. I said that elites now *collude* to
capture the political process, which they do. They don't need to compete for
political positions because they cooperate in capturing it. Goldman Sachs has
access to the Treasury department whether the party in power is Republican or
Democratic. (Besides, you also use some money proxies for intra-elite
competition/cooperation: the distribution of lawyers' salaries, or the Great Merger
Movement.)
Re #2 -- I do not assume it. The evidence is overwhelming that concentration is
increasing, markups are rising, monopoly power is expanding. All of that is
evidence of intra-capitalist cooperation and unity.
Peter Turchin frequently cites the work of Martin Gilens, who has repeatedly
shown that public policy largely reflects the preferences of the very richest of US
society. That's not elite competition. That's elite cooperation in capturing of the
political process. The problem with Turchin's framework is that he sees even modern
societies through the Roman framework of Optimates v. Populares.
edwardturner January 2, 2017 at 11:52 am
pseudoerasmus, I pretty much agree with what you say. However, while elites
have colluded to capture the political process we might not expect them to all
agree on what to do with the political process once it has been captured.
There is no intra-capitalist unity. Some elites shouldn't even be called
capitalists because the monopoly power they seek completely eliminates the free
market. Other elites who want to control the political process do want a free
market. They are in conflict.
The common thread here is the presence of powerful elites who cooperate.
Historically the monopoly power elites have cooperated without much resistence
but the free market elites have begun to cooperate against them and have had
success in the election of Donald Trump.
If it is people power we want then the general trend will look like
cooperation as whoever wins the conflict will be cooperating economic
elites.
I question whether there is a qualitative difference today. It's still about the
claims embodied by "wealth," and the power those claims impart to wealthholders. The
mechanisms are different, but the wealth/power relationships are pretty much the
same.
The crux, in my view, is concentration of wealth (hence power). Which has the virtue
of being nicely quantifiable, in concept if not necessarily in practice.
As concentration increases and the "elite" gets smaller, the rope-ladder hanging
down from the elite gets shorter and rattier. eg: The 90% were always excluded. Now the
2%-10% are. That change could result in a different type or intensity of social
conflict.
On the other hand that intra-"elite" competition might just be a by-product and
analytical distraction. The elite vs "the rest" is the issue, and all we need to look
at is the size of the elite. That could be nicely encapsulated in a "wealth
concentration" metric.
Problem is getting a consistent measure of that wealth concentration. Hell, the U.S.
national accounts didn't even tally wealth until 2006, and still don't even touch on
wealth distribution.
Assembling such a (validly consistent) measure across historical societies would be
tough. Atkinson, Wolff, Piketty&Co, etc. have managed over recent decades to
assemble data on richer countries going back a century or so. Perhaps one could do
similar for the Roman Empire, at least roughly? But across many societies and
millennia? Tough.
In agrarian societies, the wealth that conferred status -- land and state
offices -- were fixed in the long run. In modern societies, the supply of status
positions is not fixed and is in fact highly elastic.
Yes the quantity of wealth was fixed. But I'm talking about the
concentration of wealth and power. Compare a society in which the 1% has all
the wealth and (real) power, compared to one where it's more broadly
distributed among the 10%.
IOW, whaddaya mean by "elite," buster?
>the supply of status positions is not fixed and is in fact highly
elastic
Totally agree. Increasing wealth does not mean that the quantity of
status positions is increasing. The absolute or percentage count of "the elite"
could shrink (wealth could concentrate) even as wealth increases.
Increasing wealth might be presumed to give more entree to aspirants than a
fixed-wealth scenario, but I just have no idea whether that is actually the
case.
Dick Burkhart December 30, 2016 at 6:47 pm
You claim that "wealth is no longer fixed in the long run", yet that claim is the most
fundamental fallacy of contemporary economics. "Limits-to-growth" is not a choice but a
fact of science. Already the global economy is stagnating, mostly for this reason, and it
is headed toward contraction sometime during the coming generation, despite all the hype
about new technologies.
The concept of "ecological overshoot and collapse" applies to human ecology too. We're
certainly in overshoot, so some form of collapse is coming (even if a technological miracle
occurred, like cheap energy from nuclear fusion, it would only postpone the day of
reckoning).
As to "intra-elite competition", it is well underway in much of the upper middle class
and the 1%, according to the statistics documented by Peter Turchin above. But it is just
revving up among the super-elites – the billionaire class, with Trump being the first
really visible eruption. In fact, Donald Trump's election is the perfect example of how
this competition plays out once it hits the main stage. So don't confuse tactical
cooperation among increasingly greedy factions of the elites with the kind of yawning
political fractures that are now opening up as unscrupulous opportunists like Trump
discover that they can exploit a disgruntled part of the populace to "trump" the more
conventional elites. And as "limits-to-growth" blocks the customary relief valve of
expansion, then elite exploitation and popular revolt will increase until something there
is some kind of show stopper.
Dick Burkhart December 30, 2016 at 8:29 pm
Like most economists, you've got it totally backward: The non-material part is
completely dependent on cheap resources, especially cheap, and compatible ecosystem
conditions. Those resources only seem to disappear from the economy, because they
are so cheap. But, as in the rest of nature, all that complexity comes from the
surplus of energy and other resources.
After all, we could not live without good air. Yet it costs nothing most of the
time, so doesn't even enter into conventional economics.
Well, Dick Burkhart, as I said earlier, even if ecological exhaustion and
collapse were coming, (a) that is not related to current economic problems; and
(b) it's also not part of Peter Turchin's diagnosis.
Dick Burkhart December 31, 2016 at
9:19 pm
In fact climate change is already taking an increasing economic toll
– from extreme weather events, ocean acidification, desertification
in some areas, etc. These costs could increase rapidly if certain tipping
points are reached.
But, yes, the larger immediate effects are coming from resource
depletion, especially the peaking of conventional oil in 2006.
Unconventional oil, like tar sands and fracked oil, is much more expensive,
hence produces less wealth, less economic growth. Even much of the newer
conventional oil is less productive, as it is often harder to
find or requires tertiary methods of recovery. Similar dynamics apply to
coal, natural gas, and many other resources, except that depletion may not
be as far advanced as for oil. Economic growth has slowed dramatically even
in China, despite their phony growth numbers, and I expect increasing
political turmoil there, too, over the next decade or two.
When an imperial economy can longer expand easily, all of Peter's
dynamics come into play with greater force, not just the elite competition,
but the increasing exploitation of the common people in order to maintain
elite expansion. The latter has been going on since Reagan in the form of
escalating economic inequality. = popular immiseration.
Paolo Ghirri December 31, 2016 at 2:34 pm
"current problems have nothing to do with anything ecological or resource
constraints."
yes they have: for a pre industrial civilization what is vital is energy
surplus, energy surplus that came from agriculture production. so as an example 18
have to work to produce food and 2 can live as soldier, priest and so on.
for a
industrial civilization energy surplus came from oil. from 1973 to 2016 the energy
surplus pro-capita is falling: in a developed country the pro capita surplus now is
75% lower than in 1973.
the gap is covered with debt. so in the short run we have:
1) energy price escalation (in real term the 2016 average oil price is the double
of 2000) 2) agricultural stress: more frequent spike in food price, combined with
food shortfall in the most vulnerable country (arab spring: food price in 2011 are
229% higher than the 2000-2004 average) 3) energy sprawl: investment in energy
infrascructure will absorb rising proportion 4) economic stagnation: fail to
recover from setbacks as robustly as it has in the past 5) inflation
with the single exception of inflation (but if we check only necessary to live item
i'm not so sure) all of the above features has already become firnly established in
recent years, wich underlines the point that energy-surplus economy has reached its
tipping point
Terry Lowman December 30, 2016 at 7:20 pm
The reason the elites cooperate is to get a leg up in the competition. It recently
occurred to me that the Forbes 400 list of America's wealthiest families gives people a
rank, a competitor. Without the list, one might be complacent with a mere $3 billion, but
knowing others have tens of billions, makes you a "just ran". Better tune up your
capitalist machine so you can outshine everyone else, right?
Peter Turchin January 1, 2017 at 7:19 pm
The supply of "status" is by its nature inelastic. There is only one top person in
anything, and only ten in the Top 10.
edwardturner January 2, 2017 at 11:57 am
True but people who cannot be the king of general things will be happy to be
known as the king of their specialism.
The more specialisms that exist for people to get to the top of the more stable
a society will be.
edwardturner January 2, 2017 at 12:02 pm
you could say that the king of the military is the king of kings but in the age
of nuclear buttons it's simply boring. you can't blow anything up without getting
blown up yourself. you can use non-nuclear military power but non-nuclear power in
the age we are living in only wins you the war, it doesn't win you the war and the
peace. to win the peace today you need to be king of something other than the
military.
Rick Derris December 30, 2016 at 9:50 pm
I liked the intra-elite discussions in "Ages of Discord" and it made me an even more
strident believer in term limits. At least moving people out of the Congress after eight
years will "free up" some space for other elite aspirants. I don't care if your politics
are on the side of Strom Thurmond or Ted Kennedy – both were in the Congress for far
too long.
Of course, term limits did nothing to keep a 2nd Cuomo out of the NY Governor's mansion,
but at least it means we only have to watch one Cuomo on CNN.
Rich December 31, 2016 at 1:09 am
Pseudoerasmus, good arguments. The consolidation of money, as well as markets, is very
large right now and it does seem like that would take coordination of an ownership class or
at least similar lines of thinking among those elites. But, are we talking about a
different set of elites? There may be different populations of elites: capitalist and
political. Personally, I think the proxies Peter use describe a political elite population
rather than a capitalist elite population. The two combine for many, but there may be
distinct capitalist and political populations with each having distinct behavior patterns.
The worrisome insight for me is that it's the political elites that end up bringing us to
our knees.
"Personally, I think the proxies Peter use describe a political elite population
rather than a capitalist elite population.
Political elites are the proxies PT uses as evidence for his theory, but as he
himself says, "American power holders are wealth holders". And I believe the definition
I have effectively used here, "owners of capital", is consistent with his concept of
elites or magnates in Secular Cycles -- a book I admire tremendously.
Note also that PT uses the Great Merger Movement in US history (1895-1905) as
evidence of the beginnings of elite cooperation. Well, another wave of capital
concentration has existed now for decades, since the 1980s.
Rich Howard December 31, 2016 at 4:40 pm
Political elites may be more likely to be rich, but the rich is a larger
population with only a fraction politically aspirant. PT'S model relates political
aspirants to political breakdown. And because it works so well, in so many cases,
it suggests there is a more universal social process at work than rich/poor,
unemployment rates, too many weapons, resource depletion etc.
Jason December 31, 2016 at 7:42 am
I like the theory but isn't there more to the story. On one side you have elite aspirant
overproduction. On the other side, you have increasing concentration of power -- the iron
law of oligarchy (in the sense of this wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_oligarchy
)
Your average Congressman is not as powerful today as he was 100 years ago. Cabinet
members used to do something of substance and now act more like front men, while policy
making is centralized in the White House. You have more and more aspirants for fewer and fewer positions of substance. That ramps
up intensity of competition even more than just over-production of JDs and MBAs.
Plus the barriers to entry for competition has lowered too. Now celebrities fight with
JDs for political positions. Rap stars compete with MBAs for business tycoon success.
At all levels of society, you have greater and greater competition for fewer and fewer
rewards. Hyper-competition all around. Now perhaps the competition at the gateway to the
elite is particularly important because elites are important, and failure to get in makes
them the aspirants powerful disgruntled people, but I think the mechanism is more than just
over-production of JDs and MBAs.
I think it might have started as a well intentioned project to increase the quality of
our elites by introducing competition and lowering barriers to entry. And at the the same
time, increasing the rewards to winners (incentivizing max effort). Result though is brutal
intra-elite fighting. Particularly in times of overall lowered growth.
Peter Turchin January 1, 2017 at 7:24 pm
Agreed, the overproduction of elites developed in parallel with the change in social
norms that extolled competition and downplayed cooperation. But these two dynamics may
be causally related -- it's not a pure coincidence that the two trends developed in
parallel.
One point I haven't seen discussed much is that the number of "powerful" positions is
fixed, by law, but not unchangeable. For example, in the 19th century it was arguably more
important to be a city councilman or state legislator than a Congressmen, because more
actual decisions were being made at the city and state level and the percentage of the
economy under the control of the federal government was smaller. If there is less federal
largesse to distribute, then there is less power in helping to decide how it is
distributed. It is somewhat analogous to why being a U.S. Senator now is more important
than being a U.N. functionary; the United Nations may represent a larger domain, but it has
a lot less control over that domain than a national government.
Thus, one would expect that the more centralized control of a region is, the more
intra-elite competition there will be, because there are fewer positions which really
matter. A modern example of this might be that the transfer of power from national to
European Union administration would result in more intra-elite competition. On the other
hand, devolving power back down to a lower level would result in more positions that have
some power, and less competition for each.
Jason January 1, 2017 at 12:49 am
That's exactly what I was getting at too, Ross. The number of good positions
available depends on the power gradient of the society. How much power is centralized
vs distributed. The whole Iron Law of Oligarchy developed in recognition that over
time, power tends to centralize, so it's not fixed by law and unchangeable for all
time. It's not so much inequality between ordinary people and the elite, but among
elites.
Plus it ossifies, in that these enhanced elite positions are then passed out
patrilineally, which results in fewer actual positions being open to aspirants.
The net result is heightened competition for entry and promotion within the elite,
with more and more of the victories happening by methods outside the norm, e.g. dirty
tricks, patronage, fake news etc.
This probably happens in all societies, but growth (creating more opportunities),
wars (resetting the table), inefficiency (placating the failed aspirants with
consolation prizes) keep internal collapse at bay. It's when you have a dynamic of High
Inequality, Low Growth, High Efficiency / Lean, No Wars that Elite Competition starts
getting out of hand.
(I say this despite hating wars, but you can't argue with their effect on resetting
the table. Hate bribes/corruption too, but things like congressional pork barrels kept
congressman feeling important and in-line. Efficiency is also a self evident good, but
that means no consolation prizes for failure. Growth may eventually run into limits due
to carrying capacity of ecosystem .).
To me, it resembles a game of musical chairs with too few chairs, and when the music
is playing much too fast. As Chuck Prince famously said in the Global Financial Crisis:
"As long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance." Whether or not
dancing is destructive, elites have to keep dancing to keep their chair.
I also hate wars, but I am reminded of Mancur Olson's theory that nations
recovering from a major disaster or a major military defeat usually have
above-average growth for a few decades. The idea is that when, as with the South in
the U.S. after the Civil War or with Germany and Japan after WWII, the elite in
society have suffered a setback so severe that their hold on society is disrupted,
there will be a period during which they are less able to set government policy in
their favor rather than the collective welfare.
SDT would have a somewhat different explanation of this. I agree with you that
rapid growth would be another way to reduce the intra-elite competition; it seems
the most likely explanation for the "missing" peak in non-governmental violence in
the U.S. in the 1820's that Peter Turchin pointed out earlier.
Peter Turchin January 1, 2017 at 7:32 pm
Historically, rapid growth coupled with equitable redistribution of its
gains is typically associated with peaceful and internally stable periods. But
you need both (growth and equity).
This idea is kind of half-formed, but I'll put it out there. It seems to me that one of
the most important factors in intra-elite competition, is the degree of skill of the
frustrated aspirants. If there are lots of people who want to be elite but can't crack the
system to get in, that may not be a problem if those frustrated aspirants aren't
particularly good at organization, motivation, leadership, etc.
If, on the other hand, the frustrated aspirants are nearly as good at this sort of thing
as those actually in power, and especially if they are better at it than the incumbents
(who somehow through tradition or family connections or what-have-you remain on top), then
you have a much better chance of the frustrated aspirants being able to kick up
trouble.
Of course, part of being good at leadership is getting the opportunity to practice, and
a post-secondary education almost always includes some practice at a more professional set
of social skills. But if the people getting spots in power remain better at political
organization than the people who don't, it is less likely to result in disruption, I think.
It seems that trouble would come when the ruling elite is either not especially good at
leading (e.g. they inherited their position or bought their way in with somebody else's
money), or they were good at leading in a previous time, and changes in society or
technology have changed what skills are necessary for leadership.
In all these cases, I think "good at leadership" would be a relative term, which is to
say the current elite relative to the frustrated aspirants. How you could measure such
skill, of course, is the key question about which I have as of yet nothing to say (I did
say the idea was half-formed).
steven t johnson January 1, 2017 at 8:10 am
Although intra-elite competition and inter-elite competition are conceptually distinct, is
that true in practice? Is Carlos Slim an intraelite competitor with Jeff Bezos, in the form
of rivalry between the New York Times and the Washington Post? If this is interelite
competition, how does structural-demographic theory address the issues of how external
factors impinge on the cycle? (I'm a little shaky on how interior and exterior are defined
in the first place. As for example, was there a cycle for Burgundy?)
Peter Turchin January 1, 2017 at 7:34 pm
Unlike "intra-elite competition", "inter-elite competition" is not a concept in SDT
(and like you I would be hard put to think what it could refer to).
edwardturner January 1, 2017 at 12:34 pm
The supply of power positions in a society is relatively, or even absolutely, inelastic. For example, there are only
435 U.S. Representatives, 100 Senators, and one President.
This is not quite true. The supply of power positions can be elastic to a point.
How about the growth in number of CEOs and NGOs and the heads of INGOs over the last 50
years? So-called non-state actors have become powerful as they influence the law-making
processes in a variety of ways.
These big chiefs are positions of power and influence. In many cases, they call the
shots and Presidents and Prime Ministers are only the PR guys.
The US President is not the most powerful person in the world. He doesn't have the
highest security clearance in the United States. He is not allowed to know everything.
The idea the US President is the most powerful man is a claim based on a theory of how
the US political system works in idealised sense, and on simple US nationalism.
The fact that the supply of power positions is elastic – that there has been a
flouresence of alternative power structures to the state hierarchy – suggests that
wealth can to a degree put off or delay elite competition.
It is only when the rug is pulled from under the alternative prestigious hierarchies and
the state tries to dominate all on its own – that is when problems will begin. Keep
the funding going, maintain non-state avenues for prestige and create even more, the
fluoresence will continue.
edwardturner January 1, 2017 at 12:36 pm
interested readers might like to read my report for Cliodynamics: Why Has the Number
of International Non-Governmental Organizations Exploded since 1960?
A point made in arthashastra, that fight among princes is more dangerous than fight
among commoners. However, I wud like to ask what predictions are u unable to do. There is
no real knowledge which doesnt admit what its limitations are, or admits inability to
explain something. Even in physics, where humans have gained incredible knowledge, there is
much to know. Also, on issue of religion, could one argue that but for christianity &
islam world wud have devekped faster as information in math/science wud have gathered pace,
exchanged between different lands easily.Thank you.
Peter Turchin January 1, 2017 at 7:43 pm
Interesting that Arthashastra foresees a major message of the SDT.
On the role of religion there are a lot of recent books from the cultural evolutionary
perspective, including David Wilson, Ara Norenzayan, and Dominic Johnson (I might also
mention my own Ultrasociety).
Dick Burkhart January 1, 2017 at 11:16 pm
Even direct democracy is not a cure-all. Here in Washington State, our initiative
and referendum process has been corrupted at times by big money interests: First put
together a sophisticated campaign around some catch phrases that will have popular
support on a topic where the opposition, even if widespread, is likely to be diffuse.
Then sneak in some coded language that privileges a wealthy special interest. Then use
paid signature gatherers. Then assemble a massive advertising campaign, one that will
outspend the likely opposition, maybe even by 10 to 1.
Certain people get very good at this and quickly learn to sell their services to the
highest bidder. The current master of such campaign here is a guy named Tim Eyman, and
he has been quite successful. But some companies, like Costco, have done the same thing
all by themselves.
Moral: You need to get "money out of politics" in all ways, and it's a never ending
battle until you've eliminated concentrated wealth and power itself.
Peter Turchin January 2, 2017 at 10:01 pm
Stephen Morris: you will find my response in an old post:
Prof Turchin, is there any data on the Supply of Elite Positions in Historic
Societies?
It doesn't feel instinctively right that it's inelastic, but perhaps there's really the
case. It feels slightly more likely to be right to say that it's capped somehow (inelastic
as to upside, more elastic as to downside).
But it seems like the sort of thing you should be able to answer with a History
Database. Has there been any attempts to measure this?
Peter Turchin January 2, 2017 at 10:06 pm
In fact, your are in luck, because we provide such statistics for a number of
historical societies in Secular Cycles http://peterturchin.com/secular-cycles/
Note, I didn't say it was inelastic. In most cases, it's relatively inelastic, so
that the growth in the number of aspirants greatly overmatches the growth in the supply
of the positions. Only in few instances the supply is absolutely inelastic (only one
POTUS).
Deficiencies in the concept of elite competition
Let's start with the definition of elite: "small proportion of the population that
concentrates power in their hands"
His theory lacks an aspect that must be fundamental before even proceeding in a discussion
on the "dynamics" of the elites and is that it is not able to explain in a satisfactory way
the origin of the so-called "elites". According to its definition it seems that the elites
are rather the manifestation of a particular phenomenon that is "concentration of power"; A
phenomenon that manifests itself socially in the form of the so-called "elite", which
hereafter I call the ruling class (I think it is a terminology in which we can all
agree).
But if we assume that the dominant classes are only a manifestation of the phenomenon of
the concentration of power, our attention must first be fixed in that aspect so we try to
break it down into its fundamental parts
. Apparently the concept of power gives to understand the concept of dominion (some will
have other words in mind but as surely they closely resemble the concept of domain I think
that it suffices to refer us to this one) and we do not refer to any type of domain but to
a domain Of social nature, a social domain. We will now say that this social domain
manifests itself in the form of economic and political dominion, I think we will agree on
this point.
Now let us collect the fruits of these arguments. We have a different and more precise
definition, which in no way invalidates the original, and we say: The ruling class is that
small proportion of the population that concentrates economic and political dominion in
their hands. I believe that we will agree that economic dominance is nothing but greater
possession of capital and that political dominance is but a major influence on a state
structure (the word "state" is used in a modern sense).
Now we have: the ruling class is that small proportion of the population that concentrates
the greatest possession of capital and the greatest influence within a state structure in
their hands. The last part of " in your hands" is understood by what we can eliminate it
and we have the following:
The ruling class is that small proportion of the population that concentrates the greatest
possession of capital and the greatest influence on a state structure.
Now the possession of capital depends on its production or of the association with someone
who produces capital. And it is revealed to us that the ruling class, apart from having
influence in a state structure, needs to produce capital or be associated with someone who
produces capital directly or indirectly.
Thanks to this we see clearly that competition between elites is a competition for economic
benefits and influence. Obviously the economic aspect is more significant than the aspect
of influence. It follows that a fall in economic profits, ie a fall in capital production
(a crisis), would directly or indirectly exacerbate the competition for greater economic
benefits, that is, increase the number of aspirants to elitist . The competition of elites
is not the cause of the crisis is one of the consequences of the crisis.
I must make a small correction in my analysis. By capital I wanted to let you
understand profit, so the use of that term in this argument is actually inappropriate
because I wanted to use the word capital in a Marxist sense.
Federico January 8, 2017 at 5:23 pm
Hello Dr Turchin, I was wondering if you are familiar with Richard Lachmann's "elite
conflict theory". It is a verbal theory, but one that he has successfully used to explain
fiscal crises, hegemonic cycles, and the rise of modern capitalist economies. What do you
think about it?
Best,
Federico
Shaun Bartone February 27, 2017 at 3:47 pm
I wonder if any of the commentators here have considered that the [neoliberal] cabal now in power in
the US (not elsewhere) are not in power to "take power" except for a temporary period. They
don't want to run the federal government, they want to destroy it, except for the police
state and the military.
They want to eliminate the EPA, vacate the State Dept and many
other Depts, except for a few high-placed cronies, wipe all financial, labour, consumer and
environmental regulations off the books; eliminate or reduce to a bare minimum federal
health insurance, medicaid, medicare and Social Security, crush public education, privatize
everything they can sell, and so on. They are not in power to "govern" but to destroy
government. This is all being done with a fairly unified agenda: to free "the market" from
any restrictions whatsoever, so that they -- global elites -- can make as much money as
possible. It's a cabal of global corporations, militarists, Christian sovereign white
supremacists, fossil fuel giants and bankers, and I think there's a high degree of
cooperation for the agenda. The revolution is the cabal run by Trump/Bannon who are more
extreme and ideological than any previous faction, who have no tolerance for compromise.
They have an apocalyptic vision of grinding it all down to a bare minimum police state.
If it is about ' surplus populations ' – and I agree that is a strong
motivation for the elites – why are they super-charging import of the additional surplus
population from the Third World?
The corona panic is not helping, unless this is only Phase 1. Tanking the economy will most
likely result in a much weaker control of the population – the draconian new rules won't
make much difference because they can never be draconian enough. Tens of millions without work
is a prescription for chaos – it has always been.
One explanation that I find possible is ' inertia ' – the rulers are stuck, the
hired managerial class is both very stupid and very self-serving. What we see is helpless
inertia and a slow slide, but no plan or even coherent thought.
The members of the ruling class seem lost and helpless (' tear it down so we can rebuilt
it better ' is a weird refrain used by Macron, Trudeau and now Biden). The real story could
be that there is nobody behind the curtain, no ideas, and inertia rules.
@The
Alarmist hat we need to get the global population back below one billion, because every
action they have taken lately seems designed to lead to means to achieve that end.
To keep with the Saker, "the elites have gone mad", at government level, the public puppets
mostly do not know what they are doing. A level deeper, the few bet on chaos, improvise, but at
the least have some sort of quality goal: induce chaos to mask the causes of the necessary
culling of the surplus populations. At the level of the middle class, and populus, the former
are suicidal, the latter as always in the history of mankind, do not even grasp the situation
they are in.
@Beckow
much difference because they can never be draconian enough."
Corona panic leads to mandatory vaccinations.
Mandatory vaccinations leads to implantation of biochip.
Biochip sends and receives signals to/from 5G network.
Signals between biochips and AI through 5G network track everyone who has the chip, does not
allow troublemakers to buy/sell thereby starving them, and in extreme cases, signals from 5G
network to biochips kills/disables troublemakers.
The rules do not need to be draconian. In fact, no overt 'rules' are needed at all because
people will learn through pain what they are allowed to do.
In the United States, a great deal of study and energy goes into promoting respect for
democracy, not just to keep it alive here but also to spread it around the world. It embraces
the will of the majority, whether or not its main beneficiaries have more resources than other
citizens do, as shown by the election of President Obama, who promised hope and change for the
suffering majority, but did not sit long in office before being subjected to an economic vote
of no-confidence.
Those who claim we run a plutocracy (government for the rich by the rich) -- or that we're
victims of a conspiracy contrived by a shadow government -- are right while being wrong.
Our government is beyond the reach of ordinary American citizens in terms of economic power.
However, the creation of a system to keep the majority of the populace at the losing end of a
structure which neither promised nor delivered a state of financial equality was a predictable
extension of the economic system the U.S. government was formed to protect.
... .... ...
Forty years of Cold War and the ultimate realization that abuse of the communist system and
a hierarchy of privilege proved that system to be vulnerable to selfishness -- in common with
the triumphant capitalist countries.
Because any desired outcome can be written into an equation to exclude unwanted facts or
inputs by holding some things constant while applying chosen variables that may not hold true
under every historical circumstance, it's considered "falsifiable" and therefore "scientific."
But only if it appeals to the right people and justifies a given political need will it become
sacrosanct (until the next round of "progress").
.... .... ...
Abusive Self- Interest
In 1764, twenty- five years before the embrace of Madame Guillotine (when heads rolled
literally to put the fear of the mob into politics), contempt for the filth and poverty in
which the French commoners lived while the nobility gorged on luxury goods showed how arrogant
they were, not just in confidence that their offices of entitlement were beyond reproach and
unassailable, but that mockery and insult in the face of deliberate deprivation would be borne
with obedience and humility.
It certainly affected Smith's outlook, since he wrote The Wealth of Nations with a
focus on self- interest rather than moral sentiments. And while this may be purely pragmatic,
based on what
he witnessed, he also wrote about the potential for self- interest to become abusive, both
in collusion with individuals and when combined with the power of government. Business
interests could form cabals (groups of conspirators, plotting public harm) or monopolies
(organizations with exclusive market control) to fix prices at their highest levels. A true
laissez- faire economy would provide every incentive to conspire against consumers and attempt
to influence budgets and legislation.
Smith's assertion that self- interest leads producers to favor domestic industry must also
be understood in the context of the period. While it's true that the Enlightenment was a
movement of rational philosophy radically opposed to secrecy, it's important to understand that
this had to be done respectfully , insofar as all arguments were intended to impress the
monarchy under circumstances where the king believed himself God- appointed and infallible, no
matter his past or present policies, and matters were handled with delicacy. Yet, Smith's
arguments are clear enough (and certainly courageous enough) to be understood in laymen's
terms.
In an era when the very industry he's observing has been fostered by tariffs, monopolies,
labor controls, and materials extracted from colonies, he did his best to balance observation
with what he thought was best for society. It's not his fault we pick and choose our recipes
for what we do and don't believe or where we think Smith might have gone had he been alive
today.
The New Double Standard
The only practical way to resolve the contradiction between the existing beneficiaries of
state favoritism in this period and Smith's aversion to it is to observe that the means to
prevent competition and interference with the transition from one mode of commerce to another
that enhances the strength of the favored or provides a new means to grow their wealth is to
close the door of government intervention behind them and burn any bridges to it.
In psychological terms, the practice of "negative attribution" is to assume that identical
behavior is justifiable for oneself but not another. It may not be inconsistent with a system
of economics founded on self- interest, but it naturally begs a justification as to why it
rules out everyone else's self- interest. The beauty of this system is that it will
always have the same answer.
You may have guessed it.
Progress.
Reallocation of Assets
It was always understood that capitalism produces winners and losers. The art of economizing
is to gain maximum benefit for minimum expenditure, which generally translates to asset
consolidation and does not necessarily mean there is minimum sacrifice. There's an opportunity
cost for everything, whether it's human, financial, environmental, or material. But the most
important tenet of free market capitalism is that asset redistribution requires the U. S.
government to go to DEFCON 1, unless assets are being reallocated for "higher productivity," in
which case the entire universe is saved from the indefensible sin of lost opportunity.
Private property is sacred -- up until an individual decides he can make more productive use
of it and appeals to the courts for seizure under eminent domain or until the government
decides it will increase national growth if owned by some other person or entity. In like
manner, corporations can suffer hostile takeovers, just as deregulation facilitates predatory
market behavior and cutthroat competition promotes an efficiency orientation that means fewer
jobs and lower incomes, which result in private losses.
In the varying range of causes underlying the loss of assets, the common threat is progress
-- the "civilized" justification for depriving some other person or entity of their right to
own property, presumably earned by the sweat of their brow, except their sweat doesn't have the
same champion as someone who can wring more profit from it. The official explanation is that
the government manages the "scarcity" of resources to benefit the world. This is also how we
justify war, aggression, and genocide, though we don't always admit to that unless we mean to
avoid it.
Perfectly Rational Genocide
History cooperates with the definition of Enlightenment if we imagine that thoughtfulness
has something to do with genocide. In the context of American heritage, it has meant that when
someone stands in the way of progress, his or her resources are "reallocated" to serve the
pursuit of maximum profit, with or without consent. The war against Native Americans was one in
which Americans either sought and participated in annihilation efforts or believed this end was
inevitable. In the age of rational thought, meditation on the issue could lead from gratitude
for the help early settlers received from Native Americans to the observation they didn't
enclose their land and had no concept of private property,
to the conviction they were unmotivated by profit and therefore irreconcilable savages. But
it takes more than rational thought to mobilize one society to exterminate another.
The belief in manifest destiny -- that God put the settlers in America for preordained and
glorious purposes which gave them a right to everything -- turned out to be just the ticket for
a free people opposed to persecution and the tyranny of church and state.
Lest the irony elude you, economic freedom requires divorcing the state from religion, but
God can be used to whip up the masses, distribute "It's Them or Us" cards, and send people out
to die on behalf of intellectuals and investors who've rationalized their
chosenness.
CHAPTER TWO: INSTILLING THE ILLUSION OF CHOICE
Selfishness may be exalted as the root and branch of capitalism, but it doesn't make you
look good to the party on the receiving end or those whose sympathy he earns. For that, you
need a government prepared to do four things, which each have separate dictums based on study,
theorization, and experience.
Coercion:
Force is illegitimate only if you can't sell it.
Persuasion:
How do I market thee? Let me count the ways.
Bargaining:
If you won't scratch my back, then how about a piece of the pie?
Indoctrination:
Because I said so. (And paid for the semantics.)
Predatory capitalism is the control and expropriation of land, labor, and natural resources
by a foreign government via coercion, persuasion, bargaining, and indoctrination.
At the coercive stage, we can expect military and/ or police intervention to repress the
subject populace. The persuasive stage will be marked by clientelism, in which a small
percentage of the populace will be rewarded for loyalty, often serving as the capitalists'
administrators, tax collectors, and enforcers. At the bargaining stage, efforts will be made to
include the populace, or a certain percentage of it, in the country's ruling system, and this
is usually marked by steps toward democratic (or, more often, autocratic) governance.
At the fourth stage, the populace is educated by capitalists, such that they continue to
maintain a relationship of dependency.
The Predatory Debt Link
In many cases, post- colonial states were forced to assume the debts of their colonizers.
And where they did not, they were encouraged to become in debt to the West via loans that were
issued through international institutions to ensure they did not fall prey to communism or
pursue other economic policies that were inimical to the West. Debt is the tie that binds
nation states to the geostrategic and economic interests of the West.
As such, the Cold War era was a time of easy credit, luring postcolonial states to undertake
the construction of useless monoliths and monuments, and to even expropriate such loans through
corruption and despotism, thereby making these independent rulers as predatory as colonizers.
While some countries were wiser than others and did use the funds for infrastructural
improvements, these were also things that benefited the West and particularly Western
contractors. In his controversial work Confessions of an Economic Hit Man , John Perkins
reveals that he was a consultant for an American firm (MAIN), whose job was to ensure that
states became indebted beyond their means so they would remain loyal to their creditors, buying
them votes within United Nations organizations, among other things.
Predatory capitalists demand export- orientations as the means to generate foreign currency
with which to pay back debt. In the process, the state must privatize and drastically slash or
eliminate any domestic subsidies which are aimed at helping native industry compete in the
marketplace. Domestic consumption and imports must be radically contained, as shown by the
exchange rate policies recommended by the IMF. The costs of obtaining domestic capital will be
pushed beyond the reach of most native producers, while wages must be depressed to an absolute
bare minimum. In short, the country's land, labor, and natural resources must be sold at
bargain basement prices in order to make these goods competitive, in what one author has called
"a spiraling race to the bottom," as countries producing predominantly the same goods engage in
cutthroat competition whose benefactor is the West.
Under these circumstances, foreign investment is encouraged, but this, too, represents a
loaded situation for countries that open their markets to financial liberalization. Since, in
most cases, the
IMF does not allow restrictions on the conditions of capital inflows, it means that
financial investors can literally dictate their terms. And since no country is invulnerable to
attacks on its currency, which governments must try to keep at a favorable exchange rate, it
means financial marauders can force any country to try to prop up its currency using vital
reserves of foreign exchange which might have been used to pay their debt.
When such is the case, the IMF comes to the rescue with a socalled "bailout fund," that
allows foreign investors to withdraw their funds intact, while the government reels from the
effects of an IMF- imposed austerity plan, often resulting in severe recession the offshoot of
which is bankruptcies by the thousands and plummeting employment.
In countries that experienced IMF bailouts due to attacks on their currencies, the effect
was to reset the market so the only economic survivors were those who remained export- oriented
and were strong enough to withstand the upheaval. This means they remained internationally
competitive, which translates to low earnings of foreign exchange. At the same time that the
country is being bled from the bottom up through mass unemployment, extremely low wages, and
the "spiraling race to the bottom," it is in an even more unfavorable position concerning the
payment of debt. The position is that debt slavery ensues, as much an engine of extraction as
any colonial regime ever managed.
The Role of Indoctrination
The fact that it is sovereign governments overseeing the work of debt repression has much to
do with education, which is the final phase of predatory capitalism, concluding in
indoctrination. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the lesson to the world was that
socialism can't work, nor were there any remaining options for countries that pursued "the
third way" other than capitalism. This produced a virulent strain of neoliberalism in which
most people were, and are, being educated. The most high- ranking of civil servants have either
been educated in the West or directly influenced by its thinking. And this status of acceptance
and adherence finally constitutes indoctrination. The system is now self- sustaining, upheld by
domestic agents.
While predatory capitalism can proceed along a smooth continuum from coercion to persuasion
to bargaining to formal indoctrination, the West can regress to any of these steps at any point
in
time, given the perceived need to interfere with varying degrees of force in order to
protect its interests.
Trojan Politics
Democracy is about having the power and flexibility to graft our system of government and
predatory capitalism onto any target country, regardless of relative strength or conflicting
ideologies. An entire productive industry has grown up using the tools of coercion, persuasion,
bargaining, and formal indoctrination to maximize their impact in the arena of U. S. politics.
Its actors know how to jerk the right strings, push the right buttons, and veer from a soft
sell to a hard sell when resistance dictates war, whether it's with planes overhead and tanks
on the ground or with massive capital flight that panics the whole world.
When the U. S. political economy goes into warp overdrive, its job proves far more valuable
than anything ever made in the strict material sense because there's never been more at stake
in terms of what it's trying to gain. It's the American idea machine made up of corporations,
lobbyists, think tanks, foundations, universities, and consultants in every known discipline
devoted to mass consumerism, and what they sell is illusory opportunity dressed in American
principles. They embrace political candidates who'll play by elitist rules to preserve the
fiction of choice, and, in this way, they maintain legitimacy, no matter what kind of
"reallocation" is on the economic agenda.
The issue is not whether we'll question it, but who we'll applaud for administering it.
In the Information Age, perception management is king.
The tragedy of this situation the most of people who constitute fifth column will be
royally fleeced if this color revolution succeeds. As Ukrainian experience had shown the
immediate result will be the drop (2-3 times) of national currency against the dollar, mass
sellout of assets to the West at bargain process (for pennies on the dollar) as well as
continuation of the destruction of Soviet infrastructure. Western powers want 90% of
Byelorussian people to live on the level slightly above starvation and they have numerous
methods of achieving this goal directly and indirectly.
In two to three year Belorussia will be a regular debt slave of the West.
27 Sep, 2020 Around 200 have been detained as the Belarusian capital, Minsk and other cities
host rallies, during which the opposition plans to hold a "people's inauguration" of former
presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
The action was called in response to the secret inauguration staged by long-time President
Alexander Lukashenko for himself earlier this week. Tikhanovskaya won't be attending the
protest, as she fled Belarus for Lithuania after the August 9 election, which the opposition
insists was rigged.
Thousands marched along Independence Avenue in Minsk, despite security forces thoroughly
preparing for the unsanctioned event and urging people to stay at home. Mobile internet speed
has been reduced in the capital. A local mobile operator said it has been ordered to do so by
the government. It may have been done to complicate communication among demonstrators.
The city's largest squares were blocked off, with seven subway stations in the center also
shut down. A convoy of armored vehicles has also been spotted outside Lukashenko's heavily
guarded residence.
Music was played from loudspeakers along the route of the march to drown out the chants of
the demonstrators, calling for Lukashenko's immediate resignation and a new, fair
election.
Police say that almost 200 people have been arrested in Minsk and other cities where
protests took place on Sunday.
The protests in Belarus have been marred by mass arrests from the very start, with
thousands of anti-government demonstrators detained in the weeks since the election. Police
have also been accused of using excessive force against demonstrators and mistreating
detainees. Three protesters have been killed during the unrest, according to official data,
with hundreds, including many officers, wounded.
If we allow the Black Lives Matter movement to become America's Bolshevik Revolution, we
will lose our liberty, and many of us will likely lose our lives, as well, for daring to
question them. This was never about racism. It has been about power anBlack Lives
Matter is a Modern Totalitarian Revolution
Classic totalitarian regimes share a number of common characteristics. The
rise of these regimes began with a cultural revolution, aimed at angering the citizens against
the current system. During that period domestic enemies are designated, and the people in the
radical movement aiming at overthrowing the old system rally together against those common
enemies, calling it a common struggle, as they adopt a new official ideology that stands
significantly apart from the old one. They seek to control every aspect of the lives of their
people, enlisting everyone they can to participate in the struggle. Even persons who may belong
to enemy classes or groups join up, hoping to receive mercy when the new regime gains control.
In Stalin's Russia and Mao's China the enemies were anyone who reminded them of the old system,
and anyone who could challenge them if left with enough power. The state enemies were the
capitalists, landlords, richer peasants and foreign agents of all kinds. Nazi Germany included
those outside the national community, which included socialists (even though Nazism was a form
of socialism) and communists, Jews, Christians, and any ethnic minorities that did not fit into
the German model of a loyal elite specimen.
The goal of each of the totalitarian regimes of the past were to eliminate the old system,
eradicate any history or remnant of the old regimes, and create a dominant single party that
stood as a rebellious alternative of the traditional State. Then, once in power, the perceived
enemies were murdered or imprisoned, as were many of their allies for the crime of knowing too
much. The younger generation was used as a controlling mechanism, taught to tattle on their
older counterparts for not being one hundred percent in favor of the new party in charge. The
youngsters were uniformed and organized into militias to turn their energies towards advancing
the party line, and improving upon the power of the new political elite.
In each case anything that even resembled the free market was eliminated, and the new
government controlled the economy. They took over the means of production either by taking
control of it and nationalizing it, or through heavy regulations (as we saw in Italy and
Germany). The immigration structure was altered, they orchestrated a break-down of morality and
what were considered moral norms in their culture, they worked on the destruction of the
nuclear family, they forcibly reallocated farmland, they formed a socialist economy that was
designed to redistribute the wealth away from the designated domestic enemies into the hands of
those revolutionaries who deserved some kind of reparations for what was allegedly lost at the
hands of the domestic enemies, and early on looting and rioting was encouraged and championed.
Interestingly, the list I just gave you was not just something the NAZIs and communists did,
but is also a list of demands currently being voiced by Black Lives Matter.
Public expression was also controlled by past dictatorial regimes so that no dissent could
emerge. If dissent was spotted, the party members acted as a mob, actively mobilized to quell
the dissent in the name of the "people's struggle" against a constant list of enemies. Again,
Black Lives Matter fits the bill on this one, too.
These regimes exaggerated real problems, and real aspects of human nature, and created an
on-going revolution against their enemies. It was a common struggle to liberate the people from
whomever the leadership designated as an enemy. To not pull the party line was to be socially
asleep, or an agent of the enemy, which then would place the person under great scrutiny, and
if they remained uncorrected, they would be ridiculed, shamed, and eventually jailed, or
murdered.
The fuel was passion, and anger, and a common demand for answers.
Sound familiar?
Black Lives Matter is an embodiment of everything that the 20th Century dictatorships
were
Eventually, Black Lives Matter will lose its appeal, and the players will grow weary of the
struggle. The regime will weaken, and when they try to invigorate their revolutionaries for a
new fight in order to strengthen the resolve of the regime and its followers, they will find
that all of their enemies are dead or in exile, and the problem can no longer be blamed on
others. However, it could take half a century, or more, before that happens, and in a Black
Lives Matter America the damage will already have been done. The death of liberty and the
annihilation of the free market will have left a long path of sorrow and misery following it.
By then, the enemy will only be themselves, and as all regimes in history, the struggle will
turn inward, and the murders will be against their own. Through the paranoia imaginary enemies
will be concocted, where nobody is safe from the suspicions of one's neighbors or children.
People begin to vanish, and the party begins to struggle to hold on to control.
Black Lives Matter, like all past dictatorial regimes, has successfully unleashed the
passions of many members of the public. The campaigns of terror are in full swing, in the name
of protesting, in the name of social justice, and in the name of standing against racism. They
claim that science and reason are in their corner, when, like Stalin and Mao of the Soviet
Union and Communist China, it is all a great big lie. They claim whites have unfair privilege
and must be forced to kneel to their true overlords, as Hitler did with the Jews when he
believed it would allow him to create a better Germany. In the end, as with all violent
totalitarian regimes, violence will bring them down just as violence brought them into
power.
Tucker on the incredible popularity of Black Lives Matter
Islamic totalitarianism solidifies in the Middle East, and works to spread across the
nations of Europe
As Islamic totalitarianism solidifies in the Middle East, and works to spread across the
nations of Europe, Black Lives Matter totalitarianism is working its way through its birthing
canal in the United States. Both bear all of the markers of totalitarianism. They work to
control the lives, speech, and actions of those below them. They terrorize and murder,
committing themselves to endless struggles against a long list of designated enemies. They pose
as more than an ideological challenge. They are poised to bring down Western Civilization,
which has prospered due to America's Liberty, and free market capitalistic system.
Should we fall, to where may one escape? There is no other place to go. Black Lives Matter
is a real threat, an enemy who desires to overthrow America and control this country. There is
no criticizing Black Lives Matter. The mobs threaten anyone who holds dissent. It is already
happening. People are losing their jobs for criticizing Black Lives Matter, and they are still
only a political movement. Black Lives Matter is enjoying complete immunity from criticism
while they are not in power. Imagine what will happen if they ever gain a hold on the reins of
our system.
It has gone beyond a demand for equality. Equality is no longer acceptable. If one were to
say "All Lives Matter," for example, that is now unacceptable, and racist. Only "Black Lives
Matter" we are told. White lives don't matter because of what your ancestors allegedly did a
couple hundred years ago. Christianity and the American System is based on the idea of equality
in the eyes of God, and equality in opportunity (or at least the attempt to create a system
that accomplishes such), but now if you say that out loud, you are called a racist, and your
very life could be at risk. Dissent is hate speech. You could be fired from your job, or in
some cases, fined and jailed for daring to speak out against the rising totalitarian regime
known as Black Lives Matter because such murmurings could be considered "hate speech".
The latest demand by Black Lives Matter is ridiculous, yet it is happening. It began with a
chant, "defund the police," and now has advanced to cries to abolish the police. The City of
Minneapolis is in the process of doing exactly that. When asked on CNN who, then, if the police
were gone, should we call in the middle of the night while our house is being burglarized,
a member of the Minneapolis city council said that the question "comes from a place of
privilege." In other words, if some feel like law enforcement is not on their side,
everyone should feel that way, otherwise, you have an unfair privilege, and you are racist.
Black Lives Matter is enjoying a rise to power largely because of the liberal media
Black Lives Matter is enjoying a rise to power largely because of the liberal media. Any
counter-arguments against their claims are going unheard. CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the alphabet
networks, and any of the other liberal outlets aren't going to report any criticism of Black
Lives Matter. And as Hitler's team explained, if you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the
truth. In this case, if you tell one side of the story, and the other side is never heard, it
becomes true.
Unchallenged claims must be true, therefore, Black Lives Matter must be on to something. The
polls say so.
Black Lives Matter is achieving their power in the same way past revolutionaries did.
Through force. They break things, they burn things, and they hurt anyone who gets in the way.
They believe they deserve whatever they want, and if you don't give it to them, they will take
it. Then, on the way out, they will set your business on fire. They occupy, they terrorize, and
nobody is willing to stop them, because if you do, you are a racist. They know this. They know
you are paralyzed by your fear of them, and fear of being considered racist. They have a
message. Step out of line and we will hurt you, your family, or your business. That is the
strategy of Black Lives Matter, and it is becoming the strategy of the Democrat Party. If you
are afraid to defy the mob, the mob rules.
The Framers of the U.S. Constitution created this system to protect us from the mob. That is
why they created a constitutional republic, not a democracy (as some people like to say).
Democracy is historically a transitional type of government. When the mobs of democracy begin
to take control, which usually accompanies a continuous vote for benefits from the treasury,
liberty breaks down and dictators begin to take control.
If we allow the Black Lives Matter movement to become America's Bolshevik Revolution, we
will lose our liberty, and many of us will likely lose our lives, as well, for daring to
question them. This was never about racism. It has been about power and control since the very
beginning. Black Lives Matter seeks to overthrow the U.S. Constitution, and replace our system
with a Marxist-based government that destroys liberty and the free market, and places their
radical leaders in control of the country. If we don't stop it, and recognize the revolutionary
nature of what is going on, America will disappear forever. And, if there is no America,
Liberty dies worldwide.
Douglas V. Gibbs of Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary,
has been featured on "Hannity" and "Fox and Friends" on Fox News Channel, and other television
shows and networks. Doug is a Radio Host on KMET 1490-AM on Saturdays with his Constitution
Radio program, as well as a longtime podcaster, conservative political activist, writ
Escobar reviews the UNGA's
first day that revealed Trump's desperation a few alluded to above. Psychohistorian will
be pleased to read Pepe's channeling his #1 premise:
" As for the 'rules-based international order,' at best it is a euphemism for
privately-controlled financial capitalism on a global scale ." [My Emphasis]
As I wrote yesterday, every national leader I read backed a Multilateral UN and its
Charter while including various degrees of reproach for the illegalities of the Outlaw US
Empire and its vassals, even the
Emir of Qatar :
"The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us that we live on the same planet,
and that multilateral cooperation is the only way to address the challenges of epidemics,
climate and the environment in general, and it's also preferable to remember this when
dealing with the issues of poverty, war and peace, and realizing our common goals for
security and stability....
"And during the unjust and unlawful blockade it is going through it also has securely
established its policy founded on respecting the rules and principles of international law
and the United Nations Charter, especially, the principle of respecting the sovereignty of
states and rejecting intervention in their internal affairs.
"And based on our moral and legal responsibilities towards our peoples, we have affirmed,
and we will continue to reaffirm, that unconditional dialogue based on common interests and
respect for the sovereignty of states is the way to solve this crisis which had started with
an illegal blockade, and whose solution starts with lifting this blockade."
If the Saudi blockade is "unjust and unlawful," then all those imposed by the Outlaw US
Empire are also.
Pepe apparently doesn't agree with Lieven's essay and writes:
"Sinophobia is the perfect tool for shifting blame -- for the abysmal response to
Covid-19, the extinction of small businesses and the looming New Great Depression -- to the
Chinese 'existential threat.'
"The whole process has nothing to do with 'moral defeat' [Lieven] and complaints that 'we
risk losing the competition and endangering the world.'
"The world is not 'endangered' because at least vast swathes of the Global South are fully
aware that the much-ballyhooed 'rules-based international order' is nothing but a quite
appealing euphemism for Pax Americana -- or exceptionalism [Neocolonialism].
"What was designed by Washington for post-World War II, the Cold War and the 'unilateral
moment' does not apply anymore."
As the dirty domestic underwear of the Outlaw US Empire becomes more visible to nations,
they are emboldened to stand up for themselves and join the Strategic Partnership's Eurasian
project.
"... You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end -- which you can never afford to lose -- with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. ..."
James C.
Collins related a conversation he had with Stockdale regarding his coping strategy during
his period in the Vietnamese POW camp. [21] [
non-primary source needed ] When Collins asked which prisoners didn't make it out
of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:
Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out
by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're
going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then
Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. This
is a very important lesson.
You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end
-- which you can never afford to lose -- with the discipline to confront the most brutal
facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.[22]
On December 11, 2012, U.S. Justice Department officials called a press conference in
Brooklyn. The key players were once and future bank lawyer Lanny Breuer (disguised at the
time as Barack Obama's Assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ's Criminal Division),
and Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and future
Attorney General.
The duo revealed that HSBC, the largest bank in Europe, had agreed to a $
1.9 billion settlement for years of money-laundering offenses.
An alphabet soup of regulatory agencies was represented that day, from the Justice
Department, to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Treasury, the New York
County District Attorney, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, among
others.
The regulators outlined a slew of admissions, with HSBC's headline offense being the
laundering of $881 million for Central and South American drug outfits, including the
infamous Sinaloa cartel.
The laundering was so brazen, regulators said, the bank's Mexican subsidiary had developed
"specially shaped boxes" for cartels to pack with cash and slide through teller windows. The
seemingly massive fine reflected serious offenses, including violations of the Bank Secrecy
Act (BSA), the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the
Enemy Act (TWEA).
The next years would follow up with a flurry of similar settlements extracting
sizable-sounding fees from other transnational banks for laundering money on behalf of
terrorists, sanctioned businesses, mobsters, drug dealers, and other malefactors. Firms
like JP Morgan Chase ($1.7 billion),
Standard Chartered ($300 million), and
Deutsche Bank ($258 million) were soon announcing settlements either for laundering,
sanctions violations, or both.
Even seasoned financial reporters accustomed to seeing soft-touch settlements scratched
their heads at some of the deals. In the case of HSBC, the stiffest penalty doled out to any
individual for the biggest drug-money-laundering case in history -- during which time HSBC
had become the "
preferred financial institution " of drug traffickers, according to the Justice
Department -- involved an agreement to "partially defer bonus compensation for its most
senior executives." If bankers can't get time for washing money for people who put torture
videos
on the internet , what can they get time for?
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Selfishness may be exalted as the root and branch of capitalism, but it doesn't make you
look good to the party on the receiving end or those whose sympathy he earns. For that, you
need a government prepared to do four things, which each have separate dictums based on study,
theorization, and experience. Coercion: Force is illegitimate only if you can't sell it.
Persuasion: How do I market thee? Let me count the ways. Bargaining: If you won't scratch my
back, then how about a piece of the pie? Indoctrination: Because I said so. (And paid for the
semantics.)
Predatory capitalism is the control and expropriation of land, labor, and natural resources
by a foreign government via coercion, persuasion, bargaining, and indoctrination.
At the coercive stage, we can expect military and/or police intervention to repress the
subject populace. The persuasive stage will be marked by clientelism, in which a small
percentage of the populace will be rewarded for loyalty, often serving as the capitalists'
administrators, tax collectors, and enforcers. At the bargaining stage, efforts will be made to
include the populace, or a certain percentage of it, in the country's ruling system, and this
is usually marked by steps toward democratic (or, more often, autocratic) governance.
At the fourth stage, the populace is educated by capitalists, such that they continue to
maintain a relationship of dependency.
The Predatory Debt Link
In many cases, post-colonial states were forced to assume the debts of their colonizers. And
where they did not, they were encouraged to become in debt to the West via loans that were
issued through international institutions to ensure they did not fall prey to communism or
pursue other economic policies that were inimical to the West. Debt is the tie that binds
nation states to the geostrategic and economic interests of the West.
As such, the Cold War era was a time of easy credit, luring postcolonial states to undertake
the construction of useless monoliths and monuments, and to even expropriate such loans through
corruption and despotism, thereby making these independent rulers as predatory as colonizers.
While some countries were wiser than others and did use the funds for infrastructural
improvements, these were also things that benefited the West and particularly Western
contractors. In his controversial work Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins reveals
that he was a consultant for an American firm (MAIN), whose job was to ensure that states
became indebted beyond their means so they would remain loyal to their creditors, buying them
votes within United Nations organizations, among other things.
Predatory capitalists demand export-orientations as the means to generate foreign currency
with which to pay back debt. In the process, the state must privatize and drastically slash or
eliminate any domestic subsidies which are aimed at helping native industry compete in the
marketplace. Domestic consumption and imports must be radically contained, as shown by the
exchange rate policies recommended by the IMF. The costs of obtaining domestic capital will be
pushed beyond the reach of most native producers, while wages must be depressed to an absolute
bare minimum. In short, the country's land, labor, and natural resources must be sold at
bargain basement prices in order to make these goods competitive, in what one author has called
"a spiraling race to the bottom," as countries producing predominantly the same goods engage in
cutthroat competition whose benefactor is the West.
Under these circumstances, foreign investment is encouraged, but this, too, represents a
loaded situation for countries that open their markets to financial liberalization.
For example Microsoft success was by the large part determined its alliance with IBM
in the creation of PC and then exploiting IBM ineptness to ride this via shred marketing
and alliances and "natural monopoly" tendencies in IT. MS DOS was a clone of CP/M that
was bought, extended and skillfully marketed. Zero innovation here.
Both Microsoft and Apple rely of research labs in other companies to produce
innovation which they then then produced and marketed. Even Steve Jobs smartphone was not
an innovation per se: it was just a slick form factor that was the most successful in the
market. All functionality existed in other products.
Facebook was prelude to, has given the world a glimpse into, the future.
From pure technical POV Facebook is mostly junk. It is a tremendous database of user
information which users supply themselves due to cultivated exhibitionism. Kind of private
intelligence company. The mere fact that software was written in PHP tells you something
about real Zuckerberg level.
Amazon created a usable interface for shopping via internet (creating comments
infrastructure and a usable user account database ) but this is not innovation in any
sense of the word. It prospered by stealing large part of Wall Mart logistic software
(and people) and using Wall Mart tricks with suppliers. So Bezos model was Wall Mart
clone on the Internet.
Unless something is done, Bezos will soon be the most powerful man in the world.
People like Bezos, Google founders, Zuckerberg to a certain extent are part of
intelligence agencies infrastructure. Remember Prism. So implicitly we can assume that
they all report to the head of CIA.
Artificial Intelligence, AI, is another consequence of this era of innovation that
demands our immediate attention.
There is very little intelligence in artificial intelligence :-). Intelligent behavior
of robots in mostly an illusion created by First Clark law:
Tucker: This parading of Ginsburg death wish "is ridiculous and insulting"
Two neoliberal faction of the US elite ("hard neolibs" and "soft neolibs") struggle for power
really entered a new phase. BTW control of Supreme Court was always a part of struggle for power.
And this "royal wish" think is just one episode of this entertaining
fight. Great spectacle, but friends will unite when the time comes to approve the military
budget.
Why are people so upset about this "final wish" thing? Like it just seems convenient to me
and made up; and even if wasn't made up, who gives her the right to dictate how the
constitution works. It's obvious the Dems are using this to try and keep the GOP from getting
an extra seat on the Supreme Court, and I don't really blame them, GOP would have probably
done the same thing, they're both hypocrites.
"... "Another chasm opened between middle-class Westerners and their wealthy compatriots. Here, too, the middle class lost ground. It seemed that the wealthiest people in rich countries and almost everybody in Asia benefited from globalization, while only the middle class of the rich world lost out in relative terms. These facts supported the notion that the rise of "populist" political parties and leaders in the West stemmed from middle-class disenchantment. ..."
The world is becoming more equal but largely at the expense of middle-class Westerners,
according to a recent paper by Branko Milanovic , a Stone Center Senior Scholar
and a Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics. Milanovic's paper was published
in Foreign Affairs, the publication of the think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR),
and was titled: The World
Is Becoming More Equal, Even as Globalization Hurts Middle-Class Westerners . Broadly
speaking, globalization is the process of increased " worldwide
integration of the economic, cultural, political, religious, and social systems" of the
globe,
producing an increased flow of goods, capital, labour, and information, across national
borders. It was a process that gained steam particularly in the mid-1980s, with globalization
having the greatest transformative impact on life
since the Industrial Revolution .
Milanovic's paper starts by arguing that the world became more
equal between the end of the Cold War and 2007/08 financial crisis, a period of high
globalization. During this period however, globalization weakened the middle class in the West.
As Milanovic writes
:
"The results highlighted two important cleavages [or divisions]: one between middle-class
Asians and middle-class Westerners and one between middle-class Westerners and their richer
compatriots. In both comparisons, the Western middle class was on the losing end. Middle-class
Westerners saw less income growth than (comparatively poorer) Asians, providing further
evidence of one of the defining dynamics of globalization: in the last 40 years, many jobs in
Europe and North America were either outsourced to Asia or eliminated as a result of
competition with Chinese industries. This was the first tension of globalization: Asian growth
seems to take place on the backs of the Western middle class."
"Another chasm opened between middle-class Westerners and their wealthy compatriots.
Here, too, the middle class lost ground. It seemed that the wealthiest people in rich countries
and almost everybody in Asia benefited from globalization, while only the middle class of the
rich world lost out in relative terms. These facts supported the notion that the rise of
"populist" political parties and leaders in the West stemmed from middle-class
disenchantment. "
Milanovic goes on to note
that in an updated paper that looks at incomes in 130 countries from 2008 to 2013-14, the first
tension of globalization holds true: in that, the incomes of the non-Western middle class grew
more than the incomes of the middle class in the West. The impact of globalization on the
Western middle class is imperative to understand. Globalization is a process that has produced
winners and losers , and
the Western middle class has been the greatest loser.
In my opinion, any system that weakens the middle class in any country should be seen as
counterproductive. Having a strong middle class is one of the most important tenets in building
a strong, prosperous, and stable society. The middle class serves as the bedrock of any
country: those who comprise the middle-class work hard, pay taxes, and buy goods. A true
solution to poverty in underdeveloped countries would create more prosperity for everyone, not
take prosperity from one region and redirect it into another. This so-called solution creates
at least as many problems as it supposedly solves.
Globalization has produced, and will seemingly continue to produce, a global standardization
of wealth in many ways. For those special interests who are in the process of creating a global
system, an economic uniformity across the globe is advantageous for the creation of this
one-world system.
Just how far has the working class been left behind by the winner-take-all economy? A new analysis by the RAND
Corporation examines what rising inequality has cost Americans in lost income -- and the results are stunning.
A full-time worker whose taxable income is at the median -- with half the population making more and half making
less -- now pulls in about $50,000 a year. Yet had the fruits of the nation's economic output been shared over the
past 45 years as broadly as they were from the end of World War II until the early 1970s, that worker would
instead be making $92,000 to $102,000. (The exact figures vary slightly depending on how inflation is calculated.)
The findings, which land amid a global pandemic, help to illuminate the paradoxes of an economy in which so-called
essential workers
are
struggling
to make ends meet while the rich
keep
getting richer
.
"We were shocked by the numbers," says
Nick
Hanauer
, a venture capitalist who came up with the idea for the research along with David Rolf, founder
of Local 775 of the Service Employees International Union and president of the
Fair
Work Center
in Seattle. "It explains almost everything. It explains why people are so pissed off. It explains
why they are so economically precarious."
Trends
in Income From 1975 to 2018 [Chart: Carter C. Price and Kathryn Edwards, RAND Corporation]
"THE $2.5 TRILLION THEFT"
Notably, it isn't just those in the middle who've been hit. RAND found that full-time, prime-age workers in the
25th percentile of the U.S. income distribution would be making $61,000 instead of $33,000 had everyone's earnings
from 1975 to 2018 expanded roughly in line with gross domestic product, as they did during the 1950s and '60s.
Workers in the 75th percentile would be at $126,000 instead of $81,000. Remarkably, even those in the 90th
percentile would be better off than they are now if economic growth had been shared as it was in the post-war era.
They'd be making $168,000 rather than $133,000.
Tally it all up, according to RAND, and the bottom 90% of American workers would be bringing home an additional
$2.5 trillion in total annual income if economic gains were as equitably divided as they'd been in the
past -- leading Rolf to dub the phenomenon "the $2.5 trillion theft."
"From the standpoint of people who have worked hard and played by the rules and yet are participating far less in
economic growth than Americans did a generation ago," he says, "whether you call it 'reverse distribution' or
'theft,' it demands to be called something."
The RAND data also makes clear who the winners from inequality are: those in the top 1%.
Of course, they'd be in a less advantageous position if the economic pie had been divvied up since the mid-1970s
like it was previously. If that were the case, RAND says, yearly income for the average one-percenter would fall
from about $1.2 million to $549,000.
It would be interesting if Durham prove result revealed in October, not matter how
whitewashed they are.
From comments below it is lear that for this particular subset neoliberal elite lost all
legitimacy
Notable quotes:
"... Told to Erase Laptop Containing Investigation of Anthony Weiner Laptop ..."
"... Robertson alleges that the FBI did nothing for a month after discovering Clinton's emails on the Anthony Weiner laptop. It was only after he spoke with the U.S. Attorney's office overseeing the case, he claims, that the agency took action. ..."
"... Robertson's assertions match up with a Wall Street Journal report from 2018 . In that report, text messages between agent Peter Strzok and his girlfriend, lawyer Lisa Page, indicated the former had been called to discuss the newly discovered emails on September 28th. Those emails wouldn't be revealed until former Director James Comey notified Congress about them on October 28th. ..."
"... A book written by James B . Stewart in 2019 asserts that FBI agents had referred to the discovery of Hillary Clinton's emails as an "oh s***" moment." One agent admitted there were "ten times" as many emails as Comey admitted to publicly. ..."
"... These allegations make it difficult to say Comey did not lie to the public – if not Congress . ..."
"... Recently released documents from the DOJ show multiple FBI officials had "accidentally wiped" their phones after the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) requested them . ..."
"... Erasing evidence is a consistent theme for the Obama-era FBI. Meanwhile, the Senate Homeland Security Committee has voted to authorize over three dozen subpoenas and depositions of some of these officials, including Comey. ..."
"... The difficulty is not just that Comey and his underlings were obstructing justice to benefit Clinton, and made a total **** show of it. It is that Sessions was, "to protect the DOJ"... and Barr, also, clearly, as long he continues to run interference for Comey, Clinton, et al, is also obstructing justice. Barr has crafted a veneer, it seems... in the Durham probe... to provide himself plausible deniability. That veneer can remain plausible only as long as Durham does nothing, and fails to make the files public. ..."
"... It was the NYPD. And, that cadre of NYPD officers recognized what was likely to happen when they did turn it over to the FBI. So they made copies. And, the copies got distributed to the cloud. ..."
"... The emails are in the stellarwind database , according to William Binney. So are all the texts that the Mueller crew "erased." IntercoursetheEU is correct - every email and text ever sent is archived in that database. ..."
"... Where is that slimy, former CIA Director who wouldn't shut-up on national TV from late 2016 to early 2020? Hhmm, not a freaking peep nor have I seen any recent images. How about the dirtball, prior FBI Dir? His Twitter acct has only had "quotes" posted for about a month now. ..."
"... Clapper? Another Trump trasher on constant TV the last few years.....where is he? NOT A PEEP. Why wouldn't he keep trashing to diminish DJT's election chances? ..."
"... Brennan was on an MSNBC panel last week pale, sweating, moving around in his seat at the mere mention of John Durham. Not his usual cocky self that's for sure. ..."
FBI agent John Robertson, the man who found Hillary Clinton's emails on the laptop of
Anthony Weiner, claims he was advised by bosses to
erase his own computer.
Former FBI Director James Comey, you may recall, announced days before the 2016 presidential
election that he had "learned of the existence" of the emails on Weiner's laptop .
Weiner is the disgraced husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Robertson alleges that the manner in which his higher-ups in the FBI handled the case was
"not ethically or morally right."
His startling claims are made in a book titled, "October Surprise: How the FBI Tried to Save
Itself and Crashed an Election," an excerpt of which has been published by the
Washington Post .
Told to Erase Laptop Containing Investigation of Anthony Weiner Laptop
Robertson alleges that the FBI did nothing for a month after discovering Clinton's emails on
the Anthony Weiner laptop. It was only after he spoke with the U.S. Attorney's office overseeing the case, he claims,
that the agency took action.
"He had told his bosses about the Clinton emails weeks ago," the book contends . "Nothing
had happened."
"Or rather, the only thing that had happened was his boss had instructed Robertson to
erase his computer work station."
This, according to the Post report, was to "ensure there was no classified material on it,"
but also would eliminate any trail of his actions taken during the investigation.
FBI Did Nothing About Hillary Clinton's Emails For Months?
Robertson's assertions match up with a Wall Street Journal
report from 2018 . In that report, text messages between agent Peter Strzok and his girlfriend, lawyer Lisa
Page, indicated the former had been called to discuss the newly discovered emails on September
28th. Those emails wouldn't be revealed until former Director James Comey notified Congress about
them on October 28th.
A book written by James B . Stewart in 2019 asserts that FBI agents had referred to the
discovery of Hillary Clinton's emails as an "oh s***" moment." One agent admitted there were "ten times" as many emails as Comey admitted to publicly.
These allegations make it difficult to say Comey did not lie to the public – if not
Congress .
Robertson's story is being revealed as U.S. Attorney John Durham is investigating the FBI's
role in the origins of the Russia probe into President Trump's campaign.
Recently released documents from the DOJ show multiple FBI officials had "accidentally
wiped" their phones after the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) requested them .
Erasing evidence is a consistent theme for the Obama-era FBI. Meanwhile, the Senate Homeland Security Committee has voted to authorize over three dozen
subpoenas and depositions of some of these officials, including Comey.
Democrats seem skittish about what Durham is uncovering .
Four House committee chairs last week
asked for an "emergency" review of Attorney General William Barr's handling of Durham's
probe.
"We are concerned by indications that Attorney General Barr might depart from longstanding
DOJ principles," a letter to the IG reads .
They contend Barr may "take public action related to U.S. Attorney Durham's investigation
that could impact the presidential election." Top Democrats have also been threatening to impeach Barr over the investigation.
Kevin Clinesmith, one of the FBI officials involved in gathering evidence in the Russia
investigation, pled
guilty last month to making a false statement. He was accused by the Inspector General of altering an email about former Trump campaign
adviser Carter Page.
President Trump's Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, said in July that he expects further
indictments and jail time to come out of Durham's probe. Democrats, Comey, and others at the FBI might be a little nervous.
DaiRR , 12 hours ago
DemoRat operatives still pervade the DOJ and to a lesser extent the FBI. Treasonous F's
all of them. Andrew Weissmann is an evil a Rat as any of them and he should be tried,
disbarred and punished for all his lying and despicable crimes while at the DOJ. Of course
MSNBC now loves paying him to be their "legal analyst".
MissCellany , 13 hours ago
What, like with a cloth or something?
RoadKill4Supper , 12 hours ago
"What difference, at this point, does it make?"
FBGnome , 3 hours ago
The current election would be at stake.
Unknown User , 14 hours ago
Unless the Swamp does it. Not just a post or a website disappear, people disappear.
Sense , 13 hours ago
The difficulty is not just that Comey and his underlings were obstructing justice to
benefit Clinton, and made a total **** show of it. It is that Sessions was, "to protect the
DOJ"... and Barr, also, clearly, as long he continues to run interference for Comey,
Clinton, et al, is also obstructing justice. Barr has crafted a veneer, it seems... in the
Durham probe... to provide himself plausible deniability. That veneer can remain plausible
only as long as Durham does nothing, and fails to make the files public.
Only if Durham proceeds to use the files, and/or makes the files public, will we find
out if we get prosecutions, or if we get more obstruction under Barr's watch. So, Barr is
carrying a pretty big hammer. It isn't at all clear what he intends to do with that hammer,
or how he intends to use it if he does.
A wild card, perhaps, in the potential for an Senate or House investigation including
Barr's forced participation... in response to which he might be compelled to answer the
unasked question ? Makes it kind of hard to see how "investigating Barr"... poses a threat
to Barr, or Trump... rather than a threat to those investigating him ? The fact they're
even twittering about it suggests more than awareness about the content of that
information... and thus maybe complicity in the effort to cover it up ?
That would explain most of the events of the last four years.
And, as a note, it wasn't "the FBI" that "found the e-mails" (and other files) on the
Weiner laptop.
It was the NYPD. And, that cadre of NYPD officers recognized what was likely to happen
when they did turn it over to the FBI. So they made copies. And, the copies got distributed to the cloud.
It is not possible, I'd think, that Julian Assange didn't get a copy... in case you
wonder why Barr's DOJ is still prosecuting journalism. I doubt they're doing that because
of past publication... rather than in an effort to prevent future publication. Because Assange... in all likelihood... might be the only journalist left in the
world... who will not be coerced into withholding publication.
ElmerTwitch , 12 hours ago
The emails are in the stellarwind database , according to William Binney. So are all the texts that the Mueller crew "erased." IntercoursetheEU is correct - every email and text ever sent is archived in that
database.
The DOJ is indeed protecting Obama, Hillary, Comey, Brennan, Clapper et al.
by claiming "the emails are gone! The texts are gone, too!"
sparky139 , 12 hours ago
What is the stellarwind database
TheReplacement's Replacement , 1 hour ago
Look up NSA.
takeaction , 15 hours ago
As all of us here on ZH understand. NOTHING WILL EVER HAPPEN... And Trump Team....if you are reading this... THIS IS THE BIGGEST LET DOWN OF YOUR ENTIRE PRESIDENCY...
No_Pretzel_Logic , 14 hours ago
takeaction - I disagree. I think things are happening right now....out of the
country.
TRIALS.....
Where is that slimy, former CIA Director who wouldn't shut-up on national TV from late
2016 to early 2020? Hhmm, not a freaking peep nor have I seen any recent images. How about
the dirtball, prior FBI Dir? His Twitter acct has only had "quotes" posted for about a
month now.
Clapper? Another Trump trasher on constant TV the last few years.....where is he? NOT A
PEEP. Why wouldn't he keep trashing to diminish DJT's election chances?
I'm telling ya, I think they are on a certain Caribbean Island. And my wager is that
Trump is going to toss a wild curveball into this election about the 3rd week of Oct.
Treason convictions announced, is my bet.
maggie2now , 13 hours ago
Brennan was on an MSNBC panel last week pale, sweating, moving around in his seat at the
mere mention of John Durham. Not his usual cocky self that's for sure. HRC was online
flapping her yap with Jennifer Palmieri not too long ago trying to convince the Biden
campaign not to concede the 2020 election under any circumstances. As for Clapper, I don't
know - maybe hiding in a remote location ****ting himself?
MoreFreedom , 12 hours ago
They've shut up because their actions betray them. Publicly they say Trump is a Russian
spy or puppet, while under oath, in a closed room, representing their former government
position and top secret clearance, they've no information to support it. That shows an
anti-Trump political motivation, regarding their prior actions in government. It's also
defrauding the public and government.
YouJustCouldnt , 2 hours ago
Couldn't agree more. How many times have we been here before!
20 years on from 9/11 - From the thousands of experts on the Architects and Engineers
for 9/11 Truth , the latest news is that The National Institute of Standards and Technology
( NIST ) is now more than a week late in issuing its "initial decision" on the pending
"request for correction" to its 2008 report on the collapse of World Trade Center Building
7. Big Whoop - and just another nothing burger.
Ms No , 15 hours ago
Uhhhh.....yeah.
We have seen this type of thing since JFK. If you hadn't long ago figured this out then
you are either an amateur or a paid internet herd-moving troll/anti-human.
Some of us aren't part of the herd.
(((Anthony Weiner))), just like (((Mossad Epstein honeypot))) and (((lucky Larry
Silverstein))), countless other examples that blow statistical likelihood way beyond
coincidence.
Not rocket science. Its a mob and these are their puppets and fronts. They dont just own
the FBI. They own all branches of your government and all the alphabets.
Enjoying the covid hysteria and run-up to WWIII?
Unknown User , 14 hours ago
If by (((they))) you mean the British who created the OSA and then the CIA. They also
created all the think-tanks, like the CFR. They own the Fed and run the worldwide banking
cartel. The British Crown owns all the countries of the Commonwealth. And they started the
COVID-19 delusion. Yes. Make no mistake. It is (((THEY))).
VWAndy , 15 hours ago
An he didnt go public with it either.
occams razor. they are all corrupt.
Stackers , 15 hours ago
Anyone who thinks that anybody beyond this low level flunky, Kliensmith, is going to get
any kind of prosecution is dreaming. None of these people will face any consequences to
their outright sedition and they know it. Disgusting.
radical-extremist , 15 hours ago
She created a private personal server to purposely circumvent the FOIA system and any
other prying eyes. Her staff was warned not to do it, but they refused to confront her
about it. They were so technically inept that they didn't understand emails are copied on
to servers everywhere...including the pentagon and the state department. And Huma's laptop
that her perv husband used to sext girls.
She maintained and exchanged Top Secret information on a personal/private/unsecured
server in her house. That is a crime punishable with prison time...and yet she skates.
High Vigilante , 15 hours ago
This guy should avoid walking out in dark.
His name was Seth!
Bay of Pigs , 13 hours ago
We have to face reality. If Durham doesn't indict some of these people before the
election, nothing is going to happen. It's the end of the line. Time has run out.
"We bullsh#tted some folks...."
dogfish , 13 hours ago
Trump is a charlatan and a fraud. The only winners with Trump are the Zionist they are
Trumps top priority.
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OCnStiggs , 13 hours ago
Good thing NYPD copied the HD on that laptop for just this occurrence. There reportedly
at least two copies in safes in NYC. Criminality of the highest order that eclipses by
100,000,000 whatever happened in Watergate. These FBI people need to hang.
Sparehead , 13 hours ago
Safe in NYC? Like all the evidence of criminal banking activity that was lost in World
Trade Center 7?
4Y_LURKER , 12 hours ago
Oh look! We found passports even though steel and gold was vaporized by jet
fuel!!
"... Passenger logs for Epstein's four helicopters and three planes have been subpoenaed by Virgin Islands AG Denise George, who recently sued the disgraced financier's estate for 22 counts including human trafficking, child abuse, neglect, prostitution, aggravated rape, and forced labor, according to a Sunday report by the UK Mirror. ..."
"... Epstein pilot David Rodgers previously provided a passenger log in 2009 tying dozens of politicians, actors, and other celebrities to the infamous sex offender – including former US President Bill Clinton, actor Kevin Spacey, and model Naomi Campbell. ..."
"... George has also subpoenaed more than 10 banks – including JPMorgan, Citibank, and Deutsche Bank – in her quest to get to the bottom of the financial edifice Epstein built up before he died. The financial institutions have been ordered to submit documents related to some 30 corporations, trusts, and nonprofit entities tied to the predatory playboy. ..."
The US Virgin Islands Attorney General has subpoenaed 21 years' worth of deceased pedophile
Jeffrey Epstein's flight logs, reportedly striking fear in the hearts of high-profile
passengers not yet exposed as Lolita Express riders.
Passenger logs for Epstein's four helicopters and three planes have been subpoenaed by
Virgin Islands AG Denise George, who recently sued the disgraced financier's estate for 22
counts including human trafficking, child abuse, neglect, prostitution, aggravated rape, and
forced labor, according to a Sunday report by the UK Mirror.
In addition to the passenger lists, George has requisitioned " complaints or reports of
potentially suspicious conduct " and any " personal notes " the pilots made while
flying Epstein's alleged harem of underage girls around the world. She also wants the names and
contact information of anyone who worked for the pilots – or who " integrated with or
observed " Epstein and his passengers.
Epstein pilot David Rodgers previously provided a passenger log in 2009 tying dozens of
politicians, actors, and other celebrities to the infamous sex offender – including
former US President Bill Clinton, actor Kevin Spacey, and model Naomi Campbell.
However,
lawyers for Epstein's alleged victims have argued that list did not include flights by
Epstein's chief pilot, Larry Visoski, who allegedly worked for him for over 25 years.
" The records that have been subpoenaed will make the ones Rodgers provided look like a
Post-It note ," a source told the Mirror over the weekend, claiming that George's subpoena
had triggered a " panic among many of the rich and famous. "
Epstein's private plane, nicknamed the Lolita Express, counted among its passengers such
luminaries as the UK's Prince Andrew, celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz, actor Chris Tucker,
Harvard economist Larry Summers, Hyatt hotel mogul Tom Pritzker, and model agency manager
Jean-Luc Brunel along with Campbell, Spacey, and Clinton (who the logs show flew with Epstein
over two dozen times). However, the passengers who enjoyed his other aircraft have not been
made public – yet.
George has also subpoenaed more than 10 banks – including JPMorgan, Citibank, and
Deutsche Bank – in her quest to get to the bottom of the financial edifice Epstein built
up before he died. The financial institutions have been ordered to submit documents related to
some 30 corporations, trusts, and nonprofit entities tied to the predatory playboy.
Epstein supposedly committed suicide last year in a Manhattan jail facility, while his
accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell remains imprisoned in a Brooklyn detention center awaiting
trial on charges related to child trafficking and perjury after her arrest earlier this year.
Maxwell's lawyers have struggled to keep documents introduced as part of a recent defamation
suit by one of Epstein's alleged victims under seal, insisting the information would deny her a
fair trial.
Think you can take a sneaky break or have a lie-in because you're 'working' remotely? Forget
it. Employers are increasingly deploying surveillance software to check how productive staff
are at home.
Lockdown and its aftermath has led more and more employees to work from home. Many big firms
have already said they won't even attempt to get back staff back to the office until next year,
at the earliest, amid discussions about how working from home could become the new normal for
at least part of the week.
Working from home has a lot of advantages for many people. It can make childcare easier, for
example. Employees can avoid having to deal with annoying colleagues, or coughing up for long,
expensive and often uncomfortable commutes.
They can also avoid having their bosses constantly looking over their shoulder – or
can they?
Employers are using ever more sophisticated measures to keep tabs on their home-working
staff, anxious that they might be shirking, and introducing new rules governing how their
workers appear and act.
One large London employer, Hammersmith & Fulham Council, has even gone as far as banning
its employees from smoking at their desks at home, demanding
that " any part of a private dwelling used solely for work purposes will be required to be
smoke-free " and that " family members should not be allowed to smoke in the home
worker's office ". The council claims the policy has since been dropped, presumably because
it is unenforceable. (Though, with webcams now ubiquitous, maybe not.) It's also irrational,
since smoking at home can hardly affect your colleagues or the public image of your
employer.
Smokers have long been in the vanguard of interference in our private lives. But having
precedent for interference in our private lives having been established, the rules applied to
smokers have inspired other kinds of meddling.
Most obvious in the current situation is the use of technological measures to monitor staff.
Such surveillance is not new, but it's taken on a new importance and is much more widespread in
the Covid era. A recent feature in
Wired notes the rise of this surveillance culture. As author Alex Christian notes:
" As coronavirus lays waste to workplaces around the world, surveillance software has
flourished: programs such as ActivTrak, Time Doctor, Teramind and Hubstaff have all reported a
post-lockdown sales surge. Once installed, they offer an array of covert monitoring tools, with
managers able to view screenshots, login times and keystrokes at will to ensure employees
remain on track working remotely. Although marketed as productivity software, the technology
– dubbed as 'bossware' for its secrecy and invasiveness – has led to many workers
finding creative ways of evading its omniscient gaze ."
Employees working within these strictures face a reprimand or even the sack for low
productivity or taking too long on their break. One app, Sneek, covertly takes photos of
employees to see if they are at their desks. Project management programs such as Jira and
Basecamp, meanwhile, can allow bosses to spot when workers are not maintaining a high level of
output. Frequent online team meetings on Zoom or Microsoft Teams can ensure staff are at least
thinking about work – and woe betide anyone who's still in their pyjamas or doesn't show
up at all.
Of course, there are workarounds if you're smart enough. One way is to move your mouse
regularly – or to instal software to give the illusion it's being moved. But the whole
thing has the potential to create a sense that Big Brother Bossman is watching you
constantly.
It's bad enough that working from home leads many people into the trap of blurring work and
home life. That time on the commute, when you might at least be reading or listening to music
or a podcast, becomes work time. It's easy to see how all of this leads to the intensification
of work.
Moreover, working from home deprives us of the solidarity and consolation of colleagues.
It's harder to band together to push back against the imposition of new rules and regulations
if you don't see your peers face to face. Many jobs are intense and stressful, but working in
an office allows staff to sound off to each other informally in the pub on a Friday night
– or maybe hear about better opportunities elsewhere.
Working from home can also be a disaster for younger employees, who need to learn the ropes
from their experienced colleagues. It's harder to learn, and to make a good impression with
those that count, over video calls.
While a middle-class employee with a comfortable and spacious home may wax lyrical about the
benefits of working from home, for many people, it's becoming an ever more intensive and
stressful experience. Knowing that your boss could be spying on you just adds paranoia and fear
to the mix.
We may well be heading backwards in the world of work. In pre-industrial times and beyond,
garment-makers would work themselves to death during long hours to service the demands of
buyers, paid as they were by the piece and not by the hour, and isolated in their home from
other such workers. We need to be very careful that the modern, connected, domesticated
workplace doesn't take us down the same route.
If you like this story, share it with a friend!
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
Why does neoclassical economics produce ponzi schemes of inflated asset prices?
It makes you think you are creating wealth by inflating asset prices
Bank credit flows into inflating asset prices, debt rises faster than GDP and you
eventually get a financial crisis.
No one notices the private debt building up in the economy as neoclassical economics
doesn't consider debt.
This economics still has its 1920s problems. What is the fundamental flaw in the free
market theory of neoclassical economics? The University of Chicago worked that out in the
1930s after last time. Banks can inflate asset prices with the money they create from bank
loans.
Henry Simons and Irving Fisher supported the Chicago Plan to take away the bankers ability
to create money.
"Simons envisioned banks that would have a choice of two types of holdings: long-term
bonds and cash. Simultaneously, they would hold increased reserves, up to 100%. Simons saw
this as beneficial in that its ultimate consequences would be the prevention of
"bank-financed inflation of securities and real estate" through the leveraged creation of
secondary forms of money."
It looks like they did have some idea what the problem was.At the end of the 1920s, the US
was a ponzi scheme of inflated asset prices. The use of neoclassical economics and the belief
in free markets, made them think that inflated asset prices represented real wealth
accumulation.
1929 – Wakey, wakey time. Why did it cause the US financial system to collapse in
1929? Bankers get to create money out of nothing, through bank loans, and get to charge
interest on it.
Bankers do need to ensure the vast majority of that money gets paid back, and this is
where they get into serious trouble.
Banking requires prudent lending.
If someone can't repay a loan, they need to repossess that asset and sell it to recoup
that money. If they use bank loans to inflate asset prices they get into a world of trouble
when those asset prices collapse.
As the real estate and stock market collapsed the banks became insolvent as their assets
didn't cover their liabilities.
They could no longer repossess and sell those assets to cover the outstanding loans and
they do need to get most of the money they lend out back again to balance their books.
The banks become insolvent and collapsed, along with the US economy.
When banks have been lending to inflate asset prices the financial system is in a
precarious state and can easily collapse.
What was the ponzi scheme of inflated asset prices that collapsed in Japan in 1991?
Japanese real estate.
They avoided a Great Depression by saving the banks.
They killed growth for the next 30 years by leaving the debt in place.
What was the ponzi scheme of inflated asset prices that collapsed in 2008?
"It's nearly $14 trillion pyramid of super leveraged toxic assets was built on the back of
$1.4 trillion of US sub-prime loans, and dispersed throughout the world" All the Presidents
Bankers, Nomi Prins.
They avoided a Great Depression by saving the banks.
They left Western economies struggling by leaving the debt in place, just like Japan.
It's not as bad as Japan as we didn't let asset prices crash in the West, but it is this
problem has made our economies so sluggish since 2008.
In 2020, the world is a ponzi scheme of inflated asset prices.
The use of neoclassical economics and the belief in free markets, made them think that
inflated asset prices represented real wealth accumulation.
The central banks have to keep pumping in liquidity to stop all the ponzi schemes
collapsing.
If the ponzi schemes collapse, this feeds back into the financial system when bankers have
been lending to inflate asset prices.
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Sound of the Suburbs , 1 hour ago
Bankers make the most money when they are driving your economy towards a financial
crisis.
You don't want to leave them to their own devices.
On a BBC documentary, comparing 1929 to 2008, it said the last time US bankers made as
much money as they did before 2008 was in the 1920s.
Bankers make the most money when they are driving your economy into a financial
crisis.
The financial crisis appears to come out of a clear blue sky when you use an economics
that doesn't consider debt.
The economics of globalisation has always had an Achilles' heel.
The 1920s roared with debt based consumption and speculation until it all tipped over into
the debt deflation of the Great Depression. No one realised the problems that were building
up in the economy as they used an economics that doesn't look at debt, neoclassical
economics.
Not considering private debt is the Achilles' heel of neoclassical economics.
Sound of the Suburbs , 1 hour ago
Come on.
Wakey, wakey.
You are just repeating 1920s mistakes.
The Americans wrapped a new ideology, neoliberalism, around 1920s economics and repeated
the economic mistakes of the 1920s.
Policymakers couldn't see what Glass-Steagall did, as they thought banks were financial
intermediaries.
It separates the money creation side of banking from the investment side of banking, and
stops bankers producing securities; they buy themselves with money they create out of
nothing.
"By early 1929, loans from these non-banking sources were approximately equal to those
from the banks. Later they became much greater. The Federal Reserve Authorities took it for
granted that they had no influence over these funds"
He's talking about "shadow banking".
They thought leverage was great before 1929; they saw what happened when it worked in
reverse after 1929.
Leverage acts like a multiplier.
It multiplies profits on the way up.
It multiplies losses on the way down.
Today's bankers seem to have learnt something from past mistakes.
They took the multiplied profits on the way up.
Taxpayers picked up the multiplied losses on the way down.
Mariner Eccles, FED chair 1934 -- 48, observed what the capital accumulation of
neoclassical economics did to the US economy in the 1920s.
"a giant suction pump had by 1929 to 1930 drawn into a few hands an increasing proportion
of currently produced wealth. This served then as capital accumulations. But by taking
purchasing power out of the hands of mass consumers, the savers denied themselves the kind of
effective demand for their products which would justify reinvestment of the capital
accumulation in new plants. In consequence as in a poker game where the chips were
concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the other fellows could stay in the game only by
borrowing. When the credit ran out, the game stopped"
The problem; wealth concentrates until the system collapses.
"The other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing." Mariner Eccles, FED chair
1934 -- 48
Your wages aren't high enough, have a Payday loan.
You need a house, have a sub-prime mortgage.
You need a car, have a sub-prime auto loan.
You need a good education, have a student loan.
Still not getting by?
Load up on credit cards.
"When the credit ran out, the game stopped" Mariner Eccles, FED chair 1934 -- 48
...... etc .....
x_Maurizio , 1 hour ago
DISAGREE ON EVERY SINGLE WORD, in particular with this:
rules/regulations/capital requirements have infected the global banking system and
rendered it a harvesting operation for retail and a derivatives rule/regulation/capital
requirment evasion device for the pursuit of profit
absolutely false.
Banking system is in the 4th part of a cycle that they have created !
The first part has been capital harvesting (1970-1980)
The second part has been deregulation and hunt for stellar return on investment
The third part is financialisation and plunder of real economy
The fourth part is the destruction of real economy through debt, deflation, extreme
financial activity seeking for Yields. The banks have been the fortresses of globalisation.
Commercial banking has been absorbed by investment banking. In this deflationary
environment Commercial Banking has practice NO ROI.
You want to see the Banks working again? Reintroduce the Glass Steagall and separate again
investment and commercial banking. Repeal all what has been done between 1987 and 1999. THAT
will stop globalisation, that will stop the slow bleeding-to-death of westerne economies,
that will save commercial banking and our capitalistic societies.
Neoliberalism is about redistribution of wealth up -- that's why. And the state under neoliberalism ensured this with the
tax policy, wreaked anti-monopoly laws, deregulation, offshoring and other means
At the same time due to the Iron law of oligarchy organized minority (oligarchs) will always control unorganized
majority ("despicables") so chances to reverse the neoliberal transformation of the society which was the result of Neoliberal
Counterrevolutions of 1980th, currently are slim. Only some earthquake like evens, for example, another oil crisis or the loss by
the dollar of the status of reserve currency might change that.
The American people own most of the wealth – private and public – and most of
the information in the country. The top one percent do not.
The American people have most of the power in the country. The top one percent do not.
These assertions may surprise you, because the top one percent and the giant corporations
work overtime to control what you own . This means they do not have to seize what
you own so long as their control provides them with both riches and power over
you.
Let's spell this out with specifics. Our Constitution starts with the words, "We the People
"; it doesn't start with 'we the corporations' or 'we the Congress' or 'we the super-rich.' The
sovereign authority under the Constitution is us ; we the people are the bosses. But we give
our power away to the Big Boys who run the big companies that control most of our elected
politicians. The politicians in turn proceed to corrupt our elections with campaign money,
gerrymandering, deceitful ads, voter obstructions, and a totally dominant two-party duopoly.
This corporate state destroys competitive democracy which would give our votes meaning,
choices, and effectiveness.
Shouldn't we be discussing why, when we own the vast federal public land, one-third of
America – and the vast public airwaves, do we give control of these resources to
corporations every day of the year to profit from at our expense? We give the television and
radio stations, that block our voices, free control and use of the airwaves, 24/7. We receive
very little in royalties from the energy, mining, timber, and grazing companies extracting huge
wealth from our federal lands.
We send our tax dollars to Washington, D.C., and the federal government gives trillions of
these dollars to companies in the form of subsidies and bailouts.
Trillions of dollars are devoted to government research and development (R&D), which has
built or expanded private companies. These include such industries as aerospace,
pharmaceuticals, military weapons, computers, internet, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and
containerization.
Our taxpayer-funded R&D is essentially given away free to these for-profit businesses.
We the People receive no royalties nor profit-sharing returns on these public investments.
Worse, we pay gouging prices for drugs and other products developed with our tax dollars.
We have trillions of dollars in savings and retirement money placed in giant mutual and
pension funds. The managers of these institutions make big profits by investing your money in
the stock and bond markets. If you controlled these trillions of dollars in stocks and bonds
that you own, that is if there was real shareholder and bondholder power, you would control the
ownership of all the big companies and turn the tables on the Big Bosses. Polls show a big
majority of people think Big Business has too much power and control over us. Nonetheless, we
regularly give these plutocrats control over what we own.
We own our personal information. Yet, we give it totally free to the likes of Facebook,
Google, Instagram, and YouTube, etc. so they can make trillions of dollars selling data on what
we buy, what we like, what we think, and what we're addicted to in the marketplace. The
advertisers then pester us 24/7 and even betray our trust. Imagine Alexa eavesdropping in our
homes and businesses. High-tech companies should not be privy to our personal information.
Unfortunately, giving companies our personal information, from which they profit immensely
and gouge and penalize us profusely, started long ago. The moment we took out credit cards, for
example, we began to lose control of our money and our privacy. With the internet, companies
are generating new payment-system controls, with their dictatorial fine-print agreements and
never-ending additional surcharges, driven by their greedy overreaches.
People spend lots of time just trying to get through to these companies for refunds,
adjustments, corrections, and simple answers to their questions.
Why have we handed over the enormous assets we own to this expanding corporate state? Why
have we surrendered to statism or corporate socialism? The corporate "Borg" is sucking the
ready availability of the good life, decent, secure livelihoods assured by our collective
self-reliance, and the freedom to shape our future out of our political economy.
Why are we allowing the United States – this rich land of ours – to have so many
impoverished, powerless people, dominated by the few? With ever greater concentration or powers
under corrupt Trumpism and its corporate supremacists, control of our lives is getting
worse.
It starts with us being indoctrinated into being powerless (civic skills and practice are
not taught in schools). This leads to the people not taking control of Congress (only 535 of
them). We are allowing elections and debates to ignore raising these basic democratic issues of
who owns what and who should control our commonwealth.
David Bollier and his colleagues are working to have adults and students learn about the
commons – owned by all of us – and the few examples of people sharing in our
commonwealth. Through the Alaska Permanent Fund, every Alaskan gets about $2000 a year from the
royalties' oil companies pay for taking the people's oil from that state.
If you're interested in reading further about the "commons" we own but do not control go to
bollier.org and
breakingthroughpower.org . It's in our hands!
Unfortunately in his brilliant analysis of USA-Russia relations Stephen Cohen never pointed out that the USA policy toward
Russia is dictated by the interests of maintaining global neoliberal empire and the concept of "Full Spectrum Dominance" which was
adopted by the USA neoliberal elite after the collapse of the USSR.
Like British empire the USA neoliberal empire is now overextended, metropolia is in secular stagnation with deterioration
standard of living of the bottom 80% of population, so the USA under Trump became more aggressive and dangerous on the international
arena. Trump administration behaves behaves like a cornered rat on international arena.
Notable quotes:
"... On Friday, 18 September, professor Steve Cohen passed away in New York City and we, the "dissident" community of Americans standing for peace with Russia – and for peace with the world at large – lost a towering intellectual and skillful defender of our cause who enjoyed an audience of millions by his weekly broadcasts on the John Batchelor Show, WABC Radio. ..."
"... from the start of the Information Wars against Russia during the George W. Bush administration following Putin's speech at the Munich Security Conference in February 2007, no voice questioning the official propaganda line in America was tolerated. Steve Cohen, who in the 1990s had been a welcome guest on U.S. national television and a widely cited expert in print media suddenly found himself blacklisted and subjected to the worst of McCarthyite style, ad hominem attacks. ..."
"... the opposition to Steve was led by experts in the Ukrainian and other minority peoples sub-categories of the profession who were militantly opposed not just to him personally but to any purely objective, not to mention sympathetic treatment of Russian leadership in the territorial expanse of Eurasia. ..."
"... Almost no one outside our 'dissident' community is concerned about the possibility of Armageddon in say two years' time due to miscalculations and bad luck in our pursuing economic, informational and military confrontation with Russia and China. ..."
"... My point in this discussion is that in the last decade of his life Stephen Cohen became one of the nation's most fearless and persistent defenders of the right to Free Speech. ..."
"... It was forced upon him by The New York Times, The Washington Post and other major media who pilloried him or blacklisted him over his unorthodox, unsanctioned, nonconformist views on the "Putin regime." It was forced upon him by university colleagues who sought to deny his right to establish graduate school fellowships in Russian affairs bearing his name and that of his mentor at Indiana University, Professor Tucker. ..."
"... In the face of vicious personal attacks from these McCarthyite forces, in the face of hate mail and even threats to his life, Steve decided to set up The American Committee and to recruit to its governing board famous, patriotic Americans and the descendants of the most revered families in the country. In this he succeeded, and it is to his credit that a moral counter force to the stampeding bulls of repression was erected and has survived to this day. ..."
On Friday, 18 September, professor Steve Cohen passed away in New York City and we, the
"dissident" community of Americans standing for peace with Russia – and for peace with
the world at large – lost a towering intellectual and skillful defender of our cause who
enjoyed an audience of millions by his weekly broadcasts on the John Batchelor Show, WABC
Radio.
A year ago, I reviewed his latest book, War With Russia? which drew upon the
material of those programs and took this scholar turned journalist into a new and highly
accessible genre of oral readings in print. The narrative style may have been more relaxed,
with simplified syntax, but the reasoning remained razor sharp. I urge those who are today
paying tribute to Steve, to buy and read the book, which is his best legacy.
From start to finish, Stephen F. Cohen was among America's best historians of his
generation, putting aside the specific subject matter that he treated: Nikolai Bukharin, his
dissertation topic and the material of his first and best known book; or, to put it more
broadly, the history of Russia (USSR) in the 20 th century. He was one of the very
rare cases of an historian deeply attentive to historiography, to causality and to logic. I
understood this when I read a book of his from the mid-1980s in which he explained why Russian
(Soviet) history was no longer attracting young students of quality: because there were no
unanswered questions, because we smugly assumed that we knew about that country all that there
was to know. That was when our expert community told us with one voice that the USSR was
entrapped in totalitarianism without any prospect for the overthrow of its oppressive
regime.
But my recollections of Steve also have a personal dimension going back six years or so when
a casual email correspondence between us flowered into a joint project that became the launch
of the American Committee for East West Accord (ACEWA). This was a revival of a
pro-détente association of academics and business people that existed from the mid-1970s
to the early 1990s, when, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the removal of the
Communist Party from power, the future of Russia in the family of nations we call the
'international community' seemed assured and there appeared to be no further need for such an
association as ACEWA.
I hasten to add that in the original ACEWA Steve and I were two ships that passed in the
night. With his base in Princeton, he was a protégé of the dean of diplomats then
in residence there, George Kennan, who was the leading light on the academic side of the ACEWA.
I was on the business side of the association, which was led by Don Kendall, chairman of
Pepsico and also for much of the 1970s chairman of the US-USSR Trade and Economic Council of
which I was also a member. I published pro-détente articles in their newsletter and
published a lengthy piece on cooperation with the Soviet Union in agricultural and food
processing domains, my specialty at that time, in their collection of essays by leaders in the
U.S. business community entitled Common Sense in U.S.-Soviet Trade .
The academic contingent had, as one might assume, a 'progressive' coloration, while the
business contingent had a Nixon Republican coloration. Indeed, in the mid-1980s these two sides
split in their approach to the growing peace movement in the U.S. that was fed by opposition in
the 'thinking community' on university campuses to Ronald Reagan's Star Wars agenda. Kendall
shut the door at ACEWA to rabble rousing and the association did not rise to the occasion, so
that its disbanding in the early '90s went unnoticed.
In the re-incorporated American Committee, I helped out by assuming the formal obligations
of Treasurer and Secretary, and also became the group's European Coordinator from my base in
Brussels. At this point my communications with Steve were almost daily and emotionally quite
intense. This was a time when America's expert community on Russian affairs once again felt
certain that it knew everything there was to know about the country, and most particularly
about the nefarious "Putin regime." But whereas in the 1970s and 1980s, polite debate about the
USSR/Russia was entirely possible both behind closed doors and in public space, from the
start of the Information Wars against Russia during the George W. Bush administration following
Putin's speech at the Munich Security Conference in February 2007, no voice questioning the
official propaganda line in America was tolerated. Steve Cohen, who in the 1990s had been a
welcome guest on U.S. national television and a widely cited expert in print media suddenly
found himself blacklisted and subjected to the worst of McCarthyite style, ad hominem
attacks.
From my correspondence and several meetings with Steve at this time both in his New York
apartment and here in Brussels, when he and Katrina van der Heuvel came to participate in a
Round Table dedicated to relations with Russia at the Brussels Press Club that I arranged, I
knew that Steve was deeply hurt by these vitriolic attacks. He was at the time waging a
difficult campaign to establish a fellowship in support of graduate studies in Russian affairs.
It was touch and go, because of vicious opposition from some stalwarts of the profession to any
fellowship that bore Steve's name. Allow me to put the 'i' on this dispute: the opposition
to Steve was led by experts in the Ukrainian and other minority peoples sub-categories of the
profession who were militantly opposed not just to him personally but to any purely objective,
not to mention sympathetic treatment of Russian leadership in the territorial expanse of
Eurasia. In the end, Steve and Katrina prevailed. The fellowships exist and, hopefully,
will provide sustenance to future studies when American attitudes towards Russia become less
politicized.
At all times and on all occasions, Steve Cohen was a voice of reason above all. The problem
of our age is that we are now not only living in a post-factual world, but in a post-logic
world. The public reads day after day the most outrageous and illogical assertions about
alleged Russian misdeeds posted by our most respected mainstream media including The New
York Times and The Washington Post . Almost no one dares to raise a hand and
suggest that this reporting is propaganda and that the public is being brainwashed. Steve did
exactly that in War With Russia? in a brilliant and restrained text.
Regrettably today we have no peace movement to speak of. Youth and our 'progressive' elites
are totally concerned over the fate of humanity in 30 or 40 years' time as a consequence of
Global Warming and rising seas. That is the essence of the Green Movement. Almost no one
outside our 'dissident' community is concerned about the possibility of Armageddon in say two
years' time due to miscalculations and bad luck in our pursuing economic, informational and
military confrontation with Russia and China.
I fear it will take only some force majeure development such as we had in 1962 during the
Cuban Missile Crisis to awaken the broad public to the risks to our very survival that we are
incurring by ignoring the issues that Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Princeton and New
York University was bringing to the airwaves week after week on his radio program.
Postscript
In terms of action, the new ACEWA was even less effective than its predecessor, which had
avoided linking up with the peace movement of the 1980s and sought to exert influence on policy
through armchair talks with Senators and other statesmen in Washington behind closed doors of
(essentially) men's clubs.
However, the importance of the new ACEWA, and the national importance of Stephen Cohen lay
elsewhere.
This question of appraising Stephen Cohen's national importance is all the more timely given
that on the day of his death, 18 September, the nation also lost Supreme Justice Ruth Ginsburg,
about whose national importance no Americans, whether her fans or her opponents, had any
doubt.
My point in this discussion is that in the last decade of his life Stephen Cohen became
one of the nation's most fearless and persistent defenders of the right to Free Speech. It
was not a role that he sought. It was thrust upon him by the expert community of international
affairs, including the Council on Foreign Relations, from which he reluctantly resigned over
this matter.
It was forced upon him by The New York Times, The Washington Post and other major media
who pilloried him or blacklisted him over his unorthodox, unsanctioned, nonconformist views on
the "Putin regime." It was forced upon him by university colleagues who sought to deny his
right to establish graduate school fellowships in Russian affairs bearing his name and that of
his mentor at Indiana University, Professor Tucker.
In the face of vicious personal attacks from these McCarthyite forces, in the face of
hate mail and even threats to his life, Steve decided to set up The American Committee and to
recruit to its governing board famous, patriotic Americans and the descendants of the most
revered families in the country. In this he succeeded, and it is to his credit that a moral
counter force to the stampeding bulls of repression was erected and has survived to this
day.
[If you found value in this article, you should be interested to read my latest collection
of essays entitled A Belgian Perspective on International Affairs, published in
November 2019 and available in e-book, paperback and hardbound formats from amazon, barnes
& noble, bol.com, fnac, Waterstones and other online retailers. Use the "View Inside" tab
on the book's webpages to browse.]
What I liked most about this article was the highlighting of impossible-to-counter
narratives, the hypocrisy of Western democracy promotion (even as Western governments fellate
domestic and foreign economic elites), and the denigration of nationalism from 1990-2016.
Sadly, the author does a disservice in suggesting that such manipulations are past. Instead,
the Western power-elite has done what it does best: co-opt a 'winning' narrative
(nationalism) and double-down.
Other deficiencies:
Ignores the fact that the US Deep State, caretakers of the Empire, hasn't accepted
defeat. Since 2014 they have been actively trying to reverse what they see as a major
set-back (not defeat).
Via economic sanctions, trade wars, propaganda, and military tensions the Empire is
waging a hybrid war against what it calls the "revisionist" efforts of Russia and
China.
Plays into the propaganda narrative of Trump as populist.
Fails to see the 1990's 'economic shock therapy' as a deliberate attempt to push
Russia into total capitulation. This, darker view, was confirmed obliquely by Kissinger in
his interview with ft in which he stated that no one could foresee the ability of Russia to
absorb pain.
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For Americans living under coronavirus restrictions, it's a question too rarely asked. In fact it's actively discouraged.
Nice take on imbecilization of important and complex topics by the US MSM and politicians.
Money quote about neoliberal Dems like Obama and Biden "
But there are others for whom altruism is an alien concept.
Self-interest is all they know. These people never pause. They relentlessly press for any advantage, under any circumstances. They
see human suffering as a means to increase their power."
Another money quote: "in the hands of Democratic politicians, climate change is like systemic racism in the sky: You can't see it, but it's everywhere and
it's deadly."
Notable quotes:
"... But there are others for whom altruism is an alien concept. Self-interest is all they know. These people never pause. They relentlessly press for any advantage, under any circumstances. They see human suffering as a means to increase their power. ..."
"... Joe Biden's closest friend in the world, a prominent Martha's Vineyard kite-surfer called Barack Obama, echoed that message with his trademark restraint. Obama declawed that your "life" depends on voting for Joe Biden. ..."
"... One of the few Republicans who still hold elected office in California, state Assemblyman Heath Flora, last year called on using the state's $22 billion budget surplus to implement vegetation management. ..."
"... Fires don't spread as well without huge connected forests functioning as kindling. It's obvious, which is why it's unthinkable to mention it in some Democratic circles." ..."
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS: Massive wildfires continue to sweep across huge portions of the Pacific Northwest.
In Oregon, half a million residents have been forced to evacuate -- one out of every ten people in the state.
Dozens are dead tonight, including small children. But the fires still aren't close to contained. Watch this report from Fox's
Jeff Paul:
Video report
And it continues as we speak, walls of flame consuming everything in their path: homes, animals, human beings. Tragedy on a
massive scale.
When something this awful happens, decent people pause. They put aside their own interests for a moment. They consider how they
can help. We've seen that kind of selflessness before.
This is, remember, the anniversary of 9-11.
But there are others for whom altruism is an alien concept. Self-interest is all
they know. These people never pause. They relentlessly press for any advantage, under any circumstances. They see human suffering
as a means to increase their power.
These are the people who turn funerals into political rallies and feel no shame for doing it.
As Americans burned to death, people like this swung into action immediately. They went on television with a partisan talking
point: Climate change caused these fires, they said. They didn't explain how that happened. They just kept saying it.
In the hands of Democratic politicians, climate change is like systemic racism in the sky: you can't see it, but it's everywhere,
and it's deadly. And, like systemic racism, it's your fault: The American middle class did it. They ate too many hamburgers,
drove too many SUVs, had too many children.
A lot of them wear T-shirts to work and didn't finish college. That causes climate change too. And, worst of all, some of them
may vote for Donald Trump in November.
If there's anything that absolutely, definitively causes climate change -- and literally over a hundred percent of scientists
agree with this established fact -- it's voting for Donald Trump. You might as well start a tire fire. You're destroying the ozone
layer.
Joe Biden has checked the science, and he agrees. Yesterday, the people on Biden's staff who understand the internet tweeted out
an image of the wildfires, along with the message, "Climate change is already here -- and we're witnessing its devastating effects
every single day. We have to get President Trump out of the White House."
Again, by voting for Donald Trump, you've made hundreds of thousands of Oregonians homeless tonight. You've killed people.
Joe Biden's closest friend in the world, a prominent Martha's Vineyard kite-surfer called Barack Obama, echoed that message
with his trademark restraint. Obama declawed that your "life" depends on voting for Joe Biden.
At a time when sea levels are rising and we're about to see killer whales in the Rockies? Honestly, it doesn't seem like Obama is
overly concerned about climate change? And by the way, didn't he go to law school? When he did become a climate expert?
Those seem like good questions. But lawyers pretending to be scientists are now everywhere in the Democratic Party.
Here's the governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, a proud graduate of Willamette University law school, explaining that he's already
figured out the "cause" of the fires. Watch:
INSLEE: Fires are proof we need a stronger liberal agenda Sept 8 TRT: 18 Inslee: And these are conditions that are exacerbated
by the changing climate that we are suffering. And I do not believe that we should surrender these subdivisions or these houses
to climate change-exacerbated fires. We should fight the cause of these fires.
This is a crock. In fact, there is not a single scientist on earth who knows whether, or by how much, these fires may have been
"exacerbated" by warmer temperatures caused by "climate change," whatever that means anymore.
All we have is conjecture from a handful of scientists, none of whom have reached any definitive conclusions.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, for example, has admitted that it's, quote, "hard to determine whether climate change
played a role in sparking the fires."
Meanwhile, investigators have determined that the massive El Dorado fire in California, which has torched nearly 14,000 acres,
was caused by morons setting off some kind of fireworks. And then on Wednesday, police announced that a criminal investigation is
underway into the massive Almeda fire in Ashland, Oregon.
The sheriff there said it's too early to say what caused the fire, but he's said human remains were found at the suspected origin
point. Nothing is being ruled out, including arson.
The more you know, the more complicated it is, like everything. Serious people are just beginning to gather evidence to determine
what happened to cause this disaster.
But at the same time, unserious people are now everywhere on the media right now, drowning out nuance. Don't worry about the
facts, they say. Just trust us -- the sky orange is orange over San Francisco because households making $40,000 a year made the
mistake of voting for a Republican.
Therefore you must hand us total control of the nation's economy. Watch amateur arson detective Nancy Pelosi explain:
PELOSI: Mother Earth is angry. She's telling us, whether she's telling us with hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, fires in the
west, whatever it is, the climate crisis is real and has an impact.
Mother Nature is angry. Please. When was the last time Nancy Pelosi went outside? No one asked her. All we know is what she said:
climate change caused this. Of course.
No matter the natural disaster -- hurricanes, tornadoes, whatever -- climate change did it. Keep in mind, Nancy Pelosi owns two
sub-zero freezers. They cost $10,000 apiece.
We know because she showed them off on national television. Those use a lot of energy. Like Barack Obama, she constantly flies
private between her multi-million dollar estates all over the country.
Obviously, she doesn't care about climate change. And neither do her supporters -- otherwise, they'd be trying to destroy the
mansions she owns, not the hair salons that expose her hypocrisy.
For the left, this is really about blaming and ritually humiliating the middle-class for the election of Donald Trump. Joe Biden
knows that the Pennsylvanians who would be financially ruined by his
fracking
ban
are the same Pennsylvanians who flipped the state red in 2016 for the first time in a generation.
That's the whole point. One of the reasons Joe Biden is barely allowed outside is that he has no problem showing his contempt for
the middle-class he supposedly cares so much about.
In 2019, he openly
mocked
coal miners
and suggested they just get programming jobs once they're all fired. Watch:
BIDEN: I come from a family, an area where's coal mining – in Scranton. Anybody, that can go down 300 to 3,000 feet in a mine,
sure as hell can learn how to program as well.
Learn to code! Hilarious. Joe Biden should try it. But there isn't time. The world is ending. Last summer, Sandy Cortez [AOC] did
the math and calculated we only have
12
years left to live
.
If that sounds bad, consider this -- Just four months after that warning, Sandy Cortez tweeted that we only have 10 years to "cut
carbon emissions in half."
Think about the math here. We lost two years in just four months. At that rate, we could literally all die unless Joe Biden wins
in November. Which is of course what they're saying.
On Tuesday, California Gavin Newsom pretty much said it Newsom abandoned science long ago. Science is too stringent, too western,
too patriarchal.
Newsom is a man of faith now. He's decided
climate
change caused all of this
, and that's final. He's not listening to any other arguments. Watch:
NEWSOM: I have no patience. And I say this lovingly, not as an ideologue, but as someone who prides himself on being open to
argument, interested in evidence. But I quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers. It simply follows completely
inconsistent, that point of view, with the reality on the ground.
People like Gavin Newsom don't want to listen to any "climate change deniers." What's a "climate change denier?" Anyone who
thinks our ruling class has no idea how to run their states or protect their citizens.
Are we "climate change deniers" if we point out that California has failed to implement meaningful deforestation measures that
would have dramatically slowed the spread of these wildfires?
In 2018, a state oversight agency in California found that years of poor or nonexistent
forest
management policies
in the Sierra Nevada forests had contributed to wildfires.
One of the few Republicans who still hold elected office in California, state Assemblyman Heath Flora, last year called on
using the state's $22 billion budget surplus to implement vegetation management.
Fires don't spread as well without huge connected forests functioning as kindling. It's obvious, which is why it's
unthinkable to mention it in some Democratic circles."
Presumably, you're also a climate-change denier if you point out that six of the Oregon National Guard's wildfire-fighting
helicopters are currently in Afghanistan.
Instead of dropping water to suppress blazes, the Chinook aircraft are busy supplying a war effort that's been going on for
nearly 20 years. That seems significant. Has anyone asked Gavin Newsom or Jay Inslee about that? Do any of the Democrats who
control these states even care?
The answer, of course, is probably not. It was just last week that Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti admitted on-the-record that
his city has become completely third-world.
Of course, Garcetti didn't blame himself for this turn of events. He blamed you. Quote: "It's almost 3 p.m," Garcetti tweeted.
"Time to turn off major appliances, set the thermostat to 78 degrees (or use a fan instead, turn off excess lights and unplug any
appliances you're not using. We need every Californian to help conserve energy. Please do your part."
"Please do your part." Garcetti wants his constituents to suffer to try to solve a problem that Democrats in his state created.
Even now, as residents in Northern California are facing sweeping power outages in addition to wildfires.
In the meantime, Gavin Newsom has vowed that 50 percent of California's energy grid will be based on quote "renewable" energy
sources within a decade.
That means sources like wind and solar power -- which can't be dialed up to meet periods of extreme demand, like California is
seeing right now during its heatwave.
Newsom was asked last month whether he would consider revising this stance given the blackouts that have left millions of
Californians without power.
Newsom responded, quote, "We are going to radically change the way we produce and consume energy." In other words, The blackouts
will continue until morale improves. So will the wildfires. Get used to it.
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In the hands of Democratic politicians, climate change is like systemic racism in the sky: You can't see it, but it's
everywhere and it's deadly.
#FoxNews
#Tucker
This is a direct result of Gavin Newsom eliminating forestation controls. Jerry Brown kept them in place, the only thing he
did correctly. Democrats are to blame for all of this.
When environmentalists pushed through their "leave forests alone, allow nature to be undisturbed" bs, California and other
states stopped clearing underbrush, also known as fire fuel and now we see a perfect example of cause and effect.
Don't get me wrong I am a conservatist , but with common sense , we can't conserve unless we protect and nurture nature to
thrive. In fact extremism in environmentalism destroys as we see. People dead, animals dead, homes destroyed, forest destroyed
because of extremism.
The narrative to leave forests alone happened long before Trump, believing otherwise makes you a useful idiot.
Congratulations.
You could Google this old narrative but will you find it, well it's Google, you have to find the people who heard and lived
the so called natural environmental push narrative, we remember and we remember the warnings. Congratulations, your ignorance
has caused harm.
"... We are witnessing a political game of chess where the only pieces being moved are the pawns, while the king and queen sit safely on a different board. ..."
@
6:29
""There needs to be unrest in the streets as there is unrest in our lives"" When the elite oligarchy ignore peaceful
protests, you get aggressive uprisings. It's human nature and good ol' fashioned patriotism.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God
"... In a world that is increasingly confusing and awash with propaganda, Cohen's death is a
blow to humanity's desperate quest for clarity and understanding. ..."
Stephen F Cohen, the renowned American scholar on Russia and leading authority on US-Russian
relations, has died of lung cancer at the
age of 81.
As one of the precious few western voices of sanity on the subject
of Russia while everyone else has been frantically flushing their brains down the toilet,
this is a real loss. I myself have cited Cohen's expert analysis many times in my own work, and
his perspective has played a formative role in my understanding of what's really going on with
the monolithic cross-partisan manufacturing of consent for increased western aggressions
against Moscow.
In a world that is increasingly confusing and awash with propaganda, Cohen's death is a blow
to humanity's desperate quest for clarity and understanding.
I don't know how long Cohen had cancer. I don't know how long he was aware that he might not
have much time left on this earth. What I do know is he spent much of his energy in his final
years urgently trying to warn the world about the rapidly escalating danger of nuclear war,
which in our strange new reality he saw as in many ways completely unprecedented.
The last of the many books Cohen authored was 2019's
War
with Russia? , detailing his ideas on how the complex multi-front nature of the post-2016
cold
war escalations against Moscow combines with Russiagate and other factors to make it in
some ways more dangerous even than the most dangerous point of the previous cold war.
"You know it's easy to joke about this, except that we're at maybe the most dangerous moment
in US-Russian relations in my lifetime, and maybe ever," Cohen told The Young Turks in 2017. "And the reason is that we're
in a new cold war, by whatever name. We have three cold war fronts that are fraught with the
possibility of hot war, in the Baltic region where NATO is carrying out an unprecedented
military buildup on Russia's border, in Ukraine where there is a civil and proxy war between
Russia and the west, and of course in Syria, where Russian aircraft and American warplanes are
flying in the same territory. Anything could happen."
Cohen repeatedly points to the most likely cause of a future nuclear war: not one that is
planned but one which erupts in tense, complex situations where "anything could happen" in the
chaos and confusion as a result of misfire, miscommunication or technical malfunction, as
nearly
happened many times during the last cold war.
"I think this is the most dangerous moment in American-Russian relations, at least since the
Cuban missile crisis," Cohen told Democracy
Now in 2017. "And arguably, it's more dangerous, because it's more complex. Therefore, we
-- and then, meanwhile, we have in Washington these -- and, in my judgment, factless
accusations that Trump has somehow been compromised by the Kremlin. So, at this worst moment in
American-Russian relations, we have an American president who's being politically crippled by
the worst imaginable -- it's unprecedented. Let's stop and think. No American president has
ever been accused, essentially, of treason. This is what we're talking about here, or that his
associates have committed treason."
"Imagine, for example, John Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis," Cohen added. "Imagine
if Kennedy had been accused of being a secret Soviet Kremlin agent. He would have been
crippled. And the only way he could have proved he wasn't was to have launched a war against
the Soviet Union. And at that time, the option was nuclear war."
"A recurring theme of my recently published book War with Russia? is that the new Cold War
is more dangerous, more fraught with hot war, than the one we survived," Cohen wrote
last year . "Histories of the 40-year US-Soviet Cold War tell us that both sides came to
understand their mutual responsibility for the conflict, a recognition that created political
space for the constant peace-keeping negotiations, including nuclear arms control agreements,
often known as détente. But as I also chronicle in the book, today's American Cold
Warriors blame only Russia, specifically 'Putin's Russia,' leaving no room or incentive for
rethinking any US policy toward post-Soviet Russia since 1991."
"Finally, there continues to be no effective, organized American opposition to the new Cold
War," Cohen added. "This too is a major theme of my book and another reason why this Cold War
is more dangerous than was its predecessor. In the 1970s and 1980s, advocates of détente
were well-organized, well-funded, and well-represented, from grassroots politics and
universities to think tanks, mainstream media, Congress, the State Department, and even the
White House. Today there is no such opposition anywhere."
"A major factor is, of course, 'Russiagate'," Cohen continued. "As evidenced in the sources
I cite above, much of the extreme American Cold War advocacy we witness today is a mindless
response to President Trump's pledge to find ways to 'cooperate with Russia' and to the
still-unproven allegations generated by it. Certainly, the Democratic Party is not an
opposition party in regard to the new Cold War."
"Détente with Russia has always been a fiercely opposed, crisis-ridden policy
pursuit, but one manifestly in the interests of the United States and the world," Cohen
wrote in another
essay last year. "No American president can achieve it without substantial bipartisan
support at home, which Trump manifestly lacks. What kind of catastrophe will it take -- in
Ukraine, the Baltic region, Syria, or somewhere on Russia's electric grid -- to shock US
Democrats and others out of what has been called, not unreasonably, their Trump Derangement
Syndrome, particularly in the realm of American national security? Meanwhile, the Bulletin of
Atomic Scientists has recently reset its Doomsday Clock to two minutes before
midnight."
And now Stephen Cohen is dead, and that clock is inching ever closer to midnight. The
Russiagate psyop that he predicted would pressure Trump to advance dangerous cold war
escalations with no opposition from the supposed opposition party
has indeed done exactly that with nary a peep of criticism from either partisan faction of
the political/media class. Cohen has for years been correctly
predicting this chilling scenario which now threatens the life of every organism on earth,
even while his own life was nearing its end.
And now the complex cold war escalations he kept urgently warning us about have become even
more complex with the
addition of nuclear-armed China to the multiple fronts the US-centralized empire has been
plate-spinning its brinkmanship upon, and it is clear from the ramping
up of anti-China propaganda since last year that we are being prepped for those aggressions
to continue to increase.
We should heed the dire warnings that Cohen spent his last breaths issuing. We should demand
a walk-back of these insane imperialist aggressions which benefit nobody and call for
détente with Russia and China. We should begin creating an opposition to this
world-threatening flirtation with armageddon before it is too late. Every life on this planet
may well depend on our doing so.
Stephen Cohen is dead, and we are marching toward the death of everything. God help us
all.
People are just now starting to realize that possible alternate path. But the Demoncrats
in the USA must first be put down, politically euthanized, along with their neocon
never-Trump Republican partners. And that cleaning up is on the way. Trump's second term will
be the advancement of the USA-Russia initiative that is so long overdue.
PerilouseTimes , 48 minutes ago
Putin won't let western billionaires rape Russia's enormous natural resources and on top
of that Putin is against child molesters, that is what this Russia bashing is all about.
awesomepic4u , 1 hour ago
Sad to hear this.
What a good man. It is a real shame that we dont have others to stand up to this crazy pr
that is going on right now. Making peace with the world at this point is important. We dont need or
want another war and i am sure that both Europe and Russia dont want it on their turf but it
seems we keep sticking our finger in their eye. If there is another war it will be the last
war. As Einstein said, after the 3rd World War we will be using sticks and stones to fight
it.
Clint Liquor , 44 minutes ago
Cohen truly was an island of reason in a sea of insanity. Ironic that those panicked over
climate change are unconcerned about the increasing threat of Nuclear War.
thunderchief , 41 minutes ago
One of the very few level headed people on Russia.
All thats left are anti Russia-phobic nut jobs.
Send in the clowns.
Stephen Cohen isn't around to call them what they are anymore.
Eastern Whale , 55 minutes ago
cooperate with Russia
Has the US ever cooperated with anyone?
fucking truth , 3 minutes ago
That is the crux. All or nothing.
Mustafa Kemal , 49 minutes ago
Ive read several of his books. They are essential, imo, if you want to understand modern
russian history.
Normal , 1 hour ago
The bankers created the new CCP cold war.
evoila , 19 minutes ago
Max Boot is an effing idiot. Tucker wiped him clean too. It was an insult to Stephen to
even put them on the same panel.
RIP Stephen.
Gary Sick is the equivalent to Stephen, except for Iran. He too is of an era of competence
which is and will be missed as their voices are drowned out by neocon warmongers
thebigunit , 17 minutes ago
I heard Stephen Cohen a number of time in John Bachelor's podcasts.
He seemed very lucid and made a lot of sense.
He made it very clear that he thought the Democrat's "Trump - Russia collusion schtick"
was a bunch of crap.
He didn't sound like a leftie, but I'm sure he never told me the stuff he discussed with
his wife who was editor of the left wing "The Nation" magazine.
Boogity , 9 minutes ago
Cohen was a traditional old school anti-war Liberal. They're essentially extinct now with
the exception of a few such as Tulsi Gabbard and Dennis Kucinich who have both been
ostracized from the Democrat Party and the political system.
Counter disinformation network can't revive the dead chicken of neoliberal ideology.
Neoliberal elite lost legitimacy and as such has difficulties controlling the narrative.
That's why all this frantic efforts were launched to rectify the situation.
Anti-Russian angle of Atlantic council revealed here quite clearly
The paper's biggest single recommendation was that the United States and EU establish a
Counter-Disinformation Coalition, a public/private group bringing together, on a regular basis,
government and non-government stakeholders, including social media companies, traditional
media, Internet service providers (ISPs), and civil society groups. The Counter-Disinformation
Coalition would develop best practices for confronting disinformation from nondemocratic
countries, consistent with democratic norms. It also recommended that this coalition start with
a voluntary code of conduct outlining principles and agreed procedures for dealing with
disinformation, drawing from the recommendations as summarized above.
In drawing up these recommendations, we were aware that disinformation most often comes from
domestic, not foreign, sources. 8 While Russian and other disinformation players are
known to work in coordination with domestic purveyors of disinformation, both overtly and
covertly, the recommendations are limited to foreign disinformation, which falls within the
scope of "political warfare." Nevertheless, it may be that these policy recommendations,
particularly those focused on transparency and social resilience, may be applicable to
combatting other forms of disinformation.
So, it appears the War on Populism is building
toward an exciting climax. All the proper pieces are in place for a Class-A GloboCap color
revolution , and maybe even civil war. You got your unauthorized Putin-Nazi president, your
imaginary apocalyptic pandemic, your violent identitarian civil unrest, your heavily-armed
politically-polarized populace, your ominous rumblings from military quarters you couldn't
really ask for much more.
OK, the plot is pretty obvious by now (as it is in all big-budget action spectacles, which
is essentially what color revolutions are), but that won't spoil our viewing experience. The
fun isn't in guessing what is going to happen. Everybody knows what's going to happen. The fun
is in watching Bruce, or Sigourney, or "the moderate rebels," or the GloboCap "Resistance,"
take down the monster, or the terrorists, or Hitler, and save the world, or democracy, or
whatever.
Trump represent new "national neoliberalism" platform and the large part of the US neoliberal elite (Clinton gang and large part
of republicans) support the return to "classic neoliberalism" at all costs.
Highly recommended!
The essence of color revolution is the combination of engineered contested election and mass organized protest and civil disobedience
via creation in neoliberal fifth column out of "professionals", especially students as well as mobilizing and put on payroll some useful
disgruntled groups which can be used as a foot soldiers, such as football hooligans. Large and systematic injection of dollars into
protest movement. All with the air cover via domination in a part or all nation's MSM.
He served as US ambassador in Chich Republic from 2011 to 2014. Based on his experience wrote that book
Democracy's Defenders published by The Brookings Institution, a neoliberal think tank, about the role of US embassy in neoliberal
revolution in Czechoslovakia (aka Velvet Revolution of 1989) which led to the dissolution of the country into two. BTW demonstrations
against police brutality were an essential part of the Velvet Revolution
Notable quotes:
"... Same tactics - color revolutions they (Soros, Nuland/Kagan, Eisen, McCain when alive) used to overthrow Orthodox countries in Eastern Europe. Belarus the latest. Ukraine (Orange, Maidan) 2014. Georgia (Rose rev). Serbia, Montenegro. Use young people who have bad sense of history and are more sympathetic to the "West." ..."
This is, without ANY question, one of Tucker's most important segments that he has ever done. IT IS EXTREMELY-RARE THAT
"""they""" ARE EXPOSED, BY-NAME, SO OPENLY AND DIRECTLY, BUT, IT HAPPENED, TONIGHT.
Please bring back Dr. Darren Beattie back. More info. on the color revolutions, Mr. Eisen, crew, and their relationship
to mail in voting fraud and their impact on the 2020 election is needed. If Mr. Eisens methods are to be used in the 2020 election
mass awareness is needed.
This is not about Trump. The endgame of the deep state is to enslave people through social division. The election is a wrestling
match for entertainment.
Sheesh, he looks scared. I hope he's being well protected now. Darren is a very brave man who is trying to tell the citizens
of the US that there is malice aforethought towards the President and this election. It is now not a choice between Republicans
or Democrats, it is a fight between good and evil. I'm sure Trump and his team are aware of the playbook and will do everything
they can to sort this, with God's help. It may get hairy, but trust the plan.
I have a feeling dems will "rig for red" to frame republicans for voter fraud, overlooking the overwhelming amount of voter
fraud in favor of Biden Harris. Causing outrage and calls to remove the President from office and saying Biden actually won.
When he really did not. Be prepared. Stay strong.
Same tactics - color revolutions they (Soros, Nuland/Kagan, Eisen, McCain when alive) used to overthrow Orthodox countries
in Eastern Europe. Belarus the latest. Ukraine (Orange, Maidan) 2014. Georgia (Rose rev). Serbia, Montenegro. Use young people
who have bad sense of history and are more sympathetic to the "West."
american people still don't know and can't understand what's happening and what their government is doing, even right now
it's happening in Belarus, it happened in Ukraine, Venezuela, Hong Kong and etc. and now it's happening in your own country,
wake up people and don't forget who's behind all this - a NGO founded by CIA called NED (National endowment for democracy),
Soros and his NGOs and the deep state.
"... Russian military leaders view the "colour revolutions" as a "new US and European approach to warfare that focuses on creating destabilizing revolutions in other states as a means of serving their security interests at low cost and with minimal casualties. ..."
"... the activities of radical public associations and groups using nationalist and religious extremist ideology, foreign and international nongovernmental organizations, and financial and economic structures, and also individuals, focused on destroying the unity and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, destabilizing the domestic political and social situation -- including through inciting "color revolutions" -- and destroying traditional Russian religious and moral values ..."
Worldwide media use the term Colour Revolution (sometimes Coloured Revolution
) to describe various
related movements that developed in several countries of the former Soviet Union , in the People's Republic of
China and in the Balkans during the early-21st century. The term has
also been applied to a number of revolutions elsewhere, including in the Middle East and in the
Asia-Pacific region,
dating from the 1980s to the 2010s. Some observers (such as Justin Raimondo and Michael Lind ) have called the events a
revolutionary
wave , the origins of which can be traced back to the 1986 People Power Revolution (also known
as the "Yellow Revolution") in the Philippines .
Participants in colour revolutions have mostly used nonviolent resistance , also called
civil resistance .
Such methods as demonstrations, strikes and interventions have aimed to
protest against governments seen as corrupt and/or authoritarian and to advocate democracy , and they have built up
strong pressure for change.
Colour-revolution movements generally became associated with a specific colour or flower as
their symbol. The colour revolutions are notable for the important role of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and particularly student activists in organising creative
non-violent resistance .
Such movements have had a measure of success as for example in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia 's Bulldozer
Revolution (2000), in Georgia 's Rose Revolution (2003) and in Ukraine 's Orange Revolution (2004). In most but not
all cases, massive street-protests followed disputed elections or requests for fair elections
and led to the resignation or overthrow of leaders regarded by their opponents as authoritarian . Some events have been called "colour revolutions", but differ from the
above cases in certain basic characteristics. Examples include Lebanon's Cedar Revolution (2005) and
Kuwait 's Blue Revolution
(2005).
Russia and China share nearly identical views that colour revolutions are the product of
machinations by the United States and other Western powers and pose a vital threat to their
public and national security.
The 1986 People Power Revolution (also
called the " EDSA " or the "Yellow"
Revolution) in the Philippines was the first successful non-violent uprising in the
contemporary period. It was the culmination of peaceful demonstrations against the
rule of
then-President Ferdinand Marcos – all of which
increased after the 1983 assassination of
opposition Senator Benigno S. Aquino,
Jr. A contested snap election on 7 February 1986 and a
call by the powerful Filipino Catholic
Church sparked mass protests across Metro Manila from 22–25 February.
The Revolution's iconic L-shaped Laban sign comes from the Filipino term for
People Power, " Lakás ng Bayan ", whose acronym is " LABAN " ("fight").
The yellow-clad protesters, later joined by the Armed Forces , ousted
Marcos and installed Aquino's widow Corazón as the country's eleventh
President, ushering in the present Fifth
Republic .
Long-standing secessionist sentiment in Bougainville eventually led to conflict with
Papua New Guinea. The inhabitants of Bougainville Island formed the Bougainville
Revolutionary Army and fought against government troops. On 20 April 1998, Papua New
Guinea ended the civil war. In 2005, Papua New Guinea gave autonomy to Bougainville.
in 1989, a peaceful demonstration by students (mostly from Charles University ) was attacked by
the police – and in time contributed to the collapse of the communist government in
Czechoslovakia.
The 'Bulldozer Revolution' in 2000, which led to the overthrow of
Slobodan Milošević . These demonstrations are usually considered to be the
first example of the peaceful revolutions which followed. However, the Serbians adopted an
approach that had already been used in parliamentary elections in Bulgaria (1997) ,
Slovakia (1998) and
Croatia (2000) ,
characterised by civic mobilisation through get-out-the-vote campaigns and unification of
the political opposition. The nationwide protesters did not adopt a colour or a specific
symbol; however, the slogan " Gotov je " (Serbian Cyrillic:
Готов је , English: He is finished
) did become an aftermath symbol celebrating the completion of the task. Despite the
commonalities, many others refer to Georgia as the most definite beginning of the series of
"colour revolutions". The demonstrations were supported by the youth movement Otpor! , some of whose members
were involved in the later revolutions in other countries.
Following the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the
Adjara
crisis (sometimes called "Second Rose Revolution" or Mini-Rose
Revolution ) led to the
exit of Chairman of the Government Aslan Abashidze from office.
Purple
Revolution was a name first used by some hopeful commentators and later picked up by
United States President George W. Bush to describe the coming of
democracy to Iraq following the 2005 Iraqi
legislative election and was intentionally used to draw the parallel with the Orange
and Rose revolutions. However, the name "purple revolution" has not achieved widespread use
in Iraq, the United States or elsewhere. The name comes from the colour that voters' index
fingers were stained to prevent fraudulent multiple voting. The term first appeared shortly
after the January 2005 election in various weblogs and editorials of individuals supportive
of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The term
received its widest usage during a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush on 24 February 2005 to
Bratislava , Slovak
Republic, for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin . Bush stated: "In recent
times, we have witnessed landmark events in the history of liberty: A Rose Revolution in
Georgia, an Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and now, a Purple Revolution in Iraq."
The Tulip
Revolution in Kyrgyzstan (also sometimes called the "Pink Revolution") was more violent
than its predecessors and followed the disputed 2005 Kyrgyz
parliamentary election . At the same time, it was more fragmented than previous
"colour" revolutions. The protesters in different areas adopted the colours pink and yellow
for their protests. This revolution was supported by youth resistance movement KelKel .
The Cedar
Revolution in Lebanon between February and April 2005 followed not a disputed election,
but rather the assassination of opposition leader Rafik Hariri in 2005. Also, instead of the
annulment of an election, the people demanded an end to the Syrian occupation of
Lebanon . Nonetheless, some of its elements and some of the methods used in the
protests have been similar enough that it is often considered and treated by the press and
commentators as one of the series of "colour revolutions". The Cedar of Lebanon is the symbol of the
country, and the revolution was named after it. The peaceful demonstrators used the colours
white and red, which are found in the Lebanese flag. The protests led to the pullout of
Syrian troops
in April 2005, ending their nearly 30-year presence there, although Syria retains some
influence in Lebanon.
Blue Revolution was a term used by some Kuwaitis to refer to
demonstrations in Kuwait in support of women's suffrage
beginning in March 2005; it was named after the colour of the signs the protesters used. In
May of that year the Kuwaiti government acceded to their demands, granting women the right
to vote beginning in the 2007 parliamentary elections. Since there was
no call for regime change, the so-called "blue revolution" cannot be categorised as a true
colour revolution.
In Belarus, there have been a number of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko , with
participation from student group Zubr . One round of
protests culminated on 25 March 2005; it was a self-declared attempt to emulate the
Kyrgyzstan revolution, and involved over a thousand citizens. However, police severely
suppressed it, arresting over 30 people and imprisoning opposition leader Mikhail Marinich .
A second, much larger, round of protests began almost a year later, on 19 March 2006,
soon after the presidential
election . Official results had Lukashenko winning with 83% of the vote; protesters
claimed the results were achieved through fraud and voter intimidation, a charge echoed
by many foreign governments.
Protesters camped out in October Square in Minsk over the next week, calling variously for
the resignation of Lukashenko, the installation of rival candidate Alaksandar
Milinkievič , and new, fair elections.
The opposition originally used as a symbol the white-red-white former flag of Belarus ; the
movement has had significant connections with that in neighbouring Ukraine, and during
the Orange Revolution some white-red-white flags were seen being waved in Kiev. During
the 2006 protests some called it the " Jeans Revolution " or "Denim
Revolution",
blue jeans being considered a symbol for freedom. Some protesters cut up jeans into
ribbons and hung them in public places. It is
claimed that Zubr was responsible for coining the phrase.
Lukashenko has said in the past: "In our country, there will be no pink or orange, or
even banana revolution." More recently he's said "They [the West] think that Belarus is
ready for some 'orange' or, what is a rather frightening option, 'blue' or ' cornflower blue '
revolution. Such 'blue' revolutions are the last thing we need". On
19 April 2005, he further commented: "All these coloured revolutions are pure and simple
banditry."
In Myanmar (unofficially called Burma), a series of anti-government protests were
referred to in the press as the Saffron Revolution
after Buddhist monks ( Theravada Buddhist monks normally
wear the colour saffron) took the vanguard of the protests. A previous, student-led
revolution, the 8888
Uprising on 8 August 1988, had similarities to the colour revolutions, but was
violently repressed.
The opposition is reported to have hoped for and urged some kind of Orange revolution,
similar to that in Ukraine, in the follow-up of the 2005 Moldovan
parliamentary elections , while the Christian
Democratic People's Party adopted orange for its colour in a clear reference to the
events of Ukraine.
A name hypothesised for such an event was "Grape Revolution" because of the abundance
of vineyards in the country; however, such a revolution failed to materialise after the
governmental victory in the elections. Many reasons have been given for this, including a
fractured opposition and the fact that the government had already co-opted many of the
political positions that might have united the opposition (such as a perceived
pro-European and anti-Russian stance). Also the elections themselves were declared fairer
in the OSCE election monitoring reports than had been the case in other countries where
similar revolutions occurred, even though the CIS monitoring mission strongly condemned
them.
Green Movement is a term widely used to describe the 2009–2010
Iranian election protests . The protests began in 2009, several years after the main
wave of colour revolutions, although like them it began due to a disputed election, the
2009 Iranian
presidential election . Protesters adopted the colour green as their symbol because it
had been the campaign colour of presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi , whom many
protesters thought had won the elections .
However Mousavi and his wife went under house arrest without any trial issued by a
court.
The Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010 in
Kyrgyzstan (also sometimes called the "Melon Revolution") led to the
exit of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev from office. The
total number of deaths should be 2,000.
Jasmine Revolution was a widely used term for the
Tunisian
Revolution . The Jasmine Revolution led to the exit of President Ben Ali from office and
the beginning of the Arab Spring .
Lotus Revolution was a term used by various western news sources to describe the
Egyptian Revolution of 2011
that forced President Mubarak to step down in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring , which followed the Jasmine
Revolution of Tunisia. Lotus is known as the flower representing resurrection, life and the
sun of ancient Egypt. It is uncertain who gave the name, while columnist of Arabic press,
Asharq Alawsat, and prominent Egyptian opposition leader Saad Eddin Ibrahim claimed to name
it the Lotus Revolution. Lotus Revolution later became common on western news source such
as CNN. Other names,
such as White Revolution and Nile Revolution, are used but are minor terms compare to Lotus
Revolution. The term Lotus Revolution is rarely, if ever, used in the Arab world.
In February 2011, Bahrain was also affected by protests in Tunisia and Egypt. Bahrain
has long been famous for its pearls and Bahrain's speciality. And there was the Pearl
Square in Manama, where the demonstrations began. The people of Bahrain were also
protesting around the square. At first, the government of Bahrain promised to reform the
people. But when their promises were not followed, the people resisted again. And in the
process, bloodshed took place (18 March 2011). After that, a small demonstration is taking
place in Bahrain.
An anti-government protest started in Yemen in 2011. The Yemeni people sought to resign
Ali Abdullah Saleh as the ruler. On 24 November, Ali Abdullah Saleh decided to transfer the
regime. In 2012, Ali Abdullah Saleh finally fled to the United States(27 February).
A call which first appeared on 17 February 2011 on the Chinese language site Boxun.com in the United States
for a "Jasmine revolution" in the People's Republic of China and repeated on social
networking sites in China resulted in blocking of internet searches for "jasmine" and a
heavy police presence at designated sites for protest such as the McDonald's in central
Beijing, one of the 13 designated protest sites, on 20 February 2011. A crowd did gather
there, but their motivations were ambiguous as a crowd tends to draw a crowd in that area.
Boxun experienced a denial of service attack
during this period and was inaccessible.
Protests started on 4 December 2011 in the capital, Moscow against the results of the parliamentary
elections, which led to the arrests of over 500 people. On 10 December, protests erupted in
tens of cities across the country; a few months later, they spread to hundreds both inside
the country and abroad. The name of the Snow Revolution derives from December - the month
when the revolution had started - and from the white ribbons the protesters wore.
Many analysts and participants of the protests against President of Macedonia Gjorge
Ivanov and the Macedonian
government refer to them as a "colourful Revolution", due to the demonstrators throwing
paint balls of different colours at government buildings in Skopje , the capital.
In 2018, a peaceful revolution was led by
member of parliament Nikol Pashinyan in opposition to the
nomination of Serzh
Sargsyan as Prime Minister of Armenia ,
who had previously served as both President of Armenia and prime
minister, eliminating term limits which would have otherwise
prevented his 2018 nomination. Concerned that Sargsyan's third consecutive term as the most
powerful politician in the government of Armenia gave him too much political influence,
protests occurred throughout the country, particularly in Yerevan , but demonstrations in solidarity with
the protesters also occurred in other countries where Armenian diaspora live.
During the
protests, Pashinyan was arrested and detained on 22 April, but he was released the
following day. Sargsyan stepped down from the position of Prime Minister, and his
Republican Party decided to
not put forward a candidate. An interim
Prime Minister was selected from Sargsyan's party until elections were held, and protests
continued for over one month. Crowd sizes in Yerevan consisted of 115,000 to 250,000 people
at a time throughout the revolution, and hundreds of protesters were arrested. Pashinyan
referred to the event as a Velvet Revolution. A vote was
held in parliament, and Pashinyan became the Prime Minister of Armenia.
Many have cited the influence of the series of revolutions which
occurred in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the
Velvet Revolution
in Czechoslovakia in 1989. A
peaceful demonstration by students (mostly from Charles University ) was attacked by the
police – and in time contributed to the collapse of the communist government in
Czechoslovakia. Yet the roots of the pacifist floral imagery may go even further back to the
non-violent Carnation Revolution of Portugal in
April 1974, which is associated with the colour carnation because carnations were worn, and the 1986 Yellow Revolution in
the Philippines where demonstrators offered peace flowers to military personnel manning
armoured tanks.
Student movements
The first of these was Otpor! ("Resistance!") in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, which was founded at Belgrade University in October 1998 and
began protesting against Miloševic' during the Kosovo War . Most of them were already veterans
of anti-Milošević demonstrations such as the 1996–97 protests
and the 9 March
1991 protest . Many of its members were arrested or beaten by the police. Despite this,
during the presidential campaign in September 2000, Otpor launched its " Gotov je " (He's finished) campaign that
galvanised Serbian discontent with Miloševic' and resulted in his defeat.
Members of Otpor have inspired and trained members of related student movements including
Kmara in Georgia, Pora in
Ukraine, Zubr in Belarus and
MJAFT! in Albania. These
groups have been explicit and scrupulous in their practice of non-violent resistance as advocated
and explained in Gene
Sharp 's writings. The massive
protests that they have organised, which were essential to the successes in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, Georgia and Ukraine, have been notable for their colourfulness and use
of ridiculing humor in opposing authoritarian leaders.
Critical analysis
The analysis of international geopolitics scholars Paul J. Bolt and Sharyl N. Cross is that
"Moscow and Beijing share almost indistinguishable views on the potential domestic and
international security threats posed by colored revolutions, and both nations view these
revolutionary movements as being orchestrated by the United States and its Western democratic
partners to advance geopolitical ambitions."
Russian
assessment
According to Anthony Cordesman of the Center for
Strategic and International Studies , Russian military leaders view the "colour revolutions" as a "new US and
European approach to warfare that focuses on creating destabilizing revolutions in other states
as a means of serving their security interests at low cost and with minimal casualties."
Government figures in Russia , such as Defence Minister
Sergei Shoigu (in
office from 2012) and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (in office from 2004), have
characterised colour revolutions as externally-fuelled acts with a clear goal to influence the
internal affairs that destabilise the economy, conflict with the law and represent a new form of warfare. Russian President
Vladimir Putin has
stated that Russia must prevent colour revolutions: "We see what tragic consequences the wave
of so-called colour revolutions led to. For us this is a lesson and a warning. We should do
everything necessary so that nothing similar ever happens in Russia".
The 2015 presidential decree The Russian Federation's National Security Strategy (
О Стратегии
Национальной
Безопасности
Российской
Федерации ) cites "foreign sponsored
regime change" among "main threats to public and national security," including
the activities of radical public associations and groups using nationalist and religious
extremist ideology, foreign and international nongovernmental organizations, and financial
and economic structures, and also individuals, focused on destroying the unity and
territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, destabilizing the domestic political and
social situation -- including through inciting "color revolutions" -- and destroying
traditional Russian religious and moral values
Chinese view
Articles published by the Global Times , a state-run nationalist tabloid, indicate that Chinese
leaders also anticipate the Western powers, such as the United States, using "color revolutions" as a means to undermine the one-party state. An article published on 8 May 2016 claims: "A
variation of containment seeks to press China on human rights and democracy with the hope of
creating a 'color revolution.'" A 13 August 2019
article declared that the 2019 Hong Kong extradition
bill protests were a colour revolution that "aim[ed] to ruin HK 's future."
The 2015 policy white paper "China's Military Strategy" by the State Council
Information Office said that "anti-China forces have never given up their attempt to
instigate a 'color revolution' in this country."
Azerbaijan
A number of movements were created in Azerbaijan in mid-2005, inspired by the examples
of both Georgia and Ukraine. A youth group, calling itself Yox! (which means No!), declared its opposition to
governmental corruption. The leader of Yox! said that unlike Pora or Kmara , he wants to change not just the leadership,
but the entire system of governance in Azerbaijan. The Yox movement chose green as its colour.
The spearhead of Azerbaijan's attempted colour revolution was Yeni Fikir ("New Idea"), a
youth group closely aligned with the Azadlig (Freedom) Bloc of opposition political parties.
Along with groups such as Magam ("It's Time") and Dalga ("Wave"), Yeni Fikir deliberately
adopted many of the tactics of the Georgian and Ukrainian colour revolution groups, even
borrowing the colour orange from the Ukrainian revolution.
In November 2005 protesters took to the streets, waving orange flags and banners, to protest
what they considered government fraud in recent parliamentary elections. The Azerbaijani colour revolution finally fizzled out with the police riot on 26
November, during which dozens of protesters were injured and perhaps hundreds teargassed and
sprayed with water cannons.
On 5 February 2013, protests began in Shahbag and later spread to other parts of
Bangladesh following
demands for capital punishment for Abdul Quader Mollah , who had been
sentenced to life imprisonment, and for others convicted of war crimes by the International
Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh . On that
day, the International Crimes
Tribunal had sentenced Mollah to life in prison after he was convicted on five of six
counts of war crimes . Later
demands included banning the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party
from politics including election and a boycott of institutions supporting (or affiliated with)
the party.
Protesters considered Mollah's sentence too lenient, given his crimes. Bloggers and online activists called for additional protests at Shahbag.
Tens of thousands of people joined the demonstration, which gave rise to protests across the
country.
The movement demanding trial of war criminals is a protest movement in Bangladesh, from 1972
to present.
Belarus
In Belarus , there have
been a number of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko , with
participation from student group Zubr . One round of protests
culminated on 25 March 2005; it was a self-declared attempt to emulate the Kyrgyzstan
revolution, and involved over a thousand citizens. However, police severely suppressed it,
arresting over 30 people and imprisoning opposition leader Mikhail Marinich .
A second, much larger, round of protests began almost a year later, on 19 March 2006, soon
after the presidential election
. Official results had Lukashenko winning with 83% of the vote; protesters claimed the results
were achieved through fraud and voter intimidation, a charge echoed by many foreign
governments.
Protesters camped out in October Square in Minsk over the next week, calling variously for the
resignation of Lukashenko, the installation of rival candidate Alaksandar Milinkievič ,
and new, fair elections.
The opposition originally used as a symbol the white-red-white former flag of Belarus ; the movement has had
significant connections with that in neighbouring Ukraine, and during the Orange Revolution
some white-red-white flags were seen being waved in Kiev. During the 2006 protests some called
it the " Jeans
Revolution " or "Denim Revolution", blue
jeans being considered a symbol for freedom. Some protesters cut up jeans into ribbons and hung
them in public places. It is
claimed that Zubr was responsible for coining the phrase.
Lukashenko has said in the past: "In our country, there will be no pink or orange, or even
banana revolution." More recently he's said "They [the West] think that Belarus is ready for
some 'orange' or, what is a rather frightening option, 'blue' or ' cornflower blue ' revolution. Such 'blue'
revolutions are the last thing we need". On 19
April 2005, he further commented: "All these colored revolutions are pure and simple
banditry."
In Burma (officially called Myanmar), a series of anti-government protests were referred to
in the press as the Saffron Revolution after
Buddhist monks ( Theravada Buddhist monks normally wear
the colour saffron) took the vanguard of the protests. A previous, student-led revolution, the
8888 Uprising on 8
August 1988, had similarities to the colour revolutions, but was violently
repressed.
A call which first appeared on 17 February 2011 on the Chinese language site Boxun.com in the United States for
a "Jasmine revolution" in the People's Republic of China and repeated on social networking
sites in China resulted in blocking of internet searches for "jasmine" and a heavy police
presence at designated sites for protest such as the McDonald's in central Beijing, one of the 13
designated protest sites, on 20 February 2011. A crowd did gather there, but their motivations
were ambiguous as a crowd tends to draw a crowd in that area.
Boxun experienced a denial of service attack during
this period and was inaccessible.
In the 2000s, Fiji suffered numerous coups. But at the same time, many Fiji citizens
resisted the military. In Fiji, there have been many human rights abuses by the military.
Anti-government protesters in Fiji have fled to Australia and New Zealand. In 2011, Fijians
conducted anti Fijian government protests in Australia. On 17 September
2014, the first democratic general election was held in Fiji.
In 2015, Otto
Pérez Molina , President of Guatemala, was suspected of corruption. In Guatemala City,
a large number of protests rallied. Demonstrations took place from April to September 2015.
Otto Pérez
Molina was eventually arrested on 3 September. The people of Guatemala called this event
"Guatemalan Spring".
Moldova
The opposition is reported to have hoped for and urged some kind of Orange revolution,
similar to that in Ukraine, in the follow-up of the 2005 Moldovan
parliamentary elections , while the Christian
Democratic People's Party adopted orange for its colour in a clear reference to the events
of Ukraine.
A name hypothesised for such an event was "Grape Revolution" because of the abundance of
vineyards in the country; however, such a revolution failed to materialise after the
governmental victory in the elections. Many reasons have been given for this, including a
fractured opposition and the fact that the government had already co-opted many of the
political positions that might have united the opposition (such as a perceived pro-European and
anti-Russian stance). Also the elections themselves were declared fairer in the OSCE election
monitoring reports than had been the case in other countries where similar revolutions
occurred, even though the CIS monitoring mission strongly condemned them.
On 25 March 2005, activists wearing yellow scarves held protests in the capital city of
Ulaanbaatar , disputing
the results of the 2004 Mongolian
parliamentary elections and calling for fresh elections. One of the chants heard in that
protest was "Let's congratulate our Kyrgyz brothers for their revolutionary spirit. Let's free
Mongolia of corruption."
An uprising commenced in Ulaanbaatar on 1 July 2008, with a peaceful meeting in protest of
the election of 29 June. The results of these elections were (it was claimed by opposition
political parties) corrupted by the Mongolian People's Party (MPRP).
Approximately 30,000 people took part in the meeting. Afterwards, some of the protesters left
the central square and moved to the HQ of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party –
which they attacked and then burned down. A police station was also attacked. By the night
rioters vandalised and then set fire to the Cultural Palace (which contained a theatre, museum
and National art gallery). Cars torching, bank
robberies and looting were reported. The
organisations in the burning buildings were vandalised and looted. Police used tear gas, rubber
bullets and water cannon against stone-throwing protesters. A 4-day
state of emergency was installed, the capital has been placed under a 2200 to 0800 curfew, and
alcohol sales banned, rioting not
resumed. 5 people
were shot dead by the police ,
dozens of teenagers were wounded from the police firearms and disabled and
800 people, including the leaders of the civil movements J. Batzandan, O. Magnai and B.
Jargalsakhan, were arrested. International
observers said 1 July general election was free and fair.
In 2007, the Lawyers' Movement started in Pakistan with the aim of restoration
of deposed judges. However, within a month the movement took a turn and started working towards
the goal of removing Pervez Musharraf from power.
The liberal opposition in Russia is represented by several parties and
movements.
An active part of the opposition is the Oborona youth movement. Oborona
claims that its aim is to provide free and honest elections and to establish in Russia a system
with democratic political competition. This movement under the leadership of Oleg
Kozlovsky was one of the most active and radical ones and is represented in a number of
Russian cities. During the elections of 8 September 2013, the movement contributed to the
success of Navalny in Moscow and other opposition candidates in various regions and towns
throughout Russia. The "oboronkis" also took part with other oppositional groups in protests
against fraud in the Moscow mayoral elections.
Since the 2012 protests, Aleksei Navalny mobilised with support of
the various and fractured opposition parties and masses of young people against the alleged
repression and fraud of the Kremlin apparatus. After a strong
campaign for the 8 September elections in Moscow and the regions, the opposition won remarkable
successes. Navalny reached a second place in Moscow with surprising 27% behind Kremlin-backed
Sergei Sobyanin
finishing with 51% of the votes. In other regions, opposition candidates received remarkable
successes. In the big industrial town of Yekaterinburg, opposition candidate Yevgeny Roizman received the majority
of votes and became the mayor of that town. The slow but gradual sequence of opposition
successes reached by mass protests, election campaigns and other peaceful strategies has been
recently called by observers and analysts as of Radio Free Europe "Tortoise Revolution"
in contrast to the radical "rose" or "orange" ones the Kremlin tried to prevent.
The opposition in the Republic of Bashkortostan has held protests demanding
that the federal authorities intervene to dismiss Murtaza Rakhimov from his position as
president of the republic, accusing him of leading an "arbitrary, corrupt, and violent" regime.
Airat
Dilmukhametov , one of the opposition leaders, and leader of the
Bashkir National Front , has said that the opposition movement has been inspired from the
mass protests of Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Another
opposition leader, Marat
Khaiyirulin , has said that if an Orange Revolution were to happen in Russia, it would
begin in Bashkortostan.
From 2016 to 2017, the candlelight protest was going on in South Korea with the aim to force the ousting
of President Park
Geun-hye . Park was impeached and removed from office, and new presidential
elections were held.
In Uzbekistan , there
has been longstanding opposition to President Islam Karimov , from liberals and Islamists.
Following protests in 2005, security forces in Uzbekistan carried out the Andijan massacre that successfully
halted country-wide demonstrations. These protests otherwise could have turned into colour
revolution, according to many analysts.
The revolution in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan began in the largely ethnic Uzbek south, and
received early support in the city of Osh . Nigora
Hidoyatova , leader of the Free
Peasants opposition party, has referred to the idea of a peasant revolt or 'Cotton
Revolution'. She also said that her party is collaborating with the youth organisation
Shiddat , and that she
hopes it can evolve to an organisation similar to Kmara or Pora. Other nascent
youth organisations in and for Uzbekistan include Bolga
and the freeuzbek
group.
When groups of young people protested the closure of Venezuela's RCTV television station in June 2007, president
Hugo Chávez
said that he believed the protests were organised by the West in an attempt to promote a "soft
coup" like the revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia. Similarly,
Chinese authorities claimed repeatedly in the state-run media that both the 2014 Hong Kong protests
– known as the Umbrella Revolution – as well as
the 2019–20 Hong Kong
protests , were organised and controlled by the United States.
In July 2007, Iranian state television released footage of two Iranian-American prisoners,
both of whom work for western NGOs, as part of a documentary called "In the Name of Democracy."
The documentary purportedly discusses the colour revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia and accuses
the United States of attempting to foment a similar ouster in Iran.
Other
examples and political movements around the world
The imagery of a colour revolution has been adopted by various non-revolutionary electoral
campaigns. The 'Purple Revolution' social media campaign of Naheed Nenshi catapulted his platform from 8%
to become Calgary's 36th Mayor. The platform advocated city sustainability and to inspire the
high voter turn out of 56%, particularly among young voters.
In 2015, the NDP of Alberta earned a majority
mandate and ended the 44-year-old dynasty of the Progressive
Conservatives . During the campaign Rachel Notley 's popularity gained momentum,
and the news and NDP supporters referred to this phenomenon as the "Orange Crush" per the
party's colour. NDP parodies of Orange flavoured Crush soda logo became a popular meme on
social media.
"... One NGO called the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group (TDWG) was bold or reckless enough to draw the parallels between the Color Revolution in Belarus and the events playing out against Trump explicitly ..."
"... Now, would the reader care to take a guess as to who runs the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group? If you guessed Norm Eisen, you would be correct. ..."
In our report on Never
Trump State Department official George Kent , Revolver News first drew attention
to the ominous similarities between the strategies and tactics the United States government
employs in so-called "Color Revolutions" and the coordinated efforts of government bureaucrats,
NGOs, and the media to oust President Trump.
Our recent follow-up to this initial report focused specifically on a shadowy, George Soros
linked group called the Transition Integrity Project (TIP), which convened "war games"
exercises suggesting the likelihood of a "contested election scenario," and of ensuing chaos
should President Trump refuse to leave office. We further showed how these "contested election"
scenarios we are hearing so much about play perfectly into the Color Revolution framework
sketched out Revolver News' first installment in the Color Revolution series.
This third installment of Revolver News ' series exposing the Color Revolution
against Trump will focus on one quiet and indeed mostly overlooked participant in the
Transition Integrity Project's biased election "war games" exercise -- a man by the name of
Norm Eisen.
As the man who implemented the David Brock blueprint for
suing the President into paralysis and his
allies into bankruptcy , who helped mainstream and amplify the Russia Hoax, who drafted
10 articles of impeachment for the Democrats a full month before President Trump ever
called the Ukraine President in 2018 , who personally served as special counsel
litigating the Ukraine impeachment, who created a template for Internet censorship of world
leaders and a handbook for mass mobilizing racial justice protesters to overturn democratic
election results, there is perhaps no man alive with a more decorated resume for plots against
President Trump.
Indeed, the story of Norm Eisen – a key architect of nearly every attempt to
delegitimize, impeach, censor, sue and remove the democratically elected 45th President of the
United States – is a tale that winds through nearly every facet of the color revolution
playbook. There is no purer embodiment of Revolver's thesis that the very same regime
change professionals who run Color Revolutions on behalf of the US Government in order to
undermine or overthrow alleged "authoritarian" governments overseas, are running the very same
playbook to overturn Trump's 2016 victory and to pre-empt a repeat in 2020. To put it simply,
what you see is not just the same Color Revolution playbook run against Trump, but the same
people using it against Trump who have employed it in a professional capacity against targets
overseas -- same people same playbook.
In Norm Eisen's case, the "same people same playbook" refrain takes an arrestingly literal
turn when one realizes that Norm Eisen wrote a classic Color Revolution regime change manual,
and conveniently titled it "The Playbook."
Just what exactly is President Obama's former White House Ethics Czar ( yes, Norm Eisen
was Obama's ethics Czar ), his longtime friend since Harvard Law School, who recently
partook in war games to simulate overturning a Trump electoral victory, doing writing a
detailed playbook on how to use a Color Revolution to overthrow governments? The story of Norm
Eisen only gets more fascinating, outrageous, and indispensable to understanding the planned
chaos unfolding before our eyes, leading up to what will perhaps be the most chaotic election
in our nation's recent history.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -
"I'd Rather Have This Book Than The Atomic Bomb"
Before we can fully appreciate the significance of Norm Eisen's Color Revolution manual "The
Playbook," we must contextualize this important book in relation to its place in Color
Revolution literature.
As a bit of a refresher to the reader, it is important to emphasize that when we use the
term "Color Revolution" we do not mean any general type of revolution -- indeed, one of the
chief advantages of the Color Revolution framework we advance is that it offers a specific and
concrete heuristic by which to understand the operations against Trump beyond the accurate but
more vague term "coup." Unlike the overt, blunt, method of full scale military invasion as was
the case in Iraq War, a Color Revolution employs the following strategies and tactics:
A "Color Revolution" in this context refers to a specific type of coordinated attack that
the United States government has been known to deploy against foreign regimes, particularly
in Eastern Europe deemed to be "authoritarian" and hostile to American interests. Rather than
using a direct military intervention to effect regime change as in Iraq, Color Revolutions
attack a foreign regime by contesting its electoral legitimacy, organizing mass protests and
acts of civil disobedience, and leveraging media contacts to ensure favorable coverage to
their agenda in the Western press.
[Revolver]
This combination of tactics used in so-called Color Revolutions did not come from nowhere.
Before Norm Eisen came Gene Sharp -- originator and Godfather of the Color Revolution model
that has been a staple of US Government operations externally (and now internally) for decades.
Before Norm Eisen's "Playbook" there was Gene Sharp's classic "From Dictatorship to Democracy,"
which might be justly described as the Bible of the Color Revolution. Such is the power of the
strategies laid out by Sharp that a Lithuanian defense minister once said of Sharp's preceding
book (upon which Dictatorship to Democracy builds) that "I would
rather have this book than the nuclear bomb."
Gene Sharp
It would be impossible to do full justice to Gene Sharp within the scope of this specific
article. Here are some choice excerpts about Sharp and his biography to give readers a taste of
his significance and relevance to this discussion.
Gene Sharp, the "Machiavelli of nonviolence," has been fairly described as "the most
influential American political figure you've never heard of."
1 Sharp, who passed away in January 2018, was a beloved yet "mysterious" intellectual
giant of nonviolent protest movements , the "father of the whole field of the study of
strategic nonviolent action."
2 Over his career, he wrote more than twenty books about nonviolent action and social
movements. His how-to pamphlet on nonviolent revolution, From Dictatorship to
Democracy , has been translated into over thirty languages and is cited by protest
movements around the world . In the U.S., his ideas are widely promoted through activist
training programs and by scholars of nonviolence, and have been used by nearly every major
protest movement in the last forty years .
3 For these contributions, Sharp has been praised by progressive heavyweights like Howard
Zinn and Noam Chomsky, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times, compared to Gandhi,
and cast as a lonely prophet of peace, champion of the downtrodden, and friend of the left .
4
Gene Sharp's influence on the U.S. activist left and social movements abroad has been
significant. But he is better understood as one of the most important U.S. defense
intellectuals of the Cold War, an early neoliberal theorist concerned with the supposedly
inherent violence of the "centralized State," and a quiet but vital counselor to
anti-communist forces in the socialist world from the 1980s onward.
In the mid-1960s, Thomas Schelling, a Nobel Prize-winning nuclear theorist, recruited
29-year-old Sharp to join the Center for International Affairs at Harvard , bastion of the
high Cold War defense, intelligence, and security establishment. Leading the so-called "CIA
at Harvard" were Henry Kissinger, future National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, and future
CIA chief Robert Bowie. Sharp held this appointment for thirty years. There, with Department
of Defense funds, he developed his core theory of nonviolent action: a method of warfare
capable of collapsing states through theatrical social movements designed to dissolve the
common will that buttresses governments, all without firing any shots. From his post at the
CIA at Harvard, Sharp would urge U.S. and NATO defense leadership to use his methods against
the Soviet Union. [Nonsite]
We invite the reader to reflect on the passages in bold, particularly their potential
relevance to the current domestic situation in the United States. Sharp's book and strategy for
"non violent revolution" AKA "peaceful protests" has been used to undermine or overthrow target
governments all over the world, particularly in Eastern Europe.
Gene's color revolution playbook was of course especially effective in Eastern Bloc
countries in Eastern Europe:
Finally, there is no shortage of analysis as to the applicability of Sharp's methods
domestically within the USA in order to advance various left wing causes. This passage
specifically mentions the applicability of Sharp's methods to counter act Trump.
Ominous stuff indeed. For readers who wish to read further, please consult
the full Politico piece from which we have excerpted the above highlighted passages. There
is also a fascinating documentary on Sharp instructively titled "
How to Start a Revolution ."
This is all interesting and disturbing, to say the least. In its own right it would suggest
a compelling nexus point between the operations run against Trump and the Color Revolution
playbook. But what does this have to do with our subject Norm Eisen? It just so happens that
Eisen explicitly places himself in the tradition of Gene Sharp, acknowledging his book "The
Playbook" as a kind of update to Sharp's seminal "Dictatorship to Democracy."
And there we have it, folks -- Norm Eisen, former Obama Ethics Czar, Ambassador to
Czechoslovakia during the "Velvet Revolution," key counsel in impeachment effort against Trump,
and participant in the ostensibly bi-partisan election war games predicting a contested
election scenario unfavorable to Trump -- just happens to be a Color Revolution expert who
literally wrote the modern "Playbook" in the explicitly acknowledged tradition of Color
Revolution Godfather Gene Sharp's "From Dictatorship to Democracy."
Before we turn to the contents of Norm Eisen's Color Revolution manual, full title "The
Democracy Playbook: Preventing and Reversing Democratic Backsliding," it will be useful to make
a brief point regarding the term "democracy" itself, which happens to appear in the title of
Gene Sharp's book "From Dictatorship to Democracy" as well.
Just like the term "peaceful protestor," which, as we pointed out in our George Kent essay
is used as a term of craft in the Color Revolution context, so is the term "democracy" itself.
The US Government launches Color Revolutions against foreign targets irrespective of whether
they actually enjoy the support of the people or were elected democratically. In the case of
Trump, whatever one says about him, he is perhaps the most "democratically" elected President
in America's history. Indeed, in 2016 Trump ran against the coordinated opposition of the
establishments of both parties, the military industrial complex, the corporate media,
Hollywood, and really every single powerful institution in the country. He won, however,
because he was able to garner sufficient support of the people -- his true and decisive power
base as a "populist." Precisely because of the ultra democratic "populist" character of Trump's
victory, the operatives attempting to undermine him have focused specifically on attacking the
democratic legitimacy of his victory.
In this vein we ought to note that the term "democratic backsliding," as seen in the
subtitle of Norm Eisen's book, and its opposite "democratic breakthrough" are also terms of art
in the Color Revolution lexicon. We leave the full exploration of how the term "democratic" is
used deceptively in the Color Revolution context (and in names of decidedly
anti-democratic/populist institutions) as an exercise to the interested reader. Michael McFaul,
another Color Revolution expert and key anti-Trump operative somewhat gives the game away in
the following tweet in which the term "democratic breakthrough" makes an appearance as a better
sounding alternative to "Color Revolution:"
Most likely as a response to Revolver News' first Color Revolution article on State
Department official George Kent, former Ambassador McFaul issued the following tweet as a
matter of damage control:
Being a rather simple man from a simple background, McFaul perhaps gave too much of this
answer away in the following explanation (now deleted).
Trump has lost the Intelligence Community. He has lost the State Department. He has lost the military. How can he continue to
serve as our Commander in Chief ?
With this now-deleted tweet we get a clearer picture of the power bases that must be
satisfied for a "democratic breakthrough" to occur -- and conveniently enough, not one of them
is subject to direct democratic control. McFaul, Like Eisen, George Kent, and so many others,
perfectly embodies Revolver's thesis regarding the Color Revolution being the same
people running the same playbook. Indeed, like most of the star never-Trump impeachment
witnesses, McFaul has been an ambassador to an Eastern European country. He has supported
operations against Trump, including impeachment. And, like Norm Eisen, he has actually
written
a book on Color Revolutions (more on that later).
Norm Eisen's The Democracy Playbook: A Brief Overview:
A deep dive into Eisen's book would exceed the scope of this relatively brief exposé.
It is nonetheless important for us to draw attention to key passages of Eisen's book to
underscore how closely the "Playbook" corresponds to events unfolding right here at home.
Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that regime change professionals such as Eisen
simply decided to run the same playbook against Trump that they have done countless times when
foreign leaders are elected overseas that they don't like and want to remove via
extra-democratic means -- "peaceful protests," "democratic breakthroughs" and such.
First, consider the following passage from Eisen's Playbook:
If you study this passage closely, you will find direct confirmation of our earlier point
that "democracy" in the Color Revolution context is a term of art -- it refers to anything they
like that keeps the national security bureaucrats in power. Anything they don't like, even if
elected democratically, is considered "anti-democratic," or, put another way, "democratic
backsliding." Eisen even acknowledges that this scourge of populism he's so worried about
actually was ushered in with "popular support," under "relatively democratic and electoral
processes." The problem is precisely that the people have had enough of the corrupt ruling
class ignoring their needs. Accordingly, the people voted first for Brexit and then for Donald
Trump -- terrifying expressions of populism which the broader Western power structure did
everything in its capacity to prevent. Once they failed, they viewed these twin populist
victories as a kind of political 9/11 to be prevented by any means necessary from recurring.
Make no mistake, the Color Revolution has nothing to do with democracy in any meaningful sense
and everything to do with the ruling class ensuring that the people will never have the power
to meddle in their own elections again.
The passage above can be insightfully compared to the passage in Gene Sharp's book noting
ripe applications to the domestic situation.
It is instructive to compare the passage in Eisen's Color Revolution book to the passage in
Michael McFaul's Color Revolution book
First off, it is absolutely imperative to look at every single one of the conditions for a
Color Revolution that McFaul identifies. It is simply impossible not to be overcome with the
ominous parallels to our current situation. Specifically, however, note condition 1 which
refers to having a target leader who is not fully authoritarian, but semi-autocratic. This
coincides perfectly well with Eisen's concession that the populist leaders he's so concerned
about might be "illiberal" but enjoy "popular support" and have come to power via "relatively
democratic electoral processes."
Consulting the above passage from McFaul's book, we note that McFaul has been perhaps the
most explicit about the conditions which facilitate a Color Revolution. We invite the reader to
supply the contemporary analogue to each point as a kind of exercise.
A semi-autocratic regime rather than fully autocratic
An unpopular incumbent (note blanket negative coverage of Trump, fake polls)
A united and organized opposition (media, intel community, Hollywood, community groups,
etc)
Enough independent media to inform citizens of falsified vote (see full court press in
media pushing contested election narrative, social media censorship)
A political opposition capable of mobilizing tens of thousands or more demonstrators to
protest electoral fraud ( SEE BLACK LIVES MATTER AND ANTIFA )
On point number four, which is especially relevant to our present situation, Eisen has an
interesting thing to say about the role of a contested election scenario in the Orange
Revolution, arguably the most important Color Revolution of them all.
Finally, let's look at one last passage from Norm Eisen's Color Revolution "Democracy
Playbook" and cross-reference it with McFaul's conditions for a Color Revolution as well as the
situation playing out right now before our very eyes:
A few things immediately jump out at us. First, the ominous instruction: "prepare to use
electoral abuse evidence as the basis for reform advocacy." Secondly, we note the passage
suggesting that opposition to a target leader might avail itself of "extreme institutional
measures" including impeachment processes, votes of no confidence, and, of course, the good
old-fashioned "protests, strikes, and boycotts" (all more or less peaceful no doubt).
By now the Color Revolution agenda against Trump should be as plain as day. Regime change
professionals like McFaul, Eisen, George Kent, and others, who have refined their craft
conducting color revolutions overseas, have taken it upon themselves to use the same tools, the
same tactics -- quite literally, the same playbook -- to overthrow President Trump. Yet again,
same people, same playbook.
We conclude this study of key Color Revolution figure Norm Eisen by exploring his
particularly proactive -- indeed central role -- in effecting one of the Color Revolution's
components mentioned in the Eisen Playbook -- impeachment.
-- -- -- –
The Ghost of Democracy's Future
We mentioned at the outset of this piece that Norm Eisen is many things -- a former Obama
Ethics Czar (but of course), Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, participant in the now notorious
Transition Integrity Project, et cetera. But he earned his title as "legal hatchet man" of the
Color Revolution for his tireless efforts in promoting the impeachment of President Trump.
The litany of Norm Eisen's legal activity cited at the beginning of this piece bears
repeating.
As the man who implemented the David Brock blueprint
for suing the President into paralysis and his
allies into bankruptcy , who helped mainstream and amplify the Russia Hoax, who drafted
10 articles of impeachment for the Democrats a full month before President Trump ever
called the Ukraine President in 2018 , who personally served as DNC co-counsel for
litigating the Ukraine impeachment
If that resume doesn't warrant the title "legal hatchet man" we wonder what does? We
encourage interested readers or journalists to explore those links for themselves. By way of
conclusion, it simply suffices to note that much of Eisen's impeachment activity he conducted
before there was any discussion or knowledge of President Trump's call to the Ukrainian
President in 2018 -- indeed before the call even happened. Impeachment was very clearly a
foregone conclusion -- a quite literal part of Norm Eisen's Color Revolution playbook -- and it
was up to people like Eisen to find the pretext, any pretext.
Despite their constant invocation of "democracy" we ought to note that transferring the
question of electoral outcomes to adversarial legal processes is in fact anti-Democratic -- in
keeping with our observation that the Color Revolution playbook uses "democracy" as a term of
art, often meaning the precise opposite of the usual meaning suggesting popular support.
Perhaps the most important entry in Eisen's entry is the first, that is, Eisen's
participation in the infamous David Brock blueprint on how to undermine and overthrow the Trump
presidency.
The Washington Free Beacon attended the retreat and obtained David Brock's
private and confidential memorandum from the meeting. The memo, "
Democracy Matters: Strategic Plan for Action ," outlines Brock's four-year agenda to
attack Trump and Republicans using Media Matters, American Bridge, Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) , and Shareblue.
This leaked memo was written before President Trump took office, further suggesting that all
of the efforts to undermine Trump have not been good faith responses to his behavior, but a
pre-ordained attack strategy designed to overturn the 2016 election by any means necessary. The
Color Revolution expert who suggests impeachment as a tactic in his Color Revolution "playbook"
was already in charge of impeachment before Trump even took office -- -Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is run by none other than Norm Eisen.
But the attempt to overturn the 2016 election using Color Revolution tactics failed. And so
now the plan is to overthrow Trump in 2020, hence Norm Eisen's noted participation in the
Transition Integrity Project. Looking around us, one is forced to ask the deeply uncomfortable
question, "transition into what?"
To conclude, we would like to call back to a point we raised in the first piece in our color
revolution series. In this piece, we noted that star Never Trump impeachment witness George
Kent just happens to be running the Belarus desk at the State Department. Belarus, we argued,
with its mass demonstrations egged on by US Government backed NGOS, its supposed "peaceful
protests" and of course its contested election results all fit the Color Revolution mold
curiously enough.
One NGO called the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group (TDWG) was bold or reckless enough
to draw the parallels between the Color Revolution in Belarus and the events playing out
against Trump explicitly. In response to a remark by a twitter user that the TDWG's remarks
about Belarus suggested parallels to the United States, the TDWG ominously replied:
Now, would the reader care to take a guess as to who runs the Transatlantic Democracy
Working Group? If you guessed Norm Eisen, you would be correct.
Stay tuned for more in Revolver.news' groundbreaking coverage of the Color
Revolution against Trump. Be sure to check out the previous installments in this series.
The 238-page document, written by the majority staff of the House Transportation
Committee, calls into question whether the plane maker or the Federal Aviation Administration
has fully incorporated essential safety lessons, despite a global grounding of the MAX fleet
since March 2019.
After an 18-month investigation, the report, released Wednesday, concludes that Boeing's
travails stemmed partly from a reluctance to admit mistakes and "point to a company culture
that is in serious need of a safety reset."
The report provides more specifics, in sometimes-blistering language, backing up
preliminary
findings the panel's Democrats released six months ago , which laid out a pattern of
mistakes and missed opportunities to correct them.
In one section, the Democrats' report faults Boeing for what it calls "inconceivable and
inexcusable" actions to withhold crucial information from airlines about one cockpit-warning
system, related to but not part of MCAS, that didn't operate as required on 80% of MAX jets.
Other portions highlight instances when Boeing officials, acting in their capacity as
designated FAA representatives, part of a widely used system of delegating oversight
authority to company employees,
failed to alert agency managers about various safety matters .
Boeing concealed from regulators internal test data showing that if a pilot took longer
than 10 seconds to recognise that the system had kicked in erroneously, the consequences
would be "catastrophic" .
The report also detailed how an alert, which would have warned pilots of a potential
problem with one of their anti-stall sensors, was not working on the vast majority of the Max
fleet . It found that the company deliberately concealed this fact from both pilots and
regulators as it continued to roll out the new aircraft around the world.
In Bed With the Regulators
Boeing's defense is the FAA signed off on the reviews. Lovely. Boeing coerced or bribed the FAA to sign off on the reviews now tries to hide behind
the FAA.
There is only one way to stop executive criminals like those at Boeing. Charge them with manslaughter, convict them, send them to prison for life, then take all of
their stock and options and hand the money out for restitution.
adr , 1 hour ago
Remember, Boeing spent enough on stock buybacks in the past ten years to fund the
development of at least seven new airframes.
Instead of developing a new and better plane, they strapped engines that didn't belong on
the 737 and called it safe.
SDShack , 21 minutes ago
What is really sad is they already had a perfectly functional and safe 737Max. It was the
757. Look at the specs between the 2 planes. Almost same size, capacity, range, etc. Only
difference was the 757 requires longer runways, but I would think they could have adjusted
the design to improve that and make it very similar to the 737Max without starting from
scratch. Instead Boeing bean counters killed the 757 and gave the world this flying coffin.
Now the world bean counters will kill Boeing.
Tristan Ludlow , 1 hour ago
Boeing is a critical defense contractor. They will not be held accountable and they will
be rewarded with additional bailouts and contract awards.
MFL5591 , 1 hour ago
Can you imagine a congress of Criminals Like Schiff, Pelosi and Schumer prosecuting
someone else for fraud? What a joke. Next up will be Bill Clinton testifying against a person
on trial for Pedophilia!
RagaMuffin , 1 hour ago
Mish is half right. The FAA should join Boeing in jail. If they are not held responsible
for their role, why have an FAA?
Manthong , 1 hour ago
"There is only one way to stop executive criminals like those at Boeing.
Charge them with manslaughter, convict them, send them to prison for life, then take all
of their stock and options and hand the money out for restitution."
Correction:
There is only one way to stop regulator criminals like those in government.
Charge them with manslaughter, convict them, send them to prison for life, then take all
of their pensions and ill gotten wealth a nd hand the money out for restitution.
Elliott Eldrich , 43 minutes ago
"There is only one way to stop executive criminals like those at Boeing.
Charge them with manslaughter, convict them, send them to prison for life, then take all
of their stock and options and hand the money out for restitution."
Ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA! Silly rabbit, jail is for poors...
Birdbob , 1 hour ago
Accountability of Elite Perps ended under Oblaba's reign of "Wall Street and Technocracy
Architects" .White collar criminals were granted immunity from prosecution. This was put into
play by Attorney Genital Eric Holder. This was the beginning of having an orificial Attorney
Genital that facilitated the District of Criminals organized crime empire ending the 3 letter
agencies' interference. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8310187817727287761/1843903631072834621
Dash8 , 1 hour ago
You don't seem to understand the basic principle of aircraft design...it must not require
an extraordinary response for a KNOWN problem.
Think of it this way; Ford builds a car that works great most of the time, but
occasionally a wheel will fall off at highway speeds...no problem, right? ....you just guide
the car to the shoulder on the 3 remaining wheels and all good.
Now, put your wife and kids in that car, after a day at work and the kids screaming in the
back.
Still feel good about your opinion?
canaanav , 1 hour ago
I wrote software on the 787. You are right. This was not a known problem and the Trim
Runaway procedure was already established. The issue was that the MAX needed a larger
horizontal stab and MCAS would have never been needed. The FAA doesnt have the knowledge to
regulate things like this. Boeing lost talent too, and gets bailouts and tax breaks to the
extent that they dont care.
Dash8 , 1 hour ago
But it was a known problem, Boeing admits this.
Argon1 , 41 minutes ago
LGBT & Ethnicity was a more important hiring criteria than Engineering talant.
gutta percha , 1 hour ago
Why is it so difficult to design and maintain reliable Angle Of Attack sensors? The
engineers put in layers and layers of complicated tech to sense and react to AOA sensor
failures. Why not make the sensors _themselves_ more reliable? They aren't nearly as complex
as all the layers of tech BS on top of them.
Dash8 , 1 hour ago
It's not, but it costs $$....and there you have it.
Argon1 , 37 minutes ago
Its the Shuttle Rocketdyne problem, the upper management phones down to the safety
committee and complains about the cost of the delay, take off your engineer hat and put on
your management hat. All of a sudden your project launches on schedule and the board claps
and cheers at their ability to defy physics and save $ millions by just shouting at someone
for about 60 seconds..
canaanav , 1 hour ago
Each AOA sensor is already redundant internally. They have multiple channels. I believe
they were hit with a maintenance stand and jammed. That said, AOA has never been a control
system component. It just runs the low-speed cue on the EFIS and the stick shaker. It's an
advisory-level system. Boeing tied it to Flight Controls thru MCAS. The FAA likely dictated
to Boeing how they wanted the System Safety Analysis (SSA) to look, Boeing wrote it that way,
the FAA bought off on it.
Winston Churchill , 43 minutes ago
More fundamental is why an aerodynamically stable aircraft wasn't designed in the first
place,love of money.
HardlyZero , 13 minutes ago
Yes. In reality the changed CG (Center of Gravity) due to the larger fan engine really did
setup as a "new" design, so the MAX should have been treated as "new" and completely
evaluated and completely tested as a completly new design. As a new design it would probably
double the development and test cost and schedule...so be it.
DisorderlyConduct , 1 hour ago
"Lovely. Boeing coerced or bribed the FAA to sign off on the reviews now tries to hide
behind the FAA."
No - what a shoddy analysis.
The FAA conceded many of their oversight responsibilities to Boeing - who was basically
given the green light to self-monitor. The FAA is the one that is in the wrong here.
Well, how the **** else was that supposed to end up? This is like the IRS letting people
self-audit...
Astroboy , 1 hour ago
Just as the Boeing saga is unfolding, we should expect by the end of the year other
similar situations, related to drug companies, pandemia and the rest.
8. The internet was invented by the US government, not Silicon Valley
Many people think that the US is ahead in the frontier technology sectors as a result of
private sector entrepreneurship. It's not. The US federal government created all these
sectors.
The Pentagon financed the development of the computer in the early days and the Internet
came out of a Pentagon research project. The semiconductor - the foundation of the
information economy - was initially developed with the funding of the US Navy. The US
aircraft industry would not have become what it is today had the US Air Force not massively
subsidized it indirectly by paying huge prices for its military aircraft, the profit of which
was channeled into developing civilian aircraft.
People believe that corporate executives are immune from prosecution and protected by the
fact that they are within the corporation. This is false security. If true purposeful and
intended criminal activities are conducted by any corporate executive, the courts can do what
is called "Piercing The Corporate Veil" . It is looking beyond the corporation as a virtual
person and looking at the actual individuals making and conducting the criminal
activities.
I have previously discussed the importance of understanding how "physics" plays a crucial
role in the stock market. As Sir Issac Newton once discovered, "what goes up, must come
down."
Andy Kessler, via the Wall Street
Journa l, recently discussed a similar point with respect to the momentum in stock prices.
To wit:
"Does this sound familiar: Smart guy owns stock in March at $200, sells it in June at
around $600, but then buys it back in July and August for between $900 and $1,000. By
September it's back at $200. Ouch. Tesla this year? Yahoo in 2000? Nope. That was Sir Isaac
Newton getting pulled into the great momentum trade of the South Sea Co., which cratered 300
years ago this month. He lost the equivalent of more than $3 million today. Newton, whose
second law of motion is about the momentum of a body equaling the force acting on it, didn't
know that works for stocks too."
To understand what happened to the South Sea Corporation, you need a bit of
history.
The South Sea History
In 1720, in return for a loan of £7 million to finance the war against France, the
House of Lords passed the South Sea Bill, which allowed the South Sea Company a monopoly in
trade with South America.
England was already a financial disaster and was struggling to finance its war with France.
As debts mounted, England needed a solution to stay afloat. The scheme was that in exchange for
exclusive trading rights, the South Sea Company would underwrite the English National Debt. At
that time, the debt stood at £30 million and carried a 5% interest coupon from the
Government. The South Sea company converted the Government debt into
its own shares. They would collect the interest from the Government and then pass it on to
their shareholders.
Interesting Absurdities
At the time, England was in the midst of rampant market speculation. As soon as the South
Sea Company concluded its deal with Parliament, the shares surged to more than 10 times their
value. As South Sea Company shares bubbled up to incredible new heights, numerous other
joint-stock companies IPO'd to take advantage of the booming investor demand for speculative
investments.
Many of these new companies made outrageous, and often fraudulent, claims about their
business ventures for the purpose of raising capital and boosting share prices. Here are some
examples of these companies' business proposals (History House, 1997):
Supplying the town of Deal with fresh water.
Trading in hair.
Assuring of seamen's wages.
Importing pitch and tar, and other naval stores, from North Britain and America.
Insuring of horses.
Improving the art of making soap.
Improving gardens.
The insuring and increasing children's fortunes.
A wheel for perpetual motion.
Importing walnut-trees from Virginia.
The making of rape-oil.
Paying pensions to widows and others, at a small discount.
Making iron with pit coal.
Transmutation of quicksilver into a malleable fine metal.
For carrying on an undertaking of great advantage; but nobody to know what it is.
A Speculative Mania
However, in the midst of the "mania," things like valuation, revenue, or even viable
business models didn't matter. It was the "Fear Of Missing Out," which sucked investors into
the fray without regard for the underlying risk.
Though South Sea Company shares were skyrocketing, the company's profitability was mediocre
at best, despite abundant promises of future growth by company directors.
The eventual selloff in Company shares was exacerbated by a previous plan of lending
investors money to buy its shares. This "margin loan," meant that many shareholders had to sell
their shares to cover the plan's first installment of payments.
As South Sea Company and other "bubble " company share prices imploded, speculators who had
purchased shares on credit went bankrupt. The popping of the South Sea Bubble then resulted in
a contagion that spread across Europe.
Newton's Folly
Sir Issac Newton, the brilliant mathematician, was an early investor in South Sea
Corporation. Newton quickly made a lot of money and recognized the early stages of a
speculative mania. Knowing that it would eventually end badly, he liquidated his stake at a
large profit.
However, after he exited, South Sea stock experienced one of the most legendary rises in
history. As the bubble kept inflating, Newton allowed his emotions to overtake his previous
logic and he jumped back into the shares. Unfortunately, it was near the peak.
It is noteworthy that once Newton decided to go back into South Sea stock, he moved
essentially all his financial assets into it. In general, Newton was intimately familiar with
commodities and finance. As Master of the Mint, his post required him to make many decisions
that depended on market prices and conditions.
The story of Newton's losses in the South Sea Bubble has become one of the most famous in
popular finance literature. While surveying his losses, Newton allegedly said that he could
"calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."
Throughout financial history, markets have evolved from one speculative "bubble," to bust,
to the next with each one being believed "it was different this time."
The slides below are from a presentation I made to a large mutual fund company.
What we some common denominators between all previous bubbles and now.
The table below shows a listing of assets classes that have experienced bubbles throughout
history, with the ones related to the current environment highlighted in yellow.
It is not hard to see the similarities between today and the previous market bubbles in
history. Investors are currently chasing "new technology" stocks from Zoom to Tesla, piling
into speculative call options, and piling into leverage. What could possibly go wrong?
Oh, by the way, the slides above are from a 2008 presentation just one month before the
Lehman crisis.
The point here is that speculative cycles are always the same.
The Speculative
Cycle
Charles Kindleberger suggested that speculative manias typically commence with a
"displacement" which excites speculative interest. The displacement may come from either an
entirely new object of investment (IPO) or from increased profitability of established
investments.
The speculation is then reinforced by a "positive feedback" loop from rising prices. which
ultimately induces "inexperienced investors" to enter the market. As the positive feedback loop
continues, and the "euphoria" increases, retail investors then begin to "leverage" their risk
in the market as "rationality" weakens.
The full cycle is shown below.
During the course of the mania, speculation becomes more diffused and spreads to different
asset classes. New companies are floated to take advantage of the euphoria, and investors
leverage their gains using derivatives, stock loans, and leveraged instruments.
As the mania leads to complacency, fraud and manipulation enter the market place.
Eventually, the market crashes and speculators are wiped out. The Government and Regulators
react by passing new laws and legislations to ensure the previous events never happen
again.
The Latest Mania
Let's go back to Andy for a moment:
"When bull markets get going, investors come out of the woodwork to pile in. These
momentum investors -- I call them momos -- figure if a stock is going up, it will keep going
up. But usually, there is some source of hot air inflating stocks: either a structural
anomaly that fools investors into thinking ever-rising stock prices are real or a source of
capital that buys, buys, buys -- proverbial 'dumb money.' Think of it as a giant fireplace
bellows, an accordion-like contraption that pumps in fresh oxygen to keep flames growing."
– Andy Kessler
We have seen these manias repeated throughout history.
In 1929 you could buy stocks with as little as a 5% down payment
The 1960s and '70s had the Nifty Fifty bubble.
In 1987 it was a rising dollar, portfolio insurance, and major investments by the
Japanese into U.S. real estate.
In 2000, it was the new paradigm of the internet and the influx of new online trading
firms like E*Trade creating liquidity issues in Nasdaq stocks. Additionally, record numbers
of companies were being brought public by Wall Street to fill investor demand.
In 2008, subprime mortgages, low interest rates, and lax lending policies, combined with
a litany of derivative products inflated massive bubbles in debt instruments.
In 2020?
What about today? Look back at the chart of the South Sea Company above. Now, the one
below.
See any similarities.
Yes, that's Tesla
However, you can't solely blame the Federal Reserve as noted by Andy:
"Most simply blame the Federal Reserve -- especially today, with its zero-interest-rate
policy -- for pumping the hot air that gets the momos going. Fair enough, but that's only
part of the story. Long market runs have always allured investors who figure they're smart to
jump in, even if it's late.
Everyone forgets the adage, 'Don't mistake brains for a bull market.'"
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As stated, while no two financial manias are ever alike, the end results are always the
same.
Are there any similarities in today's market? You decide.
"From SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, which are modern-day blind pools
that often don't end well. Today's momos also chase stock splits, which mean nothing for a
company's actual value. Same for a new listing in indexes like the S&P 500. Isaac Newton
could explain the math." – Andy Kessler
You get the idea. But one of the tell-tale indications is the speculative chase of "zombie"
companies which are only still alive primarily due to the Federal Reserve's
interventions.
Fixing The Cause Of The Crash
Historically, all market crashes have been the result of things unrelated to valuation
levels. Issues such as liquidity, government actions, monetary policy mistakes, recessions, or
inflationary spikes are the culprits that trigger the "reversion in sentiment."
Importantly, the "bubbles" and "busts" are never the same.
I previously quoted Bob Bronson on this point:
"It can be most reasonably assumed that markets are efficient enough that every bubble is
significantly different than the previous one. A new bubble will always be different from the
previous one(s). Such is since investors will only bid prices to extreme overvaluation levels
if they are sure it is not repeating what led to the previous bubbles. Comparing the current
extreme overvaluation to the dotcom is intellectually silly.
I would argue that when comparisons to previous bubbles become most popular, it's a
reliable timing marker of the top in a current bubble. As an analogy, no matter how
thoroughly a fatal car crash is studied, there will still be other fatal car crashes. Such is
true even if we avoid all previous accident-causing mistakes."
Comparing the current market to any previous period in the market is rather pointless. The
current market is not like 1995, 1999, or 2007? Valuations, economics, drivers, etc. are all
different from cycle to the next.
Most importantly, however, the financial markets always adapt to the cause of the previous
"fatal crash."
Unfortunately, that adaptation won't prevent the next one.
Yes, this time is different.
"Like all bubbles, it ends when the money runs out." – Andy Kessler
The Apple Bill passed the House overwhelmingly but then died in the Senate after a bureaucratic snafu for which Jobs forever
blamed Republican Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, then chair of the Finance Committee. Yet all was not lost: A similar bill passed
in California, and Apple flooded its home state with almost 10,000 computers. Apple's success in California gave it a leg up
in the lucrative education market as states around the country began to computerize their classrooms. But education was not
radically transformed, unless you count a spike in
The
Oregon Trail
–related deaths from dysentery. If anything, those who have studied the rapid introduction of computers into
classrooms in the 1980s and '90s tend to conclude that it exacerbated inequities. Elite students and schools zoomed smoothly
into cyberspace, while poorer schools fell further behind, bogged down by a lack of training and resources.
A young, charismatic geek hawks his wares using bold promises of social progress but actually makes things worse and gets
extremely rich in the process -- today it is easy to see the story of the Apple Bill as a stand-in for the history of the digital
revolution as a whole. The growing concern about the role that technology plays in our lives and society is fueled in no small
part by a growing realization that we have been duped. We were told that computerizing everything would lead to greater
prosperity, personal empowerment, collective understanding, even the ability to transcend the limits of the physical realm and
create a big, beautiful global brain made out of electrons. Instead, our extreme dependence on technology seems to have mainly
enriched and empowered a handful of tech companies at the expense of everyone else. The panic over Facebook's impact on
democracy sparked by Donald Trump's election in a haze of fake news and Russian bots felt like the national version of the
personal anxiety that seizes many of us when we find ourselves snapping away from our phone for what seems like the 1,000th
time in an hour and contemplating how our lives are being stolen by a screen. We are stuck in a really bad system.
This realization has led to a justifiable anger and derision aimed at the architects of this system. Silicon Valley executives
and engineers are taken to task every week in the op-ed pages of our largest newspapers. We are told that their
irresponsibility and greed have undermined our freedom and degraded our democratic institutions. While it is gratifying to see
tech billionaires get a (very small) portion of their comeuppance, we often forget that until very recently, Silicon Valley
was hailed by almost everyone as creating the path toward a brilliant future. Perhaps we should pause and contemplate how this
situation came to be, lest we make the same mistakes again. The story of how Silicon Valley ended up at the center of the
American dream in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, as well as the ambiguous reality behind its own techno-utopian
dreams, is the subject of Margaret O'Mara's sweeping new history,
The
Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America
. In it, she puts Silicon Valley into the context of a larger story about
postwar America's economic and social transformations, highlighting its connections with the mainstream rather than the
cultural quirks and business practices that set it apart.
The
Code
urges us to consider Silicon Valley's shortcomings as America's shortcomings, even if it fails to interrogate them
as deeply as our current crisis -- and the role that technology played in bringing it about -- seems to warrant.
S
ilicon Valley entered the public consciousness in the 1970s as something of a charmed place. The first recorded
mention of Silicon Valley was in a 1971 article by a writer for a technology newspaper reporting on the region's semiconductor
industry, which was booming despite the economic doldrums that had descended on most of the country. As the Rust Belt
foundered and Detroit crumbled, Silicon Valley soared to heights barely conveyed by the metrics that O'Mara rattles off in the
opening pages of
The
Code
: "Three billion smartphones. Two billion social media users. Two trillion-dollar companies" and "the richest people
in the history of humanity." Many people have attempted to divine the secret of Silicon Valley's success. The consensus became
that the Valley had pioneered a form of quicksilver entrepreneurialism perfectly suited to the Information Age. It was fast,
flexible, meritocratic, and open to new ways of doing things. It allowed brilliant young people to turn crazy ideas into
world-changing companies practically overnight. Silicon Valley came to represent the innovative power of capitalism freed from
the clutches of uptight men in midcentury business suits, bestowed upon the masses by a new, appealing folk hero: the
cherub-faced start-up founder hacking away in his dorm room.
The Code
both bolsters and revises this story. On the one hand, O'Mara, a historian at the University of Washington, is
clearly enamored with tales of entrepreneurial derring-do. From the "traitorous eight" who broke dramatically from the
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in 1957 to start Fairchild Semiconductor and create the modern silicon transistor to the
well-documented story of Facebook's founding, the major milestones of Silicon Valley history are told in heroic terms that can
seem gratingly out of touch, given what we know about how it all turned out. In her portrayal of Silicon Valley's tech titans,
O'Mara emphasizes virtuous qualities like determination, ingenuity, and humanistic concern, while hints of darker motives are
studiously ignored. We learn that a "visionary and relentless" Jeff Bezos continued to drive a beat-up Honda Accord even as he
became a billionaire, but his reported remark to an Amazon sales team that they ought to treat small publishers the way a lion
treats a sickly gazelle is apparently not deemed worthy of the historical record. But at the same time, O'Mara helps us
understand why Silicon Valley's economic dominance can't be chalked up solely to the grit and smarts of entrepreneurs battling
it out in the free market. At every stage of its development, she shows how the booming tech industry was aided and abetted by
a wide swath of American society both inside and outside the Valley. Marketing gurus shaped the tech companies' images,
educators evangelized for technology in schools, best-selling futurists preached personalized tech as a means toward personal
liberation. What emerges in
The
Code
is less the story of a tribe of misfits working against the grain than the simultaneous alignment of the country's
political, cultural, and technical elites around the view that Silicon Valley held the key to the future.
Above all, O'Mara highlights the profound role that the US government played in Silicon Valley's rise. At the end of World War
II, the region was still the sleepy, sun-drenched Santa Clara Valley, home to farms and orchards, an upstart Stanford
University, and a scattering of small electronics and aerospace firms. Then came the space and arms races, given new urgency
in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, which suggested a serious Soviet advantage. Millions of dollars in government funding
flooded technology companies and universities around the country. An outsize portion went to Northern California's burgeoning
tech industry, thanks in large part to Stanford's far-sighted provost Frederick Terman, who reshaped the university into a hub
for engineering and the applied sciences.
Stanford and the surrounding area became a hive of government R&D during these years, as IBM and Lockheed Martin opened local
outposts and the first native start-ups hit the ground. While these early companies relied on what O'Mara calls the Valley's
"ecosystem" of fresh-faced engineers seeking freedom and sunshine in California, venture capitalists sniffing out a profitable
new industry, and lawyers, construction companies, and real estate agents jumping to serve their somewhat quirky ways, she
makes it clear that the lifeblood pumping through it all was government money. Fairchild Semiconductor's biggest clients for
its new silicon chips were NASA, which put them in the Apollo rockets, and the Defense Department, which stuck them in
Minuteman nuclear missiles. The brains of all of today's devices have their origin in the United States' drive to defeat the
Soviet Union in the Cold War.
But the role of public funding in the creation of Silicon Valley is not the big government success story a good liberal might
be tempted to consider it. As O'Mara points out, during the Cold War American leaders deliberately pushed public funds to
private industry rather than government programs because they thought the market was the best way to spur technological
progress while avoiding the specter of centralized planning, which had come to smack of communist tyranny. In the years that
followed, this belief in the market as the means to achieve the goals of liberal democracy spread to nearly every aspect of
life and society, from public education and health care to social justice, solidifying into the creed we now call
neoliberalism. As the role of the state was eclipsed by the market, Silicon Valley -- full of brilliant entrepreneurs devising
technologies that promised to revolutionize everything they touched -- was well positioned to step into the void.
The earliest start-up founders hardly seemed eager to assume the mantle of social visionary that their successors,
today's flashy celebrity technologists, happily take up. They were buttoned-down engineers who reflected the cool practicality
of their major government and corporate clients. As the 1960s wore on, they were increasingly out of touch. Amid the tumult of
the civil rights movement and the protests against the Vietnam War, the major concern in Silicon Valley's manicured technology
parks was a Johnson-era drop in military spending. The relatively few techies who were political at the time were
conservative.
Things started to change in the 1970s. The '60s made a belated arrival in the Valley as a younger generation of geeks steeped
in countercultural values began to apply them to the development of computer technology. The weight of Silicon Valley's
culture shifted from the conservative suits to long-haired techno-utopians with dreams of radically reorganizing society
through technology.
This shift was perhaps best embodied by Lee Felsenstein, a former self-described "child radical" who cut
his teeth running communications operations for anti-war and civil rights protests before going on to develop the Tom Swift
Terminal, one of the earliest personal computers.
Felsenstein believed that giving everyday people access to computers could
liberate them from the crushing hierarchy of modern industrial society by breaking the monopoly on information held by
corporations and government bureaucracies. "To change the rules, change the tools," he liked to say.
Whereas Silicon Valley
had traditionally developed tools for the Man, these techies wanted to make tools to undermine him. They created a loose-knit
network of hobbyist groups, drop-in computer centers, and DIY publications to share knowledge and work toward the ideal of
personal liberation through technology. Their dreams seemed increasingly achievable as computers shrank from massive,
room-filling mainframes to the smaller-room-filling minicomputers to, finally, in 1975, the first commercially viable personal
computer, the Altair.
Yet as O'Mara shows, the techno-utopians did not ultimately constitute such a radical break from the past. While their calls
to democratize computing may have echoed Marxist cries to seize the means of production, most were capitalists at heart. To
advance the personal computer "revolution," they founded start-ups, trade magazines, and business forums, relying on funding
from venture capital funds often with roots in the old money elite. Jobs became the most celebrated entrepreneur of the era by
embodying the discordant figures of both the cowboy capitalist and the touchy-feely hippie, an image crafted in large part by
the marketing guru Regis McKenna. Silicon Valley soon became an industry that looked a lot like those that had come before. It
was nearly as white and male as they were. Its engineers worked soul-crushing hours and blew off steam with boozy pool
parties. And its most successful company, Microsoft, clawed its way to the top through ruthless monopolistic tactics.
Perhaps the strongest case against the supposed subversiveness of the personal computer pioneers is how quickly they were
embraced by those in power. As profits rose and spectacular IPOs seized headlines throughout the 1980s, Silicon Valley was
championed by the rising stars of supply-side economics, who hitched their drive for tax cuts and deregulation to tech's
venture-capital-fueled rocket ship. The groundwork was laid in 1978, when the Valley's venture capitalists formed an alliance
with the Republicans to kill then-President Jimmy Carter's proposed increase in the capital gains tax. They beta-tested
Reaganomics by advancing the dubious argument that millionaires' making slightly less money on their investments might stifle
technological innovation by limiting the supply of capital available to start-ups. And they carried the day.
As president, Ronald Reagan doubled down with tax cuts and wild technophilia. In a truly trippy speech to students at Moscow
State University in 1988, he hailed the transcendent possibilities of the new economy epitomized by Silicon Valley, predicting
a future in which "human innovation increasingly makes physical resources obsolete." Meanwhile, the market-friendly New
Democrats embraced the tech industry so enthusiastically that they became known, to their chagrin, as Atari Democrats. The
media turned Silicon Valley entrepreneurs into international celebrities with flattering profiles and cover stories -- living
proof that the mix of technological innovation, risk taking, corporate social responsibility, and lack of regulation that
defined Silicon Valley in the popular imagination was the template for unending growth and prosperity, even in an era of
deindustrialization and globalization.
T
he near-universal celebration of Silicon Valley as an avatar of free-market capitalism in the 1980s helped ensure that
the market would guide the Internet's development in the 1990s, as it became the cutting-edge technology that promised to
change everything. The Internet began as an academic resource, first as ARPANET, funded and overseen by the Department of
Defense, and later as the National Science Foundation's NSFNET. And while Al Gore didn't invent the Internet, he did spearhead
the push to privatize it: As the Clinton administration's "technology czar," he helped develop its landmark National
Information Infrastructure (NII) plan, which emphasized the role of private industry and the importance of telecommunications
deregulation in constructing America's "information superhighway." Not surprisingly, Gore would later do a little-known turn
as a venture capitalist with the prestigious Valley firm Kleiner Perkins, becoming very wealthy in the process. In response to
his NII plan, the advocacy group Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility warned of a possible corporate takeover of
the Internet. "An imaginative view of the risks of an NII designed without sufficient attention to public-interest needs can
be found in the modern genre of dystopian fiction known as 'cyberpunk,'" they wrote. "Cyberpunk novelists depict a world in
which a handful of multinational corporations have seized control, not only of the physical world, but of the virtual world of
cyberspace." Who can deny that today's commercial Internet has largely fulfilled this cyberpunk nightmare? Someone should ask
Gore what he thinks.
Despite offering evidence to the contrary, O'Mara narrates her tale of Silicon Valley's rise as, ultimately, a success story.
At the end of the book, we see it as the envy of other states around the country and other countries around the world, an
"exuberantly capitalist, slightly anarchic tech ecosystem that had evolved over several generations." Throughout the book, she
highlights the many issues that have sparked increasing public consternation with Big Tech of late, from its lack of diversity
to its stupendous concentration of wealth, but these are framed in the end as unfortunate side effects of the headlong rush to
create a new and brilliant future. She hardly mentions the revelations by the National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward
Snowden of the US government's chilling capacity to siphon users' most intimate information from Silicon Valley's platforms
and the voraciousness with which it has done so. Nor does she grapple with Uber, which built its multibillion-dollar leviathan
on the backs of meagerly paid drivers. The fact that in order to carry out almost anything online we must subject ourselves to
a hypercommodified hellscape of targeted advertising and algorithmic sorting does not appear to be a huge cause for concern.
But these and many other aspects of our digital landscape have made me wonder if a technical complex born out of Cold War
militarism and mainstreamed in a free-market frenzy might not be fundamentally always at odds with human flourishing. O'Mara
suggests at the end of her book that Silicon Valley's flaws might be redeemed by a new, more enlightened, and more diverse
generation of techies. But haven't we heard this story before?
If there is a larger lesson to learn from
The
Code
, it is that technology cannot be separated from the social and political contexts in which it is created. The major
currents in society shape and guide the creation of a system that appears to spring from the minds of its inventors alone.
Militarism and unbridled capitalism remain among the most powerful forces in the United States, and to my mind, there is no
reason to believe that a new generation of techies might resist them any more effectively than the previous ones. The question
of fixing Silicon Valley is inseparable from the question of fixing the system of postwar American capitalism, of which it is
perhaps the purest expression. Some believe that the problems we see are bugs that might be fixed with a patch. Others think
the code is so bad at its core that a radical rewrite is the only answer. Although
The
Code
was written for people in the first group, it offers an important lesson for those of us in the second: Silicon
Valley is as much a symptom as it is a cause of our current crisis. Resisting its bad influence on society will ultimately
prove meaningless if we cannot also formulate a vision of a better world -- one with a more humane relationship to technology -- to
counteract it. And, alas, there is no app for that.
Adrian Chen
Adrian Chen is a freelance writer. He is working on a book about Internet culture.
Technocracy is a part of the neoliberal elite and they are interested in continuation of globalization. As such they are fierce
opponents of Trump "national neoliberalism" project. Nothing personal, strictly business.
"... As soon as Novichok was mentioned, I knew it was geopolitics and not internal Russian politics. ..."
"... NOVICHOK is a highly toxic and contagious substance. The reason why "it didn't kill the Skripals" is because it was never used on the Skripals just as it has not been used on Navalny. In both cases there would have been dozens of collateral victims. From the moment Navalny started to reel with pain during the domestic commercial flight to 4 days later when amid treatment in Berlin it is reasonable to estimate that 300 to 400 people had been in his proximity. Not one of them has shown or known to have contaged symptons. Let us list the narrative. ..."
"... I think my estimate of a total 300 to 400 people within the first 3 to 4 days having been within close proximity to Navalny is quite reasonable. If he was really was infected with an horrific chemical warfare agent, why would he even be allowed into Germany ? ..."
"... In political terms he is a cult leader of an SPB/Moscow elitist metropolitan cult that does not give a damn about most of Russia. ..."
"... Who benefits? For certain not the Joe Publics of UK, Russia and Germany but maybe the likes of Exxon, chevron, bp etc might. ..."
"... I suspected Navalny may be connected to our 'trusted friend' Browder. Now I know for sure. ..."
"... At some point, as background noise, there was some news read out on the radio. After the segment about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, NordStream 2 and possible EU sanctions the taxi driver shook his head and said thoughtfully: "Yeah, mommy is stuck " ..."
"... "What mommy?" asked the taxi driver. "That same one, Angela Merkel. You know why Navalny was surrendered to Germany? Let me explain." And then, for a quarter of an hour, the taxi driver presented a coherent theory of what happened, worthy of study at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which answered all the questions that had been bothering me. ..."
"... Operatives at the German Ministry of International Affairs, who sympathized with Schröder's SPD, got in touch with Yulia Navalny (his wife) and offered to hospitalize him in a clinic in Germany. Yulia agreed, and appealed to Putin. ..."
"... The next day Berlin announced that analysis results showed poisoning with a cholinesterase inhibitor. This was its last warning shot. Then there was another phone call, to warn that the next time "Novichok" will be found. Moscow refused, and promised Minsk a billion dollars on that very day. ..."
"... There followed an attempt by Fritz Merz, Angela Merkel's deputy in the DCU, to lean on Merkel to shut down NordStream 2, but he swiftly got his ears boxed by the business lobby of German companies that invested in this pipeline and, whining and whimpering, crawled back into his hole. ..."
"... Then Lukashenko, being a tough nut to crack, presented an intentionally amateurish intercept of secret diplomatic communications between Poland and Germany in which they discussed their plans for poisoning Navalny. Now they are sitting in Warsaw and Berlin and have no idea how to respond to this movie -- to deny or to pretend that they didn't notice it. What a dilemma! ..."
"... If Merkel announces that it is the crime of the century in which a great Russian opposition figure has been fiendishly poisoned with "Novichok," then she would be obligated to sever all relations with the bloody regime and present evidence. But there won't be any evidence to present. And nobody will allow her to freeze the completion of the pipeline. Otherwise German companies, which invested in NordStream 2 will take the Reichstag even ahead of the irate German citizens. In either case, DCU/CSU will face a defeat. ..."
"... But what about Russia's friend Gehrhard Schröder? Being the chairman of the board of the NordStream 2 company and head of the SPD, he looks into the future with confidence and optimism. In any case, CDU/CSU will be deflated and SPD will reinforce its position in the Bundestag and either independently or in coalition with other parties will install its own leader as Bundeskanzler. NordStream 2, which has been in political limbo for a few years, will be completed and enter into service at full rated capacity very quickly. ..."
A 33-year-old young woman who recently flew in from London. On August 15 she celebrated her birthday and then went with Navalny
on the working trip. When the plane urgently landed in Omsk for Navalny's hospitalization, the woman also remained on the ground
in the 'Ibis Siberia Omsk' hotel, waiting for Alexei to recover. She left from Russia to Britain on August 22.
Maria Konstantinovna Pevchikh (Мария Константиновна Певчих) born in 1987, russian. In 2010 she graduated from the sociological
faculty of Moscow Lomonosov State University.
Lives in London. Fond of sports, trains under the program of "Navy Seals", an elite US military unit, owns bookstores in the
UK and Australia.
Have close ties with Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yevgeny Chichvarkin. Joined Navalny's activity in 2009. At that time, she was
22-year-old and worked as an assistant to one of the British parliamentarians.
It is alleged that the family and relatives do not know this woman.
The investigation previously published a chronology of events here https://ria.ru/20200821/khronologiya-1576110899.html
They discovered that in Tomsk the blogger's company has booked seven rooms for four people, Navalny himself spent the night in
a different room that was recorded in his name.
"WTF are you talking about? The USA is perfectly willing to fight Russia to the last European NATO member.."
Peter. An Ex-CIA man, of whom I've long forgotten his name used to say the same thing about Saudi Arabia, that the Saudis were
willing to fight Iran down to the last American soldier.
Myth, the US state blames the pusillanimity of the public for its tactics of ultraviolence. The Russians would be drowning
in their own blood were it not for Russian military power and the Chinese alliance.
"Recall that Alexei Navalny has two suspended sentences and is involved in several criminal cases at once.
"In December last year, he was sentenced in the case of embezzlement of money from the Yves Rocher company to a three and a
half years suspended sentence. His brother Oleg was sentenced to a real three and a half years in prison.
In 2013, Navalny, who in 2009 worked as an adviser to the governor of the Kirov region, was found guilty of embezzling property
of the state-owned company Kirovles and sentenced to five years in a general regime colony. He was taken into custody in the courtroom
and placed in a pre-trial detention center, but the very next day the Kirov regional court changed the measure of restraint to
a recognizance not to leave. As a result, the sentence was changed to a suspended one.
In addition, the Investigative Committee is investigating the case of the theft of 100 million rubles from the SPS party against
Alexei Navalny since the end of December 2012.
Activists of Navalny's team – deputy of the Zyuzino metropolitan area Konstantin Yankauskas, as well as entrepreneurs Nikolai
Lyaskin and Vladimir Ashurkov – are suspected of fraud related to violation of the procedure for financing the campaign in the
election of the mayor of Moscow.
Navalny has repeatedly found himself in the role of a defendant in claims for the protection of honor and dignity – for throwing
slanderous publications into the Internet. So, recently, the Lublin Court of Moscow satisfied such a claim by the chairman of
the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship Igor Rudensky."
I have the same feeling as you. Russophobia simply indicates the bastards are working together against us the steeple. Chinaphobia
maybe indicates the Chinese leadership and US leadership jointly want to cull the older generation with bio warfare.
Since none of UK , US. Russia nor China are democracies, their only task is to manage the narrative they tell the people. If
I was to go out and buy a product made in China, half the cost would be for transport or profit to the dealer. That is a shared
enterprise. One party for example manufactures a diesel generator, while the Western parties sit on their bums and take profit.
You are really missing the point. NOVICHOK which you should know was developed (though not originally invented) in a lab in
Soviet Uzbekistan, which following post Soviet independence, was dismantled by the CIA who took the samples back home to the USA.
So it is the Americans not the Russians who have the original well-spring.
NOVICHOK is a highly toxic and contagious substance. The reason why "it didn't kill the Skripals" is because it was never
used on the Skripals just as it has not been used on Navalny. In both cases there would have been dozens of collateral victims.
From the moment Navalny started to reel with pain during the domestic commercial flight to 4 days later when amid treatment in
Berlin it is reasonable to estimate that 300 to 400 people had been in his proximity. Not one of them has shown or known to have
contaged symptons. Let us list the narrative.
Original domestic commercial flight, passengers, crew & colleagues travelling with him
Ambulance to Russian hospital in Omsk ambulance crew
Doctors, nurses, officials, press and Navalny family at hospital in Omsk
German doctors arrived the next day, working along side Russian doctors whom they praised and credited with saving Navalny's
life.
Russian doctors agree to release Navalny for medivac transport against their own medical advice, respecting Navalny family
wishes.
Ambulance crew once again takes Navalny in the reverse direction back to the airport where the private jet was waiting.
Introducing the patient with the "military grade nerve agent" oozing out of his skin to a new flight crew.
Plane lands in Berlin and a German ambulance crew now handles the human chemical warfare torpedo. Note the German ambulance
crew members had short sleeves. If the German Gov believed there was a possibility of a Novichok type substance at play why
was the official greeting party not all dressed up like those Mi5 Salisbury central casting extras in Hazmat suits?
The convoy arrives at the hospital in Berlin handing Navalny over to the German team no doubt comprised of endless staff
members.
I think my estimate of a total 300 to 400 people within the first 3 to 4 days having been within close proximity to Navalny
is quite reasonable. If he was really was infected with an horrific chemical warfare agent, why would he even be allowed into
Germany ?
As for Navalny and the Russian administration and the Russian public, they both view him as useful but not likeable. The Putin
administration has made good use of reports by Navalny's anti-corruption group to expose both people in government and in business.
The Russian public watches the Youtube videos of Navalny's reports to the tune of millions of hits & clicks. However as a person
Alexei Navalny is not like and for good reason. This is reflected in his 2% poll rated that due to all the current focus has moved
up to 4% for Navalny as a potential "politician" (he is actually already a failed one) 4% is his high water mark.
The likes of The Guardian and The Independent have portrayed Navalny over the years as some kind of Russian Nelson Mandela
when in fact Navalny is a better educated more sophisticated Tommy Robinson. Only Navalny is even more racist than so-called "Tommy
Robinson" as I don't even recall him ever saying "All Muslims are cockroaches" as Navalny was once quoted to have said.
In political terms he is a cult leader of an SPB/Moscow elitist metropolitan cult that does not give a damn about most
of Russia. He and his political cohorts such as Ms Sobol offer not one single policy for the people of the Russian Heartland.
Who are far better cared for and better represented by Valdimir Putin, whom the Heartland people lovingly address as Vladimirovich,
President Putin's middle name. Navalny is even more Neo-Liberal and far less small "l" liberal in general values and mindset than
President Putin.
The description is very accurate, and the definition of "elite metropolitan cult" hit the bull's eye. Young people think that
being an oppositionist is being active, fashionable, trendy (also at protests you can post photos on Instagram!) Unfortunately,
if they are asked specific questions, they cannot answer. They are there for self-expression.
--
People follow ideas, Navalny's idea is not clear, where is the plan, where is the perspective? Looking at Navalny's activity,
I feel they are trying to sell me something.
E.g. his website promotes the Smart Voting system https://navalny.com/p/6418/
the title is "Do you want it like in Belarus? Here is a list of candidates, find yours"
the first paragraph point is "to support the rebellious people in word, action and money is very right, but you may do even
more right thing "
the second "it is impossible to use your vote wisely without our smart voting system", a call to action "register"
the third "a few brave Spartans (sic!) broke through Putin's evil cordons and you can support them here is how:
1. Check out the list of candidates. Transfer money to someone you like
Well, actually I sell something myself and I wright similar marketing texts. Compare:
"Are you in search of Boho, Ethnic or Tribal fashion? You're in the right place Our unique *** is the way to express your style!
Does your daughter think of cutting off her gorgeous long hair? Get a pair of our *** for her to show your love and care Here
is how: visit our shop *** Choose the one you like and let us work on the perfect *** crafted especially for you "
When people create an online store of political candidates, it is not credible. Our electoral system means collecting signatures,
real signatures of living people, not collecting money.
Thank you for your courage to speak the truth Mr. Murray. I am trying to do it sometimes too here in the Netherlands, but I
am an engineer, not a politician or journalist, so my means and persuasive talents are limited. However – to stay on the topic
of poison – it feels good to see that the anti-Russian propaganda has not poisoned all minds in West Europe yet.
It's only today that I've realised who is Prigozhin. He is the owner of Concord group, they were those russian with whom Trump
conspired to win elections!
Prigozhin sent 1 million roubles to Charite for Navalny.
He demands 88 millions, I wrote about it previously. It is a demand due to court's decision. I don't think it was издевательство,
it looks more like Prigozhin is afraid of being accused of poisoning 🙂
Russophobes these days, which is an enormous section of the population, will believe anything dastardly about that country
and its leadership. The narrative here, that doesn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny as Murray shows, is that the Russians
are bumbling villains that couldn't kill a wet paper bag.
Another narrative is that they didn't kill Navalny on purpose. It's just "a warning", etc.. A villain is a villain.
One BS story is as good as another. Of course, there should be a delay between one fiction and the next one. However, the old
saying still applies: throw enough sh*t and something is bound to stick.
At the interpersonal level, it's sometimes simpler to simply exaggerate the exaggeration: e.g., Putin is a villain and look
at what he did to dirty my underwear; there's a Putin under your bed; yeah, and what about the bad weather we've been having?
Putin, of course.
And it's not like any of this is new, e.g., US President Reagan: "Russia has been outlawed forever. Bombing begins in 5 minutes."
It so happened that yesterday I was coming home in a taxi. The taxi driver, who looked like Bill Murray, turned out to be very
talkative: during the trip, as often happens, we touched on all subjects, from the weather to blondes behind the wheel.
At some point, as background noise, there was some news read out on the radio. After the segment about the poisoning of
Alexei Navalny, NordStream 2 and possible EU sanctions the taxi driver shook his head and said thoughtfully: "Yeah, mommy is stuck
"
"What mommy?" I inquired.
"What mommy?" asked the taxi driver. "That same one, Angela Merkel. You know why Navalny was surrendered to Germany? Let
me explain." And then, for a quarter of an hour, the taxi driver presented a coherent theory of what happened, worthy of study
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which answered all the questions that had been bothering me.
This is how it all came down.
At the beginning of August everybody was preparing for the elections in Belarus -- Belarus itself, as well as Russia and countries
in the EU. It was an exciting game in which everybody placed bets on their own candidate. But I must immediately warn you that
what we were observing was just the visible part of the iceberg, while the underwater currents were known only to a few.
Moscow and Minsk were demonstratively smashing dishes, shouting at each other and pulling each other by the hair, creating
the illusion of a complete break in relations. This was as intended!
Europe, content and relaxed, was rubbing its hands and already seeing how it will very soon kick out "Europe's last dictator"
and install a Belorussian Juan Guaido clone in Minsk, grabbing this delectable piece for itself.
The elections were held. Everybody froze. Not bothering to wait for the election results to come in, on orders from the Polish
provocateur [Telegraph channel] Nexta the Belorussian white-red-white [Nazi occupation flag] opposition marched into battle.
At first everything was going to plan. Excited white-red-white crowds flooded the streets and started threatening the police,
officials and journalists, starting skirmishes and strikes. Slovak and Spanish ambassadors in Belarus spoke out in support of
the protesters and "came over to the side of the people." This was also as intended. It looked like just a bit more of this and
["Europe's last dictator"] Lukashenko would fall.
But then Moscow entered into the game. It recognized the outcome of the elections [which Lukashenko won] and started to support
him organizationally, informationally and financially. Europe had to ramp up pressure. But how?
Nexta was crapping bricks and exhorting the white-red-white activists to get more active, but they just couldn't get any traction
in their attempts to seize power. They turned out to be too weak compared to their own people.
And then, luckily, Navalny was poisoned. In any case, that's what some people imagined.
Operatives at the German Ministry of International Affairs, who sympathized with Schröder's SPD, got in touch with Yulia
Navalny (his wife) and offered to hospitalize him in a clinic in Germany. Yulia agreed, and appealed to Putin.
Then the German minister of foreign affairs walked into Bundeskanzlerin's office and laid his joker on the table: "We
can take away Navalny for treatment. If Moscow tries to prevent this, we will cause a loud scandal. We'll get his body and then
decide how to play this." Merkel found this proposal attractive and, not thinking too long, agreed. Moscow did not object to Navalny's
transfer.
After Navalny was brought to Germany and delivered to the Charité clinic in a cortège consisting of 12 cars, mommy Angela called
Moscow and demanded: Russia must stop supporting Lukashenko, otherwise we will announce that Navalny had been poisoned with "Novichok."
Moscow refused and increased support of Lukashenko, declaring that it has created a reserve of special forces to be sent into
Belarus and take control -- just in case anyone makes a sudden move.
The next day Berlin announced that analysis results showed poisoning with a cholinesterase inhibitor. This was its last
warning shot. Then there was another phone call, to warn that the next time "Novichok" will be found. Moscow refused, and promised
Minsk a billion dollars on that very day.
At that point, Berlin's patience ran out. Navalny was immediately transferred to a military hospital, where it was immediately
"discovered" that he had been poisoned with "Novichok." It was not possible to find "Novichok" while he was at Charité because
journalists and officials could demand to see the test results, while at a military hospital such requests would be denied: the
information is secret. But not even "Novichok" could force Moscow to stop supporting Minsk. Russia's prime minister Mikhail Mishustin
was dispatched to Minsk with a briefcase bulging with papers to sign.
There followed an attempt by Fritz Merz, Angela Merkel's deputy in the DCU, to lean on Merkel to shut down NordStream 2,
but he swiftly got his ears boxed by the business lobby of German companies that invested in this pipeline and, whining and whimpering,
crawled back into his hole.
Then Lukashenko, being a tough nut to crack, presented an intentionally amateurish intercept of secret diplomatic communications
between Poland and Germany in which they discussed their plans for poisoning Navalny. Now they are sitting in Warsaw and Berlin
and have no idea how to respond to this movie -- to deny or to pretend that they didn't notice it. What a dilemma!
The interim result is thus as follows: Navalny is alive and well, sitting quietly in a German military hospital and inquiring
periodically when he will be allowed to go home. But he won't be allowed to go home any time soon.
Now, a year ahead of elections, parliamentary electoral campaign is starting in Germany. Merkel's DCU/CSU coalition doesn't
have a lot of popular support as it is. Some people are even now ready to take the Reichstag with their bare hands and put their
own flag on top of it. And then we have this toxic story with "Novichok"!
If Merkel announces that it is the crime of the century in which a great Russian opposition figure has been fiendishly
poisoned with "Novichok," then she would be obligated to sever all relations with the bloody regime and present evidence. But
there won't be any evidence to present. And nobody will allow her to freeze the completion of the pipeline. Otherwise German companies,
which invested in NordStream 2 will take the Reichstag even ahead of the irate German citizens. In either case, DCU/CSU will face
a defeat.
But if she slams the transmission into reverse, apologizes and returns Navalny to Russia, claiming that what happened was an
unfortunate series of errors, and punishes everybody who had put her in this situation to the full extent of German law, this
won't save the situation either. German voter's won't forgive Merkel over the loss of Germany's international authority, loss
of influence in Europe and total incompetence in handling foreign affairs, and will still punish her at the polls.
Therefore, her only choice is to bide her time, sitting with one buttock on each of two chairs -- blaming Russia for deploying
"Novichok" and simultaneously supporting the completion of NordStream 2. But we are about to see a flood of eyewitness reports,
photographs and documents from the various hospitals where the VIP patient has been treated, knocking out one of the two chairs.
And so the possibility that Merkel's retirement will occur before her term is up should not be dismissed. In that case, she will
have been unable to beat Helmut's Kohl's 16-year record as Bundeskanzler.
But what about Russia's friend Gehrhard Schröder? Being the chairman of the board of the NordStream 2 company and head
of the SPD, he looks into the future with confidence and optimism. In any case, CDU/CSU will be deflated and SPD will reinforce
its position in the Bundestag and either independently or in coalition with other parties will install its own leader as Bundeskanzler.
NordStream 2, which has been in political limbo for a few years, will be completed and enter into service at full rated capacity
very quickly.
When we rolled up to my house, the taxi driver asked: "Do you play chess?"
"Sometimes," I nodded.
In chess, there is a variation called "poisoned pawn." Your opponent, trying to gain material advantage, takes this pawn, ends
up trapped and inevitably loses.
As I was getting out of the taxi, somewhat perplexed, I asked the taxi driver where he got all this information. He smiled
a sad Bill Murray smile and answered: "From my brother. He lives in Germany and also works as a taxi driver." It was at this moment
that I realized that taxi drivers know everything.
Israel raises an important question about the role on neoliberal MSM is spreading COVID-19
panic.
Notable quotes:
"... Sinaisky claims that they brought the pandemics upon us because of the high debt problem, or by their inability to continue colonial plunder. Alternatively, a notable commenter to his text suggests that it was done because of overproduction of capital. In other words, the bank-lending rate is so close to zero, or even negative, that the whole machinery of capitalism was deluged in a flood of capital, and needed a major war, or indeed a global pandemic, to use it up. ..."
"... Because of this freak combination of forces, Sweden left its health policy in the hands of local professionals and remained free, while its neighbouring countries transferred the responsibility to globalist politicians and embraced quarantine. ..."
"... Thus the liberal Blairite media (beginning with the NY Times and the Guardian) played a key part in the Corona crisis. They were the piper; but who ordered the piper? ..."
...Do the US plutocrats (that is, the American über-wealthy) control all that? I think
they would be amazed to learn that, especially "for generations", bearing in mind that the US
was not a very significant factor before the WWI. In my view, the rich are not that smart. But
the network exists; I have called its obscure controllers The Masters of Discourse .
Sinaisky claims that they brought the pandemics upon us because of the high debt
problem, or by their inability to continue colonial plunder. Alternatively, a notable commenter
to his text suggests that it was done because of overproduction of capital. In other words, the
bank-lending rate is so close to zero, or even negative, that the whole machinery of capitalism
was deluged in a flood of capital, and needed a major war, or indeed a global pandemic, to use
it up.
Finally, Sinaisky claims that "atomization of society, breaking up community solidarity,
eroding all non-monetary connections between people, destroying family relations and weakening
blood ties, is a long-standing plutocratic project. Now, using this fake pandemic, the
plutocrats have gone even further, now they train us to see each other not as friend, not as
brother, not even as a source of profit, but mainly as a source of mortal infection." I wonder
what makes him think that is an object of plutocratic desire? Certainly rich people want to
make money and have more power, agreed. Is it necessary for them to atomise society? Who will
they and their kids socialize with in such a ruined world?
I am not sure that there is a human agency with such goals. A non-human factor is a much
more suitable culprit. In the old days, such a culprit was called Satan, and there were mighty
organisations aka churches that fought Satan. In a charming movie, Luc Besson's Fifth Element,
'Love' defeats 'the Shadow', the personified evil that was about to obliterate Earth. Call it
Satan, call it Shadow, the thing surely has human collaborationists in the mainstream media. I
wrote about it in a piece called The Shadow of Zog . Indeed media
should be sorted out in order to deal with it.
Sweden, this lucky country that avoided lockdown and its consequences, was saved by a rare
media misstep. (This story has never been published though it is known to many Swedes.) Corona
propaganda was carried out by the same liberal Bonnier-owned newspaper, DN (Dagens Nyheter),
that played up Greta Thunberg. (Sinaisky's senses served him right: indeed Covid is a new Greta
multiplied by a factor of 50). The Greta campaign had as its favourite high horse
flygskam , or flight-shaming. Stop taking flights to lower carbon emissions ,
was the idea. Now we have no flights at all, so this movement disappeared after achieving its
goals.
In February 2020, the DN organised a week-long sleeper train culture trip to North Italy for
the Greta-following liberal elite. A berth on this train was priced starting at ten thousand
Euros. The group went up to the Italian Alps and down to the Carnival in Venice and finally
returned home, full to the brim with interesting experiences and coronavirus infections. A few
days after the train returned to Stockholm, the disease broke out at large. Many of the liberal
journalists that travelled on the Corona Express (as the train became known) fell sick, and
their close relatives suffered, too. This incident caused the death of many elderly Jews,
parents or uncles of those liberal journalists. It was a media phenomenon, and the
Jewish media reported that the death rate among Swedish Jews was 14 times higher than
their share of the population (well, it is not as bad as it sounds; only nine very old Jews
died, all over 80).
As the people in authority knew all about the Corona Express, the liberal lobby was too
ashamed to call for quarantine against the disease they has carried to Sweden. (Or they did
call, but in sotto voce.) Furthermore, the DN was their only significant liberal media outlet,
as Bonnier had sold his TV channel to a state-owned company in December 2019, making heaps of
money but losing his ability to influence people.
Because of this freak combination of forces, Sweden left its health policy in the hands
of local professionals and remained free, while its neighbouring countries transferred the
responsibility to globalist politicians and embraced quarantine.
Thus the liberal Blairite media (beginning with the NY Times and the Guardian) played a
key part in the Corona crisis. They were the piper; but who ordered the piper?
The only other broad avenue for the people to get unbiased information is from a few news
shows that don't toe the liberal line -- most notably "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Fox News.
Since the riots began at the end of May, Carlson has taken it upon himself to expose the
corruption of not just the media but the liberal elected establishment that has implicitly
endorsed violence, racism, and disorder in the name of what is perversely called social
justice. I've called Carlson a
modern-day Cassandra because his clear-eyed assessment of the danger America faces has been
met with scorn, denial and derision. But name-calling, advertising boycotts, and continued
threats of violence against him and his family have not deterred Carlson from his declared
mission to be "the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink."
In that regard, Carlson has long used his show to ferret out information hidden in the
bowels of government and get it to the people -- bypassing the media guards who increasingly
see it as their sworn role to restrict the free exchange of ideas. On Carlson's Sept. 1 show,
author Chris Rufo discussed his research into how critical race theory has infiltrated the
federal government. I was shocked by just how bad the situation is, something we would never
learn from CNN or MSNBC.
"It's absolutely astonishing how critical race theory has pervaded every institution in
the federal government," Rufo told Carlson.
"What I have discovered is that critical race theory has become, in essence, the default
ideology of the federal bureaucracy and is now being weaponized against the American
people."
He gave three examples of what he called "cult indoctrination." For instance, he told of a
trainer who "told Treasury [Department] employees essentially that America was a fundamentally
white supremacist country and 'virtually all white people uphold the system of racism and white
superiority.'"
When Rufo explicitly urged Trump "to immediately issue an executive order abolishing
critical-race-theory training from the federal government," I thought to myself how that was a
smart move. It just might work. It's no secret that Trump watches Fox News. So why not make a
direct appeal to the president while you are on one of those shows? It's the only way most
guests would ever have a chance to get the president's attention. And in this case it
worked.
Just three quick days later, Trump did exactly what Rufo proposed -- he
issued an executive order through the director of the Office of Management and Budget to
"cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund [the] divisive, un-American propaganda
training sessions" where federal employees are told that "virtually all White people contribute
to racism."
When Trump reacted to Rufo's revelations the same way that I and millions of people watching
Tucker Carlson's show reacted - with outrage - I realized just how dangerous Carlson is to the
hegemony of the far left. His show is metaphorically the tunnel under the Berlin Wall that
allows direct communication between the pro-liberty, pro-American middle class and the freedom
fighters in the White House , bypassing both the bureaucracy and the stunningly dishonest media
that control the flow of information in and out of the Trump administration.
In order to keep our metaphor geographically, if not politically, correct, we should think
of the mainstream media as the Stasi, the East German secret police who were notoriously brutal
-- and effective -- in suppressing free thought and dissent from the party line. They were not
just the "enemy of the people," as Trump has labeled the worst of the modern media; they were
the "enemy of the truth."
That role has never been clearer than it was last week when Bob Woodward, the legacy
commander of the media's Main Directorate for Reconnaissance, issued his report on what he
found when he infiltrated the White House. Or at least what he purported to find.
According to Woodward, Trump perfidiously misled the American public about the scope and
danger of the China virus because he called the virus "deadly stuff" in February before any
Americans had died. Also because Trump knew "it goes through the air." I mean you have to be
notoriously stupid, or just plain incurious, not to have figured out by February that COVID-19
was a deadly peril. Does Woodward think that Trump shut down air travel from China at the end
of January just because he wanted to hurt the tourist industry?
Of course the new virus was deadly, but as Trump patiently explained to the thick-headed
Woodward then, and still has to explain to the rest of the White House press corps virtually
every day, there is no purpose served by terrifying the public. The president told Woodward
that the virus was "more deadly than even your strenuous flus." That turned out to be true, but
flus are also kept under control by widespread vaccination and therapeutics. Does Woodward need
to be reminded that the much more deadly pandemic of 1918 was caused by the Spanish flu ?
Of course he does, because it's not helpful to the media's narrative that Donald Trump is a
dangerous buffoon who must not be reelected. How could the country survive another four years
with a president who insists on doing things his own way, who won't be cowed by the Stasi
media, who considers it his duty to improve on conventional wisdom instead of surrendering to
it.
Which brings us back to Chris Rufo and his pipeline -- or should I say tunnel access -- to
the president. The obstinacy of Tucker Carlson, his unwillingness to take a knee to orthodoxy,
has made him the most dangerous person in America (after Trump) to the far-left overlords. And
when Trump acted on Rufo's entreaty regarding critical race theory, it led to near hysteria as
the Stasi media realized that its Berlin Wall had been breached.
As Carlson himself reported on Tuesday, Sept. 8, "To the news media, all of this was a
disaster. They claim to be journalists, but they despise actual reporting like Chris Rufo's.
His coverage showed that they are complicit in an anti-American lie that is deeply unpopular
with actual Americans, and they didn't take it well."
Among the many critics of Carlson for providing the president with accurate information
about what is being done in his name in the federal bureaucracy, perhaps the loudest was CNN's
Brian Stelter, the virtual communications director for the Stasi media.
Sen. Chris Murphy said this the other day: "I have a real belief that democracy is
unnatural. We don't run anything important in our lives by democratic vote other than our
government. Democracy is so unnatural that it's illogical to think it would be permanent. It
will fall apart at some point, and maybe that point isn't now, but maybe it is."
"... Seeking to impose on others the conformity it enforces in its ranks, articulate only in a boilerplate of ritualized cant, today's lumpen intelligentsia consists of persons for whom a little learning is delightful. They consider themselves educated because they are credentialed, stamped with the approval of institutions of higher education that gave them three things: a smattering of historical information just sufficient to make the past seem depraved; a vocabulary of indignation about the failure of all previous historic actors, from Washington to Lincoln to Churchill , to match the virtues of the lumpen intelligentsia; and the belief that America's grossest injustice is the insufficient obeisance accorded to this intelligentsia. ..."
"... Today's cancel culture -- erasing history, ending careers -- is inflicted by people experiencing an orgy of positive feelings about themselves as they negate others. This culture is a steamy sauna of self-congratulation: "I, an adjunct professor of gender studies, am superior to U.S. Grant, so there." Grant promptly freed the slave he received from his father-in-law, and went on to pulverize the slavocracy. Nevertheless . . . ..."
"... Today's gruesome irony: A significant portion of the intelligentsia that is churned out by higher education does not acknowledge exacting standards of inquiry that could tug them toward tentativeness and constructive dissatisfaction with themselves. Rather, they come from campuses, cloaked in complacency. Instead of elevating, their education produces only expensively schooled versions of what José Ortega y Gasset called the "mass man." ..."
"... A barbarian is someone whose ideas are "nothing more than appetites in words," someone exercising "the right not to be reasonable," who "does not want to give reasons" but simply "to impose his opinions." ..."
"... The barbarians are not at America's gate. There is no gate. ..."
A nation's gravest problems are those it cannot discuss because it dare not state them. This
nation's principal problem, which makes other serious problems intractable, is that much of
today's intelligentsia is not intelligent.
One serious problem is that the political class is terrified of its constituents -- their
infantile refusal to will the means (revenue) for the ends (government benefits) they demand.
Another serious problem is family
disintegration -- e.g., 40 percent of all births, and 69 percent of all African American
births, to unmarried women. Families are the primary transmitters of social capital: the
habits, dispositions and mores necessary for flourishing. Yet the subject of disorganized
families has been entirely absent from current discussions -- actually, less discussions than
virtue-signaling ventings -- about poverty, race and related matters.
Today's most serious problem, which annihilates thoughtfulness about all others, is that a
significant portion of the intelligentsia -- the lumpen intelligentsia -- cannot think. Its
torrent of talk is an ever-intensifying hurricane of hysteria about the endemic sickness of the
nation since its founding in
1619 (don't ask). And the iniquities of historic figures mistakenly admired.
An admirable intelligentsia, inoculated by education against fashions and fads, would make
thoughtful distinctions arising from historically informed empathy. It would be society's
ballast against mob mentalities. Instead, much of America's intelligentsia has become a
mob.
Seeking to impose on others the conformity it enforces in its ranks, articulate only in
a boilerplate of ritualized cant, today's lumpen intelligentsia consists of persons for whom a
little learning is delightful. They consider themselves educated because they are credentialed,
stamped with the approval of institutions of higher education that gave them three things: a
smattering of historical information just sufficient to make the past seem depraved; a
vocabulary of indignation about the failure of all previous historic actors, from Washington to
Lincoln to
Churchill
, to match the virtues of the lumpen intelligentsia; and the belief that America's grossest
injustice is the insufficient obeisance accorded to this intelligentsia.
Its expansion tracks the expansion of colleges and universities -- most have, effectively,
open admissions -- that have become intellectually monochrome purveyors of groupthink. Faculty
are outnumbered by administrators, many of whom exist to administer uniformity concerning
"sustainability," "diversity," "toxic masculinity" and the threat free speech poses to favored
groups' entitlements to serenity.
Today's cancel culture -- erasing history, ending careers -- is inflicted by people
experiencing an orgy of positive feelings about themselves as they negate others. This culture
is a steamy sauna of self-congratulation: "I, an adjunct professor of gender studies, am
superior to U.S. Grant, so there." Grant promptly freed
the slave he received from his father-in-law, and went on to pulverize the slavocracy.
Nevertheless . . .
The cancelers need just enough learning to know, vaguely, that there was a Lincoln who lived
when Americans, sunk in primitivism, thought they were confronted with vexing constitutional
constraints and moral ambiguities. : Too much learning might immobilize the topplers with
doubts about how they would have behaved in the contexts in which the statues' subjects
lived.
The cancelers are reverse Rumpelstiltskins , spinning problems that
merit the gold of complex ideas and nuanced judgments into the straw of slogans. Someone
anticipated something like this.
Today's gruesome irony: A significant portion of the intelligentsia that is churned out
by higher education does not acknowledge exacting standards of inquiry that could tug them
toward tentativeness and constructive dissatisfaction with themselves. Rather, they come from
campuses, cloaked in complacency. Instead of elevating, their education produces only
expensively schooled versions of what José Ortega y Gasset called the "mass
man."
In 1932's "
The Revolt of the Masses ," the Spanish philosopher said this creature does not " appeal
from his own to any authority outside him . He is satisfied with himself exactly as he is.
. . . He will tend to consider and affirm as good everything he finds within himself: opinions,
appetites, preferences, tastes." (Emphasis is Ortega's.)
Much education now spreads the disease that education should cure, the disease of
repudiating, without understanding, the national principles that could pull the nation toward
its noble aspirations. The result is barbarism, as Ortega defined it, "the absence of standards
to which appeal can be made."
A barbarian is someone whose ideas are "nothing more than appetites in words," someone
exercising "the right not to be reasonable," who "does not want to give reasons" but simply "to
impose his opinions."
The barbarians are not at America's gate. There is no gate.
Just when the fear starts to subside, and growing public skepticism seems to push governors
into opening, something predictable happens . The entire apparatus of mass media hops on some
new, super-scary headline designed to instill more Coronaphobia and extend the lockdowns yet
again.
It's a cycle that never stops. It comes back again and again.
A great example occurred this weekend. A poll appeared on Friday from the Kaiser Family
Foundation. It showed
that confidence in Anthony Fauci is evaporating along with support for lockdowns and mandatory
Covid vaccines.
The news barely made the headlines, and very quickly this was overshadowed by a scary new
claim: restaurants will give you Covid!
It's tailor-made for the mainstream press. The study is from the
CDC, which means: credible. And the thesis is easily digestible: those who test positive
for Covid are twice as likely as those who tested negative to have eaten at a restaurant.
"Eating and drinking on-site at locations that offer such options might be important risk
factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection," the study says.
Very scary!
Thus the implied conclusion: don't allow indoor dining! Otherwise Covid will spread like
wildfire!
After six months of this Corona Kabuki dance, driven by alarmist media and imposed by wacko,
power-abusing governors and mayors, I've become rather cynical about the whole enterprise, so I
mostly ignore the latest nonsense.
In this case, however, I decided to take a closer look simply because so many millions of
owners, workers, and customers have been treated so brutally in the "War on Restaurants."
It turns out, of course, that this is not what the study said. What's more interesting is to
consider exactly what's going on here. The study was based on interviews with 314 people who
had been tested of their own volition. It included 154 patients with positive test results and
160 control participants with negative test results.
The interviews took place two weeks following the tests, and they concerned life activities
two weeks prior to getting the test.
Before we go on here, remember that what alarmed people about Covid was the prospect of
dying. The study says nothing about this subject, nor about hospitalization. It's a fair
assumption that the positive cases being interviewed here got it (presumably, if the tests are
accurate, which they are not )
and got over it.
This alone is interesting simply because it reveals how much the whole subject has been
changed: the pandemic has become a casedemic.
Now, to the question of life activities. In the study, based on answers to a survey, the
following were not correlated in any significant degree with positive cases of Covid:
Wearing a mask or not wearing a mask
Going to church
Riding on public transportation
Attending large house parties
Going to the gym
Going to the office
Going to the hair salon
Going shopping
Now one might suppose, if you think the study has any merit, that this would be the
headline.
The massive power of the state has been deployed all over the United States and the world to
force the closure of churches, gyms, offices, salons, and malls. This all happened and is still
happening. Also mask mandates became the new normal. The public has been invited by health
authorities to jeer at, denounce, and turn in anyone who doesn't have a cloth strapped to his
or her face.
All of this happened in complete contradiction to every commercial right, property right, or
normal human freedoms. We threw it all away in the name of virus control. Our lives have been
completely upended and our assumptions about our rights and liberties have been overturned.
And yet here is a study that is unable to document any correlation between these life
activities and catching the disease.
That's an amazing conclusion that could have generated headlines like:
Salons Won't Get You Sick, CDC Reports
You Won't Catch Covid at the Gym, CDC Shows
No, Your Hairstylist Doesn't Spread the Coronavirus
Scared to Go Shopping? Don't Be, Says the CDC
Your Mask Is Pointless, New Study Says
Church Goers Shouldn't Fear Sickness, Scientists Reveal
Study: Your House Party Didn't Spread the Virus
And so on. But none of this was to be. Not one single story in the mainstream press said
anything like this, even though this was all implied by the CDC study.
The one place that the study revealed a positive correlation between positive cases and life
activities was going to restaurants.
So that's what got the alarmist headlines. Yes, these are all real.
And so on for thousands of times in every mainstream venue. They are all competing for
clicks in the great agenda of extending lockdowns and feeding public fear as much as possible.
So the worst-possible spin on this slightly sketchy study gets all the headlines.
Thus is it burned into many people's minds that restaurants are really disease-spreading
venues. Go out to eat and you might die!
And here is what makes this even stranger. The interviewers never asked the people in the
survey whether they were eating indoors or outdoors, as incredible as that seems. The authors
admit this:
"Of note, the question assessing dining at a restaurant did not distinguish between indoor
and outdoor options."
Why not? Did they just forget to ask? What's going on here?
Which is to say that even if the results are meaningful – and there's so much about
this study that is murky and error prone – they are practically useless for knowing what
to do about it. If there is no distinction between indoor and outdoor, all speculation about
ventilation or crowds or the presence of food and so on, is utterly pointless.
Without knowing that, we are at a loss to figure out any answer to the question of why and
what to do. Instead, the message comes down to: don't go out to eat.
Here is how bad the science has become. In the discussion, the authors write the
following:
"Direction, ventilation, and intensity of airflow might affect virus transmission, even if
social distancing measures and mask use are implemented according to current guidance. Masks
cannot be effectively worn while eating and drinking, whereas shopping and numerous other
indoor activities do not preclude mask use."
Here is what is weird: the study itself supports none of that paragraph.
The survey never asked about ventilation because the people who made the survey somehow
forgot to make a query concerning indoor vs. outdoor dining . As for masks, the study did in
fact ask respondents about mask wearing and the results showed no correlation between the
sickness and whether and to what extent people were wearing masks!
In other words, that paragraph in the discussion is contradicted in two places by the
authors' own study.
In addition, the authors themselves point to an intriguing issue: the people in the survey
might have biased their answers based on their personal knowledge of the test results.
Think about it this way. The people who had a positive Covid test are more likely to ask
themselves the great question: how did I get this? Going to restaurants is such a rare activity
these days that it stands out in one's mind. When the survey asked people if they had gone out
to eat, it is possible that the memory of the Covid positive person might be more likely to
blame the restaurant, whereas the Covid negative person might be more likely to have forgotten
the locale of every meal in the last 30 days.
In other words, the real result of the study might be: Covid patients are more likely to
scapegoat restaurants than gyms, churches, and salons.
Alas, none of these interesting considerations appear in the media-rendered version of this
study: panic and keep the lockdowns in place!
Lockdowns have become a conclusion in a desperate search for evidence. Imagine if you
undertook a study of C-positive vs. C-negative cases and asked the people if they mostly wear
lace-up or slip-on shoes. If you come up with some positive correlation, the CDC will publish
you and a media panic will ensue.
This is precisely where we've been for six solid months now. The media has become the
handmaiden of lockdown tyranny, blasting out simplistic versions of sketchy studies to keep the
panic going as long as possible. And the public, which is far too trusting of the media and its
capacity for rational and accurate reporting, eats it up.
For now. Once the dust settles on all of this, it seems highly likely that media science
reporting will lose credibility for a generation. It certainly deserves that fate.
"Cloth masks that are used to slow the spread of COVID-19 offer little protection
against wildfire smoke. They do not catch small particles found in wildfire smoke that
can harm your health."
Just checking if that's the same CDC.
LA_Goldbug , 3 hours ago
Wow !!!!!
Nice find :-)
honest injun , 3 hours ago
At what point does the man on the street realize that he has been had? It took me about
2 weeks, 6 months ago to realize what Fauci and his cronies were saying was nonsense. Smart
people that I know, took months to reach the same conclusion but many people are still
buying the disinfo.
"... On the strength of Adrian Vermeule's review last month (" Liturgy of Liberalism ," January 2017), I picked up Ryszard Legutko's The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies . Legutko sees many parallels between the communism that dominated the Poland of his youth and the political-social outlook now treated as obligatory by Eurocrats and dominant in America, which he calls "[neo]liberal democracy." ..."
"... One parallel struck me as especially important: "Communism and [neo]liberal democracy are related by a similarly paradoxical approach to politics: both promised to reduce the role of politics in human life, yet induced politicization on a scale unknown in previous history." We're aware of the totalitarian dimension of communism. But liberalism? Isn't it supposed to be neutral with respect to substantive outlooks, endorsing only the constitutional and legal frameworks for free and fair political debate? Actually, no. Liberals always assert that liberalism is the view of politics, society, and morality "most adequate of and for modern times." ..."
"... [Neo]Liberalism, Legutko points out, is committed to dualism, not pluralism. He gives the example of Isaiah Berlin, who made a great deal out of the importance of the pluralism of the liberal spirit. Yet "Berlin himself, a superbly educated man, knew very well and admitted quite frankly that the most important and most valuable fruits of Western philosophy were monistic in nature." This means that liberalism, as Berlin defines it, must classify nearly the entire history of Western thought (and that of other cultures as well) as "nonliberal." Thus, "the effect of this supposed liberal pluralism" is not a welcoming, open society in which a wide range of substantive thought flourishes, but "a gigantic purge of Western philosophy, bringing an inevitable degradation of the human mind." ..."
"... The purge mentality has a political dimension. Since 1989, European politics has shifted away from a left vs. right framework toward "mainstream" vs. "extremist." This is a telling feature of [neo]liberal democracy as an ideology. "The tricky side of 'mainstream' politics is that it does not tolerate any political 'tributaries' and denies that they should have any legitimate existence. Those outside the mainstream are believed to be either mavericks and as such not deserving to be treated seriously, or fascists who should be politically eliminated." ..."
"... Lumpenproletariat ..."
"... Legutko speaks of "lumpenintellectuals." These are the professors and journalists who buttress the status quo by rehearsing ideological catechisms and exposing heretics. We certainly have a lumpenintelligentsia ..."
"... I regularly read two lumpenintellectuals in order to understand the orthodoxies of our political mainstream: Tom Friedman over at the New York Times and Bret Stephens at the Wall Street Journal . The former is a cheerleader for today's globalist orthodoxies, complete with ritual expressions of misgivings. The latter eagerly plays the role of Leninist enforcer of those orthodoxies ..."
♦ Boys and girls are different. There, I've said it, a heresy of our time. We're not
supposed to suggest that a woman shouldn't fight in combat, or that an athletic girl doesn't
have a right to play on the boys' football team -- or that a young woman doesn't run a greater
risk than a young man when binge drinking. We are not supposed to reject the conceit that the
sexes are interchangeable, and therefore a man can become a "woman" and use the ladies'
bathroom.
Male and female God created us. I commend this heresy to readers. Remind people that boys in
girls' bathrooms put girls at risk, and that Obergefell is a grotesque distortion of
the Constitution. True -- and don't miss the opportunity to say, in public, that men and women
are different. This is the deepest reason why gender ideology is perverse. As Peter Hitchens
observes in this issue (" The Fantasy of
Addiction "), there's a great liberation that comes when, against the spirit of the age,
one blurts out what one knows to be true.
♦ Great Britain
recently announced regulatory approval for scientists to introduce third-party DNA into the
reproductive process. The technological innovation that allows for interventions into the most
fundamental dimensions of reproduction and human identity is sure to accelerate. Which is a
good reason for incoming President Trump to revive the President's Council on Bioethics. (It
existed under President Obama, but was told to do and say nothing.) We need sober reflection on
the coming revolution in reproductive technology. Trump should appoint Princeton professor
Robert P. George to head the Bioethics Commission. He has the expertise in legal and moral
philosophy, and he knows what's at stake. (See " Gnostic Liberalism ,"
December 2016.)
♦ On the strength of Adrian Vermeule's review last month (" Liturgy of
Liberalism ," January 2017), I picked up Ryszard Legutko's
The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies . Legutko sees many
parallels between the communism that dominated the Poland of his youth and the political-social
outlook now treated as obligatory by Eurocrats and dominant in America, which he calls
"[neo]liberal democracy."
One parallel struck me as especially important: "Communism and [neo]liberal democracy
are related by a similarly paradoxical approach to politics: both promised to reduce the role
of politics in human life, yet induced politicization on a scale unknown in previous history."
We're aware of the totalitarian dimension of communism. But liberalism? Isn't it supposed to be
neutral with respect to substantive outlooks, endorsing only the constitutional and legal
frameworks for free and fair political debate? Actually, no. Liberals always assert that
liberalism is the view of politics, society, and morality "most adequate of and for modern
times."
This gives [neo]liberalism a partisan spirit all the more powerful because it is denied.
Although such words as "dialogue" and "pluralism" appear among its favorite motifs, as do
"tolerance" and other similarly hospitable notions, this overtly generous rhetorical
orchestration covers up something entirely different. In its essence, liberalism is
unabashedly aggressive because it is determined to hunt down all nonliberal agents and ideas,
which it treats as a threat to itself and to humanity.
[Neo]Liberalism, Legutko points out, is committed to dualism, not pluralism. He gives the example
of Isaiah Berlin, who made a great deal out of the importance of the pluralism of the liberal
spirit. Yet "Berlin himself, a superbly educated man, knew very well and admitted quite frankly
that the most important and most valuable fruits of Western philosophy were monistic in
nature." This means that liberalism, as Berlin defines it, must classify nearly the entire
history of Western thought (and that of other cultures as well) as "nonliberal." Thus, "the
effect of this supposed liberal pluralism" is not a welcoming, open society in which a wide
range of substantive thought flourishes, but "a gigantic purge of Western philosophy, bringing
an inevitable degradation of the human mind."
♦ The purge mentality has a political dimension. Since 1989, European politics has
shifted away from a left vs. right framework toward "mainstream" vs. "extremist." This is a
telling feature of [neo]liberal democracy as an ideology. "The tricky side of 'mainstream' politics
is that it does not tolerate any political 'tributaries' and denies that they should have any
legitimate existence. Those outside the mainstream are believed to be either mavericks and as
such not deserving to be treated seriously, or fascists who should be politically
eliminated."
♦ Karl Marx coined the term Lumpenproletariat . Lumpen means "rag"
in German, and its colloquial meanings include someone who is down-and-out. According to Marx,
this underclass has counter-revolutionary tendencies. These people can be riled up by
demagogues and deployed in street gangs to stymie the efforts of the true proletariat to topple
the dominant class.
Legutko speaks of "lumpenintellectuals." These are the professors and journalists who
buttress the status quo by rehearsing ideological catechisms and exposing heretics. We
certainly have a lumpenintelligentsia , left and right: tenured professors,
columnists, think tank apparatchiks, and human resources directors.
♦ I regularly read two lumpenintellectuals in order to understand the orthodoxies of
our political mainstream: Tom Friedman over at the New York
Times and Bret
Stephens at the Wall Street Journal . The former is a cheerleader for today's
globalist orthodoxies, complete with ritual expressions of misgivings. The latter eagerly plays
the role of Leninist enforcer of those orthodoxies.
♦ Bill Kristol recently stepped down
as day-to-day editor at the Weekly Standard . .... As he put it with characteristic humor, "Here at The Weekly Standard , we've
always been for regime change."...
In the days, weeks, and months immediately following the 9/11 attacks, Arab-Americans,
South Asian-Americans, Muslim-Americans, and Sikh-Americans were the targets of widespread
hate violence. Many of the perpetrators of these acts of hate violence claimed they were
acting patriotically by retaliating against those responsible for 9/11.
...
Just after September 11, numerous Arabs, Muslims, and individuals perceived to be Arab or
Muslim were assaulted, and some killed, by individuals who believed they were responsible
for or connected to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The first backlash
killing occurred four days after September 11.
Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot to death on September 15 as he was planting flowers outside
his Chevron gas station. The man who shot Sodhi, Frank Roque, had told an employee of an
Applebee's restaurant that he was "going to go out and shoot some towel heads." Roque
mistakenly thought Sodhi was Arab because Sodhi, an immigrant from India, had a beard and
wore a turban as part of his Sikh faith. After shooting Sodhi, Roque drove to a Mobil gas
station a few miles away and shot at a Lebanese-American clerk. He then drove to a home he
once owned and shot and almost hit an Afghani man who was coming out the front door. When
he was arrested two hours later, Roque shouted, "I stand for America all the way."
The next two killings were committed by a man named Mark Stroman. On September 15, 2001,
Stroman shot and killed Waquar Hassan, an immigrant from Pakistan, at Hassan's grocery
store in Dallas, Texas. On October 4, 2001, Stroman shot and killed Vasudev Patel, an
immigrant from India and a naturalized U.S. citizen, while Patel was working at his Shell
station convenience store. A store video camera recorded the killing, helping police to
identify Stroman as the killer. Stroman later told a Dallas television station that he shot
Hassan and Patel because, "We're at war. I did what I had to do. I did it to retaliate
against those who retaliated against us."
Beyond these killings, there were more than a thousand other anti-Muslim or anti-Arab
acts of hate which took the form of physical assaults, verbal harassment and intimidation,
arson, attacks on mosques, vandalism, and other property damage.
Instead of "calming prejudice" the GB Bush administration institutionalized hate
crimes:
First, in the weeks immediately following the September 11 attacks, the government began
secretly arresting and detaining Arab, Muslim, and South Asian men. Within the first two
months after the attacks, the government had detained at least 1,200 men.
...
Second, in November 2001, the Department of Justice began efforts to "interview"
approximately 5,000 men between the ages of 18 and 33 from Middle Eastern or Muslim nations
who had arrived in the United States within the previous two years on a temporary student,
tourist, or business visa and were lawful residents of the United States. Four months
later, the government announced it would seek to interview an additional 3,000 men from
countries with an Al Qaeda presence.
...
Third, in September 2002, the government implemented a "Special Registration" program also
known as NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System), requiring immigrant men
from 26 mostly Muslim countries to register their name, address, telephone number, place of
birth, date of arrival in the United States, height, weight, hair and eye color, financial
information and the addresses, birth dates and phone numbers of parents and any foreign
friends with the government.
Besides all that a rather useless security theater was installed at U.S. airports which
has costs many billions in lost time and productivity ever since. The Patriot Act was
introduced which allowed for unlimited spying on private citizens. Wars were launched that
were claimed to be justified by 9/11. These were "mass outbreaks of anti-Muslim sentiment and
violence. Many were killed and maimed in them. People were tortured and vanished. All of this
happened largely to applause of a majority of the U.S. people which were glued to 24 and dreamed of being "terrorist
hunters".
Anyone with a functional memory knows that the U.S. reaction to 9/11 was anything but
"pretty calm". It is ridiculous that Krugman is claiming that.
I find it a bit humorous b that you are critical of Krugman for his 911 dementia when for
years many of us finance types have railed about how morally corrupt the logic and thinking
of Paul Krugman is.
Paul Krugman is to economics what Bernie Sanders has become for the purported "left" side
of the "right wing" uni-party....a sheep dog for the easily led.
Paul Krugman is an acolyte for the God of Mammon/global private finance elite.
While spreading anger and hate toward Arab people, The Bush Administration rescued the
many members of the Kingdom's family from all around the US and escorted their flights out of
the US to safety in Saudi Arabia.
Distracting the public big time was Dick Cheney, VP, who insisted from the very next day
that the plot to hit the Twin Towers was Saddam's plot.
So, the historical record and US response was skewed from the getgo. AQ and Bin Laden
didn't concern the neocons. They wanted the US to go to Iraq again, and this time start a
wide war that would spread to Syria and Lebanon and Iran.
It was easy times to spread fear and hate, and Cheney and the war mongers of CENTCOM were
riding high. Americans were scared of all Arabs, all Sunnis, all Shiites, from anywhere. They
were all the same in the public's mind. Enemies.
It was perfect and has led to 19 years of endless wars. Add ISIS and al Nusra and the
Taliban and you have an endless soup of enemies.
krugman is a terrible shill for the neo-cons and liberal-interventionists of the 21st
century
at my age, I shouldn't really be surprised any more by what american "intellectuals" and
"nobel prize winners" say about anything..... but I am.
He's neo-liberal interventionist moron of the first rank, and saying what he did actually
normalizes the war mania and war-mongering which has become so staple in mainstream thought
and the "think tanks" and is now practically part of the american DNA and "culture".
shame on krugman
...
It appears the Deep State has attacked the USA's people twice in two decades--on 911 and with
the decision to let as many die as possible by deliberately not doing anything to mitigate
the impact of COVID-19 and allowing the real economy to atrophy so even more will die in the
long run.
Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 11 2020 19:40 utc | 34
Talking about tilting at windmills - I'll never forget Robert Fisk angrily pointing out
that the Yankees knew where to find Al CIA-duh because they extended the cave complex at Tora
Bora to help Al CIA-duh, equipped with 10,000 US Stinger Missiles, kick the Russians out of
Afghanistan in the 1980s!!!
(The Yankees had to wait for 10+ years to invade Afghanistan because it takes that long
for Stingers to pass their Use By date)
@michaelj72. "krugman is a terrible shill for the neo-cons and liberal-interventionists of
the 21st century"
Actually, Paul Krugman was a strong and outspoken opponent of the Iraq War since early
2003 and possibly earlier. He was amongst the few mainstream liberal commentators to take
that stand.
If MoA readers and commenters were to read the entire series of Krugman's tweets, six in
all, they will see mention of how the Bush govt began exploiting the events of 11 September
2001 almost immediately. Though the example Krugman actually uses would make most people
cringe at what it suggests about the bubble he lives in and how far removed it is from most
people's lives and experiences, and his reference to a "horrible war" does not mention either
Afghanistan or Iraq.
It has to be said that Twitter is not designed very well for the kind of informal
conversational commentary that people often use it for. But then you would think Krugman
would use something other than Twitter to discuss and compare 9/11 with the impact of
COVID-19.
The real issue I have with Krugman's Tweet is that he is revising history and bending over
backwards to apologise for Dubya in a way to criticise Donald Trump's performance as
President.
b " Anyone with a functional memory knows that the U.S. reaction to 9/11 was anything but
"pretty calm". It is ridiculous that Krugman is claiming that. "
Careful with that axe b, you are talking about Biden's chief economic adviser and likely
appointee as Chair of the Fed. How does this look?
Volker
Greenspan
Bernanke
Yellen
Powell
Krugman
Reading Krugman's columns in 2016, I had a strong to overwhelming sense that this was a
person revving up for a spot in Hillary's White House or cabinet. For some reason it isn't
hitting me as strongly this time around – he may not have as close connections in
Biden's circle – but it certainly would not be a surprise to see him take a turn
through the media/government revolving door if Trump loses (though, fwiw, I don't think it
will be a job at the Fed).
Yep. Pretty staggering how a few disgruntled ex-CIA contractors managed to, deliberately
or not, help the US Gov't launch the biggest world war operation right under the noses of the
brainwashed masses.
99% of Westerners still are clueless as to explaining the last 20 years in a broader
geopolitical context.
#28: "The antiwar protests in the US were small and insignificant."
No they were not. Millions of people demonstrated against the planned war, in the US,
in the UK, and around the world...
We mustn't forget how the vast majority of those who allegedly were anti-war suddenly went
totally pro-war silent upon Obama coming in.
But that pales compared to the vile spectacle of all the self-alleged
"anti-authoritarians", "anti-propagandists" "dissidents", who suddenly regard the government
media as the literal voice of God, where their alleged God speaks of Covid.
His book, End this Depression Now, is pretty weak. He has no theory of why the crash
occurred. He critiques the austerity agenda but doesn't understand that government spending
CAN create tax liabilities for capital down the road and eat into profits, thus blocking
expanded investments and growth. Moronic libertarians hate Krugman just because they are
right wing assholes who think, like fairies, that a free market without the state will work
fine and self correct. Marx debunked this fairy tale thoroughly in Capital Volume 1, showing
that, even if we start with the mythical free market of libertarian morons, capitalism will
still operate according to the general law by which concentration and centralization lead to
class polarization. In any case, in volume 3 of Capital, Marx develops his laws of crisis,
showing that the cycles of expansion and depression under capitalism follow the movements of
the rate of profit, which itself is determined by the ratio of the value of sunk capital in
production technologies to the rate of exploitation (profits/wages). If the former rises more
than the latter, the rate of profit sinks, along with investment, output and employment.
Financial crises then set in.
The empirical evidence in the data bears out Marx's theory, not Krugman's dumb notion of
aggregate demand, or the stupid libertarian focus on interest rates.
We could discuss here all day about the sociological subject of the American people's true
positioning in the aftermath of 9/11. It would be, sincerely, a waste of time.
The important thing to grasp over this episode - from the point of view of History - is
this: it was a strategic victory for al-Qaeda . The USA took the bait (all scripted?)
and went into a quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a few years, the surplus the USA had
accumulated with the sacking and absorption of the Soviet space during Bill Clinton
evaporated and became a huge deficit in the Empire's accounts. Not long after, the 2008
financial meltdown happened, burying Bushism in a spectacular way.
There's a debate about the size of the hole the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan cost the
American Empire. Some put it into the dozens of billions of USDs; others put it into the
trillions of USDs range. We will never know. What we know is that the hole was big enough to
both erase the American surplus and to not avoid the financial meltdown of 2008.
Either the expansion through the Middle East wasn't fast and provided riches enough to
keep up with the Empire's voracious appetite or the invasion itself already represented a
last, desperate attempt by the Empire to avoid its imminent collapse. We know, however, that
POTUS Bush had a list of countries he wanted to invade beyond Iraq (the "Axis of Evil") which
contained a secret country (Venezuela). He was conscious Iraq and Afghanistan wouldn't be
enough. Whatever the case, he didn't have the time, and the financial meltdown happened in
his last year in the White House.
They knew who the perps of 9/11 were: their "own" Saudi irregulars in the CIA's US main
land training camps, who started practicing on the "wrong"- domestic American- targets. These
guys were officially entered without any background checks.
The Bush and Bin Laden families go way back in money making. That is why George had to ponder
so long in that Florida kindergarten after hearing about the attacks: he had a suspicion. The
Saudi only fly out after 9/11 confirms that.
Paul Krugman Is a pro. Completely owned by Deep State. His purpose is to deflect
discussion and prevent questioning the official version of 9/11 , and get people chasing
something completely irrelevant. Well done Paul, most have taken the bait.
Every stock market bubble begins with a story, and make no mistake -- this is a stock market
bubble. A virus forced the country to shut down and accelerated the gains in a select few
technology stocks that are uniquely capable of thriving with everyone stuck at home. A central
bank took quick action to prevent financial markets from seizing up, pushing interest rates
about as low as they could go.
I was mildly amused by Paul Sperry's recent tweet announcing as "breaking news" that Obama's
CIA Director, John Brennan, set up a Task Force to target Donald Trump. This should not be
considered something "new." I reported on this almost one year ago (October 2019 to be
precise). You can check out the original pieces here
and here
. The following provides an updated, consolidated piece.
While chatting in late October 2019 with a retired CIA colleague, he dropped a
bombshell–he had learned that John Brennan set up a Trump Task Force at CIA in early
2016. One of my retired buddy's friends, who was still on duty with the CIA in 2016, recounted
how he was approached discreetly and invited to work on a Task Force focused on then
Presidential candidate Donald Trump. The Task Force members were handpicked instead of
following the normal procedure of posting the job. Instead of opening the job to all eligible
CIA personnel, only a select group of people were invited specifically to join up. Not everyone
accepted the invitation, and that could be a problem for John Brennan
A "Task Force" normally is a short term creation comprised of operations officers (i.e.,
guys and gals who carry out espionage activities overseas) and intelligence analysts. The
purpose of such a group is to ensure all relevant intelligence capabilities are brought to bear
on the problem at hand. I am not talking about an informal group of disgruntled Democrats
working at the CIA who got together like a book club to grouse and complain about the brash
real estate guy from New York. It was a specially designed covert action to try to destroy
Donald Trump.
A "Task Force" is a special bureaucratic creation that provides a vehicle for bring case
officers and analysts together, along with admin support, for a limited term project. But it
also can be expanded to include personnel from other agencies, such as the FBI, DIA and NSA.
Task Forces have been used since the inception of the CIA in 1947. Here's a recently
declassified memo outlining the considerations in the creation of a task force in 1958. The
author, L.K. White, talks about the need for a coordinating Headquarters element and an
Operational unit "in the field", i.e. deployed around the world.
While a "Task Force" can be a useful tool for tackling issues of terrorism or drug
trafficking, it is not appropriate or lawful for collecting on a U.S. candidate for the
Presidency. But Brennan did it with the blessing of the Director of National Intelligence, Jim
Clapper.
A Task Force operates independent of the CIA " Mission Centers
" (that's the jargon for the current CIA organization chart).
So what did John Brennan do? My friends said that a Trump Task Force was running in early
2016 and may have started as early as the summer of 2015. Recruitment to Task Force included
case officers (i.e., men and women who recruit and handle spies overseas), analysts and admin
personnel were recruited. Not everyone invited accepted the offer. But many did.
But this was not a CIA only operation. Personnel from the FBI also were assigned to the Task
Force. We have some clues that Christopher Steele's FBi handler, Michael Gaeta, may have been
detailed to the Trump Task Force ( see here
).
So what kind of things would this Task Force do? The case officers would work with foreign
intelligence services such as MI-6, the Italians, the Ukrainians and the Australians on
identifying intelligence collection priorities. Task Force members could task NSA to do
targeted collection. They also would have the ability to engage in covert action, such as
targeting George Papadopoulos. Joseph Mifsud may be able to shed light on the CIA officers who
met with him, briefed on operational objectives regarding Papadopoulos and helped arrange
monitored meetings. Was the honey pot (i.e., the attractive woman) named Azra Turk, who met
with George Papadopoulos, part of the CIA Trump Task Force?
The Task Force also could carry out other covert actions, such as information operations. A
nice sounding euphemism for propaganda, and computer network operations. There has been some
informed speculation that Guccifer 2.0 was a creation of this Task Force.
In light of what we have learned about the alleged CIA whistleblower, Eric Ciaramella, there
should be a serious investigation to determine if he was a part of this Task Force or, at
minimum, reporting to them.
When I described this development last November to one friend, a retired CIA Chief of
Station, his first response was, "My God, that's illegal." We then reminisced about another
illegal operation carried out under the auspices of the CIA Central American Task Force back in
the 1980s. That became known to Americans as the Iran Contra scandal.
We know one thing for certain about he work of this Task Force–it failed to produce
any intelligence to corroborate the specious claim that Donald Trump was colluding with the
Russians. Even though the despicable Brennan has continued to insist that Trump was/is under
the thumb of Putin, he failed to provide any substantive information in the January 2017
Intelligence Community Assessment that supported the claim.
The curious "leaks" of Michael Cohen tapes on both Cuomo and Zucker, broadcast by Tucker
Carlson, makes me think Cohen also has some Trump tapes.
Cohen of course would be be more than willing to drop any Trump tapes into Tucker
Carlson's lap too - or at least work a tease dropping these bit player tapes on others first
to weasel a Trump pardon for Cohen at the 11th hour, in return for not dumping his Trump tapes
pre-election on Carlson's lap too.
Do you think these "leaked" Cohen tapes are just coincidentally coming out now - or was
Micheal Cohen a fifth column all along, and even in direct cahoots with Brennan too? Other
Trump business partners were IC assets, why not Cohen who would do anything for a buck and
publicity.
The night before the Mueller report came out pundit Brennan on prime time TV (whomever he
was working for CNN, MSNBC?) claimed Trump would be facing multiple indictments.
The next day when his distinguished punditry proved 100% false, Brennan then claimed on
prime time TV his source (sources?) were obviously wrong. And they moved quickly on to the
next topic.
Brennan was obviously operating off of some form of inside intelligence (or just making
things up for effect and a paycheck?) .
Just a few lines were uttered on both nights, but now in retrospect, Brennan did admit
some sort of intelligence gathering group was passing on this critical information to him -
bogus or not. He claimed was in some sort of insider loop.
It would be good to review both those pre-and post Mueller report statements now. Who was
he hoodwinking and should he have been paid for his "insights"?
Cohen is a know nothing "would be if they could be". I have described this type before. He
had no access to Trump, the person, as opposed to a tenuous business relationship with Trump
the company.
"But Brennan did it with the blessing of the Director of National Intelligence, Jim
Clapper. " Obama isn't mentioned at all? I wonder who was actually running the show.
I'm sure he was. He's being very careful about all the current actions on the left too.
He'll be running what's left of the democratic party, if they don't succeed in bringing down
the constitutional republic this election.
For a community organizer Obama is pretty crafty. He found favor with the Chicago big
money who backed him for the Illinois legislature and then the Senate. And then directly to
the presidency. Now he's best friends with David Geffen and Richard Branson and hangs out
with the billionaire class.
He is the "puppeteer" of the Democratic Party, IMO. I'm convinced that if Biden fails,
Michelle will run and likely beat an establishment Republican in 2024.
Who do you think was the ringleader in this operation: Brennan, Comey or Clapper?
To me, it seems most likely that it was Brennan (with Obama's reluctant approval). Comey and
Clapper don't strike me as the kind of guys who would risk everything on an operation that
could backfire.
What I'd really like to know is whether Director Brennan communicated with elites outside
the agency who might have encouraged the spying to begin with. Can you clarify this point?
Does the CIA take orders or instructions from powerful-connected elites outside of the
agency??
It seems we know that NSA identified unreasonable queries of their comms database in 2016,
leading Adm Rodgers to shut off access. Immediately after, we see FBI getting involved and
setting up Crossfire Hurricane. After the election, we see FBI working with DoJ NSD to move
the op into a special counsel organization which then runs the op. It appears the Senate
Select Committee (Burr/Warner) was complicit in the op, not to mention Schiff.
I'm not sure Obama wants to run the Democratic party. It's likelier he wants to secure his
legacy and play a supportive role within the party rather than lead it.
Obama's community organizing skills are null. It was only a title; never an actual
product. He will remain the token figure head of the party; but hot heads under the radar are
now its life and blood of the Democrat party today. With no small dose of our tax
dollars.
Democrats produce nothing; they only consume. There is a brewing turf war within the
Democrat party between their historic connection to the government unions and the new
socialists - two very different forces with two very different goals. Ironically, the
Democrat government unions created the new wave of Democrat socialists.
Watch how this play out - Biden is clueless about what is now seething under his titular
party head. Didn't Biden promise he would put Alexandra Cortez in a key administrative
position?
I remember the eye-opening essay about the CIA Trump task force, especially in light of
Brennan's self-assured posture that only briefly slumped (along with all of his brethren on
the Left) when the Mueller report finally came out and dashed such great expectations. We can
only hope that the Durham probe will expose and at the very least somehow strongly
condemn and spell out WITH EVIDENCE in no uncertain terms any seditious activity. After
hearing that Trey Gowdy doubts any more prosecutions will come of the probe, I'm not going to
hold my breath for perp walks.
Laughably, the Left's still beating that same old Russian Dead Horse though. Just as with
the DNC's lackluster national convention, I'm surprised, almost shocked actually, that in
spite of the overwhelming support of the "creative class", Democrats can't come up with a
better hoax. On the other hand I can't remember the last time I was dying to see a new film,
buy a new book or recording, or tune into a new TV drama, so while it could just be me, I
suspect the "creative class" ain't quite what it used to be...
Re: Michael Cohen comments: I have to agree with walrus and take exception to the MSM
characterization of Cohen as "Trump's personal attorney". My husband and I have a
small real estate company but even so, we've simultaneously employed several attorneys for
various personal and business needs and our holdings are minuscule compared to Trump's. SO I
seriously doubt that the MSM's inference about Cohen's role and insight into Trump's private
and business dealings - that he knows all - is greatly exaggerated.
Cohen does not need to "know all", if he was recording Trump. He just has to dole out a
few juicy sound bites prior to Nov, with our without context when they did contact each other
pre-2016.
Cohen's chance to make Trump squirm since Cohen just demonstrated he was willing to do
this to Cuomo and Zucker - so will he or won't he IF he has Trump tapes too - just crude talk
at this point would not be welcome as Trump tries to take the edge off his usual "gruff"
personality.
No magic carpet to the White House for anyone. I also think people don't like giving any
race like this away too early in the game - all the prior elections have swung back and forth
almost daily, until they finally broke on election day.
Even John McCain and Romney were still nip and tuck until the final hours if one watched
certain indicators. Ironically, the only race called conclusively before election day was
Clinton-Trump 2016, and we know how that finally worked out. So more cat (Trump) and mouse
(Biden) on a seesaw for a few more months.
All of which begs to say, where the heck is the Durham Report and when will we start
seeing accountability for Democrat/Obama high crimes and misdemeanors?
There is a deep cynicism even in California that "no one gets punished" for anything any
more, unless you are unlucky enough to be a law abiding, responsible person. Everyone else
gets a free ride and a double standard of justice - and it is causing a lot of anger out
here. "Law and order" is a building hunger our west.
Where is the Durham Report? Hahaha. We've had the Durham Report. One small fish indicted.
That's it. Were you really expecting more?
I said when the "investigation" was first made public that it was a red herring, a tool to
keep us from making noise because we would be pinning our hopes on this "report" that would
make everything wonderful. I said then that it would never be anything but a pacifier
dangling in front of our noses, like a carrot keeping a donkey dragging the cart along.
This article came out in May 2020 - essentially why did Obama want to frame Flynn?
It was Iran-gate; not Russia-Gate that drove the Obama spying and the Russia-gate
cover-up, according to this author.. Was this the motivation for the Trump Task Force in your
post- to spy on Team Trump to learn if they were going to undo Obama's Iran "legacy",
particularly since Flynn was advising them? https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/russiagate-obama-iran
The Flynn Spygate unraveling is far more credible as Iran-gate, and ties up many of the
very loose ends, much better than the Russia-gate nonsense. If this is the more credible
explanation of Obama's Spygate, what happened after this article was published several months
ago in May, during the height of the "pandemic". Has this theory been debunked?
And is its current article re-circulation right now tying Obama to Iran-gate spying the
reason Adam Schiff, out of no where, is back to screaming Russia-gate yet again?
And everyone else on the left is back to screaming high crimes, misdemeanors and
impeachment ......yet again. Gheesh - long and complicates article but it did gel for me.
Including explaining the always mysterious role played by Samatha Powers, the Queen of US
Unmaskers.
Still waiting to hear more about Obama's Ambassador to that tiny Italian enclave San
Marino, that got in his licks unmasking Flynn too. Who was he fronting at the time. And why
San Marino?
Connecting the dots - Obama's San Marino Ambassador unmasks Micheal Flynn
The Atlantic Media Company, parent company of the Atlantic Magazine the wife of Obama's
former US Ambassador to Italy - Linda Douglass -, who himself had been curiously caught up
among the many 11th hour unmaskings of Gen Flynn. For as yet undisclosed reasons.
Atlantic Magazine, part of the Atlantic Media Group, now partly owned by Steve Job's very
wealthy widow Laurane Jobs and rabid anti-Trumper, is taking great delight dropping bogus
bombs against Trump, that can't even last for a 24 hour credibility cycle. With the promise
of many more to come.
Will Linda Douglass be delving into her husband and San Marino Ambassador's great treasure
trove of Obama era unmaskings to provide these daily TDS hit pieces? A classified no-no. Or
just continue to make stuff up.
Or does this recent leftist media hit piece frenzy mean Russia-gate, Iran-gate and/or
Obama Spy-gate is finally going to be broken open?
Such a small, small world. Why was Obama's Ambassador to San Marino unmasking Micheal
Flynn? And his wife just happens to now work for the Atlantic Magazine.
Deap,
Iran-Gate might be the motivating, proximate cause for Obama to approve the overall
"counterintelligence" mission. With Russia-Gate the legal cover / excuse. For Brennan / Comey
/ et al, however, it does not seem like the personal reason for their involvement. The Trump
anti-Borg inclinations is probably what motivated the Borg to go after him.
Deap, my initial reaction to your mention of an Italian connection was to point to Michael
Ledeen, Flynn's co-author and, apparently, consultant - colleague.
Ledeen is known for his Italian connections -- he is thought to have been responsible for
the yellow-cake fabrication that pushed along Iraq war.
But the SanMarino connection appears to be on the other side of the ledger that Ledeen
inhabits -- tho one should put nothing past that crafty warmonger.
"Iran has long been Ledeen's bête noir, arguing that .the country has been heavily
involved in supporting attacks against U.S. forces in hotspots across the globe.[9] "No
matter how well we do, no matter how many high-level targets we eliminate, no matter how
many cities, towns, and villages we secure, unless we defeat Iran we will always be
designing yet another counterinsurgency strategy in yet another place. We are in a big war,
and Iran is at the heart of the enemy army." '
If Flynn's anti-Iran sentiments are as unhinged as Ledeen's, then I have little sympathy
for his troubles, even though it appears that Ledeen's view prevailed in the Trump
administration. Flynn: twice back-stabbed.
I followed John Kerry's and Wendy Sherman's negotiations carefully; I listened to hours
and hours of the Congressional debates over the deal -- not a treaty, the debates seemed a
sop to Congress; I listened as Iranian representatives (Mousavian, iirc) explained that the
Deal was not good for Iran and most Iranians understood that, but that Iranians would go
along to show good faith; because they were backed into a corner; and because of the belief
that an Iran that was engaged in robust trade with Europeans & others would "come in from
the terror cold." I was at American University when Obama announced that the JCPOA was
affirmed.
From an "America First" perspective I endorse(d) Obama's vision, as the Forward article
explained it:
"[JCPOA} was his instrument to secure an even more ambitious objective -- to reorder the
strategic architecture of the Middle East.
Obama did not hide his larger goal. He told a biographer, New Yorker editor David
Remnick, that he was establishing a geopolitical equilibrium "between Sunni, or
predominantly Sunni, Gulf states and Iran." According to The Washington Post's David
Ignatius, another writer Obama used as a public messaging instrument, realignment was a
"great strategic opportunity" for a "a new regional framework that accommodates the
security needs of Iranians, Saudis, Israelis, Russians and Americans."
The catch to Obama's newly inclusive "balancing" framework was that upgrading relations
with Iran would necessarily come at the expense of traditional partners targeted by Iran --
like Saudi Arabia and, most importantly, Israel. Obama never said that part out loud, but
the logic isn't hard to follow: Elevating your enemy to the same level as your ally means
that your enemy is no longer your enemy, and your ally is no longer your ally."
From my America First pov, "rebalancing" USA relations such that Israel -- not a formal
ally and never a trustworthy informal ally (ask survivors of USS Liberty), and other
states in MidEast all held positions on a more level playing field in the eyes of American
foreign policy, is appealing.
The Forward article failed to mention Ledeen, but it was, unsurprisingly, unapologetically
pro-Israel and from a decidedly Jewish perspective.
The Forward's tone and underlying assumptions were and are offensive to me.
Regarding the statement
"The Task Force members were handpicked instead of following the normal procedure of posting
the job.
Instead of opening the job to all eligible CIA personnel, only a select group of people were
invited specifically to join up."
Two questions naturally arise:
Who was doing the selection, and
was the politics of the candidates a factor, perhaps a very big factor, in the selection
process?
"Right" to whom, and by what criteria?
Did the FBI director not know this was an important matter, which required the best
investigators?
In any case, we can see who was put on it, such Trump-haters as Strzok, Page, and
Clinesmith.
Just Trump's bad luck, or something more deliberate?
There was not really an "Italian" connection in the Iran-gate piece bur rather the
curiosity why Obama's Italian ambassdor had interests in unmasking Michael Flynn, since his
name showed up on the odd list of Obama persons who did unmask Flynn.
His name being there - Ambassador Phillips - may have been there due to his other Obama
connections, or his wife Linda Douglass' Obama connections. Or his wife's current connection
to the tabloid Atlantic Magazine.
Not really anything Italian per se, or even wee San Marino. Other than perhaps a mutual
veneration for things Machiavellian-as this unfolding story twists and turns..
Funny how "new normals" are rushing at us .9-11 was the new normal only 19 years ago, and
19 years later going on 20, a new "new normal" is upon us. The next "new normal" will only be
a few years away, 9 at the most Agenda 2030 and all that. By then, AI-enhanced RNA/DNA
altered "new humanity" will be upon us, and anyone not in this new "new normal" will be
outcast, shunned, shamed, and unemployed and if retired will not be able to get their SS and
MC.
"As it stands, there's only one thing we do know: the establishment at the core of the
Hegemon and the drooling orcs of Empire will only adopt a Great Reset if that helps to
postpone a decline accelerated on a fateful morning 19 years ago."
What?
I thought Covid 19 was a tool that the establishment is using to spark a Reset. And that
Agenda 21 is part of a Reset.
So why would the establishment object to a "decline"?
9/11 was just the first operation of the 21st century designed to accelerate the
disintegration of society and economy to achieve Agenda 21 . It was actually a continuation
of the 1975 TLC Project Democracy (sardonically named) that was kicked off by the Carter
administration in 1977 and went into warp speed under Reagan/Bush. Its continued ever since
but is picking up speed with the agreement of Agenda 21 in the 90's and its update Agenda
2030 in 2015. 2020 is the start of the final phase which will accomplish all of the
Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030, which is basically means total control over
every individual and all resources.
Its pretty much been an Open Conspiracy. Those who refused to question 9/11 will double up
on their blue pills to deny the Plandemic and expect a return to normal, dooming their
descendants to a life of serfdom should they be lucky enough to avoid the culling.
The new Normal will make some dystopian films seem like utopia. Watch some old movies and
TV series to remind you of old normal. They wont be available much longer unless you have the
DVD or VHS and a machines to play it. The tapes and discs age so don't last forever. Books
will last longer but those with digital collections will one day fund them disappeared
The beating heart of this matrix is – what else – the Strategic Intelligence
Platform, encompassing, literally, everything: "sustainable development", "global
governance", capital markets, climate change, biodiversity, human rights, gender parity,
LGBTI, systemic racism, international trade and investment, the – wobbly –
future of the travel and tourism industries, food, air pollution, digital identity,
blockchain, 5G, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI).
Since the US is a global has-been with most of its industry gone and living on debt
– it's probably useful for it to claim leadership of a "Strategic Intelligence
Platform". It can bury US problems internationally (same as it did with the dollar reserve)
but in a more comprehensive way than simple Globalization (only economic). If the USA NWO
claims international leadership of everything on all fronts, then they become the arbiters
(in their opinion) of everything everywhere on the grounds of a higher morality.
It actually looks more like the folie de grandeur of a old alcoholic than the
foundation of a new religion – and not something to pay attention to – apart from
the fact that he tends to get violent with anyone who disagrees.
Regarding your 50 questions, the fact that German and Russian intelligent warned the FBI
about an imminent Muslim terrorist attack is not compatible with the idea that there was a
controlled demolition.
Ah yes, the Beast reveals itself as a sensurround global hamster cage with a plethora of
control mechanisms hardwired through emergent software memes in celebration of the planned
future of total abstraction. Abstract reality. The hubris of the plutocratic, oligarchic and
technocratic elites is of a Promethean orgasm of trans humanistic values systematically
gorging itself on their perceived future of an enserfed humanity comprised of those who will
compromise truth, honor, justice, beauty and love–all in the service of mammon.
Not only is human nature to be subsumed to a mechanistic mindset gone ballistic in the
visions of absolute domination, but the ongoing assault on the natural world will be a
by-product of this Re-set. Stated simply, these schemers are playing God and have assembled
the tool-kit, which in their minds, will allow for no compromise, no mistakes. These people
are either spiritually vacuous or are imbued with an evil that totally negates a natural
order which is cosmic and universal in scope. Ultimately their dreams and schemes will
implode like the legendary Tower of Babel. Creation is not about to be undone by those who
have convinced themselves that they can control everything.
Mother Nature is not a mere lump of matter. She is a sentient being who is cosmically
connected and connective. Consider the storms, the blizzards, the fires and the systematic
destruction of our very atmospheres, to say nothing of oceanic life in all its magnificent
manifestations. Mama is not in a good mood and when she has had all she can take ..
" the fact that German and Russian intelligent (sic) warned the FBI about an imminent
Muslim terrorist attack is not compatible with the idea that there was a controlled
demolition."
How so? The US architects of a controlled demolition could have quite easily created fake
"chatter" and fake "intelligence" about an imminent Muslim terrorist attack.
@Intelligent
Dasein be found on Youtube titled "Former NIST Employee Speaks Out On World Trade Centre
Towers Collapse Investigation". It's 31 minutes long, but he says the following at
approximately 18 minutes in:
"Look at the symmetry. These buildings come straight down, or almost straight down.
Asymmetric damage does not lead to symmetric collapse. It's very difficult to get
something to collapse symmetrically because it is the Law of Physics that things tend towards
chaos. Collapsing symmetrically represents order, very strict order.
It is not the nature of physics to gravitate towards order for no reason. It will
gravitate towards chaos. It is very difficult to get a building to collapse
symmetrically."
@PetrOldSack
actor/author, how could he be, our cherished "thinkers" are as few and making up as they go,
seconded by the crude second tier public domain politicians, the corporate mongers, them
being even less prone to visionary skill. This "thing" can go wrong in all kinds of ways, but
real it is, and some derivative globally altered reality is there to stay. Brusquely,
genuinely."
The Atlantic tells us that "Overall, bots are responsible for 52 percent of web traffic"
and I think we're looking at Exhibit A.
an imminent Muslim terrorist attack is not compatible with the idea that there was a
controlled demolition
Q: Why not? In fact, just as the 3 WTC towers were pre-loaded with explosives, so the
alleged hijacker-piloted a/cs and resulting photogenic explosions were pre-planned 'Hollywood
special effects' as critical components. How else to convince the insouciant punters, except
with a well-scripted and executed 'whiz-bang?' Then, see the reports of putative Muslim
hijackers doing dope and/or booze with lap-dancing bar-girls beforehand. You do yourself a
disservice by denying *humongously obvious* controlled demolition. Tip: Try not to be
silly.
To unravel the enigma i wonder if one does not need to go completely eurocentric.
1848 unraveling the empires or at last a planting of the seeds.
1948 the new_world order is established. With its counterpart in the east. Essentially a
ynraveling of 1848 which was a crystallisation of the 30 year was and the peace of westphalia.
Neither established empire being a nation while a very different nationbuiling started in
europe compared to the pre-great war.
2048, no doubt some kind of replacing the new_world order with a new world_order.
One way or anothr to serve europes plutocrats. And with an eye on unraveling the previous 1948
situation. Soviets are gone, so now the disunited states of america has to go and be reduced to
a new balkans.
Perhaps sweeping away europe too this time. Arabobantustan unable to sustain a developed
economy certainly is on the timeline for europe.
Now. Regardless of whether the ghost of Herr Weishaupt is hanging around, the timeline is
awfully useful for anyone like the anglozionist cabal of assorted late 1800s multimillionaires
and their respective business empires cross inheritances into socalled NGOs. The names being
quite well known like rockefeller, carnegie, rhodes etc.
Then again maybe no one really knows what they are doing anymore and there is no plan at
all, just many very confused very badly planned plans. And all that will ensue is chaos and
destruction and no order afterwards worthy of the name. 150 years of pisspoor mismanagement
tends to have such consequences.
@Robert White
billion from its Term Securities Lending Facility. It wasn't until May 31, 2008, when JPMorgan
Chase closed its deal with Bear Stearns. However, the GAO reported that Bear Stearns "was
consistently the largest PDCF borrower until June 2008." The Fed shows that Bear Stearns
continued to receive funds until June 23, 2008.
This article pretty much sums it up as best as I can understand. I had often stated to
people of similar mind to watch for the next major 'move' after 9/11, it will be a dandy
because with possibly a few white knuckle moments, the Masters will have concluded that they
can get away with ANYTHING, internet or no. Truth simply fails to get traction in the minds of
the majority of 'screen zombies' and the majority is all they ever needed.
Now where things might get really scary is if/when they decide to implement the great cull.
From a dispassionate perspective, it is something they simply have to do. In 1950 the world
population was about 2 billion. Now it is about 8 billion. If a population graph was drawn from
say, 50,000 years ago it would be long and flat and then it would shoot up near vertically at
the end.
The problem now of course is that with technology and agricultural machinery of all sorts
the system doesn't even require the population of 1950. I recall one Master being on record as
mentioning 500 million as being ideal. That is somewhat more than a cull.
Some fools say that a war is imminent for that express purpose. Sorry wars (even nuclear,
which would affect the Masters too), won't result in the butcher's bill required. Only a global
pandemic could conceivably attain the goal and like a neutron bomb, leave the infrastructure
intact.
But this Covid is a hoax you say. Probably so, but what about this proverbial 'second wave'
that is repeated like a Hare Krishna mantra everywhere. What if they released a REAL nasty
virus (which we know they have somewhere) that has a proven vaccine for the 1% and then let the
fun begin knowing full well that they would not be fingered for it because a pandemic is
already on the move?
If it doesn't happen this fall then I may be wrong in my speculation. I always hope to be
wrong when dealing with topics of unfathomable evil.
Mama is not in a good mood and when she has had all she can take ..
Or, as some folks like to say, "God is mad". But it's all the same thing. Maybe the schemers
should be forced to read The Fisherman's Wife. However, they probably won't have any little
hovel to go back to.
@skrik neither
eyewitness testimony nor a visual documentation of the boarding process.
19 hijackers myth taken as " fact" by the 9/11 Commission. Any contradictions of this myth
were ignored by this Commission.
•By ignoring the numerous and glaring contradictions regarding the identities of the
alleged hijackers, the 9/11 Commission manifested its intent to maintain the official myth of
19 Muslim terrorists.
•By refusing to allow interviews with personnel who were responsible for passengers
boarding the four aircraft of 9/11, the airlines manifested their intent to conceal evidence
about the circumstances of the aircraft boarding.
When 9/11 occurred my immediate thoughts went back to an January 2001 when Lyndon LaRouche
warned that if John Ashcroft were to become Attorney General that then one could look forward
to a new Reichstag fire type situation occurring within the context of the fact that the world
financial system was finished and that the financial oligarchy was prepared to throw over the
chess board so to speak.
LaRouche was right and because his understanding of history was correct as it is based upon
a method of hypothesis that had already demonstrated the trajectories of economic collapse and
attendant political operations long before, with an understanding of how to get out of the mess
as demonstrated in history, particularly the Renaissance.
Of note here is a recent article of interest, which helps tell why LaRouche is hated!
This is a very interesting, all encompassing article, well done indeed. For a simpler and
perhaps more digestible and more narrowly focused look at the SARS-Cov2 issue specifically,
this is a worthwhile video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQE7S6c-SCk&t=50s
@PetrOldSack
ght in wars or participated in other combat operations in at least 24 countries. The
destruction inflicted by warfare in these countries has been incalculable for civilians and
combatants Between 2010 and 2019, the total number of refugees and IDPs globally has nearly
doubled from 41 million to 79.5 million .
These babies-loving American X-tians and other Samantha Powers and Obamas, have arranged quite
a spectacular mass slaughter of children of all ages to please the "deciders" (Masters of the
Universe).
None of the murderous idiots has been punished, yet Assange the truthteller is in a high-security
prison Belmarsh, handled by the same murderous scum. Kali , says: Next New
Comment September 11, 2020
at 12:24 pm GMT
@Majority of
One eation is not about to be undone by those who have convinced themselves that they can
control everything.
I couldn't agree more with this.
The intelligence of Existance Itself, the very Nature of Being is anathema to to those specs
of dirt who would attempt to determine the will of God.
The same sentience which is manifest in Man is repeated and applified throughout all of
existance. How could it be any other way when everything we experience is fractal? Just as God
may be experience at the centre of our very Being, so the same God is observed within the All of
Everything.
A great look into what is going on, and what is still to come. Yet the sleeping, brain dead,
face diapered, mind controlled masses of the global corporation formerly known as he United
States spend every waking hour saying "hooray for our guy". Never once does it occur to the
sheeple both are puppets, controlled by the international banksters and their minions.
One of these morons has undeniable ties to the Russian mob, while the other has deep ties to
the Chinese Communist Party. If that weren't bad enough, they both swear undying loyalty to
that little shit stain in the Middle East which seems to project more influence on world
politics than the two formerly mentioned giants.
I know it is no accident the printing of this article occurred on the anniversary date of
the last, greatest mind fuck to hit America since Dec. 7th, 1941. I guess the infidels have
been shown a lesson and the world is now safe for a one world government technocratic
Corporatocracy.
So here's to 3/11/2020(my official date for the roll out of the CV hoax), the ushering in of
a new slave system, and the idiocy and gullibility of the global citizenry.
So enjoy your new bosses, as they are going to be far more tyrannical than your old.
@Robjil
ry:'
[I see that the 1st image is not visible, kindly try this link: alleged 'recovered' flight
recorder ]
Q: How soft was that ground, anyway? Does anyone 'believe' that part of the official 9/11
narrative? Haw. Only the 'insouciant punters' were ever hoodwinked by such offensive, lying
rubbish, all faithfully echoed by the 'lame-stream media.' rgds
Condoleeza Rice resisting at Congressional enquiry "N-o-o-o" and then admitting in a faint
there was an "intelligence report" that said said "Ben Laden planning to use airplanes in
terrorist attack" was play acting to confirm what they wanted people to believe. You will
remember that you were taught to prepare in advance "red herrings" and leave deliberate
confusions behind you to cover your trail.
@Robert White
traitors and infiltrated enemies not by any brilliance of the vicious Chinese Communist mass
murderers -- if you like the idea of taking a van ride for expressing your anti-Government
thoughts you'll love the ChiCom "Model" being installed here now on all of us -- Ron Unz would
be one of the first for the van ride if he tried to run a site like this in China by the way --
there is zero disputing this fact. David Rockefeller gave us the CFR, Trilateral Commission
etc. and of course the WHO and:
https://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/the-true-agenda-of-the-who-a-new-world-order-modeled-after-china/
@Alfred Haw.
Or was that suppressed as well, along with the bulk-wreckage [=crime-scene evidence] which was
destroyed by being exported as scrap? Haw again.
Nitty-gritty: There is no need to posit any 'exotics,' from nukes to DEW; standard
explosives [both with OR without thermite/mate; only the 'best' tools = most suitable would
have been deployed]; standard explosives could quite easily do the job, for example det-cord
threaded into the floor-slab conduits can fully explain both the absence of floor in the rubble
plus the billowing pyroclastic white dust-clouds [incidentally, explaining scorched vehicles].
And so it goes. A term for such reasoning = Occam's razor.
"One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them."
Today is the anniversary of 9/11. Please find some time to trade with my former colleagues
at BGC/Aurel-Mint who hold their charity day today in memory of the firm's losses in NY that
shocking day in 2001.
This morning we wake to the news the UK has staged something of an economic recovery –
but as predicted it's proving remarkably sticky reopening the economy. All eyes are still on
the tech market – where the bounce proved the ailing cat isn't in particularly good
health. I shall stick my neck out and say the correction still has a way to go. Next week
– beware.
Yesterday I wrote about complexity and how the pandemic, bubbles, repressed returns, years
of monetary distortion and the evolving political economy have changed the dynamics of markets.
One of the factors causing confusion is the increasing speed of change – it's happening
too quickly for us to fully comprehend.
Apparently my comments on MMT have upset a well-known city economist who told a contact at
major investment firm: "Blain knows nothing about economics, he's just a market hack wanting to
be heard.." Excellent. And I would agree – I know nothing about economics, but neither
does anyone else .. ( Touche!) That's why it's called the dismal science.
Today, let me continue the New Reality analysis about dynamics and the speed of change.
Rather than focusing on the past and present, let's focus on the future and the other side of
the equation – the outlook for business, industry and government, and how they will
influence these changing dynamics.
There are three themes to this morning's story:
What's the upside?
The prospects for the global economy are fantastic! We can look forward to new generation
micro-processing which will literally be a quantum revolution. The potential for a clean
energy, new battery technologies, environmental improvement, and abundant power from fusion and
hydrogen could be enormous. If you think the way we work has changed by "working from home",
the future of AI, Robotics, 3D and nano-tech will revolutionise everything we do and how we
spend our increased leisure time. A new agricultural revolution in plants, food and soil will
allow us to feed the world, alleviate poverty, raise educational standards and allow population
growth to stablise, enabling us all to lead less anxious lives. Ah! Bliss.
Marvellous stuff! The future is going to be flying cars, rocket-packs and holidays on the
beaches of Mars ?
Perhaps. Why not? If try hard enough .
What's the downside?
All these things can only happen if the global economy moves forward, develops and evolves.
There are massive inertia problems to be resolved. Much of our current economy isn't fit for
purpose. Political leadership seems mired in quicksand. Bureaucracy is perhaps the greatest
scourge of the modern age. The blockages, rigidities and hurdles holding back the business of
business aren't getting simpler. They are multiplying.
Not so good is the future going to be like the Vogons currently running financial
regulation?
And, most importantly
How will it happen?
The role of government will be critical. The future of the global economy will depend on the
delivery of functional physical and social infrastructure to enable change and evolution. That
means breaking out of our current gridlocks, including inequality, and completely rethinking
and remaking public goods like health, welfare and education and an acknowledgement that social
justice and wealth-equality aren't optional.
I don't think I need to say too much about the possibility of a bright Tech-led future
– what matters is getting there, or as close to it as possible. As a Porridge reader
recently reminded me: 15 years ago there were no smartphones, no social media, no Uber or
Airbnb, Apple and Amazon were struggling and GE was AAA rated. The world changes. Get over
it.
Let's start with the third issue – The role of government. That's an immediate problem
for my generation. We've been brainwashed since infancy to believe government is bad, less
government is good. Big G is inefficient and leads to bureaucracy. Any Government spending will
be riddled with featherbedding, inefficiency and outright corruption. Far better to let private
enterprise lead the way – so we've always been told.
Really? Private Enterprise isn't much better. Let's be honest – big firms have their
brief periods of innovation, stratospheric growth and market leadership before they stumble
into middle age, become sclerotic and die from obsolescence, competition, null-entropy and
bureaucracy – that's the Darwinian process of capitalism. The last thirty years spent
worshiping at the Friedman Temple of corporate shareholder capitalism has seen some pretty
shady behaviours – massive executive rewards, stock buy-backs and the overleveraging of
failing companies to pay out private equity owners . I could go on.
There is a middle ground.
What if Maggie Thatcher was utterly wrong about Government having to be as frugal as a
housewife? What if fiat money and monetary sovereignty works? What if Milton Friedman was wrong
and Keynes, Smith et al are all right?
Yesterday I raised the issue of stakeholder capitalism – and predictably got a number
of emails telling me anything except the continued wealth creation by successful
entrepreneurial billionaires will lead to disaster and communism. That's not what a stakeholder
economy needs to lead to.
Shock Time. For the first time ever, I am going to say something positive about ESG –
Environmental, Social and Governance Investment parameters.
For too many investors ESG is simply an easy tick-box approach to avoid difficult compliance
or investment committee questions. But ESG is still at an early stage as we evolve towards
Stakeholder Economies. Investments that aim to do good are laudable, but ones that are properly
managed, do good and socialise the benefits are even better, especially when they also make
profit! (Sharing the money around is the issue for unreformed capitalists..) Few big banks or
investors would publically admit ESG is bad - so how can Stakeholder be bad?
The big issue is can Government be trusted to deliver the public goods we will need to
deliver our Bright New World? Can they be trusted to use the magical money tree of MMT to
deliver the necessary reforms of health, education and welfare provision, solve inequality and
rebuild ailing national infrastructure. That's a question for functional democracy.
One of the comments I got yesterday – from a leading academic – sums up the
risks: "It's as simple as this – unless you are the EU, which has zero monetary
sovereignty, nations can solve all the issues you identify, including social and income
equality, through focused MMT spending. Unless you are in the US, where the government has
created some $670 bln and given it straight to the richest 1500, while 47 million and one in
three kids still go hungry."
It's a warning – MMT is a potential solution. But a dangerous one if misapplied. If
the resources of a state, and its control of fiat currency, are directed to support only the
rich and powerful – explain to me what's different from what they complain Communist
China is guilty of?
Let's be more optimistic. the future looks bright and perhaps we can better resolve issues
by adopting Stakeholder Capitalism. We can fund it all by selective government MMT programmes
to finance public goods enabling us to do these things. Sounds easy – but perhaps it is?
We need Decent politicians – note the capital D. Decent as in decent, honest, brave and
true.
Which leads us to the Big Problem , the second issue the trend towards stultifying
Bureaucracy.
One of my favourite economic concepts is "Niskannen's Theory of Bureaucracy". Bureaucrats
are driven by economic goals – which include making their lives easier, and controlling
more and more makes it easy. It's not just a government problem. Its rife across the private
sector. Let me start by asking have you spoken to your bank recently?
Probably not. I bet you spent hours in a telephone queue, being told that "due to the
Pandemic we are experiencing a high volume of calls" . I read the high street banks are sacking
more staff and closing more branches.
Let's face it.. our banks don't work.
Because it makes sense to borrow money at negative real interest rates I recently applied
for a mortgage – to finance rebuilding our house. We have money in the bank, and they are
aware of our investment portfolio, pensions and other savings. However, they turned me down for
a loan – on the basis I had a black credit mark.
It turns out that black score is because a mobile telephone company made a mistake and
reported I hadn't paid them the horrendous sum of £66.30. EE have now acknowledged the
mistake and apologised for not cancelling a direct debit. I have a cheque on my desk from them
repaying the direct debits they claimed before I cancelled it. However, they say that "legally"
they can't undo the damage done to my credit score. They say the law demands it stays on my
report for 2 years – despite it being patently incorrect.
I asked the bank to be reasonable and look at the information. "Computer says No." The Bank
doesn't want to lend to me, or anyone else, full stop. The telecoms company can't be bothered
to correct their mistake and raise potentially difficult questions about their systems.
Let's focus on why banking bureaucracies fail. If a high-street bank lends money that causes
all kinds of problems – if has to fill in sheaves of client reports, update their KYC,
determine why someone with money in the bank wants to borrow more. They then will have to
discuss the loan at half and dozen different compliance, diligence, diversity and capital
committees. Then they have to weigh the risk of default, and put aside the correct capital
charges to apply. Being "Pale, Male and Stale" doesn't help – I might retire at some
point in the 10-year life of the loan. Banks definitely don't want to be lending to white-folk
in their 60s.
Effectively the big banks no longer function. They have become bureaucracies where the
treacle that flows through their operational arteries has made them ineffective and useless.
They are still using multiple legacy systems, but don't have the energy and won't allocate the
cash to replace them. Yet these same banks are considered critical to the economy and will be
bailed out repeatedly, confirming their criticality to the economy. Their executives are paid
in millions.
Let the Big Banks go bust – that's what should happen to failing companies!
Actually, go further – close them down. The financial system will not collapse if we
put HSBC up against the wall. I would argue it would be a great "pour le encourage les autres "
moment.. ( "The English like to shoot an Admiral or two to encourage the rest ", as Voltaire
said.) While we are it, lets put EE up against the wall as well, and blindfold a couple of
credit agencies as well
A bit of corporate fear would be no bad thing.
There is no shortage of bright young FINTECH challenger banks out there that understand the
opportunity to replace banking behemoths, and provide the missing aspects of customer service.
The understand the need, the social service concept of banking for all, and they understand the
opportunity to automate payments, digitise delivery and actually serve a useful social
purpose
I think you get the drift . Extend the same thinking across the whole economy and every
government department. A little bit of good old creative capitalist destruction wouldn't do us
any harm.
notfeelinthebern , 2 hours ago
Term limits would fix much of it. You go to the donor page for any swamp rat US Senator
and it is mind boggling.
WedgeMan , 2 hours ago
Let a big bank fail and then try to buy something at a store with credit card. No dice.
A failed bank will leave you with no money. Why do you think our great grandparents stored
cash in jars, not in the bank vaults? the strategy is to eliminate all cash and use bank
accounts only. This way the grand surveillance State is complete and can control you very
easily.
GunnerySgtHartman , 1 hour ago
This is exactly why people should utilize locally-owned banks ... or even better, credit
unions. And keep not more than six weeks' worth of funds in your bank/credit union
account.
Clint Liquor , 2 hours ago
"I am going to suspend my free market principles, to save the free market". G.W. Bush, before announcing the 2008 Bank Bailouts.
107cicero , 2 hours ago
Blaine has the Voltarie quote wrong; it was from Candide' a novel of his and put into
the mouth of a character: "in this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage
the others"
bshirley1968 , 2 hours ago
"The prospects for the global economy are fantastic! We can look forward to new
generation micro-processing which will literally be a quantum revolution. The potential for
a clean energy, new battery technologies, environmental improvement, and abundant power
from fusion and hydrogen could be enormous.
If you think the way we work has changed by
"working from home", the future of AI, Robotics, 3D and nano-tech will revolutionise
everything we do and how we spend our increased leisure time. A new agricultural revolution
in plants, food and soil will allow us to feed the world, alleviate poverty, raise
educational standards and allow population growth to stablise, enabling us all to lead less
anxious lives. Ah! Bliss."
Spoken like a true dystopian cheering, Kool-aid drinking, head-up-his-matrix, idiot. Not
one thing listed there will ge beneficial to humanity's freedom and independence........but
it might generate a lot more debt......in jue-bucks.......so party on dude.
earleflorida , 1 hour ago
Question??? ::: Doth any person remember ' compound interest' on savings & checking
accounts?
Doth man hath to venture unto risk{?!?}, be it a Riggs Bank Heist 2020 ((( The
CIA and Riggs Bank. - Slate Magazine ))) stock market manipulation to open ones piehole
and speak of a 'modern-unspeakable-usury' syndicated crime FRB System criminal
enterprise...
earleflorida , 1 hour ago
Question??? ::: Doth any person remember ' compound interest' on savings & checking
accounts?
Doth man hath to venture unto risk{?!?}, be it a Riggs Bank Heist 2020 ((( The
CIA and Riggs Bank. - Slate Magazine ))) stock market manipulation to open ones piehole
and speak of a 'modern-unspeakable-usury' syndicated crime FRB System criminal
enterprise...
Mini Teaser: Radicals of the democracy-promotion movement embody the very thing they are
fighting against -- a closed-minded conviction that they represent the one true path for all
societies and thus possess a monopoly on social, ethical and political truth.
White House counselor Stephen Miller and CNN's Jim Acosta clash at the Wednesday press
briefing focused on the administration's new immigration proposal:
In short black people are used as pawns in the political struggle between two neoliberal
clans fighting for power, using students without perspectives of gaining meaningful employment as
a ram. We saw this picture before in a different country. And riots do reverse gains achieved in
civil right struggle since 1960th, so they are also net losers. Racial tensions in the USA
definitely increased dramatically.
Notable quotes:
"... Bottom line: "Critical Race Theory", "The 1619 Project", and Homeland Security's "White Supremacist" warning represent the ideological foundation upon which the war on America is based. The "anti-white" dogma is the counterpart to the massive riots that have rocked the country. These phenomena are two spokes on the same wheel. They are designed to work together to achieve the same purpose. The goal is create a "racial" smokescreen that conceals the vast and willful destruction of the US economy, the $5 trillion dollar wealth-transfer that was provided to Wall Street, and the ferocious attack on the emerging, mainly-white working class "populist" movement that elected Trump and which rejects the globalist plan to transform the world into a borderless free trade zone ruled by cutthroat monopolists and their NWO allies. ..."
"... This is a class war dolled-up to look like a race war. Americans will have to look beyond the smoke and mirrors to spot the elites lurking in the shadows. There lies the cancer that must be eradicated. ..."
"... The current situation cannot exist without the complicity of the secret services and the police. The heads of the secret services are either part of the cabal or close their eyes in fear ..."
"... There can be no single oligarch. It must be a larger group but very united by fear and a common goal. This can only be achieved if they are all Jews or Masons. Or both under a larger umbrella like some kind of pedo-ritual killing-satan worshiper. Soros can't do it alone. ..."
"... Of course politicians are corrupt and complicit but usually they are not the leaders ..."
Here's your BLM Pop Quiz for the day: What do "Critical Race Theory", "The 1619 Project",
and Homeland Security's "White Supremacist" warning tell us about what's going on in America
today?
They point to deeply-embedded racism that shapes the behavior of white people They
suggest that systemic racism cannot be overcome by merely changing attitudes and laws They
alert us to the fact that unresolved issues are pushing the country towards a destructive race
war They indicate that powerful agents -- operating from within the state– are inciting
racial violence to crush the emerging "populist" majority that elected Trump to office in 2016
and which now represents an existential threat to the globalist plan to transform America into
a tyrannical third-world "shithole".
Which of these four statements best explains what's going on in America today?
If you chose Number 4, you are right. We are not experiencing a sudden and explosive
outbreak of racial violence and mayhem. We are experiencing a thoroughly-planned,
insurgency-type operation that involves myriad logistical components including vast, nationwide
riots, looting and arson, as well as an extremely impressive ideological campaign. "Critical
Race Theory", "The 1619 Project", and Homeland Security's "White Supremacist" warning are as
much a part of the Oligarchic war on America as are the burning of our cities and the toppling
of our statues. All three, fall under the heading of "ideology", and all three are being used
to shape public attitudes on matters related to our collective identity as "Americans".
The plan is to overwhelm the population with a deluge of disinformation about their history,
their founders, and the threats they face, so they will submissively accept a New Order imposed
by technocrats and their political lackeys. This psychological war is perhaps more important
than Operation BLM which merely provides the muscle for implementing the transformative "Reset"
that elites want to impose on the country. The real challenge is to change the hearts and minds
of a population that is unwaveringly patriotic and violently resistant to any subversive
element that threatens to do harm to their country. So, while we can expect this propaganda
saturation campaign to continue for the foreseeable future, we don't expect the strategy will
ultimately succeed. At the end of the day, America will still be America, unbroken, unflagging
and unapologetic.
Let's look more carefully at what is going on.
On September 4, the Department of Homeland Security issued a draft report stating that
"White supremacists present the gravest terror threat to the United States". According to an
article in Politico:
" all three draft (versions of the document) describe the threat from white
supremacists as the deadliest domestic terror threat facing the U.S. , listed above the
immediate danger from foreign terrorist groups . John Cohen, who oversaw DHS's
counterterrorism portfolio from 2011 to 2014, said the drafts' conclusion isn't
surprising.
"This draft document seems to be consistent with earlier intelligence reports from DHS,
the FBI, and other law enforcement sources: that the most significant terror-related
threat facing the US today comes from violent extremists who are motivated by white
supremac y and other far-right ideological causes," he said .
"Lone offenders and small cells of individuals motivated by a diverse array of social,
ideological, and personal factors will pose the primary terrorist threat to the United
States," the draft reads. "Among these groups, we assess that white supremacist extremists
will pose the most persistent and lethal threat."..(" DHS
draft document: White supremacists are greatest terror threat " Politico)
This is nonsense. White supremacists do not pose the greatest danger to the country, that
designation goes to the left-wing groups that have rampaged through more than 2,000 US cities
for the last 100 days. Black Lives Matter and Antifa-generated riots have decimated hundreds of
small businesses, destroyed the lives and livelihoods of thousands of merchants and their
employees, and left entire cities in a shambles. The destruction in Kenosha alone far exceeds
the damage attributable to the activities of all the white supremacist groups combined.
So why has Homeland Security made this ridiculous and unsupportable claim? Why have they
chosen to prioritize white supremacists as "the most persistent and lethal threat" when it is
clearly not true?
There's only one answer: Politics.
The officials who concocted this scam are advancing the agenda of their real bosses, the
oligarch puppet-masters who have their tentacles extended throughout the deep-state and use
them to coerce their lackey bureaucrats to do their bidding. In this case, the honchos are
invoking the race card ("white supremacists") to divert attention from their sinister
destabilization program, their looting of the US Treasury (for their crooked Wall Street
friends), their demonizing of the mostly-white working class "America First" nationalists who
handed Trump the 2016 election, and their scurrilous scheme to establish one-party rule by
installing their addlepated meat-puppet candidate (Biden) as president so he can carry out
their directives from the comfort of the Oval Office. That's what's really going on.
DHS's announcement makes it possible for state agents to target legally-armed Americans who
gather with other gun owners in groups that are protected under the second amendment. Now the
white supremacist label will be applied more haphazardly to these same conservatives who pose
no danger to public safety. The draft document should be seen as a warning to anyone whose
beliefs do not jibe with the New Liberal Orthodoxy that white people are inherently racists who
must ask forgiveness for a system they had no hand in creating (slavery) and which was
abolished more than 150 years ago.
The 1619 Project" is another part of the ideological war that is being waged against the
American people. The objective of the "Project" is to convince readers that America was founded
by heinous white men who subjugated blacks to increase their wealth and power. According to the
World Socialist Web Site:
"The essays featured in the magazine are organized around the central premise that all of
American history is rooted in race hatred -- specifically, the uncontrollable hatred of
"black people" by "white people." Hannah-Jones writes in the series' introduction:
"Anti-black racism runs in the very DNA of this country. "
This is a false and dangerous conception. DNA is a chemical molecule that contains the
genetic code of living organisms and determines their physical characteristics and
development . Hannah-Jones's reference to DNA is part of a growing tendency to derive
racial antagonisms from innate biological processes .where does this racism come from? It
is embedded, claims Hannah-Jones, in the historical DNA of American "white people." Thus, it
must persist independently of any change in political or economic conditions .
. No doubt, the authors of The Project 1619 essays would deny that they are predicting
race war, let alone justifying fascism. But ideas have a logic; and authors bear
responsibility for the political conclusions and consequences of their false and misguided
arguments." ("The New York Times's 1619
Project: A racialist falsification of American and world history", World Socialist Web
Site)
Clearly, Hannah-Jones was enlisted by big money patrons who needed an ideological foundation
to justify the massive BLM riots they had already planned as part of their US color revolution.
The author –perhaps unwittingly– provided the required text for vindicating
widespread destruction and chaos carried out in the name of "social justice."
As Hannah-Jones says, "Anti-black racism runs in the very DNA of this country", which is to
say that it cannot be mitigated or reformed, only eradicated by destroying the symbols of white
patriarchy (Our icons, our customs, our traditions and our history.), toppling the existing
government, and imposing a new system that better reflects the values of the burgeoning
non-Caucasian majority. Simply put, The Project 1619 creates the rationale for sustained civil
unrest, deepening political polarization and violent revolution.
All of these goals conveniently coincide with the aims of the NWO Oligarchs who seek to
replace America's Constitutional government with a corporate Superstate ruled by voracious
Monopolists and their globalist allies. So, while Hannah-Jones treatise does nothing to improve
conditions for black people in America, it does move the country closer to the dystopian dream
of the parasite class; Corporate Valhalla.
Then there is "Critical Race Theory" which provides the ideological icing on the cake. The
theory is part of the broader canon of anti-white dogma which is being used to indoctrinate
workers. White employees are being subjected to "reeducation" programs that require their
participation as a precondition for further employment . The first rebellion against critical
race theory, took place at Sandia Labs which is a federally-funded research agency that designs
America's nuclear weapons. According to journalist Christopher F. Rufo:
"Senator @HawleyMO and
@SecBrouillette have
launched an inspector general investigation, but Sandia executives have only accelerated
their purge against conservatives."
Sandia executives have made it clear: they want to force critical race theory,
race-segregated trainings, and white male reeducation camps on their employees -- and all
dissent will be severely punished. Progressive employees will be rewarded; conservative
employees will be purged." (" There is a civil war erupting
at @SandiaLabs ." Christopher F Rufo)
It all sounds so Bolshevik. Here's more info on how this toxic indoctrination program
works:
"Treasury Department
The Treasury Department held a training session telling employees that "virtually all
White people contribute to racism" and demanding that white staff members "struggle to own
their racism" and accept their "unconscious bias, White privilege, and White
fragility."
The National Credit Union Administration
The NCUA held a session for 8,900 employees arguing that America was "founded on
racism" and "built on the blacks of people who were enslaved. " Twitter thread here and
original source documents
here .
Sandia National Laboratories
Last year, Sandia National Labs -- which produces our nuclear arsenal -- held a
three-day reeducation camp for white males, teaching them how to deconstruct their
"white male culture" and forcing them to write letters of apology to women and people of
color . Whistleblowers from inside the labs tell me that critical race theory is now
endangering our national security. Twitter thread here and original source
documents
here .
Argonne National Laboratories
Argonne National Labs hosts trainings calling on white lab employees to admit that they
"benefit from racism" and atone for the "pain and anguish inflicted upon Black people. "
Twitter thread here .
Department of Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security hosted a Training on "microaggressions,
microinequities, and microassaults" where white employees were told that they had been
"socialized into oppressor roles. " Twitter thread here and original source
documents here
." (" Summary of
Critical Race Theory Investigations" , Christopher F Rufo)
On September 4, Donald Trump announced his administration "would prohibit federal
agencies from subjecting government employees to "critical race theory" or "white privilege"
seminar. ..
"It has come to the President's attention that Executive Branch agencies have spent
millions of taxpayer dollars to date 'training' government workers to believe divisive,
anti-American propaganda ," read a Friday memo
from the Office of Budget and Management Director Russ Vought. "These types of 'trainings'
not only run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our Nation has stood since its
inception, but they also engender division and resentment within the Federal workforce The
President has directed me to ensure that Federal agencies cease and desist from using
taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions."
The next day, September 5, Trump announced that the Department of Education was going to see
whether the New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project was being used in school curricula
and– if it was– then those schools would be ineligible for federal funding.
Conservative pundits applauded Trump's action as a step forward in the "culture wars", but it's
really much more than that. Trump is actually foiling an effort by the domestic saboteurs who
continue look for ways to undermine democracy, reduce the masses of working-class people to
grinding poverty and hopelessness, and turn the country into a despotic military outpost ruled
by bloodsucking tycoons, mercenary autocrats and duplicitous elites. Alot of thought and effort
went into this malign ideological project. Trump derailed it with a wave of the hand. That's no
small achievement.
Bottom line: "Critical Race Theory", "The 1619 Project", and Homeland Security's "White
Supremacist" warning represent the ideological foundation upon which the war on America is
based. The "anti-white" dogma is the counterpart to the massive riots that have rocked the
country. These phenomena are two spokes on the same wheel. They are designed to work
together to achieve the same purpose. The goal is create a "racial" smokescreen that conceals
the vast and willful destruction of the US economy, the $5 trillion dollar wealth-transfer that
was provided to Wall Street, and the ferocious attack on the emerging, mainly-white working
class "populist" movement that elected Trump and which rejects the globalist plan to transform
the world into a borderless free trade zone ruled by cutthroat monopolists and their NWO
allies.
This is a class war dolled-up to look like a race war. Americans will have to look
beyond the smoke and mirrors to spot the elites lurking in the shadows. There lies the cancer
that must be eradicated.
A good article, but no mention of who exactly these oligarchs are. Or why so many of them
are Jewish.
Or why so many Zionist organisations support BLM and other such groups.
Mike, not mentioning these things will not save you. You will still be cancelled by
Progressive Inc.
This seems like a good explanation of what is happening. I wonder whether too many people
will fall for the propaganda, though. It is the classic effort to get the turkeys to support
thanksgiving.
The deserved progress and concessions achieved by the civil rights struggles for the Black
community is in danger of deteriorating because Black leadership will not stand up and
vehemently condemn the rioting and destruction and killing, and declare that the BLM movement
does not represent the majority of the Black American culture and that the overexaggerated
accusations of "racism" do not necessitate the eradication and revision of history, nor does
it require European Americans to feel guilt or shame. There is no need for a cultural
revolution. The ideology and actions of BLM are offensive and inconsistent with American
values, and Black leaders should be saying this every day, and should be admonishing about
the consequences. They should also use foresight to see how this is going to end, because the
BLM and their supporters are being used to fight a war that they can never win. And when it's
over, what perception will the rest of America have of Black people?
@sonofman g to TPTB. Better to have an amorphous slogan to donate money to than an actual
organization with humans, goals and ideas which can be held up to the light and critically
examined.
The whole sudden race thing is a fraud to eliminate the electoral support Trump had
amassed among blacks before Corona and Fentanyl Floyd. In line with what Whitney says, the
globalists need to take down Trump. And the race card has always been the first tool in the
DNC's toolkit. When all else fails, go nuclear with undefined claims of racism.
Almost every big magazine has a black person on the cover this month. Probably will in
October too. Coincidence? Sure it is.
They indicate that powerful agents -- operating from within the state– are
inciting racial violence to crush the emerging "populist" majority that elected Trump to
office in 2016 and which now represents an existential threat to the globalist plan to
transform America into a tyrannical third-world "shithole".
I'm shocked that they're trying to sell this Q-tier bullshit about Trump fighting the deep
state.
The reality about Trump is that he is the release valve, the red herring designed to keep
whitey pacified while massive repossessions and foreclosures take place, permanently
impoverishing a large part of the white population, and shutting down the Talmudic
service-based economy, which is all that is really left. It is Trump's DHS that declared a
large part of his white trashionalist base to be terrorists.
The populist majority never had anyone to vote for. This system will never give them one.
They aren't bright enough to make it happen.
Agree. Barack Obama in particular will go down in history a real disgrace to the legacy of
the US presidency. He is violating the sacred trust that the people of the United States
invested in him. What a fraud!
Good post Mr. Whitney especially about "white supremacy" garbage .which has only been
going on since the 90s! You know, Waco, Ruby Ridge, Elohim City and Okie City, militias,
"patriot groups," etc. This really is nothing new. And, since so many remember the "white
supremacy" crapola was crapola back in the 90s, I'd say everyone pretty much regardless of
race over the age of 40 knows there is, as it says in Ecclesiastes in the Bible, "there is
nothing new under the sun." And, if you home schooled your kids back then, then you kids know
it as well. Fact is this: the DHS as with every other govt. agency is forced to blame "white
supremacy" for every problem in this country because who the heck else can they blame? Jews?
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahh when pigs fly After all, Noahide just might be around the
corner ..
Sheriffs have a lot of legal power. Ultimately, the battle is privatized money power
vs Joe Citizen/Sheriffs.
This sheriff is working a Constitutional angle that says: Local Posse (meaning you.. Joe
citizen) working with the Sheriff department to protect your local community. Richard Mack is
teaching other Sheriffs and (some Police) what their Constitutional power is, and that power
doesn't include doing bidding of Oligarchs.
Sheriffs are elected, and their revenue stream is outside of Oligarchy:
So Donald Trump suddenly discovers that racial Bolshevism is the official policy of
his own executive branch – a mere 3 years and 8 months after assuming the
position
... Looks like the same old flim-flam they pull every four years. No matter who wins, the
Davos folks continue to run the circus and fleece the suckers dry.
Because it is. Substitute "the ethnic Russian middle class are class enemies" for
"Anglo-American are all racists" and there you have it. Permission for a small organized
minority to eliminate a whole class on ideological grounds...
I live in a former communist country in Eastern Europe with corrupt politicians, oligarchs
and organized crime.
America was a country with a minor corruption and in which the oligarchs, although
influential, were not united in a small group with decisive force. Now America is slowly
slipping into the situation of a second-hand shit-hole country.
Is that I can see the situation more clearly than an American citizen who still has the
American perception of his contry the way it was 30 years ago.
Essential thing:
1) The current situation cannot exist without the complicity of the secret services and
the police. The heads of the secret services are either part of the cabal or close their eyes
in fear .
2) There can be no single oligarch. It must be a larger group but very united by fear and
a common goal. This can only be achieved if they are all Jews or Masons. Or both under a
larger umbrella like some kind of pedo-ritual killing-satan worshiper. Soros can't do it
alone.
3) Of course politicians are corrupt and complicit but usually they are not the
leaders
4) BLM are exactly the brown shirts of the new Hitler.
Soon we will se the new Hitler/Stalin/ in plain light.
Thirty black children murdered recently; zero by police / BLM & 'the media' say
nothing: https://www.outkick.com/blm-101-volume-7-the-lives-of-innocent-black-kids-do-not-matter/
BTW:
– Last year, the nationwide total for all US police forces was 47 killings of unarmed
criminals by police during arrest procedures.
– 8 were black, 19 were white.
Though blacks, relative to their numbers, committed a vastly higher number of crimes, hence
their immensely greater arrest rate.
@Justvisiting urally, it is nonsense -- nasty, power-hungry, censorious nonsense.
It is the opposite of scientific or empirical thought -- science can not accept theories
which are not capable of falsification. (Take astrology -- actually, don't ! -- what ever
conclusion it comes to can never be wrong : Dick or Jane didn't find love ? Well, one
of Saturn's moons was retrograde & Mercury declensed Venus (I don't know what it means
either) . or Dick went on a bender & Jane had a whole bad hair week.
Frankly, to play these pre-modern tricks on us is just grotesquely insulting. That some are
falling for it is grotesquely depressing.
Another ringer from Mike Whitney! Keep 'em comin', brother.
We are not experiencing a sudden and explosive outbreak of racial violence and mayhem.
We are experiencing a thoroughly-planned, insurgency-type operation that involves myriad
logistical components including vast, nationwide riots, looting and arson, as well as an
extremely impressive ideological campaign.
Yup. TPTB have been grooming BLM/Antifa for this moment for at least 3-4 years now, if not
longer. Here's a former BLMer who quit speaking out three years ago about the organization's
role in the present 'race war':
It is very clever politics and (war) propaganda. You break down and demoralise your
enemies at the same time as assuring your own side of it's own righteous use of violence.
This is a class war dolled-up to look like a race war. Americans will have to look
beyond the smoke and mirrors to spot the elites lurking in the shadows.
Nailing it.
4. They indicate that powerful agents -- operating from within the state– are
inciting racial violence to crush the emerging "populist" majority that elected Trump to
office in 2016 and which now represents an existential threat to the globalist plan to
transform America into a tyrannical third-world "shithole".
Which of these four statements best explains what's going on in America today?
If you chose Number 4, you are right.
If we believe this – we need to act like it. These are "enemies, foreign and
domestic ". This isn't ordinary politics, it arguably transcends politics.
What hope is there without organization?
And whatever is done – don't give them ammunition. The resistance must not be an
ethno-resistance.
But he is either naive or a bad manager, as his hires are deadly to his aims. And the
management criticism is big, because as a leader that is mostly what he does.
That he gets information to affect US policy for good, from outside of his circle of
trusted personnel, is a sad state of affairs.
@Robert Dolan ds that it would have ended on day one were it not officially sanctioned
and the rioters protected from prosecution. Why hasn't the Janet Rosenberg/Thousand
Currents/Tides Foundation connection with the BLM/DNC/MSM cabal, as well as with Antifa and
social media, been the major investigation on Fox News? Why haven't Zuckerberg, Zucker, et al
been arrested for incitement to commit federal crimes, including capital treason to overthrow
the duly elected president? (Just a few rhetorical questions for the hell of it.) What's so
galling is that the cops and federal agents are being used as just so many patsies who are
deployed, not to protect, but deployed to look like fools and be held up for mockery as
pathetic exemplars of white disempowerment.
The officials who concocted this scam are advancing the agenda of their real bosses, the
oligarch puppet-masters who have their tentacles extended throughout the deep-state and use
them to coerce their lackey bureaucrats to do their bidding.
Agree, but where is President Trump? He was supposed to appoint undersecretaries and
assistant secretaries and deputy undersecretaries and Schedule C whippersnappers on whose
desks such outrages are supposed to die.
I've thought from the beginning that this lack of attention to "personnel as policy" --
with Trump overestimating the ability of the ostensible CEO to overcome such intransigence --
was one of his major failures. I am sympathetic, as there are not many people he could trust
to be loyal to his agenda, much less to him, but this is a disaster in every agency
Few years ago I watch a clip secretly recorded in Ukrainian synagogue where Rabi said
"first we have to fight Catholics and with Muslims it will be an easy job" ...
Thanks to Mr Whitney for being able to cut through the fog and see what's going on behind
it. The term "white supremacist" wasn't much in public use at all until the day Trump was
elected then suddenly it was all over the place. It's like one of those massive ad campaigns
whose jingle is everywhere as if some group decided on it as a theme to be pushed. They're
really afraid that the white working class population will wake up and see how the country is
being sold out from underneath their feet hence the need to keep it divided and intimidated.
Like all the other color revolutions everywhere else they strike at the weak links within the
country to create conflict, in the US case it's so-called diversity. There's billions
available to be spent in this project so plenty of traitors can be found, unwitting or
otherwise, to carry out their assignments. The billionaire class own most of the media and
much else and see the US as their farm. They have no loyalty whatsoever and outsource
everything to China or anywhere else they can squeeze everything out of the workers. They
want a global dictatorship and admire the Chinese government for the way it can order its
citizens around.
You are exactly right. Trump is doing his part (knowingly or unknowingly, but probably
knowingly) to accomplish the NWO objectives. He was not elected in 2016 in spite of NWO
desires, as most Trump supporters think, but rather precisely BECAUSE of NWO desires.
The NWO probably also wants him to win again this year, and if so then he will win. The
reason the NWO wanted him in 2016 (and probably wants him to win again) was primarily to
neutralize the (armed) Right in this country so they wouldn't effectively resist the COVID-19
scamdemic lockdown tyranny and BLM/Antifa riots.
@Trinity While I tend to agree with you that it looks like a race war, the question is
why is it happening now? If it were just a race war promoted by radicals in BLM and Antifa,
it does not explain the nationwide coordination (let's face it the faces of BLM and Antifa
are not that smart or connected), the support and censorship of the violence by the MSM and
the support of Marxist BLM by corporations to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
This is a color revolution in the making and may come to a peak after Nov. 3rd. Whitney is on
to something, there is much more going on behind the "smoke and mirrors" and AG Barr (if he's
not part of it) should be investigating it.
They indicate that powerful agents -- operating from within the state– are
inciting racial violence to crush the emerging "populist" majority that elected Trump to
office in 2016 and which now represents an existential threat to the globalist plan to
transform America into a tyrannical third-world "shithole".
I keep reading such nonsense in the comments above. the so-called populist majority does
not get it, Trump is not placed here to stop the Globalist agenda, that is an electioneering
stunt. Look at what he has actually and really done.
How has he stopped the Globalist move forward?? By the Covid plandemic being
allowed to circle the globe and shut down the US economy and social norm? By moving our high
tech companies to Israel? Giving Israel and their Wall Street allies what is left of US
credit wealth? Draining the swamp with even more Zio-Neocon Swamp creatures in the govt than
ever? Moving the embassy to Jerusalem and all requests per Netanyahu's wish list? A real
anti-Globalist stand? Looting the Federal Reserve for the Wall Street high fliers, who
garnered more wealth during the crash test run of March-April and are sure to make out with
even more for the coming big crash?
Phoney stunts of stopping immigration or bashing China. Really? China is still rising
propelled by Wall Street and Banker funds. I have not seen any jobs coming home, lost more
than ever in US history this year. Only lost homes for the working and middle classes.
How is Populist America standing up for their constitutional rights which is being
shredded a little more each day? Standing up for their Real Interests, which are eroded and
stolen on an almost daily basis by Trump's NY Mafia and Wall Street Oligarchs. Jobs gone for
good and government assistance to the needy disappearing, as that is against the phoney
Republic individualism, that you must make it on your own. Right just like the big goverment
assistance always going to the big money players and banks, remember as they are too big
to let fail!
Dreaming that Trump is going to save White America from the Gobalists is just
bull corn . From whom BLM? Proven street theatre that will disappear on command. I
actually have come to learn that some Black leaders are speaking out intelligently for street
calm and distancing themselves from BLM.
Problem with the USA is the general population is so very dumbed down by 60 years of MSM
– TV s and Hollywood mind control programming that the public prefers professional
actors like Reagan and Trump over real politicians, and surely never chose a Statesman or
real Patriotic leader. the public political narrative is still set by Fox , CNN and
MSNBC .
The deep state is so infiltrated and overwhelmed with Zio and Globalist agents, that it is
now almost hopeless to fix. Sorry to point out but Trump is best described as the Dummy
sitting on his Ventriloquist's lap (Jared Kushner).
Situation is near hopeless as even here on Ron Unz Review the comments are so
disappointing, almost 80% are focused on the Race as the prime issue and supportive of Trump
fakery (not that I support Biden and Zio slut Kamil Harris either).
In sum, beyond putting their MAGA hats on, White America is more focused more on
playing Cowboy with their toy guns, AR's and all than really getting involved politically to
sort things out to get American onto a better track. Of course, this is not taken seriously
as it might call for reaching out to other American communities that are even more
disenfranchised: African- Americans and Latinos.
@David Erickson nted him in 2016 (and probably wants him to win again) was primarily to
neutralize the (armed) Right in this country so they wouldn't effectively resist the COVID-19
scamdemic lockdown tyranny and BLM/Antifa riots.
Covid and BLM/ANTIFA are just window dressing for the financial turmoil. "Look over here
whitey, there's a pandemic" and "look over here whitey, there's a riot" is much preferred to
whitey shooting the sheriff who comes to take his stuff.
Wave the flag and bible while spreading love for the cops, and the repossessions and
evictions should go off without a hitch. Yes, Trump is a knowing participant.
"My impression is that BLM, Antifa and other protestors are well aware of this"
Like all good Maoists the cult white kids of antifa rigidly adhere to the mission statement
and stick the inconvenient truth in the back of their mushy minds. BLM ... is a mercenary.
Can you imagine any other groups rioting and destroying American cities for over 3 months?
Imagine if the Hells Angels or some other White biker gang was doing what Antifa and BLM are
doing? Hell, imagine if it were a bunch of Hare Krishnas pulling this shit off? Hell, I think
the local mayors, police, and other law enforcement employees wouldn't even take this much shit
even if the rioters were Girl Scouts. We are talking 3-4 months of lawlessness, assaults,
rapes, murders ( cold blooded premeditated murders at that) and still the people in charge let
this shit go on night and day. IF the POTUS doesn't have the authority or the power to stop
shit like this from going on then what the hell do we even vote for anyhow? Granted, I see the
reason for not being ruled by a dictatorship, but who in the hell can justify letting these
riots go on? One can only assume that both the republicants and the demsheviks are fine with
these riots because no one seems in a hurry to shut them down or arrest the hombres funding
these riots. Who is housing and feeding the rioters? Who is paying their travel expenses? I'm
sure most everyone in Washington knows who the people are behind these riots but don't expect
any action anytime soon.
This is a class war dolled-up to look like a race war. Americans will have to look beyond
the smoke and mirrors to spot the elites lurking in the shadows. There lies the cancer that
must be eradicated.
That's true to a large degree, but
It is indeed an attempt to liquidate the working and lower middle class. Most of the
American working and lower middle class, obviously not all, is White. So predictably we have
these calls for White Genocide. Agreed and good to see the tie-in with the Coronavirus Hoax
lock downs, too, which also spread the devastation into minority communities under the guise of
public safety.
The one question that remains unanswered is why the major cities were targeted for
destruction. Obviously these are the playgrounds of the oligarchs and have been decimated. We
will learn soon enough.
The Reverend William Barber is the only genuine black leader I am aware of.
And he makes a pointn of not speaking only for blacks, but for all disadvantaged communities,
including poor whites. IMO he is the real deal, and I very much hope he takes the lead in
articulating genuine community values of respect and equality for all, including basics such as
decent health care and food access.
The pressure exerted on someone like Barber by the BLM forces in the media and other
institutions is enormous.
I wish Ron Unz would invite him to write something for the UR.
BLM is all about anti-white activism, black supremacy and the forcible transfer of white
wealth to blacks but Tucker Carlson keeps insisting that BLM is a smokescreen for class
struggle.
The way that BLM are acting now they could almost be called pro-White activists. They
certainly don't make diversity look like a strength or something that would be in any way
shape or form desirable.
"... workers are dehumanizingly treated by Amazon as if they are robots – persistently asked to accomplish task after task at an unforgiving rate." ..."
Amazon is famous for its extreme efficiency yet behind the curtain is a crippling culture of
surveillance and stress, according to a study by the Open Markets Institute.
The think tank and advocacy group that repeatedly takes companies like Google and Facebook
to task warned in the
report [PDF] that Amazon's retail side has gone far beyond promoting efficient working and
has adopted an almost dystopian level of control over its warehouse workers,
firing them if they fail to meet targets that are often kept a secret.
Among the practices it highlighted, the report said that workers are told to hit a target
rate of packages to process per hour, though they are not told what exactly that target is. "We
don't know what the rate is," one pseudonymous worker told the authors. "They change it behind
the scenes. You'll know when you get a warning. They don't tell you what rate you have to hit
at the beginning."
If they grow close to not meeting a target rate, or miss it, the worker receives an
automated message warning them, the report said. Workers who fail to meet hidden targets can
also receive a different type of electronic message; one that fires them.
"Amazon's electronic system analyzes an employee's electronic record and, after falling
below productivity measures, 'automatically generates any warnings or terminations regarding
quality or productivity without input from supervisors'," it stated. The data is also generated
automatically: for example, those picking and packing are required to use a scanner that
records every detail, including the time between scans, and feed it into a system that pushes
out automated warnings.
Always watching
As with other companies, Amazon installs surveillance cameras in its workspaces to reduce
theft. But the report claims Amazon has taken that approach to new lengths "with an extensive
network of security cameras that tracks and monitors a worker's every move".
Bezos' bunch combines that level of surveillance with strict limits on behavior. "Upon
entering the warehouse, Amazon requires workers to dispose of all of their personal belongings
except a water bottle and a clear plastic bag of cash," the report noted.
For Amazon drivers, their location is constantly recorded and monitored and they are
required to follow the exact route Amazon has mapped. They are required to deliver 999 out of
every 1,000 packages on time or face the sack; something that the report argues has led to
widespread speeding and a related increase in crashes.
The same tracking software ensures that workers only take 30 minutes for lunch and two
separate 15-minute breaks during the day. The report also noted that the web goliath has
patented a wristband that "can precisely track where warehouse employees are placing their
hands and use vibrations to nudge them in a different direction".
Amazon also attempts to prevent efforts to unionize by actively tracking workers and
breaking up any meetings of too many people, including identifying possible union organizers
and moving them around the workplace to prevent them talking to the same group for too long,
the report claimed.
It quoted a source named Mohamed as saying: "They spread the workers out you cannot talk to
your colleagues The managers come to you and say they'll send you to a different station."
The combined effort of constant surveillance with the risk of being fired at any point has
created, according to workers, a " Lord Of The Flies -esque environment where the
perceived weakest links are culled every year".
Stress and quotas
The report said Amazon's workers "are under constant stress to make their quotas for
collecting and organizing hundreds of packages per hour" resulting in "constant 'low-grade
panic' to work. In this sense, workers are dehumanizingly treated by Amazon as if they are
robots – persistently asked to accomplish task after task at an unforgiving
rate."
At the end of the day, warehouse employees are required to go through mandatory screening to
check they haven't stolen anything, which "requires waiting times that can range from 25
minutes to an hour" and is not compensated, the report said.
Amazon also allegedly fails to account for any injuries, the report said, to the extent that
"Amazon employees feel forced to work through the pain and injuries they incur on the job, as
Amazon routinely fires employees who fall behind their quotas, without taking such injuries
into account."
It quoted another piece of reporting that found Amazon's rate of severe injuries in its
warehouses is, in some cases, more than five times the industry average. It also noted that the
National Council for Occupational Safety and Health listed Amazon as one of the "dirty dozen"
on its list of the most dangerous places to work in the United States in 2018.
The report concluded that "Amazon's practices exacerbate the inequality between employees
and management by keeping employees in a constant state of precariousness, with the threat of
being fired for even the slightest deviation, which ensures full compliance with
employer-demanded standards and limits worker freedom."
Being a think tank, the Open Markets Institute listed a series of policy and legal changes
that would help alleviate the work issues. It proposed a complete ban on "invasive forms of
worker surveillance" and a rule against any forms of surveillance that "preemptively interfere
with unionization efforts".
It also wants a law that allows independent contractors to unionize and the legalization of
secondary boycotts, as well as better enforcement of the rules against companies by government
departments including America's trade watchdog the FTC and Department of Justice, as well as a
ban on non-compete agreements and class action waivers.
In response to the allegations in the report, a spokesperson for Amazon told us: "Like most
companies, we have performance expectations for every Amazonian – be it corporate
employee or fulfillment center associate and we measure actual performance against those
expectations.
"Associate performance is measured and evaluated over a long period of time as we know that
a variety of things could impact the ability to meet expectations in any given day or hour. We
support people who are not performing to the levels expected with dedicated coaching to help
them improve." ®
With "first after the post" election rules no third party can succeed.
Highly recommended!
Notable quotes:
"... "major new corporate-free political party in America." ..."
"... "There is only one choice in this election, and that is the consolidation of oligarchic power under Donald Trump, or the consolidation of oligarchic power under Joe Biden," ..."
"... "The oligarchs with Trump or Biden will win again, and we will lose." ..."
"... Only one thing matters to the oligarchs, it is not democracy, it is not truth, it is not the consent of the governed, it is not income inequality, it is not the surveillance state, it is not endless war it is the primacy of corporate power, which has extinguished our democracy and left most of the working class and the working poor in misery. ..."
"... We have reverted to aristocracy; it is now a corporate aristocracy. ..."
"... "It is health insurance companies, it is big pharmaceutical companies, it is big oil, it is food companies and of course, it is the military industrial complex," ..."
"... "we are in a fight for our lives and for future generations," ..."
"... "We don't believe in the lies and the bribes and the contentment in a lousy peace," ..."
"... "How can we have peace in moments like this, when over 90 million of our sisters and brothers are either uninsured or underinsured?" ..."
"... "How can we have peace when on the streets of America right now, black lives have been reaching out, calling out the racism and the white supremacy and the bigotry of a system that was created for black lives to languish." ..."
"... How can we have peace when you got a Congress that goes on recess while millions of people are facing evictions from their homes? ..."
"... "We need a third or fourth entity to step in. The lesser of two evils is still evil," ..."
"... "We are living in a moment of massive imperial meltdown, spiritual breakdown, and we need prophetic fight-back," ..."
Fed up with decades of two-party rule, hundreds of thousands of Americans tuned in for the People's Convention, where they
voted to form a new political alternative unbeholden to corporate power or the military-industrial complex.
The event drew
more
than 400,000 viewers
to its livestream on Sunday, organizers said. It continued to trend on Twitter through more than 5
hours of speeches that culminated in a vote to create a "major new corporate-free
political party in America."
Among the speakers at the
convention were several disgruntled Democrats, from Sen. Bernie Sanders's 2020 national co-chair Nina Turner to a candidate in
this year's primaries, Marianne Williamson. The roster of speakers also included former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura,
comedian Jimmy Dore, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, who summed up the spirit of the convention in a fiery
address.
"There is only one choice in this election, and that is the consolidation of oligarchic
power under Donald Trump, or the consolidation of oligarchic power under Joe Biden,"
said Hedges, who also hosts RT's '
On
Contact
.'
"The oligarchs with Trump or Biden will win again, and we will lose."
Only one thing matters to the oligarchs, it is not democracy, it is not truth, it is
not the consent of the governed, it is not income inequality, it is not the surveillance state, it is not endless war it
is the primacy of corporate power, which has extinguished our democracy and left most of the working class and the working
poor in misery.
The People's Convention
was held on the heels of the Republican and Democratic national conventions earlier this month, which event organizers said
"erased
the needs of poor and working people in a time of mounting national crisis."
It ended with a vote to create the People's
Party in 2021, in which some 99 percent of its 400,000 viewers took part.
Williamson, who made an
unsuccessful bid for Democratic nominee in the 2020 race, slammed an economic system that for decades has stranded
"millions
of people without even a life vest,"
concentrating massive amounts of wealth upward and leaving the American middle
class
"completely devastated."
We have reverted to aristocracy; it is now a corporate aristocracy.
"It is health insurance companies, it is big pharmaceutical companies, it is big oil, it
is food companies and of course, it is the military industrial complex,"
she said.
A former Ohio state
senator and a senior figure in the Sanders campaign, Turner told the convention that
"we
are in a fight for our lives and for future generations,"
adding
"We don't believe
in the lies and the bribes and the contentment in a lousy peace,"
quoting from a 1938 poem by Langston Hughs.
"How can we have peace in moments like this, when over 90 million of our sisters and
brothers are either uninsured or underinsured?"
Turner asked.
"How can we have
peace when on the streets of America right now, black lives have been reaching out, calling out the racism and the white
supremacy and the bigotry of a system that was created for black lives to languish."
How can we have peace when you got a Congress that goes on recess while millions of
people are facing evictions from their homes?
"We need a third or fourth entity to step in. The lesser of two evils is still evil,"
said
Ventura, who was elected Minnesota governor on a third-party ticket in 1998 and has since been involved with the Libertarian
and Green parties. Ventura has also hosted RT's '
Off
the Grid
' (ending in 2015) and '
The
World According to Jesse
.'
Harvard professor and
social critic Dr. Cornel West also addressed the event, calling to
"transform the
American empire into a more democratic space,"
while dubbing the two major parties the
"neo-fascist"
and
"neo-liberal"
wings
of the
"ruling class."
"We are living in a moment of massive imperial meltdown, spiritual breakdown, and we
need prophetic fight-back,"
West said, arguing the new party would provide just that.
The Movement for a
People's Party, the organization behind the project, now says it is working to establish local branches around the US, which
will
"form the building blocks of state parties"
and work through the long and
often arduous process of securing ballot access. The group has set a lofty goal for the new anti-corporate outfit, hoping it
will be
"poised to sweep Congress and the White House"
by the next election cycle
in 2024.
Think your friends would be
interested? Share this story!
Sinalco
16 hours ago
Sadly, it's the same all over the world - the corporations have bought all politicians... Governments & Politicians no
longer work for us; they work for the highest bidder...
ratfink222 Sinalco
3 hours ago
In the USA it is even worse, CEOs give themselves multimillion dollars raises and bonuses for screwing up and screwing
Americans. Their pay is at least 10,000 times higher than employees. They act like they are laying golden bricks but
they are robbing everybody.
GottaBeMe
venze chern
5 hours ago
This one will be a grassroots organization and has pledged to never accept corporate donations. They are planning to get
online funding from individuals as did Bernie Sanders. It can be done. When they have enough momentum, they will work to
eliminate corporate money from politics. You should watch their convention. I saw all but the first 45 minutes. It was
inspiring.
Juan_More
15 hours ago
There are already other parties running in the election it is just that these also ran parties can't get any traction
against the two main parties. Part of the reason that RT got trouble last time is that they gave airtime to these also
ran parties. Ross Perot made a good try at it but he failed. These also ran parties have to start winning elections at
lower levels and building momentum. The other would be to get a high profile candidate with name recognition like Jesse
Ventura or Oprah
GottaBeMe
Juan_More
5 hours ago
Certainly the game is rigged against alternative parties.
They are not allowed to participate in debates, the media
tries to ignore them, election rules are designed to make it nearly impossible to get on a state ballot. (This is why I
vote 3rd party in the absence of a decent D or R candidate: a threshold of votes can provide a bit of financial relief
and if enough, could mandate ballot access.) I truly hope the People's Party succeeds. I intend to support it as much as
I can.
Alan Ditmore
Juan_More
5 hours ago
No. ONLY ONE viable strategy and that is to get 1000 MAYORS before running any higher, for which you need a municipal
platform.
houses
13 hours ago
Workers' parties are the only alternative to corporate parties.
The British Labour Party was just that, but it was infiltrated by tory fifth columnists and turned into
tory lite, thus depriving the electrorate of any meaningfull choice.
Corbyn is real Labour, and was voted
leader by a landslide of the national membership, but the Blairites in the PLP simply undermined
everything he did, contradicted everything he said, supported tory fake news and lies, and even
campaigned openly against him at the general election. The fact is the corporate fascists will not ALLOW
any opposition to their kleptocratic establishment.
Just as a poetic discussion of the weather is not meteorology, so an issuance of moral
pronouncements or political creeds about the economy is not economics. Economics is a study of
cause-and-effect relationships in an economy.
-- Thomas Sowell
The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all
those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of
economics.
-- Thomas Sowell
Economics is the painful elaboration of the obvious.
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about
what they imagine they can design.
-- Friedrich von Hayek
I can't imagine economists admitting how little they actually know. If they admitted to
themselves, it would hurt their ego. If they admitted to others, it would hurt their job
prospects.
-- Joseph Mattes, Vienna (The Economist, letters December 04, 2010)
The use of mathematics has brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it has also
brought mortis .
-- Attributed to Robert Heilbroner
A study of economics usually reveals that the best time to buy anything is last year.
-- Marty Allen
Economic statistics are like a bikini, what they reveal is important, what they conceal is
vital
-- Attributed to Professor Sir Frank Holmes, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand,
1967.
Doing econometrics is like trying to learn the laws of electricity by playing the radio.
-- Guy Orcutt
Economists
The First Law of Economists: For every economist, there exists an equal and opposite
economist.
The Second Law of Economists: They're both wrong.
-- David Wildasin
"Murphys law of economic policy": Economists have the least influence on policy where they
know the most and are most agreed; they have the most influence on policy where they know the
least and disagree most vehemently.
-- Alan S. Blinder
An economist is someone who, when he finds something that works in practice, tries to make
it work in theory.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic
questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
-- Joan Violet Robinson
An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday
didn't happen today.
-- Laurence J. Peter
Having a[n in] house economist became for many business people something like havinga
resident astrologer for the royal court: I don't quite understand what this fellow is saying
but there must be something to it.
-- Linden. (Jan. 11, 1993). Dreary Days in the Dismal Science. Forbes. Pp. 68-70.
Economics is the only field in which two people can get a Nobel Prize for saying exactly the
opposite thing.
Economists do it with models.
-- Heard at the LSE
Bentley's second Law of Economics: The only thing more dangerous than an economist is an
amateur economist!
Berta's Fundamental Law of Economic Rents.. "The only thing more dangerous than an amateur
economist is a professional economist."
Definition: Policy Analyst is someone unethical enough to be a lawyer, impractical enough to
be a theologian, and pedantic enough to be an economist.
Q: Why did God create economists ?
A: In order to make weather forecasters look good.
Q: Why has astrology been invented?
A: So that economy could be an accurate science.
Economists have forecasted 9 out of the last 5 recessions.
An econometrician and an astrologer are arguing about their subjects. The astrologer says,
"Astrology is more scientific. My predictions come out right half the time. Yours can't even
reach that proportion". The econometrician replies, "That's because of external shocks. Stars
don't have those".
When an economist says the evidence is "mixed," he or she means that theory says one thing
and data says the opposite.
-- Attributed to Richard Thaler, now at the Univ of Chicago
The last severe depression and banking crisis could not have been achieved by normal civil
servants and politicians, it required economists involvement.
Taxes
State run lotteries: think of them as tax breaks for the intelligent.
-- Evan Leibovitch
Inflation
Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation.
-- Milton Friedman
Having a little inflation is like being a little pregnant–inflation feeds on itself
and quickly passes the "little" mark.
-- Dian Cohen
Trade and Trade Barriers
Tariffs, quotas and other import restrictions protect the business of the rich at the
expense of high cost of living for the poor. Their intent is to deprive you of the right to
choose, and to force you to buy the high-priced inferior products of politically favored
companies.
-- Alan Burris, A Liberty Primer
Perhaps the removal of trade restrictions throughout the world would do more for the cause
of universal peace than can any political union of peoples separated by trade barriers.
-- Frank Chodorov
When goods don't cross borders, soldiers will.
-- Fredric Bastiat, early French economist
The primary reason for a tariff is that it enables the exploitation of the domestic consumer
by a process indistinguishable from sheer robbery.
-- Albert Jay Nock
Regulation
Regulation - which is based on force and fear - undermines the moral base of business
dealings. It becomes cheaper to bribe a building inspector than to meet his standards of
construction. A fly-by-night securities operator can quickly meet all the S.E.C. requirements,
gain the inference of respectability, and proceed to fleece the public. In an unregulated
economy, the operator would have had to spend a number of years in reputable dealings before he
could earn a position of trust sufficient to induce a number of investors to place funds with
him. Protection of the consumer by regulation is thus illusory.
-- Alan Greenspan
You fucking academic eggheads! You don't know shit. You can't deregulate this industry.
You're going to wreck it. You don't know a goddamn thing!
-- Robert Crandall, boss of American Airlines, to an unnamed Senate lawyer in 1971
Government
The direct use of physical force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources
that it is commonly employed only by small children and great nations.
-- David Friedman
Government Spending
See, when the Government spends money, it creates jobs; whereas when the money is left in
the hands of Taxpayers, God only knows what they do with it. Bake it into pies, probably.
Anything to avoid creating jobs.
-- Dave Barry
I don't think you can spend yourself rich.
-- George Humphrey
Capitalism and Free Markets
A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it gives people what they
want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments
against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.
-- Milton Friedman
The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place
unless both parties benefit.
-- Milton Friedman
The only thing worse than being exploited by capitalism is not being exploited by
capitalism.
-- Joan Violet Robinson
Manufacturing and commercial monopolies owe their origin not to a tendency imminent in a
capitalist economy but to governmental interventionist policy directed against free trade and
laissez faire.
-- Ludwig Mises, "Socialism"
If an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will not take place unless both believe
they will benefit from it. Most economic fallacies derive from the neglect of this simple
insight, from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can only gain at
the expense of another.
-- Milton Friedman
States with central-planning regimes [ ] do tend to consume much less energy (and much less
of everything else) [ ] than do Americans. There is a word for that: poverty.
-- The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism
Central Banks
Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes
– excusable or not – can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a
bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any
effective check by the body politic – this is the key political argument against an
independent central bank To paraphrase Clemenceau: money is much too serious a matter to be
left to the Central Bankers.
-- Milton Friedman
A central banker walks into a pizzeria to order a pizza.
When the pizza is done, he goes up to the counter get it. There a clerk asks him: "Should I
cut it into six pieces or eight pieces?"
The central banker replies: "I'm feeling rather hungry right now. You'd better cut it into
eight pieces."
Intellectual Property
For one thing, there are many "inventions" that are not patentable. The "inventor" of the
supermarket, for example, conferred great benefits on his fellowmen for which he could not
charge them. Insofar as the same kind of ability is required for the one kind of invention as
for the other, the existence of patents tends to divert activity to patentable inventions.
-- Milton Friedman
Slavery
From the experience of all ages and nations, I believe, that the work done by freemen comes
cheaper in the end than the work performed by slaves.
The work done by slaves, though it appears to cost only their maintenance, is in the end the
dearest of any. A person who can acquire no property can have no other interest but to eat as
much and to labour as little as possible.
Whatever work he does, beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance, can be
squeezed out of him by violence only, and not by any interest of his own.
-- Adam Smith
Prohibition
It is because it's prohibited. See, if you look at the drug war from a purely economic point
of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel. That's literally true.
-- Milton Friedman
In the Long Run
John Maynard Keynes: "In the long run we are all dead."
Joan Robinson: "Yes, but not all at the same time."
Minimum Wage and Unemployment
The real minimum wage is zero: unemployment.
-- Thomas Sowell
All of the progress that the US has made over the last couple of centuries has come from
unemployment. It has come from figuring out how to produce more goods with fewer workers,
thereby releasing labor to be more productive in other areas. It has never come about through
permanent unemployment, but temporary unemployment, in the process of shifting people from one
area to another.
-- Milton Friedman
Misc
Talk is cheap. Supply exceeds Demand.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not
understanding it.
-- Upton Sinclair
When you start paying people to be poor, you wind up with an awful lot of poor people.
-- Milton Friedman
of course the country could never listen to this guy .it just makes too much damn sense.
-- ryanx0 about Milton Friedman [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se_TJzB9-z0]
Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he
can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is
promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by
an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention.
-- Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
SOCIALISM: You have two cows. State takes one and give it to someone else.
COMMUNISM: You have two cows. State takes both of them and gives you milk.
FASCISM: You have two cows. State takes both of them and sell you milk.
NAZISM: You have two cows. State takes both of them and shoot you.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. State takes both of them, kill one and spill the milk in
system of sewage.
CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Back during the Solidarity days, I heard that the following joke was being told in
Poland:
A man goes into the Bank of Gdansk to make a deposit. Since he has never kept money in a bank before, he is a little nervous.
"What happens if the Bank of Gdansk should fail?" he asks.
"Well, in that case your money would be insured by the Bank of Warsaw."
"But, what if the Bank of Warsaw fails?"
"Well, there'd be no problem, because the Bank of Warsaw is insured by the National Bank of Poland."
"And if the National Bank of Poland fails?"
"Then your money would be insured by the Bank of Moscow."
"And what if the Bank of Moscow fails?"
"Then your money would be insured by the Great Bank of the Soviet Union."
"And if that bank fails?"
"Well, in that case, you'd lose all your money. But, wouldn't it be worth it?"
All models are wrong but some are useful.
-- George Box
I'd rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong.
-- J.M.Keynes; Found in Forbes magazine 01/25/1999 issue. In the Numbers Game column by
Bernard Cohen
Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often vague, than an exact
answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise.
-- J. Tukey
There is an entirely leisure class located at both ends of the economic spectrum
In my US youth we trained with .30 cal Simi auto rifles at public school, and had also at
public school, rifle teams that used .22 target rifles.
Wally was the only white guy on the
teams (there were several schools)...
The racial stuff was all there, but so also was an
intact industrial plant... a fella couldn't walk down the street without stumbling into a
job.
Welder, fitter, fabricator, assembly line work, foundries and forges and shipyards and
mines were running double shifts and the unions were strong...even rich people were afraid to
cross a picketline...
and the income tax was about 75%...
In a long and adventurous life slumming 'round I have been threatened with guns dozens of
time...Every Time a cop was holding the gun, with "one up the spout" (it's "policy") and
finger on the trigger. Not once was there an arrest. Not once. Beatdachitoutta, well, several
times, kidnapped too, but never actually arrested. Actually pretty much a boyscout. And
white. Yes, the cops are azzhones, like Dylan said, the cops doaneed you and man they expect
the same.
I think the "problem" with the views here @ MoA in regard the "civil war" lies in
fundamental assumptions.
Simply try assuming that the US has ended, what you're seeing is denouement. Then forget
about it...it's like chemistry, and "da fat's in da fire". Outcome is backed in. Like the
corpse rotting back to it's constituent chemistry.
Igor Panarin's prediction, and also Deagle's prediction, may well be the proximate
situation when the reaction bombe cools off.
The fact that a delusional "ruling class" is at war with itself as well as the common
people stands as strong evidence...
The Awan Brothers aided former DNC chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz in making threatening voice modulated phone calls to
attorneys suing the DNC for election fraud.
Lt. Colonel Tony Schaffer told
Fox
News
that Schultz ordered the Awan Brothers to scare off the lawyers due to the threat they pose in exposing widespread
election fraud committed by the Democratic Party in 2016.
Disobedientmedia.com
reports: If substantiated, the claims may have significance for the DNC fraud lawsuit proceedings,
and add to the growing controversy surrounding the recent arrest of Imran Awan on bank fraud charges.
Jared Beck, and attorney litigating the DNC Fraud Lawsuit noted
on Twitter
:
But really, it's all about the cheap labor. And not just Europe.
The Ivory Coast used to be pretty prosperous. That meant that workers had high wages,
because that's what prosperity is, but that limited the profits of the rich, and we can't
have that. So the black elite imported massive numbers of muslim refugees as a source of
cheap labor, and by the time they had doubled the population the poverty resulting from this
tore the country apart in a bloody civil war. But that's OK, the right people made a lot of
money.
Brazil had slavery for much longer than the United States, and unlike the United States,
Brazil only got rid of slavery after massive immigration had boosted the population so much
that 'free' labor was cheaper than slave labor. Crushed to the limits, Brazil was stuck in a
capital-starved condition that it never pulled out of.
It's an old story. Look through history, whenever you hear about some place that imported
workers to do whatever, no that's not what happened, they imported workers to cut labor costs
– and the results for the average person have always been a reduction in living
standards and social disruption.
When southern American plantation owners imported back African slaves, it wasn't because
they thought the country needed more black people – they wanted cheap labor. And
centuries later, the damage that that policy has done to American society continues. And it
wasn't necessary – the free white north, without slaves and before mass immigration,
was the place that produced the greatest technological and industrial power the world had
ever seen – but there just wasn't enough cheap labor for a plantation owner to live the
life they wanted, so sad.
So what's happening in Europe is perhaps a bit extreme, but it's an old story. It's not
really about diversity or anti-white or any of that, that's just window dressing and
rationalization. It's about jamming in more and more people so wages will go down and rents
and profits will go up.
There is really no need for more people, no need for population replacement, and the low TFRs are not really a problem as the population numbers are naturally decreasing to meet the future needs of these advanced societies as they develop.
While it is useful to have the ideological background behind the policies that our leaders
are implementing compiled in one or a few volumes for the benefit of those members of the
intelligentsia with an interest in this, as far as ordinary people – the majority of
the voters – are concerned, one just needs to keep reminding them of the reality
And
the anecdote of the confrontation between Gordon Brown and Gillian Duffy shows that Duffy has
a far better grip on reality than Brown, and even Brown confessed that she said "Everything".
Well almost everything in a nutshell.
The reality is that with increasing automation, increasing unemployment, and the
industrial/economic decline in developed countries, there is really no need for more people,
no need for population replacement, and the low TFRs are not really a problem as the
population numbers are naturally decreasing to meet the future needs of these advanced
societies as they develop.
That is all anybody needs to know to make sound decisions, and
racism, cosmopolitanism, diversity, cultural Marxism, ideologies of whatever colour, are just
so many red herrings.
In a sense the USA is a theocratic society with neoliberal religion as the state religion. Not that different from the
USSR whioch also was a theocratic society with some perversion of Marxism as the state religion.
I capitulate. Ron you are correct, we are post peak.
Post Peak
OK, now what?
It is so strange to be post-peak and not have high prices for crude,
and food.
I guess that will be coming.
note- biofuels should not be counted in liquids tally. It is a different animal, with the
source being dependent on farming and soil, not drilling and geology. Just because ethanol is
used for propulsion shouldn't matter- electrons and batteries aren't counted either, and
rightly so. Those belong in a different category- transportation energy.
I have argued for several years that peak oil is a low price phenomenon, not a high priced
phenomenon.
The most overrated law in economics is that of supply and demand. This law suffers from
what Richard Feynman called "vagueness" (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPapE-3FRw
). The problem is that it is always satisfied and hence gives absolutely no information about
prices.
Another problem with market theory (beyond vagueness) is that it lacks a time axis.
The theory states that the relationship between price and supply moves along the demand
curve, but doesn't say how fast, just that "in the long run" the system will reach
equilibrium. Being in equilibrium means being somewhere on the demand curve.
So for example, if prices go up, the demand quantity is expected to go down. The question
is when.
Where does this go wrong? In classical market theory, for example, unemployment is
impossible, because if labor supply outstrips demand prices (wages) should fall until until
equilibrium is attained. This has been observed to be false on many occasions, including
right now.
As Feymann states in the video, "If it disagrees with experiment, it's WRONG! That's all
there is to it." Classical economics isn't just too vague, it is wrong.
Keynes joked about this that in the long term we'll all be dead. He meant equilibrium will
never be reached, so we are never on the demand curve. He argued that "sticky prices",
meaning the unwillingness to accept pay cuts, kept labor markets permanently out of
equilibrium.
It's worth pondering whether oil prices are "sticky" as well. Saying yes is saying the law
of supply and demand doesn't apply (in the short term). This year we have seen that both
OPEC's politicking and panicky traders can cause wild swings in price unrelated to supply and
demand.
Where market theory is vague is the shape of the demand curve. For example, if oil supply
can't meet demand in the near future, as some here have posited, how high will prices go?
Some claim it will go over $200, as people get desperate for it. Some claim that higher
prices would increase efforts to find and drill more, putting a lid on prices. Some claim the
shortage would crash the world economy, depressing prices. Some claim that faced with oil
shortages, the world would simply switch to EVs, or stop wasting the gunk on poorly designed
transportation systems, so prices would stay more or less the same.
Who is right? Nobody knows. So we don't know the shape of the demand curve. The theory is
hopelessly vague.
I have argued for several years that peak oil is a low price phenomenon, not a high
priced phenomenon.
Schinzy,
The price of crude oil is only part of the Peakoil phenomenon. How much is left in the
ground counts, however more important is at which velocity the remaining Gb can be
extracted. I am not a geologist, but common sense says that when an oilfield is well depleted
(50-70%) the most of the remaining barrels will be extracted at a much lower speed, even at
very high oilprices. With secondary and tertiary EOR technology most conventional oilfields
will not produce the same or close to the same amount of barrels/day as before for many more
years. That's also my conclusion from what I have read more than a decade ago.
Of course with high oilprices new, relatively small, oil fields will come online and (more
advanced) EOR will start in other fields, but no matter how you look at it: depletion never
stops. With most oilfields in the world past-peak, only a tremendous amount of money (needed
to develop EOR) can prevent world crude oilproduction from falling like a rock. And all those
EOR technologies will deplete oilfields faster. Big gains in the beginning, more
disappointments later.
Will there be significant amount of shale oil developed in the future in other countries than
the U.S. ? If so, is that wise, regarding an already existing runaway climate change ?
To be clear; none more deserving of dignity than the working people of America; they keep the nation running; they are America's
better angels; and, they deserve to be better paid.
Those are lofty words. But what to do when there is not enough cookies for everybody. That's when economic ruptures occur (with
one form being Minsky moments)
In a sense, going back to Joan Robinson, the idea of rupture within the notion of historical time can also be found in Keynes,
although with an important difference. Here the emphasis put on irreversibility implies of course qualitative change, and indeed
the emphasis is put on the changing conditions underlying economic phenomena. Thus, for example, Joan Robinson discusses the notion
of scarcity in relation to historical time:
The question of scarce means with alternative uses becomes self‐ contradictory when it is set in historical time, where
today is an ever-moving break between the irrevocable past and the unknown future. At any moment, certainly, resources are
scarce, but they have hardly any range of alternative uses.
The workers available to be employed are not a supply of "labor", but a number of carpenters or coal miners. The uses of
land depend largely on transport; industrial equipment was created to assist the output of particular products.
To change the use of resources requires investment and training, which alters the resources themselves. As for choice among
investment projects, this involves the whole analysis of the nature of capitalism and of its evolution through time. (Robinson
1977: 8)
Although the emphasis on rupture is introduced, in this historical time, "where today is an ever moving break between the irrevocable
past and the unknown future," the sense of the "break," of rupture, is confined within the problems of capitalist accumulation,
of the problems posed by the right proportions of, following Robinson's example, carpenters and coal miners.
History here does not present alternatives and defines itself clearly and simply as "historical objectivism" in the continuum
of the capitalist relation, as contemplation of "what really was," that is, the "irrevocable [capitalist] past," and speculations
about an "unknown [capitalist] future."
In Keynes, the unknown character of this future is translated in the status of the long run expectations of the investors which,
to emphasize the difficulty of their modeling, in turn depends on their "animal spirits."
In Keynes, rupture as revolutionary, transcendental, rupture exists only in the form of a threat, implicit in the theoretical
apparatus, in the difficulty to endogenize variables, in the reliance on "psychological factors," on investors' animal spirits
which mysteriously respond to hints of this historical rupture, in the recognition of the difficulty to model behavioral functions,
etc.
This threat is recognized through the status of long run expectations of the investors.
In the case of the liquidity trap, in which the infinitely elastic demand for money curve is used to portray a situation of
hoarding that is, of capital's refusal to put people to work the threat is hanging over investors who perceive a gloomy future
without hope for their profit.
The truly unknown future from the capitalists' perspective, the true moment of rupture in their temporal dimension, is recognized
in order to be avoided, to organize the rescue of the capitalist relation of work. For this reason Keynes is not talking about
given functional relations, and is presupposing a moving marginal efficiency of capital schedule (Minsky 1975.
The future is there to puzzle the investors in the present. The aim of economic theory is to inform economic policy to limit
the puzzle within the borders of the capitalist relation of work. Although Keynes' theoretical apparatus is presupposing uncertainty
for the future, this uncertainty is seen with the sense of urgency typical of a world in transition. In the discussion of the
postwar Keynesian orthodoxy, it will be seen how this sense of urgency was lost, and the concept of time in economic theory changed,
although it was far from returning to the "timeless models" of the classical period.
@ 95 another rolling stone that illuminates the US necrotic process...unregulated dumping
of radwaste
tinyurl[dot]com/v3pva55
Evidently they actually spray the stuff on roads and, well, it's puckininsane stupid.
"..thing in this stuff and ingesting it are the worst types of exposure," Stolz continues.
"You are irradiating your tissues from the inside out." The radioactive particles fired off
by radium can be blocked by the skin, but radium readily attaches to dust,..."
(Honestly, I know it's hard to believe, but several immediate neighbors, possibly 1/3 of
the town, actually expect to be levitated to heaven in "rapture". Thus, according to their a
priori assumption, the poisoning is perfectly ok."
Anyway, both the bizarre beliefs and the idiotic actions (including with radwaste) are,
like Trump, a product, a manifestation. We agree.
About Rockefeller - Corbett Report has a very deep examination of that family and their
less well-known policy set.
Wall Street is very story driven. They wasted a decade throwing money at tight oil and
lost billions. It's hard to see how this tight oil story gets resuscitated. The '10s saw free
debt, low regulatory regime, no effective alternatives to oil, skilled work force, entrenched
globalized oil markets, no pandemics, etc, and they STILL lost hundreds of billions. Wall
Street wants to lose their money in new ways. At least they get some novelty out of it.
I capitulate. Ron you are correct, we are post peak.
Post Peak
OK, now what?
It is so strange to be post-peak and not have high prices for crude,
and food.
I guess that will be coming.
NOTE:
biofuels should not be counted in liquids tally. It is a different animal, with the
source being dependent on farming and soil, not drilling and geology.
Just because ethanol is
used for propulsion shouldn't matter -- electrons and batteries aren't counted either, and
rightly so. Those belong in a different category- transportation energy.
I have argued for several years that peak oil is a low price phenomenon, not a high priced
phenomenon.
The most overrated law in economics is that of supply and demand. This law suffers from
what Richard Feynman called "vagueness" (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPapE-3FRw
). The problem is that it is always satisfied and hence gives absolutely no information about
prices.
Another problem with market theory (beyond vagueness) is that it lacks a time axis. The theory states that the relationship between price and supply moves along the demand
curve, but doesn't say how fast, just that "in the long run" the system will reach
equilibrium. Being in equilibrium means being somewhere on the demand curve.
So for example, if prices go up, the demand quantity is expected to go down. The question
is when.
Where does this go wrong? In classical market theory, for example, unemployment is
impossible, because if labor supply outstrips demand prices (wages) should fall until until
equilibrium is attained. This has been observed to be false on many occasions, including
right now.
As Feymann states in the video, "If it disagrees with experiment, it's WRONG! That's all
there is to it." Classical economics isn't just too vague, it is wrong.
Keynes joked about this that in the long term we'll all be dead. He meant equilibrium will
never be reached, so we are never on the demand curve. He argued that "sticky prices",
meaning the unwillingness to accept pay cuts, kept labor markets permanently out of
equilibrium.
It's worth pondering whether oil prices are "sticky" as well. Saying yes is saying the law
of supply and demand doesn't apply (in the short term). This year we have seen that both
OPEC's politicking and panicky traders can cause wild swings in price unrelated to supply and
demand.
Where market theory is vague is the shape of the demand curve. For example, if oil supply
can't meet demand in the near future, as some here have posited, how high will prices go?
Some claim it will go over $200, as people get desperate for it. Some claim that higher
prices would increase efforts to find and drill more, putting a lid on prices. Some claim the
shortage would crash the world economy, depressing prices. Some claim that faced with oil
shortages, the world would simply switch to EVs, or stop wasting the gunk on poorly designed
transportation systems, so prices would stay more or less the same.
Who is right? Nobody knows. So we don't know the shape of the demand curve. The theory is
hopelessly vague.
I have argued for several years that peak oil is a low price phenomenon, not a high
priced phenomenon.
Schinzy,
The price of crude oil is only part of the Peakoil phenomenon.
How much is left in the
ground counts, however more important is at which velocity the remaining Gb can be
extracted. I am not a geologist, but common sense says that when an oilfield is well depleted
(50-70%) the most of the remaining barrels will be extracted at a much lower speed, even at
very high oilprices.
With secondary and tertiary EOR technology most conventional oilfields
will not produce the same or close to the same amount of barrels/day as before for many more
years. That's also my conclusion from what I have read more than a decade ago.
Of course with high oilprices new, relatively small, oil fields will come online and (more
advanced) EOR will start in other fields, but no matter how you look at it: depletion never
stops.
With most oilfields in the world past-peak, only a tremendous amount of money (needed
to develop EOR) can prevent world crude oil production from falling like a rock. And all those
EOR technologies will deplete oilfields faster.
Big gains in the beginning, more
disappointments later.
Will there be significant amount of shale oil developed in the future in other countries than
the U.S. ? If so, is that wise, regarding an already existing runaway climate change ?
@Zarathustra p of the definition for decades now. Figure out how to break that one.
The globalist assumed that those of European tribes would be the natural creator of new
innovations once they lost their jobs to places like China. What they failed to understand
was ideas come from the work done on the factory floor. Take away the work, the collective
knowledge disappears. Also the young no longer learn from the elders. Now we have an
under-educated and over-educated Americans, who got their inflated self esteem ideas from
participation awards and insane school shrinks. Make matters worse, how many are on drugs due
to not living up to their self esteem ideal standards? Most is indeed lost. Sanity might be
able to make a comeback, however humility to admit to being wrong is not an American
thing.
The contempt for skilled workers, technicians and craftsmen, even engineers, held by many,
if not most, individuals with useless, easily obtained, and essentially worthless pieces of
paper labeled BA, MA or PhD has become palpable. It is not a good sign.
If this is genuine "global capitalism," and that's why are there so many international
monopolies. Monopolies cannot exist indefinitely without direct or indirect government
sanction and support.
Hands up those who think the election will only have a 'marginal' effect?
"Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens
Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page
Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics -- which can be
characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic-Elite Domination, and
two types of interest-group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism -- offers
different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public
policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or
business-oriented. A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of
one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these
contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. We
report on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key
variables for 1,779 policy issues.
Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing
business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while
average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent
influence.
The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for
theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or
Majoritarian Pluralism. "
Hey there! It's me, the stock market. I know it's weird to write you like this, but I felt
like I needed to drop a quick thank-you note for everything you've done for me this year. I
mean, your big ol' balance sheet is almost $3 trillion larger since early March! You're backing
up the truck and loading it with Treasuries and corporate bonds and bond ETFs, all to keep the
competition to stocks from fixed-income yields as limited as Jim Cramer's understanding of me.
It's been a dream come true, honestly. I mean, fess up: Have you been reading my diary?!
... ... ...
So please do me a solid and keep this thank-you note in mind when you host your virtual
Jackson Hole summit. No cowboy stuff, OK? If I hear anybody mutter something about "irrational
exuberance," I swear I'm gonna blow my top and hurt a few of these Robinhood types, you got
that? The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. It's what I do -- and I'm good at it! But
right now, this is still a lot of fun for me...
Here are a few takeaways from the Democratic Convention:
The Democrats are running on the
same platform they ran on in 2016. The Democrats put style above substance, flashy optics above
ideas or issues. The Democrats think that hollow tributes to "diversity" and "inclusion" will
win the election. The Democrats have abandoned white, working class voters opting instead for
people of color. The Democrats have learned nothing from Hillary Clinton's defeat in 2016.
In 2016, Democrat front-runner, Hillary Clinton lost the election because she failed to see
her support was eroding in the key Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump won all three states with a measly 77, 651 votes total. All three states were expected to
go Democrat but flipped to the GOP due to Clinton's support for free trade and immigration
policies that cost jobs and imposed unwelcome demographic changes on the working people of
those states. The Democrats and Hillary have never accepted the factual version of how the
election was lost. Instead, they fabricated a conspiracy theory about Trump colluding with
Russia. Although the Mueller Report proved that the claims of meddling were baseless, Clinton
and the Dems continue to trot them out at every opportunity. On Tuesday at the convention,
Hillary again reiterated the lie that Trump stole the election. She said:
"Vote like our lives and livelihoods are on the line, because they are. Remember: Joe and
Kamala can win 3 million more votes and still lose. Take it from me. We need numbers so
overwhelming Trump can't sneak or steal his way to victory."
The determination on the part of the Democrats to mischaracterize what actually happened in
the election is not a trivial matter. It suggests that deception is central to their governing
style. Party leaders do not think their supporters are entitled to know the truth but rather
believe that events must be shaped in a way that best serves their overall political interests.
For Democrats, lying is not a personal failing, but an opportunity for enhancing their grip on
power. This is from an article in The Guardian:
"Donald Trump's electoral college victory rests on the shoulders of more than 200
so-called "pivot counties" across the US. That is, counties that voted for Barack Obama only
four years earlier. The most decisive of these swings occurred in Pennsylvania's Luzerne
county, nestled in the north-east part of the state There, voters gave Trump a nearly
20-point victory after going for Obama by almost 5% in 2012. But Trump's win in Luzerne
was also noteworthy for its magnitude. His 26,000 vote plurality in Luzerne comprised almost
three-fifths of his plurality in the state as a whole, and with it Pennsylvania's 20 coveted
electoral votes ." ("
The Forgotten review: Ben Bradlee Jr delivers 2020 lessons for Democrats" , The
Guardian )
Critical battleground states tilted in Trump's favor because Democratic policies had
decimated their communities and eviscerated their standard of living. Author Ben Bradlee Jr.
explains this phenom in his book "The Forgotten" which should be required reading at the DNC.
Here's a clip from the review at the Guardian:
"The Forgotten documents the ravages of deindustrialization, lost jobs, crime and drugs.
It captures the sense of displacement tied to a changing and less monochromatic America.
Once upon a time, Luzerne was home to coal and textiles, dominated by Protestants from
Wales and Catholics from Ireland and continental Europe. Not any more. Luzerne is poorer and
smaller, for many a less recognizable place. Not surprisingly, immigration and Nafta come in
for constant criticism. " (The Guardian)
This is the real reason Hillary was defeated. Russia had nothing to do with it. The Dems
abandoned the white working-class people who had always voted for them and began to cobble
together their Rainbow coalition. When Hillary denounced these people as "Deplorables", it
forced more of them to join Trump team. The rest is history. Here's more from the same
article:
"In the absence of a recession, however, the party stands to face the same electoral
map it did in 2016. In fact, Ohio now looks an even tougher nut to crack. Much as the
Democratic base loathes the president, reality cannot be wished away. Luzerne would be a
good place for the party to start addressing this reality. " ( The Guardian
)
The point we're trying to make is that the effectiveness of the Democrat Convention can only
be measured in terms of its impact on potential voters. So, why have the Dems shrugged off any
effort to reach out to the people who could help them win?
It's not that complicated. The Dems are merely abandoning the people who, they believe, will
leave anyway as their globalist economic agenda becomes more apparent putting more downward
pressure on overall living standards. It's worth noting, that when Obama left office in 2016,
this process was already well-underway. According to a Gallup poll, 71 percent of the people
said they were dissatisfied with the way things were going. (in Obama's last year.) Only 27
percent said they're satisfied. So, even though Obama's personal approval ratings remained
high, his handling of the economy was extremely unpopular. (except on Wall Street, of
course.)
During this same period, the PEW Research Center conducted a survey titled: "Campaign
Exposes Fissures Over Issues, Values and How Life Has Changed in the U.S" which showed why
Trump was steadily gaining on Hillary. Here are a few excerpts from the report:
"Among GOP voters, fully 75% of those who support Donald Trump for the Republican
presidential nomination say life for people like them has gotten worse "
"GOP voters who support Trump also stand out for their pessimism about the nation's
economy and their own financial situations: 48% rate current economic conditions in the U.S.
as "poor.
"Within the GOP, anger at government is heavily concentrated among Trump supporters
– 50% say they are angry at government "
"Among Republicans, a majority of those who back Trump (61%) view the system as unfair
among Trump supporters, 67% say trade agreements are bad thing "
"Half of Trump supporters (50%) say they are angry at the federal government . Anger at
government – and politics – is much more pronounced among Trump backers than
among supporters of any other presidential candidate, Republican or Democrat " ("
Campaign Exposes Fissures Over Issues, Values and How Life Has Changed in the U.S ", PEW
Research Center)
So, a higher percentage of Trump supporters think they are getting screwed-over by an unfair
system. They think "free trade" only benefits the rich, they think the government is
unresponsive to their needs, they think the system is rigged, and they're really, really
mad.
So, which speaker at the Democrat Convention addressed the concerns or complaints of white
working-class people who now almost-universally harbor these same feelings??
No one, because no one in the Democrat party plans to do anything about these issues, in
fact, just the opposite. Now that the Dems have been subsumed by Wall Street and their big
globalist donors, things are going to get dramatically worse for working people who will see a
vicious attack on essential social services and programs as soon as the election is over. The
massive build-up of debt– by mainly Democrat Governors who deliberately drove their
states into bankruptcy at the behest of Fauci's Vaccine Gestapo– will now be met by a
growing demand for austerity on a scale unlike anything we've experienced in the last century.
The country is being prepared for an excruciating restructuring that will create a permanent
underclass that will provide an endless source of sweatshop labor for the multinational
carpetbaggers. Those jobs will likely go to members of the Dems rainbow coalition while white,
working class people in America's heartland –with their strong sense of patriotism–
will be seen as a potential threat to the emerging new order.
It's clear that the Dems anticipate resistance to their plan by the contemptible way they
have branded struggling workers as "white nationalists" and "racists". But is it true or are
the Democrats and their deep-pocket allies preemptively denigrating these people and supporting
BLM rioters to head-off growing resistance to their strategy of total control through
widespread mayhem, decimation of the economy and extermination of the American middle class?
Author CJ Hopkins summed it up like this in a recent article at The Unz Review:
"What we are experiencing is not the "return of fascism." It is the global capitalist
empire restoring order, putting down the populist insurgency that took them by surprise in
2016.
The White Black Nationalist Color Revolution, the fake apocalyptic plague, all the
insanity of 2020 it has been in the pipeline all along. It has been since the moment Trump
won the election. No, it is not about Trump, the man. It has never been about Trump, the
man
GloboCap needs to crush Donald Trump not because he is a threat to the empire , but
because he became a symbol of populist resistance to global capitalism and its increasingly
aggressive "woke" ideology . It is this populist resistance to its ideology that GloboCap
is determined to crush, no matter how much social chaos and destruction it unleashes in the
process.. ." (" The White Black
Nationalist Color Revolution" , CJ Hopkins, The Unz Review )
Bingo. It is the "populist resistance to global capitalism" that is the defacto enemy of the
Party elite, the same elites who conspired with senior-level members of the Intelligence
Community, the FBI, the DOJ and the Obama White House to spy on the Trump Campaign, infiltrate
the presidential transition, and to try to topple the elected government. And while the coup
plotters have still not been brought to justice, they are now within spitting distance of their
ultimate objective, which is seizing executive power and using it to crush the fledgling
opposition, impose a one-party system of government, and transform America into a corporate
superstate ruled by Global Capital. Here's a clip from an article by Gary D. Barnett at Lew
Rockwell:
"By the end of this next planned phase of the 'virus' scare, a global reset of the world
economy will be ready to launch. This reset will be mammoth in scope, as everything we have
known will be restructured. Those out of work in the final stage will most likely stay out of
work, pushing the dependency state to new levels sought by the ruling class. Controlling
the population will be a key component of the plan, including population size, birth rates,
movement, and personal contact among individuals. The elimination of normal human interaction
is sought, and this is only the beginning . The ultimate goal is total control, and every
tool in the box of the tyrants will be used to gain that control. Restraint by the ruling
class will be non-existent, as this staged reset is now going forward at a very accelerated
pace." (
"The Economic Insanity of This Coronavirus Pandemic Plot and the Coming Global Reset ",
Lew Rockwell )
The coup plotters have chosen the candidates they want to carry out the next phase of their
operation. All they need now is to win the election.
It took balls for Carlson to have Anya Parampil on his show last night. He has had her on
before, so he knows what she is like she tells it like it is. He will get shit for that.
I don't think he agrees with everything she said but agrees with some of it.
@ThreeCranes trol -- China had already agreed to play ball, but was still gathering the
infrastructure. S. Korea and a few other nations took the work in the meantime.
Meantime, as Sam Francis (RIP) noted in the early nineties, Main Street USA turned into
dollar stores and flea markets and retail dumps and fast food pits.
Yes, nations that make things control the future. They also develop consumer economies.
Thus in a few more years stuff made in China be beyond the price range of the average
American.
American main stream media is not informing and reporting but is actually Goebbels-like
propaganda for the Democrats. Fox is only retaliating with opposing views. Imagine Walter
Cronkite being advocate for one party – that would be scandalous. However the present
insects on CNN, MSNBC, NYT or WP and other dishonest outlets have no guts to stand up against
their owners disloyalty to this country.
Insightful overview. Giraldi explores the most important topic in American life. And one
of the most neglected: MSM distortions, omissions, sanctimony, propaganda, deception and
gaslighting. Stomach-turning drek –all of it.
Americans are in a half-Zombie state because of what they see on TV, and cannot discuss on
social media.
Hollywood, elite media, and Big Tech are the gatekeepers [ of the neoliberal power].
The shysters at WPO and NYT think that once they have misdirected the voters for their
goal into voting for Joe Biden, it can pick up things where they left off and fix it without
any problems but what they don't realize is that the train has left the station and now it's
barreling down the dark abyss from where there is no return to safety.
It took balls for Carlson to have Anya Parampil on his show last night. He has had her on
before, so he knows what she is like she tells it like it is. He will get shit for that.
I don't think he agrees with everything she said but agrees with some of it.
@Tommy Thompson he military is responsible for or how Israel is treated, how corporations
are handed free billions upon billions, etc, and its largely business as usual. All the noise
about Trump the disruptor is just that, noise. He hasn't disrupted anything of note.
As long as the two political parties exist, voting is for people who want to believe a
lie. Deep down they know, absolutely know, that the system is rigged but they can't let
themselves fully believe that because that would mean there is no hope. They would realize
that they live in a sophisticated soft military dictatorship that has stolen $21 Trillion
dollars and is the actual gov't of the country. That realization is unpalatable and
hence rejected.
However the present insects on CNN, MSNBC, NYT or WP and other dishonest outlets have no
guts to stand up against their owners disloyalty to this country.
It's not a simple as that. All the media people know that it's a rotten system, but if
they step out of line – they lose their jobs – and make themselves unemployable
anywhere else.
IMO it's not a question of standing up – which is pointless – but using
organized subversion. After all, this is what Jewry have been doing for decades in targeting
Anglo run organizations and it works. It's your friend and collaborator who is really your
enemy.
hough it was quickly overshadowed by the big-ticket appearances of Barack Obama and Kamala
Harris, Elizabeth Warren's Tuesday address to the Democratic National Convention deserves some
consideration.
A probable VP nominee before the events of the summer made race the deciding factor, Warren
is an able representative of what might be called the "non-socialist populist" branch of the
Democratic Party. Her economic populism -- though it does have an unmistakably left-wing flavor
-- has caught the eye of Tucker Carlson, who offered glowing praise of her 2003 book The
Two-Income Trap ; her call for "economic nationalism" during the primary campaign earned
mockery from some corners of the Left and a bit of hesitant sympathy from the Right. A few days
ago in Crisis , Michael Warren Davis referred to her (tongue at least somewhat in cheek)
as " reactionary senator Elizabeth
Warren ."
There is some good reason for all of this.
As I watched the first half of Warren's speech (before she descended into the week's
secondary theme of blaming the virus on Donald Trump) I couldn't help but think that it
belonged at the Republican National Convention. Or, rather, that a GOP convention that
drove home the themes addressed by Senator Warren on Tuesday would be immensely more effective
than the
circus I'm expecting to see next week.
Amid a weeklong hurricane of identity politics sure to drive off a good number of moderates
and independents, Warren offered her party an electoral lifeline: a policy-heavy pitch
gift-wrapped as the solution to a multitude of troubles facing average Americans, especially
families.
It was rhetorically effective in a way that few other moments in the convention have been.
Part of this is due to the format: a teleconferenced convention left most speakers looking
either like bargain-bin
Orwell bogeymen or like
Pat Sajak presenting a tropical vacation as a prize on Wheel of Fortune. But Warren, for
one reason or another, looks entirely at home in a pre-school classroom.
The content, however, is crucial too. Warren grounded her comments in experiences that have
been widely shared by millions of Americans these last few months: the loss of work, the loss
of vital services like childcare, the stress and anxiety that dominate pandemic-era life. She
makes a straightforward case for Biden: his policies will make everyday life better for the
vast majority of American families. She focuses on the example of childcare, which Biden
promises to make freely available to Americans who need it. This, she claims, will give
families a better go of things and make struggling parents' lives a whole lot easier.
It's hard not to be taken in. It's certainly a more compelling sales pitch than, "You're all
racist. Make up for it by voting for this old white guy." It's the kind of thing that a smart
campaign would spend the next three months broadcasting and repeating every chance they get.
(The jury is still out as to whether Biden's campaign is a smart one.) This -- convincing
common people that you're going to do right by them -- is the kind of thing that wins
elections.
But there's more than a little mistruth in the pitch. Warren shares a touching story from
her own experience as a young parent, half a century ago:
When I had babies and was juggling my first big teaching job down in Texas, it was hard.
But I could do hard. The thing that almost sank me? Child care.
One night my Aunt Bee called to check in. I thought I was fine, but then I just broke down
and started to cry. I had tried holding it all together, but without reliable childcare,
working was nearly impossible. And when I told Aunt Bee I was going to quit my job, I thought
my heart would break.
Then she said the words that changed my life: "I can't get there tomorrow, but I'll come
on Thursday." She arrived with seven suitcases and a Pekingese named Buddy and stayed for 16
years. I get to be here tonight because of my Aunt Bee.
I learned a fundamental truth: nobody makes it on their own. And yet, two generations of
working parents later, if you have a baby and don't have an Aunt Bee, you're on your own.
Are we not supposed to ask about the fundamental difference between Elizabeth Warren's
experience decades ago and the experience of struggling parents now? Hint: she had a strong
extended family to support her, and her kids had a broad family network to help raise them. Not
too long ago, any number of people would have been involved in the raising of a single child.
("It takes a village," but not in the looney Clinton way.) Now, an American kid is lucky to
have just two people helping him along the way. As we've all been reminded a hundred
times, the chances that he'll be raised by only one increase astronomically in poor or black
communities.
Shouldn't we be talking about that? Shouldn't we be talking about the policies that
contributed to the shift? It's a complex crisis, and we can't pin it down to any one cause. But
a slew of left-wing programs are certainly caught up in it. An enormous and fairly lax welfare
state has reduced the necessity of family ties in day-to-day life to almost nil. Diverse
economic pressures have made stay-at-home parents a near-extinct breed, and left even
two-income households struggling to make ends meet. (Warren literally wrote the book on
it.) Not to mention that the Democrats remain the party more forcefully supportive of abortion
and more ferociously opposed to the institution of marriage (though more than a few Republicans
are trying real hard to catch up).
Progressive social engineering has ravaged the American family for decades, and this
proposal only offers more of the same. It's trying to outsource childcare to
government-bankrolled professionals without asking the important question: Whatever happened to
Aunt Bee?
Republicans need an answer. We need to be carefully considering what government has done to
accelerate the decline of the family -- and what it can do to reverse it. Some of the reformers
and realigners in the party have already begun this project in earnest. But it needs to be
taken more seriously. It needs to be a central effort of the party's mainstream, and a constant
element of the party's message. Grand, nationalistic narratives about Making America Great
Again mean nothing if that revival isn't actually felt by people in their lives and in their
homes.
If we're confident in our family policy -- and while it needs a good deal of work, it's
certainly better than the Democrats' -- we shouldn't be afraid to take the fight to them. We
should be pointing out, for instance, that Warren's claim that Biden will afford greater
bankruptcy protections to common people is hardly borne out by the facts: Biden spent a great
deal of time and effort in his legislative career doing exactly the opposite. We should be
pointing out that dozens of Democratic policies have been hurting American families for
decades, and will continue to do so if we let them. We should sell ourselves as the better
choice for American families -- and be able to mean it when we say it.
If we let the Democrats keep branding themselves as the pro-family party -- a marketing ploy
that has virtually no grounding in reality -- we're going to lose in November. And we're going
to keep losing for a long, long time.
Did Bill slept with Maxwell? You can expect anything from this sex addict...
Notable quotes:
"... During a fueling stop at a small airport in Portugal, Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell urged Davies to give the former president a massage. ..."
As if it weren't awkward enough for the party that bills itself as a defender of women to feature Bill Clinton at its
convention, photos of the ex-president with one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims surfaced on the day of his speech.
The UK's Daily Mail
published exclusive pictures on Tuesday showing Clinton receiving a massage in 2002 from 22-year-old Chauntae Davies, who was
allegedly raped by billionaire Epstein repeatedly over a period of four years. The
massage
occurred
while Clinton, along with actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker, flew with Epstein on the pedophile's infamous
private jet, nicknamed the Lolita Express, on a humanitarian trip to Africa.
According to the
newspaper, Clinton complained of having a stiff neck after falling asleep on the plane. During a fueling stop at a small
airport in Portugal, Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell urged Davies to give the former president a massage. Clinton, who
was 56 at the time, then allegedly said to Davies,
"Would you mind giving it a crack?"
The
photos show Davies massaging Clinton's neck and shoulders as he leans back in his seat at what looks to be a small airport
lounge.
Davies, who worked for
Epstein as a masseuse, said Clinton was a
"perfect gentleman during the trip and I saw
absolutely no foul play involving him."
Nevertheless, the images serve as an untimely reminder of the many sexual misconduct allegations made against Clinton during
his years in politics and of his relationship with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who allegedly
killed
himself
last year at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York while awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges.
A Clinton spokesman has
said the former president knew nothing about Epstein's crimes and flew on the financier's jet only four times, but
flight
logs
showed that he traveled on the plane dozens of times in 2002 and 2003. Davies and other alleged victims said in a
2020
Netflix
documentary
on Epstein that he had secret surveillance cameras at his properties to gather blackmail-worthy dirt on his
powerful friends.
"The question is, why were they taking pictures of Bill Clinton receiving a massage?"
UK
journalist Paul Joseph Watson said on Tuesday on Twitter.
"And we already know the
answer."
The Daily Mail didn't say
where it obtained the exclusive photos. Maxwell is currently in jail in New York awaiting trial on charges that she
facilitated
Epstein's abuse
of girls as young as 14.
Other Twitter users suggested that far more incriminating pictures are being held back.
"Epstein
took pics and videos of everything, and the FBI has it all,"
one said. Another said:
"If
they took pictures of this, there are most definitely worse things recorded just waiting to come out against people."
Others said Clinton should
be kept away from the Democratic National Convention, including one who tweeted:
"Bruh,
no way they can let this man speak tonight."
Another said:
"And this guy is
headlining the DNC tonight. Can't make this up."
Africa Addio ( Goodbye Africa ) (1966), co-directed, co-edited, and
co-authored by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi of Mondo Cane fame, is a must-see
red-pill documentary for race-realists. Filmed between 1963 and 1965 in Kenya, Tanganyika,
Zanzibar, Rwanda, Angola, the Belgian Congo, and South Africa, Africa Addio chronicles
the exit of the British and Belgian colonial powers from Africa, as well as the attempts of the
Portuguese and South Africa whites to hold on.
Many of you will find it simply unbelievable, for reasons of style and content. Africa
Addio is so superbly filmed and edited that it seems in places like a feature film, not a
documentary. Riz Ortolani's lush Morricone-like music, as well as the magic of Italian dubbing,
reinforce this impression. But as far as I can tell, only one sequence was created entirely by
the filmmakers, and obviously so: a graveyard with headstones for white farms in the Kenya
highlands.
As for the content: the colonial worlds created by whites as well as the results of the
African takeovers seem equally surreal.
In the Kenya highlands, British farmers recreated English country life, complete with fox
hunts (although the quarry is an African runner carrying part of a frozen fox). The
headquarters of a British wildlife rescue operation looks like a set from a Bond movie or
The Thunderbirds . The beach in Capetown, with its high-rise hotels and beautiful
blondes surfing and sunning, looks like California or Australia. Surely it must all have been
staged. But no. White people actually did this.
The sequences in post-colonial Africa seem so surreal, terrifying, and deeply unflattering
to blacks that that movie has been denounced as racist propaganda. It definitely leads to
racist conclusions. But all of it appears to be real. Still, one wonders: If blacks really are
that bad, why did whites ever settle there? Why did whites give blacks power over them? And
why, in the name of all that is holy, are we allowing these people to colonize us today? But
again, it is all real.
The first thirty minutes focus mostly on Kenya. We see the trial of Mau Mau terrorists and
their accomplices, who slaughtered white families and mutilated their cattle. They also
tortured and killed baboons, for no fathomable reason. They are sentenced to life in prison. A
few years later, Jomo Kenyatta pardoned the Mau Mau. The white farmers of the Kenya highlands
are forced to sell. We see their houses and European treasures being auctioned off by Indian
merchants. Then we see their yards and gardens being bulldozed, their trees dynamited, to
create subsistence gardens for hundreds of blacks, who fill the European houses to overflowing,
covering everything in filth and smoke, and slowly dismantling the houses to burn in their
fireplaces -- since it is easier than fetching wood, and it does not occur to them that at some
point, the house will become unlivable. In a stunning sequence, we see Boer farmers from South
Africa who settled in Kenya returning home with their herds the way they came: in covered
wagons.
In colonial Kenya, blacks could look at white women but not touch. In free Kenya, blonde
British nannies become a status symbol for the black elites, and an old blonde whore does a
strip tease for a roomful of sweaty blacks. At the end, she offers "Bwana" the privilege of
popping off her pasties. Unreal? No.
Africa Addio is filled with unflattering contrasts between blacks and whites. The
white colonists are remarkably good-looking in Kenya, Angola, the Congo, and South Africa. The
Africans, many filmed in extreme closeups, are often hideously ugly, with alarmingly discolored
eyes and teeth. The filmmakers could be accused of seeking out exceptionally attractive whites
and ugly Africans, but there are a lot of goofy and plain-looking whites as well. There are
scenes of European order and grace: soldiers on parade -- a ceremony in a church where the
former colonial flags are being entrusted to the clergy -- contrasted with noisy crowds of
Africans swarming and rioting. We cut from disciplined and well-dressed British soldiers to
clownish, shambling African troops and policemen. Post-colonial Africa began as a farce, a
grotesque parody of European civilization.
The bodies of Arabs killed in the violence
following the Zanzibar Revolution as photographed by the <i>Africa Addio</i> film
crew. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Then it descended into tragedy. Throughout the continent, African rebel groups, usually
backed by the USSR or Communist China, used terrorism to eject whites. Then, once the whites
were gone, they went on to massacre their tribal enemies. In Zanzibar and Tanganyika, the enemy
was "Arabs," meaning fellow Africans who had converted to Islam under the rule of Arab slave
traders along the East African Coast. In 1964, the newly independent government of Zanzibar was
overthrown by a Communist-backed revolution, and up to 20,000 Arabs were massacred. The
filmmakers hired a plane in Tanganyika to document what was happening. They were fired upon
when they tried to land but over two days managed to film from the air burned out villages,
columns of Arabs been marched to their deaths, as well as mass graves and random heaps of
corpses. One day, we see pitiful refugees fleeing to the beaches; the next day the beach is
littered with countless corpses. It seems that genocide is part of every Communist
revolutionary playbook. That would include the playbooks of the communists that Donald Trump is
allowing to run amok in America today.
The filmmakers were on the ground during the Arab massacres in Tanganyika. At one point,
they were pulled from their car by soldiers and put against a wall. They were about to be shot
when someone looked at their passports and said. "Wait, these aren't whites. They're Italians."
The birth of a meme?
We also visit Rwanda, where we see the aftermath of a genocide of Hutus against Watusis. I
guess there were many. We see Watusi survivors and their cattle streaming into exile in Uganda,
as well as rivers choked with the corpses of those who were not so lucky. It is slick and
cinematic, but the blood and bodies were real.
In the Belgian Congo, we see European troops and mercenaries repelling rebels who seized
Stanleyville. The aftermath is sickening. The rebels had raped, killed, and tortured white
nuns, nurses, and schoolchildren. They had also tortured, killed, and sometimes eaten 12,000
fellow Africans. We see European families who had narrowly escaped rape, torture, and death.
Later, the filmmakers fly over a mission school where the rebels were holding nuns and
children. A few days later, the mission has been burned to the ground. The grounds are littered
with the corpses of nuns. Fortunately, the rebels were rather easy to defeat. They believed
that magic made them immune to bullets. We see close up that this is not so as we witness the
summary execution of two rebels. The filmmakers were actually accused of staging these murders,
as if the Africans needed any incentive given the carnage we have seen already.
Two sequences deal with the mass slaughter of wildlife after whites pulled out and could no
longer protect them. It is totally sickening. There are two kinds of hunters: whites and
blacks. The white hunters are seen mowing down fleeing zebras by towing a rope between two
jeeps. Another has a helicopter drive an elephant toward him before shooting it down. I have no
patience for people who kill big game, even on sustainable game reserves, even if they are
white. No, especially if they are white.
But the most sickening spectacle is of thousands of blacks cordoning off huge areas and
killing everything that moves by chucking spears at them. The attempts of white
conservationists to save the victims of the slaughter are touching but mostly futile. Again,
you will wonder, "Can this be real?" But the blood is real, the fetal hippos and elephants
ripped from their mothers' wombs are real.
The final sequence is set in South Africa, Africa's "sanctuary for whites." It begins with a
huge crowd of uniformed black children running toward a low set camera. The narrator declares
that five blacks are born for every white in South Africa. It is a very effective way of
communicating the demographic problem. Here comes the future!
We then visit the mines of Pretoria, where armies of blacks mine gold and diamonds. Although
ordinary whites tried to build a nation in South Africa, it was always a colony, an economic
zone in which a tiny oligarchy imported cheap nonwhite labor to heap up gold and diamonds. The
lure of cheap labor plus high black fertility doomed South Africans to demographic eclipse and
political impotence. The film ends with the Cape penguin colony, marooned far from their home
in Antarctica. The analogy with whites is obvious. We never belonged there.
Africa Addio is a strange and sobering masterpiece. I highly recommend it as a tool
for red-pilling young whites about race.
What drugs are you doing? Mao and his merry band of communist have the blood of 80 million
of their one people on their hands. This yet to count the Uighur.
It's being filmed as we speak and has been going on since Rodney King and the advent of
24/7 news and social media. It's hard not to ask where is all this heading.
Are there winners and losers?
Will our black overlords be as merciful as we have been to them.
There is no turning back from here.
All we can do is survive and get away from the savagery.
Two sequences deal with the mass slaughter of wildlife after whites pulled out and could
no longer protect them. It is totally sickening. There are two kinds of hunters: whites and
blacks. The white hunters are seen mowing down fleeing zebras by towing a rope between two
jeeps. Another has a helicopter drive an elephant toward him before shooting it down. I
have no patience for people who kill big game, even on sustainable game reserves, even if
they are white. No, especially if they are white.
I watched this film on Bitchute and these were the sequences that filled me with a
despondent speechless rage.
No animals will survive the blacks in Africa. What a sour stupid irony that the SJWs who
worship Negros pretend that they love animals. There was a POS black shaking a puppy by his
neck in the BLM riots (Beat Loot Murder) and the MSM never aired it.
Watching this movie ( it was sagely recommended by a poster here) was utterly enthralling
and horrifying. You have to watch it.
As you watch, you understand that blacks are deviant, dangerous and deranged on a cellular
level. They can't be trusted, helped or managed. Without massive global infusions of wealth
and planned migration, natural selection would have done its work. The world should let
it.
@Anon n it through the
herd. They break their legs, leaving them broken. This is black and white men.
Running down and exhausting an elephant with a helicopter and then shooting it with a high
power assault rifle is no skill. It's blood lust. It's cowardice.
To kill for the sake of watching something die is sociopathic. What other desire does it
fulfill?
Those animals have no habitat, and then are stalked by brainless blacks
–truly– the elephants are smarter, more graceful and loyal.
Give me one million elephants over those troglodytes.
I don't know about Africans, but I have to give credit where credit is due, a great deal
of African Americans have beautiful teeth. Funny thing, I never see Blacks at the dentist or
here Blacks talk about going to the dentist. Sure, there are Blacks with awful teeth and no
doubt some of them have false teeth or even implants since Blacks now have a lot of good
paying jobs thanks to affirmative action laws. I spent a great deal of time in Haiti while in
the USCG, but I never paid attention to the typical Haitian's choppers. Look at a lot of
African American's teeth, they look very white, maybe that is due to their dark skin, but
they also look straight and strong looking. Sure, you can point out some Blacks with bad
teeth, but the majority have better teeth than Whites. Give the poor saps that much, other
than that and playing football, basketball and running, they really don't have too much else
to brag about.
@Anon sick f*ck takes
pride in killing a beautiful animal like a lion or a noble giant like an elephant for sport?
Hell, I have no idea how anyone kills a deer, but at least they eat the deer so that can be
excused. Of course, only a few people actually have to depend on hunting to feed themselves
or their family in the year 2020, but IF you eat what you kill, at least I can see the reason
behind it. Some of these rich f*cks that go over to Africa and think they are proving their
manhood by shooting a lion from a safe distance more than likely have problems in the sack or
lack a reasonable sized penis.
The US military has quietly taken over most of Africa the past ten years while destroying
three nations on the Neccon hit list: Libya, Somalia, and Sudan.
I honestly don't see that, although you're right about looking whiter against their skin
(as in the slang term "shines" alternating with "darkies"). I see them with buck teeth and
that gap in the front (Tracey Morgan eg) although of course some Whites have that too
(Letterman, Lauren Hutton). But btw military dentistry and welfare, perhaps they do get
pretty good dentistry overall.
As per South Africa, why didn't the whites there just hive off a small area by the coast
for themselves and leave all the rest of South Africa for the various black groups? It seems
to have worked for Israel, more or less.
Let us say you have the money to live overseas. Americans are not terribly liked. If
you're some rural hick who wears cheesy cowboy costumes with Bolo ties and a hat and boots
you're going to have things thrown at you on the streets of Sydney or London or Europe.
Eurofags are are so stupid they assume all Americans vote for George Bush and support wars in
the ME. In Southeast Asia, you are relatively free of this. But if you immigrate to
Australia, start pretending to be a Canadian.
White women deserve black men for betraying their race with the birth control pill and
suffrage. Any settling of the Black Question is going to necessitate the settling of the
White Woman Question. Most whites should only be looking at slavic wives, I think. I am quite
happy with my Tartar one.
We here in China made the critical mistake of giving them contraception. They rewarded us
by going off to America for university and getting railed by every white, black, Persian, and
latino they could -- much like yours. Thankfully, we will never let them whiff a ballot
box.
The lure of cheap labor plus high black fertility doomed South Africans
Doomed ordinary South Africans.
As we are seeing repeated in the whole US/UK/Euro etc., the "lure of cheap labor" only
gulled the wealthy class that use "nations" as pump-and-dump operations.
So they finish with S. Africa, started on the USA. After the states are totally drained
(getting there real fast) they'll move to Canada and Australia and other places that will be
congenial. For awhile. Then the next victim gets destroyed and the fatcats get in their
private jets to their tax havens and secure bunkers and cast around for the next victim.
Places like Japan, S. Korea, China are remain essentially mercantile and are safe for that
reason. Only the white man ever bought the nonsense of "free trade" and "cheap labor" and
both are weapons against their own workers.
@Trinity e congo. All
these american blacks get husky dental or other similar free health/dental in their state of
residence. husky dental covers everything for free including braces ,so don't tell me why
blacks in america have good teeth.Especially since all the shit food they eat. And as far as
playing football, basketball ,this is only because Whitey invented these modern sports for
them to play. So once again it is always Whitey that brings these evolutionary throwbacks
into the modern world. Without Whites, evolution,nature,whatever,would have taken care of
blacks .They would have been culled as nature intended.
@TKK e went on a
Quixote-type quest to save the elephants.
Too gloriously nuts for the fifties, it bombed. But it was ahead of its time for two
reasons:
1. Only Europeans care about preserving nature -- in any way at all.
2. What you see in The Roots of Heaven is French Equatorial Africa. Not the
Afro-run disaster areas you'll see today. There was law, order, peace. And the film also has
a glimpse of the future in the form of an African revolutionary who's a pretty good preview
of what was already replacing law, order, peace.
@Sphinx r dying day.
And yet here we have such people, on this blogsite, where most of us understand the nature of
the lies we have been fed since the 1930s ('Hitler was the acme of evil'; 'Germany started
WWII'; 'Mao killed tens of millions for no particular reason'; 'Saddam had Weapons of Mass
Destruction'; 'The Twin Towers were brought down by aircraft fuel oil, and the planes flown
by Arabs armed with box-cutters'; 'The Uighurs in NW China are being suppressed and
enslaved'.
None of the above tropes is true. In fact, they are demonstrably false. Yet 'normies'
believe them all. How about you?
I watched this years ago, although I had to skip some parts. Some amazing and unbelievable
scenes, but others (especially the ones with animals, violence and dead people) are hard to
watch.
I think it's not easy to find it in its full uncensored version.
I am not sure it would work as a "red pill" today, those seem images from another world,
both for whites and for blacks.
I think the film is considered "racist" because it sympathizes with the colonizers,
something which would be very unusual today. But I think the film is not totally negative or
depreciative about African blacks, just mostly realistic.
I just hope no one has to film Europa Addio, America Addio, etc
Another film about Africans in the same vein (although much less interesting or
well-done), is the "Vice Guide to Liberia", which was actually done by liberals who regretted
it afterwards.
It seems that genocide is part of every Communist revolutionary playbook. That would
include the playbooks of the communists that Donald Trump is allowing to run amok in
America today.
Glad I'm not the only one to fear this coming our way, but it would be helpful if many
more of us could grasp that while we dislike cancel culture, those espousing it see it as a
waypoint to a grim final destination. We dislike them; they want us dead.
It seems that genocide is part of every Communist revolutionary playbook. That would
include the playbooks of the communists that Donald Trump is allowing to run amok in
America today.
How would DT go about stopping Communists from "running amok" in America if this is indeed
the case? He doesn't control the Democratic party nor the media which panders to it.
If the human race -- all of our ancestry -- walked off the African continent at some point
in our history and headed north and then to the east what could the genetic differences be
between blacks and whites often cited as the reason for the high levels of black crime today?
A rational explanation or reference material illustrating one would be appreciated.
For a balanced perspective consider the divergent stories of Southern and Northern
Rhodesia.
In Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) , whites were too few to resist black takeover. Race
relations after independence were amicable and a white man was even elected Vice President in
the 2010s.
In Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) , whites fought until they were defeated militarily
by 14 year old soldiers under the leadership of Robert Mugabe. Surprisingly, Mugabe was quite
reasonable in the first 20 years after independence towards the farmers he had defeated. He
allowed them to keep their property and farm. But the white farmers could not come to terms
with losing to blacks and acted like they had a strong negotiating position. They didn't want
to give away any of their land to help Mugabe placate his constituents. ( If the whites
were so red pilled from living in Africa during the post colonial transition why were they so
stupid to do that? ) Finally in 2000, Mugabe lost patience and expropriated the property
of 98% of the white landowners (one of the only exceptions was Prince Harry's white
girlfriend's father who cooperated with Mugabe and had bad land). Although it was
economically catastrophic during the first decade after taking the land, the black farmers
eventually got the hang of it. Now 100,000 black farmers are producing more tobacco on their
small plots than the white landowners could in an average season. The white landowners were
generally lazy and not interested in using all of their land or couldn't finance expansion.
Whatever the excuse they called the waste of land to be conservation.
There is a scene from "Africa Addio" in which a black woman who had been a maid for a
white family is on trial, after letting her black male friends into the house to slaughter
her employers, who had accepted her as part of the household. To her, "independence" meant it
was her house now, and she could preside over their executions. This is one of the scenes
that seems as if it were from a feature film, and may have been one of the reasons Jacopetti
and Prosperi came in for such legal and political grief. After all, it was in a courtroom,
and the camera crew were obviously invited to film the scene. However, the woman is not
acting. She is completely uncomprehending and vacant, as she looks at the camera stupidly.
She cannot grasp why she is being punished. When recommending this film to a much younger
friend, I described this scene, and exclaimed, "The woman does not even look human!" This
was, in effect, my appalled summation of the overall impact that this movie should have on
white viewers, but I have learned not to make such outbursts, as they tend to cause one's
interlocutor to end the conversation while backing away slowly. Later, my young friend
watched the film, and began to understand what I was getting at.
Sadly, Jacopetti's later feature film "Goodbye, Uncle Tom" seemed like an elaborate apology
for "Africa Addio" to the Left, by rhetorically enshrining black rage much in the way that
Tarantino's "Django" did decades later.
@Trinity have to work
to stay alive, but the bolsheviks add the nice touches of psychological warfare, the power of
the rumour preceding the Righteous Wave of revolutionaries approaching over the unseen
horison. There are some horrifying woodcuts from the time the Bolsheviks subjugated the
Russians. When they discovered all the mineral riches under African soil, the Agricultural
population must be dispensed with, as a contented rural population always wins over the
liberal urbanites. Hence the destruction of farmers and wildlife.
As for the rest of the racist invective of the rest of you, grow up, you are partaking in the
next round of "le's go gedd'em heedins, boyz!!!" Just like your Bolshevik masters have
trained you.
We get it. You like hunting. I think the author has mass slaughter in mind. Or killing for
the sake of a trophy.
Most people don't disagree with hunting if it's for food. Sport is different. Which isn't
a truly accurate description. Fat, out of shape guys in camo aren't athletes.
Anyway, nothing wrong with hunting for meat to eat.
The footage is stunning but what the film needs is narration and an explanation (honest of
course) for what you are seeing ,most(99.9%) of Americans have no idea about what happened in
africa after the Europeans left.
You can find the movie here, but buyer beware. You will need a torrent client to download
the movie. Very important that you have some decent anti-virus software on your device before
you hit the link.
The demise of the traditional White Christian societies in the world today can be directly
attributed to colonization of the swarthy cultures no need to glorify the film!
Yep, I watched that movie/documentary – And the same people that profat from
Africa's wealth, are the same tribe that profated on Russia, Europe, Asia and is looting the
America's. Also, the same tribe is most likely responsible for the massacres of both Blacks,
Europeans, Asians and Whites, in order to cover their tracks. And yep, they want the whites
in America and Europe destroyed, just like in Africa. They've had Centuries of experience,
with some pretty cutthroat accomplices– but rich – followers.
It seems that genocide is part of every Communist revolutionary playbook?
Genocide is part of every Capitalist playbook, too.
The Commie movement of the last century and this one was conceived and paid for by a
"chosen" set of powerful capitalists so it should be as plain as the nose on one's face that
there is about as much difference between them as between Democrats and Republicans.
I hate hunting and in particular trophy hunting. Those who hunt for fun are sick sadist
blood thirsty cunts. And I certainly far more respect for a beautiful innocent animal than
sick fucks who murder them for fun.
There's also Sir Richard Francis Burton's Wanderings in West Africa , available
free on the Internet, which documents racial relations along the west coast of Africa 150
years ago. The blacks in English-controlled areas were innately expert at entrapping
Englishmen disembarking from the ships, for which the penalties imposed on whites were
severe. This is not unlike these blacks in America setting up whites, not to mention the
knee-taking cops, with the "hands up, don't shoot" or "peaceful protest" scenarios we see
being enacted everywhere. This is also a variation on the same ploy as blacks doing that
shuckin' and jivin' as they axe you a question intended for no other purpose than sizing up
your vulnerability. Never fall for it and let one of these savages move into striking
distance within your space, as that white fellow working in Macy's found out too late.
It was inevitable we'd finally witness the execution of Cannon Hinnant for being a white
child and the scene in Portland of the white truck driver encountering a "peaceful protest"
and then, to use a phrase from Camp of the Saints , being literally "stomped into a
puddle of his own blood in the street" after being torn from his truck. We should expect the
recent BLM trial run in Hugo, Oregon to serve as the model for blacks not only not
being turned away from suburban areas, but getting in with a police escort; getting
protection from knee-taking cops taking out their emasculation on innocent whites who will be
their own families soon enough; and, streets lined with white women and their children waving
little BLM flags and their prize school essays denouncing themselves and their parents for
what amounts to nearly 100% black-on-white violence and butchery.
Blacks and their DNC/MSM handlers have imposed on whites the need to treat every encounter
as a possible Cannon Hinnant encounter, and yet blacks demand we accept the opposite as the
case. There can be zero accommodation with blacks from now on since their brazen lies mean
death for whites. At some point, it would be wise to never be found alone where there might
be a group of blacks. Neighborhood watch groups in suburbia and rural areas will need to fire
warning shots to make it clear that any potential black mobs have had fair warning to turn
around and go back to wherever they were bused in from. We need to start talking strategy
from now on, knowing the with the Republicans and White House at our back we're facing a war
on two fronts.
It was never a nation and was always a colonial project. Those in charge of white South
Africa chose cheap labour and high profits over safety and community. The Israelis have not
made this mistake. The nation was founded in reaction against old stereotypes of the Jew as
profiteering capitalist and middleman.
Of course, as with all things, there is more complexity than is implied in this dichotomy,
but you have your explanation.
People Republic of China: 73,237,000 victims. Source: R. J. Rummel: China's Bloody
Century, Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Transaction Publishers, 1991. Plus Rummel's
correction in 2005.
A dentist once informed me that there is a biological relation between hair color and
teeth color. Redheads have the yellowest teeth and black haired people have the whitest. No
idea if that's legit, but it does comport with experience.
Then it descended into tragedy. Throughout the continent, African rebel groups, usually
backed by the USSR or Communist China, used terrorism to eject whites.
@Big Dan pray-painted
big orange X's on the dairy herd at the start of hunting season, so the idiot, liquored up
city folk from DC and Pittsburgh who invaded our county with their thousand-dollar Mossburgs
wouldn't try to murder them. Lots of locals took deer (illegally) year-round because they
were an important food source. That is legitimate hunting: the ethic was never to kill
something you weren't planning to eat. Well, all right, so we didn't eat groundhogs, but I
shot them so the livestock wouldn't break their legs in their burrows, and the cats always
got the internal organs and the dogs got the carcasses.
Incredible! I would really like to watch it. Would you happen to know where I can find a
DVD copy? I want to show this to friends but I don't want to just kick a YouTube link over to
them in an email (I think I have found it on YouTube, in fact) https://youtu.be/V355OG77SQM
Same with Chinese people in Asia, Africa and beyond. Every year in North America, many black
bears are illegally killed for their gall bladders because help make penis strong or
whatever. Rhinos and elephants in Africa and tigers in Asia suffer the same fate.
Only White people care about nature and the environment. Absent White people, many, many
species will permanently disappear. One of the most disheartening things about this "anti
racist" madness has been seeing environmentalists, people who should know better, embracing
it.
I watched both Africa Addio and goodbye Uncle Tom, a shokumentary by the same duo some years
ago. Some of the scenes in Africa addio must be real footage, but there are similar scenes in
goodbye Uncle Tom which are clearly staged. Goodbye Uncle Tom, while clearly fictional in
parts, is hilarious for the subtext. "What does that have to do with anything?" Lol! The
Italians were a spiritually unconquered people for a while. What does it mean when the blacks
are helping the whites to capture their own people?
@Jeff
Stryker fellow Semites (and also they don't view Islam as an enemy, to them Christianity is
anathema, White Christians are "Amalek", Muslims are not, Jesus was always the central target
of Jewish enmity, Muhammad was never one) despite all the wars and perpetual conflict. Once a
Hungarian Jewish woman wrote commenting on an obscure Hungarian blog that she feels being much
closer to a Palestinian Arab Muslim than to any "Anti-Semitic" Hungarian. A rare occassion of
sincerity.
Don't get fooled by anti-islamic propaganda of the neocon jews, that's only for consumption by
Gentile white nationalists.
Yep. The Asians (Chinese) are even worse than the Africans. They will kill (and eat) without
pity anything that walks (or crawls)!! Or use it for their weird medicine. Chinese + Africans =
bye bye wild animals in Africa.
The Uncle Tom movie was done for the only reason that "Africa Addio", even then, was
considered "racist", so the filmmakers had to atone for their sins. I haven't watched it, but
it's probably kind of silly, while Africa Addio is still relevant today
(Lot of Blacks in Italy right now!!!! Coming in boats every week! Blacks destroying the once
beautiful country!!!! ITALIA ADDIO!!! )
@anonymous te that
Zimbabwe is unlikely to gain new financing because the government has not disclosed how it
plans to repay more than $1.7 billion in arrears to the World Bank and African Development
Bank. International financial institutions want Zimbabwe to implement significant fiscal and
structural reforms before granting new loans. Foreign and domestic investment continues to be
hindered by the lack of land tenure and titling, the inability to repatriate dividends to
investors overseas, and the lack of clarity regarding the government's Indigenization and
Economic Empowerment Act."
@Anonymous y're going to
arrest us for standing up for ourselves in front of our own house, on our own property, then
its time to adopt guerilla tactics. We need to conceal ourselves like the Minutemen did. The
present day "shot heard round the world"* will come from a white suburbanite's rifle.
*"The shot heard round the world" is a phrase that refers to the opening shot of the Battle
of Concord on April 19th, 1775, which began the American Revolutionary War and led to the
creation of the United States of America." Wiki
The British used German mercenaries, the Hessians. Today's occupying Jews use blacks.
"The PCI was founded as the Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by
seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the
split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played a major role in the Italian
resistance movement. It changed its name in 1943 to PCI and became the second largest political
party of Italy after World War II, attracting the support of about a third of the vote share
during the 1970s. At the time, it was the largest communist party in the West, with peak
support reaching 2.3 million members, in 1947,[10] and peak share being 34.4% of the vote (12.6
million votes) in the 1976 general election. "
Having lived in Africa I can tell you looking at the film is one thing. Actually being there
and seeing the disintegration is another.
As I have said in many of my previous comments, the "AFRICAN ?? American, whatever that
means, who glorifies his heritage needs to take a trip back to the old country. There he will
cone face to face with his "Roots" and these realities which are by no means exhaustive. Call
these the 10 commandments of Africa LOL
1. There are no social programs and unemployment is rampant
2. Blacks hate other blacks more than the white man ever could hate a black man
3. There are slums, misery and poverty beyond the scope of one's imagination
4. The Police or Military will fuck you up with cell phones whirring and witnesses galore
faster than a white cop in the US will "shoot down" a black man
5. Crime in all its forms is out of control
6. Disease and hunger is a part of every day life
7. The witch doctor is fully employed and slavery still practiced
8. Bribery and corruption are well entrenched.
9 Nepotism, family and tribal connections are everything ie if your name is LeMarcus Duncan and
the Dictator's name is Ngoro Babongo you are out of everything including luck
10. The legal system and jails are of course not geared toward rehabilitation or a comfortable
stay
Upon return to the US, our "Frican American brothers will be very grateful to the Crackers
for forcing them to come to the US.
That said, one need not spend money or time on the movie. We only need to take our noses out
of our cell phones and tool around the black areas in this our beloved USA. The observant
traveller will note that in every borough of New York for example, there are fine brownstones
built back in the day by wealthy whites. These days many have been restored by whites and
rented to whites. Many however are tenements destroyed by blacks with black tenants who (and
one does not want to be crass) pay no rent.
As the world turns and the sun sets eternally in the west, one hundred years from now, we
Unz commenters will all be worm food and a new Unz type site will proclaim some must see film
by an esteemed film maker entitled "Blackrica: How Blacks Fucked up the US"
Teeth aren't supposed to be as pure White as Ginger skin. Black Africans may have better
teeth in the jungle but with access to skittles, grape soda, ect. forget about it.
Suggestion to the author, "Goodbye Uncle Tom" aka "Farewell Uncle Tom." This film was made
in the early 1970's and PURE ANTI-WHITE PROPAGANDA. In his book, "My Awakening," Dr. David Duke
describes how he and a couple of friends went into a theater filled mostly with Blacks to view
this movie back in the day. It had some violent scenes where Blacks where brutally murdering
Whites, the Blacks were cheering, "kill Whitey," etc. Dr. Duke and his friends hightailed it
out of there right before the very end to escape a possible beating or worse from the charged
up crowd. I checked the film out on JewTube back in the day when you could watch free full
length movies on JewTube. It was truly a disgusting piece of trash and anti-White bullshit that
clearly was made to send Blacks into a frenzy and indoctrinate them to hate Whitey to the
core.
@Colin Wright hat if I'm
not going to eat it, it's left alone. Trophy hunters make me think of Hemingway
manqué and I don't have much use for them to be honest. For some reason or other,
trophy hunters seem kind of "gay" to me, the types that try and impress that they're "real men"
in spite of working in offices to fund their fantasies. It's like hedge fund managers who take
up fly fishing to prove that they're some sort of aristocrats in spite of their
nails-on-the-blackboard accents. No doubt they wear clothing designed by Ralph Lifschitz (aka
"Lauren"),Mr. Brideshead Revisited himself.
@Marcali naman, one of
Unz most prolific and idiotic commenters, was of course upset that the police in the US were
all psychos and all whites who thought that Floyd got what he deserved were all equally
mentally unhinged.
The funny thing is that even he (and this fool lives in Hong Kong) does not know his own
history and seems unable to distinguish the number of deaths required to be classified as a
psycho.
In essence though Mao was right. The whole problem with China is that there are too many
Chinese ! Mao the Dong attempted to fix this problem but like all Chinese was hopelessly
inefficient.
@Montefrío gay" to
me, the types that try and impress that they're "real men" in spite of working in offices to
fund their fantasies. It's like hedge fund managers who take up fly fishing to prove that
they're some sort of aristocrats in spite of their nails-on-the-blackboard accents. No doubt
they wear clothing designed by Ralph Lifschitz (aka "Lauren"),Mr. Brideshead Revisited
himself."
So true.
(A Manhattan friend bequeathed to me their multi-thousand dollar fly fishing rods, reels,
vests and flies, all in perfect shape, having only been used once while on vacation.)
Montefrío
, says: August 20, 2020 at 3:28 pm
GMT
Also well worth reading are Laurens van der Post's earlier work ( Venture to the
Interior ; Lost World of the Kalahari ; The Heart of the Hunter ), before he
began canonizing the Bushmen and seeing the mantis (Bushman tribal deity) as a universal deity
of sorts. Nevertheless, he gives an interesting portrait of Africa in his time. Pity he went
overt the top later and began foaming at the mouth and kissing the hindquarters of Prince
Charles, the human VW bug with its doors open.
It's saddening when Whites don't learn anything from history that's been playing out right
before their eyes. It just doesn't sink in that it will come down to that and they will be
next:
A little humour D D. The rumour I heard was – that when Mohomad Ali traveled to Africa
for a boxing match, he was quite amazed at their " backwardness" and turned to a friend and
said " Thank God or Allah that my great great great Grand father – got on that boat ,
headed for America" . Either way, America has been good for most African Americans –
those that pulled themselves up – and made something for themselves.
I deplore the fate of wildlife and mega-fauna in Africa. But let's remember that all this
mega-fauna still existed when the first settlers arrived, whereas all was slaughtered in
Europe, Asia, North America. The North American mega-fauna was mostly destroyed and eaten by
the first native settlers, and the remaining bears, buffalo herds, and sky covering passenger
pigeons were killed with an industrial fervor and wanton. While Asians eat everything
Africans have ended up seeing all the wildlife associated with the white colonists, and
likely felt those animals were given more status and respect and care than they received Yes,
there was wanton destruction coming from pent-up hatred and frustration. The white settlers
made the life better for themselves and didn't give a rat's ass on the locals They, the
settlers have also destroyed any traditional, communal way and structures that allowed
communities to function more normally, so the increase inter-tribal violence.
It is likely that mega-fauna in Africa would still have been destroyed without White
presence, by increase population and encroachment on land for agriculture. A process similar to
what is happening now in Brazil, which is partly driven by big Agri-business.
So while the documentary and the article describe what happened, there is no analysis why it
happened, and whether this is something never seen before A big fail this time for Mr.
Lynch.
South Africans escaped to UK and Australia because they belonged to a Commonwealth. The US
belongs to no Commonwealth. All Boer needs is a plane ticket and he can move to UK or Oz and
get a job. What Commonwealth do Americans belong to?
Have you visited the UK lately? Certain parts are already third world plus feeble-minded
Brits will a minority in their own country by 2066.
BTW Commonwealth just means colonization of the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada by
millions of Indians and other non-whites.
Is this article supposed to absolve the whites?I'll bet you that many things blacks did they
learned from civilised and good looking whites, he is talking about!
@trickster nfo is
secondhand, but even so, it seems to me that she is unbearably naive, and were it not for the
fact that she is also family, I believe I'd have been a bit more insistent in rebutting the
nonsense she was spouting. This is an educated woman who has led and still lives a very
comfortable, insulated life in a "privileged" enclave, and while her heart bleeds for the
blacks, she has never nor will ever live among them unless her candidate wins and imposes them
upon her up-until-to-now lily-white community. I repeat: I despair from afar.
But I also repeat: nothing is eternal in the sphere of politics.
@Godfree Roberts gardless
it is not genocide by definition.
It is not an inherent property of the 'Chinese' or 'Communism' to cause mass death (and as
being 'the enemy,' could be exaggerated as per usual). The UK and US have been masters of that,
particularly in their helpful infomercials that maintain their saintliness towards their
subjects and subjected pops and the ordained righteous cause against their enemies, which lives
have less than no value (see, eg., War Without Mercy, re the Pacific War).
Modern China is more imperial/authoritarian capitalist than any form of communist, in any
event. All hail Emperor Xi.
I think the irony is that the SJWs complaining about South Africa's apartheid and the "Black
majority" fail to recognize that most of that "Black majority" came as immigrants, and spawned
many more. Not only that, Mandela's Bantus were invading from the North about the time the
Boers were landing on the Cape and negotiating with the original inhabitants (Khoisan) about
land usage and ownership. The Bantus and Zulus would have completely wiped out the Khoisan had
it not been for the Whites.
Europeans and Americans have arrived at ecological conservatism after ravaging their own
continents. Millions of bison, grizzley bears and carrier pigeons, etc. were exterminated in
North America with the advent of the whites. In Europe, there's almost no wildlife, except in
parks. Yet they never stop lecturing the world. And the number of whites killed by the Mau Mau
in Kenya was less than 50 during their fight for freedom. The British were more savage.
The atrocities carried on the black race by Arabs, Jews and whites were far greater in
comparison.
"Bantus were invading from the North about the time the Boers were landing on the Cape
and negotiating with the original inhabitants (Khoisan) about land usage and
ownership."
Agree. I've used all my allotted "Agree/Disagree etc" on Coronavinus.
"... Are you arguing that sociopaths have an inalienable right to hold office, even though they will inevitably use that office to aggrandize themselves at the expense of everyone else, and could spark a general war just for their own enjoyment and to gather yet more power to themselves? ..."
"... How do people who don't share your beliefs get represented if you rig the system to exclude them? People unlike you are sociopaths? It isn't even tempting. Your cost benefit study benefits you. The world is destabilized if your guys don't get in? No surprise. ..."
"... The under-employment rate is also very informative. People working less hours or in lower positions than their investment in education should have returned to them. They are working, but not enough to be able to independently sustain themselves, which makes them insecure in variety of ways. ..."
"... It all depends on what the penalties are. Confiscation of hidden assets would chill that behavior, strike one. Loss of the privilege to conduct business with federal and state entities would also chill such behavior, strike two. Finally, for persistent violations of the cap, loss of citizenship and expulsion form the country, three strikes and you are literally out, would be the ultimate penalty. ..."
"... The United States is actually both a federation (hardly unique by the way) and a representative democracy. Whether you call them members of Parliament or members of Congress, their representatives are elected by the people. ..."
Huge numbers of people who disagree with me and don't share my particular beliefs are not sociopaths, nothing would stop them
from running or holding office, and I've no problem with that.
Are you arguing that sociopaths have an inalienable right to hold office, even though they will inevitably use that office
to aggrandize themselves at the expense of everyone else, and could spark a general war just for their own enjoyment and to gather
yet more power to themselves?
How do people who don't share your beliefs get represented if you rig the system to exclude them? People unlike you are sociopaths?
It isn't even tempting. Your cost benefit study benefits you. The world is destabilized if your guys don't get in? No surprise.
Love this line: "the gig economy combined with record debt and astronomically high rent prices cancel out any potential economic
stability for millions of people."
The under-employment rate is also very informative. People working less hours or in lower positions than their investment in
education should have returned to them. They are working, but not enough to be able to independently sustain themselves, which
makes them insecure in variety of ways.
Do you think the interpreters might turn out to be agents, or perhaps even assassins, from other governments? Or maybe everybody
will be knocked out with fentanyl gas at dinner. In the dining room.
1. It all depends on what the penalties are. Confiscation of hidden assets would chill that behavior, strike one. Loss of the
privilege to conduct business with federal and state entities would also chill such behavior, strike two. Finally, for persistent
violations of the cap, loss of citizenship and expulsion form the country, three strikes and you are literally out, would be the
ultimate penalty.
The alternative, continuing to allow unlimited wealth accumulation will ultimately destroy democracy and end in a dictatorship
nearly impossible to remove without massive casualties. Is that preferable to trying to control the behavior of wealth addicts?
Make no mistake: billionaires are addicts, their uncontrollable addiction to more is an extreme form of hoarding dysfunction,
one that, like all uncontrolled addictions, has had disastrous consequences for everyone but them.
3. Fewer Representatives means you are concentrating power rather than dispersing it. More means smaller districts, which in
turn means more accountability, not less. As it stands now, Congresscritters can safely ignore the wishes of the public, because
when someone "represents" nearly a million citizens, it means they actually represent only themselves. If taken in conjunction
with item #2, more citizens would be invested in the political process and far more likely to pay attention.
4. The Hare test is a standard written exam that is difficult to cheat. Getting caught at cheating or attempting to cheat would
mark one automatically as a sociopath. The latest studies of brain structures show that sociopaths have physically different brains,
and those physical differences are detectable. Brain activity as shown by fMRI also clearly marks a sociopath from a normal, since
while they can fake emotional responses very well, their brain activity shows their true lack of response to emotionally charged
images, words, etc. Using a three-layer test, written>fMRI>genetic should be robust enough to correctly identify most. The stakes
are too huge to risk a set of sociopaths and their lackeys control of the machinery of government. The genetic test is the most
likely to give problematic results, but if the written is failed, the fMRI would then be done to confirm or reject the written
results, while the genetics would be a supplementary confirmation. Widespread genetic testing of politicians and would-bes would
undoubtedly advance research and understanding dramatically.
When you do even a casual cost-benefit study, the answer is clear: test them. Ask yourself: is the thwarting of an individual's
potential career in politics really that great a cost compared to preventing unknowingly electing a sociopath who could destabilize
the entire world?
Another big difference of course is a little thing called the law.
Are you under the impression the British don't have rule of law? Their elected representatives make their laws, not
their ceremonial royal family. Their royal family's job is to abide by the same laws as every other UK citizen, stay out of politics
and promote British tourism and gossip magazines.
The United States is actually a federal republic, not a democracy.
The United States is actually both a federation (hardly unique by the way) and a representative democracy. Whether you call
them members of Parliament or members of Congress, their representatives are elected by the people.
If we move the cheap manufacturing to the US, and wages are lower due to a depression, people will take the jobs, and the
job numbers will improve. And China will be toast.
We will never beat China at manufacturing cheap and efficient products using human labor. Robotic labor maybe, but that might
not happen for a decade or more at least--if they or another country doesn't beat us to retooling our factories.
Labor and manufacturing will never return in the US--unless we have another world war we win, in which all global production is
again concentrated in the US because the rest of the worlds factories are bombed to rubble. Besides, they have the most central
location for manufacturing in the world and a cheap source of endless labor.
What they don't have is innovation, tech and freedom to try products out on a free market. We are squandering those advantages
in the US when we cut education and limit college education to the masses.
Are Americans the most immoral people on earth? I don't think so. Do we have the strictest code of laws on earth? I don't think
so either. Yet we have the highest incarceration rate on earth. Higher than authoritarian countries like China & Russia.
This alone should tell you something is wrong with our system. Never mind the stats about differing average sentences depending
on race & wealth.
Doubt implies a reason behind the wrong, where uncertainty implies an unknowing trait--a mystery behind the wrong.
The right, what with all its fake news scams, deep state BS and witch hunt propaganda, is uncertainty at best, a mystery of sorts--it
provides us with a conspiracy that can neither be proved or unproven--an enigma.
Doubt, about if Russia meddled in the US election in collusion with the president or at the least his advisors, surely implies
something is wrong, especially in the face of criminal charges, doubt is inherent and well intentioned, but not always true and
can be proven false in the face of doubt.
At one time the US was agrarian and one could subsist via bartering. Consider reliance on for-profit healthcare, transportation
systems, debt, credit cards, landlords, grocery stores, and the lack of any ability to subsist without statewide and nationwide
infrastructure. Right now, people in the US already die prematurely if they can't afford healthcare. Many are homeless. And this
is when things are better than ever? What will happen here is what happened in Europe during WWII. People will suffer, and they
will be forced to adopt socialist practices (like the EU does today). People in Europe really did starve to death, and people
in India, Africa, and other countries are starving and dying today. China doles out food rations because they practice communism.
That's why they have cheap, efficient labor that serves to manufacture products for US consumers. Communism and socialism help
American corporations big time.
Citizens United is a First Amendment decision. Which part of the First Amendment do you want moot? What gives any government the
right to decide which assemblies of citizens have no free speech rights?
You are aware, I imagine, that the US can adjust its money supply to adapt to circumstances? We can feed ourselves. We have our
own power sources. We can improvise, adapt, and overcome. Prices go up and down. No big deal. Scaring people for political gain
doesn't have the clout it onvce did.
Too many virtue signalers seem to think that only the innocent are ever convicted.
The system is not crooked, but if you can set up a better one that doesn't bankrupt every community, have at it.
You really, really, really like screaming racist, don't you? And slide in a Godwin. Wow. The concept that black pastors would
be negatively impacted by financial attacks on their churches never ever occurred to you, did it? You get off on pretending to
care about people that you have no direct, routine connection to. How virtuous of you. Wouldn't deliberately harming black churches
make you the racist storm trooper?
Violence will break out when credit cards stop working. Can't even imagine what will happen if people are starving. No problem
in a socialistic country like Finland, but a big problem here. My guess is that Trump knows the economy is hanging by a thread,
so needs to create an alternate reason (trade wars). Or he figures he might as well have a trade war if it's all going to pieces
anyway. Of course China manufactures just about everything for the US. If we move the cheap manufacturing to the US, and wages
are lower due to a depression, people will take the jobs, and the job numbers will improve. And China will be toast.
Don't forget as the Trump trade war heats up and China decides to sell off US bonds en-masse (they own 1.17 trillion in US debt).
That's gonna put a hurt on the already low US dollar and could send inflation soaring. China could also devalue its currency and
increase the trade deficit. Combine those with all the things you've pointed out and you've got financial troubles the likes of
which no large government has ever dealt with in human history.
Starving people--China can handle in droves; not so much the US. We're talking nasty violence if that kinda stuff happens here.
Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for
profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable,
unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection,
safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.
Occupy Wall Street began due to income inequality when the worst effects of the Great Recession were being felt by the population.
Wealth inequality has only increased since then.
Right now, the population is held at bay because the media and politicians claim that the economy is so incredibly hot it's overheating.
But we know that's a lie. For one, the gig economy combined with record debt and astronomically high rent prices cancel out any
potential economic stability for millions of people. This year, 401(k) plans have returned almost nothing (or are going negative).
This was also the case in 2016. Savings accounts have returned almost nothing for the last decade (they should be providing approximately
5% interest).
The worker participation rate today is 3.2% below what it was in 2008 (during the Great Recession). The US population, meanwhile,
has increased by approximately 24,321,000. That's a 7.68% increase. The labor force has increased by 5% during this time (unemployment
rate was relatively similar, 5.6% vs 4%). From June 2008 to June 2018, the labor force increased by approximately 8 million. However,
if the worker participation rate was the same now as it was then, there would be approximately 8 million more people in the labor
force. If you add 8 million people to the current number of people who are counted as unemployed by the BLS, the unemployment
rate is approximately 9%. This is about as high as the unemployment rate got during the depths of the Great Recession, right when
Occupy Wall Street was born.
Now, OK, sure, the economy has REPLACED lost jobs, but it has not ADDED jobs for the last decade. The unemployment rate is false.
It should be at least 8%. There's many millions of Americans who do not have steady, gainful employment - or any employment -
and they are not counted.
The billionaires and their bought politicians are responsible for fixing this. They can fix it and should fix it. Otherwise, the
economy and their profits are going to fall off a giant cliff any day now. The next recession has basically already begun, but
it can still be alleviated. If things continue as they are, unemployment could be 16% by 2020, with the U6 measure approaching
or exceeding 25%. If stocks drop enough, people may starve to death.
Who supported Citizen's United? All cons and republicans
Who supports campaign finance reform and legislation that would make Cititzen's United moot? Democrats and progressives
Really tired of the false equivalencies. Republicans are now the polar opposite of Democrats in policy and principles. Vote Blue
this November and get rid of the republicans; every single one of them. It can be done if people get out and vote.
1. Anything is possible but I don't think this is practical. The rich can just cheat on the definition of ownership, pass it around
between family members, offshore it, sink it into their businesses in token ways, etc. When you try to take wealth (power) away
from the most powerful people in the country they will start devoting SERIOUS resources to getting around it.
3. I'm not saying we need fewer people doing congress's job in total. But we should be electing fewer of them, and letting
those fewer people do more hiring/delegating. The way things are now, most of the public only knows much about the president.
Everyone else is mostly just a vote for a party. But if the country only voted for 50 Congressmen in total - or even fewer - then
we would all have a more careful eye on them. We would know them better and see them more individually. They would have less pressure
to toe the party line all the time.
4. As long as there's a written test then it will get cheated. Right now the testing is rarely given and the specific consequences
don't determine powerful people's careers. Make it a widespread & important thing and people will learn to cheat it.
The genetic + fMRI research is interesting but the whole thing opens up serious cans of worms. We're talking about DQ'ing somebody
from an important career based partially on the results of a genetic screening for a character trait. That's a dangerous business
for our whole society to get into. Although I do realize the payoff for this specific instance would be very big.
1. Why do you think that? Using teams of forensic accountants and outlawing secret accounts would go a long way towards increasing
enforceability. But you are viewing it as a legal problem rather than a cultural problem. If an effective propaganda campaign
aimed on one level at the public and another level at the billionaires, it could work. Many billionaires are already committed
to returning their fortunes to the economy (mostly after they are dead, true). Convince a few and the rest will follow. Give them
the lure of claiming the title of the richest who ever were and some would be eager for that place in history.
Anything can be done if the will is there.
2. Income taxes are just a portion of the federal revenues, ~47%. Corporate taxes, parkland fees, excise taxes, ~18% taken
together and Social Security make up the rest. Revenues would increase as taxpayers topped off step amounts to keep control. The
beauty of it is that Congress would see very clearly where the nation's priorities were. Any politician trying to raise fines
so that they had more money under their control would soon find themselves out of office. Unpopular programs would
have to be financed out of the 18%, and that would likely make them increase corporate taxes. But most importantly, it would cut
the power of politicians and decrease the effectiveness of lobbyists.
3. Actually, we have too few, not too many. The work of governance suffers because there is too much to be done and too few
to do it. Spreading the workload and assigning responsibility areas would increase efficiency. Most importantly though, it would
break up the oligarchic duopoly that keeps a stranglehold on the nation's politics, and bring more third party candidates into
office giving Congress a more diverse culture by adding viewpoints based on other things than business interests.
4. Actually, advances in fMRI equipment and procedures, along with genetics and written testing can prove beyond a reasonable
doubt whether or not someone is a sociopath, do some research and you'l see it is true. False positives in any testing regime
are always an issue, but tens of millions of workers submit to drug tests to qualify for their jobs, and their jobs don't usually
run the risk of plunging the world into war, economic or environmental disasters. False positives are common in the workplace
and cost many thousands their jobs.
And there's an easy way to prove you aren't really a sociopath: be honest, don't lie, and genuinely care about people...things
sociopaths cannot do over time.
Seriously, it is a societal safety issue that demands to be done, protecting the few against false positives means opening
the floodgates for the many sociopaths who seek power over others.
Not just eliminate--alter and add to it, but since it takes 2/3 majority of the house and senate to amend the constitution--it's
not an easy feat--that's why there has only been 17 amendments altogether and two of them are there to cancel each other out!
You see, the beauty behind the National
Popular Vote Bill is that it's done on a state by state basis and will only work when the required 270 electoral votes are
gained with the bill--this means all voters would have their votes tallied in a presidential election and it eliminates swing
states with a winner takes all approach. The electoral college and state control of elections are preserved and every one is happy.
I feel like you've not read up on any of this even though I provide a link. 12 of these bills have been enacted into state law
already, comprising of 172 electoral votes and 3,112 legislative sponsors. That's more than halfway there.
To continue to say that changing the way we vote by altering the EC is a fantasy is in itself a fantasy because obviously it is
gaining traction across the country.
Which 'side' do you imagine I'm on Mike ? FYI.. Im not a member of any tribe especially regarding the republican or democrat parties...
you may have noticed that as part of the progress towards a globalized economy, 'Money' now has open borders...but the restrictions
of movement for people are growing as nationalism rises and wealth and the power it yields, becomes ever more concentrated in
fewer hands...this is a dangerous precedent and history repeats if lessons of the past are not learned.
I can well recall when humanity and the ability of the individual to attain freedom and liberty based upon the merit of the individual
was once celebrated.
What really irks me and causes me to voice my opinion on this forum, ( thank you Guardian for your continued efforts at informing
us all and especially for promoting participation) is how easily people are duped .. when 'others' can easily see that they are
being lied to. My parents fought for freedom and liberty against vicious tyranny in Europe and paid a HUGE price..by the time
the scales had tipped the balance towards fascism, it was far too late for anything other than all out war... the fact that they
survived the required sacrifice to pitch in to protect democracy, and the freedom and liberty which comes with it, still seems
miraculous..
Billionaires on the left should put some of that money into paying for and distributing subscriptions to newspapers and magazines
which live up to the standards of professional journalism. These papers should be made available, free, at high schools, colleges,
libraries, and commercial centers of loitering and "neighborly" discussions. May I suggest the NYT, WP, The Guardian, and The
Economist.
"What the country sorely needs is a new constitution."
No thanks! The Founders were quite a bit more intelligent than the current national 'brain trust' -- on the both sides
of the Aisle -- that would be charged with writing a new Constitution.
1) Democracy with a population that is at least minimally engaged and angrily stays that
way (including removing powerful special interests from premises with pitchforks)
2) Being "managed" on behalf of various power centers. This can be liveable or can turn into
strip mining of your "resources".
Sadly, there is no algorithm that allows you to detect whether your are engaged or are
being engaged on behalf of others. That would be easy. But one should start with a minimal
state, hard money and the sons of the upper crust on the front lines and forbidden from
taking office in government.
That being said, this article is a bit meandering. Came for Bellingcat but was
confused.
Who presented the Emmy Award to the film makers, but none other than the rebel
journalist Chris Hedges.
@El Dato "1) Democracy with a population that is at least minimally engaged and angrily
stays that way (including removing powerful special interests from premises with pitchforks)"
There are no revolutions by means of pitchforks in a democracy, everything is weakened by
compromise, false promises, infiltration, manipulation, etc. You cannot stay angry all the
time too, it is very bad for your health, it needs to be short and intense to be effective,
which is exactly what democracy prevents.
Democracy turns you into a petted animal.
CARLSON: But more broadly, what you are saying, I think is, that the Democratic Party
understands what it is and who it represents and affirmatively represents them. They do
things for their voters, but the Republican Party doesn't actually represent its own voters
very well.
VANCE: Yes, that's exactly right. I mean, look at who the Democratic Party is and look, I
don't like the Democratic Party's policies.
CARLSON: Yes.
VANCE: Most of the times, I disagree with them. But I at least admire that they recognize
who their voters are and they actually just as raw cynical politics do a lot of things to
serve those voters.
Now, look at who Republican voters increasingly are. They are people who
disproportionately serve in the military, but Republican foreign policy has been a disaster
for a lot of veterans. They are disproportionately folks who want to have more children.
They are people who want to have more single earner families. They are people who don't
necessarily want to go to college but they want to work in an economy where if you play by
the rules, you can you actually support a family on one income.
CARLSON: Yes.
VANCE: Have Republicans done anything for those people really in the last 15 or 20 years?
I think can you point to some policies of the Trump administration. Certainly, instinctively,
I think the President gets who his voters are and what he has to do to service those folks.
But at the end of the day, the broad elite of the party, the folks who really call the shots,
the think tank intellectuals, the people who write the policy, I just don't think they
realize who their own voters are.
Now, the slightly more worrying implication is that maybe some of them do realize who
their voters are, they just don't actually like those voters much.
CARLSON: Well, that's it. So I watch the Democratic Party and I notice that if there is a
substantial block within it, it's this unstable coalition, all of these groups have nothing
in common, but the one thing they have in common is the Democratic Party will protect
them.
VANCE: Yes.
CARLSON: You criticize a block of Democratic Voters and they are on you like a wounded
wombat. They will bite you. The Republicans, watch their voters come under attack and sort of
nod in agreement, "Yes, these people should be attacked."
VANCE: Yes, that's absolutely right. I mean, if you talk to people who spent their lives
in D.C. I know you live in D.C.
CARLSON: Yes.
VANCE: I've spent a lot of my life here. The people who spend their time in D.C. who work
on Republican campaigns, who work at conservative think tanks, now this isn't true of
everybody, but a lot of them actually don't like the people who are voting for Republican
candidates these days.
"... Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has not seen these levels of concentration of ownership. The Soviet Union did not die because of apparent ideological reasons but due to economic bankruptcy caused by its uncompetitive monopolistic economy. Our verdict is that the US is heading in the same direction. ..."
"... In a future instalment of this report, we will show that the oligarchization of America – the placing it under the rule of the One Percent (or perhaps more accurately the 0.1%, if not 0.01%) - has been a deliberate ideologically driven long-term project to establish absolute economic power over the US and its political system and further extend that to involve an absolute global hegemony (the latter project thankfully thwarted by China and Russia). ..."
"... In present-day United States a few major investors – equity funds or private capital - are as a rule cross-owned by each other, forming investor oligopolies, which in turn own the business oligopolies. ..."
"... A study has shown that among a sample of the 1,500 largest US firms (S&P 1500), the probability of one major shareholder holding significant shares in two competing firms had jumped to 90% in 2014, while having been just 16% in 1999. (*2). ..."
"... Institutional investors like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity, and JP Morgan, now own 80% of all stock in S&P 500 listed companies. The Big Three investors - BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street – alone constitute the largest shareholder in 88% of S&P 500 firms, which roughly correspond to America's 500 largest corporations. (*3). Both BlackRock and Vanguard are among the top five shareholders of almost 70% of America's largest 2,000 publicly traded corporations. (*4). ..."
A close-knit oligarchy controls all major corporations. Monopolization of ownership in US
economy fast approaching Soviet levels
Starting with Ronald Reagan's presidency, the US government willingly decided to ignore the
anti-trust laws so that corporations would have free rein to set up monopolies. With each
successive president the monopolistic concentration of business and shareholding in America has
grown precipitously eventually to reach the monstrous levels of the present day.
Today's level of monopolistic concentration is of such unprecedented levels that we may
without hesitation designate the US economy as a giant oligopoly. From economic power follows
political power, therefore the economic oligopoly translates into a political oligarchy. (It
seems, though, that the transformation has rather gone the other way around, a ferocious set of
oligarchs have consolidated their economic and political power beginning from the turn of the
twentieth century). The conclusion that
the US is an oligarchy finds support in a 2014 by a Princeton University study.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has not seen these levels of concentration
of ownership. The Soviet Union did not die because of apparent ideological reasons but due to
economic bankruptcy caused by its uncompetitive monopolistic economy. Our verdict is that the
US is heading in the same direction.
In a later report, we will demonstrate how all sectors of the US economy have fallen prey to
monopolization and how the corporate oligopoly has been set up across the country. This post
essentially serves as an appendix to that future report by providing the shocking details of
the concentration of corporate ownership.
Apart from illustrating the monopolization at the level of shareholding of the major
investors and corporations, we will in a follow-up post take a somewhat closer look at one
particularly fatal aspect of this phenomenon, namely the
consolidation of media (posted simultaneously with the present one) in the hands of
absurdly few oligarch corporations. In there, we will discuss the monopolies of the tech giants
and their ownership concentration together with the traditional media because they rightfully
belong to the same category directly restricting speech and the distribution of opinions in
society.
In a future instalment of this report, we will show that the oligarchization of America
– the placing it under the rule of the One Percent (or perhaps more accurately the 0.1%,
if not 0.01%) - has been a deliberate ideologically driven long-term project to establish
absolute economic power over the US and its political system and further extend that to involve
an absolute global hegemony (the latter project thankfully thwarted by China and Russia). To
achieve these goals, it has been crucial for the oligarchs to control and direct the narrative
on economy and war, on all public discourse on social affairs. By seizing the media, the
oligarchs have created a monstrous propaganda machine, which controls the opinions of the
majority of the US population.
We use the words 'monopoly,' 'monopolies,' and 'monopolization' in a broad sense and subsume
under these concepts all kinds of market dominance be it by one company or two or a small
number of companies, that is, oligopolies. At the end of the analysis, it is not of great
importance how many corporations share in the market dominance, rather what counts is the death
of competition and the position enabling market abuse, either through absolute dominance,
collusion, or by a de facto extinction of normal market competition. Therefore we use the term
'monopolization' to describe the process of reaching a critical level of non-competition on a
market. Correspondingly, we may denote 'monopoly companies' two corporations of a duopoly or
several of an oligopoly.
Horizontal shareholding – the cementation of the
oligarchy
One especially perfidious aspect of this concentration of ownership is that the same few
institutional investors have acquired undisputable control of the leading corporations in
practically all the most important sectors of industry. The situation when one or several
investors own controlling or significant shares of the top corporations in a given industry
(business sector) is referred to as horizontal shareholding . (*1). In present-day United
States a few major investors – equity funds or private capital - are as a rule
cross-owned by each other, forming investor oligopolies, which in turn own the business
oligopolies.
A study has shown that among a sample of the 1,500 largest US firms (S&P 1500), the
probability of one major shareholder holding significant shares in two competing firms had
jumped to 90% in 2014, while having been just 16% in 1999. (*2).
Institutional investors like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity, and JP Morgan, now
own 80% of all stock in S&P 500 listed companies. The Big Three investors - BlackRock,
Vanguard and State Street – alone constitute the largest shareholder in 88% of S&P
500 firms, which roughly correspond to America's 500 largest corporations. (*3). Both BlackRock
and Vanguard are among the top five shareholders of almost 70% of America's largest 2,000
publicly traded corporations. (*4).
Blackrock had as of 2016 $6.2 trillion worth of assets under management, Vanguard $5.1
trillion, whereas State Street has dropped to a distant third with only $1 trillion in assets.
This compares with a total market capitalization of US stocks according to Russell
3000 of $30 trillion at end of 2017 (From 2016 to 2017, the Big Three has of course also
put on assets).Blackrock and Vanguard would then alone own more than one-third of all US
publicly listed shares.
From an expanded sample that includes the 3,000 largest publicly listed corporations
(Russell 3000 index), institutions owned (2016) about
78% of the equity .
The speed of concentration the US economy in the hands of institutions has been incredible.
Still back in 1950s, their share of the equity was 10%, by 1980 it was 30% after which the
concentration has rapidly grown to the present day approximately 80%. (*5). Another study puts
the present (2016) stock market capitalization held by institutional investors at 70%. (*6).
(The slight difference can possibly be explained by variations in the samples of companies
included).
As a result of taking into account the common ownership at investor level, it emerges that
the US economy is yet much more monopolized than it was previously thought when the focus had
been on the operational business corporation alone detached from their owners. (*7).
The
Oligarch owners assert their control
Apologists for monopolies have argued that the institutional investors who manage passive
capital are passive in their own conduct as shareholders as well. (*8). Even if that would be
true it would come with vastly detrimental consequences for the economy as that would mean that
in effect there would be no shareholder control at all and the corporate executives would
manage the companies exclusively with their own short-term benefits in mind, inevitably leading
to corruption and the loss of the common benefits businesses on a normally functioning
competitive market would bring.
In fact, there seems to have been a period in the US economy – before the rapid
monopolization of the last decade -when such passive investors had relinquished control to the
executives. (*9). But with the emergence of the Big Three investors and the astonishing
concentration of ownership that does not seem to hold water any longer. (*10). In fact, there
need not be any speculation about the matter as the monopolist owners are quite candid about
their ways. For example, BlackRock's CEO Larry Fink sends out
an annual guiding letter to his subject, practically to all the largest firms of the US and
increasingly also Europe and the rest of the West. In his pastoral, the CEO shares his view of
the global conditions affecting business prospects and calls for companies to adjust their
strategies accordingly.
The investor will eventually review the management's strategic plans for compliance with the
guidelines. Effectively, the BlackRock CEO has in this way assumed the role of a giant central
planner, rather like the Gosplan, the central planning agency of the Soviet command
economy.
The 2019 letter (referenced above) contains this striking passage, which should quell all
doubts about the extent to which BlackRock exercises its powers:
"As we seek to build long-term value for our clients through engagement, our aim is not to
micromanage a company's operations. Instead, our primary focus is to ensure board
accountability for creating long-term value. However, a long-term approach should not be
confused with an infinitely patient one. When BlackRock does not see progress despite ongoing
engagement, or companies are insufficiently responsive to our efforts to protect our clients'
long-term economic interests, we do not hesitate to exercise our right to vote against
incumbent directors or misaligned executive compensation."
Considering the striking facts rendered above, we should bear in mind that the establishment
of this virtually absolute oligarch ownership over all the largest corporations of the United
States is a relatively new phenomenon. We should therefore expect that the centralized control
and centralized planning will rapidly grow in extent as the power is asserted and methods are
refined.
Most of the capital of those institutional investors consists of so-called passive capital,
that is, such cases of investments where the investor has no intention of trying to achieve any
kind of control of the companies it invests in, the only motivation being to achieve as high as
possible a yield. In the overwhelming majority of the cases the funds flow into the major
institutional investors, which invest the money at their will in any corporations. The original
investors do not retain any control of the institutional investors, and do not expect it
either. Technically the institutional investors like BlackRock and Vanguard act as fiduciary
asset managers. But here's the rub, while the people who commit their assets to the funds may
be considered as passive investors, the institutional investors who employ those funds are most
certainly not.
Cross-ownership of oligarch corporations
To make matters yet worse, it must be kept in mind that the oligopolistic investors in turn
are frequently cross-owned by each other. (*11). In fact, there is no transparent way of
discovering who in fact controls the major institutional investors.
One of the major institutional investors, Vanguard is ghost owned insofar as it does not
have any owners at all in the traditional sense of the concept. The company claims that it is
owned by the multiple funds that it has itself set up and which it manages. This is how the
company puts it on
their home page : "At Vanguard, there are no outside owners, and therefore, no conflicting
loyalties. The company is owned by its funds, which in turn are owned by their shareholders --
including you, if you're a Vanguard fund investor." At the end of the analysis, it would then
seem that Vanguard is owned by Vanguard itself, certainly nobody should swallow the charade
that those funds stuffed with passive investor money would exercise any ownership control over
the superstructure Vanguard. We therefore assume that there is some group of people (other than
the company directors) that have retained the actual control of Vanguard behind the scenes
(perhaps through one or a few of the funds). In fact, we believe that all three (BlackRock,
State Street and Vanguard) are tightly controlled by a group of US oligarchs (or more widely
transatlantic oligarchs), who prefer not to brandish their power. It is beyond the scope of
this study and our means to investigate this hypothesis, but whatever, it is bad enough that as
a proven fact these three investor corporations wield this control over most of the American
economy. We also know that the three act in concert wherever they hold shares.
(*12).
Now, let's see who are the formal owners of these institutional investors
In considering these ownership charts, please, bear in mind that we have not consistently
examined to what degree the real control of one or another company has been arranged through a
scheme of issuing different classes of shares, where a special class of shares give vastly more
voting rights than the ordinary shares. One source asserts
that 355 of the companies in the Russell index consisting of the 3000 largest corporations
employ such a dual voting-class structure, or 11.8% of all major corporations.
We have mostly relied on www.stockzoa.com for the shareholder data. However, this and
other sources tend to list only the so-called institutional investors while omitting corporate
insiders and other individuals. (We have no idea why such strange practice is employed
Oligarchy owns the USA political system and tune it to their needs. Proliferation of NGO is one such trick that favor
oligarchy.
That kind of influence over expert opinion is immense—and it yields results. In April, Gates called for a nationwide total
lockdown for 10 weeks. America didn’t quite sink to that level of draconian control, but the shutdowns we did get absolutely
crushed small businesses. Massive tech firms, however, made out like bandits. Microsoft stock is at an all-time high.
Notable quotes:
"... Non-profit activity lets super-elites broker political power tax-free, reshaping the world according to their designs. ..."
"... The American tax code makes all of this possible. It greases the skids for the wealthy to use their fortunes to augment their political power. The 501(c)(3) designation makes all donations, of whatever size, to charitable nonprofits immune from taxation. ..."
"... For the super-wealthy, political power comes tax-free. ..."
"... No one ever elected Bill Gates to anything. His wealth, and not the democratic process, is the only reason he has an outsized voice in shaping coronavirus policy. The man who couldn't keep viruses out of Windows now wants to vaccinate the planet. That isn't an unreasonable goal for a man of his wealth, either. Gates's foundation is the second largest donor to the World Health Organization, providing some 10 percent of its funds . That kind of influence over expert opinion is immense -- and it yields results. In April , Gates called for a nationwide total lockdown for 10 weeks. America didn't quite sink to that level of draconian control, but the shutdowns we did get absolutely crushed small businesses. Massive tech firms, however, made out like bandits. Microsoft stock is at an all-time high . ..."
"... Eliminating the tax exemption for charitable giving would make it simple to heavily tax the capital gains that drive the wealth of America's richest one thousand people. One could also leave the exemption in place for most Americans (those with a net worth under $100 million), while making larger gifts, especially those over a billion dollars, taxable at extremely high rates close to 100%. Bill Gates wants to give a billion dollars to his foundation? Great. But he should pay a steep fee to the American people to purchase that kind of power. ..."
"... There is nothing socialist in these or similar tax proposals. We are not making an abstract commentary on whether having a billion dollars is "moral." These are simply prudential measures to put the people back in charge of their own country. Reining in billionaires and monopolists is a conservative free market strategy. ..."
"... An America governed by Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and George Soros will be -- arguably, already is -- a disaster for the middle class and everyday Americans. Cracking down on their "selfless" philanthropy, combined with antitrust enforcement and higher progressive tax rates, is a key way for Americans to leverage the power of the ballot box against the power of the banker's vault. ..."
"... The rotting edifice that is the United States is coming down one way or another. Just accept it. ..."
"... I would end tax exempt status for organizations. When everyone pays taxes we all become better stewards of how that money is used. ..."
"... To think both Mr. Dreher and Mr. Van Buren just recently posted about the superwealthy leaving the big cities, citing as the main reasons the Covid thing on the one hand, and "excessively high" income taxes on the other. Most comments that followed were in the line of "that's what happens when you let socialists run things" and "stop giving money to the poor, then they'll work and get rich." And here we have someone proposing more and higher taxes on the wealthy to bust their political nuts. ..."
"... It's an interesting proposal, but it seems that if you're worried about super-elites brokering political power tax-free, you might focus on direct brokering of political power. For example, we could pass a law requiring full disclosure of all sources of funding for any political advertising. ..."
Non-profit activity lets super-elites broker political power tax-free, reshaping the world
according to their designs.
America's super-wealthy have too much power. A republican regime based on the consent of the
governed cannot survive when a few hands control too large a sum of money and too much human
capital. A dominion of monopolists spells ruin for the common man.
The Federal Reserve calculates that, at present, America's total household wealth equals
$104 trillion .
Of that,
$3.4 trillion belongs to America's 600 billionaires alone. Put another way, 3% of the
nation's wealth belongs to 0.0002% of the population. Those 600 names control twice as much
wealth as the least wealthy 170 million Americans combined . This is a problem. Economic
power means political power. In an era of mass media, it has never been easier to manufacture
public opinion and to manipulate the citizenry.
Look no further than the consensus view of
Fortune 500 companies as to the virtues of Black Lives Matter. That movement's incredible
cultural reach is, in large part, a function of its cachet among American elites. In 2016, the
Ford Foundation began a
Black-Led Movement Fund to funnel $100 million into racial and social justice causes.
George Soros' Open Society Foundation immediately poured in $33 million in grants.
Soros and company received a massive return on investment. The shift leftward on issues of
racial and social justice in the last four years has been nothing short of remarkable.
Net public support for BLM , at minus 5 percent in 2018, has surged to plus 28 percent in
2020. The New York Times estimates that some 15 to
26 million Americans participated in recent protests over George Floyd's death.
And the money keeps flowing. In the last three months, hundreds of millions of dollars have
poured into social and racial justice causes.
Sony Music Group , the
NFL ,
Warner Music Group , and
Comcast all have promised gifts in excess of $100 million. MacKenzie Bezos has
promised more than a billion dollars to Historically Black Colleges and Universities as
well as other racial and social justice organizations. Yet, as scholars like Heather
MacDonald have pointed out -- America's justice system is not racist. Disquieting anecdotes
and wrenching videos blasted across cyberspace are not the whole of, or even representative of,
our reality. But well-heeled media and activism campaigns can change the perception. That's
what matters.
The American tax code makes all of this possible. It greases the skids for the wealthy to
use their fortunes to augment their political power. The 501(c)(3) designation makes all
donations, of whatever size, to charitable nonprofits immune from taxation.
A man can only eat so much filet mignon in one lifetime. He can only drive so many
Lamborghinis and vacation in so many French chalets. At a certain point, the longing for
material pleasures gives way to a longing for honor and power. What a super-elite really wants
is to be remembered for "changing the world." The tax code makes the purchasing of such honors
even easier than buying fast cars and luxury homes.
For the super-wealthy, political power comes tax-free.
No one ever elected Bill Gates to anything. His wealth, and not the democratic process, is
the only reason he has an outsized voice in shaping coronavirus policy. The man who couldn't
keep viruses out of Windows now wants to vaccinate the
planet. That isn't an unreasonable goal for a man of his wealth, either. Gates's foundation
is the second largest donor to the World Health Organization,
providing some 10 percent of its funds . That kind of influence over expert opinion is
immense -- and it yields results.
In April , Gates called for a nationwide total lockdown for 10 weeks. America didn't quite
sink to that level of draconian control, but the shutdowns we did get absolutely crushed small
businesses. Massive tech firms, however, made out like bandits. Microsoft stock is at an
all-time high .
No one ever voted on those lockdowns, either. Like the mask-wearing mandates, they were
instituted by executive fiat. The experts
, many of them funded through donations given by tech billionaires like Gates , campaigned for policies that
radically altered the basic structure of society. Here lies the danger of billionaire power.
Without adequate checks and balances, the super-wealthy can skirt the normal political process,
working behind the scenes to make policies that the people never even have a chance to debate
or vote on.
A republic cannot be governed this way. America needs to bring its current crop of oligarchs
to heel. That starts with constraining their ability to commandeer their massive personal
fortunes to shape policy. Technically, the 501(c)(3) designation prevents political activities
by tax-exempt charities. Those rules apply only to political campaigning and lobbying, however.
They say nothing about funding legal battles or shaping specific policies indirectly through
research and grants. America's universities, think tanks, and advocacy organizations are nearly
universally considered tax-exempt nonprofits. Only a fool would believe they are not
political.
One solution to the nonprofit problem to simply get rid of the charitable exemption all
together. If there is no loophole, it can't be exploited by the mega-wealthy. Most Americans'
charitable giving wouldn't be affected. The average American gives between $2,000 and
$3,000 per year . That is well under the $24,800 standard tax deduction for married
couples. Ninety
percent of taxpayers have no reason to use a line-item deduction. Such a change likely
wouldn't affect wealthy givers either. In
2014 , the average high-income American (defined as making more than $200,000 per year or
having a million dollars in assets) gave an average of $68,000 to charity, and in 2018
93 percent said
their giving had nothing to do with tax breaks.
Eliminating the tax exemption for charitable giving would make it simple to heavily tax the
capital gains that drive the wealth of America's richest one thousand people. One could also
leave the exemption in place for most Americans (those with a net worth under $100 million),
while making larger gifts, especially those over a billion dollars, taxable at extremely high
rates close to 100%. Bill Gates wants to give a billion dollars to his foundation? Great. But
he should pay a steep fee to the American people to purchase that kind of power.
There is nothing socialist in these or similar tax proposals. We are not making an abstract
commentary on whether having a billion dollars is "moral." These are simply prudential measures
to put the people back in charge of their own country. Reining in billionaires and monopolists
is a conservative free market strategy.
Incentives to make more money are generally good. The libertarians are mostly right --
people are usually better judges of how to spend and use their resources than the
government.
But not always. The libertarian account does not adequately recognize man's political
nature. We need law and order. We need a regime where elections matter and the opinions of the
people actually shape policy. Contract law, borders, and taxes are all necessary to human
flourishing, but all impede the total and unrestricted movement of labor and money. At the very
top of the wealth pyramid, concentrated economic power always turns into political power. An
economic policy that doesn't recognize that fact will create an untouchable class that controls
both the market and the regime. There's nothing freeing about that outcome.
An America governed by Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and George Soros will be --
arguably, already is -- a disaster for the middle class and everyday Americans. Cracking
down on their "selfless" philanthropy, combined with antitrust enforcement and higher
progressive tax rates, is a key way for Americans to leverage the power of the ballot box
against the power of the banker's vault.
Josiah Lippincott is a former Marine officer and current Master's student at the Van
Andel School of Statesmanship at Hillsdale College.
I'd like to thank the author for actually discussing policy proposals that actually
make sense. That's a rarity on TAC. However, he needs to keep a couple of things in
mind:
1. You can't just say something isn't socialist on a conservative website.
Conservatives have been conditioned for decades to believe that anything the GOP
considers to be bad is called by the name "socialism". And taxes are bad. Therefore
socialist. To bring any nuance to that word will be devastating to long-term conservative
ability to argue points.
2. This proposal won't just hurt the ability of left-leaning tech giants, but also
right-leaning oil and defense industry barons. A double-edged sword.
This is an interesting idea that might have had a shot, big maybe, 50 plus years ago.
America is too far gone to fix with political changes, not that you could make any major
changes like this in the current political environment.
The rotting edifice that is the United States is coming down one way or another. Just
accept it.
Certainly! Just so long as the word "organizations" encompasses churches as well, I
think lots of people on all sides of the political spectrum would agree.
Complicated argument. Basically, charitable people will always give charity, even from
taxed income. However, if people give charity from taxed income, the state can no longer
control what the institutions given money do with that money as long as salaries and
surplus are taxed.
Interesting proposal. Removing tax deduction should of course throw IRS out of
monitoring charitable giving. So less power to Lois Lerner and colleagues.
To think both Mr. Dreher and Mr. Van Buren just recently posted about the superwealthy
leaving the big cities, citing as the main reasons the Covid thing on the one hand, and
"excessively high" income taxes on the other. Most comments that followed were in the
line of "that's what happens when you let socialists run things" and "stop giving money
to the poor, then they'll work and get rich." And here we have someone proposing more and
higher taxes on the wealthy to bust their political nuts.
Note that the author carefully left out any mention of conservative megadonors shaping
public policy. Must be the quiet part, to avoid tarring and feathering by his own
side.
Say you like the game of Monopoly so much that you want it to last longer than
the few hours it takes for one player to dominate and beat the others. Well, you could
replace $200 as you pass Go with progessive taxation on income, assets, or a combination
thereof. If you do it right, you can make the game last into perpetuity by ensuring that
the dominance of any one player is only temporary.
It's an interesting proposal, but it seems that if you're worried about super-elites
brokering political power tax-free, you might focus on direct brokering of political
power. For example, we could pass a law requiring full disclosure of all sources of
funding for any political advertising.
If we wanted to be aggressive, we could even pass
a constitutional amendment to specify that corporations are not people. It seems odd to
worry about the political power exercised by institutions with no direct control over
politics, and ignore the institution whose purpose is politics.
Another approach to deal with the direct influence of the super-elite would be to make
lobbying expenses no longer tax deductible. I'm sure you could find support for that.
This is the 5th TAC article since May to take something word-for-word from a Bernie
Sanders-esque Leftist platform and call it something "Conservatives" want. GTFOOH.
Mr. Lippincott: That kind of influence over expert opinion is immense -- and it yields
results. In April, Gates called for a nationwide total lockdown for 10 weeks. America
didn't quite sink to that level of draconian control, but the shutdowns we did get
absolutely crushed small businesses. Massive tech firms, however, made out like bandits.
Microsoft stock is at an all-time high.
So the argument here is that the experts were not going to call for a lockdown, but
Mr. Gates' outsized influence made them do it? The experts weren't going to do it anyway?
Did that outsized influence extend to every other country in the world which imposed
lockdowns? Was there a secret communique between Mr. Gates and the NBA so they suspended
their season in mid-March? In the US, CA, Clark Cty in NV, Illinois, Kansas City, MA, MI,
NY, OR, and WI all began lockdowns in March. Around the world, 80 countries began
lockdowns in March. No matter what Mr. Gates said, lockdowns were deemed to be
appropriate. Plus, Mr. Lippincott admits that Mr. Gates' proposal was not followed. In
terms of "massive tech firms making out like bandits" v small businesses, might that have
anything to do with their value?
I very much agree with this article and I think we need another Teddy Roosevelt
Monopoly (oligarchy) buster but much has changed in the 100 years since Teddy Roosevelt
was President. The first thing that comes to mind is that the aristocracy was mostly
protestant and the business class was mostly domestic with high tariffs keeping foreign
competitors out so we could break up these companies without a foreign country purchasing
them and possibly creating a national security risk.
Today's aristocracy is much more diverse. Its more Jewish and it has much more
minority representation from African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, etc so that creates
the first problem in breaking up a monopoly or an oligarchy which would be the accusation
of targeting minorities for discrimination. The second problem is that many of the
aristocratic class in the US consider themselves global citizens and have dual
citizenship. They can live anywhere anytime they choose so if you target them the way say
Cuomo and DiBlasio and Newsom do then they will leave. Third problem is our global
society particularly the digital / virtual society. If you break that up without
safeguards then you will only be inviting foreign ownership then you will have a national
security issue and even less influence.
The biggest problem is the NGOs, nonprofits that the rich set up to usurp the
government on various issues from immigration to gender identity to politics. These NGO
nonprofits arent your harmless community soup kitchen doing good works. The anarchy,
arson, looting, rioting in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, NYC, Baltimore these are paid for
by NGO nonprofits and they have the money to threaten local government, state government
and federal government. Trump was 100% correct when he started to tax college endowments
but he didnt go far enough. The tax laws have to be rewritten with a very strict and
narrow interpretation of what exactly constitutes the public good and is deserving on
non-profit status. If you say education then I will say you are correct but endowments
are an investment vehicle under the umbrella of an educational nonprofit. Thats like a
nonprofit hospital buying a mutual fund company or a mine or a manufacturing plan and
claiming its non-profit. For me its relatively simple unless someone has a some other
way. If you look at the non-profit community good...what are the budgets for say
hospitals, schools, orphanages, retirement homes, etc. Put monetary limits on nonprofits
which can vary depending on industry and the rest is taxed at a high rate. We simply
cannot have NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) using a nonprofit status to bring down a
country's financial system, over-throwing a country, financing civil strife and civil
war, usurping the government on things like immigration, etc.
Billionaires like Jeff Bezos aren't obscenely wealthy because they work harder than everyone
else or they're more innovative. They're obscenely wealthy because their corporate empires
drain society's resources -- and we'd all be better off without them.
This week, Amazon CEO
Jeff Bezos saw the largest single-day increase in wealth ever recorded for any individual. In
just one day, his fortune increased by $13 billion. On current trends, he is on track to become
the world's first trillionaire by 2026.Those on the right wing of politics argue that extreme
wealth is a function of hard work, creativity, and innovation that benefits society. But wealth
and income inequality have increased dramatically in most advanced economies in recent years.
The richest of the rich are much wealthier today than they were several decades ago, but it is
not clear that they are working any harder.
Mainstream economists make a more nuanced version of this argument. They claim that the
dramatic increase in income inequality has been driven by the dynamics of globalization and the
rise of "superstars." Firms and corporate executives are now competing in a global market for
capital and talent, so the rewards at the top are much higher -- even as competition also
constrains wages for many toward the bottom end of the distribution.
According to this view, high levels of inequality are a reward for high productivity. The
most productive firms will attract more investment than their less productive counterparts, and
their managers, who are performing a much more complex job than those managing smaller firms,
will be rewarded accordingly.
But here again the narrative runs aground on contact with reality. Productivity has not
risen alongside inequality in recent years. In fact, in the United States and the UK
productivity has flatlined since the financial crisis -- and in the United States, it has been
declining since the turn of the century.
There is another explanation for the huge profits of the world's largest corporations and
the huge fortunes of the superrich. Not higher productivity. Not simply globalization. But
rising global market power.
Many of the world's largest tech companies have become global oligopolies and domestic
monopolies. Globalization has played a role here, of course -- many domestic firms simply can't
compete with global multinationals. But these firms also use their relative size to push down
wages, avoid taxes, and gouge their suppliers, as well as lobbying governments to provide them
with preferential treatment.
Jeff Bezos and Amazon are a case in point. Amazon has become America's largest company
through anticompetitive practices that have landed it in trouble with the European Union's
competition authorities. The working practices in its warehouses are notoriously appalling . And
a study from last year revealed Amazon to be one of the world's most "aggressive tax
avoiders."
Part of the reason Amazon has to work so hard to maintain its monopoly position is that its
business model relies on network effects that only obtain at a certain scale. Tech companies
like Amazon make money by monopolizing and then selling the data generated from the
transactions on their sites.
The more people who sign up, the more data is generated; and the more data generated, the
more useful this data is for those analyzing it. The monetization of this data is what
generates most of Amazon's returns: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the most profitable part of
the business by some distance.
Far from representing its social utility, Amazon's market value -- and Bezos' personal
wealth -- reflects its market power. And the rising market power of a small number of larger
firms has actually reduced productivity. This concentration has also constrained investment and
wage growth as these firms simply don't have to compete for labor, nor are they forced to
innovate in order to outcompete their rivals.
In fact, they're much more likely to use their profits to buy back their own shares, or to
acquire other firms that will increase their market share and give them access to more data.
Amazon's recent acquisition of grocery store Whole Foods is likely to be the first of many such
moves by tech companies. Rather than the Darwinian logic of compete or die, the tech companies
face a different imperative: expand or die.
States are supporting this logic with exceptionally loose monetary policy. Low interest
rates make it very easy for large companies to borrow to fund mergers and acquisitions. And
quantitative easing -- unleashed on an unprecedented scale to tackle the pandemic -- has simply
served to raise equity prices, especially for the big tech companies.
As more areas of our lives become subject to the power of big tech, the fortunes of people
like Bezos will continue to mount. Their rising wealth will not represent a reward for
innovation or job creation, but for their market power, which has allowed them to increase the
exploitation of their workforces, gouge suppliers, and avoid taxes.
The only real way to tackle these inequities is to democratize the ownership of the means of
production, and begin to hand the key decisions in our economy back to the people. But you
would expect that even social democrats, who won't pursue transformative policies, could get
behind measures such as a wealth tax.
"Building back better" after the pandemic will be impossible without such a tax -- and the
vast majority of both Labour and Conservative voters support such an approach, according to a
recent poll. And yet it appears that Labour's leadership are retreating from the idea.
In an interview the other day, I was asked why we should care about Jeff Bezos's wealth
if it makes everyone else better off. But the extreme inequalities generated by modern
capitalism are making obvious something that Marxists have known for decades: the superrich
generate their wealth at the expense of workers, the planet, and society as a whole.
In a rational and fair society, the vast resources of a tiny elite would be put to use
solving our social problems.
Wishful thinking. The neoliberal oligarchy is in conrol of all political power centers. Looks like neoliberal ideas became completely discredited. Even Krugman abandoned them.
Notable quotes:
"... In the age of AI the US needs a grand rebuilding of our infrastructure including electrical grids, bridges, highways, mass transit systems, and conversion to renewable energy. ..."
"... Elizabeth Warren showed her chops years ago when she was a guest on Bill Moyer's PBS show, and I've been a fan ever since. But - we don't just need more of Teddy Roosevelt - we need a good dose of Franklin Roosevelt, too ..."
"... In Senator Warren we finally have a politician who understands the difference between wealth and income and is willing to start taxing wealth. This is especially important as the truly wealthy receive very little of their money in the form of income and are therefore taxed on far less than they are actually worth. This only serves to exacerbate our inequality problem. ..."
"... Extreme income inequality is damaging to social capital and to public health - and thus in the long run to sustainable prosperity. The American epidemic of depression, opioid abuse and suicide is is correlated with the acceleration of income inequality. ..."
"... Finally, Senator Warren's proposal seems like an acceleration of the estate tax. ..."
"... Having worked in trusts and estates law for decades, I suspect that this proposal will invite use of the same techniques used by estate planners, lawyers, and accountants to drive down the fair market value of assets. Her proposal may work, if it is ever enacted, but the devil, as usual, will be in the details. This is a very complex concept, simple as it may seem at first blush. That is not an argument for not trying, but for being very careful in the implementation, beginning with the statutory language. ..."
"... This tax will require staffing up the IRS and that will require dems control over both houses of Congress as the GOPers have defunded the IRS. ..."
"... Pretax income concentration at the top increased starting in the 1980s as a direct result of the large reductions in the top marginal income tax rates. ..."
"... Even if a 70% top marginal tax rate did not raise a penny more in tax revenue it would still be justified on the grounds of preventing extreme concentration of wealth and income. Recent economic research has shown that in a purely capitalistic society in which there is no taxation nor redistribution all wealth in the whole society will ultimately be owned by a single household. https://voxeu.org/article/what-would-wealth-distribution-look-without-redistribution ..."
"... I applaud Elizabeth Warren and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez for espousing Teddy an Franklin Roosevelt's ideas about reducing the concentration of 90% of wealth in the upper 1/10th of 1 per cent (0.1%). That is the situation which can lead to major social unrest, widespread crime, and ultimately, civil war as happened in England in the 17th century, in Russia in 1917, and in the French Revolution that beheaded Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette - along with thousands of other members of the nobility. ..."
"... "wealthiest 0.1 percent of Americans almost equal to that of the bottom 90 percent combined." The corrupt neoliberalism of the 1% is unsustainable but is reflective of a downward spiral of decline. While we experience continuous political campaigning the U.S. is, in reality, a criminal and corrupt corporate state enriching the 1% and masquerading as a democracy, an Inverted Totalitarianism. ..."
"... Great. The pendulum swings back to sensible taxation rates for the ultra wealthy. Hard to feel sorry for hedge fund managers. I can just see Sean Hannity railing against it now. He would have to cough up. ..."
"... Fascinating article. Thanks for sharing. Her Accountable Capitalism Act also addresses the root causes of inequality, although some critics have stated that it would lead to the semi-nationalization of business. ..."
@Horsepower the tax bill has, as predicted by almost everyone but the GOP lawmakers,
caused the deficit to balloon. Currently, the resulting debt must be paid by the descendents
of all of us but the ultra-wealthy. The alternative to that approach, openly proposed by the
GOP, was to take away vital services from most of us, like medical care, public education,
and retirement support. I'm surprised that you don't find those things "consequential to the
life of most Americans".
There is no reason -- economic, social or moral -- why anyone needs a personal fortune above
$500 million dollars.
Eddie Cohen M.D ecohen2 . com Poway, California Jan. 29
In the age of AI the US needs a grand rebuilding of our infrastructure including
electrical grids, bridges, highways, mass transit systems, and conversion to renewable
energy.
It also needs a medical care system that provides a high level of to all of our
citizens including the poor and those with pre-existing conditions. What better down payment
on these costly necessities than a tax on the ultra rich.
Elizabeth Warren showed her chops years ago when she was a guest on Bill Moyer's PBS show,
and I've been a fan ever since. But - we don't just need more of Teddy Roosevelt - we need a
good dose of Franklin Roosevelt, too.
Given where this country is at, taxing the uber-rich
alone isn't going to be enough to solve our problems. We need a jobs program - good, family
wage jobs - that have been chipped away at for decades by both automation and off-shoring.
Taxing will help fund much needed gov't infrastructure problems, but it's purchasing power
that drives the economy - and we can't have one without a vibrant middle class that's
actually making and doing stuff. Since the Clinton years, the USA has spawned a bloated
investor class, making a lot of money shuffling paper, but what do they produce that drives
this country forward? Our infrastructure is fast becoming 3rd world.
In Senator Warren we finally have a politician who understands the difference between
wealth and income and is willing to start taxing wealth. This is especially important as the
truly wealthy receive very little of their money in the form of income and are therefore
taxed on far less than they are actually worth. This only serves to exacerbate our inequality
problem. The big banks, in particular, are very worried about what would happen should Warren
become president. Like that other Roosevelt - Franklin - she welcomes their hatred. Good for
her.
Extreme income inequality is damaging to social capital and to public health - and thus in
the long run to sustainable prosperity. The American epidemic of depression, opioid abuse and
suicide is is correlated with the acceleration of income inequality.
Worldwide, countries
with high income inequality have more depression, more suicide and less happiness, even when
their per capita GNP is higher than their neighbors'. The toxic effects of inequality are
especially great in a nation like the US where children are taught that anyone can make it if
they work hard enough. In fact, there's a lot more upward mobility in those awful socialist
Nordic countries, where teaching public school is a prestigious and well-paid job, college
and vocational training are taxpayer-funded (not 'free'), and no one goes bankrupt from a
serious illness or injury.
Without endorsing anyone's proposals here, a couple of examples from recent history on
what's actually possible, despite what people may think: -- Six weeks before the Berlin Wall
fell and reunited Germany, the then-West German government issued a report projecting that
German reunification was at least 20 years away. -- Japan went from a highly-nuclear power
dependent country, with no prospect of changing, to one that drastically cut its dependence
on nuclear in just one year after the Fukushima disaster. -- One of my favorites: FDR sits
down with the leaders of General Motors at the dawn of WWII and says I need so many tanks, so
many trucks etc etc for the war effort. A GM exec responds on these lines: "Mr. President, we
can't fulfill those needs and still produce X-hundred-thousand cars a year." FDR: "You don't
understand. You're no longer a car company." So the lesson is, no one knows what's possible
in a society till you try.
Eliminating carried interest seems perfectly rational. Compensation by any other name is
compensation and taxable as ordinary income as it is for everyone else in this country. Once
upon a time, capital gains were taxed at 15% and ordinary income at rates as high as 91%.
That led to all sorts of devices to game the system, including the infamous collapsible
corporation.
But with the difference down to around 10-15%, we may as well bite the bullet
and tax income from capital at the same rate we tax income from work. I doubt this will hurt
savings, investment, or capital formation.
It is still nice to have money, and owning capital
assets will still beat the alternative.
Finally, Senator Warren's proposal seems like an
acceleration of the estate tax.
Having worked in trusts and estates law for decades, I
suspect that this proposal will invite use of the same techniques used by estate planners,
lawyers, and accountants to drive down the fair market value of assets. Her proposal may
work, if it is ever enacted, but the devil, as usual, will be in the details. This is a very
complex concept, simple as it may seem at first blush. That is not an argument for not
trying, but for being very careful in the implementation, beginning with the statutory
language.
@Steve B People receiving Social Security only pay taxes on the benefits if their income
exceeds the same thresholds that apply to people who go out and work for a living, and pay
Social Security taxes that go to the elderly. Ellen, stop treating Social Security like it's
a savings bank.
Your Social Security taxes paid for the generation before you, and the Social
Security taxes raised now are paying for you. The average Social Security recipient today
will receive twice as much as they paid into the system during their earning years.
So please
give the "I'm just getting back the money I paid into the system" routine a rest. It's a
fiction. The wealth of the over 65s is growing faster than any other age group in our
society, and the fraction of government spending on over-65s is the only part of government
that has grown in decades.
If you're making enough to pay income taxes, pay your taxes and
stop complaining. That means you're doing OK. You'd better hope young people don't wake up
and realize just how much of their hard-earned pay is going to pay for
retirees.
The seriousness in her policies is in her work ethics and brilliance. She means what she
says and works her heart out to achieve those goals. There isn't anyone out there that
matches those qualities.
This tax will require staffing up the IRS and that will require dems control over both
houses of Congress as the GOPers have defunded the IRS.
The ultra right, ultra rich will be
paying more and more of their fortunes to their already privately-owned senators to defeat
this and any other progressive tax proposals. We need more, more and more people to get into
the democratic process and VOTE to recapture the nation's leadership in 2020!
Pretax income concentration at the top increased starting in the 1980s as a direct result
of the large reductions in the top marginal income tax rates. Those who complain that a 70%
top marginal tax rate is confiscatory need to understand that's the whole point.
When top
marginal tax rates are confiscatory that leads to lower pre-tax income inequality because tax
aversion of the wealthy leads they to pay themselves less income to avoid paying the
government so much in taxes.
Unlike most workers, corporate executives can easily arrange for
their boards to pay them far more than their marginal product would justify.
Furthermore,
wealth tends to concentrate automatically when top marginal tax rates are low. This is simply
due to the math of compound interest. When investment returns are not taxed sufficiently by
the estate tax or by capital gains taxes, they will be reinvested leading to extreme wealth
accumulation over generations that is automatic and not the result of any kind of investing
skill.
Even if a 70% top marginal tax rate did not raise a penny more in tax revenue it would
still be justified on the grounds of preventing extreme concentration of wealth and income.
Recent economic research has shown that in a purely capitalistic society in which there is no
taxation nor redistribution all wealth in the whole society will ultimately be owned by a
single household. https://voxeu.org/article/what-would-wealth-distribution-look-without-redistribution
@Baldwin Actually, it's 2% on what is on top of those 50M, so 2% on 100M, if you have a
net worth of $150M. That being said, nobody with $150M net worth just "sits" on his money for
35 years. To get there in the first place, in the 21st century you usually have to pay an
expert and engage in financial speculation (= speculation about financial transactions, not
an investment in the "real" economy), and of course you won't stop paying that expert once
you reach $150M, so you continue to add millions to your wealth anyhow. On the other hand, if
you belong to the middle class, you easily pay $30,000 taxes a year.
After ten years, that's
$300,000, and after 33 years that's a million dollars paid in taxes. Seen in this way, even
having the middle class paying taxes seems "unfair", because when they only earn $75,000 a
year, why should they pay a million in taxes over 33 years ... ?
Conclusion: taxes are paid
year after year not in function of how many you will have paid in total at the end of your
career, but in function of what we collectively need to run this country smoothly (military,
government, education, roads and bridges, EPA, ...).
A "fair" tax code is a tax code that
allows anyone who works hard to live comfortably, weather your a hedge fund manager or
teacher. And in order to get there, we can't continue the GOP's constantly lowering taxes for
the wealthiest all while cutting services to the 99%. NO one with $150M will suffer by paying
$2M in taxes a year ...
I applaud Elizabeth Warren and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez for espousing Teddy an Franklin
Roosevelt's ideas about reducing the concentration of 90% of wealth in the upper 1/10th of 1
per cent (0.1%). That is the situation which can lead to major social unrest, widespread
crime, and ultimately, civil war as happened in England in the 17th century, in Russia in
1917, and in the French Revolution that beheaded Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette - along with
thousands of other members of the nobility.
We see this anger and violence today in the
United States - in mass shootings, in failing public schools (the salaries are not sufficient
to attract qualified teachers who instead will work in more remunerative fields, like law and
computer technology. What works better is to reduce the concentration of wealth so people in
the lower 90% can have more prosperity and social stability in their lives.
All people need a
reliable source of food, healthcare, and a place for them and their families to live. All
people need access to good education, family planning, and higher education sufficient to alllow them to work. With so much reliance on mechanical work, we also need for all people to
have a minimum income - something that no one talks abou yet - but enough to live safely.
There is support for this not only among Democrats but also among Republicans. The help
should be for everyone, not based on need (Marxism). This is common sense not
socialism.
It was hilarious to read that Rush Limbaugh is SO terrified of AOC and Liz Warren that he,
the grandmaster of Goebbels-like mis-information, is calling them "hitlerian" as he and
Hannity push Trump every day to emulate Mussolini! But why is simple: I read that Limbaugh
makes about $100 million a year, which puts him in the super-rich category. I doubt highly
that he's paying the maximum 37(?)% on his income and if he is he needs better accountants
and tax lawyers! But AOC's proposal means that $90 million of his $100 million would be taxed
at 70%, leaving him "only" a measly $27 million a year to try not to starve on. Along with
whatever millions are left after taxes on the first $10 million, say, $5 million (again,
needs better tax advice). So he's stuck trying to survive on $32 million! (BTW, Hannity only
makes about $29 million before taxes, Oh! The Humanity!--Or is it "Oh! The Hannity"?) That's
really why they are vitriolic. Taxes are for the "little people", the suckers who call in and
rant, who watch Fox and believe, no matter how illogical their logic. Rush and Sean see a
REAL movement to tax their excessive income and will fight it tooth and nail, with fact and
fiction (mostly fiction) to protect themselves and their wealth.
Interesting how it is almost exactly a hundred years since this problem was dealt with in
the last Gilded Age. Enough time so that the generations that remember are long gone and so
the problem came back.
The Uber rich did this to themselves with their complete disconnect
from the economic realities facing the 99%. TARP was the kicker - we gave a trillion dollars
to the 1% while the 99% were left to fend for themselves. Despite the protestations of the
99%. Now that's political power in the hands of the few for the benefit of the few. Time to
stop it now.
"wealthiest 0.1 percent of Americans almost equal to that of the bottom 90 percent
combined." The corrupt neoliberalism of the 1% is unsustainable but is reflective of a
downward spiral of decline. While we experience continuous political campaigning the U.S. is,
in reality, a criminal and corrupt corporate state enriching the 1% and masquerading as a
democracy, an Inverted Totalitarianism.
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can
have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Louis D.
Brandeis
Great. The pendulum swings back to sensible taxation rates for the ultra wealthy. Hard to
feel sorry for hedge fund managers. I can just see Sean Hannity railing against it now. He
would have to cough up.
This column makes a good case for Elizabeth Warren as Secretary of the Treasury, or head
of the Consumer Protection Bureau which she invented following Dodd Frank legislation. But
the best way to reach the widest audience is a Presidential campaign. Most of the responses
here focus on enough wealth, extreme wealth and self-interest. Beyond their tax liabilities
is the reality of the power the the rich wield through lobbyists, campaign contributions,
corporate takeovers, and tax dodges over our politics, governments, and over us, the people.
It's a pity that any proposed tax fairness adjustments are reduced to epithets against
socialism.
The problem is that the big money against this will say (ie: fund ads saying) anything
(true or false) about any other subject to swing votes against any candidate who's a serious
chance of pushing such a tax increase. One can only hope I am wrong.
Fascinating article. Thanks for sharing. Her Accountable Capitalism Act also addresses the
root causes of inequality, although some critics have stated that it would lead to the
semi-nationalization of business. I think its effect would be commonsense regulation of the
economic playing field so that excesses do not occur in how rewards are distributed. It has
the potential to address issues early enough to prevent problems.
@George Thanks to the Republican budget busting tax holiday for rich folks we will need
every penny of revenue just to keep our fiscal boat afloat. We should add AOC's 70% rate just
to patch our leaks in infrastructure, healthcare, education and social security for the
retirees who were gutted by the 2008 Republican Great Recession.
Since the super-rich are already paying 2+20 for their wealth management, paying another 2
to the government hardly seems like it would kill incentive...
Throughout most of the history of civilizations, governments have been funded by a wealth
tax. This was in the form of property tax, as that was the only wealth there was. Somehow
when financial wealth started to build, it was made largely exempt. Proposals to close this
loophole are well overdue. It's not so radical as it is just restoring traditional funding
methods.
A sure sign of health when Warren, a veteran politician and Ocasio-Cortez, a first term
member of Congress publish ideas early in the election cycle. The next steps are laws that
dismantle Citizens United and protect voting rights.
Elizabeth Warren had better take care. If she doesn't tread softly on these plans to
progressively tax the rich and make them spread the wealth to all those millions of people
out there who have had a hand in generating their economic success, she'll be called
something equally invidious to a 'socialist' -- a 'Canadian'.
Prof. Krugman is speaking truth to power but power tends to speak back, telling our
citizens that progressives like Sen. Warren are aiming to increase taxes across the board.
Never EVER do they narrow the stated target of such projected increases to the uppermost
economic stratum. And progressives always manage to let them get away with this. Democratic
candidates for political office need to assign members of their campaign staffs to Republican
events and arm them with bullhorns for the expressed purpose of shouting out the words "for
the rich" every time a typically disingenuous Republican opponent announces that a specific
Democrat has a plan to raise Americans' taxes.
"More important, my sense is that a lot of conventional political wisdom still assumes
that proposals to sharply raise taxes on the wealthy are too left-wing for American voters."
It's just shocking to me that conservative voters supposedly hate liberal elites, yet refuse
continuously to tax the mega rich and/or ignore the tax cuts for those households. Do they
not see the hypocrisy they're being fed by Fox News?
I know that it's inconvenient, but the US Constituion prohibits a direct tax that is not
apportioned among the states on the basis of population. Hard to see how Ms. Warren's "plan"
meets this standard. Serious presidential candidates need to propose plans that actually have
a chance to work. After what we're experiencing now, we don't need four additional years of
bombast.
@Mkm Can you give any arguments as to why this is unconstitutional, or a source as to when
it was declared so? Note that once (ie, just a few generations ago) abhorrent laws concerning
voting rights and segregation were considered just fine.
@Paul Wortman We indeed tend to believe that the poor and lower middle class must be
(more) ignorant, and as such easier victims of the GOP's massive fake news campaigns. Studies
show however that a majority of those earning less than $100,000 a year voted for Hillary,
whereas a small majority of those earning more than that voted for Trump. That's because her
platform included VERY clear and urgent, fact-based measures that would have helped the poor
and middle class, after Obama already made serious progress on these issues (a public option
added to Obamacare, and many other things). So imho the only ones risking "forgetting" about
the needs of the 99% when it comes to voting, are those who don't carefully fact-check
politicians' achievements and campaign agenda, before voting (or deciding not to vote)
...
@BC The current standard deduction of $12K for single people means that the first $12K is
not taxed ($24K joint) which means that your wish has already come true.
Fundamentally, a fallacy of modern American society is a perversion of the golden rule.
Let's call it "tax not lest ye be taxed." Even though the electorate will never in their
wildest dreams make this kind of income, their wildest dreams persist. And thus they will not
permit the thought of "unfair" taxation on the ultra-rich, using all the talking points the
richest 1% have lobbied deep into our political system at every level.
At this stage in our history when wealth hasn't been more concentrated, raising taxes on
the ultra-rich is exactly what populism is about. Think TR and FDR, not DJT.
@Ronald B. Duke, I think I remember people saying that during the civil rights movement
too. Be patient. You'll get what you want by'n'by. Waiting for dynastic fortunes trickle away
is sort of like waiting for the mountain to be worn away by the wind. It's not gonna happen
in our lifetime. There's always a reason for not depriving the wealthy of any part of their
fortunes. Each time we fail to do that, the need to do it becomes more dire. Things just
don't get better by waiting for someone to voluntarily or even accidentally, divest
themselves of money or power. It can be done by legislation, and that's better than by
revolution. And, you know, the wealth accumulation has already begun. What has to happen now
is to keep it from falling over and crushing all of us (Make that almost all of
us).
@Rockets Pual Krugman is almost surely right about incentives on the individual level
since few of us will hold off just because the second $50 MM is slightly less lucrative. Buts
its funny how he ignores the macroeconomic effect. If the Bezos tax bill was $1 billion, I
think we agree it would come exclusively out of savings. *IF* the government simply used the
proceeds to reduce spending (below some credible prior baseline) then the net effect on
national savings is zero; interest rates unchanged, economic activity unaffected, and so on.
But if the government spends the money (as seems likely under President Warren) then national
savings is reduced and the fed will (in the current environment) probably feel obliged to
push back against a stimulative fiscal policy with a restrictive monetary policy: higher
rates, less investment, less consumer spending, etc. So Bezos has no incentive to invest less
but as a nation we will do just that. Is that good? Maybe - it would have been great in 2009.
Seems to merit a discussion.
The 2020 campaign for POTUS is shaping up to be very interesting. That is, if Trump makes
it. Combine Warren and Harris we would have a great team. Warren adds specifics with
intellectual heft and Harris inspires us with her open, honest and intelligent persona. Just
need to find room for Amy K. on that team.
This is far better than changing the rate on capital gains, which would tend to punish
middle class retirees for having invested over the years (Mr. Rattner's proposal today) and,
I think, would be difficult for the uber-wealthy to avoid. I'm not sure that $50 million is
the correct starting point (perhaps a meager $25 million of net worth should be taxed) but
this is a brilliant new concept that offers promise of slowing wealth inequality while not
terribly constraining the wealthy.
In reading this column and the associated comments, there seems to be one glaring
omission: the necessity of overturning the Citizens United decision which provides the
ultra-rich avenues to continually push their lower taxes agenda by hiring hoards of
lobbyists, by "buying" politicians with campaign contributions, by funding misleading and
excessive political advertising, and by controlling various media outlets that are little
more than propaganda mills. Until Citizens United is overturned much-needed, rational
progressive taxation reforms have little chance of becoming reality, and with the current
composition of the Supreme Court overturning this decision is unfortunately extremely
unlikely.
@Yabasta Yeah, Dr. Krugman must have sustained a hit to the head since 2016 and would not
recognize a photo of Hillary Clinton if it was flashed before him. His incessant savaging of
Bernie was positively embarrassing to witness and never adequately explained. Only goes to
show you that our much vaunted reason is designed to justify our emotions and that even Nobel
laureates have deep subconscious axes to grind.
Under Eisenhower marginal tax rates were approximately 90%. This "Greatest Generation"
built the interstate system. We can't even maintain the interstate system we have let alone
build a new one. Our national-level political system is dominated by the rich. Our economic
policies are totally skewed towards the rich. Our educational system is biased towards the
rich. We've let capitalism trump democracy. If making America Great Again means taxing the
rich back into reality, I have no problem with that. My only annoyance with Mr. Krugman's
essay is his monomaniacal avoidance of saying the word, "Sanders." What's that
about?
This makes perfect sense to me. Under Senator Warren's plan households with more than $50
million of annual income would pay a 2% wealth surcharge. I can't imagine this would have any
significant effect on any of the 75,000 wealthiest U.S. households. I'd much rather see
Michael Bloomberg and his financial peers support broader efforts to make college free or
reduce student debt levels than make more lavish gifts to elite institutions like John
Hopkins.
cks, broken promises, scandal. and a presidency in trouble – all pushed Bill Clinton
into taking a brand new tack: triangulation. In addition to the definition of triangulation
offered by Dick Morris in his Frontline appearance on PBS, here is a quote from his book:
"The idea behind triangulation is to work hard to solve the problems that motivate the other
party's voters, so as to defang them politically The essence of triangulation is to use your
party's solutions to solve the other side's problems. Use your tools to fix their car." The
problem with that is that triangulation has not quite worked out that way. "Their car" wasn't
what was actually being fixed. What the "tools" did address, however, were the goals of the
Republican party.
https://www.rimaregas.com/2017/09/04/triangulation-when-neoliberalism-is-at-its-most-dangerous-to-voters-updated-dem-politics-on-blog42
/
@Jonathan....Current S+P 500 dividend yield is 2.02%. That would provide cash to cover
most of the wealth tax. A wealth tax might impact the market for high end art and
collectibles, but that is probably a very small fraction of total wealth.
@Duane McPherson I realize Warren may have some limitations re emotional appeal (also re
men not wanting to vote for a woman), which is why I said I put her "at the top of my list
for Dems, SO FAR." I'll see how this plays out on the campaign trail. Someone else may emerge
who has both the smarts and the charisma- or Warren may find an emotional niche. Time will
tell.
@Phyliss Dalmatian I'm afraid Sherrod is not liberal enough. Nowadays, if you talk about
bi-partisanship and reaching across the aisle, you're talking about making a deal with the
devil.
This is a pie pie-in-the-sky comment, but I'll stand by the overall premise based on our
history. It's all about the velocity of money and resources. You have to spend it to grow it.
Infrastructure also includes 100% healthcare cradle to grave, baseline living standards,
Social Security clean water, clean air, clean power, full education, etc. Infrastructure is
the key to everything throughout history, period. Close all tax loop holes. Reduce all
business taxes by at least half or more. Create a progressive tax rate starting at 0% raised
all the way to 80% up the ladder. If you don't like it, renounce your citizenship with all of
what that entails and leave. Completely get rid of the cap on Social Security. Everyone
except those at the 0% tax rate pays in 7%. That is fair. Make the business contribution 3%
of the first $100,000 Reinstate a stronger set of anti-trust guard rails. Re-instate a
stronger form of Glass/Steagle. Reinstate a stronger Fairness Doctrine Realize that a
corporation is NOT a person and if we think they are, subject them to the 13th amendment
regarding one person owning another. They also are not allowed participate in anything of a
political nature, in any way shape or form. Period. Full stop. Invest in the poor and middle
classes in all ways. Raising standards from the bottom up raises all boats. It's not "trickle
down" it's "trickle up". It's all about the velocity of money. You have to spend it to grow
it. We can do this in this country.
Why do by indirection what is better done directly? Income tax rates should be adjusted to
push the marginal rate to a percentage needed to produce the estimated revenue from Warren's
proposal. This would (1) not require creation of a new beauracracy and a new wealth tax code
to administer the new wealth tax, (2) not create incentives for lawyers and accounts to
redefine net worth and would (3) not change incentives for investments by wealthy
individuals, with unknown and unknowable side effects. If we also want to reduce fortunes
directly, enact a truly functional estate tax, not the joke which we have
now.
One other thought, the high tax rates of the 1950s and 1960s carried with them many, many
deductions which are no longer available -- -which were surrendered politically in exchange
for lower overall ages. Maybe something additionally to be considered would be combing
through the tax code and addressing the special interest provisions which conflate social
policy about certain companies/products/goals with tax policy.
@A P As you note, simply giving the money to their foundation can spare them the tax bill.
They don't actually need to have the foundation disburse that much of it. And my casual
impression is that Bill Gates' ability to direct billions through his foundation has
preserved his "social capital" - he is still invited to Davos, can tour Africa with Bono or
the Pope, get his phone calls returned by Important People, get his kids into whatever
college he chooses to endow, hop on private jets to wherever, and so on. As punishments go
forcing him to chair a major foundation is not much.
The government has never proven itself to be a good steward of capital. They will tax and
spend, tax and reallocate, tax and waste. No thanks. Would rather the incentives remain and
America push back against socialist notions. So expected from Krugman.
@CDN Eh? Real estate is already valued every year and taxed accordingly, it's called
property taxes. Art and antiquities are already valued for insurance purposes. It's not
difficulty at all.
@Shiv "I'm completely unable to determine how Jeff Bezos's work building Amazon has caused
me or anyone else to be worse off. In fact, we're all better off." So you know nobody who had
been making a decent living with a bookstore - or in publishing - or in many other small
businesses that have been priced into oblivion by Amazon if they'd been lucky enough to
survive the WalMart effect that came before. Robert Reich in "Supercapitalism" was right. The
consumer side of a person can so easily derange the thinking of the rest of the person. Not
following me? Than picture the dream world of big tech companies with their dreams of
stupendous individual wealth by "disrupting" something where people have been making their
livings. Each wave of disruption leaves people without their jobs. And these days, the chance
of getting into a better-paying job after being disruptive aren't all that terrific if you
look at the statistical outcomes. So is your view of morality served by the relentless push
to undercut older businesses that provided employment, simply because the disrupting model is
"more efficient"? Reconsider what "efficiency" is supposed to accomplish in the bigger
picture of society rather than just shareholder (and top executive) financial
reward.
As an authentic Republican, not one of the brigands who hijacked the party as a means to
plunder and pillage, I heartily endorse the Warren proposal. To make it somewhat more
palatable for voters I would suggest it earmark 50% of the revenue generated go to starting
to pay down the national debt. That would mean, using the 2.75 trillion estimate, that in the
first decade we would reclaim from the wealthiest approximately what Republicans gave away in
the deficit-financed tax cuts of 2017. In effect having had an interest-free loan from us for
a decade they would return the cash we have been paying interest on. Would be quite big of
them, actually.
@Alice It's not as if we ignore which tax loopholes for the wealthiest have to be closed
and how to do so, you know. Democrats have been trying to do this for quite some time
already, but the GOP blocks it. And Obamacare already includes a tax increase for the
wealthiest - that's one of the reasons why it cuts the deficit by $100 billion, rather than
adding to it. That proves that the wealthiest DNC donors and Democrats (such as Obama
himself, and Pelosi) FULLY agree to increase their own taxes. Conclusion: cynicism never
helped us move forward, fact-checking does ... ;-)
@Vink Why do you think they all own a dozen sprawling properties scattered around the
globe? They are all Bond villain wannabes never far from a secret citadel. I hope they've got
plenty of toilet paper on hand for the siege.
@Michael Blazin You think that... why? It's not at all clear. But it is clear that the law
could be written so that any transaction could be taxed. So unless the billionaires want to
hide their money under their mattresses.....
A progressive wealth tax is an"idea whose time has come". See Piketty, Thomas. Capital in
the Twenty-First Century . Harvard University Press. Use the revenue generated for
infrastructure repair.
@Blue Moon As far as Social Security and Medicare, all we have to do to fix that is tax
the millionaires' income the same as we do the peon- every dime that goes in their overseas
accounts should be taxed, same as the rest of us.
There are numerous holes in this proposal, none of which have anything to do with "greed".
1. What Krugman, Saez and Zucman fail to mention is that Denmark repealed its wealth tax in
1996 and Sweden repealed its wealth tax more than a decade ago. Not hard to understand why --
it is ultimately a self-defeating tax policy that just drives wealth out of your economy.
Krugman doesn't mention that Saez and Zucman's basic premise is that every country has to
implement a wealth tax for it to work, which is never going to happen. 2. Warren's proposal
is blatantly unconstitutional as a direct tax, so she would need to garner the political
support not just to pass the tax but amend the constitution similar to what was done for the
income tax. Highly unlikely. The bottom line is that the only way to actually pay for all of
the middle-class goodies that Democrats want to be provided by the Federal government (free
college, Medicare for all, free daycare, paid leave) is to tax the middle-class like what
they do in Sweden and Denmark through VAT and much lower income tax thresholds. Of course,
once everyone figures that out, those proposals won't poll nearly as well, which is why AOC
is now claiming that it will be magically paid for through the hocus-pocus of Modern Monetary
Theory.
For Warren's tax proposal that "wouldn't lead to large-scale evasion if the tax applied to
all assets and was adequately enforced ..." the IRS needs more staff and a bigger budget.
Past Republican congresses have purposely gutted the agency's audit and enforcement
capabilities at the direction of the very interests Warren's proposal targets.
"Would such a plan be feasible? Wouldn't the rich just find ways around it?" The most
likely way around it would be to bribe Congress not to vote for it. Isn't that why they
The stock market is back to all time highs, but for ordinary Americans the standard of
living has not been worse in decades, if ever.
As Bank of America points out, while the recent covid shutdowns has thrown the economy into
disarray with millions laid off and living on government stimulus checks, life for the vast
majority of workers - i.e., those who comprise the country's middle class - was already
precarious before the pandemic, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Cost of Thriving
Index.
Consider that in 1985 it took 30 weeks at the median wage to pay for big fixed costs like
housing, health care, a car, and education; fast forward to today when it takes a
mathematically impossible 53 weeks of a 52-week year to buy those things.
In other words, as BofA puts it, "'thriving' has become impossible for the average worker"
and adds that " it's no wonder that the uncertainty of forecasts for future growth remains near
record highs."
Of course, it's also why millions of Americans are desperately looking forward to another
stimulus round, and then another, and another after that, for the simple reason that it was the
government's "pandemic relief" that boosted compensation to artificial, if "one-time" record
highs.
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The question is whether this "one-time" stimulus which many equate with Universal Basic
Income, has become a permanent fixture of American life.
Democrats are in bed with the deep state, take billions from the largest corporations, and
conduct the most undemocratic nominating process ever seen in the US, but thank god they are
not fascists!
Trezrek500 , 2 hours ago
It is amazing, Bezos becomes the richest guy in the world and the delivery of his packages
is subsidized by tax payers. The USPS should triple their rates to AMZN. Problem solved.
When I lived in Europe it seemed like all the post offices had banks which offered basic
services like checking and savings. They should do that here.
seryanhoj , 2 hours ago
They have a simple ' people's ' banking system for people that don't feel up to going to
to one if the majors, and probably deal in small smounts.
The same system handles distributions from the various social schemes. Also they give low
or no cost access to buy government securities, and savings schemes. It sound a bit 'Big
Brover' , but in practice it feels good.
Demeter55 , 46 minutes ago
You are threatening the banksters! They need every last penny!
William Binney is the former technical director of the U.S. National Security Agency who
worked at the agency for 30 years. He is a respected independent critic of how American
intelligence services abuse their powers to illegally spy on private communications of U.S.
citizens and around the globe.
Given his expert inside knowledge, it is worth paying attention to what Binney says.
In a media
interview this week, he dismissed the so-called Russiagate scandal as a "fabrication"
orchestrated by the American Central Intelligence Agency. Many other observers have come to
the same conclusion about allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections with
the objective of helping Donald Trump get elected.
But what is particularly valuable about Binney's judgment is that he cites technical
analysis disproving the Russiagate narrative. That narrative remains dominant among U.S.
intelligence officials, politicians and pundits, especially those affiliated with the
Democrat party, as well as large sections of Western media. The premise of the narrative is
the allegation that a Russian state-backed cyber operation hacked into the database and
emails of the Democrat party back in 2016. The information perceived as damaging to
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was subsequently disseminated to the Wikileaks
whistleblower site and other U.S. media outlets.
A mysterious cyber persona known as "Guccifer 2.0" claimed to be the alleged hacker. U.S.
intelligence and news media have attributed Guccifer as a front for Russian cyber
operations.
Notably, however, the Russian government has always categorically denied any involvement
in alleged hacking or other interference in the 2016 U.S. election, or elections
thereafter.
William Binney and other independent former U.S. intelligence experts say they can prove
the Russiagate narrative is bogus. The proof relies on their forensic analysis of the data
released by Guccifer. The analysis of timestamps demonstrates that the download of voluminous
data could not have been physically possible based on known standard internet speeds. These
independent experts conclude that the data from the Democrat party could not have been
hacked, as Guccifer and Russiagaters claim. It could only have been obtained by a leak from
inside the party, perhaps by a disgruntled staffer who downloaded the information on to a
disc. That is the only feasible way such a huge amount of data could have been released. That
means the "Russian hacker" claims are baseless.
Wikileaks, whose founder Julian Assange is currently imprisoned in Britain pending an
extradition trial to the U.S. to face espionage charges, has consistently maintained
that their source of files was not a hacker, nor did they collude with Russian intelligence.
As a matter of principle, Wikileaks does not disclose the identity of its sources, but the
organization has indicated it was an insider leak which provided the information on senior
Democrat party corruption.
William Binney says forensic analysis of the files released by Guccifer shows that the
mystery hacker deliberately inserted digital "fingerprints" in order to give the impression
that the files came from Russian sources. It is known from information later disclosed by
former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that the CIA has a secretive program – Vault 7
– which is dedicated to false incrimination of cyber attacks to other actors. It seems
that the purpose of Guccifer was to create the perception of a connection between Wikileaks
and Russian intelligence in order to beef up the Russiagate narrative.
"So that suggested [to] us all the evidence was pointing back to CIA as the originator
[of] Guccifer 2.0. And that Guccifer 2.0 was inside CIA I'm pointing to that group as the
group that was probably the originator of Guccifer 2.0 and also this fabrication of the
entire story of Russiagate," concludes Binney in his interview with Sputnik news
outlet.
This is not the first time that the Russiagate yarn has been debunked . But it is crucially important to make Binney's expert
views more widely appreciated especially as the U.S. presidential election looms on November
3. As that date approaches, U.S. intelligence and media seem to be intensifying claims about
Russian interference and cyber operations. Such wild and unsubstantiated "reports" always
refer to the alleged 2016 "hack" of the Democrat party by "Guccifer 2.0" as if it were
indisputable evidence of Russian interference and the "original sin" of supposed Kremlin
malign activity. The unsubstantiated 2016 "hack" is continually cited as the "precedent" and
"provenance" of more recent "reports" that purport to claim Russian interference.
Given the torrent of Russiagate derivatives expected in this U.S. election cycle, which is
damaging U.S.-Russia bilateral relations and recklessly winding up geopolitical tensions, it
is thus of paramount importance to listen to the conclusions of honorable experts like
William Binney.
The American public are being played by their own intelligence agencies and corporate
media with covert agendas that are deeply anti-democratic.
Well - who set up them up, converted from the OSS? The banksters.
"Wild Bill" Donovan worked for JP Morgan immediately after WWII.
"our" US intelligence agencies were set up by, and serve, the masters of high finance.
Is this in dispute?
meditate_vigorously , 11 hours ago
They have seeded enough misinformation that apparently it is. But, you are correct. It
is the Banksters.
Isisraelquaeda , 2 hours ago
Israel. The CIA was infiltrated by the Mossad long ago.
SurfingUSA , 15 hours ago
JFK was on to that truth, and would have been wise to mini-nuke Langley before his
ill-fated journey to Dallas.
Andrew G , 11 hours ago
Except when there's something exceptionally evil (like pedo/blackmail rings such as
Epstein), in which case it's Mossad / Aman
vova.2018 , 7 hours ago
Except when there's something exceptionally evil (like pedo/blackmail rings such as
Epstein), in which case it's Mossad / Aman
The CIA & MOSSAD work hand in hand in all their clandestine operations. There is not
doubt the CIA/MOSSAD are behind the creation, evolution, training, supplying weapons,
logistic-planning & financing of the terrorists & the destruction of the Middle
East. Anybody that believes the contrary has brain problems & need to have his head
examined.
CIA/MOSAD has been running illegal activities in Colombia: drug, arms, organs &
human (child-sex) trafficking. CIA/MOSAD is also giving training, logistic & arms to
Colombia paramilitary for clandestine operation against Venezuela. After Bolsonaro became
president, MOSSAD started running similar operation in Brazil. Israel & Brazil also
recognizes Guaido as the legit president of Venezuela.
CIA/MOSSAD have a long time policy of
assassinating & taking out pep who are a problem to the revisionist-zionist agenda, not
just in the M-East but in the world. The CIA/MOSSAD organizations have many connections in
other countries like the M-East, Saudi Arabia, UAE, et al but also to the UK-MI5.
The Israelis infiltrated the US to the highest levels a long time ago - Proof
Israel has & collects information (a database) of US citizens in coordination
with the CIA & the 5 eyes.
Israel works with the NSA in the liaison-loophole operations
Mossad undercover operations in WDC & all over the world
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee – AIPAC
People with 2 citizenships (US/Israel) in WDC/NYC (the real Power)
From Steve Bannon a christian-zionist: Collusion between the Trump administration and
Israel .
Funny how a number of the right wing conspiracy stories according to the MSM from a
couple years back were true from the get go. 1 indictment over 4 years in the greatest
attempted coup in this country's history. So sad that Binney and Assange were never
listened to. They can try to silence us who know of the truth, but as Winston Churchill
once said, 'Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice
may distort it. But there it is.' KDP still censors my book on their advertising platform
as it
promotes conspiratorial theories (about the Obama led coup) and calls out BLM and Antifa
for what they are (marxists) . Yet the same platform still recommends BLM books stating
there is a pandemic of cops killing innocent blacks. F them!!!! #RIPSeth #FreeJulian
#FreeMillie
smacker , 11 hours ago
Yes, and we all know the name of the DNC leaker who downloaded and provided
WikiLeaks
with evidence of CIA and DNC corruption.
He was assassinated to prevent him from naming who Guccifer 2.0 was and where he is
located.
The Russia-gate farce itself provides solid evidence that the CIA and others are in bed
with DNC
and went to extraordinary lengths to prevent Trump being elected. When that failed, they
instigated
a program of x-gates to get him out of office any way they could. This continues to this
day.
This is treason at the highest level.
ACMeCorporations , 12 hours ago
Hacking? What Russian hacking?
In recently released testimony, the CEO of CrowdStrike admitted in congressional
testimony, under oath, that it actually has no direct evidence Russia stole the DNC
emails.
Nelbev , 9 hours ago
"The proof relies on their forensic analysis of the data released by Guccifer. The
analysis of timestamps demonstrates that the download of voluminous data could not have
been physically possible based on known standard internet speeds. ... a disgruntled
staffer who downloaded the information on to a disc. That is the only feasible way such a
huge amount of data could have been released. ... William Binney says forensic analysis
of the files released by Guccifer shows that the mystery hacker deliberately inserted
digital "fingerprints" in order to give the impression that the files came from Russian
sources. ... "
Any computer file is a bunch of 1s and 0s. Anyone can change anything with a hex editor.
E.g. I had wrong dates on some photographs once, downloaded as opposed to when taken, just
edited the time stamp. You cannot claim any time stamp is original. If true time stamps,
then the DNC files were downloaded to a thumb drive at a computer on location and not to
the internet via a phone line. However anyone can change the time stamps. Stating a
"mystery hacker deliberately inserted digital [Russian] 'fingerprints' " is a joke if
denying the file time stamps were not tampered with. The real thing is where the narrative
came from, political spin doctors, Perkins Coie law firm hired by DNC and Hillary campaign
who hired Crowdstrike [and also hired Fusion GPS before for pissgate dossier propaganda and
FISC warrants to spy on political opponents] and Perkins Coie edited Crowdstrike report
with Russian narrative. FBI never looked at DNC servers. This is like your house was broken
into. You deny police the ability to enter and look at evidence like DNC computers. You
hire a private investigator to say your neighbor you do not like did it and publicise
accusations. Take word of political consultants hired, spin doctor propaganda, Crowdstrike
narrative , no police investigation. Atlantic Council?
Vivekwhu , 8 hours ago
The Atlantic Council is another NATO fart. Nuff said!
The_American , 15 hours ago
God Damn traitor Obama!
Yen Cross , 14 hours ago
TOTUS
For the youngsters.
Teleprompter Of The United States.
Leguran , 6 hours ago
The CIA has gotten away with so much criminal behavior and crimes against the American
public that this is totally believable. Congress just lets this stuff happen and does
nothing. Which is worse - Congress or the CIA?
Congress set up the system. It is mandated to perform oversight. And it just sits on its
thumbs and wallows in it privileges.
This time Congress went further than ever before. It was behind and engaged in an
attempted coup d'état.
Know thy enemy , 10 hours ago
Link to ShadowGate (ShadowNet) documentary - which answers the question, what is the
keystone,,,,,
It's time for Assange and Wikileaks to name the person who they rec'd the info from. By
hiding behind the "we don't name names" Mantra they are helping destroy America by
polarizing its citizens. Name the damn person, get it all out there so the left can see
that they've been played by their leaders. Let's cut this crap.
freedommusic , 7 hours ago
...all the evidence was pointing back to CIA as the originator [of] Guccifer 2.0.
Yep, I knew since day one. I remember seeing Hillary Clinton talking about Guccifer . As
soon as uttered the name, I KNEW she with the CIA were the brainchild of this bogus
decoy.
They copy. They mimic. These are NOT creative individuals.
Perhaps hell is too good a place for them.
on target , 4 hours ago
This is old news but worth bringing up again. The CIA never wanted Trump in, and of
course, they want him out. Their fingerprints were all over Russiagate, The Kavanaugh
hearings, Ukrainegate, and on and on. They are just trying to cover their asses for a
string of illegal "irregularities" in their operations for years. Trump should never have
tried to be a get along type of guy. He should have purged the entire leadership of the CIA
on day one and the FBI on day 2. They can not be trusted with an "America First" agenda.
They are all New World Order types who know whats best for everyone.
fersur , 7 hours ago
Boom, Boom, Boom !
Three Reseachable Tweets thru Facebook, I cut all at once, Unedited !
"#SusanRice has as much trouble with her memory as #HillaryClinton. Rice testified in
writing that she 'does not recall' who gave her key #Benghazi talking points she used on
TV, 'does not recall' being in any meetings regarding Benghazi in five days following the
attack, and 'does not recall' communicating with anyone in Clinton's office about
Benghazi," Tom Fitton in Breitbart.
"Adam Schiff secretly subpoenaed, without court authorization, the phone records of Rudy
Giuliani and then published the phone records of innocent Americans, including
@realDonaldTrump 's lawyers, a member of Congress, and a journalist," @TomFitton .
BREAKING: Judicial Watch announced today that former #Obama National Security Advisor
and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, admitted in written responses given
under oath that she emailed with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Clinton's
non-government email account and that she received emails related to government business on
her own personal email account.
STONEHILLADY , 7 hours ago
It's not just the Democrats, the warmongering neocons of the Republican party are also
in on it, the Bush/Romney McCain/McConnell/Cheney and many more. It's called "Kick Backs"
Ever notice these so called retired Generals all end up working for all these spying
companies that span the 5eyes to Israel. It seems our POTUS has got his hands full swimming
up stream to get this stopped and actually get rid of the CIA. It's the number 1 reason he
doesn't trust these people, they all try to tell him stuff that is mis-directed.
Liars, leakers, and thieves are running not only our nation but the world, as George
Carlin said, "It's a Big Club, and we ain't in it." If you fall for this false narrative of
mail in voting and not actually go and vote on election day, you better start learning
Chinese for surely Peelosi and Schumer will have their way and mess up this election so
they can drag Trump out of office and possible do him and his family some serious harm, all
because so many of you listen to the MSM and don't research their phony claims.
Max21c , 7 hours ago
It's called "Kick Backs" Ever notice these so called retired Generals all end up
working for all these spying companies that span the 5eyes to Israel.
American Generals & Admirals are a lot more corrupt today than they were a few
generations back. Many of them are outright evil people in today's times. Many of these
people are just criminals that will steal anything they can get their banana republic
klepto-paws on. They're nothing but common criminals and thieves. No different than the
Waffen SS or any other group of brigands, bandits, and criminal gangsters.
Max21c , 7 hours ago
The CIA, FBI, NSA, Military Intelligence, Pentagon Gestapo, defense contractors are
mixed up in a lot of crimes and criminal activities on American soil against American
citizens and American civilians. They do not recognize borders or laws or rights of liberty
or property rights or ownership or intellectual property. They're all thieves and criminals
in the military secret police and secret police gangsters cabal.
BandGap , 7 hours ago
I have seen Binney's input. He is correct in my view because he
scientifically/mathematically proves his point.
The blinded masses do not care about this approach, just like wearing masks.
The truth is too difficult for many to fit into their understanding of the world.
So they repeat what they have been told, never stopping to consider the facts or how
circumstances have been manipulated.
It is frustrating to watch, difficult to navigate at times for me. Good people who will
not stop and think of what the facts show them.
otschelnik , 8 hours ago
It could have been the CIA or it could have been one of the cut-outs for plausible
deniability, and of all the usual suspects it was probably CrowdStrike.
- CGI / Global Strategy Group / Analysis Corp. - John Brennan (former CEO)
- Dynology, Wikistrat - General James L. Jones (former chairman of Atlantic Council, NSA
under Obama)
- CrowdStrike - Dmitri Alperovich and Shawn Henry (former chief of cyber forensics
FBI)
- Clearforce - Michael Hayden (former dir. NSA under Clinton, CIA under Bush) and Jim
Jones Jr. (son Gnrl James Jones)
- McChrystal Group - Stanley McChrystal (former chief of special operations DOD)
fersur , 8 hours ago
Unedited !
The Brookings Institute – a Deep State Hub Connected to the Fake Russia Collusion
and Ukraine Scandals Is Now Also Connected to China Spying In the US
The Brookings
Institute was heavily involved in the Democrat and Deep State Russia collusion hoax and
Ukraine impeachment fraud. These actions against President Trump were criminal.
This institute is influenced from foreign donations from entities who don't have an
America first agenda. New reports connect the Institute to Chinese spying.
As we reported previously, Julie Kelly at American Greatness
released a report where she addresses the connections between the Brookings Institute,
Democrats and foreign entities. She summarized her report as follows: Accepting millions
from a state sponsor of terrorism, foisting one of the biggest frauds in history on the
American people, and acting as a laundering agent of sorts for Democratic political
contributions disguised as policy grants isn't a good look for such an esteemed
institution. One would be hard-pressed to name a more influential think tank than the
Brookings Institution. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit routinely ranks at the top of
the list
of the best think tanks in the world; Brookings scholars produce a steady flow of reports,
symposiums, and news releases that sway the conversation on any number of issues ranging
from domestic and economic policy to foreign affairs.
Brookings is home to lots of Beltway power players: Ben
Bernanke and Janet Yellen, former chairmen of the Federal Reserve, are Brookings fellows.
Top officials from both Republican and Democrat presidential administrations lend political
heft to the organization. From 2002 until 2017, the organization's president was Strobe
Talbott. He's a longtime BFF of Bill Clinton; they met in the 1970s at Oxford University
and have been tight ever since. Talbott was a top aide to both President Bill Clinton and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Kelly continued:
Brookings-based fellows working at Lawfare were the media's go-to legal "experts" to
legitimize the concocted crime; the outlet manipulated much of the news coverage on
collusion by pumping out primers and guidance on how to report collusion events from
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's appointment to his final report.
Now, testimony related to a defamation lawsuit against Christopher Steele, the author of
the infamous "dossier" on Donald Trump, has exposed his direct ties to Talbott in 2016 when
he was still head of Brookings. Talbott and Steele were in communication before and after
the presidential election; Steele wanted Talbott to circulate the dossier to his pals in
John Kerry's State Department, which reportedly is what Talbott
did . Steele also briefed top state department officials in October 2016 about his
work.
But this isn't the only connection between the Brookings Institute and the Russia
collusion and Ukrainian scandals. We were the first to report that the Primary Sub-Source
(PSS) in the Steele report, the main individual who supplied Steele with bogus information
in his report was Igor Danchenko.
In November 2019, the star witness for the Democrat Representative Adam Schiff's
impeachment show trial was announced. Her name was Fiona Hill.
Today we've uncovered that Hill is a close associate of the Primary Sub-Source (PSS) for
the Steele dossier – Igor Danchenko – the individual behind most all the lies
in the Steele dossier. No wonder Hill saw the Steele dossier before it was released. Her
associate created it.
Both Fiona Hill and Igor Danchenko are connected to the Brookings Institute.
They gave a presentation together as Brookings Institute representatives:
Kelly writes about the foreign funding the Brookings Institute partakes:
So who and what have been funding the anti-Trump political operation at Brookings over
the past few years? The think tank's top benefactors are a predictable mix of family
foundations, Fortune 100 corporations, and Big Tech billionaires. But one of the biggest
contributors to Brookings' $100 million-plus annual budget is the Embassy of Qatar.
According to financial reports, Qatar has donated more than $22 million to the think tank
since 2004. In fact, Brookings operates a satellite center in Doha, the
capital of Qatar. The wealthy Middle Eastern oil producer
spends billions on American institutions such as universities and other think
tanks.
Qatar also is a top state sponsor of terrorism, pouring billions into Hamas, al-Qaeda,
and the Muslim Brotherhood, to name a few. "The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has
historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level," President Trump said in 2017. "We
have to stop the funding of terrorism."
An email from a Qatari official, obtained by WikiLeaks, said the Brookings
Institution was as important to the country as "an aircraft carrier."
The Brookings Institution, a prominent Washington, D.C., think tank, partnered with a
Shanghai policy center that the FBI has described as a front for China's intelligence and
spy recruitment operations, according to public records and federal court documents.
The Brookings Doha Center, the think tank's hub in Qatar, signed a memorandum of
understanding with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in January 2018, the
institution said . The academy is a policy center funded by the Shanghai municipal
government that has raised flags within the FBI.
The partnership raises questions about potential Chinese espionage activities at the
think tank, which employs numerous former government officials and nearly two dozen
current foreign policy advisers to Joe Biden's presidential campaign.
It is really frightening that one of two major political parties in the US is tied so
closely with the Brookings Institute. It is even more frightening that foreign enemies of
the United States are connected to this entity as well.
Let it Go , 8 hours ago
One thing for sure is these guys have far to much of our money to spend promoting their
own good.
fersur , 7 hours ago
Unedited !
Mueller Indictments Tied To "ShadowNet," Former Obama National Security Advisor and
Obama's CIA Director – Not Trump
According to a report in the Daily Beast, which cited the Wall Street Journal's
reporting of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into two companies, Wikistrat
and Psy Group, "The firm's advisory council lists former CIA and National Security Agency
director Michael Hayden, former national security adviser James L. Jones."
According to numerous reporting from major news outlets like the Wall Street Journal and
Daily Beast, both Wikistrat and Psy Group represent themselves as being social media
analysts and black PSYOP organizations. Both Wikistrat and Psy Group have foreign ownership
mixed between Israeli, Saudi (Middle East) and Russian. Here is what the Wall Street
Journal, The Daily Beast and pretty much everyone else out there doesn't know (or won't
tell you).
The fact Obama's former National Security Advisor, General James Jones, and former Obama
CIA director, Gen. Michael Hayden, are both on Wikistrat's advisory board may not seem
suspicious, but both of these general's have another thing in common, and that is the
ShadowNet. The ShadowNet, and its optional companion relational database, iPsy, were both
originally developed by the small, family owned defense contracting company, Dynology. The
family that owns Dynology; Gen. James Jones. I would add Paul Manafort and Rick Davis was
Dynology's partner at the time we were making the ShadowNet and iPsy commercially
available.
After obtaining the contract in Iraq to develop social media psychological warfare
capabilities, known in military nomenclature as Interactive Internet Activities, or IIA,
Gen. Jones kept the taxpayer funded application we developed in Iraq for the 4th
Psychological Operation Group, and made it commercially available under the trademark of
the "ShadowNet" and the optional black PSYOP component, "iPsy." If you think it is
interesting that one of the companies under Mueller's indictment is named, "Psy" Group, I
did as well. In fact, literally everything both publicly described in news reports, and
even their websites, are exactly the same as the ShadowNet and iPsy I helped build, and
literally named.
The only thing different I saw as far as services offered by Wikistrat, and that of
Dynology and the ShadowNet, was described by The Daily Beast as, "It also engaged in
intelligence collection." Although iPsy was a relational database that allowed for the
dissemination of whatever the required narrative was, "intelligence collection" struck
another bell with me, and that's a company named ClearForce.
ClearForce was developed as a solution to stopping classified leaks following the Edward
Snowden debacle in 2013. Changes in NISPOM compliance requirements forced companies and
government agencies that had employees with government clearances to take preventive
measure to mitigate the potential of leaking. Although the NISPOM compliance requirement
almost certainly would have been influenced by either Hayden, Jones or both, they once
again sought to profit from it.
Using components of the ShadowNet and iPsy, the ClearForce application (which the
company, ClearForce, was named after,) was developed to provide compliance to a regulation
I strongly suspect you will find Jones and Hayden had a hand in creating. In fact, I
strongly suspect you will find General Jones had some influence in the original requirement
for our Iraq contract Dynology won to build the ShadowNet – at taxpayer expense!
Dynology worked for several years incorporating other collection sources, such as
financial, law enforcement and foreign travel, and ties them all into your social media
activity. Their relationship with Facebook and other social media giants would have been
nice questions for congress to have asked them when they testified.
Part 1 of 2 !
fersur , 7 hours ago
Part 2 of 2 !
The ClearForce application combines all of these sources together in real-time and uses
artificial intelligence to predictively determine if you are likely to steal or leak based
on the behavioral profile ClearForce creates of you. It can be used to determine if you get
a job, and even if you lose a job because a computer read your social media, credit and
other sources to determine you were likely to commit a crime. It's important for you to
stop for a moment and think about the fact it is privately controlled by the former CIA
director and Obama's National Security Advisor/NATO Supreme Allied Commander, should scare
the heck out of you.
When the ClearForce application was complete, Dynology handed it off to ClearForce, the
new company, and Michael Hayden joined the board of directors along with Gen. Jones and his
son, Jim, as the president of ClearForce. Doesn't that kind of sound like "intelligence
collection" described by the Daily Beast in Wikistrat's services?
To wrap this all up, Paul Manafort, Rick Davis, George Nader, Wikistrat and Psy Group
are all directly connected to Mueller's social media influence and election interreference
in the 2016 presidential election. In fact, I believe all are under indictment, computers
seized, some already sentenced. All of these people under indictment by Mueller have one
key thing in common, General James Jones's and Michael Hayden's social media black PSYOP
tools; the ShadowNet, iPsy and ClearForce.
A recent meeting I had with Congressman Gus Bilirakis' chief of staff, Elizabeth Hittos,
is confirmation that they are reviewing my DoD memorandum stating the work I did on the IIA
information operation in Iraq, the Dynology marketing slicks for the ShadowNet and iPsy,
along with a screenshot of Goggle's Way-Back Machine showing Paul Manafort's partnership
with Dynology in 2007 and later. After presenting to her these facts and making clear I
have much more information that requires the highest classification SCIF to discuss and
requires being read-on to the program, Elizabeth contacted the office of Congressman Devin
Nunez to request that I brief the intelligence committee on this critical information
pertaining directly to the 2010 Ukrainian elections, Michael Brown riots, 2016 election
interference and the "Russia collusion" hoax. All of that is on top of numerous
questionable ethical and potentially illegal profits from DoD contracts while servings as
NATO Commander and Obama's National Security Advisor.
We also need to know if the ShadowNet and iPsy were allowed to fall into foreign hands,
including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Israel. I'm pretty sure South America is going to have a
few questions for Jones and Obama as well? Stay tuned!
Balance-Sheet , 4 hours ago
Intelligence Agencies of all countries endlessly wage war at all times especially
'Information Warfare' (propaganda/disinformation) and the primary target has always and
will always be the domestic population of the Intelligence Agency's country.
Yes, of course the CIA does target ALL other countries but the primary target will
always be the Americans themselves.
Balance-Sheet , 4 hours ago
Intelligence Agencies of all countries endlessly wage war at all times especially
'Information Warfare' (propaganda/disinformation) and the primary target has always and
will always be the domestic population of the Intelligence Agency's country.
Yes, of course the CIA does target ALL other countries but the primary target will
always be the Americans themselves.
The neoliberals own the media, courts, academia, and BUREAUCRACY (including CIA) and
they will do anything to make sure they retain power over everyone. These control freaks
work hard to create all sorts of enemies to justify their existence.
LaugherNYC , 15 hours ago
It is sad that this information has to be repeatedly published, over and over and over,
by SCI and other Russian. outlets.
Because no legit AMERICAN news outlet will give Binney or Assange the time of day or any
credence, this all becomes Kremlin-sponsored disinformation and denials. People roll their
eyes and say "Oh God, not the whole 'Seth Rich was murdered by the CIA' crap again!! You
know, his FAMILY has asked that people stop spreading these conspiracy theories and
lies."
SCI is a garbage bin, nothing more than a dizinformatz machine for Putin, but in this
case, they are likely right. It seems preposterous that the "best hackers in the world"
would forget to use a VPN or leave a signature behind, and it makes far more sense that the
emails were leaked by someone irate at the abuses of the DNC - the squashing of Bernie, the
cheating for Hillary in the debates - behavior we saw repeated in 2020 with Bernie shoved
aside again for the pathetic Biden.
Would that SOMEONE in the US who is not on the Kremlin payroll would pick up this
thread. But all the "investigative journalists" now work indirectly for the DNC, and those
that don't are cancelled by the left.
Stone_d_agehurler , 15 hours ago
I am Guccifer and I approve this message.
Sarc/
But i do share your opinion. They are likely right this time and most of the pundits and
media in the U. S. know it. That's what makes this a sad story about how rotten the U. S.
system has become.
Democrats will sacrifice the Union for getting Trump out of office.
If elections in Nov won't go their way, Civil War II might become a real thing in
2021.
PeterLong , 4 hours ago
If " digital "fingerprints" in order to give the impression that the files came from
Russian sources" were inserted in the leak by "Guccifer", and if the leak to wikileaks came
from Seth Rich, via whatever avenue, then the "Guccifer" release came after the wikileaks
release, or after wikileaks had the files, and was a reaction to same attempting to
diminish their importance/accuracy and cast doubt on Trump. Could CIA and/or DNC have known
the files were obtained by wikileaks before wikileaks actually released them? In any case
collusion of CIA with DNC seems to be a given.
RightlyIndignent , 4 hours ago
Because Seth had already given it to Wikileaks. There is no 'Fancy Bear'. There is no
'Cozy Bear'. Those were made up by CrowdStrike, and they tried the same crap on Ukraine,
and Ukraine told them to pound sand. When push came to shove, and CrowdStrike was forced to
say what they really had under oath, they said: "We have nothing."
novictim , 4 hours ago
You are leaving out Crowd Strike. Seth Rich was tasked by people at the DNC to copy data
off the servers. He made a backup copy and gave a copy to people who then got it to Wiki
leaks. He used highspeed file transfers to local drives to do his task.
Meanwhile, it was the Ukrainian company Crowd Strike that claimed the data was stolen
over the internet and that the thieves were in Russia. That 'proof" was never verified by
US Intelligence but was taken on its word as being true despite crowd strike falsifying
Russian hacks and being caught for it in the past.
Joebloinvestor , 5 hours ago
The "five eyes" are convinced they run the world and try to.
That is what Brennan counted on for these agencies to help get President Trump.
As I said, it is time for the UK and the US to have a serious conversation about their
current and ex-spies being involved in US elections.
Southern_Boy , 5 hours ago
It wasn't the CIA. It was John Brennan and Clapper. The CIA, NSA FBI, DOJ and the
Ukrainian Intelligence Service just went along working together and followed orders from
Brennan who got them from Hillary and Obama.
Oh, and don't forget the GOP Globalist RINOs who also participated in the coup attempt:
McCain, Romney, Kasich, Boehner, Lee and Richard Burr.
With Kasich now performing as a puppy dog for Biden at the Democrat Convention as a
Democrat DNC executive, the re-alignment is almost complete: Globalist Nationalist
Socialist Bolshevism versus American Populism, i.e. Elites versus Deplorables or Academics
versus Smelly Wal-Mart people.
on target , 5 hours ago
No way. CIA up to their eyeballs in this as well as the State Department. Impossible for
Russiagate or Ukrainegate without direct CIA and State involvement.
RightlyIndignent , 4 hours ago
Following Orders? How did that argument go at Nuremberg? (hint: not very well)
LeadPipeDreams , 6 hours ago
LOL - the CIA's main mission - despite their "official" charter, has always been to
destabilize the US and its citizens via psyops, false flags, etc.
Covid-1984 is their latest and it appears most successful project yet.
Iconoclast27 , 5 hours ago
The CIA received a $200 million initial investment from the Rockefeller and Carnegie
foundations when it was first established, that should tell you everything you need to know
how who they truly work for.
A_Huxley , 6 hours ago
CIA, MI6, 5 eye nations.
All wanted to sway the USA their own way.
Let it Go , 8 hours ago
Almost as frightening as the concentrated power held by companies such as Facebook and
Google is the fact Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the world's richest man, is the person who
owns and controls the Washington Post. It is silly to think Jeff Bezos purchased the
Washington Post in 2013 because he expected newspapers to make a lucrative resurgence.
It is more likely he purchased the long-trusted U.S. newspaper for the power it would
ensure him in Washington when wielded as a propaganda mouthpiece to extend his ability to
both shape and control public opinion. More on this subject in the article below.
How it is the Democrats, the Deep State, and the legacy media are still able to cling to
the remnants of these long discredited narratives is a mystery.
avoiceofliberty , 6 hours ago
At the official level, you have a point.
However, even before Mueller was appointed, a review of the materials in the extant
public record of both the DNC "hack" and the history of Crowdstrike showed the narrative
simply did not make sense. A detailed investigation of materials not made public was not
necessary to shoot down the entire narrative.
Indeed, one of the great scandals of the Mueller probe is the way it did not bring
prudential skepticism to the question of the DNC "hack". When building a case, either for
public debate or for public trial, a dose of skepticism is healthy; it leads to a careful
vetting of facts and reasoning.
Alice-the-dog , 6 hours ago
The CIA has been an agency wholly independent of the US government almost since its
inception. It is not under any significant control by the government, and has its own
agenda which may occasionally coincide with that of the government, but only
coincidentally. It has its own view of how the world should look, and will not balk at any
means necessary to achieve such. Including the murder of dis-favorable members of
government.
snodgrass , 6 hours ago
It's the CIA and the FBI, Obama and people in his administration who cooked up
Russiagate.
Floki_Ragnarsson , 7 hours ago
The CIA whacked JFK because he was going to slow the roll to Vietnam AND disband the CIA
and reform it.
It is broken and needs to be disbanded and reformed along lines that actually WORK! The
CIA missed the fall of the USSR, 9/11, etc. HTF does THAT happen?
DeportThemAll , 6 hours ago
The CIA didn't "miss" 9/11... they participated in it.
Let it Go , 8 hours ago
The CIA is a tool that when improperly used can do great damage.
Anyone who doesn't believe that countries use psychological warfare and propaganda to
sway the opinions of people both in and outside of their country should be considered
naive. Too many people America is more than a little hypocritical when they criticize other
countries for trying to gain influence considering our history of meddling in the affairs
of other countries.
Americans have every reason to be concerned and worried considering revelations of just
how big the government intelligence agencies have grown since 9-11 and how unlimited their
spying and surveillance operations have become. The article below explores this growth and
questions whether we have lost control.
The idea of Binney and Jason Sullivan privately working to 'secure the vote' is
something that I actually consider to be very eyebrow raising and alarming.
Son of Captain Nemo , 8 hours ago
Bill Binney under "B" in the only "yellow pages" that show a conscience and a
soul!...
This is the dumbest article ever. Russiagate is a total fabrication of the FBI as per
Clinesmith, CIA provided information that would have nipped it at the bud. Read the real
news.
bringonthebigone , 9 hours ago
Wrong. this article is one small piece of the puzzle. Clinesmith is one small piece of
the puzzle. The Flynn entrapment is one small piece of the puzzle. The Halper entrapment
was one small piece of the puzzle.
Because Clinesmith at the FBI covered up the information saying Page was a CIA source
does not mean it was a total FBI fabrication and does not mean the CIA was not involved and
does not mean the DNC server hack is irrelevant.
Sundance does a better job pulling it all together.
PKKA , 14 hours ago
Relations have already soured between Russia and the United States, and sanctions have
been announced. Tensions have grown on the NATO-Russia border. The meat has already been
rolled into the minced meat and it will not be possible to roll the minced meat back into
the meat. The CIA got it. But the Russian people now absolutely understand that the United
States will always be the enemy of Russia, no matter whether socialist or capitalist. But I
like it even more than the feigned hypocritical "friendship". Russia has never reached such
heights as during the good old Cold War. All Russians have a huge incentive, long live the
new Cold War!
smacker , 12 hours ago
More and more people have worked out that the fabricated tensions between the US and
Russia
and US and China have little to do with those two countries posing any sort of threat to
world peace.
It is all about the US trying to remain in No.1 position as uni-polar top dog via the
Anglo American Empire.
We see examples of this every day in the M/E, South China Sea, Taiwan, Libya all over
Eastern Europe,
Ukraine, Iran and now Belaruse. HK was added along the way.
Both Russia and China openly want a multi-polar world order. But the US will never
accept that.
Hence the prospect of war. The only unknown today is what and where the trigger will
be.
smacker , 12 hours ago
More and more people have worked out that the fabricated tensions between the US and
Russia
and US and China have little to do with those two countries posing any sort of threat to
world peace.
It is all about the US trying to remain in No.1 position as uni-polar top dog via the
Anglo American Empire.
We see examples of this every day in the M/E, South China Sea, Taiwan, Libya all over
Eastern Europe,
Ukraine, Iran and now Belaruse. HK was added along the way.
Both Russia and China openly want a multi-polar world order. But the US will never
accept that.
Hence the prospect of war. The only unknown today is what and where the trigger will
be.
hang_the_banksters , 31 minutes ago
the best proof thAt Guccifer 2 was CIA hacking themselves to frame Wikileaks is
this:
Guccifer has not yet been identified, indicted and arrested.
you'd think CIAFBINSA would be turning over every stone to the ends of the earth to bust
Guccifer. we just had to endure 4 years of hysterical propaganda that Russia had hacked our
election and that Trump was their secret agent. so Guccifer should be the Most Wanted Man
on the planet. meanwhile, it's crickets from FBI. they arent even looking for him. because
Guccifer is over at Langley. maybe someone outta ask Brennan where G2 is now.
remember when DOJ indicted all those GRU cybersoldiers? the evidence listed in the
indictment was so stunning that i dont believe it. NSA so thoroughly hacked back into GRU
that NSA was watching GRU through their own webcams and recording them doing Google
searches to translate words which were written in Guccifer's blog posts about the DNC email
leaks. NSA and DOJ must think we are all stupid, that we will believe NSA is so powerful to
do that, yet they cant identify Guccifer.
i say i dont believe that for a second because no way Russian GRU are so stupid to even
have webcams on the computers they use to hack, and it is absurd to think GRU soldiers on a
Russian military base would be using Google instead of Yandex to translate words into
English.
lay_arrow
ConanTheContrarian1 , 1 hour ago
As a confirmed conspiracy theorist since I came back from 'Nam, here's mine: The
European nobility recognized with the American and French revolutions that they needed a
better approach. They borrowed from the Tudors (who had to deal with Parliament) and began
to rule by controlling the facade of representative government. This was enhanced by
funding banks to control through currency, as well as blackmail and murder, and morphed
into a complete propaganda machine like no other in history. The CIA, MI6 and Mossad, the
mainstream media, deep plants in bureaucracy and "democratic" bodies all obey their
dictates to create narratives that control our minds. Trump seems to offer hope, but
remember, he could be their latest narrative.
greatdisconformity , 1 hour ago
A Democracy cannot function on a higher level than the general electorate.
The intelligence and education of the general electorate has been sliding for
generations, because both political parties can play this to their advantage.
It is no accident that most of the messages coming from politicians are targeted to
imbeciles.
"... While I agree with the basic points that this post is making, obviously, I am very wary of opinions in which it is assumed that the 'threat' to a Western country is that it might 'sink' to the level of some non-Western country (assuming you conceptualise Russia as being non-Western which is a highly debatable point). ..."
"... 'Trump is the natural friend of dictators everywhere,' As opposed to precisely which American President? 'It's hard to see democracy surviving anywhere if it fails in the US.' ..."
@1
Well for various reasons I was in a room full of young Chinese people immediately after the
election of Trump. I asked what their opinion was, and one piped up (with the obvious support
of the rest) that they thought it would be very good, as Trump was obviously a deranged
lunatic and imbecile whose shambolic rule (this was not how he expressed it, of course, but
this was the gist) would weaken the United States, and 'America's weakness is China's
opportunity'.
While I agree with the basic points that this post is making, obviously, I am very wary of
opinions in which it is assumed that the 'threat' to a Western country is that it might
'sink' to the level of some non-Western country (assuming you conceptualise Russia as being
non-Western which is a highly debatable point).
'Trump is the natural friend of dictators everywhere,' As opposed to precisely which American President? 'It's hard to see democracy surviving anywhere if it fails in the US.'
As everyone has pointed out, Hilary in fact won the last Presidential election in terms of
votes. It is almost unheard of in an advanced 'democracy' for the Head of State to 'win' an
election via a minority of the votes.
On top of these things one has the increasing powergrab by the non-democratic Supreme
Court, which has simply decreed that it is the major 'power in the land' with a 'lock' on
what laws get passed and which do not, and the populace be damned.
Not to mention the de facto chokehold that corporations have on who can run for office and
what positions they can hold (Sanders, with his 'new' way of raising money, is challenging
this. We shall see what happens).
It is not at all clear to me that the US is in any objective sense more democratic than,
say, Iran (although it is a lot more FREE than Iran .but that's not the same thing).
So Trump is likely to exacerbate and intensify trends that have been going on for
decades.
A bit more about what I wrote about the Supreme Court (and the American 'justice' system)
more generally, which CT commentator Corey Robin has been noting tirelessly, to widespread
apathy amongst Democratic elites.
'The Supreme Court will probably overrule decades of progressive precedents and strike
down the next Democratic president's reforms. You would not know this from watching the 2020
Democratic presidential debates. Wednesday's showdown in Atlanta, the fifth so far, did not
include a single question about the courts. Earlier debates allowed for brief discussions of
the Supreme Court, but every candidate dramatically underestimated the threat it poses to the
Democratic Party. Both the candidates and the moderators appear to be astonishingly
naïve about the judiciary's lurch to the right under Donald Trump. And it is pointless
to discuss the Democrats' ambitious proposals without explaining how they are going to
survive at SCOTUS.
It's not just the debates -- Democratic politicians rarely talk about the courts at all.
There is an enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to the judiciary:
GOP voters are more likely to be motivated by the opportunity to fill judicial vacancies,
which is why Trump ran on a promise of appointing archconservative judges. Democratic voters
focus more on individual political issues, and their party has never prioritized judges -- or
campaigned on the fact that every political dispute is ultimately resolved as a judicial
question. This complacency will prove catastrophic for progressives now that Justice Brett
Kavanaugh has replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy, shoring up a conservative majority that will
obstruct liberal policies for a generation.'
THIS is the threat to progressivism (well, all the other things that I mentioned are
threats too, but this is the one that's liable to be the 'straw that breaks the camels'
back').
@Hidari Most of the Democratic candidates have signalled willingness to pack the SC if it
rules in a partisan way. Even Booker and Klobuchar are saying "wait and see" rather than
opposing outright. . I'm sure Roberts doesn't need reminders, so the absence of much
discussion doesn't seem like a problem to me. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/18/2020-democrats-supreme-court-1223625
As regards the lower courts, they can only interpret legislation. A determined
Congressional majority can respond to any adverse interpreation with legislation that
repudiates it. It's only gridlock and Congressional cowardice that has given US courts so
much power.
An Excellent analysis, I am happy to see the pseudo intellectual Jonathan Haidt called out
for what he is. He's the king of false equivalencies , a disease we suffer from these days.
Haidt is a conservative pretending to be a neutral observer to legitimize the toxic ideology
of conservatism. Maybe someone should send Haidt Corey Robin's book " The Reactionary Mind "
not that he would read it
steven t johnson 11.23.19 at 4:00 pm (no link)
I was so astonished at the notion Trump cares (or trusts?) his children enough to appoint one
president I rather forgot the rest of the post.
But fascism is just a different way of mobilizing the nation for war than democracy. So
the real issue with Trumpian fascism is who he's going to fight and how. I believe economic
warfare waged against the masses in a foreign country is an atrocity. Venezuela, Iran and as
ever North Korea are targets. The goal in the economic war on China is the restoration of
capitalism and/or the division of the country. But do democrats/Democrats really disagree
with this? Except that they want more use of weapons and a better deal for the EU?
"... The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has designated Slotkin as one of its top candidates, part of the so-called "Red to Blue" program targeting the most vulnerable Republican-held seats -- in this case, the Eighth Congressional District of Michigan, which includes Lansing and Brighton. The House seat for the district is now held by two-term Republican Representative Mike Bishop. ..."
"... The 23rd Congressional District in Texas, which includes a vast swathe of the US-Mexico border along the Rio Grande, features a contest for the Democratic nomination between Gina Ortiz Jones, an Air Force intelligence officer in Iraq, who subsequently served as an adviser for US interventions in South Sudan and Libya, and Jay Hulings. The latter's website describes him as a former national security aide on Capitol Hill and federal prosecutor, whose father and mother were both career undercover CIA agents. The incumbent Republican congressman, Will Hurd, is himself a former CIA agent, so any voter in that district will have his or her choice of intelligence agency loyalists in both the Democratic primary and the general election. ..."
An extraordinary number of former intelligence and military operatives from the CIA, Pentagon, National Security Council and State
Department are seeking nomination as Democratic candidates for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. The potential influx of military-intelligence
personnel into the legislature has no precedent in US political history.
If the Democrats capture a majority in the House of Representatives on November 6, as widely predicted, candidates drawn from
the military-intelligence apparatus will comprise as many as half of the new Democratic members of Congress. They will hold the balance
of power in the lower chamber of Congress.
Both push and pull are at work here. Democratic Party leaders are actively recruiting candidates with a military or intelligence
background for competitive seats where there is the best chance of ousting an incumbent Republican or filling a vacancy, frequently
clearing the field for a favored "star" recruit. A case in point is Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA operative with three tours in Iraq,
who worked as Iraq director for the National Security Council in the Obama White House and as a top aide to John Negroponte, the
first director of national intelligence. After her deep involvement in US war crimes in Iraq, Slotkin moved to the Pentagon, where,
as a principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, her areas of responsibility included drone
warfare, "homeland defense" and cyber warfare. Elissa Slotkin
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has designated Slotkin as one of its top candidates, part of the so-called
"Red to Blue" program targeting the most vulnerable Republican-held seats -- in this case, the Eighth Congressional District of Michigan,
which includes Lansing and Brighton. The House seat for the district is now held by two-term Republican Representative Mike Bishop.
The Democratic leaders are promoting CIA agents and Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. At the same time, such people are choosing
the Democratic Party as their preferred political vehicle. There are far more former spies and soldiers seeking the nomination of
the Democratic Party than of the Republican Party. There are so many that there is a subset of Democratic primary campaigns that,
with a nod to Mad magazine, one might call "spy vs. spy."
The 23rd Congressional District in Texas, which includes a vast swathe of the US-Mexico border along the Rio Grande, features
a contest for the Democratic nomination between Gina Ortiz Jones, an Air Force intelligence officer in Iraq, who subsequently served
as an adviser for US interventions in South Sudan and Libya, and Jay Hulings. The latter's website describes him as a former national
security aide on Capitol Hill and federal prosecutor, whose father and mother were both career undercover CIA agents. The incumbent
Republican congressman, Will Hurd, is himself a former CIA agent, so any voter in that district will have his or her choice of intelligence
agency loyalists in both the Democratic primary and the general election.
CNN's "State of the Union" program on March 4 included a profile of Jones as one of many female candidates seeking nomination
as a Democrat in Tuesday's primary in Texas. The network described her discreetly as a "career civil servant." However, the Jones
for Congress website positively shouts about her role as a spy, noting that after graduating from college, "Gina entered the US Air
Force as an intelligence officer, where she deployed to Iraq and served under the US military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy" (the
last phrase signaling to those interested in such matters that Jones is gay).
According to her campaign biography, Ortiz Jones was subsequently detailed to a position as "senior advisor for trade enforcement,"
a post President Obama created by executive order in 2012. She would later be invited to serve as a director for investment at the
Office of the US Trade Representative, where she led the portfolio that reviewed foreign investments to ensure they did not pose
national security risks. With that background, if she fails to win election, she can surely enlist in the trade war efforts of the
Trump administration.
Plunder, me hearties! Plunder! Yo Ho Ho and a barrel of oil!
"President Trump wants it known that -- despite his recent decision to pull back the U.S.
militarily back from previously Kurdish-held territory in Syria -- he plans on "
keeping the oil " in Syria and using American troops to do it.
If he follows through, he'll set a dangerous precedent -- and might commit a war crime.
Keeping Syria's oil could well constitute pillage -- theft during war -- which is banned in
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the 1907 Hague Laws and
Customs of War on Land, which states, "The pillage of a town or place, even when taken by
assault, is prohibited." The prohibition has a solid grounding in the laws of war and
international criminal justice , and the U.S. federal code , including as a
sanction for the illegal exploitation of natural resources such as oil from war zones.'
washpo
"Trump's more grave rationale is his conception of oil as remuneration for U.S. military
investment in the Middle East. In a speech Oct. 29, he said: "We want to keep the oil. $45
million a month? Keep the oil." It mirrors a sentiment he expressed to ABC News in 2011 about
Iraqi oil, saying
, "You win the war and you take it. You're not stealing anything. We're taking back $1.5
trillion to reimburse ourselves. " That argument goes well beyond the notion of securing the
oil -- it suggests trying to profit from it -- and therefore risks triggering responsibility
for pillage. Contrary to Trump's characterization, pillage is a form of stealing.
None of this is a new line of thinking for Trump: As a private citizen in 2011, in an
interview with the Wall Street Journal, commenting on U.S. military involvement in Libya,
he said : "I'm only interested in Libya if we take the oil. If we don't take the oil, I'm
not interested." Regarding Iraq, he
said : "I always heard that when we went into Iraq, we went in for the oil. I said, 'Ah,
that sounds smart.' " Indeed, he sounded disappointed during his televised announcement last
week of the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, when he returned to the
subject of oil and
lamented : "I always used to say 'If they're going into Iraq, keep the oil.' They never
did. They never did."" washpo "Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said during the committee
hearing that SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi informed him that a deal had been signed with
an American company to "modernize the oil fields in northeastern Syria", and asked Pompeo
whether the administration was supportive of it.
"We are," Pompeo responded during the hearing streamed live by PBS. "The deal took a little
longer ... than we had hoped, and now we're in implementation."" Reuters -------------- Barry
McCaffery has commented on Twitter that if we do this we are becoming pirates. As he says, the
oil belongs to Syria. I agree. pl
We're watching civil war unfold in the US and these pompous asses are busy trying to
sponge up Syrian oil, the trivial amount of stuff that is land-locked hundreds of miles from
any territory we control or is friendly to the US? God help us who is advising the tweeter in
chief? Can't Trump read an oil price chart any better than Fauci can read a Covid infection
rate? Did his son-in-law tell him what a great idea that would be? Are the warrior generals
who wouldn't defend this nation's capital against antifa, with the tacit consent at sedition
by Esper, in agreement with this line of strategic wisdom too? Maybe Senator Graham, who just
yesterday finally cornered Sally Yates into admitting under oath that the FISA warrant on
Carter Page was a fraud, is covering his bases in case the left's "resistance" to the
November election results in antifa marching into D.C. to bring Biden's secret choice as V.P.
into power? We have less reason to be in Syria than we do to still be defending Germany and
the rest of Europe from the USSR.
Well, with avarice as the guiding principle of the Trump administration's foreign policy,
at least there's no hypocrisy. Just pure, unadulterated greed. The honesty is almost
admirable. But I don't know how our Iranian policy fits into the avarice doctrine.
As far as Trump's pirate name goes, I do like the sound of "Bonespurs." I can see the flag
flying from the mainmast... a skeleton foot of or on a field of sable.
As an army of occupation the US military could requisition the oil, but according to the
Hague Regulations it can do so only for its own needs. It can not do so for the fun and
profits of the foreign state that sent that army in.
If you really, really, really squint hard then perhaps there is wriggle room under Article
55 i.e. Trump can claim that he is the usufructuary of the territory, and therefore can
benefit from the pumping.
But arguing that would be a hopeless brief.
So, yeah, Trump as a medieval warlord. Perhaps he'll also reintroduce the practice of
prima nocta.
I would accept the idea of Trump's inability to distinguish between government and
business, but people like Jeffries and the Pomp are neocon ideologues through and through.
Nothing more.
Paolo Roberto, 50, a native of Sweden (his father was an Italian), had made a name for
himself: a well-known boxer, he had his own TV show, he appeared in many programmes; Swedish
girls loved to dance with him in Dancing with the Stars ; he also had a profitable
business: he imported Italian olive oil and gastronomic products sold in the large Swedish
supermarket chain CO-OP. All that glory vanished in a moment. Swedish police trapped him as he
visited a girl of dubious character and then paid her for her services. It was a honey-trap.
The policemen appeared from their hiding places and whisked Roberto off to the local precinct
where he was booked and the nation alerted. He didn't deny a thing; he expressed extreme
remorse.
In Sweden, it is perfectly legal to be engaged in prostitution. Today no one in Sweden can
tell a woman what to do with her own body, be it abortion, sex change or prostitution. Yet it
is a crime for a man to pay a woman for sex.
It is not sane; it is as though selling crack were legal while buying crack is the only
crime. Usually it is other way around, a casual user goes free while the pusher is arrested.
But it does not matter; Sweden is not the only country in the world with such a strange law on
her books.
Roberto was charged for this crime. It could be worse: Sweden has some extraordinary crimes
in its law book, one of them is Rape by Misadventure or Careless Rape which is
committed by a man who has sex with a woman who ostensibly agrees to or even solicits sex but
inwardly she is not willing. She may be doing it for money, or boredom, but not for pleasure,
and the man carelessly overlooked her conflicting emotions. It is Swedish Rape. Pity they never
apply the same logic to working people; we often do even less pleasant things for money, to buy
food or pay rent, but the landlord is not punished for raping his tenants.
This new definition of rape deserves Victor Hugo's pen. It is Swedish Rape to have sex
without a condom. It is Swedish Rape if the next day, or a few days later, the woman feels she
may have been raped. Or cheated, or underpaid, or mistreated. For this ill-defined offence,
Julian Assange has already spent ten years in various detention halls. If he would have killed
the girl he would be free by now. Note that you may be guilty of Swedish Rape if you claim to
be infertile and your partner becomes pregnant. Are you guilty of rape if you claim to be a Jew
but aren't? This is an Israeli contribution to the concept of rape. But I digress.
Paolo Roberto is charged with paying a woman for sex, the crime Judah, son of Jacob,
committed with Tamar (Genesis 38). The 25-year-old girl consented, but that does not matter.
She came from a rather poor South European country, so probably her consent doesn't mean much.
Or perhaps she consented just in order to entrap the guy and this is how Swedish justice works.
Swedish prisons would be empty if police weren't allowed to entice and entrap Swedes.
The consequences for Paolo were terrible: he hasn't been tried yet; he hasn't been found
guilty; his likely punishment is little more than a fine; but he was dropped like a hot potato
by Swedish TV, by Swedish sports, by the Swedish chain that marketed his olive oil. His company
was bankrupted overnight. The man was crushed like a bug. It was not Swedish law that crushed
him. In the eyes of Swedish law he is still innocent until proven guilty. Swedish law did not
force the supermarkets to remove his olive oil (actually, a very good one, I used to buy it)
from its shelves. Paolo was lynched by the New Puritan spirit that is part and parcel of the
New Normal.
Once upon a time, Sweden was an extremely liberal and free country. Swedes were known, or
even notorious for free sexual mores. Independent and brave Swedish girls weren't shy, and they
were comfortable with very unorthodox 'family' unions. But, while the US has always espoused
its own brand of politically-correct Puritanism, the global media is now dragging along the
other Western states in its wake. France and even Sweden participated in their own renditions
of the American BLM protests, called for #MeToo, and seem eager to trade in their own cultures
for the New Puritanism.
This rising Puritanism is a contrarian response to the personal freedom we enjoyed since the
1960's, and a jaded weariness with the excessive commercial sexuality of the mass media. The
media sells everything with a lot of sex. You cannot turn a TV on, daytime or night, without
seeing an implied or explicit act of copulation. They sell cars, snacks and sneakers by
displaying naked bodies. This flood of pornography is turning the public mood against sex. Who
should we blame for this blatant exploitation of sex? Men.
The Old Puritanism was hard on women; the witches were burned, and the whores were evicted
from their homes. The New Puritanism is hard on men. Men are being taught that hanky-panky can
have serious consequences. On the site of one of their destroyed statues of Jefferson, the
Americans should erect a statue of Andrea Dworkin, the obese lying feminist who famously
said that every intercourse is rape, and Penetration is Violation . She is an icon
of New Puritan America.
They could not outlaw sex per se, so they invent sordid stories of incestuous sex, of
paedophilia, of abusing priests, each storyteller trying to outdo the last. The vast majority
of these stories are sheer inventions, like the witchcraft stories of the 17 th
century in Old Puritan New England. We are in the midst of a global media campaign, and men are
the targets. The Patriarchy will be diminished by the systematic demonization of boys and
men.
In the current media frenzy I cannot trust any story, any accusation of a man involved in a
sordid sexual crime: these media campaigns are too often employed to unseat a commercial
competitor or destroy the popularity of a political rival. Often the man is not even accused of
any crime, but only of frivolous behaviour: a touch, or an immodest proposal; natural acts
celebrated in the days of my youth. Yes, my young readers, in the 1970's you could touch a
woman's knee and suggest she accompany you on a passionate weekend at a seaside resort, and she
would often agree. This libertine era is over completely. Even to me, it now seems mythical,
like Atlantis. It is gone.
The US is the media's inspirational model of the New Puritanism. Remember the women who
lined up to claim that the future Supreme Court
judge tried to kiss or even rape them when they were kids in college? The most credible of
them would not even allege he behaved criminally; just immorally according to New Puritan
standards. Now every relationship must be re-evaluated in the light of the New Puritanical
historical revisionism. Women who pose for a picture with a presidential candidate now have a
certain amount of power over him. During a media campaign the allegations come fast and
furious, but upon investigation they turn out to be spurious and motivated by self-interest or
politics.
It is good to see that sometimes, quite rarely, a man can still escape a close encounter
with his life intact. Former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond had been accused of all
the usual sexual sins and was fully cleared by the court . No less than
ten women were recruited (apparently with the knowledge of Nicola Sturgeon, Salmond's
successor); they came forward and claimed that they were sexually attacked by Salmond. They
were rather sloppy with their proofs, and it turns out that they claimed they were attacked at
times and places where Salmond could not have been present. The case was dismissed and Salmond
was found not guilty . Scottish prosecutors had spent years of labour trying to condemn
Salmond, and it spectacularly failed.
You might ask, why have these perjurers (who are well-connected women close to the centre of
power of the ruling SNP party) not been prosecuted for their attempt to frame the man? Well,
the very idea of these trials is that the accusing woman can't lose. If she wins, she can
collect millions, and if she loses, even her name remains secret. These ten perjurers are
exempt from legal consequence; nor are they required pay expenses and damages. The women are
protected. Who pays? Our colleague, the excellent writer and former HM Ambassador Craig Murray , that's who. Murray was
reporting on the trial of Alex Salmond for the public's benefit, published onto his own blog,
when he was charged with disclosing the identities of some of the perjuring women. A
conscientious man, Craig wasn't guilty of naming names, but even his vague description of "an
SNP politician, a party worker and several current and former Scottish government civil
servants and officials" was considered by the court to be a monstrous breach of
confidentiality.
The public was well prepared for this onslaught on mankind by the poisonous #MeToo culture,
a massive wave of carefully coordinated media hysteria. Women in communes and nunneries are
known to menstruate at the same time when living in close proximity. #MeToo was a similar mass
event. It was designed to push women's buttons. They even offered up an appropriately grotesque
scapegoat: Harvey Weinstein, a movie producer with 386 Hollywood production credits under his belt.
The actresses that accused Weinstein (over eighty women) would still be unknowns if he had
not given them parts in his movies. And they repaid him with such cruel ingratitude. Actresses
have a certain psychological setup that makes them extremely untrustworthy. They have many
other qualities to offset this deficiency, but you can't just accept the words of a lady who
plays today Lady Macbeth and tomorrow Madam Butterfly as solid truth. They are acting, in life
as well as in their line of work.
Consider the beautiful Angelina Jolie. She is mad as a hatter. Even her own father said that
she had "serious mental problems." Her long history of violent self-abuse culminated with her
choice to cut off her breasts because of a DNA test that indicated risk for breast cancer. She
has had a long line of boyfriends and husbands, and a lot of kids adopted out of Africa, taken
away from their natural parents. Is she a reliable witness? She would say anything that is
fashionable. The woman wants to be adored as the model of an excellent person; this is a
honourable goal, but she is extremely unsuitable for it.
Weinstein's eighty accusers collected millions; the great producer went to a life-long jail
sentence. The public, the great American public was eager to lynch the man who gave them
True Romance and Pulp Fiction . Was he guilty as charged? Even the charges were a
travesty of justice. Men of his generation (and of mine, too) routinely propositioned women. We
are all guilty, though not many of us racked up Weinstein's numbers. Yet every woman was free
to refuse. No
police reports against Weinstein appeared until the #MeToo media campaign was in full
swing. Did he harass them? You and me are harassed daily by offers to take another credit card
or bank loan; we are free to refuse this definitely harassing offer. Every unsolicited proposal
is harassment; and we receive daily hundreds of proposals of various nature. What is so
different about a sexual proposal to a woman? Weinstein may or may not have committed a crime,
but in the poisonous air of #MeToo there is no need to prove any accusation, and the man was
lynched.
Perhaps now I am going to lose your tentative sympathy, but I do not believe the allegations
against Jeffrey Epstein and Ms Ghislaine Maxwell, either. And the attack on Prince Andrew is
similarly unbelievable. Chapeau for Mr Trump who dared to express sympathy to Ms Maxwell. This
was an act of incredible bravery, to step out of line and to say a few kind words to her and
about her. The cowardly Clinton and Obama, who were close friends with Epstein and Maxwell,
were mum. Trump who was not particularly close to the couple, spoke up for them. He really
deserves being re-elected, despite his many faults. Such a man is a master of his own mind, and
this is a very rare quality.
I may mull over a proposal to buy the Brooklyn Bridge, but how possibly can one believe the
stories of the disturbed woman who claims that she had to be forced to have sex with fabulously
wealthy Mr Epstein or to meet glamorous Prince Andrew, let alone that she suffered "extreme
distress, humiliation, fear, psychological trauma, loss of dignity and self esteem and invasion
of her privacy" on his island retreat? The complete absence of evidence and the complete lack
of objectivity could only prevail in the midst of a media campaign. It is believable what Ms
Maxwell said in a deposition, that Ms Giuffre was "totally lying." Indeed all these gold
diggers are totally lying.
Like this one : An
anonymous accuser says she'll testify that 'evil' Ghislaine Maxwell raped her '20-30 times'
starting from when she was 14 and claims she was forced to abort Jeffrey Epstein's baby. Honest
and reputable men like Prince Andrew are forced into the demeaning and impossible position of
having to argue and justify themselves against wild accusations. There are no reasonably
believable accusations of crime against these people. A woman had a photo of her taken with
Prince Andrew. She was at least 17; at this age girls in England are perfectly entitled to have
an affair with a man. Other girls in other photos were apparently of age, too. Young, yes, but
not criminally young. Furthermore, a posed photo does not always indicate a sexual
relationship. Some women claim they were babies and they were raped, but there are no proofs of
anything except their greed.
Mike Robeson who investigated the claims came to conclusion that they were often initiated
by big business to rip off rich Jews. New Puritanism is the Joker card that can trump the
antisemitism ace. He wrote:
I've read Whitney Webb's investigative articles on Epstein, which are often cited by the
alternative and leftist crowd as evidence of his Mossad connections and blackmailing
activities. But Webb's articles are actually full of unsubstantiated rumors, possible immoral
or illegal activities between high level people based on coincidental social or business
connections and potentially damning rumors corroborated mainly by her previous articles and
posts. She has done some fine reporting on other issues. But on the Epstein case, she is part
of what Israel rightly refers to as the New Puritanism.
Supposed evidence of Frau Maxwell's salacious involvement is the famous photo of Prince
Andrew below. This is all the New Puritans need to justify believing the rumors and drawing
their "I told ya' so!" conclusions. But hobnobbing has long been a sport played by the
wannabes with the tacit collusion of the rich and/or famous.
Take a look at the fun couple under Prince Andrew and his alleged squeeze. You may
recognize Rosalynn Carter, then First Lady of the US. Standing next to her is none other than
William Gacy , a
few months before he was arrested as a serial killer and cannibal of those he'd butchered.
Are we to draw certain conclusions from this photo?
Below Rosalynn Carter is another photo, this one showing then President George Bush being
hobnobbed by political has-been George Wallace and by young political wannabe Bill Clinton.
What conclusions can be drawn from this? Was George already then grooming Billy Boy for
higher things in life? Or is it merely more photographic evidence of how wannabes crawl up
the ladder of personal and career advancement? For it is clear that the rich and/or famous,
like Rosalynn Carter and Prince Andrew, have to put up with photo ops, sometimes to their
later discredit.
Very little about the Epstein case makes sense – not his social and financial
connections and especially not his alleged links with the Mossad. Every rich Jew in the US is
sayanim, but that doesn't mean they are running blackmail ops. And the pedo accusations are
ridiculous. His 'victims', none of whom were less than 16 (legal to marry in most European
countries and many American states) were willing, well paid and well taken care of gals who
got lucky to catch a good-looking sugar daddy. Whatever he knew about his rich and famous
clients that may have gotten him killed may have had something to do with what he knew about
them, sure. He probably shared his largesse with his friends and possible donors and
contributors. But if he had been sexually blackmailing them over the years, why did they keep
going back to him?
The blackmail angle doesn't make sense. It makes more sense that a lot of famous people
may have preferred him dead to testifying about his activities. Who, famous or not famous,
would want to get dragged through the mud by the overzealous New Puritan prosecution teams
that had already destroyed the lives of innocent defendants of sexual accusations like Jerry
Sandusky and Larry Nasser, as well as hundreds of others in the past decades of America's
sexual abuse/devil worship hysteria. The Pizzagate fiasco is a demonstration of how mobs can
be raised, aimed and defused by an orchestrated media campaign.
From what I see of Epstein's photos, he was an intelligent, good lucking, confident, fun
loving guy. If he was nailing more hot chicks than I ever did, more power to him.
Another motivation for the liquidation of Epstein's empire is the collaboration between
the media and the unknown figures behind the scenes who are likely to walk away with
Epstein's millions. Are you familiar with the story of Howard Hughes and the destruction of
his Las Vegas empire? It happened to him. Something similar has happened in the past few
years to other wealthy Jews like Donald Sterling , who was first falsely
accused of being a racist and then forced to relinquish his ownership of an NBA team. Other
examples? Richard Fuld of Lehmann Bros. and Bernie Madoff were taken down by their Wall
Street rivals and then used as scapegoats to expiate the sins of corporate raiders. Harvey
Weinstein was the sacrificial schwein to absolve the sick Hollywood culture. Now that
Weinstein has been destroyed, Hollywood can go back to business as usual.
But what about the intimidation faced by hundreds of girls victimized on Epstein's private
island? Why do they claim to be afraid of retribution even after his death? The girls were
treated well. They admit that they cooperated in finding more girls who would massage
Epstein, even supposedly knowing that they too would be 'horribly abused' by the 'monster'.
The reporters and the interviewed women are perfect examples of New Puritans. I feel dirty
after watching them perform. None of their emotional anecdotes reach evidentiary standards
and any court would dismiss their cases out of hand.
As for the source of Epstein's fortune, here is a plausible
investigation . It is interesting that no one can really agree on the amount nor the
source of his millions.
Justice, or what is passing under that name, gets screwed whenever the law is used to
empower a person with a personal grudge, either on his own behalf or to benefit a media
consortium. Emotional appeals could never been considered in the better world of Jefferson,
Lincoln and Washington. Perhaps they had slaves, but they would not have condemned a man, free
or slave, on the basis of empty accusations. Physical evidence is still required in the legal
courts. Only on TV can people be destroyed by edited testimony.
I am very tolerant of anti-Jewish rhetoric. So tolerant that I am often accused of it
myself. Still, the accusations against Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and let's not forget
poor Mr Harvey Weinstein, are often marked by cliché characters such as the crass
foul-mouthed Jew and the innocent girl he despoils. Meanwhile, the facts of each case are
monotonously repeated: one man's career is destroyed while dozens of girls become famous;
millions of dollars are suddenly difficult to track and soon begin to evaporate; the man is
demonized and the women are sainted.
Can the New Puritanism overturn the Jews and their unstoppable juggernaut cry of
antisemitism? Leo Frank was lynched by the mob and the ADL was formed to make sure it never
happened again, no matter what the crime. Is New Puritanism the new mob violence? Perhaps mob
violence is the only way our rulers can overwhelm the paralyzing effects of being called
antisemitic. Perhaps the New Puritanism is an opening salvo in a larger war between shadow
forces.
But I could never believe that Maxwell and Epstein were connected with the Israeli
Intelligence agency, the Mossad. With all my sympathy to our esteemed colleagues Philip
Giraldi and Whitney
Webb , there is not a single shred of evidence for such connection. Conjecture, yes;
evidence, no. Even the father of Ghislaine, the late Mr Maxwell, who was not a saintly person
by any means, might be with better evidence accused of collaborating with Soviet Intelligence,
the KGB, than with the Israelis. A person of his standing probably connected with Israelis,
too, but he was no Mossad agent.
I can understand my American friends. There never was a time worse for American men, when
the statues and memorials of their great ancestors have been uprooted, when their wives and
daughters are queuing to press their pink lips upon the boots of black ghetto dwellers, when
their manhood is defined as "toxic" and their sons are dreaming of a same-sex union with a
glorious black buck. If the US were occupied by the Communists as Amerika envisaged, it wouldn't be as bad as what
you've got now. You have been humiliated thoroughly. I understand that in such a situation you
might jump at the chance to break the bones of rich Liberal Jews like Epstein and Weinstein. I
wouldn't refuse you this comfort. They are anyway already lynched.
However, if you want ever to walk free, you'd better deal with the New Puritan takeover.
Women are wonderful creatures, but often they can be manipulated and do what they are asked to
do. They are also excellent actors and are not troubled by honour. Men are more independent and
solitary by nature; that is why our Masters want to suppress masculinity. It is easier to
shepherd a flock of cows than so many bulls. Women love to be the victims, to blame men for
their failings; add social distance and fear of viral infection; add the mask (the New Western
Burka); add lockdown, and the problem of how to send the children to school might just solve
itself. No
children. The New Puritans are currently purging Hollywood of the most relentlessly
heterosexual men, but when they run out of rich Jews, they just might come after you.
The New Normal is the New Puritan. The pandemic fit into it tight as a glove. Under millions
of cameras and tracing applications, privacy shrinks and disappears. New Puritanism erases the
gap between public and private realms. In the world we knew, there was a difference between the
twain. A man having an affair with a woman (or with another man) was in a private realm. Do
whatever you wish in privacy of your home; just don't frighten the horses, Victorians once
said. Now there can be no privacy. Sex is already more of a political opinion than a physical
act. You might be lionized as a homosexual or despised as a breeder, your choice. Any affair,
or even the attempt to start an affair could be deadly in the post #MeToo world. In an era of
socialized medicine, sex is seen as a dangerous weakness that might endanger lives and imperil
the global healthcare system.
Much of the severity of New Puritanism can be sourced directly to American culture. America
was founded by the Old Puritans of Mayflower in 1620 and has periodically been subject
to hysterical outbursts, from witches to Red scares. Nowhere has the use of sex for advertising
and commerce been so widely spread as in the US. As the US has become the model for the world,
an epidemic of American hysteria is starting to infect countries all around the world. #MeToo
reached even Russia, but it is still only a minor phenomenon, mainly to be found among only the
most woke of hipsters.
Orwell imagined a future of "state-enforced repression and celibacy" while Huxley predicted
"deliberate, narcotising promiscuity". The New Puritans have chosen Orwell's world. I grew up
in something more akin to Huxley's, and I can tell you which one is better. Communist Russia
was very permissive in the private sphere. People had a lot of sex, with their girl/boy
friends, with spouses, with neighbours, with wives of their friends, with their colleagues,
with their teachers and students. The Soviets had none of the restrictions we have now against
sexual relations in the University between teachers and students; in fact, no restrictions
against sex with coworkers, something that now we would call abusive and then call the police.
As religion had little influence in Soviet society, adultery was frequent, and unless connected
with a public scandal, had no consequences.
Russians as well as the French could not understand why Clinton's affair with Monica
Lewinsky made waves in the US that blew into an impeachment trial and ended with the
bombardment of Belgrade. Bill was unfaithful to Hillary? That's not nice, but it is their
private affair. President Clinton lied? Well, he was not in the confession booth. Traditional
religions, be it Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, are quite tolerant of venial sin. Puritanism,
the Old as well as its New offspring are deadly serious in everything, and are unafraid of
killing or bullying a sinner to death. They may have begun with witches, but they are ending up
targeting ordinary folk.
Currently their targets have a lot of wampum, for it is no fun to bully a person for no
material gain. Us, impecunious men, we have nothing to be afraid of yet. But it might be wise
to save society before the New Puritans bring down disaster onto all of us. In my opinion,
America's influence on the world should be reversed, or at least limited. Let America get
influenced by Europe for a change. Mercifully, Europe is suffering from a very light case of
New Puritanism that may be entirely cured with a healthy dose of Anti-Americanism. I hear the
vaccine is under development.
Picture two is not proof, it's illustration. In fact Cord Meyer recruited Clinton as a
Rhodes scholar at Oxford, feathered his wife's nest with a ridiculous bonanza of commodity
trading top-ticks, then appointed Bill to run the CIA covert ops slush fund at Mena airfield.
That picture is junior secret agent Bill Clinton at the office picnic with his big boss the
DCI.
As for picture number one, I'll be forever grateful for the heartwarming thought that
Rosalyn also puts on a clown costume, handcuffs boys, buttfucks them, strangles them, and
buries them in the crawlspace.
Virtually all you wrote is true but with "Very little about the Epstein case makes sense
– not his social and financial connections and especially not his alleged links with
the Mossad" you seem to have quite deliberately blown your cover as another lying judaizer to
those who think Jews are normally incapable of true conversion and that your role in creation
is to show what bad is compared to good.
Indeed, it appears so: a very incisive first half of the article, describing a real
phenomenon (used to manipulate public opinion and society) seems designed to drop the Epstein
turd into.
Epstein is no Puritan witch hunt: Robert Maxwell gets something akin to a state funeral in
Israel, his daughter pimps for guy who uses lavish Wexner money for beehives of celebrities
into which a steady supply of young female flesh is injected and this guy is telling us we
just need to relax a bit.
" then First Lady of the US. Standing next to her is none other than William Gacy, a few
months before he was arrested as a serial killer and cannibal of those he'd butchered. Are
we to draw certain conclusions from this photo?"
Thanks, Israel. Well reasoned and well presented. Although some or many may not agree with
you, it's refreshing to read a straight forward exposition. At least you're laying it out
there for others to take a crack at it.
"Women are wonderful creatures, but often they can be manipulated and do what they are
asked to do. They are also excellent actors and are not troubled by honour. "
I've never met a woman who wasn't a bald-faced liar about anything that concerned her
personally. (And no, I'm not an Incel. Far from it)
"Much of the severity of New Puritanism can be sourced directly to American culture.
America was founded by the Old Puritans of Mayflower in 1620 and has periodically been
subject to hysterical outbursts, from witches to Red scares."
So true. The country was settled by all manner of religious zealots, each and every one of
them forming some sort of utopian colony here–almost all of which went down in
flames.
The Old Puritanism was hard on women; the witches were burned, and the whores were
evicted from their homes. The New Puritanism is hard on men.
Well, it is particularly hard on "beta" men. Their idea is basically to let "alphas" have
harems but all other men to become incels or worse. Just look at this guy, punished for
visiting a whore (in their view anyone who pays for sex is by definition not an alpha, so it
makes sense to punish johns but allow or even celebrate whores)
Yes, Feminism is a kind of inverted puritanism. But being hard on sluts and whore makes
sense if you want to preserve society's order and families. Feminist rules against men only
help to destroy society.
So there's a very big difference between the Old Puritanism and the New Puritanism.
From what I see of Epstein's photos, he was an intelligent, good lucking, confident, fun
loving guy. If he was nailing more hot chicks than I ever did, more power to him.
Come on. No one knows how this guy made money. For all purposes he was a nobody. Yet he
was seen with Elon Musk, Woody Allen, Trump, Clinton, Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, anyone who
was "someone" dined with him and maybe one of his girls. There's something very fishy about
this. I don't know, maybe he and Maxwell were just the preferred pimp of the elites, or maybe
there's something else. Robert Maxwell (Ghislaine's dad) was an Israeli spy and a media
magnate, just that is very suspicious.
I mean, of course I don't trust the little whore Giuffre (whoever trusts whores or
actresses, but I repeat myself, is an idiot). But there is something very strange and rotten
about Epstein and the fact that he met with almost everybody in the so-called elite.
Much of this article makes sense, though I can't buy the defense of Epstein and Maxwell.
It's absurd to call him a "pedophile" as many journalists do. He was a pimp for the Deep
State's extortion racket.
Thanks for this. I have been criticized by many for observing holes in the narrative and
objecting to trial by media.
I have, since the start of the last Epstein narrative questioned the "intelligence"
connection. Not because it wasn't possible, rather that Virginia Roberts narrative about
escaping was implausible. If Epstein was doing his alleged blackmail routine for Mossad or
any other intelligence service, Roberts would have been suicided long ago. Loose ends like
that are a danger to the operation.
That doesn't mean that Epstein wasn't diddling underage girls nor does it mean that Maxwell
wasn't recruiting girls to massage Epstein. In Maxwell's case, she may, or may not have known
Epstein was diddling them as alleged. I have yet to see a reasonable explanation of how these
underage girls got passports without parental consent, and if they did, who was the
guarantor? Apparently, all of these accusers had parents who were uninterested in their
underage daughters traveling with a male more than twice their age, on his private jet.
As for Weinstein, Shirley Temple's mother complained people in the studio were trying to get
into her daughter's pants and she had to be vigilant. Marilyn Monroe, on marrying Joe
DiMaggio, is reported to have said that she`d never have to suck another cock. The casting
couch stories have been rampant for as long as I have been alive, yet I am supposed to
believe that none of Weinstein`s accusers knew that it was the price of admission. That does
not mean I approve of taking advantage of women, that has always been done in many ways. Post
war turned millions of German and Italian women into prostitutes, for occupying soldiers, in
order to feed themselves and their families. Apparently that was ok, but young actresses
being turned into millionaires is not.
Not true at all, the majority of people who settled the USA were regular Anglos,
especially in the South.
And Anglo DNA is something like 25% of the USA. This country is full of immigrants from
other stocks, and you know what? They are far more likely to be Democrat-voting liberals,
while the Anglo Americans are more likely to be rural Republicans who think things like MeToo
and BLM are crazy.
What a total crock of shit. I have long maintained that Shamir is Mossad and a pretend
convert to Christianity. This is the guy who argued with passion that those who say that
Muslims did not do 9/11 are depriving them of credit for their rare success. It's
nevertheless surprising to see him cashing in his chips in such a stupid and lazy way. It's
in fact so stupid that it brings to mind Gordon Duff, himself an intelligence figure,
alerting me to the hugely disparate quality of Shamir emissions with the explanation that the
persona "Israel Shamir" is the work of a committee. It looks like desperate times for the big
Jews. The big satanic game -- implicating the Rothschilds, the British royals, and a whole
gaggle of Jews and crypto-Jews including Trump and Bill Gates, and all their attendant goys
such as the Clintons -- could all fall apart.
Israel Adam pretend-Christian Shamir, who is Moloch and why was there a temple to him on
Epstein's island?
Anyone who finds Shamir's protestations of Jewish innocence plausible need look no farther
than Maria Farmer's interview with Whitney Webb. Maria doesn't mention Moloch, but she keeps
wondering what happened to all those girls. Thousands seem to have just disappeared.
innocent defendants of sexual accusations like Jerry Sandusky and Larry Nasser,
I agree with most of the article, but do you have any proof that Jerry Sandusky and Larry
Nasser are innocent?
Prince Andrew fooling around with a consenting 17 year old does not compare with what
Jerry Sandusky and Larry Nasser were accused and convicted of doing.
How much have you seen, first hand, of America? The East Coast and Midwest is littered
with former religious communes. Okay, I may have indulged in a little hyperbole, but
nevertheless, there were a lot of them. And I don't know what you're going on about
Democrats, Anglos and such. Seems off topic to me.
I have long maintained that Shamir is Mossad and a pretend convert to Christianity. This
is the guy who argued with passion that those who say that Muslims did not do 9/11 are
depriving them of credit for their rare success. It's nevertheless surprising to see him
cashing in his chips in such a stupid and lazy way.
It's hard to imagine an authentic Christian would defend the deep state and Zionist Hebrew
pedophile operative Epstein. Hebrew-supremacist blood is thicker than any ideology, I guess.
His big Hebrew ego just can't let go of it's delusions of being forged by sacred, primeval
forces. I'm sure a rat would have a huge ego if it could speak, too.
Yes, the anti-Semitic trope of the Jew despoiling the innocent. The only stereotype I can
read here is that of the eternal victim. So Madoff didn't steal millions from elderly
pensioners. And Epstein wasn't linked to the former head of Israeli intelligence or invest in
security companies run by former Unit 8200 types. And Wexner (of Mega Group) didn't gift him
a multimillion dollar surveillance lair. And Maxwell was trolling the parking lot of Groton
School and Philips Andover after the kiddies got released from their chemistry AP test, not
preying on broken girls from broken homes. F#ck you Shamir.
He had murdered the girl, don't forget, and had been convicted by the courts,
despite a protracted and lavishly financed Jewish effort to pin the crime on a Black man who
had not committed it. The mob dragged Frank out of prison and lynched him only after his
death sentence had been commuted by the Governor of Georgia.
All of us regulars at Unz Review know fully well that speaking of Leo Frank being lynched
by the mob as the main story just won't do. Whoever is handling the Israel Shamir persona at
Herzliya these days doesn't have all that much interest in what Ron and others here have been
discussing.
Here is additional support for Shamir's take on Epstein's primary accuser –
"Virginia Roberts . claimed to have met him when she was fifteen and to have been forced to
work as his sex slave. In reality, she was seventeen, which is still below the age of consent
in Florida, but does materially alter her claim that she had sex with Prince Andrew when she
was under age because the age of consent in England is sixteen, something of which she was
almost certainly unaware .
Edward J.Epstein, a long time investigative journalist including on the JFK assassination,
recently published his own angle on the sources of Jeffrey Epstein's riches, and they have
nothing to do with sexual blackmail –
"An extremely savvy financier and philanthropist told me after Epstein's death about a
proposition Epstein had once made him: that he could save more than $40 million in US taxes
if he gave him $100 million to manage.
Epstein claimed the money would be concealed in a maze of offshore non-profits he
controlled so that part of the profits would be transferred to the financier's own
philanthropic foundation, with the balance retained offshore and out of the reach of the
taxman.
When the financier told him that the scheme amounted to illicit tax evasion, Epstein said
it was highly unlikely the Internal Revenue Service would unravel it, and, if it did, he
would protect the financier from any criminal exposure.
The financier asked him how? Epstein said the financier would have to sign over the funds
to him, thus giving him total discretion over where and how the money was invested. This
piece of paper, he said, would provide an alibi to the US tax authorities.
The financier turned down Epstein's proposition, but others – Arab princes, Russian
oligarchs and those interested in hiding some part of their wealth – might have
accepted it.
Indeed, shortly before his arrest last year, Epstein told an associate that he was going
into the business of hiding funds for billionaires who were contemplating divorcing their
wives – for a hefty commission, of course.
He also claimed to be in the final stages of buying a property in Morocco, one of four
countries in the world not to have an extradition treaty with the US.
So perhaps the mystery of Epstein's fortune is not how he made his millions, but to whom
the money ultimately belongs.
Many very powerful people may have had cause to rue Epstein's incarceration on sex charges
– and, given the fact that they were hiding their assets from the authorities, it's
highly unlikely they will ever publicly come forward to try to recover their
investments."
The column seems intended to discomfit and/or discredit as many different people around
here as possible. (I just checked Wikipedia to see how Mr. Multiname is being curated these
days, and noticed that the first of the "RELATED ARTICLES" is Gilad Atzmon.) The oddest yet
from this website's oddest writer.
" Even the father of Ghislaine, the late Mr Maxwell, might be with better evidence accused
of collaborating with Soviet Intelligence, the KGB, than with the Israelis. "
Of course. This makes perfect sense. It explains why the Israeli's gave him a state
funeral attended by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli President Chaim Herzog,
and "no less than six serving and former heads of Israeli intelligence" .. because, after
all, he was KGB Right.
@Anonymous in the Nasser
case, a number of public figures have come forward in Sandusky's defence. The most active is
John Ziegler who maintains a website full of articles showing that the case against Sandusky
and Penn State was and is a sham and money grab. ( http://johnziegler.com/ )
There is also the well known author Mark Pendergrast who wrote a book on the case. Here are
links to two video interviews of both –
@Anonymous likely that
Nassar was sacrificed to atone for all the sex abuse that happens in kids sports. Now that he
is destroyed then child sporting can go back to business as usual because the monster was
vanquished. Note that the Nassar story could have been spun to criticize the families who
hand their children over to strangers, or to attack child sports in general. But it wasn't.
It was aimed directly at one man, and when he was gone the story was gone. That makes him the
sacrificial lamb.
On the other hand, the Sandusky story was immediately expanded into the Pedo Rings story,
indicating it was part of this long term project.
This use of "Puritan" as a swear-word looks simplistic, beyond simplistic, to me. Like
brain-washed Americans using "Socialist" as a swear-word in just the same way.
They might have been bible-fundamentalists, they might have been creationists, they might
have thought the world was flat, but was every witch ever burned in Germany burned by
Puritans? Was witchcraft a solely Puritan fantasy? The first ever mention of a witch was by
them?
But thanks for reminding me of the mad hatter. I'll get a copy of Alice In Wonderland and
compare it with what you write.
PS PC has a very different origin, a different so-called religion.
And this excuses Prince Andrew for fucking teenagers how? A man born into royalty with
every advantage but apparently unable to handle actual mature women. So that makes it cool
for him to partake of sleazy Jeff's procured girls?
No decent guy thinks of doing stuff like that. If that's what having money does to men,
I'll happily remain relatively poor.
Thanks Mr Shamir. What you wrote sounds about right. I do not like the fact that rich and
powerful men got their way with young girls. But this has been the way of the world since
time immemorial. It was all done in the open, and for decades, right under the noses of the
NYT. But neither they nor the New Puritans thought it fit to investigate, since their focus
was elsewhere, namely to tame the Catholic Church through grinding it in the pedophile mill
over alleged crimes largely committed in the 70s. Only now that the Pavlovian Dog known as
Public Opinion can't get any further stimulus from allegations concerning the Papists, they
have turned to Epstein and the Jews with a Royal thrown in instead. But at the end of it, it
would make no difference to the men, women and children trafficked for sex, since the New
Puritans would have turned their focus elsewhere. And for what it is worth I don't think this
a Mossad operation either. I mean how good are these guys? And is it not the responsibility
of politicians holding or aspiring to high office to keep themselves clear of such people and
places?
You're right, you lost my sympathy with this robust defense of Jeffrey Epstein. I
appreciate that it's good to be skeptical of what is reported as well as of the mob mentality
but there is no real defense of this guy based on what I've seen and heard over the past two
years.
All of his residences with surveillance cameras covering every room.
The source of his money being very murky.
His willingness to share his paid-for harem with the most powerful and connected. Out of
the goodness of his heart? No.
The 100% implausible jail suicide.
Isn't that enough red flags?
Even swine like Bret Kavanaugh deserve to not be lynched but Jeffrey Epstein and
Ghislaineare in a whole other rarefied class of scum. Why bother to make excuses for them? Do
you really believe that Trump wished Maxwell well out of magnanimity? More like he's hoping
that none of their dirt on him will see daylight.
Xymphora is also having none of it. (It's an indication of Ron Unz's good editorial
judgment that Shamir's article is not listed on the main page.)
Xymphora (from the website) :
"The New Puritans" (Shamir). Besides being completely clueless about #metoo – it's
about power relationships, not flirting – he has a list of completely innocent
people: Jerry Sandusky, Larry Nasser, Donald Sterling, Richard Fuld, Bernie Madoff and, of
course, Harvey Weinstein, goyim. Then he tell us that the Mossad has nothing to do with
Epstein-Maxwell. I'm starting to think Shamir's history of being an 'anti-Semite' was just
producing credibility for this important career-defining moment when the operations of the
Mossad and the MEGA Group required protection.
As clear and intelligent as ever. "It is easier to shepherd a flock of cows than so many
bulls".
I suspect the Epstein ring may be linked to Mossad. It is clearly some sort of Jewish
influencing network so seems like an Israeli soft power operation. Having said that Shamir is
spot on about all the pearl-clutching even by sensible alt-right figures.
President Clinton lied? Well, he was not in the confession booth.
Clinton lied under oath in a deposition submitted in a judicial proceeding. He also
coached other witnesses to support his story. These were crimes more serious than any that
could have been charged against Nixon, who was hounded out of office. Clinton took serious
charges and spun them into a story of a harmless peccadillo. Utter brilliance. And while the
Judge in the case tried to sweep these actual crimes under the rug as immaterial to the case,
it nevertheless cost the President his law licence.
How a society views sexuality has a tremendous influence on it's long-term structure and
stability.
I do not agree that the Epstein/MOSSAD-blackmail angle makes no sense, but I think that
Mr. Shamir makes some good points. Excessively strict public morals is a ripe breeding ground
for sanctimonious hypocrisy, and hidden rot, and can have frigthening consequences, and it
would not surprise me to learn that the damnable Jesuit Order has a hidden yet decisive
influence on this "New Puritanism" that the article traces the tentative outlines of.
On the other hand, too loose sexual morals fosters dissipation – as seen in the
lives of highly promiscuous people, or on a larger scale, societies such as Soviet Russia, or
various empires after they lost their moral vigour – such as much of contemporary
America. Some amount of discipline and self-restraint is needed – this seems to be a
moral law of nature.
These waters call for good personal judgment, fairness and balance, and wisdom.
Today, more of the same in Daily Telegraph:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/30/former-tory-mp-charlie-elphicke-guilty-sexually-assaulting-two/
The woman complained that Elphicke sexually assaulted her after inviting her for a drink at
his London home in 2007.
She was in her early 30s and said Elphicke – who had recently become a father for the
second time – proceeded to kiss her, grope her breast and then chase her round his
house trying to slap her bottom, chanting: "I'm a naughty Tory".
The woman came close to selling her story to The Mirror newspaper for £30,000 around a
decade later, but instead went to police.
She broke down as she gave evidence to the court. She cannot be identified for legal reasons.
END QUOTE.
Is not it typical. The guy had a try 14 years ago. Why didn't she report it to police same
day? Why wait for so long? Act now, or forget. She tried to make money of this allegation.
Still she can't be identified for legal reasons. So she can try it again, with another victim
who made a pass at her some time or another during last thirty years. This is incredible!
I haven't read the entire article yet, so this comment applies only to its initial
part.
Shamir is not very persuasive. He has the merit of explaining the situation clearly, but,
by doing so, he makes his criticism of Swedish law somewhat misdirected. As he explains it,
the legal punishment is very mild. The biggest punishment, he tells us, comes from private
entities. But doesn't that imply that, even if that law did not exist, things would happen
almost exactly as they did?
So, the problem, if it exists, is one of societal codes of moral. I, for one, think that
Sweden is autonomous to decide which codes of moral are best to itself. It's not society
which reflects the law, but the other way around. It is the law which reflects the wish of
the majority of Swedes, which is normal in a healthy democracy.
I don't find Shamir persuasive either. He has a point, women are not particularly more
moral or ethical than men, they need to be watched just like anybody, but OTOH regular
witch-hunts for politicians and plutocrats of both genders who cannot resist exploiting their
positions financially or keep their hands off the staff could be a good thing, overall.
He comes across as somebody with skin in the game here too.
This is stated in the quote from Mike Robeson, so it is better he will respond to the
items mentioned in his quote (signposted on the webpage). I have too little knowledge about
these details.
Sure, but Americans especially American Presidents are exempted from international laws
governing war crimes and crimes against humanity. It's why they can sanction entire
populations with impunity.
The irony of America bombing an aspirin factory in another country, however, is that much
of America's asprin needs are met with imports.
I commented on Xymphora: Regarding the New Puritans: " Jerry Sandusky, Larry Nasser,
Donald Sterling, Richard Fuld, Bernie Madoff and, of course, Harvey Weinstein, goyim."
– these are words of Mike Robeson I quote. It is even signposted as the quote. I hardly
know these names (excepting Weinstein). So I think you may correct your post.
Yes. I'm not sure how it is puritanical to not want middle aged rich men to buy the
services of even one minor girl for any sexual purposes. I thought that was just a civilized
notion of protecting the young.
Perhaps now I am going to lose your tentative sympathy, but I do not believe the
allegations against Jeffrey Epstein and Ms Ghislaine Maxwell, either. And the attack on
Prince Andrew is similarly unbelievable. Chapeau for Mr Trump who dared to express sympathy
to Ms Maxwell.
Trump's "sympathy" to Maxmossad was political noncommitment. Being a gentleman.
"It's not society which reflects the law, but the other way around. It is the law which
reflects the wish of the majority of Swedes, which is normal in a healthy democracy.
"
One of us is an idiot.
@Jefferson Temple Unless
you have inside information, his apparent inability to handle actual mature women is
conjecture, and open ended. Some women are mature at 20, others are not mature at 50.
Jeff's procured girls, beyond them having been employed by him, are unproven allegations.
Curious the parents were seemingly disinterested in their daughters traveling with a male
more than twice the age of their daughter.
That does not mean girls were not procured for illicit purposes or that Andrew may be
morally bankrupt, regardless of whatever happened between him and Giuffre.
@Chris Moore That said, I
disagree with the two main points of the article. One, this is not a "new puritanism", it's
something else, the comparison is patently false. How "puritan" is modern society if there's
porn everywhere?
Two, there's no way to defend Epstein and say that he was just a "normal, rich,
intelligent guy". The guy was, at best, a pervert and a well-connected pimp for politicians
(but how did he get there?). At worst , well, there are many theories and I won't dwell into
that. No way to defend that Jewish scum (sorry, but, he was Jewish, and he was scum).
If the US were occupied by the Communists as Amerika envisaged, it wouldn't be as bad
as what you've got now.
And that's the horrifying truth. For non-rich white Americans, Stalinism, as evil as it
was, would not have been as bad as what we now have under Anglo-Zionist Capitalist
Globalism.
In my Catholic family, putting your hands on a female relatives' body in any unwanted way,
would result in a visit from one of her brothers or cousins and a serious beating. It's also
interesting to see that my old parish priests were right when they spoke about the immorality
of the godless communists in that apparently adultery was common and accepted in the Soviet
Union.
The older I get, the more respect I gain for the moral teachings of the Christian Faith,
adhering to it will keep any young man out of the trouble Mr Shamir writes about.
Using Mick Jagger as a yardstick for acceptable behavior? Is that really what you
meant?
I'm thinking that at least some of those girls actually were responsible for their choices
but under the law, I don't think they can be held responsible. No character flaw or selfish
motive changes the fact that they were minors. A full grown man and woman is a different
story. They get the full advantages that society affords to adults as well as the
accountability. I don't care who rich guys want to fuck. If they target my daughter, they're
going to need an ambulance.
You quoted a big passage from Mike Robeson without reservation. So what if it's signposted
as a quote? One assumes from the context that you are endorsing his views. It does make you
look ridiculous, and I can understand your subsequent eagerness to dissociate yourself from
the quote. But there it is.
I don't think you quite understand Catholics if you think we have a healthy and casual
outlook on sex
("We" in my case is cultural and geographic history. I haven't been actually practicing
nor even much of a believer for a long time. But the culture tends to stick with you for
life, no matter what you do)
For one thing, we are probably only second to Jews when it comes to being guilt-ridden
from birth about sex (among most other things). The jury is still out whether this drives
more of us toward sin than away from it. Catholics are infamously indiscriminately
promiscuous (Zappa wrote a song about it) and somewhat less good at learning from their
mistakes as many others
The incidence of priestly abuse may be exaggerated for Puritanical effect, but it's by no
means an unfounded myth; we were joking about altar boys at least as far back as the 70s when
I took First Communion. BTW we had a Father Chester and, whatever the truth was, his nickname
rhymed
@anon a, Arkansas to run
drugs into the USA. Must of have had some local pull.
An early image of William Jefferson Clinton seated next to George Herbert Walker Bush may
shed light on the Intelligence connections of Bill, besides the two spook schools Yale and
Oxford.
Then there is Hillary's lesbianism. Why would a supposed hetero male marry a lesbian? Bill
did not need her political connections, nor her family connections. Chelsea looks like Bill,
not. Possible that Bill's taste was never a Monica, nor a Hillary, nor a 16 year old Lolita.
Bill and Hill, a match made in Langley.
Israel Shamir: "Currently their targets have a lot of wampum, for it is no fun to bully a
person for no material gain. Us, impecunious men, we have nothing to be afraid of yet."
This isn't true at all, at least in America, and I suspect it's the same elsewhere. Here,
so-called sexual harassment has been a cause of action since at least the 1980s. As someone
who was metooed way back then, before it became a thing, I can tell you that poverty is no
guarantee you won't be targeted. People are scum and really get a kick out of victimizing
each other. They'll do it just for the fun of it. Financial incentives aren't the cause of
this; it's just the icing on the cake for the so-called victim. Also, there is an absurd
culture of chivalry toward women in the matriarchal West that has lingered long past its
expiration date, such that a certain type of man enjoys "white knighting" for women who make
such claims. For such men, and they are very numerous, all a woman has to do is turn on the
water works, start crying and acting hysterical, and she'll be believed. Often it won't even
take that. From my point of view, when I see guys at the top, like Weinstein and Epstein,
having now to deal with it too, I have to confess to a certain degree of shadenfreude. During
my own tribulations with this, they were the ones getting away with it, and often even the
enforcers and enablers of it.
I see it as yet another unintended side effect of two fundamental, revolutionary
technological changes. These changes were first thought by almost everyone concerned to be
wonderful, a sign of Progress at last, but nobody was looking down the road far enough.
First, due to the advent and widespread use of scientific birth control and abortion, women
were given for the first time in history complete control over their own fertility. This led
directly to sexual liberation and modern feminism, both of which would be impossible without
this development. Second, a change in the political technology, namely the extension of the
vote to women. Why, you might ask, did an all-male government ever pass such laws, or in
America, empower its enforcement arm, the EEOC? Because of the woman's vote, of course. No
politician today can hope to succeed without it.
But I could never believe that Maxwell and Epstein were connected with the Israeli
Intelligence agency, the Mossad. With all my sympathy to our esteemed colleagues Philip
Giraldi and Whitney Webb, there is not a single shred of evidence for such connection.
Is this one of C.J. Hopkins "I'm a Russian Asset" parodies? Are you serious?
How many Mossad heads attended "Robert Maxwell's" funeral, Shamir?
Weinstein did nothing wrong?
What do they have on you, Izzy? Blink three times fast in your next video appearance to
let us know they got to you.
No one with their head north of their colon believes anything you just said here. So
that's a plus.
Thanks. I didn't take it personally. But it seems that Kavanaugh is dirty, and so is
Trump. Makes me wonder about the operations to take them down. Russia gate for Trump and
Blasey Ford gate for Kavanaugh. Both so ridiculous that it is almost as if their foes
couldn't use the real dirt without self-incriminating.
@Sollipsist l, impossible
for little children to doubt what the big person says, whether Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy,
Easter Rabbit, anything. So easy to indoctrinate. And it's continued to the present day, the
only denomination that has it's own elementary schools everywhere. Everywhere. All about
capturing the children.
But going back to "Puritan", Wikipedia on Savonarola, in 1494 "he instituted an extreme
puritanical campaign "
So, Ha! Ha!, Roman "Catholic" Puritans of the Fifteenth Century! Didn't molest
children back then, but have ever since!
Feel free to check out how these egalitarian English men have in 10 min permanently banned
my 6 year old Wikipedia account over a comment I made three years ago – proclaiming
that marriage is between a man and a woman is considered homophobic now. (It's a self-plug,
but it's also Christian psychology in real-time, you might appreciate it.)
Does this homosexual psychosis stem from technology, too? The most industrialized nations
on the planet are not sodomitic at all. It all seems to me like an American cultural
thing.
Adûnâi: "Are you not confusing the cause and effect?"
Certainly there is an interplay between the two factors I mentioned that magnifies their
societal effects. They strengthen and support each other.
Adûnâi: "But why did women get the vote to begin with? You don't explain.
From what I know, they were first employed in WW1, and it was a "symbol of gratitude"?
Sounds quite cucked and Christian."
Technology develops according to its own internal logic, often with unpredictable and
sometimes even catastrophic effects on human societies. It is deeply hostile to natural
distinctions of race, sex, and culture that impede its efficient operation. Technological
change drives cultural change, and war stimulates technological change.
Adûnâi: "Why then have the Eastern countries not faced it? Neither the USSR nor
modern China?"
I'd say they have, in their own way. There are, for example, plenty of female
professionals in both countries, who function in their jobs as the equivalent of men. This
would be impossible if they were constantly pregnant and caring for children. Then too, there
is the low birth rate, which is only possible with scientific birth control. They also
participate equally with men in politics, AFAIK, and have equal rights as citizens. N.b. too
that in China, at least, this happened without Christianity -- although, as has been said by
Spengler and others, Marxism can itself be regarded as a form of Christianity.
Adûnâi: "Does this homosexual psychosis stem from technology, too?"
Efficiency is the god of technology, and that is unquestionably true all over the world.
To the extent that cultural factors impede the efficient operation of technology, they have
to change, or all that results is inferior technology. Man's increasing dependence on
technology is why a kind of global culture is emerging now, instead of earlier in history.
Cultural distinctions are being destroyed at an accelerating pace, and also races are being
mixed as an unintended and unforeseen consequence of this dependence.
Because of this, I suspect the decadence you notice today in the West will eventually show
up in the East as well. It's just that because they were relative late comers to technology
and industrialization, it may take a little longer, that's all. There's a certain cultural
inertia that needs to be overcome.
Russian method
In a far away Russian village, gals have heard of the Western way to deal with men, and they
brought their rape complaints to local police. Police checked the claims, found them without
merit, and both ladies were fined 5000 ruble ($80) each. How neat! https://pervo.info/v-achite-eshhyo-odno-lozhnoe-iznasilovanie/
Even without technology, give humans enough time, and one race will emerge triumphant.
Whereas the high tide of Islam failed to conquer Anatolia, the Seljuks came to the Aegean,
and the Ottomans reached Vienna. Failures are weeded out, and those remain who are strong,
not who can make money most efficiently.
@Israel Shamir
And yet, the rural folk of Russia is dying out. Natural change (2018): -3 per 1000 rural
vs -1 per 1000 urban.
Adûnâi: "Everything indeed will be shown in due time. What else are we doing
here but trying to predict the future?"
Yes, I agree with most of what you wrote in this comment. All I'm doing is pointing to the
trend, the way the technological system tends to grind away cultural differences. Of course,
some cultural differences may not affect the efficiency of the system, and those might
remain. Western "decadence" might or might not be one of those things. Ted Kaczynski says
something relevant about this in ISAIF:
29. Here is an illustration of the way in which the oversocialized leftist shows his
real attachment to the conventional attitudes of our society while pretending to be in
rebellion against it. Many leftists push for affirmative action, for moving black people into
high-prestige jobs, for improved education in black schools and more money for such schools;
the way of life of the black "underclass" they regard as a social disgrace. They want to
integrate the black man into the system, make him a business executive, a lawyer, a scientist
just like upper-middle-class white people. The leftists will reply that the last thing they
want is to make the black man into a copy of the white man; instead, they want to preserve
African American culture. But in what does this preservation of African American culture
consist? It can hardly consist in anything more than eating black-style food, listening to
black-style music, wearing black-style clothing and going to a black-style church or mosque.
In other words, it can express itself only in superficial matters. In all ESSENTIAL respects
more leftists of the oversocialized type want to make the black man conform to white,
middle-class ideals. They want to make him study technical subjects, become an executive or a
scientist, spend his life climbing the status ladder to prove that black people are as good
as white. They want to make black fathers "responsible." they want black gangs to become
nonviolent, etc. But these are exactly the values of the industrial-technological system. The
system couldn't care less what kind of music a man listens to, what kind of clothes he wears
or what religion he believes in as long as he studies in school, holds a respectable job,
climbs the status ladder, is a "responsible" parent, is nonviolent and so forth. In effect,
however much he may deny it, the oversocialized leftist wants to integrate the black man into
the system and make him adopt its values.
A corollary of this would seem to be that only trivial differences will remain between
cultures as different cultures fully adapt themselves to the global technological system. The
urging of "oversocialized leftists" isn't actually necessary, as the system itself contains
its own rewards for compliance and punishments for failure to comply. There's also nothing
particularly tied to naturally-occurring races in that system of values; at least, not
obviously so. The system is hostile to natural race distinctions precisely because it is
necessarily race-neutral. Might it create its own artificial race of genetically engineered
humans in order to maximize efficiency? That could be. Certainly, genetic changes to man have
been a side effect of civilization itself. E.g., human beings are much less violent than they
used to be. Obedience, non-violence (at least on a personal level), and conformity has been
bred into us modern humans.
Adûnâi: "Are you of the view that collapse is imminent, even without Unabombers?
And if it is, there will be no going back to high technology?"
It's probably a mistake to underestimate the resilience of the system. Anyone interested
in trying to preserve the status quo as to race will have to act fast to bring the system
down, or it will be too late. Whether high tech can be rebuilt after a global collapse would
depend on a lot of factors impossible to know without knowing at least the method used to
cause the collapse, as that would have an effect on how long any ensuing "Dark Age" would
last.
Yes its kind of strange. Kavanaugh is not an ideological conservative in the mould of
Scalia or Thomas. Makes one wonder what the fuss was all about. I must revisit what you wrote
about earlier on his earlier judgements.
I'm not disagreeing, but don't forget it was 19th Century "Great Awakening" Protestants
who were responsible for creating the public school system in the US. Can we question their
motives?
In England, a struggle to dismiss a parliamentarian because of a vague complaint
Chief whip Mark Spencer today stood by his decision not to suspend the senior Tory MP
arrested on suspicion of rape.
The party is under mounting pressure, including from the alleged victim, to strip the
ex-minister of the Conservative whip.
But Mr Spencer said it was right to allow the police to conclude their investigation before
taking any action, while also stressing the need to protect the identity of the accuser.
The former parliamentary researcher in her 20s has alleged she was assaulted and forced to
have sex.
What does "forced to have sex" means?
@Dr.
Robert Morgan , it's "a triumph of the Natural, Racial Order" that confuses the plans of
the globo. The very globohomo is contingent upon the qualities of the Nordic race. It has
evolved to seek efficiency, and now – under the guidance of Christianity – it is
employing it in its own self-destruction. But as they near the end, their efforts become
discordant, muffled, inefficient.
> "Ted Kaczynski"
By the way, why do you prefer calling him his real name instead of "the Unabomber"? "Ted"
is so much more boring, and the in "Kaczynski" is mispronounced as by Americans while it
should be in Polish. The Unabomber has a ring to it.
Shamir now confesses to be a Mossad Psyop who pretended to be a hero of the Goyim. The
choosen ones raping and pimping gentile children and women is nothing to him. Criticism is
New Puretanism. A surrogate for the word Antisemitism as Derschowitz uses it for his accuser?
Calling Robert Maxell a KGB Agent i and other are struggling to understand if you are
trolling or trutly a Mossad apologet. The worst is you are friends with Gilad Atzmon
hopefully he is as bluffed by your (new?) behaviour and views as we are.
Anyway, just noticed more ammo lying on the ground right here at UR. Andy Flick-Chick, his
2020-02-13 article, The Philippines Are Choosing New Allies: Pres. Duterte, hugely
popular there, "sexually molested by a priest when he was a child, he holds a grudge against
Christianity."
@Dr.
Robert Morgan he principle of the pursuit of individual happiness trumps any search for
the efficiency of the collective.
I would concede that the history of technological intelligent life on this planet has been
aimed at the discovery of the correct proportion between efficiency and race. But not more.
Simply put, what I am observing to-day is the death of race-denialists in the Occident and
the triumph of racists in the Orient. The latter are more efficient, too.
A little video celebrating the unity of the Man and the Machine. Those visions are not
Checharian and not bucolic.
Adûnâi: "If it were indeed calculating the most efficient society, it would
probably try to mix and match, and as homosexualism is not exactly important, it would be
discounted as a Western obstacle." I would say, if there is no reason ruling the system, it
turns into idiocracy."
You have to keep in mind that the focus of technique when evaluating efficiency is
necessarily quite narrow. For instance, having a horse is more efficient (in some ways) than
walking, while having an automobile is still more efficient than having a horse. So an
evaluation of efficiency is both relative and contextual. Someone might object, for example,
that automobiles aren't really more efficient than walking, because by using automobiles, you
have to accept that tens of thousands of people are going to die annually in car accidents.
That's true, but still, the judgement of society (i.e., the "group mind" that I've referred
to) has been that using automobiles is worth it, i.e., more "efficient". And there can be
little doubt that, overall, a society that has the technology necessary to produce and use
automobiles would defeat a society at a more primitive technological level in the contest of
survival between them.
But generally, one cannot determine in advance "the most efficient society" any more than
one can determine in advance "the fittest animal". Whatever form of social organization is
most efficient must emerge gradually, as man does his dance of death with technology.
Humanity is like a blind man groping his way down a corridor. Nobody knows where
technological development will lead, and its development cannot be steered. Attempts to allow
ideology to steer technology only result in inferior technology.
As for "homosexualism", thinking about it some more, I'd say it's just another side effect
of female empowerment. Due to the development of scientific birth control methods women are
now participating in work and politics on equal footing with men, and there are social
consequences that weren't foreseen: e.g., more men are raised without a father in the home;
more men who, in their work life, will necessarily have a woman as their "boss"; decoupling
sex from its natural function of reproduction leads to regarding sexuality as a matter of
"lifestyle choice". Given basic human psychology, I'd say these trends favor an increase in
"homosexualism". Certainly they are quite destructive of patriarchy.
Adûnâi: "A lack of will is a lack of life. I emphasise the role of the
individual in history. If the system is so smart, why does it allow the vector to turn
towards disorder* for a period?"
Individual will has nothing to do with technique. It can't control it. Just to stick with
the example of birth control technologies, you cannot "will" away the fact that they empower
women, and at the same time disempower men. To use the technique at all, you just have to
accept this, just as with the use of automobiles, a society accepts that the cost is tens of
thousands of lives every year.
Disorder arises, and empires fall, precisely because all the consequences of a given
technological configuration aren't foreseen; in fact, they're not even foreseeable. Shit
happens, as the saying goes.
Adûnâi: "By the way, why do you prefer calling him his real name instead of "the
Unabomber"? "
Because it's his ideas that are important, not his relatively ineffectual bombs.
Adûnâi: "Simply put, what I am observing to-day is the death of race-denialists
in the Occident and the triumph of racists in the Orient. The latter are more efficient,
too."
This is the question to be decided in the future, by the result. I agree that the West,
precisely because of its Christian worldview, tends to confuse what it regards as moral
superiority with technological superiority. But then, if the prize is survival itself, morals
can change. Also, there's a time honored Christian tradition of hypocrisy that must be taken
into account. Only the event of the matter will show which form of technological organization
is more efficient.
Kinda sad that people are so often especially motivated by childhood trauma; the
simplicity, irrationality and disproportionate responses that are understandable in the
childish mind are unnaturally preserved throughout adulthood. A little girl gets abused by a
pervert uncle, and years later her supposed reason and free will convinces her that men are
evil, old men especially, traditional families and patriarchal society are the enemy, and she
was "born" a lesbian. So pretty much everybody in her sphere of influence ends up paying for
the act of one degenerate.
Up to this article, I took him to be honest, regardless of how muddy his background was.
Maybe he's testing his audience, but this is laughable.
Of course, if you're opposed to a superficially feminized, #metoo, gotcha culture, you may
sympathize at first.
But he's covering up for a zio-criminal entity that hasn't yet been unraveled. He's
actually trying the line that Epstein was some cavalier 70s Don Juan simply born a bit too
late.
Whores will be whores. Don't care about them, as they squirmed around Weinstein and
Epstein. Pretending Epstein is all about whores however, just turned Israel Shamir into a
whore in his own right. Pat yourself on the back, but we still don't know shit about Epstein,
the intelligence angle that is.
Maybe Israel can get his friend Assange on the ball?
"... This is the lens through which I see so-called cancel culture: there is a real problem, for ordinary people, of having your life severely damaged by a trivial offense, or by no offense at all. And of course, predictably, elite whiners want to hijack this real concern in order to maintain their impunity. ..."
"... But the elites are a parasitical epiphenomenon: they are attempting to take advantage of a pre-existing problem that hurts other people far more than it hurts them. And our justifiable contempt for the elites should not blind us to the existence of a real social problem that affects non-elites. ..."
"... So, shed no tears for Bari Weiss and Bret Stephens. They do not need protecting -- they are already coddled far too much. When the OP focuses on their plights as examples of "cancel culture," then cancel culture, so-described, looks like a well-deserved comeuppance, a refreshing chink in the armor of elite impunity. ..."
"... So, elite suffering is a side-show here (as it so often is). Focus on the lives of the non-elite. Their suffering should control our responses to the situation. Focus on the contingent academics fired from their jobs for speaking their minds. On the worker falsely accused of a white-power sign. ..."
Whenever there is a real social problem that affects many people, then rich, entitled
elites will attempt to commandeer it in order to consolidate their privilege.
If the sentencing guidelines are draconian and cruel, sending poor people to prison for
their lives, then white-collar criminals will complain that their 6-month sentence is a gross
injustice that proves they should be let out on bail.
If housing prices are so high that ordinary workers cannot afford the rent, then
millionaires will complain that they can no longer afford to keep a third home.
It's a predictable phenomenon. Elites will pretend that their minor inconveniences are
epic agonies, in order to be spared even minor inconveniences. We know this.
But we also know that the mere fact of elite whinging is no evidence that there is not a
real problem for non-elites.
In fact, the sentencing guidelines are unconscionably harsh: a man in Louisiana has
been sent to jail for life, for stealing a pair of secateurs, and the Louisiana supreme court
has declined to intervene.
In fact, housing is too expensive, and ordinary people are suffering on a massive
scale from artificial scarcity designed to entrench real-estate wealth. The rent is
too damned high.
This is the lens through which I see so-called cancel culture: there is a real problem,
for ordinary people, of having your life severely damaged by a trivial offense, or by no
offense at all. And of course, predictably, elite whiners want to hijack this real concern in
order to maintain their impunity.
But the elites are a parasitical epiphenomenon: they are attempting to take advantage of a
pre-existing problem that hurts other people far more than it hurts them. And our justifiable
contempt for the elites should not blind us to the existence of a real social problem that
affects non-elites.
The pre-existing problems are those that Natalie Wynn enumerates: assumptions of guilt,
essentializing moves from a single bad act to a wicked character, guilt by association,
impossibility of forgiveness, and so on. These patterns pre-exist the internet, and are
probably to be found in even small-scale societies. They are pathologies that are closely
related to healthy and functional mechanisms of social cohesion, as tumor-growth is related
to tissue-growth.
So, shed no tears for Bari Weiss and Bret Stephens. They do not need protecting -- they
are already coddled far too much. When the OP focuses on their plights as examples of "cancel
culture," then cancel culture, so-described, looks like a well-deserved comeuppance, a
refreshing chink in the armor of elite impunity.
Fine: I agree with all of that. I also agree that I would love to see white-collar
criminals go to jail for 20-50 years, and I'd love to see millionaires unable to afford a
third house.
But it would be crazy to move from that stance to saying, "and I'd love to see petty
thieves sent to jail for life, and I'd love to see minimum wage workers evicted from their
homes because they cannot make the rent."
So, elite suffering is a side-show here (as it so often is). Focus on the lives of the
non-elite. Their suffering should control our responses to the situation. Focus on the
contingent academics fired from their jobs for speaking their minds. On the worker falsely
accused of a white-power sign.
And what should be done after we focus on these things? Not what the right-wing zealots
say, under the false flag of "free speech": not bringing back a regime in which the powerful
can use slurs to subjugate the powerless.
No: if someone repeatedly uses the n-word in order to inflict pain and humiliation on
others, then they should suffer real consequences. I totally agree with that. If someone
repeatedly addresses a co-worker with the pronouns that offend them, and does so knowing that
it will offend them, then they should suffer real consequences.
But I reject zero-tolerance regimes. A black school-guard asking students not to use the
n-word should not be punished at all for mentioning the n-word. A well-meaning and
supportive co-worker who mistakenly uses the wrong pronoun on one occasion should not be
punished at all for that faux pas.
And along with zero-tolerance regimes, we should also get rid of the parade of abuses that
Natalie Wynn lists: assumptions of guilt without evidence, guilt by association, refusal of
forgiveness, and so on.
That's a practical agenda that allows for us to make fun of elite opinion makers as much
as we like, allows us to hurl twitter tomatoes at J.K Rowling all day long, and in no way
interferes with any notion of free speech worth defending.
"... Greenwald went on, after that, to discuss other key appointees by Nancy Pelosi who are almost as important as Adam Smith is, in shaping the Government's military budget. They're all corrupt. ..."
"... Numerous polls (for examples, this and this ) show that American voters, except for the minority of them that are Republican, want "bipartisan" government; but the reality in America is that this country actually already does have that: the U.S. Government is actually bipartisanly corrupt, and bipartisan evil. In fact, it's almost unanimous, it is so bipartisan, in reality. ..."
"... That's the way America's Government actually functions, especially in the congressional votes that the 'news'-media don't publicize. However, since it lies so much, and its media (controlled also by its billionaires) do likewise, and since they cover-up instead of expose the deepest rot, the public don't even know this. They don't know the reality. They don't know how corrupt and evil their Government actually is. They just vote and pay taxes. That's the extent to which they actually 'participate' in 'their' Government. They tragically don't know the reality. It's hidden from them. It is censored-out, by the editors, producers, and other management, of the billionaires' 'news'-media. These are the truths that can't pass through those executives' filters. These are the truths that get filtered-out, instead of reported. No democracy can function this way -- and, of course, none does. ..."
"... The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society , and we are as a people, inherently and historically, opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings . ..."
"... But we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding it's fear of influence, on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections , on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations. It's preparations are concealed, not published. It's mistakes are buried, not headlined. It's dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned. No rumor is printed. No secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War in short with a wartime discipline, no democracy would ever hope or wish to match. ..."
The great investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald gave an hour-long lecture on how
America's billionaires control the U.S. Government, and here is an edited summary of its
opening twenty minutes, with key quotations and assertions from its opening -- and then its
broader context will be discussed briefly:
2:45 : There is "this huge cleavage between how members of Congress present themselves,
their imagery and rhetoric and branding, what they present to the voters, on the one hand, and
the reality of what they do in the bowels of Congress and the underbelly of Congressional
proceedings, on the other. Most of the constituents back in their home districts have no idea
what it is that the people they've voted for have been doing, and this gap between belief and
reality is enormous."
Four crucial military-budget amendments were debated in the House just now, as follows:
to block Trump from withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.
to block Trump from withdrawing 10,000 troops from Germany
to limit U.S. assistance to the Sauds' bombing of Yemen
to require Trump to explain why he wants to withdraw from the Intermediate Nuclear
Forces Treaty
On all four issues, the pro-imperialist position prevailed in nearly unanimous votes -
overwhelming in both Parties. Dick Cheney's daughter, Republican Liz Cheney, dominated the
debates, though the House of Representatives is now led by Democrats, not Republicans.
Greenwald (citing other investigators) documents that the U.S. news-media are in the
business of deceiving the voters to believe that there are fundamental differences between the
Parties. "The extent to which they clash is wildly exaggerated" by the press (in order to pump
up the percentages of Americans who vote, so as to maintain, both domestically and
internationally, the lie that America is a democracy -- actually represents the interests of
the voters).
16:00 : The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee -- which writes the nearly $750B
annual Pentagon budget -- is the veteran (23 years) House Democrat Adam Smith of Boeing's
Washington State.
"The majority of his district are people of color." He's "clearly a pro-war hawk" a
consistent neoconservative, voted to invade Iraq and all the rest.
"This is whom Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats have chosen to head the House Armed
Services Committee -- someone with this record."
He is "the single most influential member of Congress when it comes to shaping military
spending."
He was primaried by a progressive Democrat, and the "defense industry opened up their
coffers" and enabled Adam Smith to defeat the challenger.
That's the opening.
Greenwald went on, after that, to discuss other key appointees by Nancy Pelosi who are
almost as important as Adam Smith is, in shaping the Government's military budget. They're all
corrupt. And then he went, at further length, to describe the methods of deceiving the voters,
such as how these very same Democrats who are actually agents of the billionaires who own the
'defense' contractors and the 'news' media etc., campaign for Democrats' votes by emphasizing
how evil the Republican Party is on the issues that Democratic Party voters care far more about
than they do about America's destructions of Iraq and Syria and Libya and Honduras and Ukraine,
and imposing crushing economic blockades (sanctions) against the residents in Iran, Venezuela
and many other lands. Democratic Party voters care lots about the injustices and the sufferings
of American Blacks and other minorities, and of poor American women, etc., but are satisfied to
vote for Senators and Representatives who actually represent 'defense' contractors and other
profoundly corrupt corporations, instead of represent their own voters. This is how the most
corrupt people in politics become re-elected, time and again -- by deceived voters. And -- as
those nearly unanimous committee votes display -- almost every member of the U.S. Congress is
profoundly corrupt.
Furthermore: Adam Smith's opponent in the 2018 Democratic Party primary was Sarah Smith (no
relation) and she tried to argue against Adam Smith's neoconservative voting-record, but
the press-coverage she received in her congressional district ignored that, in order to
keep those voters in the dark about the key reality. Whereas Sarah Smith received some coverage
from Greenwald and other reporters at The Intercept who mentioned that "Sarah Smith
mounted her challenge largely in opposition to what she cast as his hawkish foreign policy
approach," and that she "routinely brought up his hawkish foreign policy views and campaign
donations from defense contractors as central issues in the campaign," only very few of the
voters in that district followed such national news-media, far less knew that Adam Smith was in
the pocket of 'defense' billionaires. And, so, the Pentagon's big weapons-making firms defeated
a progressive who would, if elected, have helped to re-orient federal spending away from
selling bombs to be used by the Sauds to destroy Yemen, and instead toward providing better
education and employment-prospects to Black, brown and other people, and to the poor, and
everybody, in that congressional district, and all others. Moreover, since Adam Smith had a
fairly good voting-record on the types of issues that Blacks and other minorities consider more
important and more relevant than such things as his having voted for Bush to invade Iraq, Sarah
Smith really had no other practical option than to criticize him regarding his hawkish
voting-record, which that district's voters barely even cared about. The billionaires actually
had Sarah Smith trapped (just like, on a national level, they had Bernie Sanders trapped).
Of course, Greenwald's audience is clearly Democratic Party voters, in order to inform them
of how deceitful their Party is. However, the Republican Party operates in exactly the same
way, though using different deceptions, because Republican Party voters have very different
priorities than Democratic Party voters do, and so they ignore other types of deceptions and
atrocities.
Numerous polls (for examples,
this and
this ) show that American voters, except for the minority of them that are Republican, want
"bipartisan" government; but the reality in America is that this country actually already does
have that: the U.S. Government is actually bipartisanly corrupt, and bipartisan evil. In
fact, it's almost unanimous, it is so bipartisan, in reality.
That's the way America's
Government actually functions, especially in the congressional votes that the 'news'-media
don't publicize. However, since it lies so much, and its media (controlled also by its
billionaires) do likewise, and since they cover-up instead of expose the deepest rot, the
public don't even know this. They don't know the reality. They don't know how corrupt and evil
their Government actually is. They just vote and pay taxes. That's the extent to which they
actually 'participate' in 'their' Government. They tragically don't know the reality. It's
hidden from them. It is censored-out, by the editors, producers, and other management, of the
billionaires' 'news'-media. These are the truths that can't pass through those executives'
filters. These are the truths that get filtered-out, instead of reported. No democracy can
function this way -- and, of course, none does.
Patmos , 8 hours ago
Eisenhower originally called it the Military Industrial Congressional Complex.
Was probably still when Congress maybe had a few slivers of integrity though.
As McCain's wife said, they all knew about Epstein.
Alice-the-dog , 2 hours ago
And now we suffer the Medical Industrial Complex on top of it.
Question_Mark , 1 hour ago
Klaus Schwab, UN/World Economic Forum - power plant "cyberattack" (advance video to 6:42
to skip intro):
please watch video at least from minute 6:42 at least for a few minutes to get context,
consider its contents, and comment:
Vot3 for trump but don't waste too much energy on the elections. All Trump can do is buy
us time.
Their plan has been in the works for over a century.
1) financial collapse with central banking.
2) social collapse with cultural marxism
3) government collapse with corrupt pedophile politicians.
EndOfDayExit , 7 hours ago
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." -Thomas Jefferson
Humans are just not wired for eternal vigilance. Sheeple want to graze and don't want to
think.
JGResearch , 8 hours ago
Money is just the tool, it goes much deeper:
The Truth, when you finally chase it down, is almost always far
worse than your darkest visions and fears.'
– Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fear
'The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are
not behind the scenes' *
- Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
This information helps understand the shift to the bias we are witnessing at The PBS
Newshour and the MSM. PBS has always taken their marching orders from the Council on Foreign
Relations.
Judy Woodruff, and Jim
Lehrer (journalist, former anchor for PBS ) is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations. John McCain (United States Republican Senator
from Arizona , 2008
Republican Party nominee for the Presidency), William F. Buckley, Jr
(commentator, publisher, founder of the National Review ), Jeffery E Epstein
(financier)
The Council on Foreign Relations has historical control both the Democratic establishment
and the Republican establishment until President Trump came along.
Until then they did not care who won the presidency because they control both parties at
the top.
FYI: Hardly one person in 1000 ever heard of the Council on Foreign Relations ( CFR ).
Until Trump both Republicans and Democrats control by the Eastern Establishment.There
operational front was the Council on Foreign Relations. Historically they did not care who
one the election since they controlled both parties from the top.
The CFR has only 3000 members yet they control over three-quarters of the nation's wealth.
The CFR runs the State Department and the CIA. The CFR has placed 100 CFR members in every
Presidential Administration and cabinet since Woodrow Wilson. They work together to misinform
the President to act in the best interest of the CFR not the best interest of the American
People.
At least five Presidents (Eisenhower, Ford, Carter, Bush, and Clinton) have been members
of the CFR. The CFR has packed every Supreme court with CFR insiders.
Three CFR members (Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Sandra Day O'Connor) sit on
the supreme court. The CFR's British Counterpart is the Royal Institute of International
Affairs. The members of these groups profit by creating tension and hate. Their targets
include British and American citizens.
The CFR/RIIA method of operation is simple -- they control public opinion. They keep the
identity of their group secret. They learn the likes and dislikes of influential people. They
surround and manipulate them into acting in the best interest of the CFR/RIIA.
KuriousKat , 8 hours ago
there are 550 of them in the US..just boggles the mind they have us at each others throat
instead of theirs.
jmNZ , 3 hours ago
This is why America's only hope is to vote for Ron Paul.
x_Maurizio , 2 hours ago
Let me understand how a system, which is already proven being disfunctional, should
suddenly produce a positive result. That's craziness: to repeate the same action, with the
conviction it will give a different result.
If you would say: "The only hope is NOT TO TAKE PART TO THE FARCE" (so not to vote) I'd
understand.
But vot for that, instead of this.... what didn't you understand?
Voice-of-Reason , 6 hours ago
The very fact that we have billionaires who amass so much wealth that they can own our
Republic is the problem.
Eastern Whale , 8 hours ago
all the names mentioned in this article is rotten to the core
MartinG , 5 hours ago
Tell me again how democracy is the greatest form of government. What other profession lets
clueless idiots decide who runs the business.
Xena fobe , 4 hours ago
It isn't the fault of democracy. It's more the fault of voters.
quikwit , 3 hours ago
I'd pick the "clueless idiots" over an iron-fisted evil genius every time.
_triplesix_ , 8 hours ago
Am I the only one who noticed that Eric Zuesse capitalized the word "black" every time he
used it?
F**k you, Eric, you Marxist trash.
BTCtroll , 7 hours ago
Confirmed. Blacks are apparently a proper noun despite being referred to as simply a
color. In reality, no one cares. Ask anyone, they don't care expert black lies matter.
freedommusic , 4 hours ago
The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society , and we are as a people,
inherently and historically, opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret
proceedings .
And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be
seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official
censorship and concealment.
Our way of life is under attack.
But we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies
primarily on covert means for expanding it's fear of influence, on infiltration instead of
invasion, on subversion instead of elections , on intimidation instead of free choice, on
guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast
human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine
that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political
operations. It's preparations are concealed, not published. It's mistakes are buried, not
headlined. It's dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned. No
rumor is printed. No secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War in short with a wartime
discipline, no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.
...I am asking the members of the newspaper profession and the industry in this country
to re-examine their own responsibilities, to consider the degree and the nature of the
present danger, and to heed the duty of self restraint, which that danger imposes upon us
all.
It is the unprecedented nature of this challenge that also gives rise to your second
obligation and obligation which I share, and that is our obligation to inform and alert the
American people, to make certain that they possess all the facts that they need and
understand them as well, the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program, and the
choices that we face.
I am not asking your newspapers to support an administration, but I am asking your help
in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people, for I have complete
confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens, whenever they are fully
informed.
... that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment. The only business in
America specifically protected by the constitution, not primarily to amuse and entertain,
not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply give the public what it
wants, but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to
indicate our crises, and our choices, to lead, mold, educate, and sometimes even anger,
public opinion.
There seems to be some dispute about whether there is a far Left socialist revolution
unfolding. I can't see much distinction between 'Neoliberalism in its purest form' and
authoritarian Communism. It boils down to control, whether that is in a 'market' context of
monopoly corporations who are embedded within the state, or whether it is in the context of
'state enterprises' in the USSR.
What seems clear is that the society of the capitalism of small and medium sized businesses,
relatively free movement, civil liberties and an open culture are being wound down and
replaced by a centralised control society organised through the internet. State
administration will matter less. Central banks, Blackrock investor algorithms, automated
private security systems will matter more. This is not an attack on Trump, it is the bringing
down and replacement of the US system per se.
Call it what you want. The jerks on the street have absolutely no idea what is taking place.
They are brainwashed ideologues puppeteered by forces that operate above the distinction
between 'capitalism' and 'communism'.
Why are there so many young people out there available to be radicalized and to just ruin
and riot endlessly? Because American capitalism has devolved into a 'gig economy' where
millions have no real future and nothing much to lose. People face a lifetime of meaningless,
low paid service gigs that will never give them the means to have the standard of living of
the previous generations. All the drug use is symptomatic of that.
Why would media and corporations promote and fund communism, being that they're the
billionaire-corporate capitalist class? It's bait and switch from the class warfare of
communist rhetoric to endless racial leveling and chaos along all social, racial and cultural
lines. This leaves the billionaire benefactors of unisex toilets still in charge.
Small businesses are bankrupted under the guise of fighting the killer virus, their assets
scooped up by the deep pockets. It's a huge transfer of wealth upwards scheme. The economy is
being reset downwards using the ruin caused by these rioters and the killer virus. The mass
of people will learn to adjust their expectations to fit the new grim reality. The commies,
anarchists and whatever else is out there will later be rolled up. What with all the spying
and fusion centers the government knows who they are. They're useful at the moment. It's a
capitalist driven thing. Can't find a job after losing your business? Well here's some new
legalized drugs for you and a welfare, I mean stimulus, check to tide you over at the hobo
camp.
I put these comments on the open thread about the same time b started this one
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1289724554982629377
The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria signed a deal to market oil to
US-based Delta Crescent Energy LLC "with the knowledge and encouragement of the White
House."
Trump a few months back "We've kept the oil". Well, he hasn't had a problem hanging onto
it and getting an American company involved.
The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria signed a deal to market oil
to US-based Delta Crescent Energy LLC "with the knowledge and encouragement of the White
House."
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 2 2020 14:35 utc | 2
Very likely the Kurds were under pressure from Trump, and the act wasn't voluntary. It's
not even the Kurds' oil to sign a deal on (except one well). We'll see whether the
operation actually succeeds. At the moment, everybody is waiting to see whether Trump is
re-elected in November. Signing a piece of paper now is of no significance.
Examples given show quite clearly that "cancel mob" is an established form of the political
struggle. And in this case the reasons behind the particular attack of the "cancel mob" is far
from charitable.
Cancel culture my assJustice for Brad HamiltonRoy Edroso Jul 14 38 30
Mendenhall loses endorsement deal over bin Laden tweets
[Steelers running back] Rashard Mendenhall's candid tweets about Osama bin Laden's death
and the 9/11 terror attacks cost him an endorsement deal.
NFL.com senior analyst Vic Carucci says Rashard Mendenhall has become an example of the
risks that social media can present to outspoken pro athletes.
Athletic apparel manufacturer Champion announced Thursday that it had dropped the
Pittsburgh Steelers running back after he questioned the celebrations of bid Laden's death
and expressed his uncertainty over official accounts of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New
York, suburban Washington and Pennsylvania.
Things haven't gotten any better. I've already written about
Springfield, Mass. police detective Florissa Fuentes, who got fired this year for
reposting her niece's pro-Black Lives Matter Instagram photo. Fuentes is less like Donohue,
the Chicks, and Mendenhall, though, and more like most of the people who get fired for speech
in this country, in that she is not rich, and getting fired was for her a massive blow.
The controversy began after [Lisa] Durden's appearance [on Tucker Carlson], during which
she defended the Black Lives Matter movement's decision to host a Memorial Day celebration
in New York City to which only black people were invited. On the show, Durden's comments
included, "You white people are angry because you couldn't use your white privilege card to
get invited to the Black Lives Matter's all-black Memorial Day Celebration," and "We want
to celebrate today. We don't want anybody going against us today."
Durden was then an adjunct professor at Essex County College, but not for long because
sure enough, they fired her for what she said on the show. (Bet Carlson, a racist piece
of shit , was delighted!) The college president defended her decision, saying she'd
received "feedback from students, faculty and prospective students and their families
expressing frustration, concern and even fear that the views expressed by a college employee
(with influence over students) would negatively impact their experience on the campus..."
Sounds pretty snowflakey to me. I went looking in the works of the signatories of the
famous
Harper's letter against cancel culture for some sign that any of them had acknowledged
Durden's case. Shockingly, such free speech warriors as Rod Dreher and Bret Stephens never
dropped a word on it.
Dreher does come up in other free-speech-vs-employment cases, though -- for example, from
2017, Chronicle of Higher
Education :
Tommy Curry, an associate professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University at College
Station, about five years ago participated in a YouTube interview in which he discussed
race and violence. Those remarks resurfaced in May in a column titled "When Is It OK to
Kill Whites?" by Rod Dreher in The American Conservative.
Mr. Curry said of that piece that he wasn't advocating for violence and that his remarks
had been taken out of context. He told The Chronicle that online threats had arrived in
force shortly after that. Some were racial in nature.
At the same time the president of the university, Michael K. Young, issued a statement
in which he appeared to rebuke the remarks made by Mr. Curry...
In his column on
Curry , Dreher said, "I wonder what it is like to be a white student studying under Dr.
Curry in his classroom?" Imagine worrying for the safety of white people at Texas
Fucking A&M!
Curry got to keep his job, but only after he "issued a new statement apologizing for how
his remarks had been received," the Chronicle reported:
"For those of you who considered my comments disparaging to certain types of scholarly
work or in any way impinging upon the centrality of academic freedom at this university,"
[Curry] wrote, "I regret any contributions that I may have made to misunderstandings in
this case, including to those whose work is contextualized by understanding the historical
perspectives of events that have often been ignored."
Bottom line: Most of us who work for a living are at-will employees -- basically, the boss
can fire us if they don't like the way we look at them or if they don't like what they
discover we feel about the events of the day. There are some protections -- for example, if
you and your work buddies are talking about work stuff and the boss gets mad, then that may
be considered " concerted
activity " and protected -- but as
Lisa Guerin wrote at the nolo.com legal advice site, "political views aren't covered by
[Civil Rights] laws and the laws of most states. This means employers are free to consider
political views and affiliations in making job decisions."
Basically we employees have no free speech rights at all. But people like Stephens and
Dreher and Megan McArdle who cry
over how "the mob" is coming after them don't care about us. For window dressing, they'll
glom onto rare cases where a non-rich, non-credentialed guy gets in trouble for allegedly
racist behavior that he didn't really do -- Emmanuel Cafferty, it's your time
to shine ! -- but their real concern isn't Cafferty's "free speech" or that of any other
peon, it's their own miserable careers.
Because they know people are starting to talk back to them. It's not like back in the day
when Peggy Noonan and George F. Will mounted their high horses and vomited their wisdom onto
the rabble and maybe some balled-up Letters to the Editor might feebly come back at them but
that was it. Now commoners can go viral! People making fun of Bari Weiss might reach as many
people as Bari Weiss herself! The cancel culture criers may have wingnut welfare sinecures,
cushy pundit gigs, and the respect of all the Right People, but they can't help but notice
that when they glide out onto their balconies and emit their received opinions a lot of
people -- mostly younger, and thoroughly hip that these worthies are apologists for the
austerity debt servitude to which they've been condemned for life -- are not just coughing
"bullshit" into their fists, but shouting it out loud.
This, the cancel culture criers cry, is the mob! It threatens civilization!
Yet they cannot force us to pay attention or buy their shitty opinions. The sound and
smell of mockery disturbs their al fresco luncheons and
weddings at the Arboretum . So they rush to their writing desks and prepare
sternly-worded letters. Their colleagues will read and approve! Also, their editors and
relatives! And maybe also some poor dumb kids who know so little of the world that they'll
actually mistake these overpaid prats for victims and feel sorry for them.
Well, you've already heard what I think about it elsewhere: Protect workers' free speech
rights for real, I say -- let them be as woke, as racist, or as obstreperous they wish off
the clock and the boss can't squawk. The cancel culture criers won't go for that deal; in
fact such a thing has never entered their minds -- free-speech is to protect their delicate
sensibilities, not the livelihoods of people who work with their hands!
And in the new tradition of the working class asking for more rather than less of what
they want, I'll go further: I give not one flaming fuck if these assholes suffocate under a
barrage of rotten tomatoes, and I think Brad inFast Times at Ridgemont
Highgot a raw deal from All-American
Burger and should be reinstated with full back pay: That customer deserved to have
100% of his ass kicked!
Examples given show quite clearly that "cancel mob" is an established, albeit somewhat
dirty, form of the political struggle. Often the reasons behind the particular attack of
the "cancel mob" is far from charitable. Orwell's 1984 describes an extreme form of the
same.
there is a difference between Prudent speech and Free speech.
When punishment for voicing dissenting opinion includes physical assault it doesn't much
matter how rare the actual instances of physical violence are
Notable quotes:
"... Of course, it is not (yet) possible to determine the exact racism quotient of each individual, so exemplary cancellations are the means of influencing individuals to modify their behaviour. I appreciate that "racism quotient" and "exemplary cancellation" make me sound like one of those right-wing Orwell cosplayers, but I can't think of a better way of putting it. ..."
Cancel culture, I suggest, matters most when our ability to access diverse opinion is
curtailed as a result of speech policing, either by algorithms or individuals, especially in
the run-up to an election. Self-censorship in universities is equally important. When Chomsky
signed the Harper's letter, he reported he receive a great many letters of support from
academics terrified of being cancelled.
We're coming out of a certain kind of (neo-)liberal consensus in which politics was viewed
as a mostly technocratic business of setting laws in the abstract. That perspective was
sufficient to get some things right: many blatantly discriminatory laws have been repealed
across the Western world over the last 70 years. But it turns out that racism and sexism
don't require explicitly racist or sexist laws on the books: they can subvert neutral-seeming
laws to their purposes, and can bias the behaviour of individuals and networks of individuals
to the extent that widespread discrimination can continue...
The other strand focuses on the moral reform of white people. It proceeds from the
assumption that the law has only a limited role in moral conduct, and that the evidence of
the last 50 years is that removing explicitly racist legislation, and even legislating
anti-racism (e.g. affirmative action) isn't enough to secure good outcomes. If your
individual acts have the practical outcome of furthering or defending racist interests, then
you are part of the problem. The demands here are much harder to define. Rather than focusing
all attention on a specific reform that can be enacted in a single moment by an executive or
legislature, attention is cast broadly across all actions occurring at all times by all
people. Of course, it is not (yet) possible to determine the exact racism quotient of
each individual, so exemplary cancellations are the means of influencing individuals to
modify their behaviour. I appreciate that "racism quotient" and "exemplary cancellation" make
me sound like one of those right-wing Orwell cosplayers, but I can't think of a better way of
putting it.
All of this intersects with the modern reality of social media: things that "normal"
people might be able to say in a bar or a cafe discussion with friends or colleagues are now
part of the permanent public record, searchable and viewable by millions. Social media
provides excellent tools both for taking things out of context and re-contextualising them.
Secondly, "brands" or organisations are now direct participants, and can be subject to public
pressure in much more visible ways than previously.
I'm a big fan of biological metaphors; they keep one humble about the inevitability of
unintended consequences. The metaphor gets strained when it moves from external viral spread
to internal immune response, though; in the former, we're assuming a team of informed medical
professionals, seeing things from the "outside" with the authority implied by specialized and
objective knowledge. I'm not sure who these people correspond to in the world we inhabit,
where even the real doctors have trouble getting traction.
The internal immune response feels like a closer match, as surface protein markers are
proxies for identity, microbes display "false flags" to avoid detection, and auto-immune and
inflammatory responses often do more damage than the threats they're reacting to.
On both levels of metaphor, it seems clear that the structure of social media is explicitly
designed to create and exploit "virality"; we need to rethink what this means for us.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/29/social-distancing-social-media-facebook-misinformation
" No one seems to reflect here that silencing people because of their politics is
historically and usually the preserve of those with the power to silence – that is,
conservatives. Be careful what you wish for."
And here we have the cancel culture "problem" in a nutshell. The complaint isn't that
Musgrave lost a job or is literally forbidden to speak or even lacks reasonable ways to be
heard. The complaint is that blog found him distasteful and doesn't want him commenting
there. This isn't a right to speak issue, it's a demand to be heard issue.
Far worse things are done to BLM protesters. Being denied a blog posting? Try being denied
the right to even assemble, and shot with tear gas and rubber bullets. That didn't stop me
from protesting. Being denied a blog post and hearing some harsh criticism is nothing.
I broadly agree with the points about free speech in the post, and Waldron's arguments,
but I don't think it's right to equate the debate about "cancel culture" with these
issues.
John's understanding of it is even more dismissive (and imo off-target).
being cancelled means having to read rude things said about you by lots of unimportant
people on Twitter, as opposed to engaging in caustic, but civilised, debate with your peers
in the pages of little magazines
It seems to me cancel culture is both an ethos and a tactic. The ethos involves a zero
tolerance approach to certain ethical transgressions (eg overt expressions of racism) and an
absolute devaluation of people who commit them. The tactic is based around achieving cultural
change by exerting collective pressure as consumers on managers of corporations (or
corporation-like entities, like universities) to terminate transgressors, as a way of
incentivising other emplpoyees to fall into line. It seems to me to be heavily shaped by and
dependent on American neoliberalism as the ethos is both punitive and consumerist and the
tactic is dependent on at-will employment and managers' deference to customer sentiment, and
while most of its current "successes" have been broadly of the Left there's no reason to
assume that will be the case in future. I think it does represent a weakening of liberal
norms of freedom of discussion and I think Chomsky's right to be concerned.
There's nothing new about speech codes. Puritans and others refused to employ the Book of
Common prayer demanded by the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Scolds and speech police can be
found among agnostics, people of faith, and across the political spectrum. Nor is the common
sense exercise of good judgement regarding when, or if, to suggest to a friend he, she, or
they might like to lose a little weight, or to refrain from pointing out the questionable
personal grooming habits of a colleague, client, superior, or family member.
Do I need to declare my beliefs and opinions on every topic freely in every forum. In my
own case, no. And there's a big difference between being shunned and being imprisoned, or
executed, for mocking the wrong text or monarch.
As I courtesy, I might well avoid broaching topics I'm aware may distress another. But
that's a far cry from what's happening in modern old media. Bari Weiss evidently had her
privileges to write and edit others freely severely curtailed. And, yes, I'm aware that she
had cancellation issues of her own. But forcing James Bennett to resign, who put Ta-Nehisi
Coates on the cover of the Atlantic, for permitting a US senator to publish an op-ed in the
NYT?
We need a diverse set of values and beliefs, argues Henry, J. S. Mill, and others. The
head of Google is just now trying to explain why "Washington Free Beacon, The Blaze,
Townhall, The Daily Wire, PragerU, LifeNews, Project Veritas, Judicial Watch, The Resurgent,
Breitbart, the Media Research Center, and CNSNews" somehow disappeared from the Google search
engine.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/29/google-ceo-dodges-question-on-blacklisting-of-conservative-websites/
Cancel culture, I suggest, matters most when our ability to access diverse opinion is
curtailed as a result of speech policing, either by algorithms or individuals, especially in
the run-up to an election. Self-censorship in universities is equally important. When Chomsky
signed the Harper's letter, he reported he receive a great many letters of support from
academics terrified of being cancelled.
When punishment for voicing dissenting opinion includes physical assault it doesn't much
matter how rare the actual instances of physical violence are. I spoke with an American
colleague employed this week who stated that any dating which is going on among staff and
adults of one kind or another on campus is done in secrecy, if at all. Do Democrats feel that
they're better off having thrown Al Franken under the bus?
Adhering to speech codes and surrendering to a tiny, highly vocal mob seems a very bad
idea to me, and I suspect, many, many others. We don't quite know what to do with the
screaming adolescents of varying ages, but we wish they'd stop yelling.
The good news is that we live in societies, for the most part, which permit the upset to
act out freely. I wonder whether the folks currently trying to burn down the US federal
courthouse in Portland believe their rights to privacy must be respected? The
double-standards on display roil what should be reasonable debate. It should be possible to
disagree civilly with anyone.
Trying to get someone fired, or shunned, for any reason, is about the saddest waste of
energy and time I can imagine – I mean, talk about a poverty of imagination. It's
happened to me here on occasion. When the pitchforks come out, I know my opponents 'got
nothing.' That's small solace, however, when watching those I'd prefer to respect do their
best to stifle debate.
Relative to other nations, we enjoy liberties others can only dream of. These liberties
are worth protecting. I'm not sure we're doing such a good job.
"... Case in point, reporting today on the newly disclosed Ghisline Maxwell documents only mentioned Prince Andrew and not a word about Bill Clinton ..."
"... believe James Murdoch was part of the "we are all gonna die in <11 years" Green New Deal school of thought. ..."
"James Murdoch, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has resigned from the board
of News Corporation citing "disagreements over editorial content".
In a filing to US regulators, he said he also disagreed with some "strategic decisions" made
by the company.
The exact nature of the disagreements was not detailed.
... ... ..,
I watch a lot of TeeVee news on all the major networks including the two Foxnews
channels.
It has become apparent to me over the last year or so that there is an internal ideology
contest at Fox between the hard core conservatives like Dobbs. Carlson, Mark Levin, Bartiromo,
Degan McDowell, etc. and a much more liberal set of people like Chris Wallace, Cavuto and the
newer reporters at the White House. I expect that the departure of James Murdoch will result in
more uniformly conservative reporting and commentary on Fox. I say that presuming that James
Murdoch was a major force in trying to push Foxnews toward the left.
I am surprised that Murdoch sent his son to Harvard. pl
Been noticing a lot of irresponsible reporting of late in the WSJ - not on the opinion
page, but in some pretty sloppy reporting with a lot of editorial bias in what is included
and what is intentionally left out.
Case in point, reporting today on the newly disclosed Ghisline Maxwell documents only
mentioned Prince Andrew and not a word about Bill Clinton . Doesn't WSJ know its readers
draw from multiple media sources that have provided original content? Everyday there are
several similar, bias by omission, articles.
One can only hope newly constituted management team will finally get rid of Peggy
Noonan.
USA's shift to the Western Pacific (Australia) is taking shape. This withdrawal of
American troops and personnel from Germany points to the direction of European long-term
decline in importance, as it seems the USA is opting for a more aggressive, less in-depth
model against the Russian Federation. Either it believes the Russian Federation will fall
soon (after Putin's death) or it is giving up Europe altogether. Both scenarios imply in
Germany's (the EU) decline.
An important problem is the conflation of public opprobrium actual sanctions like being
fired. This is mainly a problem in the US because of employment at will
No. The cancel culture is just a new incarnation of the old idea of religious and
pseudo-religious (aka Marxist or Maoist) "purges". A new flavor of inquisition so to speak.
The key idea here is the elimination of opposition for a particular Messianic movement, and
securing all the positions that can influence public opinion. As well as protection of own
(often dominant) position in the structure of political power (this was the idea behind Mao
"cultural revolution")
You probably can benefit from studying the mechanic of Stalin purges. Mechanisms are the
pretty similar ("History repeats ", etc) .
If opposition to the new brand of Messianism is suppressed under the smoke screen of
political correctness, the question arise how this is different from Stalinist ideas of
"Intensification of the class struggle under socialism" and Mao Red Guards excesses (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensification_of_the_class_struggle_under_socialism
)
You can probably start with "Policing Stalin's Socialism: Repression and Social Order in the
Soviet Union, 1924-1953 (Yale-Hoover Series on Authoritarian Regimes)"
A new book which waits for its author can be similarly titled "Policing US neoliberalism :
Repression and Social Order in the USA 1980-2020") ;-)
Here is one thought-provoking comment from the Web:
GeeBee, August 1, 2020 at 7:42 am GMT
The government will eventually be Marxist
With all due respect, you – like the great majority of people – fail to
understand the dynamics involved. 'Cultural Marxism' isn't political Marxism. It is a method
– a tool if you wish – used by the oligarchs who wield true power to 'divide and
rule' (not least by deflecting attention from the yawning gulf that lies between their own
excesses and monstrous wealth on the one hand, and the increasing indigence of the great mass
of people on the other).
It is called 'Cultural Marxism' purely because it uses Marx's technique of dividing
society into a small clique of 'oppressors' and 'the masses' who are 'oppressed'. Marx, of
course, had the capitalists in mind when he wrote of the oppressors, and the proletariat
naturally were the oppressed.
Today, the last thing the oligarchs desire is a unified and organised proletariat with
'agency': that would constitute a serious threat to their existence. Instead, they divide the
sacred role of 'the oppressed' into a multitude of more or less fissiparous groups, whom we
are all aware of, but of which those comprising 'BAME' are perhaps the most useful. Others
include feminists (more or less all young women in today's world), homos, those suffering
from sexual dysphoria (that's 'trannies' in today's 'Newspeak') and the disabled.
These groups will never discover any common ground between themselves, and thus will fight
among themselves for the scraps thrown from the oligarchs' table. No danger there, and that's
just how they planned it. As for the 'oppressors', there are no prizes for guessing that they
are White, heterosexual (i.e. normal) males.
So much for your fear of actual Marxism. As for 'the government', it is important to
understand that no government in today's West is invested with any meaningful power.
Not only are they not 'sovereign' but they are little more than puppets, dancing to their
masters' dismal tunes.
Who are these oligarchs – these Masters of the Universe? That's a story for another
day. But you won't go far wrong if you place the word 'oligarchs' in triple parentheses
Where will America's productivity miracle come from?
Public education is not teaching students what they need to know to compete in the global
economy.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, math scores of U.S. students rank
30th in the world. The East Asian peers of today's American students will eat their lunch in
the growth industries of tomorrow.
Here's where Black Lives Matter has a real opportunity.
The protests. The riots. The calls for reparation payments. Social justice wealth transfers.
White privilege taxes. All the nonsense. Where's the strategy? Where's the long-range
'strategery'?
No doubt, those selling BLM T-shirts in Walmart parking lots are exercising gumption. But
it's not gonna cut it. Moreover, like bingo winnings, reparation payments will be quickly
squandered while the unhappiness remains.
And as far as we can tell the BLM movement is empty of ideas and without
direction.
lay_arrow
chubbar , 14 minutes ago
"If BLM was strategic"?????? Holy ****, if they were strategic they'd be making damn sure
that testing, like SAT scores, were no longer accepted as proof of accomplishment or
learning. Oh, wait?.......
Let's all agree, blacks don't want a "head to head" test, EVER.
I don't give a crap what they say, they don't want to be judged on MERIT, they love the
skin color test. That way they can always claim racism instead of ability.
libtears , 40 minutes ago
The BLM Movement is definitely empty of ideas and clear leadership. Their supposed goals
are all over the map from day to day. They are rudderless mobs of filthy vagrants and
criminal elements make up most of their movement.
What's going on which is credited to BLM has nothing to do with black people for the most
part. Commies have co-opted this movement and are engaging in anarchy to take down the system
of government. They will do whatever they want at all costs because they believe they have
the moral high ground. They are radicals just like people call them.
The best thing that could happen is for these loser mayors and governors to enforce the
law against these mobs of filthy scum.
How can you even reason with a mob of idiots that don't even have one, if not a hierarchy
of leadership and clear goals that they agree upon?
These people are taking a page out of the Bolshevik book on revolution. And they're much
weaker than the Bolsheviks, mentally and physically. One good thump on the head and these
b!tches are crying.
The longer the public allows teaching institutions to promote BLM the worse this sh!t is
going to get.
...
JaxPavan , 42 minutes ago
The Ford Foundation gave BLM $100 million to engage in terrorism. Who do you think bought
all those ultra high end looting vehicles?
quanttech , 39 minutes ago
Indeed, the BLM organization is primarily funded by mostly white-run corporations and
foundations. The money rules.
HopefulCynical , 22 minutes ago
And WHO is in control of the Ford Foundtion? WHO?!
Tucker Carlson described former President Obama as "one of the sleaziest and most dishonest
figures in the history of American politics" after his eulogy at the funeral of civil rights
icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Thursday.
Carlson, who also described the former president as "a greasy politician" for calling on
Congress to pass a new Voting Rights Act and to eliminate the filibuster, which Obama described
as a relic of the Jim Crow era that disenfranchised Black Americans, in order to do so.
"Barack Obama, one of the sleaziest and most dishonest figures in the history of American
politics, used George Floyd's death at a funeral to attack the police," Carlson said before
showing a segment of Obama's remarks.
he non-profit that sent the Democratic Party haywire during the Iowa Caucus earlier this
year has a new strategy: creating partisan news outlets in key states across the country ahead
of the 2020 election. With the financial backing of Hollywood, hedge fund managers, and Silicon
Valley, Acronym's Courier Newsroom may just change local journalism and politics forever.
Courier Newsroom , created by the
dark-money (not required to disclose donors) progressive non-profit Acronym, states that they
were created to restore trust in journalism by helping to rebuild local media across the
country. The opposite of this is true. Their true goal? Winning elections in key states.
Acronym CEO Tara McGowan, in a leaked memo obtained
by Vice, has stated that the goal of establishing Courier Newsroom is to defeat Republicans on
the new frontier of Internet political advertising. McGowan attributes Trump's 2016 success to
the campaign's ability to "shape and drive mainstream media coverage" through an influx of
internet spending. Courier seeks to counter this by challenging Trump on social media. By
definition, Courier serves as a political advertising operation for the Democratic Party rather
than a legitimate media source.
Calling for a new approach to political advertising, McGowan lambasted Hillary Clinton's
failed media strategy for its over-reliance on spending on traditional media, "In 2016, the
Hillary Clinton for President campaign raised an estimated $800 million online -- and spent a
large majority of it on television and radio advertisements." The 2016 election has proven to
be the reason for the creation of Courier Newsroom.
McGowan explicitly states that the papers are being used to boost political results, "
The Dogwood will not only function to support the flipping of both State House and
State Senate chambers in Virginia this November, but will serve as a vehicle to test, learn
from and scale best practices to new sites as we grow." The Dogwood , as of the time
of the writing of the leaked memo, was intended to be the prototype for future courier new
sites.
Courier has established news sites across key 2020 states including: Copper Courier
(Arizona), The Dogwood (Virginia), Up North News (Wisconsin), The
Gander (Michigan), Cardinal & Pine (North Carolina), The Keystone
(Pennsylvania), and The Americano (nationwide, intended for Latino audiences). Courier
extensively utilizes social media to promote stories made by the publications, generating
clicks in order to shape public voter opinion.
https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.400.1_en.html#goog_884035211 Ad ends in 15s
Next Video × Next Video J.d. Vance Remarks On A New Direction For Pro-worker, Pro-family
Conservatism, Tac Gala, 5-2019 Cancel Autoplay is paused
Courier stories are written with the intent of mobilizing women and young people. McGowan
writes that Courier does this by "framing issues from health care to economic security in a way
that provides these voters with more personal and local relevance than they are often targeted
through traditional political ads." While these are real stories, they are packaged with the
intent on provoking a positive reaction from certain demographics of the population, in order
to spur them to vote for the Democratic Party this November. Courier itself has conceded that
they exist solely to challenge Republicans on social media.
Courier Newsroom Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Schrupp disagreed with the concerns regarding
journalistic integrity of its writers and service. Schrupp told The American
Conservative the following,
Courier Newsroom and its affiliated sites are independent from ACRONYM. We maintain an
editorial firewall, just like any other media company, and the managing editor of each site,
in addition to me as editor in chief, has ultimate discretion and control over content
published. Painting all partisan-leaning outlets with the same brush is dangerous and too
often creates false equivalency between very different types of newsrooms. All outlets in the
Courier Newsroom network operate with integrity and adhere to traditional journalistic
standards. It's offensive to our journalists -- many of whom have won state, regional and
national awards for their reporting -- to try to make a direct comparison to partisan outlets
on the right that often don't publish bylines, don't hire experienced or even local
reporters, don't comply with basic fact-checking standards, and don't do original reporting
in the regions where they operate. Courier aims to combat the misinformation spread by such
right-wing sites pretending to be "local news" by providing readers with transparently
progressive local reporting.
According to data from Facebook Ad Library, between May 2018 and July 12, 2020 Courier
Newsroom
spent $1,478,784 on Facebook ads on topics that include social issues, elections or
politics. Conservative
alternatives , such as the Daily Wire or Breitbart, have spent considerably less money on
Facebook advertising. Breitbart spent $11,404 since March 2018 and the Daily Wire spent
$418,578 since March 2018 according to Facebook's ad library.
Courier's political agenda is obvious. By looking into their Facebook ad-buys, Courier
Newsroom has spent extensively on vulnerable Democrats who came into office in the 2018
midterms. These pieces, while factual, highlight the accomplishments of narrowly elected
Democrats.
Among those that are frequently featured in mass ad-buys on Facebook are:
"Courier Newsroom's goal is to help elect Democrats. The site doesn't say that, but its
founder, Tara McGowan, has made this clear." Gabby Deutch of Newsguard, a journalism watchdog
focused on identifying fake news, tells The American Conservative. Deutch claims that
Courier is different from other partisan news outlets because their intentions are not clearly
stated. Courier instead argues that they are seeking to fill a void left in local
journalism.
According to The New York
Times in a story published in 2019, 1 in 5 local newspapers have been forced to shut
down forever. Political groups, such as Acronym, are poised to revitalize local journalism with
a new twist -- political advertising. Deutch warned The American Conservative of this
worrying development, "With fewer local newspapers -- a decline that's gotten even worse due to
the financial havoc wreaked by the pandemic -- there's room for political groups to fill the
void, playing off people's trust in local news. So they make a site that looks like local news
but has few (if any) reporters in the state, and then create content to woo voters."
There are examples on the right side of the spectrum too, she points out, including the
conservative Star network (Michigan Star and Tennessee Star are two examples) and AlphaNewsMN,
a conservative Minnesota site. "Readers deserve to know the agenda of the websites where they
get their news."
Browsing North Carolina's Courier news site Cardinal & Pine, one finds it brands itself
as "local news for the NC community." Newsguard' s assessment of Courier, is indeed
true, with the overwhelming majority of stories highlighting the successes of North Carolina
Democrats such as Governor Roy Cooper, attacking Republicans such as vulnerable Senator Thom
Tillis, and promoting Democratic policy positions -- notably as it relates to COVID-19 and BLM
social justice protests. Similarly, Virginia's Courier news site, The Dogwood, did not publish
an article detailing Virginia's biggest scandal of 2019: Governor Northam's controversial
blackface yearbook photo. Nor can one find any reference of Tara Reade, Joe Biden's sexual
assault accuser who entered the public eye earlier this spring.
Even more striking, is that as a 501(c)(4), Acronym is not required to disclose donors.
Acronym in 2018 received $250,000 from New Venture
Fund which is managed by Arabella. Through its dark-money ties,
Arabella has raised $2.4 billion dollars since 2006, making it one of the largest
financiers in American politics. Arabella's influence came into the limelight during the 2018
mid-term elections, in which they raised the
most ever by a left-leaning political non-profit. Courier Newsroom is, in other words, entirely
funded by secret donors that likely have significant ties to the Democratic Party and the Super
PACs bankrolling the 2020 election.
Acronym has invested millions of dollars to establish these papers across the country with
plans to continue their expansion into local media across the country in preparation for the
2020 election and beyond. Acronym has claimed that they are separate from Courier and allow the
creators to produce their own independent ideas, although, tax documents have revealed them to
be full owners
.
"This is all probably legal," says Bradley Smith, former Chairman of the FEC and foremost
scholar on campaign finance. "What surprises me is that more entities–especially on the
conservative side, since the majority of traditional media already lean left–don't do
this. But there are examples on the right–for example, NRA Radio." Donors can be kept
secret, as under Citizen's United , the 'periodicals' of 501(c)(4) groups do not have
to be filed with FECA. (Federal Election Campaign Act) Smith believes organizations such as
Courier will likely be a part of a greater trend in local journalism across the country.
Pacronym, also under the Acronym umbrella, is a Democratic Super-PAC charged with the single
goal of electing Joe Biden. Pacronym ads present similar content to what one would see on a
Courier publication, focusing heavily on the failures of Trump's handling of COVID-19, the
struggling of small-businesses across key-swing states (North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania,
and Wisconsin), and Joe Biden's proposed response to the virus.
Courier, with the same goal, repurposes ideas by PACs and the Democratic Party by attaching
a 'news' label for legitimacy. "The anti-Trump ads from Courier focus on the same points as
Pacronym and other Democratic political groups, but if they look like news articles, the
audience sees them differently than the same content coming from a politician," According to
Deutch
at Newsguard.
Pacronym donors are publicly disclosed, and may have present a clue into Courier Newsroom's
finances. Some notable
financiers of Pacronym include billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman, Hollywood icon
Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Kapshaw, a billionaire heiress to the Levi Strauss brand
Mimi Haas, and silicon valley's very own LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. Pacronym has
targeted a $75 million-dollar digital ad campaign, primarily using Facebook, against
President Trump for the upcoming election.
Acronym is also involved in another scandal, notably the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus. Shadow
Inc, also operating under Acronym's umbrella, was established with the purpose of digitally
registering and mobilizing voters. Shadow Inc's leadership primarily consisted of 2016
ex-Clinton campaign staff. Shadow Inc received a contract by the Iowa Democratic Party for
$63,183 to develop an application to help count votes in the Iowa Caucus. Shadow Inc's
application, the IowaReporterApp, failed to properly report the caucus, leading to a delayed
result. Campaigns, pundits, and election officials were confused due to the inconsistencies
found in the results.
Candidate Pete Buttigieg claimed victory despite the caucus results not having been properly
released. According to data by the FEC, Pete Buttigieg's campaign paid Shadow Inc. $21,250 for
"software rights and subscriptions" in July 2019. Acronym CEO Tara McGowan's husband, Michael
Halle, was a senior strategist for the Pete Buttigieg campaign. Michael Halle's brother, Ben
Halle, was Pete Buttigieg's Iowa Communications Director. Many have suspected foul play, or at
least incompetence.
Courier Newsroom is distinct from both fake-news and astro-turf operations that came into
the public eye during the 2016 election. Rather than produce fake content with the intent to
mislead, Courier articles are legitimate and are written by real writers. In the leaked Acronym
memo, CEO Tara McGowan claimed that the Democratic Party was losing "the media war."
In 2014 the National Republican Congressional Committee established fake news
websites and paid to boost them on Google. These websites were deceptive with the intent on
defeating the opposing candidate. Although, these websites publicly disclosed that they were
paid for by the committee at the bottom of the article. Courier's funding remains
undisclosed.
PACs, in tandem with a surge in online political advertising, have weaponized newsrooms to
present misleading news for electoral success.
Alberto Bufalino is a student at Wake Forest University in North Carolina and TAC's summer
editorial intern.
I don't know . . . It's bad enough that the republic has to deal with a broad swath of
people getting their news from terrible facebook feeds. It's why America has a president
selling beans and promoting demon sperm doctors, and why it's one of the few countries that
can't keep covid down despite it's resources.
I don't think trying to get the rest of getting our news from people that operate at the
level of Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, and Breitbart is praiseworthy.
You are right in principle.
We have this six hundred pound Citizens United crapping all over the room though.
I too wish that the game was played by different rules. But this is not Switzerland and we
need to win first.
Is it clear though that repealing Citizens United would change this? The Double Plus
Wealthy are already funding the top online websites to the tune of millions of dollars a
year, and the funders of the Federalist are famously anonymous despite the Federalist
basically being an arm of the Republican party/embarrassment to thinking.
I am happy though that the anonymous funders of the Courier are not sponsoring fake news
that makes their readers dumber, unlike *checks the article** the National Republican
Congressional Committee . Yowza.
Repeal of Citizens United would make it possible to regulate who funds whom. It
would not guarantee the outing of arrangements like Courier. Give me a leaked memo any
day.
U.S. Officials Disseminate Disinformation About 'Virus Disinformation'Getald
, Jul 29 2020 17:44 utc |
1
In another round of their anti-Russian disinformation campaign 'U.S. government officials'
claim that some websites loosely connected to Russia are spreading 'virus
disinformation'.
However, no 'virus disinformation' can be found on those sites.
The Associated Press as well as the New York Times were briefed by the
'officials' and provided write ups.
Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow's military intelligence service known as
the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort meant to reach
American and Western audiences, U.S. government officials said. They spoke to The
Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak
publicly.
The information had previously been classified, but officials said it had been
downgraded so they could more freely discuss it. Officials said they were doing so now to
sound the alarm about the particular websites and to expose what they say is a clear link
between the sites and Russian intelligence.
Between late May and early July, one of the officials said, the websites singled out
Tuesday published about 150 articles about the pandemic response, including coverage aimed
either at propping up Russia or denigrating the U.S.
Among the headlines that caught the attention of U.S. officials were "Russia's Counter
COVID-19 Aid to America Advances Case for Détente," which suggested that Russia had
given urgent and substantial aid to the U.S. to fight the pandemic, and "Beijing Believes
COVID-19 is a Biological Weapon," which amplified statements by the Chinese.
There is zero 'virus disinformation' in the Korybko piece. The aid flight did happen and
was widely reported. In a response to the allegations the proprietors of O neWorldpoint out that
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a recent Q&A also alluded to a new détente with
Russia. Was that also 'virus disinformation'?
The second piece the 'officials' pointed out, Beijing believes COVID-19 is a biological weapon , was
written In March by Lucas Leiroz, a "research fellow in international law at the Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro". It is an exaggerating analysis of the comments and questions a
spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry had made about the possible sources of the
Coronavirus.
The original spokesperson quote is in the piece. Referring to additional sources the
author's interpretation may go a bit beyond the quote's meaning. But it is certainly not
'virus disinformation' to raise the same speculative question about the potential sources of
the virus which at that time many others were also asking.
The piece was published by InfoBRICS.org, a "BRICS information portal" which
publishes in the languages of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South
Africa). It is presumably financed by some or all of those countries.
Another website the 'U.S. officials' have pointed out is InfoRos.ru which publishes in Russian and English. The
AP notes of it:
A headline Tuesday on InfoRos.ru about the unrest roiling American cities read "Chaos in
the Blue Cities," accompanying a story that lamented how New Yorkers who grew up under the
tough-on-crime approach of former Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg "and have zero
street smarts" must now "adapt to life in high-crime urban areas."
Another story carried the headline of "Ukrainian Trap for Biden," and claimed that
"Ukrainegate" -- a reference to stories surrounding Biden's son Hunter's former ties to a
Ukraine gas company -- "keeps unfolding with renewed vigor."
U.S. officials have identified two of the people believed to be behind the sites'
operations. The men, Denis Valeryevich Tyurin and Aleksandr Gennadyevich Starunskiy, have
previously held leadership roles at InfoRos but have also served in a GRU unit specializing
in military psychological intelligence and maintain deep contacts there, the officials
said.
InfoRos calls itself a 'news agency' and has some rather boring general interest
stuff on its site. But how is its writing in FOX News style about unrest in U.S.
cities and about Biden's escapades in the Ukraine 'virus disinformation'? I fail to find any
on that site.
In 2018 some "western intelligence agency"
told the Washington Post , without providing any evidence, that InfoRos
is related to the Russian military intelligence service GU (formerly GRU):
Unit 54777 has several front organizations that are financed through government grants as
public diplomacy organizations but are covertly run by the GRU and aimed at Russian
expatriates, the intelligence officer said. Two of the most significant are InfoRos and the
Institute of the Russian Diaspora.
So InfoRos is getting some public grants and was allegedly previously run by two
people who before that worked for the GU. What does that say about the current state and the
content it provides? Nothing.
The NYTadds
that hardly anyone is reading the websites the 'U.S. officials' pointed out but that their
content is at times copied by more prominent aggregator sites:
"What we have seen from G.R.U. operations is oftentimes the social media component is a
flop, but the narrative content that they write is shared more broadly through the niche
media ecosystem," said Renee DiResta, a research manager at the Stanford Internet
Observatory, who has studied the G.R.U. and InfoRos ties and propaganda work.
There are plenty of sites who copy content from various outlets and reproduce it under
their name. But that does not turn whatever they publish into disinformation.
All the pieces mentioned by AP and NYT and attributed to the 'Russian'
sites are basically factual and carry no 'virus disinformation'. That makes the
'U.S.officials' claims that they do such the real disinformation campaign.
And the AP and NYT are willingly falling for it.
People being
prepared for Russia having the worlds first covid19 vaccine, the US will of course say it was
stolen from them. Infantile politicians create infantile press to feed infantile articles to
adult children. Critical thinking skills do not exist in the US population.
The development of propagation of information/disinformation through the internet eroded
the power of the old newspapers/news agencies. It's not that this or that particular website
is getting more views, but that the web of communications - the the imperialistic blunders +
decline of capitalism post-2008 -, as a whole, weakened what seemed to be an unshakeable
trust on the MSM (the very fact that this term exists already is historical evidence of their
loss of power).
And this process manifests itself not only in loss of power, but also loss of money: this
is particularly evident in the social media, where Facebook (Whatsapp + Facebook proper) and
Google are beginning to siphon advertisement money from both TV and the traditional
newspapers (printed press). When those traditional printed newspapers went digital, they
behaved badly, by using paywalls - this marketing blunder only accelerated their decline in
readership and thus further advertisement money, generating a vicious cycle for them.
The loss of influence of public opinion for the MSM also inaugurated another very
important societal shift: the middle class' loss of monopoly over opinion and formation of
opinion. Historically, it was the role of the middle class to be highly educated, to go to
academia (college) and, most importantly, to daily read the newspapers while eating the
breakfast. The middle class was the class of the intellectuals by definition, thus served as
the clerical class of the capitalist class, the priests of capitalism. With the
popularization of the internet, the smartphone and social media, this sanctity was broken or,
at least, begun to deteriorate. We can attest this class conflict phenomenon by studying the
rise of the term "expert" as a pejorative one. In the West's case, this shift begun through
the far-right side of the political spectrum, but the shift is there.
The popularization of what was once a privilege is nothing new in capitalism. The problem
here is that capitalism depends on infinite growth to merely exist (i.e. it can't survive on
zero growth, it is mathematically impossible), so it has to "monetize" what still isn't
monetize in order to find/create more vital space (Lebensraum - a term coined by the
hyper-capitalist Nazis) for its expansion and thus survival. Hence the popularization of
college education in the USA (then in Europe). Hence the popularization of daily news through
the internet/social media. This process, of course, has its positives and negatives (as is
the case with every dialectical process) - the fall of the MSM is one of the positives.
So, in fact, when the likes of AP, Reuters, NYT, WaPo, Guardian, Fox, CNN spread
disinformation against "alt-media", they are really just protecting their market share - the
fact that it implies in suppression of freedom of speech and to mass disinformation and,
ultimately, to war and destruction, is merely collateral damage of the business they operate
in. They are, after all, capitalist enterprises above all.
Excellent analysis, as always, by b. And vk's points are very pertinent too. One tiny
quibble: I doubt that the Nazis coined, though they certainly popularised, the term
lebensraum.
There is an air of desperation about these campaigns against "Russian" "disinformation"
massive changes are occurring, and, because they are so vast, they are moving relatively
slowly.
The old media model, now totally outdated, was the first thing to fall. Now capitalism itself
is collapsing as a result of the primary contradiction that, left to itself, the marketplace
will solve all problems.
As Washington, where magical thinking is sovereign, is demonstrating, left to itself the
hidden hand will bring only misery, famine, death and the Apocalypse. This was once very well
understood, as a brief look at the history of the founding of the UN will show, now it is the
subject of frantic denial by capitalism's priesthood who have grown to enjoy the glitter and
sensuality of life in a brothel. It is a sign of their mental decay that they can do no
better than to blame Russians.
One should presume the anonymous officials responsible for this ground-breaking report (sarc)
are close to the various "combatting Russian disinformation" NGOs. They are merely living up
to the mission statements of their benefactors. AP and NYTimes are being unprofessional and
spreading fake news by failing to reveal their sources. It's mind-numbing - the BS one must
wade through.
Good point however with one glaring contradiction in your thinking.
You make valid a very criticism of capitalism yet you tend to applaud Chinese capitalist
growth (although you tend to deny Chinese capitalist growth is capitalist, a feat of
breathtaking magical thinking).
The great Chinese wealth is fully 75% invested in bubblicious real estate valuations of
non-commercial real estate built on a mountain of construction debt. Sound familiar?
The irony is Chinese growth since 2008 has been goosed along entirely by the very same
financialized hyper capitalist traits as US: great gobs of debt creating supply-side
"growth", huge amounts of middle wealth tied to asset inflated bubbles, and of course the
resulting income and wealth inequality that rivals US inequality and continues to increase
over time.
I snorted coffee out my nose when Gruff tried to totally excuse Chinese income inequality
for being only slightly less than US level....how about the truth? Chinese inequality is
heinous, only slightly less than the also heinous US level.
The diseased working class in China only has an an arm and two legs hacked off while the
diseased US working class is fully quadriplegic. Much, much better to be a fucked over by
globalization Chinese citizen! Lmao
@ b who ended his posting with
"
And the AP and NYT are willingly falling for it.
"
Sorry b, but AP and NYT are active participants in the disinformation campaign of failing
empire and are not falling for anything
The folks that are falling for it are the American public that has lost its ability to
discriminate with the fire hose volume of lies told to them on a daily basis.
Empire is in the process of defeating itself which is the only safe way of ending the
tyranny of global private finance. I commend China and Russia for having the patience and
fortitude to hold the safe space for the dysfunctional social contract having private control
of the lifeblood of human commerce to self destruct.
This is SO hilarious! The propagandists are worried about Russian virus dis-information when
most dis-information has come from the US government in the person of Trump and from the CDC,
which spent months discrediting the effectiveness of face masks!!!
Theses propagandists need to get real jobs dealing with real world problems.
This is SO hilarious! The propagandists are worried about Russian virus dis-information when
most dis-information has come from the US government in the person of Trump and from the CDC,
which spent months discrediting the effectiveness of face masks!!!
Theses propagandists need to get real jobs dealing with real world problems.
there has been no national response to coronavirus but there must be a national acceptance
that this national non-response is China's fault. and any sources reporting truthfully about
the US or disseminating statements easily found elsewhere, as long as they are Russian,
Chinese, Venezuelan, Cuban, Iranian, etc., is pure disinformation. How brittle and weak the
US is. Where's the Pericles to say to the Spartans, "enter our city and inspect our
defenses"? The US is a nation of heavily-armed mice and sheep.
btw, the China love on display around here is pretty funny. in that the Chinese government
has mounted a national response to a very serious threat, China is a nation in a way that the
US is not. There is no US or we would not have 50 states doing different things in response
to the corona outbreak. the US is already dead. But China is a thoroughly authoritarian
capitalist state. they are who they are in a dialectic competition with the US and other
capitalist powers, not because of some Maoist-Confucian amalgam that inspires such wisdom in
their brilliant leaders, who are just as quick to destroy their environment for capitalist
gain as anyone on this planet is. The decline of the US will not make China or Russia or any
"emerging" power less authoritarian or violent. au quite the contraire. They are Shylocks who
will try to better instruction.
However, none of this is of concern to people in the US, whose only concern is the Nazi
spawn who've been running "the West" for much longer than the last 75 years. but it's time to
kill the bitch, not let it keep screwing us and breeding.
As others already said, this is a bit rich, considering that virus disinformation comes from
Trump himself, both live and on Twitter, quoting genuine hacks and megalomaniac doctors,
depending on the week.
Reality check: Russians will be able to travel across the world way before Americans, for
obvious healthcare reasons.
Bevin, I agree, I once had a short exchange on Mondoweiss about the term Lebensraum, it
had been used in some type of marketing by my favorite Swizz supermarket. Which then,
apparently caused an uproar. The term Lebensraum on its own is rather innocent. Leben (life)
Raum (space), a noun compound. Context matters. And I am sure I checked it, and Micros
definitively did not use it in any type of world conquering settler context. I haven't
stumbled yet across a Micros supermarket anywhere outside Switzerland, ;)
I'm under the impression that Info Ros is a Russian government-funded, supported, backed,
site, it certainly looks like it and its reportage is decidedly 'neutral'.
This is SO hilarious! The propagandists are worried about Russian virus dis-information
when most dis-information has come from the US government in the person of Trump and from the
CDC, which spent months discrediting ...
Posted by: JohnH | Jul 29 2020 19:21 utc | 8
This is close to my overall take on matters. But I wouldn't put so much emphasis on
face masks but on something along the lines of Covid is notthing but a flu. Face masks were
initially discussed quite controversially everywhere.
Were it gets interesting is here:
A report published last month by a second, nongovernmental organization, Brussels-based EU
DisinfoLab, examined links between InfoRos and One World to Russian military intelligence.
The researchers identified technical clues tying their websites to Russia and identified some
financial connections between InfoRos and the government.
They have a competitor which seems Bruxelles based too, Patrick Armstrong alerted me to
a while ago: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/
EUvsDisinfo is the flagship project of the European External Action Service's East StratCom
Task Force
************
But yes, on first sight InfoRos seems to be neatly aligned with US alt-Right-Media in
basic outlook. More than with the US MSM.
And now I first have to read what has been on Andrew Korybko's mind lately. ;)
Many Americans of all walks of life do not trust their own government, yet most people here
seem to have faith that their media outlets are telling the truth. How do you break through
to the public that has utter faith in whatever newspaper or television channel they prefer
and highlight the lies in a way which gains real traction?
I believe it takes leadership, which, for Americans, mean celebrities have to endorse the
idea or it likely won't be taken seriously. This cult of celebrity is mirrored on social
media platforms, where millions flock to be a part of some beautiful person's beautiful
photograph or some known personalities acceptable opinion du jour.
There is a great bond gripping the minds of American media consumers. They have trained
their entire lives to worship at the cult of celebrity and this is the key to breaking the
entire media landscape down for them.
This also is the key to unlocking the voices of those who know better with regards to
media lies, but keep silent out of fear.
Will a Joe Rogan or Tucker Carlson be able to break the spell? I think it will never
happen based on how Hollywood gatekeeps celebrity and based on how hopelessly apathetic most
are to Julian Assange.
Lol I write for One World. I'm an American who has never had a piece edited or been told what
to write. I was allowed to write a piece about Russia where I was critical of their policy of
backing the STC in Yemen (I thought it was bad to divide Yemen). No one makes anybody tow any
specific line. I decided not to publish my piece on Russia and the STC in Yemen because I
didn't find the topic interesting enough, but I was 100% allowed to be critical of Russia.
Lol I write for One World. I'm an American who has never had a piece edited or been told
what to write.
...
Posted by: Ben Barbour | Jul 29 2020 22:36 utc | 23
Is it possible that you're just the in-house joke at OW?
If they don't care that you'd write "tow" instead of "toe" or that you're too
lazy/thoughtless to reproduce the full name of the entity for which STC is an acronym, before
using the acronym, then it suggests that One World's Editorial Standards are as lax as your
own :-)
"... Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow's military intelligence service
known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort meant to
reach American and Western audiences, U.S. government officials said. They spoke to The
Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak
publicly ..."
Of course GRU agents always work in pairs, guided only by the mysterious telepathic powers
of the Russian President and no-one or nothing else, as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov
did in Salisbury in March 2018 when they supposedly tried to assassinate or send a warning to
Sergei Skripal, and as Dmitri Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoy did in London in November 2006 when
they apparently put polonium in a pot of tea served to Alexander Litvinenko in full view of
patrons and staff at a hotel restaurant. It's as if each agent carries only half a brain and
each half is connected to its complement by the corpus callosum that is Lord Vlademort
Putin's thoughts beaming oing-yoing-yoing-like through the atmosphere until they find their
targets.
And of course US government officials always speak on condition of anonymity.
As Agence Presse News puts it:
"... The information had previously been classified, but officials said it had been
downgraded so they could more freely discuss it. Officials said they were doing so now to
sound the alarm about the particular websites and to expose what they say is a clear link
between the sites and Russian intelligence ..."
So if US government officials can now freely discuss declassified news, why do they insist
on being anonymous? This would be the sort of news announced at a US national press club
meeting with Matt Lee in the front row asking awkward and discomfiting questions.
The malicious cultivation (including Gain of Function research) and implantation of this
biowarfare agent (and other ones such as Swine Fever) by the U.S. Intelligence services in
various places around the world (especially in China and Iran), the intentional faulty
responses and deceptive statistics administered by the monopoly-controlled medical
establishment, the feigned inability to provide adequate testing, care, and treatment, along
with planned economic destruction as a means of restoring investor losses and control of
populations through stifling of dissent, are at the heart of the deflection and projection of
blame. That broadly-based subject is barely discussed in alternative media and is totally
obfuscated in MSM, because the "denier-debunkers" dispute the possibility of such extreme
malice existing in our institutions, in spite of previous experience with events such as 9/11
and the '08 financial crisis.
...
So if US government officials can now freely discuss declassified news, why do they insist on
being anonymous?
...
Posted by: Jen | Jul 29 2020 23:29 utc | 25
Precisely.
My guess is that they don't know when to quit.
and/or
They embrace the Mythbusters motto...
"If a thing's worth doing, it's worth overdoing."
"Is it possible that you're just the in-house joke at OW?
If they don't care that you'd write "tow" instead of "toe" or that you're too
lazy/thoughtless to reproduce the full name of the entity for which STC is an acronym, before
using the acronym, then it suggests that One World's Editorial Standards are as lax as your
own :-)"
Fair point on tow vs toe. That's why editing exists when writing articles. As for the STC
part, that is common knowledge if you follow basic geopolitics. When making a post in a
comment thread, should I write out "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" before using the acronym
ISIS? If I am posting in a comment thread about Iran, do I need to write out "Mujahedin-e
Khalq" instead of just using MEK?
It just displays a massive level of ignorance on your part. Nice try though.
Global media moguls are blaming the 1,000 American deaths per day from the Wuhan coronavirus
on Donald Trump to finally get him out of the way. But they are silent on their and the
Democrats complicity in the death toll due to the lack of a national public health system or
the funding to pay for it.
The USA is going to hell. A scapegoat is needed. For the media and Democrats, Russia is to
blame. Anybody else rather than themselves, the true culprits. Donald Trump blames China for
the pandemic if he acknowledges it at all but that is where all of Tim Cook's iPhones are
made. Blaming China is globalist heresy.
I think there's a reasonable case to be made that this is what has occurred.
And, if true, it is covered up by sly suggestions that nCov-19 was man-made with hints or
a smug attitude that convey the message that China created the virus. As well as a
virtual black-out in Western media of Chinese suggestions that the virus may have started in
USA or been planted in Wuhan.
But then, I already stand accused of attributing magical powers of self-interested
foresight and boldness to US Deep-State due to my belief that Trump was their choice to lead
USA in 2016. And so I expect you're theory will receive the same derision. Yet Empires have
not been shy about killing millions when it was in their interest to do so.
In any case, I've written many times that USA/West's unwillingness to fight the virus has
been dressed up as innocent mistakes. Even if the West wasn't the source of the virus they
have much to answer for. Yet very few have taken note of the way that USA/West have played
the pandemic to advance their interests - from lining the pockets of Big Pharma to blaming
China for their own "incompetence" (a misnomer: the power-elite are very competent at
advancing their interests!).
It seems disinformation has been redefined to mean information that counters someone else's
(yours) belief. We pretend to be in an Age of Reason but really, we have just replaced
religious beliefs with secular beliefs. Science has been taken over by pseudoscientists that
have replaced priests. The conflict of interest by the science/priests who profit from their
deceptions is beyond criminal.
To know what is the truth you just have to look at whats being censored. Nobody being
censored for supporting mask mandates, claiming vaccines are safe, and not questioning the
blatant data manipulation of COVID cases that anyone with an open mind and IQ of 100 , and
who reads the data, definitions and studies can see through.
It seems people on both sides of the fence have replaced their brains with their chosen
ideology. Its like watching a Christian, Jew and Muslim arguing which is the best or true
religion. No point in it.
so, lets say GRU agents are feeding russian propaganda sites... how does that compare to
all the CIA-FBI agents and has been hacks working for the western msm?? seems a bit rich for
the pot to be calling a kettle black, even if they are lying thru their teeth! i am sure if
someone did a story on how many CIA - m16 people are presently working with the western msm,
they would have a story with some legs... this shite from anonymous usa gov't officials is
just that - shite..
@ Ben, or Benson Barbour .. thanks for your comments!
Lol I write for One World. I'm an American who has never had a piece edited or been told
what to write. I was allowed to write a piece about Russia where I was critical of their
policy of backing the STC in Yemen (I thought it was bad to divide Yemen). No one makes
anybody tow any specific line. I decided not to publish my piece on Russia and the STC in
Yemen because I didn't find the topic interesting enough, but I was 100% allowed to be
critical of Russia.
There's such a thing as self-censorship. Mainstream US news has effectively brought up
folks to be this way: stay in line or become unemployed- doesn't need to be stated. Not aimed
at you, but it needs to be said (und understood).
@35 That's a very good point. I completely agree. Self-censorship and group think are two of
the biggest problems in modern journalism/analysis. One World consistently publishes
pro-Pakistan and pro-China articles. When I was first sending them submissions, I did a piece
on US vs China in Sudan and South Sudan. I considered omitting China's culpability in
escalating the conflicts, and instead focus on laying the blame squarely at the feet of the
US. In the end I told the truth about both countries' imperialist escalations (to the best of
my ability).
There is a lot of incentive to self-censor at just about any outlet. It's more comfortable
to fit in with a site's brand.
In the case of the Russia-STC article, I really just found the subject matter to be thin.
Russia's support of the STC is mostly just diplomatic. Not a lot to write about.
The Americans are increasingly unhinged in their spittle-flecked accusations against not only
Russia, but also China, Iran, Venezuela, etc.
It's so pathetic as to be humorous.
Underlying the USA's Two Minutes of Hate campaigns, however, is a deeper disease that
defines Americans as a nation and as a people.
Namely, Americans have an inbred fundamentalist belief in their own Moral Superiority as
the Beacon of Liberty, Land of the Free, blah, blah, blah--no matter how many nations they
have bombed back to the Stone Age, invaded, colonized, regime changed, sanctioned, or
economically raped in the name of Freedom and Democracy™.
Donald Trump is half correct.
The United States of America is truly a great nation alright--but great only in terms of
its deceit, great in terms of its delusions, and great in terms of the horrors that it has
inflicted on much of the world.
Comparing America to the Nazis would be a high insult ... to Nazi Germany, as the Third
Reich only lasted about 12 years, while the American Reich has unfortunately lasted well over
200 years and gotten away with its crimes against humanity by possessing what are likely the
greatest propaganda machine and political deception in human history: the American Free Press
and the world historic lie called "American Freedom."
Harold Pinter in his 2005 Nobel Literature Prize speech briefly but powerfully exposes
this heart of American darkness:
"The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless,
but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has
exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for
universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.
I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road.
Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a
salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It's a
winner."
"Top US immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci is now saying citizens are not "complete" in
protecting themselves from the Covid-19 pandemic unless they go beyond wearing a mask and add
in eye protection like goggles, too."
More provocation from the oligarchy. Now, that masks are becoming less controversial, time
to step up the provocation, division and control.
Fauci is also behind the anti-hydroxychloroquine propaganda, as well, that even b has
swallowed. This, despite it being used effectively in other countries. All of this simply
because Trump supports it (ergo, it must be bad) and Big Pharma (who control Fauci,
CDC abd WHO) can't profit significantly from its use.
"During the course of the debate, Kennedy also talked about the regular vaccines most
people take, from Hepatitis B to the flu shot, emphasizing that no proper testing had ever
been done, which is mandatory for any other medication. Vaccines "are the only medical
product that does not have to be safety-tested against a placebo," he explained."
Kennedy said
"it's not hypothetical that vaccines cause injury, and that injuries are not rare. The
vaccine courts have paid out four billion dollars" over the past three decades, "and the
threshold for getting back into a vaccine court and getting a judgment – [the
Department of Health and Human Services] admits that fewer than one percent of people who are
injured ever even get to court."
So, how well has the Russian vaccine been tested? Does anyone know?
It is interesting how USAians are being played by the oligarchy.
On foreign policy, the dems and reps are in basic agreement and the propaganda is to bring
the masses together to hate Russia, Chaina and anyone else who the Western (US) oligarchy has
targeted.
Domestically, unity is the enemy of the oligarchy. The masses must be controlled through
division and diversion, so the dems and reps play good cop, bad cop (bad and good being
relative to the supporter) to ensure the masses are diverted from important oligarch issues
to issues of irrelevance to the oligarchs, but easily manipulated emotionnally by the
oligarchs for the beast.
"[...]Donald Trump blames China for the pandemic if he acknowledges it at all but that is
where all of Tim Cook's iPhones are made. Blaming China is globalist heresy."
Then why do you phrase it the "Wuhan coronavius" yourself?
For those interested in corona virus truth,
I am interested in the question -- - was it spread by negligence or deliberately?
That question must be relivant to this debate on MOA.
I ask this now becouse -- --
Tonight on bbc 'panorama' there investigating the spread of the virus from Hospital to care
homes !! I'm told there is some pretty shocking information exposed.
Some may wish to catch that prog. Heads up.
I just add an obversation. -- western psychopathic disinformation and projection has led
to a confused public. A public deciding to disengage with politics. To the gain of the
psychopaths.
A new candidate to the demonization and disinfo operations has been added...Germany...which
has been labeled "delinquent" by the POTUS...in a clear exercise of projection...
Of course, to not be insulted or labeled delinquent, you must act as these other countries
enumerated by Southcom commander, to work for the US ( not your country...) and moreover pay
for it....Typical mafia extortion, isn´t it?
That broadly-based subject is barely discussed in alternative media and is totally
obfuscated in MSM, because the "denier-debunkers" dispute the possibility of such extreme
malice existing in our institutions, in spite of previous experience with events such as
9/11 and the '08 financial crisis.
YES to that and thank you for that post. That the institutions of state and private
sectors are the incubators and propagators of extreme malice is axiomatic in the UKUSAI and
its five eyed running dogs is beyond doubt. They attack and scorn any critic or unbeliever.
They assault and pillory truth speakers and those who might question 'their narrative'.
Then if all that fails the hunt them down and make preposterous claims about them being
anti semitic of anti religion or anti their nation.
Mendacity is the currency of the permanent state and its minions and they need to be outed
and shamed and challenged at every opportunity.
Fort Detrick coronavirus would be on the mark and as you most likely know, you cannot
trust the USA lying eyes once you have served them in their killing fields.
Even that right wing ex special forces advocate Steve Pieczenic testifies to the fact of a
deadly virus in USA in November/December plus his beloved bloggers say way earlier than that
around Maryland etc. Then there is the small problem of the 'vaping' illness that generated
lots of pneumonia like fatalities in June/July. And then the instant closure of Fort Detrick
due to its leaking all over the place through a totally inadequate waste water treatment
plant that couldn't scrub a turd let alone a virus.
The problem with presstitutes, possibly including Ben Barbour , (disclaimer: I've
never read any media products that particular individual generated) goes beyond the point
made by Seer @35 . To be sure, there is no chance that a presstitute would bite the
hand that feeds it, but there is more depth to the problem of why they all suck so
badly, at least the ones in the US. While journalism degrees are the university equivalent of
Special Education (nowadays referred to as "Exceptional Student Education" , which is
very fitting for students from such an "exceptional" nation), they still prepare the
future presstitute to understand that their capitalist employers have interests beyond their
immediately apparent ones. That is, more important to a capitalist employer than tomorrow's
sales and profits is the preservation of capitalism itself.
But the problem is deeper still. The presstitute that is successfully employed by a
capitalist enterprise will invariably be one that knows not to criticize the employer's
business, the capitalist system it depends upon, and the empire that improves that employer's
profitability. More importantly, that successful hireling will additionally have been
brainwashed from infancy that all of these things are good and necessary aspects of the
modern world that need to be ideologically defended. The prospective presstitute will be one
that not only voluntarily, but eagerly serves its capitalist masters varied interests. After
all, when there are plenty of whores to choose from, would you hire one that requires
explicit instructions on every last thing you expect from them and just follows those
instructions mechanically or the the one that puts effort into figuring out what would please
you and delivers that with enthusiasm? Keeping this dynamic in mind will allow one to better
understand the capitalist mass media's products.
The contempt at which the American ruling class hold their citizens is galling. The US
corporate media operates as if their targeted audience are all morons.
Mark2 @45: "...was it [ novel coronavirus] spread by negligence or
deliberately?"
Most likely both.
There is evidence to suggest that the virus was circulating in the US prior to it being
discovered in China. While it is possible this could have been the results of testing the
transmissibility of the virus, it seems more probable that it was an accidental release from
Fort Detrick. This would explain the facility being shut down last year. Military facilities
are never shut down simply for breaking a few rules but because those rule violations led to
something unpleasant.
An accidental release, coupled with the fact that the synthetic origin of the virus would
become apparent to scientists worldwide, resulted in a need to quickly establish an alternate
explanation for the virus. Since the US was losing its trade war with China, and use of a
bioweapon to turn the tide was already gamed out and on the table anyway, the virus (or
possibly a very similar strain that had been pre-selected for the attack) was deliberately
sprayed around a market in Wuhan.
The CDC and CIA probably thought that the virus was contained in the West and that since
it was a surprise to the Chinese it would run rampant there and result in their economy
shutting down and their borders being closed, decoupling China from the world. With the
Chinese treating the virus as a bio attack and defeating its spread, followed by the virus
rampaging through the West, the dynamic changed. Now in order for the virus to decouple China
it must become endemic in the West. The Chinese must be made to close their borders in fear
of becoming infected from the rest of the world. To make this backup plan a reality, and to
get the economies moving again as fast as possible, some western leaders have decided to
accelerate the spread in the hopes of quickly developing "herd immunity" . Taking out
some retirees whom the capitalists view as a burden on the economy is just some nice icing on
the cake.
@ 51 & @ 52
I'd say not ! I'm confided Vietnam Vet is doing 'balenced' Reporting ! The subject of this
post. Take another look at both this post and his comment. A lesson in how to be unbiased but
truthfull.
Soooo any one got a definition of fake news.
Mine would be Truth before personal agenda.
William Gruff @ 53
I think yours is just about the most clear and concise summary of this whole virus
catastrophe that I have seen so far. And that's a hell of a statement !
Unrelated I wonder what would have happened if the Chinese whistle blower had not blown the
whistle ? Now that's one to ponder ? As bad as this all is world wide, where would be right
now ? Dose not bare thinking about.
What are you trying to tell me? Anyone that does not acknowledge the virus originated in
China and that China didn't respond as fast as it could have? And more polemically: there is
some kind of African Marxist heading WHO who obfuscated China's late information to the
WHO?
There is a dot of truth in everything. There is also a dot of truth in the fact that Trump
or his relevant admin was informed early enough.
We've been acquainted with this virus about 7 months or so and it is difficult to separate
reliable information from disinformation. We know very little about it, eg, we don't know
whether those who recover can be reinfected. Is it like the common cold, against which there
is no immunity? We just have to assume that the Trump virus has infected every level of the
administration so that there is ignorance and unadulterated stupidity from the lowest level
in the ministry of propaganda to the secretary of state and, of course, the president himself
currently celebrating the wisdom of an animist/Christian hybrid doctor from Africa spewing
the foulest disinformation one can imagine.
Big @ 57 What ?
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 30 2020 12:27 utc | 58
babbling: look if this is the good old VV from SST, I wouldn't want to nail him on the
usage of Wuhan virus. But on the larger content of his comment, I am wondering.
Full discovery: I entered the US conspiracy universe shortly after 9/11. I'll probably
never forget there was this one commenter that completely out of then current preoccupations
within the diverse theories, you recall?, suggested that the Chinese were approaching via the
Southern borders.
There surely should be a way how the US and Russia
There surely should be a way how the US and Russia
There surely should be a way how the US and Russia repartition their claims. After all
historically the Russian had some type of partly real Yellow threat too ... :)
Except the "whistle blower" was not a whistle blower since local, provincial, and nations
institutions were already advised or in the process of being advised. Dr Wenliang posted his
information in a private chatroom with other medical professionals on December 30th. Timeline
of events:
Dec 27 -- Dr. Zhang Jixian, director of the respiratory and critical care medicine
department of Hubei Provincial Hospital, files a report to the hospital stating that an
unknown pneumonia has developed in three patients and they are not responding to influenza
treatment.
Dec 29 -- Hubei Provincial Hospital convened a panel of 10 experts to discuss the now
seven cases. Their conclusion that the situation was extraordinary, plus information of two
similar cases in other hospitals, prompted the hospital to report directly to the municipal
and provincial health authorities.
Dec 30 -- The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued an urgent notification to medical
institutions under its jurisdiction, ordering efforts to appropriately treat patients with
pneumonia of unknown cause.
Dec 31 -- The National Health Commission (NHC) made arrangements in the wee hours, sending
a working group and an expert team to Wuhan to guide epidemic response and conduct on-site
investigations. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission released a briefing on its website
about the pneumonia outbreak in the city, confirming 27 cases and telling the public not to
go to enclosed public places or gather. It suggested wearing face masks when going out. The
Wuhan Municipal Health Commission released briefings on the pneumonia outbreak in accordance
with the law. WHO's Country Office in the PRC relayed the information to the WHO Western
Pacific Regional Office, then to the international level headquarters.
Jan 1 -- The NHC set up a leading group to determine the emergency response to the
epidemic. The group convened meetings on a daily basis since then.
Jan 2 -- The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and the Chinese
Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) received the first batch of samples of four patients from
Hubei Province and began pathogen identification. The NHC came up with a set of guidelines on
early discovery, early diagnosis and early quarantine for the prevention and control of the
viral pneumonia of unknown cause.
Jan 3 -- Dr. Wenliang signs a statement not to post unsubstantiated rumors.
There's no "whistle blowing" as the information of the cases were already going up the
chain of command. These are facts that can be sourced by multiple media outlets. I can't
believe this fallacy keeps floating and doesn't flush.
In retrospective analyses, SARS-COV-2 was found in routinely collected samples of European
sewage water dating back to at least december 2019. A french doctor reviewed archived medical
samples and imagery from patients who had fallen mysteriously ill in the latter half of 2019
and also found that some had been early cases of COVID-19.
The real coronavirus whistle-blower is a doctor in Washington state USA who tested for the
virus in Januari 2020 and was silenced by USA medical and federal authorities.
I am afraid that there will never be a sincere investigation into the real cause of the
"vaping disease" that caused many deaths from sudden respiratory failure in the USA in the
summer of 2019. Tell me again when Ft. Detrick labs was shut down exactly?
What are you trying to tell me? Anyone that does not acknowledge the virus originated in
China and that China didn't respond as fast as it could have? And more polemically: there is
some kind of African Marxist heading WHO who obfuscated China's late information to the WHO?
There is a dot of truth in everything. There is also a dot of truth in the fact that Trump
or his relevant admin was informed early enough.
Posted by: vig | Jul 30 2020 12:21 utc | 57
vig repeats widely spread arguments, basically, the "official propaganda" from offices
related to an orange-American (excessive time spend on golf courses changes skin color,
perhaps in combination with sunscreen, without sunscreen you would get a "redneck look").
1. Origin: somewhat debatable, but any virus has to originate somewhere. Every country was
on receiving end of pathogens from other countries.
2. China did not respond as fast as it could have. Now, how fast and effective was USA?
One has to note that clusters of fatal lung infections happen regularly, but this is because
of mutations that increase impact on health, while separate mutations increase (or decrease)
the transmission. Draconian measures are necessary if you get both, but you do not lock
cities, provinces, introduce massive quarantine programs until you know that they are
necessary. For the same reasons, the response in Western Europe and USA was not as fast as it
could have.
3. "African Marxist heading WHO mislead poor naive Americans". What is the budget of
American intelligence, and American disease control? Do they collect information, do they
have experts? In particular, American authorities knew pretty much what Chinese authorities
knew, and they had benefit of several weeks of extra time to devise wise strategy. Giving
this benefit to people with limited mental capacities has a limited value. Perhaps China is
at fault here too, Pompeo reported about pernicious impact of Chinese Communist Party on PPT
meeting in USA, that could have deleterious impact on education and thus on mental
capacities.
Pompeo himself may be a victim. He excelled as a West Point student, but if the content of
education was crappy, diligence impacted his brain deeper and not for the better. But nobody
attempts to blame CCP for that.
For starters, the "whistleblower" wasn't a whistleblower at all: he thought he had found a
resurgence of SARS, not a new pandemic. Secondly, the head of respiratory diseases at the
region already was investigating some cases of a "mysterious pneumonia" since end of November
or mid-December - so the investigation already was well under way.
Discovering a new disease is not magic: a doctor cannot simply go the market, see a random
person, and claim he/she discovered a new virus. Doctors are not gods: they can only diagnose
the patients under their care.
The point of discord that the Western MSM capitalized upon was the fact that some random
officer from the local police intercepted his private social media and made him sign a letter
of reprimand. No Law is ever perfect, and these episodes of false triggers do happen even in
Western Democracies.
Little known fact (one which the Western MSM censored) is that the so-called
"whistleblower" was a member of the CCP. After knowing the details of the situation
(including that the disease was already being investigated), he quickly realized the
state-of-the-art and went to the frontlines to fight the pandemic - as any member of the CCP
would've done. Revolutionary communist parties have this tradition that comes since the
Bolshevik Party, where the leadership always leads by example. The Bolsheviks themselves lost
the vast majority of their elite in the Civil War, as they always led in the front
(vanguard). Fidel Castro himself led his army in the front when the invasion of the Bay of
Pigs begun. So, it is not surprising this doctor, once having the facts on the field, quickly
shut up and went to the frontline as a vanguard soldier.
After the whole truth came to the forefront, the Western MSM quickly begun to meltdown
over the fake story they fantasized, and the Taiwanese MSM invented a story of some another
whistleblower who had discovered the virus "at the end of November". That one never truly
gained traction, and silently died out.
But all of this is moot point for the West, because Trump and the other European liberal
powers refused to believe either that the virus was real or that it could reach them until
February the next year.
I think it is OK that b nails the US makes yet another display of stupidity.... on the other
hand I presume that b also has other things to care about, I mean exposing the US as a "fake"
nation is a full time job!
Americans have at least the last 50 years been known for fails, even Churchill commented
something like "the Americans will fail numerous times, but eventually they will get it
right" well that was back then! Today it is fail upon fail. I know that there must be bright
people over there, but it is my sincere impression, that they are a very small minority.
Maybe their schooling system has all gone bonkers ?
"3% of all Americans believe the Earth is flat! WTF!!!
America is on a steep slope downward.
I am personally not worried much about Covid 19, although I am 63 and live in Sweden, the
"black Sheep" in Europe because of our rather lax restrictions, the Swedes themselves are
rather good at keeping distance and using common sense.
I am much more worried that the American culture of ignorance, brain farts, stupidity and low
IQ media will infest my country further and maybe completely ruin it.
Especially by the junk that comes out of Hollywood, pure Sh*t served nice and hot!
I am happy I know, I have not got to endure further 30 years of this.
A few months ago, b posted a link to a Canadian vlogger who lives in Nanning, China. The
vlogger took us on a tour of a so called Wet Market. Here, the vlogger takes us to another
Wet Market tour. He does a good job dispelling racist stereotypes and showing real life in
China.
One to many @ 64
Thanks ! So there was a group of whistle blowers then. It's down to definitions again.
Perhaps mine is a little more loose. But it's of no concern.
For the sake of this excellent thread, perhaps we could all be a little less pedantic. VK ?
Also relevant - Crimson Contagion - the pandemic simulation run by the US government from
January to August 2019 and was based on an infectious coronavirus coming from a food market
in China
Everywhere u go in this world you'll find some version or an "murican" in every country.
Even a country like modern first world Switzerland has its "mountain folk".
In my personal experience with Americans I'm most often pleasantly surprised at their levels
of sophistication and introspection over their American experiences. An enjoyable and as
pleasant a people as anywhere. This may be clouded by mostly meeting these people outside of
the US where unless tourists are well educated and travelled and by default more aware of a
negative view of their homeland that exists outside of the US. For some reason most of these
Americans I've met abroad are decidedly non republican in nature and are mostly
from California and North and North Eastern States. Fellow future Canadians I would call
them.
The other side of the coin is when I've travelled to the states. Texas, Florida, Arizona.
Whew! What a difference. I've learned that talking politics is impossible and the natives are
almost entirely ignorant of anything outside their bubble. Outside of talking points there is
no information behind their arguments. Their knowledge of the outside world is incredibly
lacking and the view of the US in it is overwhelmingly positive.
It isn't Americans its America and its leadership, its influences, systems and all the other
shit that make the US the salad it is. The people r redeemable.
Calling the professionals doing their jobs in China "whistleblowers" is inaccurate.
"Whistleblower" implies revealing information that others are trying to hide. In this
case the suggestion is that the Chinese government was trying to hide the outbreak. This is
nonsense as the Chinese government was unaware of an outbreak until after the relevant
professionals had determined that there was an outbreak. There is no way the Chinese
government could have known about an outbreak before the outbreak was identified by the
professionals tasked with identifying outbreaks. The only ones who knew about the outbreak
before the outbreak occurred were the US "intelligence community" .
ll eyes are on the declining number of unemployed. The May and June jobs reports chronicle
the reabsorption of 5.3 million who lost their jobs in the COVID-19 pandemic. Twelve million
jobs to go to reach pre-pandemic employment.
Yet prior to the pandemic, there were 18 million Americans missing from the economy. These
persons were neither employed nor seeking employment -- nor retirees, students or in-home
caregivers -- and therefore were excluded from the Bureau of Labor Statistics count of the
workforce. In order that America emerge from the pandemic stronger than before, a concerted
initiative by federal and state governments to move them back into the economy -- using
existing resources -- must begin now.
...
Research on the social determinants of health finds that employment has a
very strong correlation with positive health outcomes. To exist as a non-participant in
the economy is thus an invitation to dire health outcomes including premature death.
What's more, these individuals are needed as contributors to our national commonweal,
fueling increased economic and social progress. And people engaged in productive activities
are much less likely to engage in negative and destructive behaviors.
... The USDA's food stamp program has a robustly funded, though underutilized, employment
and training grant. States use the excuse of USDA's partial match requirement as a reason to
opt out.
"... Some of the neoliberal countries may be at the stage of the collusion; some of them may find themselves at the stage of oligarchy; some of them may be at the stage of corruption culture. ..."
"... In Japan, since 1957, there were twenty-one prime ministers of whom 75% were one-year or two-year prime ministers despite the four-year term of prime ministers. The short life span of Japanese prime ministers is essentially due to the short term interest pursued by the corrupted golden triangle composed of big business, bureaucrats and politicians. Unless, Japan uproots the corruption culture, it will be difficult to save the Japanese economy from perpetual stagnation. ..."
"... In the U.S. the big companies are spending a year no less than $2.6 billion lobbying money for the promotion of their interests, while the Congress spends $ 2.9 billion and the Senate, $860 million for their respective annual operation. Some of the big companies deploy as many as 100 lobbyists. ..."
"... It is unbelievable that the amount of lobbying is as much as 70% of the annual budget of the whole legislative of the U.S. ..."
"... Under such lobbying system, each group should deploy lobbyists to promote their interests. The immigrants, the native Indians, the Afro Americans, the alienated white people and other marginal groups cannot afford lobbyists and they are often excluded from fair treatment in the process of making laws and policies ..."
"... In the case of the U.S. its rank increased from 18 in 2016 to 22 in 2019. Thus in three years, the degree of corruption increase by 22.2% ..."
"... The U.S. is the richest country in the world, but it is also a country where income inequality is the most pronounced. I will come back to this issue in the next section. In relation to the corona virus crisis, income inequality means an army of those who are most likely to be infected and who are unable to follow CDC guidelines of testing, self quarantine and social distancing. Finally, the privatization of public health services has made the whole country unprepared for the onslaught of the virus. ..."
"... The experience of Japan shows how this can happen. The economic depression after the bubble burst of 1989, Japan had to endure 30-year deflation. The government of Japan has flooded the country with money to restore the economy, but the money was used for the bail-out of big corporations neglecting the healthy development of the SMEs and impoverishing the ordinary Japanese people. South Korea could have experienced the Japanese-type economic stagnation, if the conservative government ruled the country ten more years. ..."
"... The neoliberal pro-big company policy of Washington has greatly depleted consumer demand and SMEs even before the onslaught of the coronavirus. ..."
"... Fourth, the U.S. economy is shaken up so much that the neoliberal regime will not able to recover the economy. Thus, the survival of neo-liberalism looks uncertain. But, if the coronavirus crisis continues and destroys SMEs and if only the big corporations survive owing to bailout money, neo-liberalism may survive and we may end up with authoritarian governance ruled by the business-politics oligarchy. ..."
For the last forty years, neo-liberalism has dominated economic thinking and the formulation of economic policies Worldwide.
But the corona virus crisis has exposed, in a dramatic way, its internal contradictions, its incapacity to deal with the corona
crisis and its incompetence to restore the real economy ruined by the crisis.
In this article, we will focus on the relationship between Neoliberalism and the Corona Crisis:
Neoliberalism has prevented the governments from controlling effectively the initial outbreak of the corona virus.
Neoliberalism has made the wave of virus propagation higher and wider, especially in the U.S.
Neoliberalism can shake the foundations of the U.S. economy.
Neoliberalism may not survive the corona virus crisis in the U.S.
To save democracy and the global economy, We need a new economic model which supports the future of humanity, which sustains human
livelihood Worldwide.
1. Neoliberalism and the initial Outbreak of the Corona Virus
The most important part of neoliberalism is the relation -often of a corrupt nature- between the government and large corporations.
By corruption, we mean illegal or immoral human activities designed to maximize profit at the expense of people's welfare. In this
relation, the government may not be able to control and govern the large corporations. In fact, in the present context, the corporations
govern and oversee national governments.
Hence, when the corona virus broke out, it was difficult for the government to take immediate actions to control the virus break-out
to save human lives; It was quite possible that the price of stocks and large corporations' profit had the priority.
The theory known as neoliberalism distinguishes itself from the old liberalism prevailing before the Great Depression.
It became widely accepted mainly because of its adoption, in the 1970s and 1980s, by Ronald Reagan , president of the U.S. and
Margaret Thatcher , prime minister of Great Britain as an economic policy agenda applied nationally and internationally.
The justification of neoliberalism is the belief that the best way to ensure economic growth is to encourage "supply activities"
of private sector enterprises.
Now, the proponents of neoliberalism argue that public goods (including health and education) can be produced with greater efficiency
by private companies than by the State. Therefore, "it is better" to let the private enterprises produce public goods.
In other words, the production of public goods should be "privatized". Neoliberals put profit as the best measure of efficiency
and success. And profit can be sustained with government support. In turn, the private companies' policy is that of reducing the
labour costs of production.
Government assistance includes reduction of corporate taxes, subsidies and anti-labour policies such as the prohibition of labour
unionization and the abolition of the minimum wage.
Reduction of labour cost can be obtained by the automation of the production of goods
Under such circumstances, close cooperation between the government and the private corporations is inevitable; even it may be
necessary.
But, such cooperation is bound to lead to government-business collusion in which the business receives legal and illegal government
support in exchange of illicit money such as kick-backs and bribes given to influential politicians and the people close to the power.
As the collusion becomes wider and deeper, an oligarchy is formed; it is composed of corporations, politicians and civil servants.
This oligarchy's raison d'être is to make money even at the expense of the interests of the people.
Now, in order to protect its vested interests, the oligarchy expands its network and creates tight-knit political community which
shares the wealth and privileges obtained.
In this way, the government-business cooperation can be evolved by stage to give birth to the corruption culture.
Some of the neoliberal countries may be at the stage of the collusion; some of them may find themselves at the stage of oligarchy;
some of them may be at the stage of corruption culture.
South Korea
When the progressive government of Moon Jae-in took over power in 2017, South Korea under the 60-year neo-liberal rule by the
conservatives was at the stage of corruption culture.
The progressive government of Moon Jae-in has declared a total war against the corruption culture, but it is a very long way to
go before eliminating corruption.
In South Korea, of six presidents of the conservative government, four presidents were or are in prison for corruption and abuse
of power. This shows how deeply the corruption has penetrated into the fabrics of the Korea society
In Japan, since 1957, there were twenty-one prime ministers of whom 75% were one-year or two-year prime ministers despite the
four-year term of prime ministers. The short life span of Japanese prime ministers is essentially due to the short term interest
pursued by the corrupted golden triangle composed of big business, bureaucrats and politicians. Unless, Japan uproots the corruption
culture, it will be difficult to save the Japanese economy from perpetual stagnation.
Lobbying and "Corruption Culture"
Many of the developed countries in the West are also the victims of corruption culture. In the U.K. the City (London's Wall Street)
is the global center of money laundry.
In the U.S. the big companies are spending a year no less than $2.6 billion lobbying money for the promotion of their interests,
while the Congress spends $ 2.9 billion and the Senate, $860 million for their respective annual operation. Some of the big companies
deploy as many as 100 lobbyists.
It is unbelievable that the amount of lobbying is as much as 70% of the annual budget of the whole legislative of the U.S.
True, in the U.S., lobbying is not illegal, but it may not be morally justified. It is a system where the law makers give privileges
to those who spend more money, which can be considered as bribes
Under such lobbying system, each group should deploy lobbyists to promote their interests. The immigrants, the native Indians,
the Afro Americans, the alienated white people and other marginal groups cannot afford lobbyists and they are often excluded from
fair treatment in the process of making laws and policies
Some of the developed European countries are also very corrupted. The international Transparency Index rank, in 2019, was 23 for
France, 30 for Spain and 51 for Italy.
In the case of the U.S. its rank increased from 18 in 2016 to 22 in 2019. Thus in three years, the degree of corruption increase
by 22.2%
What is alarming is that, in the corruption culture, national policies are liable to be dictated by big businesses.
In South Korea, under the conservative government, it was suspected that the national policies were determined by the Chaebols
(large industrial conglomerates), not by the government.
As matter of fact, during the MERS crisis in 2015, the anti-virus policy was dictated by the Samsung Group. In order to save its
profit, Samsung Hospital in Seoul hid the infected so that the number of non-MERS patients would not decrease.
In Japan, the Abe government made the declaration of public health emergency as late as April 6, 2020 despite the fact that the
infections were detected as early as January, 2020.
This decision was, most likely, dictated by Keiretsu members (grouping of large enterprises) in order to save investments in the
July Olympics. Nobody knows how many Japanese had been infected for more than three months.
Similarly, Trump was well aware of the sure propagation of the virus right form January, but he waited until March 13, 2020 before
he declared the state of effective public health emergency. The obvious reason was the possible fear of free fall of stock price
and the possible loss of big companies' profits.
The interesting question is: "The delayed declaration of public health emergency, was it Trump's decision or that of his corporate
friends?" It doesn't matter whose decision it was, because the government under neoliberal system is controlled the big businesses.
So, as in Japan, Italy, Spain, France and especially, the U.K, Trump lost the golden time to save human lives to keep profit of
enterprises.
God knows how many American lives were sacrificed to save stock price and company profit!
Thus, the neoliberal governments have lost the golden chance to prevent the initial outbreak of the dreadful virus.
2. Neo-liberalism and the Propagation of Corona-Virus
We saw that the initial outbreak of the virus was not properly controlled leading to the loss to golden time of saving human lives,
most likely because of the priority given to business and political interests.
The initial outbreak of the virus was transformed into never-ending propagation and, even now, in many states in the U.S. the
wave of the virus is getting higher and wider.
This tragic reality can be explained by four factors:
people's mistrust in the government,
unbounded competition,
inequitable income distribution,
the absence of public health system.
These four factors (above) are all the legacies of neoliberalism.
The people know well that the corrupted neoliberal government's concern is not the welfare of the people but the interest of a
few powerful and the rich. The inevitable outcome is the loss of people's trust in the unreliable government.
This is demonstrated by Trump's indecision, his efforts of ignoring the warning of the professionals, his fabricates stories and
above all, his perception of who should be given the right to receive life-saving medical care at the hospital.
Under such circumstances, Americans do not trust the government directives and guidelines, allegedly implemented to protect people
from the virus.
The guideline of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) for self quarantine, social distancing and wearing face masks has little
effect. There is another product of neoliberalism which is troublesome. I mean its credo of unbounded competition.
It is true that competition promotes efficiency and better quality of products. However, as competition continues, the number
of winners decreases, while that of losers rises. The economy ends up being ruled by a handful of powerful winners. This leads to
the segregation of losers and leads to the discrimination of people by income level, religion, race and colour of skin.
In the present context, largely as a result of government policy, there is little to no social solidarity; each individual has
to solve his or her own problems. I was sad when I saw on TV a young lady in California saying:
"To be killed by the COVID-19 or starve to death is the same to me. I open my shop to eat!"
This shows how American citizens are left alone to fight the coronavirus. Furthermore, neoliberalism has another unhappy legacy;
it is the widening and deepening income inequality.
The U.S. is the richest country in the world, but it is also a country where income inequality is the most pronounced. I will
come back to this issue in the next section. In relation to the corona virus crisis, income inequality means an army of those who
are most likely to be infected and who are unable to follow CDC guidelines of testing, self quarantine and social distancing. Finally,
the privatization of public health services has made the whole country unprepared for the onslaught of the virus.
In fact, in the U.S. there is no public health system. For three months after the first breakout of the virus, the country lacked
everything needed to fight the virus.
There was shortage of testing kits and PPE (personal protective equipment);
there were not enough rooms to accommodate the infected;
there was shortage of qualified medical staff;
there was lack of face masks.
Thus, neoliberalism has made the U.S not only to lose the golden time to prevent the initial breakout but also it has let the
wave of virus to continue. Nobody knows when it will calm down. As a matter of fact, on July 4, there were 2.9 million infected and
132,000 deaths; this gives a death rate of 4.6%. Given U.S. population of 328 million, we have 402.44 deaths per million inhabitants
which is one of highest among the developed countries. The trouble is that the wave of virus is still going higher and wider. On
July 4, the confirmed cases increased by 50% in two weeks in 12 states and increased 10% to 50% in 22 states.
3. Neo-liberalism and the very Foundation of the U.S. Economy
The message of this section is this. The foundation of the American economy is the purchasing power of the consumers and the job
creation by small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The consumer demand is 70% of the GDP, the SMEs create 66% of jobs. Unfortunately,
because of neoliberalism, the consumers have become very poorer and the SMEs have been neglected in the pro-big-company government
policies. The COVID-19 has destroyed the SMEs and impoverished the consumers. Nobody would deny the contribution of neo-liberalism
to globalization of finance, the creation of the global value chain and, especially the free trade agreement.
All these activities have allowed GDP to grow in developed countries and some of new industrial countries. However, the wealth
created by the growth of GDP has gone to countries already developed, some developing countries and a small number of multinational
enterprises (MNE). The rich produced by GDP growth has led to the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few privileged. What
is more serious is this. If the skewed income distribution in favour of a decreasing number of people continues for long, the GDP
will stop growing and decades-long deflation is quite possible, as it has happened in Japan.
According to the OECD data, in the period, 1975-2011, the GDP share of labour income in OECD countries fell by 13.8% from 65%
to 56%. In the case of the U.S., in the same period, 1970-2014, it fell by 11%. The falling labour-income share is necessarily translated
into unequal household income distribution. There are two popular ways of measuring income distribution: the decile ratio and the
Gini coefficient.
The decile ratio is obtained by dividing the income earned by the top 10% income earners by the income earned by the bottom 10%
income earners . The decile ratio in 2019 was 18.5 in the U.S. as compared to 5.6 in Finland. The decile ratio of the U.S. was the
highest among the developed countries. Thus, in the U.S. the top 10 % has an income 19 times more than the bottom 10%, while, in
Finland, the corresponding ratio is only 6 times. This shows how serious the income gap is in the country of Uncle Sam.
The Gini coefficient varies from zero to 100. As the value of the Gini increases, the income distribution becomes favourable to
the high-income households. Conversely, as the value of the Gini decreases, the income distribution becomes favourable to low-income
households. There are two types of Gini: the gross Gini and the net Gini. The former refers to Gini before taxes and transfer payment,
while the latter refers to Gini after taxes and transfer payment. The difference between the gross and the net Gini shows the government
efforts to improve the equality and fairness of income distribution The gross U.S.- Gini coefficient in 2019 was 48.6, one of the
highest among the developed countries.
Its net Gini was 38.0 so that the difference between the gross and the net Gini was 12.3%. In other words, the U.S. income distribution
improved only by 12.3% by government efforts as against, for example, an improvement of 42.9% in the case of Germany, where the gross
Gini was 49.9 while the net Gini was 28.5 The net Gini of the U.S. was the highest among the developed countries. The implication
is clear. The income distribution in the U.S. was the most unequal. To make the matter worse, the government's effort to improve
the unequal income distribution was the poorest among the developed countries. There are countless signs of unfortunate impacts of
the inequitable income distribution in the country called the U.S. which Koreans used to admire describing it as "mi-gook- 美國미국 –
Beautiful Country". Now, one wonders if it is still a "mi-gook".
The following data indicates the seriousness of poverty in the U.S. (data below prior to the Coronavirus crisis).
In the U.S. the richest 1% of the population has 40% of all household wealth. (2017 data)
More than 20% of the population cannot pay monthly bills.
About 40% do not have savings.
31% of private sector worker do not have medical benefits.
57% of the workers in the service sector have no medical benefits.
These data give us an idea on how so many people have to suffer from poverty in a country where per capita GDP is $65,000 (2019
estimate), the richest country in the world. Most of the Americans work for small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs). In the U.S.,
there are 30 million SMEs. They create 66% of jobs in the private sector. The SMEs are more severely hit than big companies by the
coronavirus.
In fact, 66% of SMEs are adversely affected by the virus against 40% for big firms. As much as 20% of SMEs may be shut down for
good within three months, because of the virus. Under the forty years of neoliberal pro-big corporation policies, available financial
resources and the best human resources have been allocated to big firms at the expense of the development of SMEs.
The most damaging by-product of neoliberalism is no doubt the widening and deepening unequal income distribution for the benefit
of the big corporations and the uprooting of SMEs. This trend means the shrinking domestic demand and the disappearance of jobs for
ordinary people.
The destruction of the domestic market caused by the shrinking consumer demand and the disappearance of SMEs can mean the uprooting
of the very foundation of the economy.
The experience of Japan shows how this can happen. The economic depression after the bubble burst of 1989, Japan had to endure
30-year deflation. The government of Japan has flooded the country with money to restore the economy, but the money was used for
the bail-out of big corporations neglecting the healthy development of the SMEs and impoverishing the ordinary Japanese people. South
Korea could have experienced the Japanese-type economic stagnation, if the conservative government ruled the country ten more years.
The neoliberal pro-big company policy of Washington has greatly depleted consumer demand and SMEs even before the onslaught of
the coronavirus. But, the COVID-19 has given a coup de grâce to consumer demand and SMEs To better understand the issue, let us go
back to the ABC of economics. Looking at the national economy from the demand side, the economy consists of private consumer demand
(C), the private investment demand (I), the government demand (G) and Foreign demand represented by exports of domestic products
(X) minus domestic demand for imported foreign products (M).
GDP=C + I + G + (X-M)
In 2019, the consumer expenditure (C) in the U.S. was 70% of GDP, whereas the government's spending (G) was 17%. The investments
demand (I) was 18%. The net exports demand (X-M) was -5%.
In 2019 the composition of Canadian GDP was: C=57%; I=23 %; G=21 %; X-M=-1%.
Thus, we see that the U.S. economy heavily depends on the private domestic consumption, which represents as much as 70% of GDP
compared to 57% in Canada. The government's contribution to the national demand is 17% as against 21% in Canada. In the U.S. a small
government is a virtue according to neoliberals. In the U.S. the private investments account for only 18% of GDP as compared to as
much as 23% in Canada. In the U.S., off-shoring of manufacturing jobs and the global value chain under neo-liberalism have decreased
the need for business investments at home. It is obvious then that to save the American economy, we have to boost the consumers'
income. But, the consumer income comes mainly from SMEs. We must remember that the SMEs create 66% of all jobs in the U.S. Therefore,
if consumer demand falls and if SMEs do not create jobs, the US economy may have to face the same destiny as the Japanese economy.
This is happening in the U.S. The corona virus crisis is destroying SMEs and taking away the income of the people.
The coronavirus crisis is about to demolish the very foundation of the American economy.
4. Corona Virus Crisis and the Survival of Neoliberalism
The interesting question is this. Will neo-liberalism as economic system survive the corona virus crisis in the U.S.?
There are at least four indications suggesting that it will not survive.
First, to overcome major crisis such as the corona virus invasion, we need strong central government and people-loving leader.
One of the reasons for the successful anti-virus policy in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore was the strong central government's
role of determining and coordinating the anti-virus policies. As we saw, the gospel of neo-liberalism is the minimization of the
central government's role. Having little role in economic policies, the U.S. federal government has proved itself as the most incompetent
entity to fight the crisis. It is more than possible that the U.S. and all the neoliberal countries will try to get away from the
traditional neoliberal governance in which the government is almost a simple errand boy of big business.
Second, the people's trust in the neoliberal leaders has fallen on the ground. It will be difficult for the neoliberal leaders
to be able to lead the country in the post-corona virus era.
Third, the corona virus crisis has made the people aware of the abuse of power by the big companies; the people now know that
these companies are interested only in making money. So, it may be more difficult for them to exploit the people in the era of post-COVID-19.
Fourth, the U.S. economy is shaken up so much that the neoliberal regime will not able to recover the economy. Thus, the survival
of neo-liberalism looks uncertain. But, if the coronavirus crisis continues and destroys SMEs and if only the big corporations survive
owing to bailout money, neo-liberalism may survive and we may end up with authoritarian governance ruled by the business-politics
oligarchy.
5. Search for a New Economic Regime: Just-Liberalism
One thing which the corona-virus crisis has demonstrated is the fact that the American neo-liberalism has failed as sustainable
regime capable of stopping the virus crisis, restore the economy and save the democracy. Hence, we have to look for a new regime
capable of saving the U.S. economy and democracy. We would call this new regime as "Just-liberalism " mission of which is the sustainable
economic development and, at the same time, the just distribution of the benefits of economic development. Before we get into the
discussion of the main feature of the new regime, there is one thing we should discuss. It is the popular perception of large corporation.
Many believe that they make GDP grow and create jobs. It is also the popular view that the success of these large corporations is
due to the innovative managing skills of their founders or their CEOs. Therefore, they deserve annual salary of millions of dollars.
This is the popular perception of Chaebols in South Korea.
But, a great part of Chaebols income is attributable to the public goods such as national defence, police protection, social infrastructures,
the education system, enormous sacrifice of workers and, especially tax allowances, subsidies and privileges. In other words, a great
part of the Chaebols' income belongs to the society, not the Chaebols. Many believe that the Chaebols create jobs, but, in reality,
they crate less than 10% of jobs in Korea. We may say the same thing about large corporations in the U.S. In other words, much of
the company's income is due to public goods. Hence, the company should equitably share its income with the rest of the society. But
do they?
The high ranking managers get astronomical salaries; some of them are hiding billions of dollars in tax haven islands.
We ask. Are large corporations sharing equitably their income with the society? Are the corporate tax allowances they get too
much? Is the wage they pay too low? Is CEO's income is too high?
It is difficult to answer these questions.
But we should throw away the mysticism surrounding the merits of large corporations; we should closely watch them so that they
do not misuse their power and wealth to dictate national policies for their own benefit at the expense of the welfare of the people.
The new regime, just-liberalism, should have the following eight features.
First, we need a strong government which is autonomous from big businesses; there should be no business-politics collusion; there
should be no self-interest oligarchy of corruption.
Second, it is the time we should reconsider the notion of human right violation. There are several types of human right violation
in developed countries including the U.S. For example, the racial discrimination, the inequality before the law, the violation of
the right of social security and the violation of the right of social service are some cases of violation of human rights defined
by the U.N. The Western media have been criticizing human right violation in "non-democratic countries", but, in the future, they
should pay more attention to human right violation in "democratic countries."
Third, the criterion of successful economy should not be limited to the GDP growth; the equitable distribution of the benefits
of GDP growth should also be a criterion; proper balance between the growth and the distribution of growth fruits should be maintained.
Fourth, market should not be governed by "efficiency" alone; it must be also "equitable". Efficiency may lead to the concentration
of resources and power in the hands of the few at the expense of social benefit; it must be also equitable. As an example, we may
refer to the Chaebols (big Korean industrial conglomerates) which kill the traditional village markets which provide livelihood to
a great number of poor people. The Chaebols may make the market efficient but not equitable. The Korean government has limited Chaebols'
penetration into these markets to make them more equitable.
Fifth, we need a partial direct democracy. The legislative translates people's wish into laws and the executive makes policies
on the basis of laws. But, in reality, the legislative and the executive may pass laws and policies for the benefit of big companies
or specific group of individuals and institutions close to the power. Therefore, it is important to provide a mechanism through which
the people – the real master of the country – should be allowed to intervene all times. In South Korea, if more than 200,000 people
send a request to the Blue house (Korean White House) to intervene in matters judged unfair or unjust, the government must intervene.
Sixth, those goods and services which are essential for every citizen must be nationalized. For example, social infrastructure
such as parks, roads, railways, harbours, supply of electricity should not be privatized. Education including higher education should
be made public goods so that low income people should get higher education as do high income group.
This is the best way to maximize the mass of innovative minds and creative energy to develop the society. Above all, the health
service should be nationalized. It is just unbelievable to see that, in a country where the per capita GDP is $63,000, more than
30 million citizens have no medical insurance, just because it is too expensive. Politicians know quite well that big companies related
to insurance, pharmaceutical products and medical professions are preventing the nationalization of medical service in the U.S. But,
the politicians don't seem to dare go over these vested interests groups and nationalize the public health system. Remember this.
There are countries which are much poorer than the U.S. But, they have accessible universal health care insurance system.
Seventh, the economy should allow the system of multi- generational technologies in which not only high-level technologies but
also mid-level technologies should be promoted in such a way that both high- tech large corporations and middle-tech SMEs can grow.
This is perhaps only way to insure GDP growth and create jobs.
Eighth, in the area of international relations, it is about the time to stop wasteful ideological conflict. The difference among
ideologies is narrowing; the number of countries which have abandoned the U.S. imposed democracy has been rising; the ideological
basis of socialism is weakening. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, 48% of countries are democratic, while 52% are not.
According to Freedom House, in 2005, 83 countries had net gain in democracy, while 52 countries had net loss in democracy.
But in 2019, only 37 countries had net gain while 64 countries had net loss. Between 2005 and 2018, the number of countries which
were not free increased by 26%, while those which were free fell by 44%. On the other hand, it is becoming more and more difficult
to find authentic socialism. For example, Chinese regime has lost its pure socialism long time ago. Thus, the world is becoming non-ideological;
the world is embracing ideology-neutral pragmatism.
To conclude, the corona virus pandemic has given us the opportunity to look at ourselves; it has given us the opportunity to realize
how vulnerable we are in front of the corona virus attack.
Many more pandemics will come and challenge us. We need a world better prepared to fight the coming pandemics. It is high time
that we slow down our greedy pursuit for GDP growth; it is about the time to stop a wasteful international ideological conflict in
support of multibillion dollar interests behind Big Money and the Military industrial complex.
It is therefore timely to find a system where we care for each other and where we share what we have .
***
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Professor Joseph H. Chung is professor of economics and co- director of the Observatoire de l'Asie de l'Est (ODAE) of the Centre
d'Études de l'Intégration et la Mondialisation (CEIM), Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). He is Research Associate of the Center
of Research on Globalization (CRG).
Growing Social and
Wealth Inequality in America
As American Society Crashes and Burns, the Cult of Neoliberalism Marches on
by David Penner / July 28th, 2020
The right to have a slave implies the right in some one to make the slave; that right must
be equal and mutual, and this would resolve society into a state of perpetual war.
-- William Seward, from the "Freedom in the New Territories" speech, March 11, 1850
Long after they have set fire to the values of the New Deal and the civil rights movement,
neoliberals continue to regard themselves as a bulwark protecting civilization from barbarism.
In reality, they have betrayed all the values that the New Dealers and the civil rights leaders
courageously and nobly fought for. Indeed, a class that once espoused unions, public education,
the Constitution, integration, and freedom of the press, while standing in unequivocal
opposition to imperialism and McCarthyism, has been transformed into a cult which speaks in the
trappings of a progressive-sounding language, yet which has come to be allied with the forces
of reaction on each and every one of these issues.
The mass media has successfully convinced a vast swath of the population that Obama and
Hillary stand in brave opposition to racism and sexism, while Trump personifies Racism and The
Patriarchy. This inane view of politics, coupled with the fact that the education system has
raised an entire generation on nothing but woke novels and immigrant memoirs that pathologize
whiteness , has resulted in a crisis where Western Civilization and the values of the
Enlightenment are in grave danger. The videos showing Hillary supporters sobbing as their beloved
Class-A war criminal was defeated in the 2016 election signifies this dangerous rift with
reality.
Let us posit that a cult is a social structure that embodies the following
characteristics:
* A rejection of logic and reason
* A fanatical devotion to an irrational belief system
* A profound anti-intellectualism
* A rejection of history and objective truth
* A relentless vilification of those who are outside of the cult, especially those who
attempt to challenge the cult's dogma
* An Orwellian manipulation of language
That neoliberalism possesses each of these characteristics is irrefutable; while all who
attempt to question this creed are branded as "racists," "fascists," "Nazis," "bigots,"
"sexists," or "conspiracy theorists"; i.e., mentally ill. Moreover, faux leftists continue to
exhibit a blind faith in the holy texts of neoliberalism; and no matter how many times The
New York Times , The Boston Globe , and The New Yorker lie and dissemble,
they refuse to read these publications with even the faintest trace of skepticism.
A critical tenet of neoliberalism is that it "fights racism," when, in fact, the opposite is
the case, as evidenced by the fact that multiculturalism and identity politics relentlessly
foment and exacerbate segregation, ghettoization, and tribalism. And despite the fact that the
two parties have been doing essentially the exact same things since (at the very least) the
inauguration of Bill Clinton, the cult of neoliberalism remains anchored in an uncompromising
belief in the two-party system. The idea that it is "progressive" to dispense with the national
identities of the West since they epitomize "racism," is yet another putrefying pillar of
neoliberal ideology. Following this line of thinking, Americans can get along just fine with
vocational communities and tribal identities that break down along lines of ethnicity,
language, religion and sexual orientation.
A belief that the multicultural society is a meritocracy where everyone gets the job and
income that they deserve; an insistence that "the left" should no longer concern itself with
improving the lives of workers, students, patients, and prisoners but with "fighting racism,"
are likewise foundational tenets of identity politics doctrine. In actuality, the fragmentation
unleashed by the multicultural curriculum, identity studies, the multilingual media, and
bilingual education create the very racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia that
faux-leftists claim to combat, undermining their very raison d'être . In a curious
historical irony, neoliberals have even backed the restoration of McCarthyite witch hunts,
thereby facilitating attacks on those who remain outside, or in defiance of, this peculiar
dogma.
The multicultural curriculum has been specifically engineered to deny black, Latino, and
poor immigrant youth an education in American letters, British literature, and classics of
Western Civilization. This underscores the sinister and bigoted intentions of liberal academic
administrators. Jettisoning these books from public schools which are dominated by students of
color has led to staggering amounts of illiteracy, from which sectarianism has arrived to
insatiably and inexorably fill the void. Perhaps unsurprisingly, proponents of the anti-working
class have birthed an anti-humanities curriculum.
Multiculturalism subverts class consciousness without which there can be no political
literacy, no understanding of history, and no progress. The anarchy, chaos, and atomization of
the multicultural society (an oxymoron), turns workers into amoral automatons and
interchangeable parts, while facilitating plutocratic pillage and authoritarianism, which its
architects know full well.
In many ways, the demonization of Trump serves to deflect attention away from the fact that
it is the ideology of neoliberalism which has betrayed the legacies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and Martin
Luther King, turning the country into a failed state. Black nationalism and white nationalism
are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. It is not possible to have one and not have the
other. Indeed, anti-white bigots are no more interested in the restoration of unions, the
Constitution, integration, good public education, demilitarization, and freedom of the press
than their white nationalist counterparts. If these critical checks and balances are not
restored, and the health care system remains privatized, our democracy will be lost. The
political prosecutions of Julian Assange, John Kiriakou, Chelsea Manning, Reality Winner,
Daniel Hale, Barrett Brown, and Jeremy Hammond mean nothing to these zealots, as the accused
are white, and the reinstatement of habeas corpus is not a part of their agenda.
A country can have different ethnicities, religions, and languages, but it cannot survive
competing and mutually hostile curricula, as a nation-state must have a cohesive canon and a
common historical narrative in order to sustain itself. As things presently stand, we have one
curriculum which portrays white people as the devil incarnate; the other, a conservative
curriculum, portrays Americans as the Indispensable Nation, and inculcates its charges with an
ideology anchored in jingoism and Manifest Destiny. Both courses of study denigrate American
literature, and refuse to educate their students in the history of European and American
imperialism. These two curricula are on a collision course, and it would be unwise to dismiss
the possibility of serious sectarian violence.
James Madison was acutely aware of the vital importance of having a literate population. As
he wrote in a letter to W.T. Barry, on August 4, 1822:
A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a
Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance:
And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which
knowledge gives.
John F. Kennedy reiterated this fundamental truth when he stated at Vanderbilt's 90th
Anniversary Convocation Address on May 18th, 1963, that "Only an educated and informed people
will be a free people."
Faux leftists continue to be fanatical supporters of
illegal immigration and the importation of guest workers, and refuse to acknowledge the
many problems this has wrought, particularly with regard to deunionization and the depression
of wages, ghettoization, catastrophic overcrowding in public schools and hospitals; and the
fact that mass immigration foments destabilization, which in turn facilitates the ruling
establishment's dismantling of due process and the rule of law.
Are liberals truly "fighting racism" by allowing so many destitute Americans to wallow
unaided in a hell of mass incarceration, mass illiteracy, mass unemployment, and appalling
unmet health care needs, while simultaneously clamoring for more cheap labor to be brought in
from abroad? There are also large numbers of Americans with advanced degrees that struggle to find jobs,
and yet are forced to compete with a seemingly endless arrival of foreign workers that are
hired to fill these very positions. Can a society survive if it incessantly denies educational
opportunities and job opportunities to millions of its young people while replacing them with
indentured servants and more compliant foreign workers?
The taboo placed on criticizing these policies has made it virtually impossible to discuss
extremely serious domestic problems with any degree of intellectual honesty. And while liberals
have long forgotten that the egregious economic inequality of the Gilded Age was inextricably
linked with open borders, the ruling establishment has never forgotten that this has always
been capital's most effective and devastatingly powerful weapon.
With regard to the nonsensical term "cultural Marxism:" Marx himself
understood that mass immigration was used by the ruling elites of the US and UK to drive down
wages and pit workers against one another. Furthermore, he would have understood that identity
politics atomizes the working class, shattering it into a dizzying array of competing and
antagonistic camps. Far from having anything to do with Marxism, the true meaning of "cultural
Marxism" is unfettered capitalism . Indeed, when "the free market" is at its most
unbridled, checks and balances are no longer sustainable.
For liberals and socialists it has long been anathema to suggest that bigotry can be
anything other than a one-way street, yet upon closer examination this argument reveals itself
to be mere casuistry . In the
'60s, "fighting racism" was synonymous with fightingsegregation . Today,
"fighting racism" has devolved into calls for more "diversity"; i.e.,
less white people . In the neoliberal cult, the word "racist" has literally come to mean "
evil white people ," which has in turn given birth to the idea that only whites can commit
"
hate crimes ." As towns, cities, and institutions that are predominantly white are
denounced as "racist," it is clear that the goal of multiculturalism is to make whites into a
minority throughout the country, burn books by white people, and tear down statues of white people . Is this
not what is meant by the growing calls to end "white privilege" and "white power?" This can
only lead to a perpetual state of acrimony between the cult of neoliberalism and the rest of
American society. The ahistorical and knavish notion of "white privilege" is contradicted by
the fact that there has never been a time in the history of the country when there weren't
significant numbers of poor white people. Furthermore, we mustn't lose sight of the fact that
while the white middle class is being systematically dismantled, the
white oligarchs are richer than ever. (Another mysterious feature of "white privilege" is
that roughly 70% of all suicides in the US are committed by white males ).
Liberals once fought segregation, ghettoization, and tribalism –
now they fight for these things – a turn of history evidently lost on them.
Irregardless of whether the multiculturalists succeed, or the political pendulum swings back to
a traditional far-right element such as the Christian Right, the road to despotism has been
paved by the liberal class. Martin Luther King's dream ,
that Americans would one day "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character," has met its inversion in identity politics. Hundreds of thousands of white
Union soldiers died so that over three million black slaves could be free. Were they also
"racist?"
It is clear that the minions of multiculturalism have no more understanding of the
historical significance of these events than the squirrels of Central Park. Nevertheless, it is
also conceivable that the oligarchy understands this totalitarianization all too well, and that
these events are part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the working class.
The fiendish nature of identity politics is underscored by the fact that statues of
Thomas Jefferson ,
Ulysses S. Grant ,
and Hans Christian Heg
have been toppled, while a statue of Matthias Baldwin has been
defaced. While none of these individuals fought for the Confederacy (paradoxically, they held
quite radical views), they all have one thing in common: they were white. That the marauders do
not differentiate between Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee, on the one
hand; and Jefferson, Grant, and Heg on the other, underscores the fact that this is a wicked
movement hell-bent on the destruction of our civilization. (In this same vein, the book burners
do not distinguish between The Scarlet Letter, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tess of the
d'Urbervilles and Mein Kampf ). Moreover, it is from precisely this very anarchic
environment that a Mussolini, Pinochet, or Franco could seize power -- and save the country
from "the left."
Speaking at the unveiling of the Freedmen's Monument (also known as the Emancipation
Memorial) in Washington, DC, on April 14, 1876, which was paid for by freedmen, and which woke
barbarians are champing at the bit to destroy, Frederick Douglass said of
Lincoln:
Fellow-citizens, I end, as I began, with congratulations. We have done a good work for our
race to-day. In doing honor to the memory of our friend and liberator, we have been doing
highest honors to ourselves and those who come after us; we have been fastening ourselves to
a name and fame imperishable and immortal; we have also been defending ourselves from a
blighting scandal. When now it shall be said that the colored man is soulless, that he has no
appreciation of benefits or benefactors; when the foul reproach of ingratitude is hurled at
us, and it is attempted to scourge us beyond the range of human brotherhood, we may calmly
point to the monument we have this day erected to the memory of Abraham Lincoln.
The multiculturalists are now denouncing this memorial as "a monument to
white supremacy ."
Were it not for Lincoln and Grant, it is highly probable that the Confederacy would have
successfully seceded. Heg was slain at Chickamauga, and gave his life fighting against the
Slave Power. The iconic statue of
Theodore Roosevelt in front of the Museum of Natural History, which I once gazed up to in
wonder as a young boy, is also slated to come down. That Roosevelt was a complex individual who
fought for things both progressive
and reactionary means nothing to these philistines. Even Augustus Saint-Gaudens' exquisite
Shaw Memorial , which took 14 years for the artist to complete, and which honors the
all-black Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment, has not escaped the wrath of the mob.
The rise in racial diversity and diversity of sexual orientation has coincided with an
unprecedented demise in diversity of thought. As historian James Oakes said in an interview
with the World Socialist Web Site on November 18th, 2019:
There was a time, a long, long time ago, when a "diverse history faculty" meant that you
had an economic historian, a political historian, a social historian, a historian of the
American Revolution, of the Civil War, and so on. And now a diverse history faculty means a
women's historian, a gay historian, a Chinese-American historian, a Latino historian. So it's
a completely different kind of diversity.
More dangerous than racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia, are those who use these
words in intellectually dishonest and disingenuous ways. This is exemplified by the vitriol
heaped on those who maintain that all public school students should be required to read
American letters, British literature, and classics of Western Civilization. Denying these books
to students of color isn't "fighting racism;" but conversely, its quintessence. (Note how the
euphemisms "respecting cultural differences" and "protecting diversity" serve to glorify
segregation). Once these students are inculcated with the pernicious sophism that all white
authors are racist they become unteachable. It is as though they have been injected with an
anti-literacy vaccine.
There is little difference between students at an elite preparatory school on Manhattan's
Upper East Side and the sons and daughters of the Ancien Régime. Likewise, there is
little difference between the polyglot rabble that are warehoused in the New York City public
schools and the children of medieval serfs. The only difference is that the multicultural serfs
are so dehumanized that they have been taught to despise the very books that they so
desperately need, and without which they are destined to become second-class citizens.
International students who hail from high schools where English is not the language of
instruction should devote their time in the US to earning bachelor's degrees in American or
British literature. Alternatively, they are destined to learn nothing more than the English
language jargon of their field; an arrangement deemed advantageous, both for the for-profit
universities, as well as to their future exploiters. The idea that it is "anti-racist" to sell
an international student a graduate or undergraduate degree when they struggle to read John
Steinbeck's The Pearl, or write an essay with a single grammatically correct sentence,
is indicative of what Gad Saad has called "an idea pathogen." Again, this begs the question:
who is the real racist here?
Arguing that foreign-born students should, at the very least, always be less than ten
percent of any student body K-12, and that they should not be allowed to arrive after the sixth
or seventh grade, is nothing more than basic common sense. This would help protect not only the
integrity of the public schools, but also foreign-born students themselves, who frequently fail
to become literate and articulate in English, either because they arrive too late, or because
they are educated in schools where ghettoization has relegated academic standards to the lowest
possible level. What are immigrant children to integrate into when they are literally hanging
from the chandeliers?
In Britain, faith-based schools continue to
have a deleterious impact on native and foreigner alike, as this greatly exacerbates the
problem of parallel communities. How can a Muslim child growing up in Luton become a literate
British citizen if his education is predicated entirely on Islamic texts? Those who raise this
issue are invariably met with accusations of "racism," "xenophobia," and "Islamophobia" -- or
most preposterous of all -- "hate speech." The first casualties of any cult are logic and
liberty of thought.
The American canon has always been dominated by the so-called "dead white men." Getting rid
of these books cannot be done without destroying the entire society. (Do I have the right to go
to Pakistan and complain that their education system is dominated by "dead brown men?") The
poor academic performance of many Americans of color is rooted in the fact that they have the
black or Latino nationalist in one ear and the white neoliberal in the other, two Iagos
essentially spewing the same venom: don't have anything to do with white teachers, white
students, or books written by white people. Indeed, all the great black writers and orators in
the history of the country: Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, Martin Luther
King, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Langston Hughes, to name a few, would never have
accomplished anything intellectually without having attained a solid foundation in classics of
Western Civilization. Did Martin Luther King martyr himself so that black children could read
Amy Tan, Edwidge Danticat, The House on Mango Street and be railroaded into African
American studies departments?
Here is Du Bois from The Souls of Black Folk :
I sit with Shakespeare, and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm and arm with
Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out of
the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed Earth and the tracery of stars, I
summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no
scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the veil.
Above all, an education system must maintain and safeguard a particular national identity,
as manifested by its unique humanities curriculum. Once this sacrosanct mission has been
abandoned, education deteriorates into a collection of soulless vocational institutes that
become technocratic
factories for illiteratization . No multicultural curriculum can exist, because it is not
possible to make children literate and articulate in hundreds of different languages.
Notwithstanding neoliberal protestations, the multicultural curriculum is a psychopathic,
nihilistic, and deeply reactionary curriculum. Nevertheless, it does what it was designed to
do: foment tribalism and ignorance, while deflecting anger away from the oligarchy's
destruction of the country and towards white people.
As Frederick Douglass said in his "Our Composite Nationality" speech on December 7,
1869:
Mankind are not held together by lies. Trust is the foundation of society. Where there is
no truth, there can be no trust, and where there is no trust, there can be no society.
If white power is wrong, black power must also be wrong. If misogyny is to be denounced,
misandry must also be denounced. It is unconscionable for the cult of neoliberalism to continue
to indoctrinate American youth with extremist ideologies.
In the cult of
neoliberalism white nationalism is everywhere, yet anti-white bigotry -- even when it is at its
most spiteful and vicious – is nowhere to be found. Black nationalism is romanticized, as
it "fights racism;" while
misandry is extolled, as it "fights sexism." Identity studies and the multicultural
curriculum (where classes are taught by demagogues and not by academics), have fomented
unprecedented forms of sectarianism, and fueled the free market jihadis of black nationalism,
Latino nationalism, and Feminisis, along with other anti-intellectual and anti-Western hordes
which are tearing apart the cultural fabric of society. The absence of a legitimate progressive
alternative to endless wars, austerity, book burning, the medical industrial complex, and mass
incarceration, where one may choose only between a white right and a colored right, has
straitjacketed us into a paralysis of analysis. Irregardless of who is victorious, there can
only be one winner: the kleptocracy.
The Yellow Vest movement, presently crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic, is a traditional
working class movement which seeks to protect social services, unions, and middle class jobs,
and whose supporters understand that endless ranting and raving about race and gender is
divisive and self-destructive, as this can only enhance the power of a rampaging bourgeoisie
increasingly hostile to democracy. They also understand that the triumph of identity politics
would constitute the triumph of alienation over camaraderie and solidarity.
Ultimately, multiculturalism is rooted in the idea that our national identity is
illegitimate, a form of self-flagellation that is increasingly popular in Europe, notably
Sweden . This
humiliates and dehumanizes Americans of all ethnicities , and degrades and sullies the
credibility of the left, while emboldening traditional reactionary ideologies.
Theodore Roosevelt was acutely aware of the dangers of tribalism. Speaking to the Knights of
Columbus at Carnegie Hall on October 12, 1915, he warned:
The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all
possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle
of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans,
English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each
preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of
that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic.
If the multicultural cancer continues to metastasize unchecked our civilization will
disintegrate, leaving the younger generation with nothing but a desolate wasteland enveloped by
amnesia, where those who cry "extremist" are the real extremists, and where the citadel of
reason lies in ruins, as Old Abe's "mystic chords of memory" fade into a broken hourglass
forever.
Ever hubristic and increasingly deranged, the cult of neoliberalism continues to maintain
that the multicultural society constitutes a revolutionary movement comprised of
integrationists, whose disciples are the heirs to the civil rights movement and the New Deal,
when these crusades are diametrically opposed to one another. That the acolytes of identity
politics fail to see this is lamentable. Yet cults require only emotions and blind obedience --
not cognition. As Paul Craig Roberts writes in "Education Is Offensive and Racist and so is
America:" "The elite have worked long and hard to acquire a divided population that cannot
unite against them. They have succeeded."
Facebook Twitter Reddit Email David Penner has
taught English and ESL within the City University of New York and at Fordham. His articles on
politics and health care have appeared in CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, Dr. Linda and KevinMD;
while his poetry has been published with Dissident Voice. Also a photographer, he is the author
of three books: Faces of Manhattan Island, Faces of The New Economy, and Manhattan Pairs. He
can be reached at: 321davidadam@gmail . Read other articles by David
.
For much of the past year Trump has caused angst among allies by maintaining a consistent
position that Russia should be invited back into the Group of Seven (G7), making it as it was
prior to 2014, the G-8.
Russia had been essentially booted from the summit as relations with the Obama White House
broke down over the Ukraine crisis and the Crimea issue. Trump
said in August 2019 that Obama had been "outsmarted" by Putin.
But as recently as May when Germany followed by other countries rebuffed Trump's plans to
host the G7 at Camp David, Trump blasted the "very outdated group of countries"
and expressed that he planned to invite four additional non-member nations, mostly notably
Russia .
Germany has rejected a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to invite Russian President
Vladimir Putin back into the Group of Seven (G7) most advanced economies , German Foreign
Minister Heiko Maas said in a newspaper interview published on Monday.
Interestingly enough the Ukraine and Crimea issues were raised in the interview: "But Maas
told Rheinische Post that he did not see any chance for allowing Russia back into the G7 as
long as there was no meaningful progress in solving the conflict in Crimea as well as in
eastern Ukraine," according to the report.
It's difficult to understand what's going on in the world because powerful people actively
manipulate public understanding of what's going on in the world.
Powerful people actively manipulate public understanding of what's going on in the world
because if the public understood what's going on in the world, they would rise up and use their
strength of numbers to overthrow the powerful.
The public would rise up and use their strength of numbers to overthrow the powerful if they
understood what's going on in their world because then they would understand that the powerful
have been exploiting, oppressing, robbing, cheating and deceiving them while destroying the
ecosystem, stockpiling weapons of Armageddon and waging endless wars, for no other reason than
so that they can maintain and expand their power.
The public do not rise up and use their strength of numbers to overthrow the powerful
because they have been successfully manipulated into not wanting to.
In a segment due to air this
weekend, 'America This Week' host Eric Bolling sat down with Dr Judy Mikovits, a disgraced scientist who believes that the
coronavirus pandemic was orchestrated by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr Anthony Fauci and Bill
Gates to push vaccines on the population – a theory she set out in the documentary film 'Plandemic,' which has been effectively
censored off the internet.
Bolling called Mikovits' claims "hefty," and brought on medical contributor Dr Nicole Saphier to refute them, but CNN
claimed
the
host didn't push back hard enough against Mikovits' "baseless conspiracy theory," and hammered Bolling for allowing Mikovits to
"continue to make her case."
As CNN's article circulated
on Twitter on Saturday morning, the network's liberal audience called for a boycott of Sinclair. The broadcaster initially stood
by its decision to run the segment, declaring that
"at no juncture are we aligning with or
endorsing the viewpoints of Dr Mikovits."
However, within an hour,
Sinclair bent the knee and pulled the episode from the air until additional content could be added to counter Mikovits.
"All
stations have been notified not to air this and will instead be re-airing last week's episode in its place,"
Sinclair
tweeted. For good measure, the company added
"we valiantly support Dr Fauci and the work he
and his team are doing to further prevent the spread of Covid-19."
Sinclair is an incredibly
powerful organization to have been swayed by an online outrage campaign. The company and its partner organizations own nearly 300
local TV stations around the country, and reach 40 percent of American households.
Proponents of the boycott
celebrated their victory on Twitter, declaring that
"we shamed them into doing the right
thing."
Amid a recent upsurge in
'cancel culture,' few campaigns have brought a company to its knees as fast as Saturday's blitz by CNN. Similar campaigns have
been mounted against Fox News'
Tucker
Carlson
– with an advertiser boycott and attempts by journalists to doxx his family among the most recent moves, but Carlson
remains on the air and unapologetic.
For Bolling and his
colleagues at Sinclair on the other hand, it's back to the studio to reshoot their offending segment at CNN's behest.
Not a chance. Too many people's livelihood depends on war. From billionaires to the person
who putting bullets in boxes. Anyone who advocate no war will end up in prison for colluding
with the Russians.
monty42 , 16 hours ago
Colluding with the Reds, Terrorists, Chicoms, Covid...pick an enemy. That's how it works.
They roll out their psyops and make sure to inform you up front that those who question the
narrative are in the enemy column.
uhland62 , 14 hours ago
They've done it with us since 1970.
A_Huxley , 15 hours ago
Contractors like their world travel and over time.
Too many US camps, forts, bases around the world to keep working.
quanttech , 13 hours ago
The single most powerful voice against the wars in the last two years has been Tucker
Carlson - and look at what they're doing to him.
optimator , 8 hours ago
A vibrant economy can't tell the difference between manufacturing a submarine or a
refrigerator.
monty42 , 16 hours ago
Honor your oath and the wars for empire will stop. A standing army is only viable through
the Constitution for a short term defense of the States, not for endless wars of aggression
and invasion for the spread of a military empire.
quanttech , 13 hours ago
Correct. Lt. Ehren Watada refused his illegal orders to deploy to Iraq. His case was
dismissed, and he was simply discharged. Today he co-owns a restaurant in Vegas.
THERE'S LITERALLY NO PENALTY FOR FOLLOWING THE LAW.
alexcojones , 16 hours ago
As an old veteran, I've spent 50 years atoning some how, some way, myself.
"Vietnam veteran Tim O'Brien wrote: "There should be a law . . . If you support a war, if
you think it's worth the price, that's fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on
the line. You have to head for the front and hook up with an infantry unit and help spill the
blood." As every old veteran knows, the day that happens is the day warfare ends forever,
when bullets are fattening rather than fatal to your health.
Heinlein's proposal in Starship Troopers - that only combat troops be given the franchise
to vote - is a concept with merit
ConanTheContrarian1 , 8 hours ago
I don't know that we have to make atonement. The official government position that we were
invited there to help the legitimate government of South VietNam still holds water. The
Nguyen and Tranh had been at war with each other for centuries until the French took over,
and the war was simply a continuation that the Dogpile Democrats of the day didn't see as
anything other than a way to make money. Just because you reject rightwing propaganda, don't
fall for the leftwing either.
Atlana99 , 16 hours ago
We need thousands of hardcore street activists to print these fliers out and place them on
car windshields all across America:
By Graham Dockery, Irish journalist, commentator, and writer at RT. Previously based in
Amsterdam, he wrote for DutchNews and a scatter of local and national newspapers.
Dark, incisive, and anti-authoritarian, George Carlin was a rebel until death. Now the woke
left have claimed him as their own, a figurehead in their anti-Trump crusade. But George's
legacy isn't one of feelgood social justice.
"They call it the American dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it,"
Carlin sneered in a famous 2005 monologue. In a devastating broadside against politicians, the
media, corporate interests, and the "dumb ass motherf**kers" who remain ignorant to the
"big red white and blue d**k jammed up their a**holes everyday," Carlin takes no
prisoners, and the crowd delights in his shredding of the status quo.
Now, a group of activists based in Portland have repackaged the famous monologue, putting it
alongside video clips of President Donald Trump's America: race riots, coronavirus deaths, and
of course, Trump shaking hands with Vladimir Putin. "#AmericaWakeUp," reads a caption at
the end of the clip.
Released on Sunday, the video was cheered by the anti-Trump brigade. "This video is
completely devastating for Trump," one activist wrote . "George Carlin
gives him the finger from the grave." More commenters shared the video, encouraging their followers
to vote Democrat in November.
However, Carlin's hatred for politicians and the elite was not just limited to the
Republican Party. Throughout his career, Carlin ripped on the "criminal" administration
of Ronald Reagan, both Bushes' fondness for "bombing brown people," and Bill Clinton,
who he said "might be full of shit, but at least he lets you know it."
The "big club" Carlin talked about in the latest video included Democrat and
Republican lawmakers, and Carlin didn't shy away from skewering both.
Furthermore, Carlin's best and most loved routines were written and performed when the right
held more cultural sway in the US. From Nancy Reagan's moralizing to the media-enforced
patriotism of the post-9/11 years, Carlin could count on the right as a reliable target. Times
have changed though, and the left holds far more power now than it did two decades ago.
Conservatives are regularly 'deplatformed' on college campuses, politically incorrect speech
can jeopardize one's career, and the consensus enforced by the mainstream media is
overwhelmingly a liberal one, no matter how many clips of Fox News' Tucker Carlson the Portland
activists can splice into their video.
"Political correctness is America's newest form of intolerance," Carlin wrote in
2004, adding "political correctness is just fascism pretending to be manners." In an
autobiography published a year after his death in 2008, he was even more explicit.
"The habits of liberals, their automatic language, their knee-jerk responses to certain
issues, deserved the epithets the right wing stuck them with," he wrote. "Here they
were, banding together in packs, so I could predict what they were going to say about some
event or conflict and it wasn't even out of their mouths yet Liberal orthodoxy was as repugnant
to me as conservative orthodoxy."
Carlin is unfortunately not alive to offer his opinion on the times we live in. However,
it's not difficult to imagine him scoffing at the media's non-stop 'Russiagate' hysteria , just as
he scoffed at the media's coverage of the Gulf War in the 1990s, accusing the press of working
as an "unofficial public relations agency for the United States government." It's also
easy to picture him tuning out of the 'Orange Man Bad' liberal consensus on Trump, even if he
would probably savage his policies and personality.
That's assuming he would even have a stage in the first place. After all, Carlin delighted
in provoking the would-be speech police, with his 1970s '7 Dirty Words' routine aimed explicitly at angering the
censors. An updated version of this routine could well see him canceled by the woke
torchbearers of the social justice movement.
If you allow a foreigner to give advice (although I should mind my own business) this is
one proposal to save America. President Trump goes to the Republican Convention and says: "I
admit that I am problematic, we all know that it is unfair, but we had four years of lies and
derangement, and it was not my fault, but anyway I don't accept the nomination, I step back
and I propose as candidate Tucker Carlson. Please give him a standing ovation". Then have a
live TV debate between Carlson and Biden.
You know, of course, that Carlson is just as compromised, more probably, as Trump or Obama
or Biden or you name it, don't you? And just as blackmailable and just as bribable?
Perhaps the best way to
describe Tucker Carlson's career at the moment is with a borrowed quote from 'A Tale of Two Cities': "
It
was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...
" Although
the Fox News personality is at the top of his game, never before has his career looked more precarious than right now.
Last month, as the Covid
pandemic was sweeping the country, and the streets were exploding amid 'peaceful' Black Lives Matter protests, 'Tucker Carlson
Tonight' was the highest-rated cable news show in the country. That special honor, however, was marred by scandal and, some
would argue, the fake outrage and hyper-sensitivities of social justice warriors.
Carlson attracted the
wrath of his detractors for daring to say that the rioting and looting that broke out during the BLM protests was "
definitely
not about black lives.
" He went on to argue that it was critical to tell the truth when confronted by "the mob,"
otherwise "
they will crush you.
"
Regardless of what one may
think of those comments – and for the record, many black people agreed with him – the point is that Carlson's remarks deviated
180 degrees from the position of the mainstream media and the establishment. As punishment for merely expressing his
constitutionally protected opinion, shared by millions of other Americans, many of Carlson's corporate sponsors resorted to
what could be called institutional
censorship
,
pulling their crucial advertising from his show.
Yet who will freeze
funding of the establishment and 'legacy media' for downplaying the severity of the BLM and Antifa violence to such a degree
that the takeover of six blocks in Seattle was described by the Democratic mayor of that once-fair city as just another
chapter in the "
summer of love
?" Funny, that harmless love-in – which has spread
like wildfire to Portland, Oregon – has evoked so much illicit passion that it has forced Trump to send in federal forces to
quell the orgy of wanton naughtiness. Eat your heart out, Woodstock!
In another rebellious act of dissenting (ie. unacceptable) journalism, Carlson
laid
out
the Democratic Party's devious plan for getting their feeble-minded presidential nominee, Joe Biden, into the White
House: keep the American people in a state of pain and suffering for as long as humanly possible because "
unhappy
people want change.
"
"
Every
ominous headline about the state of the country makes it more likely that Donald Trump will lose his job
," Carlson told
his estimated four million viewers. "
The Democrats have a strong incentive, therefore,
to inflict as much pain as they can, and that's what they're doing
."
He then went on to explain
how Democratic governors ratcheted up the unhappiness by "
banning citizens from visiting
their own weekend homes,
" for example, while in New Jersey people were "
arrested
for going to the beach.
"
Needless to say, those are
not talking points one would ever hear on CNN or MSNBC. Indeed, Tucker Carlson is a one-man information wrecking crew
challenging, night after night, the combined efforts of the mainstream media to keep the average American viewer strapped into
a form-fitting straitjacket of 'acceptable opinion'. Billions of dollars have been spent purchasing that outfit, and the
owners will not relinquish control without a major fight, which usually happens behind the scenes.
Therefore, was it any
coincidence that, smack in the middle of Carlson's record-smashing ratings, with the US presidential elections quickly
approaching (in case it wasn't clear by now, Carlson is a serious Trump supporter), his top writer Blake Neff was forced to
resign after it was revealed he had a habit of posting racist and sexist remarks pseudonymously in online chat rooms? Any
guesses as to the name of the outfit that undertook that impressive bit of investigative journalism at such a convenient time
to bust Neff? If you guessed
CNN
,
you already understand the situation that Carlson is facing.
While being popular isn't
necessarily a bad thing – especially for the talk show circuit, where ratings are watched like the stock market – it can
become extremely problematic in the United States, where the mainstream media is so far left its capital could be San
Francisco. In fact, just this week, Carlson told his viewers that the New York Times was planning to reveal his address in an
article.
Although the Times denied they had plans to reveal such information, the fact that such accusations are flying between major
news organizations speaks to the level of hostility and mistrust now rampant across the country.
Tucker Carlson is caught
in a Catch-22 where the public, as well as his myriad competitors and enemies, have become just as interested in his life as
the stories he covers night after night. This popularity shines a powerful light on his controversial topics, which, in the
most consequential presidential election to come along in many years, explains why he is so loathed. Perhaps it is time for
Tucker Carlson to get out of the media business while he still can, and try his hand at politics, as many of his ardent
supporters have suggested. Who knows, he might even make an outstanding vice president.
Like this story? Share it
with a friend!
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those
of RT.
When I heard about this, I began to pray for Tucker and his family's safety and protection. This hit me hard and
actually broke my heart. I will continue to intercede for this family and pray God keeps an open door for his (and
everyone's) freedom of speech.
Well said Tucker. It's a shame that "professionals" don't tend to own accountability for their actions. It's
un-American for them to do that to your family.
Tucker, I have never commented on any show ever and I'm almost 70 years old. But I am ashamed of my country and
astounded by how the law allows this kind of behavior to happen. You're good people, and your reporting is very
important and excellent. I will be praying for your family for protection. And for someway for retribution. God bless
you.
Over
the past 10 years, several main theses of the agenda of globalism in its new form have been
formed. This is not an official doctrine, but rather a marker of the definition of "friend-foe"
for an ideology sometimes called "GloboHomo". It stands for "globalized, homogenous", not what
you thought. If you do not like this term, it is possible to use a more euphonious expression
of "Fucking Scum". So, among the most important components are the following:
"Global warming", often replaced by "climate change" in cases where it is associated
with abnormal cold or flooding. This can only be discussed in disastrous terms. Humanity
faces a terrible future if we do not drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the near
future, do not invest trillions of subsidies in "green energy", and do not reduce the
consumption of animal proteins and industrial goods. Any deviation from the genral line -
that the rate of warming may be significantly less than stated, that there may be important
factors other than anthropogenic contributing to climate change, or that funds may be more
effectively invested in coping with the effects of warming rather than preventing it-is
anti-scientific heresy, and should be subject to maximum censorship.
LGBT Rights, maximum gender fluidity. "Tolerance" in the true meaning of this word
is no longer sufficient, and a neutral attitude towards LGBT people is equated with hidden
homophobia and "transphobia". LGBT people only need to be touched and admired, you can not
criticize any aspects of the LGBT lifestyle. Any psychological or social problems specific to
the LGBT community should be explained by homophobia and transphobia on the part of the rest
of society, but not by internal problems of the LGBT community itself.
Refugees and freedom of immigration from poor countries . Rich and
middle-developed countries should not prevent formally illegal migration from underdeveloped
countries. Purely economic migration should be defined as much as possible through political,
religious or national persecution. The own poor (if they are not special minorities) should
not have an advantage over migrants in obtaining social benefits. Middle-class taxpayers are
required to fork out substantial subsidies to migrants, often allowing them to stay out of
work most of the time or even for life. National or racial profiling or the collection of
statistics that may indicate increased problems with crime, dependency or family violence in
a migrant environment should not be encouraged. The desire to preserve the traditional
national culture and national composition must be equated with racism or even fascism.
Migrants should not be forced to integrate quickly into the local culture.
These are General trends, and individual stormy movements like " Me Too "and" Black Lives
Matter " fit into them.
This agenda, with a pronounced left-wing bias, is relatively recent, about 10 years old. The
above theses have existed much longer, but until recently they were not the main mainstream
markers of globalism. And 20 years ago, the globalist agenda was radically different. From
about the early 80's to the mid-noughties, this agenda consisted of theses more generally known
as the"Washington Consensus". It contains about 10 theses, but we can briefly distinguish three
main topics:
Privatization, maximum withdrawal of the state from the economy. Everything
state-owned is inefficient, only an "effective private owner" can make the right economic
decisions.
Reducing social spending. Only "individual responsibility" allows full
disclosure of human potential, state assistance is ineffective and breeds dependency.
Financialization , maximum development of financial markets. Capital markets are the
main or even the only judges of all economic and political decisions. They need to be cajoled
as much as possible as ancient deities, including sacrificing a large part of the population
that "did not fit" into these markets.
This is a very different, clearly right-wing agenda. The
"Washington Consensus" is almost forgotten now. Its collapse actually occurred at the turn of
the 90s and the nineties , in particular after the Russian default of 1998, and especially
after Russia, instead of a complete collapse, experienced rapid growth according to recipes
very different from the "Washington Consensus" of the 90s.
In 2001, in Argentina, which was
considered an "exemplary student" of the "Washington Consensus", an even larger default and
collapse than in Russia (and according to a scenario close to the Russian one), and the
subsequent recovery from the crisis also occurred according to very different recipes. The
"left turn", with the abandonment of the VC in the early nineties occurred almost throughout
Latin America.
After the financial crisis of 1997-8, many Asian countries also changed their
policy towards leaving the VC. Soon, even under the Republican administration of George W.
Bush, protectionist tendencies and rejection of the liberal prescription of the 80-90's
intensified in the United States itself.
Despite radical differences, these groups of three theses have a common goal-to undermine
and dilute the industrial society of Modernism, which reached its highest point around the
1960s and 70s, and to try to create a postmodern society based on the models of globalists.
The
direction of attack changed radically-first to the right, then to the left.
You can explain
these trends by a conspiracy of globalists, but the main reasons are the internal
socio-economic cycles of Western society - what I call the transition from the " bourgeois
"phase to the" Bohemian "(and then "bandit"). But I will write about this separately.
"... In addition to the key international financial institutions, WB and IMF, there are the so-called regional development banks and similar financial institutions, keeping the countries of their respective regions in check. ..."
Imagine, you are living in a world that you are told is a democracy – and you may even
believe it – but in fact your life and fate is in the hands of a few ultra-rich,
ultra-powerful and ultra-inhuman oligarchs. They may be called Deep State, or simply the Beast,
or anything else obscure or untraceable – it doesn't matter. They are less than the
0.0001%.
For lack of a better expression, let's call them for now "obscure individuals".
These obscure individuals who pretend running our world have never been elected . We don't
need to name them. You will figure out who they are, and why they are famous, and some of them
totally invisible. They have created structures, or organisms without any legal format. They
are fully out of international legality. They are a forefront for the Beast. Maybe there are
several competing Beasts. But they have the same objective: A New or One World Order (NWO, or
OWO).
These obscure individuals are running, for example, The World Economic Forum (WEF –
representing Big Industry, Big Finance and Big Fame), the Group of 7 – G7, the Group of
20 – G20 (the leaders of the economically" strongest" nations). There are also some
lesser entities, called the Bilderberg Society, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Chatham
House and more.
The members of all of them are overlapping. Even this expanded forefront combined represents
less than 0.001%. They all have superimposed themselves over sovereign national elected and
constitutional governments, and over THE multinational world body, the United Nations, the
UN.
In fact, they have coopted the UN to do their bidding. UN Director Generals, as well as the
DGs of the multiple UN-suborganizations, are chosen mostly by the US, with the consenting nod
of their European vassals – according to the candidate's political and psychological
profile. If his or her 'performance' as head of the UN or head of one of the UN
suborganizations fails, his or her days are counted. Coopted or created by the Beast(s) are
also, the European Union, the Bretton Woods Organizations, World Bank and IMF, as well as the
World Trade Organization (WTO) – and – make no mistake – the International
Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. It has no teeth. Just to make sure the law is always on the
side of the lawless.
In addition to the key international financial institutions, WB and IMF, there are the
so-called regional development banks and similar financial institutions, keeping the countries
of their respective regions in check.
In the end its financial or debt-economy that controls everything. Western neoliberal
banditry has created a system, where political disobedience can be punished by economic
oppression or outright theft of national assets in international territories. The system's
common denominator is the (still) omnipresent US-dollar.
"Unelected Individuals"
The supremacy of these obscure unelected individuals becomes ever more exposed. We, the
People consider it "normal" that they call the shots, not what we call – or once were
proud of calling, our sovereign nations and sovereignly elected governments. They have become a
herd of obedient sheep. The Beast has gradually and quietly taken over. We haven't noticed.
It's the salami tactic: You cut off slice by tiny slice and when the salami is gone, you
realize that you have nothing left, that your freedom, your civil and human rights are gone. By
then it's too late. Case in point is the US Patriot Act. It was prepared way before 9/11. Once
9/11 "happened", the Patriot Legislation was whizzed through Congress in no time – for
the people's future protection – people called for it for fear – and – bingo,
the Patriot Act took about 90% of the American population's freedom and civil rights away. For
good.
We have become enslaved to the Beast. The Beast calls the shots on boom or bust of our
economies, on who should be shackled by debt, when and where a pandemic should break out, and
on the conditions of surviving the pandemic, for example, social confinement. And to top it all
off – the instruments the Beast uses, very cleverly, are a tiny-tiny invisible enemy,
called a virus, and a huge but also invisible monster, called FEAR. That keeps us off the
street, off reunions with our friends, and off our social entertainment, theatre, sports, or a
picnic in the park.
Soon the Beast will decide who will live and who will die, literally – if we let it.
This may be not far away. Another wave of pandemic and people may beg, yell and scream for a
vaccine, for their death knell, and for the super bonanza of Big Pharma – and towards the
objectives of the eugenicists blatantly roaming the world – see this . There
is still time to collectively say NO. Collectively and solidarily.
Take the latest case of blatant imposture. Conveniently, after the first wave of Covid-19
had passed, at least in the Global North, where the major world decisions are made, in early
June 2020, the unelected WEF Chairman, Klaus Schwab , announced "The Great Reset". Taking
advantage of the economic collapse – the crisis shock, as in "The Shock Doctrine" –
Mr. Schwab, one of the Beast's frontrunners, announces openly what the WEF will discuss and
decide for the world-to-come in their next Davos Forum in January 2021. For more details see
this
.
Will, We, The People, accept the agenda of the unelected WEF?
It will opportunely focus on the protection of what's left of Mother Earth; obviously at the
center will be man-made CO2-based "Global Warming". The instrument for that protection of
nature and humankind will be the UN Agenda 2030 – which equals the UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG). It will focus on how to rebuild the willfully destroyed global
economy, while respecting the ("green") principles of the 17 SDGs.
Mind you, it's all connected. There are no coincidences. The infamous Agenda 2021 which
coincides with and complements the so-called (UN) Agenda 2030, will be duly inaugurated by the
WEF's official declaration of The Great Reset, in January 2021. Similarly, the implementation
of the agenda of The Great Reset began in January 2020, by the launch of the corona pandemic
– planned for decades with the latest visible events being the 2010 Rockefeller Report
with its "Lockstep Scenario" , and Event 201, of 18 October in NYC which computer-simulated a
corona pandemic, leaving within 18 months 65 million deaths and an economy in ruin, programmed
just a few weeks before the launch of the actual corona pandemic. See COVID-19, We Are Now Living the
"Lock Step Scenario" and
this and this .
The Race
Riots
The racial riots, initiated by the movement Black Lives Matter (funded by the Ford
Foundation and Soros' Open Society Foundation), following the brutal assassination of the
Afro-American George Floyd by a gang of Minneapolis police, and spreading like brush-fire in no
time to more than 160 cities, first in the US, then in Europe – are not only connected to
the Beast's agenda, but they were a convenient deviation from the human catastrophe left behind
by Covid-19. See also this .
The Beast's nefarious plan to implement what's really behind the UN Agenda 2030 is the
little heard-of Agenda ID2020 . See The
Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic: The Real Danger is "Agenda ID2020" . It has been created and
funded by the vaccination guru Bill Gates, and so has GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and
Immunizations), the association of Big Pharma – involved in creating the corona vaccines,
and which funds along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) a major proportion of
WHO's budget.
Following the official path of the UN Agenda 2030 of achieving the SDGs, the 'implementing'
Agenda ID2020 – which is currently being tested on school children in Bangladesh –
will provide digitized IDs possibly in the form of nano-chips implanted along with compulsory
vaccination programs, will promote digitization of money and the rolling out of 5G –
which would be needed to upload and monitor personal data on the nano chips and to control the
populace. Agenda ID2020 will most likely also include 'programs' – through vaccination?
– of significantly reducing world population. Eugenics is an important component in the
control of future world population under a NOW / OWO – see also Georgia Guidestones ,
mysteriously built in 1980.
The ruling elite used the lockdown as an instrument to carry out this agenda. Its
implementation would naturally face massive protests, organized and funded along the same lines
as were the BLM protests and demonstrations. They may not be peaceful – and may not be
planned as being peaceful. Because to control the population in the US and in Europe, where
most of the civil unrest would be expected, a total militarization of the people is required.
This is well under preparation.
In his essay "The Big Plantation" , John
Steppling reports from a NYT article that a
"minimum of 93,763 machine guns, 180,718 magazine cartridges, hundreds of silencers and an
unknown number of grenade launchers have been provided to state and local police departments
in the US since 2006. This is in addition to at least 533 planes and helicopters, and 432
MRAPs -- 9-foot high, 30-ton Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicles with gun
turrets and more than 44,900 pieces of night vision equipment, regularly used in nighttime
raids in Afghanistan and Iraq."
He adds that this militarization is part of a broader trend. Since the late 1990s, about 89
percent of police departments in the United States serving populations of 50,000 people or more
had a PPU (Police Paramilitary Unit), almost double of what existed in the mid-1980s. He refers
to these militarized police as the new Gestapo.
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Even before Covid, about 15% to 20% of the population was on or below the poverty line in
the United States. The post-covid lockdown economic annihilation will at least double that
percentage – and commensurately increase the risk for civil turbulence and clashes with
authorities – further enhancing the reasoning for a militarized police
force.
China's Crypto RMB
None of these scenarios will, of course, be presented to the public by the WEF in January
2021. These are decisions taken behind closed doors by the key actors for the Beast. However,
this grandiose plan of the Great Reset does not have to happen. There is at least half the
world population and some of the most powerful countries, economically and militarily –
like China and Russia – opposed to it. "Reset" maybe yes, but not in these western terms.
In fact, a reset of kinds is already happening with China about to roll out a new People's Bank
of China backed blockchain-based cryptocurrency, the crypto RMB, or yuan . This is not only a
hard currency based on a solid economy, it is also supported by gold.
While President Trump keeps trashing China for unfair trade, for improperly managing the
covid pandemic, for stealing property rights – China bashing no end – that China
depends on the US and that the US will cut trading ties with China – or cut ties
altogether, China is calling Trump's bluff. China is quietly reorienting herself towards the
ASEAN countries plus Japan (yes, Japan!) and South Korea, where trade already today accounts
for about 15% of all China's trade and is expected to double in the next five years.
Despite the lockdown and the disruption of trade, China's overall exports recovered with a
3.2% increase in April (in relation to April 2019). This overall performance in China exports
was nonetheless accompanied by a dramatic decline in US-China trade.
China exports to the US decreased by 7.9% in April (in relation to April 2019).
It is clear that the vast majority of
US industries could not survive without Chinese supply chains. The western dependence on
Chinese medical supplies is particularly strong. Let alone Chinese dependence by US consumers.
In 2019, US total consumption, about 70% of GDP, amounted to $13.3 trillion, of which a fair
amount is directly imported from China or dependent on ingredients from China.
The WEF-masters are confronted with a real dilemma. Their plan depends very much on the
dollar supremacy which would continue to allow dishing out sanctions and confiscating assets
from those countries opposing US rule; a dollar-hegemony which would allow imposing the
components of The Great Reset scheme, as described above.
At present, the dollar is fiat money, debt-money created from thin air. It has no backing
whatsoever. Therefore, its worth as a reserve currency is increasingly decaying, especially
vis-à-vis the new crypto-yuan from China. In order to compete with the Chinese yuan, the
US Government would have to move away from its monetary Ponzi-scheme, by separating itself from
the 1913 Federal Reserve Act and print her own US-economy- and possibly gold-backed (crypto)
money – not fiat FED-money, as is the case today. That would mean cutting the more than
100-year old ties to the Rothschild and Co. clan-owned FED, and creating a real peoples-owned
central bank. Not impossible, but highly improbable. Here, two Beasts might clash, as world
power is at stake.
Meanwhile, China, with her philosophy of endless creation would continue forging ahead
unstoppably with her mammoth socioeconomic development plan of the 21st Century, the Belt and
Road Initiative, connecting and bridging the world with infrastructure for land and maritime
transport, with joint research and industrial projects, cultural exchanges – and not
least, multinational trade with "win-win" characteristics, equality for all partners –
towards a multi-polar world, towards a world with a common future for mankind.
Today already more than 120 countries are associated with BRI – and the field is wide
open for others to join – and to defy, unmask and unplug The Great Reset of the West.
Democracy is incompatible with the global neoliberal empire ruled from Washington. And the
USA is empire now.
Notable quotes:
"... cancel culture is just fine, as long as it's your side doing the cancelling...or if it's Israel or the national security state doing the cancelling ..."
"The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful
ally in Donald Trump, who represents a real threat to democracy."
This sacred cow of illusion is being threatened from all directions it seems. Democracy is
great for whoever owns it, and whoever owns the media owns democracy. A cow well worth
milking.
Norman Finkelstein must be laughing out loud at the sight of so many hypocritical liberals
opposing cancel. Did anyone in this crowd get 150 people to sign a letter of protest when
Finkelstein got cancelled? Or when Phil Donahue got fired for opposing the Iraq war?
IOW, cancel culture is just fine, as long as it's your side doing the cancelling...or
if it's Israel or the national security state doing the cancelling . CountrPunch, a
victim of blacklisting themselves, has a major takedown of the screaming hypocrisy of some of
the signers: https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/10/harpers-and-the-great-cancel-culture-panic/
The USA and GB actually implement caste system. That's what job quota means.
Notable quotes:
"... It might seem divisive to compare different groups, but attainment in education and in life is relative and if we're to help the worst off, we have to know who they are. We should help everyone who needs it -- but it is vital to be able to compare groups to know who's falling behind, relative to their peers. In the UK, Bangladeshi-Brits earn 20 percent less than whites on average, for instance, but those with Indian heritage are likely to earn 12 percent more. Black Britons on average earn 9 percent less, but Chinese earn 30 percent more. What these differences tell us is that employers aren't systematically discriminating between people on the basis of their skin color, and that we have to look elsewhere to see the roots of inequality. ..."
"... Poor Chinese girls (that is to say, those who qualify for free school meals) do better than rich white children. ..."
"... But, interestingly, the ethnic group least likely to get into university are whites. With the sole exception of Gypsy/Roma, every ethnic group attends university at a higher rate than the white British and, of the white British who do attend, most are middle class and 57 percent are female. The least likely group to go on to higher education are poor white boys. Just 13 percent of them go on to higher education, less than any black or Asian group. ..."
"... Angus Deaton, a Nobel Laureate based at Princeton University, came up with the phrase 'deaths of despair' when he looked at the demographics of those suffering from alcoholism, depression and drug abuse. Suicides among whites, he found, was soaring and those who took their own lives tended to be poor and low-educated. His recently-published book on the subject ( Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism , co-written with Anne Case) tells the devastating story of what he calls 'the decline of white working-class lives over the last half-century'. ..."
You can argue about the merits of pulling down statues, but it's hard to make the case that mass protests serve no useful purpose.
At the very least, they provoke debate and draw attention to uncomfortable topics that it might otherwise be easier to ignore. The
recent protests have forced everyone to have difficult discussions about race, class, poverty and attainment. Any serious examination
of the statistics shows that we're pretty far from equal, but what the figures also show is that it's wrong-headed and damaging to
lump very different groups together.
In these discussions politicians often lazily assume that all BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) people are the same, and
that all white groups are equally privileged. But a proper look at the data shows not just that there are striking difference within
BAME groups, but that the very worst-performing group of all are white working-class boys -- the forgotten demographic .
It might seem divisive to compare different groups, but attainment in education and in life is relative and if we're to help
the worst off, we have to know who they are. We should help everyone who needs it -- but it is vital to be able to compare groups
to know who's falling behind, relative to their peers. In the UK, Bangladeshi-Brits earn 20 percent less than whites on average,
for instance, but those with Indian heritage are likely to earn 12 percent more. Black Britons on average earn 9 percent less, but
Chinese earn 30 percent more. What these differences tell us is that employers aren't systematically discriminating between people
on the basis of their skin color, and that we have to look elsewhere to see the roots of inequality.
Ucas, the British university admissions service, can provide unique insight into these issues: it is the only outfit in the
world to gather detailed information on all university applicants, including their age, gender, neighborhood and school type. This
is collected along with data on who applied for which courses and who was accepted, and it is renewed in huge detail every year.
Much of the data shows predictable results: there is a gap between rich and poor, as you might expect in a UK state system where
the best schools tend to be located in the most expensive areas. But there are surprising discoveries too: nearly half the children
eligible for free school meals in inner London go on to higher education, but in the country outside London as a whole it is just
26 percent.
Black African British children outperform white children, whereas black Caribbean children tend to do worse. Poor Chinese
girls (that is to say, those who qualify for free school meals) do better than rich white children.
But, interestingly, the ethnic group least likely to get into university are whites. With the sole exception of Gypsy/Roma,
every ethnic group attends university at a higher rate than the white British and, of the white British who do attend, most are middle
class and 57 percent are female. The least likely group to go on to higher education are poor white boys. Just 13 percent of them
go on to higher education, less than any black or Asian group.
This is a trend that can also be seen in the GCSE data; only 17 percent of white British pupils eligible for free school meals
achieve a strong pass in English and maths. Students categorized as Bangladeshi, Black African and Indian are more than twice as
likely to do so. In 2007, the state sector saw 23 percent of black students go on to higher education; this was true for 22 percent
of whites. So about the same. But at the last count, in 2018, the gap had widened to 11 points (41 percent for black students, 30
percent for whites). The children of the white working class are falling away from their peers, in danger of becoming lost.
Going to university is not the golden ticket it once was, but it requires stupefying naivety to believe that seven out of eight
poor white boys take a sober look at the economics of higher education and choose to set up their own businesses instead. The trail
of hard evidence runs cold once they leave school, but the prospects for those who can barely read and write are dreadful and we
can get some idea of the consequences by looking at the 'left behind' areas where unemployment, crime and 'deaths of despair' are
significantly higher than the national average.
Angus Deaton, a Nobel Laureate based at Princeton University, came up with the phrase 'deaths of despair' when he looked at
the demographics of those suffering from alcoholism, depression and drug abuse. Suicides among whites, he found, was soaring and
those who took their own lives tended to be poor and low-educated. His recently-published book on the subject (
Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism , co-written
with Anne Case) tells the devastating story of what he calls 'the decline of white working-class lives over the last half-century'.
Yet while white working-class males are the largest disadvantaged minority, their cause is the least fashionable. In the intersectional
pyramid of victimhood, white males are at the bottom, tarnished by ideas of 'toxic masculinity' and 'white privilege' despite the
fact that in Britain class has always been the most significant indicator of true privilege. It's worrying, then, that any who attempt
'positive action' on behalf of poor white boys face a hostile reaction. Last year, Dulwich and Winchester colleges turned down a
bequest of more than Ł1 million ($1.25 million) because the donor, Sir Bryan Thwaites, wanted the money ring-fenced for scholarships
for white working-class boys. Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, a charity whose stated mission is to improve social mobility,
described Thwaites's offer as 'obnoxious'.
When Ben Bradley, the Conservative MP for Mansfield, tried to ask an 'Equalities' question about working-class white boys in parliament
earlier this year, he was turned down by the Table Office because they do not have any 'protected characteristics'. The concept of
'protected characteristics' was wheeled into UK law by Harriet Harman's Equality Act, 10 years ago, and the Tories, then in opposition,
took the rare step of voting for it. The nine protected characteristics include 'race', 'sex' and 'sexual orientation', but the Table
Office is not alone in interpreting these as 'non-white', 'female' and 'gay'.
Under the Equality Act, 'positive discrimination' remains technically unlawful, but the barely indistinguishable concept of 'positive
action' is explicitly legal. Firms cannot have quotas, but they can set targets. Employers cannot refuse to look at job applications
from people who lack protected characteristics, but by stating that 'applications are particularly welcome' from BAME, female or
LBGTQ+ candidates they send a message that some need not apply.
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In 2016 the BBC pledged that half its workforce and leadership would be female by 2020 despite less than 40 percent of Britain's
full-time workers being women. It also set an 8 percent target for LGBT employees, although only around 2 percent of the population
identify as LGBT. This target has been comfortably exceeded, as has been the target of having 15 percent of employees from a BAME
background. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests last month, the corporation raised this target to 20 per cent.
The BBC admits that people from 'low and intermediate income households' are hugely underrepresented in its workforce. But what
does it do about it? Earlier this month Oxford University proudly reported that it was making 'steady progress' in its efforts to
make its campuses 'representative of wider society'. Of its most recent intake of British students, only 14 percent came from the
poorest 40 percent of households.
This fits a pattern: at a push, we can hear acknowledgement of the 'poor white male' problem. But that's as far as it ever goes.
The underperformance of white boys and men is not considered to be a problem worth solving. When figures come out showing the stunning
attainment gaps between boys and girls, the interest lasts for about a day. 'It always got a few headlines,' says Mary Curnock Cook,
the former head of Ucas. 'Where it never got any traction at all was in policy-making in government. I began to think that the subject
of white boys is just too difficult for them, given the politicization of feminism and women's equality.'
When I asked a teacher why white working-class boys have fallen so far behind, he gave me a short answer: girls are better behaved
and immigrant parents are stricter. This is a generalization but nonetheless interesting: if it is the case that parenting is the
problem, then it's not clear how much the UK government can do. Perhaps the reluctance to discuss the subject stems from fear that
such a discussion would lead to difficult territory about family structure, quality of parenting and -- in short -- culture. Perhaps
politicians think it better to let the problem fester, and the children suffer, than to risk discussing it.
Last month, the British government announced that its commission on racial inequality would include an examination into the underperformance
of working-class white boys at schools. Will it look deep into the causes? It might look at recent studies that suggest poor reading
levels in schools is a huge part of the problem. And it might ask whether 'positive action' in the name of diversity has left white
working-class boys behind.
The Washington Post
Simon Denyer; Akiko Kashiwagi; Min Joo Kim
July 8, 2020
In Japan, a country with a long fascination with robots, automated assistants have offered
their services as bartenders, security guards, deliverymen, and more, since the onset of the
coronavirus pandemic. Japan's Avatarin developed the "newme" robot to allow people to be
present while maintaining social distancing during the pandemic.
The telepresence robot is
essentially a tablet on a wheeled stand with the user's face on the screen, whose location and
direction can be controlled via laptop or tablet. Doctors have used the newme robot to
communicate with patients in a coronavirus ward, while university students in Tokyo used it to
remotely attend a graduation ceremony.
The company is working on prototypes that will allow
users to control the robot through virtual reality headsets, and gloves that would permit users
to lift, touch, and feel objects through a remote robotic hand.
Our website traffic easily broke all records for the month of June, and these high levels
have now continued into July, suggesting that the huge rise produced by the initial wave of
Black Lives Matters protests may be more than temporary. It appears that many new readers first
discovered our alternative webzine at that point, and quite a few have stayed on as regular
visitors.
A longer-term factor that may be strengthening our position is the unprecedented wave of
ideological purges that have swept our country since early June, with prominent figures in the
intellectual and media firmaments being especially hard hit. When opinion-leaders become
fearful of uttering even slightly controversial words, they either grow silent or only mouth
the most saccharine homilies, thereby forcing many of their erstwhile readers to look elsewhere
for more candid discussions. And our own webzine is about as "elsewhere" as one could possibly
get.
Take, for example, the New York Times , more than ever our national newspaper of
record. For the last few years, one of its top figures had been Editorial Page Editor James
Bennet, who had previously run The Atlantic , and he was widely considered a leading
candidate to assume the same position at the Gray Lady after next year's scheduled retirement
of the current top editor. Indeed, with his brother serving as U.S. Senator from Colorado --
and a serious if second-rank presidential candidate -- the Lifestyle section of the
Washington Post had already hailed
the Bennet brothers as the potential saviors of the American establishment.
But then his paper published an op-ed by an influential Republican senator endorsing
President Trump's call for a harsh crackdown on riots and looting, and a Twitter mob of
outraged junior Times staffers organized a revolt. The mission of the NYT Opinion
Pages is obviously to provide a diversity of opinions, but Bennet
was quickly purged .
A similar fate befell the highly-regarded longtime editor of the Philadelphia
Inquirer after his
paper ran a headline considered insufficiently respectful to black rioters . Michigan State
University researchers had raised doubts about the accepted narrative of black deaths at the
hands of police, and physicist Stephen Hsu, the Senior Vice President who had supported their
work,
was forced to resign his administrative position as a consequence.
Numerous other figures of lesser rank have been purged, their careers and livelihoods
destroyed for Tweeting
out a phrase such as "All Lives Matter," whose current classification as "hate speech"
might have stunned even George Orwell. Or perhaps a spouse or other close relative
had denounced the black rioters . The standards of acceptable discourse are changing so
rapidly that positions which were completely innocuous just a few weeks ago have suddenly
become controversial or even forbidden, with punishments sometimes inflicted on a retroactive
basis.
I am hardly alone in viewing this situation with great concern. Just last week, some 150
prominent American writers, academics, and intellectuals published an open
letter in Harpers expressing their grave concern over protecting our freedom of
speech and thought.
Admittedly, the credentials of some of the names on the list
were rather doubtful . After all, David Frum and various hard-core Neocons had themselves
led the effort to purge from the media all critics of Bush's disastrous Iraq War, and more
recently they have continued to do with same with regard to our irrational hostility towards
Putin's Russia. But the principled histories of other signers such as Noam Chomsky partially
compensated for the inclusion of such unpleasant opportunists.
Although the Harpers statement attracted many stars of our liberal firmament,
apparently few people read Harpers these days, with its website traffic being just a
tenth of our own. Therefore, the reaction in the media itself was a much more important factor,
and this seems to have been decidedly mixed. 150 rather obscure activists soon issued a
contrasting statement, which major outlets such as NYT , CNN , and the Los
Angeles Times seem to have accorded equal or greater weight, hardly suggesting that the
ideological tide has started to turn.
Back a couple of years ago, there was a popular joke going around Chinese social media in
which Chairman Mao came back to life with all sorts of questions about the modern world. Among
other things, he was informed his disastrous Cultural Revolution had shifted to America, a
prescient observation given the events of the last few weeks:
The controversial May 25th death of a black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis police
custody soon set off the greatest nationwide wave of protests, riots, and looting in at least
two generations, and the once-placid hometown of the Mary Tyler Moore Show alone suffered some
five hundred million dollars of damage. Some of the main political reactions have been
especially surprising, as the newly elevated activists of the Black Lives Matter movement have
received massive media support for their demands that local urban police departments be
"defunded," a proposal so bizarre that it had previously been almost unknown.
Statues, monuments, and other symbolic representations of traditional American history
quickly became a leading target. Hubert Humphrey's Minneapolis has long been an extremely
liberal bastion of the heavily Scandinavian Upper Midwest, having no ties to the South or
slavery, but Floyd's death soon launched an unprecedented national effort to eradicate all
remaining Confederate memorials and other Southern cultural traces throughout our society.
Popular country music groups such as the Dixie Chicks
and Lady
Antebellum had freely recorded their songs for decades, but they were now suddenly forced
to change their names in frantic haste.
And although this revolutionary purge began with Confederacy, it soon extended to include
much of our entire national history, with illustrious former occupants of the White House being
the most prominent targets. Woodrow Wilson ranked as Princeton University's most famous alumnus
and its former president, but his name
was quickly scraped off the renowned public policy school , while the Natural History
Museum of New York is similarly
removing a statue of Theodore Roosevelt .
Abraham Lincoln and
Ulysses S. Grant had together won the Civil War and abolished black slavery, but their
statues around the country were vandalized or ordered removed. The same fate befell
Andrew Jackson along with the author of the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem.
The leading heroes of the American Republic from its birth in 1776 face "cancellation" and
this sudden tidal wave of attacks has clearly gained considerable elite backing. The New
York Times carries enormous weight in such circles, and last Tuesday their lead opinion
piece called for the
Jefferson Memorial to be replaced by a towering statue of a black woman, while one of their
regular columnists has repeatedly demanded that all
monuments honoring George Washington suffer a similar fate . Stacy Abrams, often mentioned
as one of Joe Biden's leading Vice Presidential choices, had previously made
the destruction of Georgia's historic Stone Mountain Memorial part of her campaign
platform, so we now seem only a step or two away from credible political demands that Mount
Rushmore be dynamited Taliban-style.
The original roots of our country were Anglo-Saxon and this heritage remained dominant
during its first century or more, but other strands in our national tapestry are suffering
similar vilification. Christopher Columbus discovered the New World for Spain, but he has
became a hated
and despised figure across our country , so perhaps in the near future his only surviving
North American monument will be the huge statue honoring him in the
heart of Mexico City . Father Junipero Serra founded Hispanic California and a few years
ago was canonized as the first and only Latin American saint, but his
statues have been toppled and his name already removed from Stanford University buildings.
At the time we acquired the sparsely-populated American Southwest, the bulk of our new Hispanic
population was concentrated in New Mexico, but the founding father of that region has now had
his monument attacked and vandalized . Cervantes, author of Don Quixote , is
considered the greatest writer in the Spanish language, and his statue was also
vandalized .
Perhaps these trends will abate and the onrushing tide of cultural destruction may begin to
recede. But at present there seems a serious possibility that the overwhelming majority of
America's leading historical figures prior to the political revolution of the 1930s may be
destined for the scrap heap. A decade ago, President Obama and most prominent Democrats opposed
Gay Marriage, but just a few years later, the CEO of Mozilla
was forced to resign when his past political contribution to a California initiative taking
that same position came to light, and today private individuals might easily lose their jobs at
many corporations for expressing such views. Thus, one might easily imagine that within five or
ten years, any public expressions of admiration for Washington or Jefferson might be considered
by many as bordering on "hate speech," and carry severe social and employment consequences. Our
nation seems to be suffering the sort of fate normally inflicted upon a conquered people, whose
new masters seek to break their spirit and stamp out any notions of future resistance.
A good example of this growing climate of fear came a couple of weeks ago when a longtime
blogger going under the name "Scott Alexander"
deleted his entire website and its millions of words of accumulated archives because the
New York Times was about to run an article revealing his true identity. I had only been
slightly aware of the SlateStarCodex
blogsite and the "rationalist" community it had gradually accumulated, but the development
was apparently significant enough to provoke
a long article in the New Yorker .
The target of the alleged witch-hunt was hardly any sort of right-winger. He was reportedly
a liberal Jewish psychiatrist living in Berkeley, whose most notable piece of writing had been
a massive 30,000 word refutation of neo-reactionary thought. But because he was willing to
entertain ideas and contributors outside the tight envelope of the politically-correct canon,
he believed that his life would be destroyed if his name became known.
Conservative commenter Tucker Carlson has recently attracted the highest ratings in cable
history for populist positions, some of which have influenced President Trump. But just a
couple of days ago, his top writer, a certain Blake Neff, was
forced to resign after CNN revealed his years of pseudonymous remarks on a rightwing
forum, even though the most egregious of these seemed no worse than somewhat crude
racially-charged humor.
Our own website attracts thousands of commenters, many of whom have left remarks vastly more
controversial than anything written by Neff let alone Alexander, and these two incidents
naturally
inspired several posts by blogger Steve Sailer , which attracted many hundreds of worried
comments in the resulting threads. Although I could entirely understood that many members of
our community were fearful of being "doxxed" by the media, I explained why I thought the
possibility quite unlikely.
Although it's been a few years since my name last appeared on the front page of the New
York Times , I am still at least a bit of a public figure, and I would say that many of the
articles I have published under my own name have been at least 100 times as "controversial" as
anything written by the unfortunate "Scott Alexander." The regular monthly traffic to our
website is six or seven times as great as that which flowed to SlateStarCodex prior to its
sudden disappearance, and I suspect that our influence has also been far greater. Any serious
journalist who wanted to get in touch with me could certainly do so, and I have been freely
given many interviews in the past, while hundreds of reasonably prominent writers, academics,
and other intellectuals have spent years on my regular distribution list.
Tracking down the identity of an anonymous commenter who once or twice made doubtful remarks
is extremely hard work, and at the end of the process you will have probably netted yourself a
pretty small fish. Surely any eager scalp-hunter in the media would prefer to casually mine the
hundreds of thousands of words in my articles, which would provide a veritable cornucopia of
exceptionally explosive material, all fully searchable and conveniently organized by particular
taboos. Yet for years the entire journalistic community has scrupulously averted their eyes
from such mammoth potential scandal. And the likely explanation may provide some important
insights into the dynamics of ideological conflict in the media.
Activist organizations often take the lead in locating controversial statements, which they
then pass along to their media allies for ritual denunciation, and much of my own material
would seem especially provocative to the fearsome ADL. Yet oddly enough, that organization
seemed quite reluctant to engage with me, and only after my repeated baiting did
they finally issue a rather short and perfunctory critique in 2018, which lacked any named
author. But even that lackluster effort afforded me an opening to respond with my own
7,300 word essay highlighting the very unsavory origins and activities of that
controversial organization. After that exchange, they went back into hiding and have remained
there ever since.
In my lengthy analysis
of the true history of World War II, I described what I called "the Lord Voldemort Effect,"
explaining why so much of our mainstream source material should be treated with great care:
In the popular Harry Potter series, Lord Voldemort, the great nemesis of the young
magicians, is often identified as "He Who Must Not Be Named," since the mere vocalization of
those few particular syllables might bring doom upon the speaker. Jews have long enjoyed
enormous power and influence over the media and political life, while fanatic Jewish
activists demonstrate hair-trigger eagerness to denounce and vilify all those suspected of
being insufficiently friendly towards their ethnic group. The combination of these two
factors has therefore induced such a "Lord Voldemort Effect" regarding Jewish activities in
most writers and public figures. Once we recognize this reality, we should become very
cautious in analyzing controversial historical issues that might possibly contain a Jewish
dimension, and also be particularly wary of arguments from silence.
However, even dread Lord Voldemorts may shrink from a terrifying Lord Voldemort of their
own, and I think that this website falls into that category. The ADL and various other powerful
organizations may have quietly issued an edict that absolutely forbids the media outlets they
influence from mentioning our existence. I believe there is strong evidence in favor of this
remarkable hypothesis.
Among Trump's surviving advisors, Stephen Miller provokes some of the most intense
hostility, and last November the SPLC and its media allies made a concerted attempt to force
his resignation based upon some of his private emails, which had promoted several controversial
posts by Steve Sailer. The resulting firestorm was discussed on this website, and
I analyzed some of the strange anomalies:
Just as might be expected, the whole SPLC attack is "guilt by association," and Ctrl-F
reveals a full 14 references to VDare, with the website characterized in very harsh terms.
Yet although there are several mentions of Steve and his writings, there is absolutely no
reference to this webzine, despite being Steve's primary venue.
Offhand, this might seem extremely odd. My own guess is that much of the material we
publish is 10x as "controversial" as anything VDare has ever run, and many of my own personal
articles, including those that have spent over a year on the Home page, might be up in the
30x or 40x potency range. Moreover, I think our traffic these days is something like 10x that
of VDare, seemingly making us an extremely juicy target.
Now admittedly, I don't know that Miller fellow, but the horrifying VDare post that Miller
supposedly shared was actually republished by VDare from this website. And that would surely
have made it very, very easy for the SPLC to use the connection as a opening to begin
cataloguing the unspeakingly horrifying list of transgressions we regularly feature, easily
expanding the length of their attack on Miller by adding another 6,000 words. Yet the silence
has been totally deafening. Puzzling
Here's my own hypothesis
As everyone knows, there are certain "powerful groups" in our society that so terrify
members of the media and political worlds that they receive the "Lord Voldemort Treatment,"
with mainstream individuals being terrified that merely speaking the name would result in
destruction. Indeed, the SPLC is one of the primary enforcers of that edict.
However, my theory is that even those dread Lord Voldemorts greatly fear an even more
dreadful Lord Voldemort of their own, namely this webzine. The SPLC writer knew perfectly
well that mere mention of The Unz Review might ensure his destruction. I'd guess that
the ADL/SPLC/AIPAC has made this prohibition absolutely clear to everyone in the
media/political worlds.
Given that Miller's main transgression was his promotion of posts originally published on
this website, the media could have easily associated him with the rest of our material, much of
which was sufficiently explosive to have almost certainly forced his resignation. Yet when the
journalists and activists weighed the likelihood of destroying Trump's most hated advisor
against the danger of mentioning our existence, the latter factor was still judged the
stronger, allowing Miller to survive.
This hypothesis was strongly supported by a second incident later that same month. We had
previously published an article by Prof. Eric Rasmusen of Indiana University, and I read in my
morning Times that he had suddenly
become embroiled in a major Internet controversy , with a chorus of angry critics seeking
to have him removed. According to the article, he had apparently promoted the "vile and stupid"
views of some anti-feminist website in one of his Tweets, which had come to the attention of an
enraged activist. The resulting firestorm of denunciations on Twitter had been viewed 2.5
million times, provoking a major academic controversy in the national media.
Being curious about what had happened, I contacted Rasmusen to see whether he might want to
submit a piece regarding the controversy,
which he did . But to my utter astonishment, I discovered that the website involved had
actually been our own, a fact that I never would never have suspected from the extremely vague
and circuitous discussion provided in the newspaper. Apparently, the old-fashioned
Who-What-Where provisions of the Times style manual had been quietly amended to prohibit
providing any hint of our existence even when we were at the absolute center of one of their
1,000 word news stories.
Highly-controversial ideas backed by strong evidence may prove dangerously contagious, and
the political/media strategy pursued by the ADL, the Times , and numerous other organs
of the elite establishment seems perfectly rational. Since our Bill of Rights still provides
considerable protection for freedom of speech, the next-best alternative is to institute a
strict cordon sanitaire , intended to strictly minimize the number of individuals who
might become infected.
Our webzine and my own articles are hardly the only victims of this sort of strategy -- once
dubbed "the Blackout" by eminent historian Harry Elmer Barnes -- whose other targets often
possess the most respectable of establishmentarian credentials.
Last month marked the 31st anniversary of the notorious 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, and
elite media coverage was especially extensive this year due to our current global confrontation
with China. The New York Times devoted most of two full pages to a photo-laden
recapitulation while the Wall Street Journal gave it front-page treatment, with just
those two publications alone running some six separate articles and columns on those horrifying
events from three decades ago.
Yet back in the 1990s, the former Beijing bureau chief of the Washington Post , who
had personally covered the events, published a long article in the prestigious Columbia
Journalism Review entitled The Myth of Tiananmen
, in which he publicly admitted that the supposed "massacre" was merely a fraudulent concoction
of careless journalists and dishonest propagandists. At least some of our top editors and
journalists must surely be aware of these facts, and feel guilty about promoting a
long-debunked hoax of the late 1980s. But any mention of those widely-known historical facts is
strictly forbidden in the media, lest American readers become confused and begin to consider an
alternative narrative.
Russia possesses a nuclear arsenal at least as powerful as our own, and the total break in
our relations began when Congress passed the Magnitsky Act in 2012, targeting important Russian
leaders. Yet none of our media outlets have ever been willing to admit that the facts used to
justify that very dangerous decision seem to have been entirely fraudulent, as recounted
in
the article we recently published by Prof. John Ryan.
Similarly, our sudden purge from both Google and Facebook came just days after my own
long article presenting the strong evidence that America's ongoing Covid-19 disaster was
the unintentional blowback from our own extremely reckless biowarfare attack against China (and
Iran). Over 130,000 of our citizens have already died and our daily life has been wrecked, so
the American people might grow outraged if they began to suspect that this huge national
disaster was entirely self-inflicted.
And the incident that sparked our current national upheaval includes certain elements that
our media has scrupulously avoided mentioning. The knee-neck hold used against George Floyd was
standard police procedure in Minneapolis and many other cities, and had apparently been
employed thousands of times across our country in recent years with virtually no fatalities.
Meanwhile, Floyd's official autopsy indicated that he had lethal levels
of Fentanyl and other illegal drugs in his system at the time of his demise. Perhaps the
connection between these two facts is more than purely coincidental, and if they became widely
known, popular sentiments might shift.
Finally, our alternative media webzine is pleased to have recently added two additional
columnists together with major portions of their archives, which will help to further broaden
our perspective.
Larry Romanoff has been a regular contributor to the Global Research website, most recently
focusing on the Coronavirus outbreak in China, and earlier this year he published an
article pointed to the considerable evidence that the virus had originated in the U.S.,
which was cited by Chinese officials and
soon became a flashpoint in American-Chinese relations . After having been viewed millions
of times, that piece and several others seem to have disappeared from their original venue, but
along with the rest of his writings, they are now conveniently available on our own
website .
For the last quarter-century, Jared Taylor has probably been America's most prominent White
Nationalist writer. Although Black Nationalists such as Al Sharpton have cable television shows
and boast of many dozens of visits to the White House, the growing climate of ideological
repression has caused Taylor and his American Renaissance organization to be
deplatformed from YouTube, Twitter, and numerous other Internet services. One of his main
writers is Gregory Hood, whom we have now added as a regular columnist , together with dozens of
his pieces over the last few years.
Silicon Valley oligarchs are ushering in a new age of serfdom, aided by the left. Medieval
illustration of men harvesting wheat with reaping-hooks, on a calendar page for August. Queen
Mary's Psalter, 14th Century. (wikipedia/public domain)
Few policy items have more ominously heralded the ongoing realignment of our politics than
Universal Basic Income. That its proponents and detractors can't seem to agree on what UBI is
intended for in the first place is merely a measure of that omen.
Take Spain. The country's far-left government was an early fan of the policy, and when it
leaped on the unemployment caused by lockdowns to implement
a version of it , the handouts were popularly mocked as la
paguita -- Spanish for pocket money. The derisive analogy was swiftly
censured as xenophobic -- the potential
pull effect for illegal migrants deemed a red herring -- or more creatively still, as
aporophobic, a made-in-Spain woke
neologism for aversion towards the poor. Yet it was fresh college graduates, not illegal
aliens nor the destitute, that users of la paguita fretted UBI would put on the dole.
UBI-skeptics fear this more than any potential loopholes for migrants or layabouts: namely,
further untethering the over-credentialed young from the demands of the labor market, directing
them instead towards "more creative pursuits" of dubious societal interest while turning the
self-sufficient lower-middle classes into their unconsenting patrons.
The dissonance over who exactly UBI is meant to assist is extremely revealing. The policy
was initially designed in Silicon Valley to make automation painless, but liberals on both
sides of the Atlantic have hailed the insurance it provides against labor market disruptions.
The reckoning with the need for a larger safety net is actually widespread, but the unalloyed
welfare that UBI would afford entitled millennials remains a no-go across much of the right. By
embracing UBI, the left seems to have made peace with our tech-induced drift away from
self-sufficiency and towards generalized dependence. But creating a dependent class out of the
supposedly "best and brightest" is still deemed profoundly perverse on the right.
This realignment around work and welfare is but one instance of what Joel Kotkin describes
in his latest book as The Coming of
Neo-Feudalism , the surreptitious supplanting of liberal capitalism -- a blend of economic
opportunity, pluralism and dispersed political power -- with a new regime dominated by tech
oligarchs, enabled by their legitimizers in the so-called "progressive clerisy," and so far
acquiesced to by most everyone else. The proposition that a class of tech overlords is
infiltrating liberal institutions will sound far-fetched to most of Kotkin's readers, but
that's only because our connotations of "feudalism" suffer from recency bias. This f-word often
calls to mind pre-revolutionary France, where a monarchic nobility and a conservative
priesthood united to preserve their privileges at swords' point until 1789.
That late form of feudalism is displayed in Kotkin's
choice of cover -- an engraving of a nobleman and a priest riding a peasant's back printed
two months before the storming of the Bastille. But what the book warns about is feudalism at
an embryonic stage, one where the interests of nobility and clerisy may not jibe all the time,
and where the third estate's submission is still unknowing. Similarly, it took centuries after
Rome fell for medieval feudalism to fully take shape, with the Church emerging first as a check
on kings' earthly power before becoming their geopolitical ally, and the servants toiling in
the rural estates of the post-Roman nobility barely conscious of their evolving towards
serfdom. Then as now, Kotkin argues our feudalization is slow but steady, with ever more power
concentrating among fewer hands. Kotkin is better known as an urbanist than as a historian,
which is precisely how he garners the historical savvy and prescience to discern the trend
stealthily unfolding -- for unlike in the early Middle Ages, cities and not rural areas are the
microcosm of the neo-feudal order.
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Big tech CEOs and the "progressive intelligentsia" form an unlikely coalition, corporate
power being a classic progressive gripe. So what about today's tech overlords makes them more
palatable than the bankers and utility oligopolists they've replaced? Hipness and woke
capitalism surely play a part, but their primary appeal to the wider society is in Kotkin's
view technical, grounded in the growing premium our economy places in technological skill. More
than a technocracy, this is a technocratic ratchet -- the techies hold the keys to an economy
they've ushered in and keep making more complex. Progressive opinion-makers have largely
acquiesced to the concentration of productive know-how in ever fewer hands, even as the less
affluent are shut out of the pathways towards acquiring it. Worse still, the societal benefits
from technological innovation reaped by everyone else keep diminishing -- where innovation was
once concerned with productivity, transport or housing, its link with improved living standards
has all but broken under society's hype over social media and artificial intelligence.
Atop the neo-feudal order sit these two powerful blocks, and the economic disruption their
alliance portends is correspondingly far-reaching, not limited to a single set of policy wins
for tech companies. Even if their tax evasion or greedy data collection practices are reined in
with
transnational digital taxes and ambitious privacy rules
, for big tech these will amount to little more than inches on the margin, mere bumps on the
road towards neo-feudalism. To work out the contours of the new economic order, Kotkin proposes
instead to size up the larger tenets of liberal capitalism undergoing erosion. This starts with
property, the ladder through which a majority could once reach middle-class prosperity but that
is being pulled up before our very eyes.
Under feudalism, serfdom was the norm -- toiling on the land of someone else who robbed you
was the only path to subsist. Similarly, as the clustering effects of today's knowledge economy
keep driving capital and labor towards already cramped cities, property has concentrated in
ever fewer hands, with home renters left similarly property-less. Cities used to be hotbeds of
opportunity, today they are segregated dystopias. Where strivers could once take jobs that
afforded spacey homes, amenities and savings, today the squeezed middle is driven out of cities
altogether by skyrocketing housing, transport and childcare costs. Where suburbia once stood to
pick up the pieces of our urban dysfunctions, today that last redoubt of the property-owning
middle is reaching full capacity in turn, with the comfortable lifestyle it affords shunned by
the environmentalist clerisy.
This crisis of property is behind the mantra that "today's young are the first generation to
face dimmer prospects than their parents,"
borne out in endless surveys. A married couple of first-generation college graduates today
struggles to buy a home even at the age their non-college educated parents did, effectively
delaying the age at which the upward mobility both generations worked so hard to chase can take
its effect. Even as it remains the only real launchpad to wealth accrual, homeownership is
increasingly the monopoly of those lucky to inherit it, which further tilts a playing field at
birth already more uneven than ever. And all this concerns only what Kotkin calls the modern
"yeomanry" of financially insecure but credentialed professionals. Even grimmer are the
prospects of the neo-feudal serfdom, that netherworld of low-skilled jobs in the service
precariat. Devoid of technical skills, these neo-serfs live paycheck to paycheck in what former
Labor Secretary Robert Reich once called the "share-the-scraps-economy" -- a wordplay on the
"sharing economy" -- with not a whiff of any real economic opportunity.
But just like medieval serfs felt bound to the feudal system through the Christian hope of
redemption, so is our neo-feudal order held together, as much as by economic relationships, by
the cultural values evangelized from the clerisy downwards. Yesteryear's societal ethos was one
of dynamism, creative destruction and widespread opportunity for all, which, when sincerely
embraced by those at the top, gave the entire system a buttress of legitimacy. For the
managerial class holding the reins, living out these values and leading by example reinforced
their position atop the system -- creating jobs meant supporting middle-class livelihoods,
reneging from corporate welfare and accepting the diktats of antitrust enforcement meant
playing by the rules.
The values underpinning today's neo-feudalism, rather than allowing for elites to be renewed
through competition and merit, serve to entrench the ones we're stuck with. Pluralism in online
discourse is on the way out and any talk of breaking up the tech giants is defamed as antitrust
heresy, effectively enshrining their natural monopoly over the digital space. As for
philanthropy, today's tech overlords truly see their lot as the kindest hearted in society, but
their foundations no longer seek to align status with merit but to refashion our political
economy entirely by normalizing dependence. UBI is to philanthropy what giving away fish is to
fishing education.
Whenever economic opportunity is invoked by big tech's allies in the clerisy, it is most
often in the discourse of identity politics, which derives policy prescriptions that fail to
create more of it, resorting instead to shoving ethnic minorities amidst the ranks of the
technocracy. Instead of expanding access to high-quality education, vocational training or
urban property, the siren song of identititarianism calls for numerical quotas and affirmative
action. If anything, economic opportunity stands to lose even more ground if the shibboleths
promoted from atop are pursued à la lettre , to the extent they pose further
penalties on the less fortunate, such as through environmentalism or multiculturalism. And this
is where policies such as UBI come back into the picture -- their aim is to make the lack of
economic opportunity less painful and politically costly, not to reverse our direction of
travel towards neo-feudalism. Evangelized with the brimstone of religion, these values are
ushering in a new regime of what Kotkin calls "oligarchic socialism," with productive work
increasingly the province of a fortunate few, while everyone is left to battle out for the
scraps but numbed with progressive piety.
The alarm Kotkin sounds is all the more courageous and credible coming from an old-school
progressive like him, and shows that the left's realignment around the interests of tech
oligarchs and the gospel of wokeism won't go without internal pushback. Kotkin has even earned
an audience on the right -- the book is published by Encounter . If his Warning to
the Global Middle Class is to be heard widely, it will need all the support it can get from
conservatives, whom are undergoing a realignment of the kind Kotkin advocates for his own side.
Which calls to mind the ominous words of the
abbé Sieyès in 1789 -- "what is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been
in the current political order? Nothing. What does it desire to be? Something!"
Jorge González-Gallarza Hernández (@JorgeGGallarza) is a senior researcher
at Fundación Civismo .
I didn't realize it at first but this was the same Koltkin who writes for American Affairs.
I'll link one of his articles below. But this is interesting as I've recently been reading Fear
of Falling by Barbara Ehrenreich and the way she talks about political shifts among the PMC is
interesting, especially when it comes to change in policy. When once they championed those
policies that have set us on a course for "neo-feudalism" they now oppose them, at least
nominally. But the fact that their "opposition" is not really opposition at all but rather a
palliative measure is telling and, I feel, confirms Ehrenreich's suspicions of the newly
anti-establishment leanings of the PMC.
You probably are better versed in these schools of thoughts... But I couldn't make heads or
tails out the article. First, in a feudal society serfs are bound to the land and they feed the rest of the society by
growing food, etc. UBI is proposed by Yang and others to alleviate the problems caused by automation and AI. The issue of the displaced working class is not serfdom-like exploitation, but that they have
nothing to offer. They don't have the skills needed and they are not where those skills are
needed. I must be missing something... :-/
Its an analogy to the manor system. With our cities becoming great centers of wealth where
an increasingly wealthy few concentrate themselves and their wealth, contrasted with an
impoverished hinterland made up of low skilled (or in our modern time underemployed) "serfs".
Obviously the exact products and role of the serfs and the nobility has changed, but the
relationship between the two, along with the fundamental roles they serve is by and large the
same as in its previous medieval form.
I don't know if you'll have access to this one (I assume you don't have a subscription to
American Affairs) but if it does allow you to read it he goes much more in-depth (I feel) in
this article along with a much more specific example by which he explains what he means.
https://americanaffairsjour...
Yang and others think that which has rendered the "serfs" obsolete or which has forced them
downwards is an unstoppable force, in this vein nothing fundamental about the situation itself
is changed by UBI, rather its gives up the point immediately (or indeed does not challenge it)
and instead resigns to palliative measures that will help, but not nearly enough and most
likely not in any long term fashion.
Yang's own central point is also a bit off given that A) Automation is heavily overstated as
a reason for job losses (see:
https://qz.com/1269172/the-... and B) The jobs apocalypse he fears from automation is
unlikely to come about (see:
https://www.nationalaffairs... , along with the examples of Korea and Tesla factories of
clear examples of how automation does not necessarily mean lost jobs, or no jobs, it may in
fact lead to more investment and more jobs if paired with well crafted reshoring and industrial
policies.)
I don't know if you'll have access to this one (I assume you don't have a subscription to
American Affairs) but if it does allow you to read it he goes much more in-depth (I feel) in
this article along with a much more specific example by which he explains what he means.
https://americanaffairsjour...
Yang and others think that which has rendered the "serfs" obsolete or which has forced them
downwards is an unstoppable force, in this vein nothing fundamental about the situation itself
is changed by UBI, rather its gives up the point immediately (or indeed does not challenge it)
and instead resigns to palliative measures that will help, but not nearly enough and most
likely not in any long term fashion.
Yang's own central point is also a bit off given that A) Automation is heavily overstated as
a reason for job losses (see:
https://qz.com/1269172/the-... and B) The jobs apocalypse he fears from automation is
unlikely to come about (see:
https://www.nationalaffairs... , along with the examples of Korea and Tesla factories of
clear examples of how automation does not necessarily mean lost jobs, or no jobs, it may in
fact lead to more investment and more jobs if paired with well crafted reshoring and industrial
policies.)
Instead of trying to improve failing NYC schools it is easier to claim racism. Some people just do not want to study. The
number of people who barely can read in the is really staggering and can't be explained by racism, which typically just mobilize the
oppressed minority to strive in education. That's probably why children of first generation emigrants (which parent having
poor English and discriminated at jobs) usually do very well educationally.
Although further progress is desirable, the level of racism and xenophobia in the USA is much less than in many countries.
Karl Marx once said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce. Nothing
proved the truth of Marx's claim better than the farcical battle over the statue of St. Louis
in, yes, St. Louis which followed hot on the heels of the tragedy of George Floyd in
Minneapolis.
The battle over the statue began as an exercise in identity politics, and before long it
degenerated into an example of identity theft. The main protagonist in this story is Umar Lee,
who was born Bret Darran Lee in 1974 to a southern Presbyterian family and grew up in
Florissant, Missouri just outside St. Louis. Lee may or may not be Black, which is an
ideological marker based upon but independent of biological fact, because he claims, according
to The Jerusalem Post that he "has two younger siblings who are half African-American."
[1]
On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown Jr., an 18-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by
28-year-old white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, a
suburb of St. Louis, leading to extensive rioting . After the death of
Michael Brown, Lee got involved with the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, and was
arrested on two occasions and, in his words, "locked up." After getting fired from his job as
cab driver, Lee became a full-time, but little known activist. In 2015, Lee noticed that
statues started coming down in St. Louis, largely because of agitation on the part of St. Louis
Jews. At some point during this period, Lee made contact with Ben Paremba, an Israeli
restauranteur who was "passionate" about promoting Israel and other Jewish causes. At this
point Paremba was as little known to locals as Lee, but all of that changed after the Jewish
press took notice of their petition to remove the statue of St. Louis and began promoting them
as social justice crusaders, if you'll pardon the term.
In a series of tweets, Lee tried to establish his position as an aggrieved Muslim, bringing
up the Crusades as the cause of his grievance, but the underlying source of his complaint was
inspired by a group of Jews, who were incensed that the city where they had come to study had
erected a statue in honor of a king who had burned the Talmud.
Once Lee mentioned the term "anti-Semitism," the Jewish press began carrying stories which
lionized Lee as a crusader for Jewish rights. Because of his philo-Semitism, Lee soon found
himself lionized in the Jewish press. Writing for the Jewish Telegraph Agency, Ben Sales
described Lee as "a local activist who started the petition and also took part in a
successful drive to remove a nearby Confederate monument in 2017. Lee, Sales continued, "is
not Jewish but started the petition because of Louis IX's anti-Semitism." [2] Because Lee's
petition called St. Louis a "rabid anti-Semite" who "inspired Nazi Germany," it began "drawing
Jewish support" from St. Louis Jews like Rabbi Susan Talve, "the founding rabbi of the city's
Central Reform Congregation, who said taking it down would help advance racial justice in the
United States." According to Talve, St. Louis Jews have "been talking about that statue for a
long time." Talve then added that removing the statue would be "a very important part of
reclaiming history, reclaiming the stories that have created the institutionalized racism that
we are trying to unravel today. If we're not honest about our history we will never be able to
dismantle the systems of oppression that we are living under."
"Susan Talve hated Cardinal Burke," according to one Catholic familiar with the local scene.
He went on to say that Burke told him that Talve had "an animosity toward me for reasons that I
don't understand." Blinded by over 50 years of the failed experiment known as Catholic-Jewish
dialogue, his eminence was evidently incapable of seeing that Talve's animosity toward him was
based on her ancestral animosity toward the Catholic Church, which he led in St. Louis at the
time. Unsurprisingly, Rabbi Talve's animosity toward the Catholic Church has turned her into an
advocate of Lee's attack on the statue.
St. Louis Catholics were determined to ignore the ethnic animosity behind the struggle.
America Needs Fatima, a front group for the Brazilian cult Tradition, Family, and Property
joined the fray, criticizing "limp-wristed politicians" who were giving in to "revolutionary
extremists." ANF Protest Coordinator Jose Ferraz, claimed that "American Catholics" who were
"strong in their faith" were being "pushed around by anarchist revolutionaries," but without
identifying any of the actual players in the dispute.
After local activist Jim Hoft announced that a group of Catholics associated with his
website Gateway Pundit was going to defend the statue, Lee issued a statement describing what
he clearly knew to be a group of Catholics as "White Nationalists" along with "those on the
alt-right such as those who held the infamous and tragic rally in Charlottesville."
Hoft then responded by claiming that Lee deliberately misrepresented the Gateway Pundit
rosary group as white racists: "We are Christians and Christian allies who believe we still
have the freedom to practice our religion in America. We are organizing a prayer rally with
Catholic and Christian men. And now we are being threatened -- In America. We will not
apologize for our Christianity. Not in St. Louis."
The leader of a local rosary group, taken in by Lee's propaganda, began to suspect that
local Catholic activists at the rosary protest "might be backed by white supremacists" and
warned his group off. He then retracted his first tweet after he learned that the Rosary rally
was being sponsored by local activist Jim Hoft's Gateway Pundit and TFP-America Needs Fatima.
Neither group talked about the Jews. As a result, neither group was able to discuss the
conflict's most significant player. Both groups as a result became proxy warriors in an
exercise in street theater which kept the true dynamics of the conflict hidden.
In his article, Sales found a local Catholic who made a valiant attempt to defend the city's
eponymous saint, only to be shot down later by Talve, who opined that "Asserting that your way
is the only way I think is always wrong" with no sense that this was precisely the gist of what
the local Jews and their Muslim front man were imposing on the citizens of St. Louis.
Hoft called Lee's claim that "those on the alt-right such as those who held the infamous and
tragic rally in Charlottesville," were responsible for the demonstration defending the statue
"a lie," and added "There is no one from the Charlottesville rally or linked to the
Charlottesville rally or who promoted the Charlottesville rally who will be at the prayer rally
(that we know about)."
Lee's determination to turn the statue battle into a racial conflict began to generate
opposition from the Black community on Twitter, inspiring one observer to write "Fuck Umar
Lee's Bitch ass. He got fired for taking a company video to start racial tension. He's white.
Not Black. Sorry POS."
Activist, Author and Ex-Cabbie Umar Lee
By now it was obvious that the Black population of St. Louis, in spite of being dragged into
Lee's ad hoc coalition, had no dog in this fight. St. Louis, it turns out, never owned slaves.
Once the racial element disappeared from the conflict, its religious dimensions began to
emerge. The battle over the statue was a religious war between Catholics and Jews, in which
both sides were eager to cover over the conflict's true ethnic configuration. Both Lee and Hoft
were determined to obscure the identity of their opponents as well as the identity of their
backers. As one local observer put it, "Jews end up being in a win-win situation. Either Lee
succeeds in toppling the statue or Hoft succeeds and becomes the gay-married, pro-Zionist hero
to the local bishopless Catholics who are too fearful to organize on their own. Nowhere do
Catholics, or Blacks, or Muslims get a win out of this. Being pro-Zionist on some level
probably gives Hoft permission to misbehave sexually, since Jews are the authors of gay rights
as a movement. It's his way of paying them back, even though he is deeply conservative, like a
typical Iowa farm boy, raised Catholic, in all other areas."
Even after the Catholic-Jewish nature of the conflict became apparent, Lee continued to
portray the pro-statue crowd as white racists. In the days leading up to the Saturday rally,
Lee tweeted a picture of the blonde-haired Hoft with this text by way of explanation. "This is
the guy behind the White Nationalist rally on Saturday at noon on Art Hill. This is why it's
important for us to show up at eleven. . . . Jim Hoft and the Gateway Pundit were absurdly
wrong." [3]
A few hours later, Lee tweeted: "I will never allow Nazis, racists, and White Nationalists
to hold rallies in St. Louis without a response even if it's just me." [4] Hours later, Christine
Eidson Christlieb tried to set the record straight when she tweeted "The people praying the
rosary every night at the statue aren't white nationalists. That's just false. They are
Catholics." [5]
Ignoring Christlieb's tweet, Lee continued to promote identity theft, tweeting on June 24
that "White Christian Nationalists and the alt-right have announced a rally on Saturday at the
Louis IX statue. Please RT and share. We need to counter. Calling all Catholic and Christian
Men and their Allies." The bogus request for Catholic support when Lee knew it was Catholics
who were on the other side of the protest saying their rosaries exposed the hidden grammar of
Lee's strategy, which involved denying his opponents their actual identity and turning them
instead into "white nationalists," a group which could then be deprived of their constitutional
right to free speech and assembly. I discussed this ploy in my article comparing the Arbaeen
march in Dearborn, which was considered legitimate because of its religious sponsorship, and
the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, which was illegitimate precisely because the
protesters were "white," a designation which deprived them of any constitutional protection.
Lee knew he was dealing with Catholics, but he insisted on calling them white supremacists
because that was the category that would demonize them.
Lee's tweets throughout the period leading up to the June 27 protest gave a clear indication
that his real animus was against St. Louis's Catholics, not white supremacists or nationalists.
Lee tweeted "Mel Gibson is probably the most prominent traditional Catholic and critic of the
modern church known to most Americans. He is also a raging anti-Semite who beat his wife. The
Twitter army defending Louis IX I'm sure are huge fans of his."
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-6&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1275341953585090561&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unz.com%2Fejones%2Ficonoclasm-in-st-louis%2F&theme=light&widgetsVersion=9066bb2%3A1593540614199&width=500px
Umar Lee Leading a Protest at the St. Louis Statue
Umar Lee is not your typical Muslim. He said nothing about the plight of the Palestinians
who were about to lose control over the West Bank. He failed to mention the connection between
the knee hold which presumably killed George Floyd and ADL sponsored seminars which introduced
Minneapolis police officers to Israeli instructors in Chicago in 2012. Instead he claimed that
"Bringing down the Louis IX statue won't be the [first] time Muslims and Jews coordinated in
St. Louis to stamp out evil." Then combining two contradictory tropes, Lee described his
opponents as "alt-right Catholic fascists," whose "favorite hobbies" were "burning and looting
Jews and impaling heretics." Instead of defending the statue of St. Louis IX, Lee felt that his
Catholic foes could better spend their time studying Jewish history and volunteering "to help
the many thousands of sex crimes victims in the church."
Statues are a sign of hegemony. They help you identify the ruler, and if not the real ruler,
the man those in power would like to have as their ruler. In a revolutionary era, the statues
of the former ruling class must come down. The most striking instance of this was the statue of
Stalin in Prague, which came down as soon as Communism collapsed in the period from 1989 to
1990. The removal of Stalin's statue left an empty pedestal in its place, but just as nature
abhors a vacuum, so pedestals will not remain empty. The first occupant of the empty Stalin
pedestal was a statue of Michael Jackson, who brought his own statue to Prague when he played a
concert there. He was the hegemon of the 1990s. The last time I was in Prague that pedestal was
occupied by a weird crane-liked gnomon which moved in sync with some unheard rhythm of the
spheres, making it seem like a metronome keeping time to an unknown melody.
The battle in Charlottesville in 2017 was ultimately a conflict over a statue, in this case
a statue of Robert E. Lee, which celebrated the "redemption" of the South which occurred a
generation after the Civil War, when the South drove the last remnant of Yankee soldiers from
their soil. The Lee statue was erected, as were many others celebrating Confederate soldiers,
to celebrate the new regime.
During the revolutionary spring of 2020, numerous statues were deposed. Not surprisingly,
the statue of Lenin in Seattle escaped the mayhem which visited that city unscathed, as did the
most recent addition to statuary in South Bend, Indiana, the statue of Rev. Theodore Hesburgh,
CSC, president of Notre Dame University and civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. The
latter statue expresses better than any other the system of control which it symbolizes. The
short-hand explanation of that system of control is the civil rights movement, which celebrates
breaking laws with some higher purpose in mind. A recent article noted that 60 percent of
people in their 20s believe it is okay to break the law for a good cause. Of course, who gets
to determine whether the cause is good did not get mentioned in that article. That is why the
Hesburgh-King statue is important. It was based on a photo taken in Chicago in 1966 (most often
erroneously stated as 1964). When Martin Luther King arrived in Marquette Park, one of
Chicago's many ethnic neighborhoods, the Lithuanians living there greeted him with a hail of
rocks and bottles, one of which staggered King as he got out of his car. Needing help to
prosecute the ethnic cleansing of Catholic neighborhoods in Chicago, King gave Hesburgh a call
and together the two icons sang "We shall overcome" at a rally at Soldier Field that
summer.
The statue is, in other words, a celebration of two of American history's most famous proxy
warriors. As a pawn of Jewish money and Quaker organizing, King obliterated the traditional
Black power structure in Chicago, symbolized by Bronzeville, which was the Black ethnic
neighborhood. As a pawn of the Rockefellers, Hesburgh betrayed fellow Catholics in Chicago in
order to get funding from their foundations, especially the Population Council run by John D.
Rockefeller, 3rd. So the South Bend statue is in no danger of coming down because the
descendants of the oligarchs which turned King and Hesburgh into political icons have found a
new set of proxy warriors in Antifa and Black Lives Matter, who have arrogated the civil rights
mantle to themselves in a bid to stamp out the last remnants of representative government in
the United States. Pedestals will not remain empty. Prepare yourself for a Jeff Bezos statue.
Just as King and Hesburgh were proxy warriors of the oligarchs in collaboration with each
other, so Lee and Hoft are proxy warriors of the oligarchs in opposition to each other.
In the spring of 2015, the iconoclasts of St. Louis succeeded in getting the Jesuit-run St.
Louis University to remove its statue of Pere Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian Catholic priest
who worked as a missionary to the Indians in the Mid-West and western sections of the United
States of America. [6] The Jesuits caved in to
pressure from "a cohort of students and faculty" who complained that the De Smet sculpture
"symbolized white supremacy, racism, and colonialism," [7] at least according to
this news account, which and alumnus disputes, claiming:
Saint Louis University did not get rid of the statue of Father DeSmet. They moved it to the
newly renovated Saint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA). There, the statue is prominently
shown quite beautifully along with other artifacts and artwork from the early founding of St
Louis and its Catholic heritage. One could argue that they removed it from its outside area
because of the pressure that the university faced to remove it, but there was never a "cohort
of faculty and students to remove it." During my four years as a student from 2006 to 2009, I
never heard one comment about the statue. I attended the university with a lot of people from
various ethnicities who never mentioned it once. We would also pass it by on a daily basis. I
personally think that this "cohort" was made up and that no one ever had a problem with it,
whether liberal or not. It was made into a problem by those who would like to destroy
Catholicism. The Jesuits should have left it where it was but at least they had enough sense to
keep it and showcase it prominently in their museum, which I will repeat, is
beautiful.
Protestors Argue at the Statue of St. Louis
Two years later, St. Louis mayor Lyda Krewson caved in to the same sort of pressure when she
removed a Confederate statue from the same Forest Park neighborhood where the statue to St.
Louis is located. [8] The statue of Columbus
was also removed in 2017, largely at the behest of Rachel Sender, a graduate student in
biological anthropology at Washington University who claimed that Columbus "represents racism,
colonialism, slavery and white supremacy and should not be given any honorable remembrance or
be a symbol of Tower Grove Park." [9] In attempt to give some
background on Lee and his petition, local Catholic activist Jim Hoft described Rachel Sender as
"some idiot . . . from New Jersey." Sender, however, was much more forthcoming than Hoft in
describing both her identity and motivation in wrecking that city's statues. Buoyed by the
iconoclasts' success in removing the Columbus statue, Sender jumped on the bandwagon to remove
the St. Louis statue, tweeting that "St. Louis was a crusader known for persecuting Jews. This
is also the only city I've experienced [sic] blatant anti-Semitism. His legacy should not be
honored! Lyda Kewson, City of St. Louis, Change the name of St. Louis. Sign the petition."
[10]
Lee was lionized in the Jewish press because even though Lee calls himself a Muslim, he not
only talks like a Jew, he also got the idea of tearing down the St. Louis statue from Jews. In
a recent interview, Lee told The Jerusalem Post "that he became aware of the statue's
history when Rabbi Hershey Novack of the Chabad on the Campus at St. Louis University held a
Tisha B'Av gathering by the Louis IX statue to remember the atrocities he wrought on Jews in
France." [11] Lee was in effect
only doing what he was told, after Novack and local Israeli restauranteur Ben Parembo said,
"Hey, that statue needs to come down. Jewish kids going out with their parents to [park's]
[sic] art museum don't need to be looking at this anti-Semite."
Lee may be the only Muslim in the world who is not upset about the United States moving its
embassy to Jerusalem, thereby making it the capital of Israel. In fact he's planning a trip to
Jerusalem, where he plans to "do a little dance. . . to commemorate the fact that loser [i.e.,
St. Louis IX] never made it to Jerusalem." In the meantime, Lee "will be drafting a letter to
@Pontifex asking for the decanonization of King Louis IX." On June 21, Lee informed his twitter
followers that he was "working on Lindbergh too. Must go. No Nazi named streets in St. Louis
Couny [sic]!" In addition to being a descendant of Robert E. Lee, Umar Lee did time for some
unspecified crime. It was during his stay in prison that he became aware of Jewish history and
the fact that St. Louis "burned Talmuds and embarked upon two crusades." He also learned that
St. Louis was "a Catholic town," a fact which led him to embark on a career as a reformer of
the Catholic Church, forcing him to oppose "some hateful pre-Vatican II trends that are being
repopularized." At some point during his study of Jewish history, Lee discovered that "a group
of Jewish students from Washington University and a rabbi gathered at the statue [of St. Louis]
on Tisha B'av" [or this ninth of Av, the day on which the temple was destroyed]. [12] From
reading the article, Lee also learned that King Louis "organized the burning of 12,000 Jewish
manuscripts in Paris, reasoning that the Jewish manuscripts might corrupt his good Christian
soldiers." [13] The book burning was
small potatoes compared to the destruction of the Temple, but the statue gave local Jews a
reason to feel aggrieved and test the local political waters to see how much clout they had.
Lee discovered that Jewish clout had increased considerably over the past 11 years, and that,
during the revolutionary spring of 2020, the time was ripe to press the issue.
Knowing that the Jews were itching for a battle with that city's Catholics, Lee engaged in
identity theft by claiming that the Catholic protesters were white because religion was a
category which still afforded constitutional protection. Recognizing that any conflict between
Catholics and Jews, with Muslims and Blacks playing minor roles, was unwinnable, Lee attempted
to drag the mayor into a fight against "white nationalists" knowing full well that enlisting
her in a battle against that city's Catholics, a group which made up 26 percent of the
population would have meant political suicide. Hence, Lee's persistent efforts to turn the
rally into something which it was not, as when he wrote: "Does St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson
have a problem with alt-right White Nationalists having a protest at the Louis IX statue on Art
Hill this Saturday?" Lee's tendentious formulation of the issue bespoke a combination of
identity theft and moral blackmail. The two issues are, of course, related and the link was
America's Civic Religion, otherwise known as the Civil Rights Movement, otherwise known as the
Black-Jewish alliance. Anyone who had the Black-Jewish alliance on his side occupied the high
moral ground and was on his way to winning the argument by default, because his opponents
lacked a moral leg to stand on. Because of Hollywood and public education, support for the
Civil Rights movement had replaced the ten commandments in America's mind as the source of
moral guidance.
But, as Anne Hendershott pointed out in her book The Politics of Deviance , deviance
is constant. That means that for every precept of the moral law you subtract from your
behavior, you have to add a precept of political correctness by way of compensation. Sexual sin
is the usual motivation for subtracting precepts of the moral law from your conscience. The
public school system in America as well as higher education has as one of its main goals the
sexual corruption of every student unfortunate enough to enter its doors. The moral vacuum that
education creates is filled by tales of the Civil Rights Movement, which proposes Martin Luther
King and Rosa Parks as role models. The sense of grievance and contempt for the positive law
which King and Parks stoked found fulfillment in the homosexual movement which invoked their
name to stoke contempt for the natural law.
So one way to calm your conscience because of the abortion you had is by becoming a
fanatical member of Antifa or a supporter of Black Lives Matter. The Civil Rights Movement of
the '60s was in many ways moral compensation for the adoption of contraception among Protestant
sects. Unsurprisingly, 1964 was the year of both the pill and the Civil Rights Act. This is not
a coincidence.
The battle over the statue served as an update on the Triple Melting Pot. Protestants were
nowhere to be found in this conflict. Their place had been taken by Muslims, who were still
negligible in terms of political power or cultural presence, but they could become significant
if they allied themselves with the Jews, the part of the Triple Melting Pot which was still
negligible in terms of numbers but whose cultural and political power had increased enormously
over the past half century. St. Louis is the home to 60,000 Bosnian Muslims, who harbor animus
against Jews that is now common in the Islamic world, largely because of how Israel has treated
Palestinians. Umar Lee is the exception that proves the rule. Thanks to the state of Israel,
Muslim antipathy to Jews is a widespread phenomenon, but it is not the case in the drama
surrounding the state of St. Louis. If Umar had come out in favor of the Boycott Divestment and
Sanction movement holding Israel accountable for its crimes against Palestinians, he'd still be
driving a cab.
What began as an exercise in identity politics soon devolved into a case of identity theft.
After Lee called the Catholics white nationalists, local Catholic activist Jim Hoft responded
by calling Lee's Jewish coalition "Marxists." When it came to the battle of the St. Louis
statue, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church was missing in action. Archbishop Robert Carlson,
ordinary of the archdiocese of St. Louis, defended the statue, but his comments had little
effect on public opinion because he is on his way out the door. His appointed successor,
auxiliary bishop Mitchell Rozanski of Springfield, Massachusetts, had nothing to say on the
issue. As a result, Hoft became defensor fidei by default, in spite of the fact that Jim
Hoft's relationship with Catholicism is even more troubled that Umar Lee's relationship with
Islam.
Hoft was born and raised in Iowa, but he got his start in local politics in St. Louis after
he established a national internet presence by founding the Gateway Pundit website, which took
the typically conservative line on issues as other websites began to engage in liberal
waffling. Conservative, at this moment in time, had less to do with the Republican populism of
St. Louis native Phyllis Schlafly, and more to do with the Neoconservatives who took over both
the party and the movement over the course of the 1990s. Specifically, that meant that Hoft was
rabidly pro-Israel, even to the point of posting a picture of him and Bibi Netanyahu on the
Gateway Pundit masthead, and disallowing any criticism of Israel or Jews from its combox.
Hoft's loyalty to Israel has earned him Jewish friends, such as film producer Michael Rudin,
who featured Hoft in a 2019 episode of the TV Series The Conspiracy File s and who is
also featured in Hoft's masthead.
In keeping with an even more recent trend in Republican-style conservatism, Hoft announced
that he was a homosexual after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando because he "just had
to." Not long after coming out of the closet, Hoft married a gay Filipino in what purported to
be a Catholic ceremony at the rebel St. Stanislaus Church in St. Louis. Not content to keep his
sodomy private, Hoft took out an elaborate wedding announcement complete with picture of him
and the boy, who is about a foot shorter than Hoft.
Hoft's Gateway Pundit has gone on to become a fact-checker's dream, with article after
article in mainstream outlets like the Washington Post describing Hoft and his website
as retailers of conspiracy theories and fake news, but Hoft continues in his role as the Jews'
favorite dumb goy. Hoft's fanatical, pro-Israel chest-thumping Catholicism is a compensation
for homosexuality, and a manifestation of what we might call the Michael Voris syndrome. In
addition to being useful to the Jews whenever they need someone to make the Catholic Church in
St. Louis look ridiculous, Hoft has become defensor fidei by default because in St.
Louis, as elsewhere, nature abhors a vacuum. Archbishop Robert Carlson's defense of the statue
was weakened by his status as a lame duck. [14] The Archdiocese
issued a statement defending St. Louis as "an example of an imperfect man who strived to live a
life modeled after the life of Jesus Christ" and a "model for how we should care for our fellow
citizen." His defense was further weakened by the fact that he did not identify the group
responsible for wanting the statue removed. Catholics, as a result, were once more engaged in
cultural shadow boxing against enemies they could not identify.
That means that the fate of the statue rests in the hands of Carlson's successor,
Archbishop-elect Mitchell Rozanski, who will be installed as St. Louis's new ordinary on August
25, which is, not coincidentally, the feast of St. Louis IX. The fate of the statue rests of
Mayor Lyda Krewson, who is both a Catholic and a liberal Democrat, which means she is pulled in
two opposite directions. She has come out in favor of retaining the statue, but some Catholics
are not sure she can withstand the political pressure pulling her in the opposite direction,
since she has already presided over other acts of public iconoclasm. As a Catholic mayor
presiding over the fate of the statue of a Catholic saint in a city with a large Catholic
population, Krewson finds herself confronted with a revolutionary situation during an
interregnum. The driving force behind that revolution is the Jewish revolutionary spirit.
Because of that fact, the impending arrival of Mitchell Rozanski is not cause for optimism.
Rozanski grew up in Baltimore and is a protégé of Cardinal Keeler, who is the
patron saint of Catholic-Jewish dialogue in the United States and author of a document on
Catholic-Jewish relations that was so heretical that even the notoriously philosemitic United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops refused to publish it. On June 18, 2009, the USCCB took
the unprecedented step of condemning its own document on Catholic-Jewish relations, warning
unsuspecting readers that Keeler's "Reflections on Covenant and Mission should not be taken as
an authoritative presentation of the teaching of the Catholic Church. In order to avoid any
confusion, the USCCB Committee on Doctrine and the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious
Affairs have decided to point out some of these ambiguities and to offer corresponding
clarifications." [15]
Archbishop-Elect
Mitchell Rozanski
In an interview with Rozanski which appeared in the National Catholic Reporter ,
Keeler was described as "a legend in the field of Jewish-Catholic dialogue" and "one of
Rozanski's mentors." [16] Eventually Rozanski
succeeded Keeler as moderator for Catholic-Jewish relations. On February 24, 2017, Rozanski
wrote a response to the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in his capacity as
U.S. Bishops' Chairman on Interreligious Affairs, expressing "deep sympathy, solidarity, and
support to our Jewish brothers and sisters who have experienced once again a surge of
anti-Semitic actions in the United States. I wish to offer our deepest concern, as well as our
unequivocal rejection of these hateful actions. The Catholic Church stands in love with the
Jewish community in the current face of anti-Semitism." [17]
In an article which appeared in the Springfield, Massachusetts Republican , Rozanski
was quoted as saying, "I fear that the current level of demonizing anyone of a different
opinion sadly will only lead to even more levels of violence and affronts to our fellow human
beings, created in the likeness and image of God." [18] The article went on
to say that the suspected shooter in the attack referred to Jews as "children of Satan," which
the paper described as an "anti-Semitic social media posting" with no indication that the term
came from Jesus Christ in a confrontation with the Jews portrayed in the Gospel of St. John. I
make the claim that there is a historical continuity between that confrontation in the Gospel
and 2,000 years of revolutionary ferment on the part of the Jews in my book The Jewish
Revolutionary Spirit.
Unlike Justin Rigali and Raymond Burke, "whose legacies remain divisive," Rozanski plans to
deal with the polarized situation in St. Louis by promoting "more dialogue, more understanding,
more study of the way that police deal with different situations. And what happened to George
Floyd in Minneapolis was totally, totally unacceptable, totally beyond the pale of whatever
should be done to anyone who is being taken into police custody."
There are, of course, Catholics in St. Louis who can provide a cogent defense of retaining
the statue, but they are currently in hiding, fearing repercussions from Rozanski, whom one
"local Catholic in a very sensitive position that requires him to remain anonymous" described
as their "new super-ecumenical and politically correct Archbishop." As I have said many times
before, the Church can have good relations with the Jews, or she can have unity, but she can't
have both. Rozanski's good relations with the Jews is a sign that local Catholics are in for a
hard time if they try to contest the anti-Semitism label which has been imposed on them by Umar
Lee and his Jewish backers in their defense of the statue. One such Catholic provided the
following defense of the statue, while at the same time declining to give his name:
Saint Louis IX was a devout follower of Jesus, who was scrupulously honest, humble, a
generous and unfailing lover and benefactor of the poor, and a peacemaker and unifier of
factions within his kingdom. It is for these and other virtues that he was canonized by the
Church. Just as we don't eliminate the name and statues of Martin Luther King because he was
a womanizer and a plagiarist, nor should we dishonor St. Louis because of his policies toward
Jews and his crusading ventures. These need to be understood in their historical context of
medieval Christendom – very different from today's secularized world. We're told his
statue is "offensive" to Jews and Muslims. Tearing it down would be deeply offensive to
hundreds of thousands of Catholics in this area, and to quite a few others as well.
As the intensity of the conflict surrounding the rosary vigils increased, the author of the
above statement began to wonder if it had been strong enough in stating the case for St. Louis.
When a local priest attempted to debate with the protestors, a shouting match ensued with no
conclusive outcome. The author then brought up the issue of the Crusades by contexualizing it
with a discussion of Zionism:
It's a pity the priest leading the rosary and the other Catholics there didn't defend St.
Louis from the charge of being "genocidal" and a "murderer." The Crusades were basically a
defensive movement against constant Muslim encroachment on the west and Christendom, which
they vowed to conquer and destroy, and to regain the Holy Places in Palestine which they had
seized after the Holy Land had been under Christian control for over three centuries before
the Muslim invasions of the 7th century. What prompted King Louis to embark on a crusade was
that in 1244 Muslim forces invaded Jerusalem, massacred many Christians there and desecrated
churches and holy places. So it wasn't "Islamophobic" or "genocidal" for a Christian king to
want to defend them! How can Jews condemn Christians for seeking to reclaim lands formerly
under Christian control when they themselves (or at least the great majority, who are
Zionists) justified their takeover of Palestine in 1948 for the same reason, namely, that it
belonged to their ancestors until foreigners (the Romans) conquered it and dispersed
them?
He then addressed the issue of burning the Talmud:
St. Louis was following the precepts of Lateran Council IV and the popes of his time in
having copies of the Talmud banned and burned after it was found out that this volume (only
then recently translated from Hebrew) contained repulsive blasphemies against Jesus and the
Blessed Mother. Regarding Mary, "She who was the descendant of princes and governors played
the harlot with carpenters" (Sanhedrin, 106a). As regards Our Lord himself, he is said to be
now in hell, being boiled in "hot excrement" (Gittin, 57a). Why? "Jesus the Nazarene . . .
and his disciples practiced sorcery and black magic, [and] led Jews astray into idolatry"
(Sanhedrin, 43a). "He was sexually immoral, worshipped statues of stone. . . was cut off from
the Jewish people for his wickedness, and refused to repent" (Sanhedrin 107b, Sotah, 47a). He
"learned witchcraft in Egypt" (Shabbos, 104b). [19]
Jonathan Greenblatt
Missing from this discussion is the role Jews play in getting people they don't like
de-platformed from social media, which is the modern day equivalent of burning the Talmud. On
the same Saturday as the protests at the St. Louis statue, all of my books were removed from
Amazon at the behest of the ADL, the main organization promoting Jewish censorship of the
media. Unlike the ADL, the Inquisition gave the books it burned a fair hearing. Now, because of
Jewish concepts like "hate speech," anyone can lose his livelihood without trial or explanation
at the hands of the same people who take umbrage at burning the Talmud. The only thing
necessary is mention of the magic word "anti-Semitism," which ends all discussion and leaves
the accused person guilty without any possibility of clearing his name. St. Louis, according to
our author:
was no "anti-Semite" (which properly speaking is a racial prejudice, like that of
Hitler); but he was indeed anti-Jewish, i.e., against Judaism as a religion, for the reason
that Jews bitterly hated Christianity (as the Talmud demonstrated) and often worked to
undermine the faith of Louis' Christian subjects, whose eternal salvation he sought to
protect. The consistent position taken by the medieval popes was the Jews were not to be
molested, and their worship was to be tolerated, provided they didn't work to oppose or
undermine the faith of the Christian majority. When punitive measures were implemented or
authorized by the Church, it was because the Church judged that Jews were not abiding by that
condition.
As his final point, our author points out that if the Jews had power over Christians to
implement the Talmud which St. Louis ordered burned, Christians would have died. That's because
Jews only believe in tolerance when they are a powerless minority, and they believe in it only
as a strategy to undermine the coherence and unity of the dominant culture until they get the
upper hand, at which point they become ruthless persecutors of those who are weaker than they
are. Israeli treatment of Palestinians is a good indication of how Jews act when they get the
upper hand. Bolshevism in Russia is another example. Once the Bolsheviks seized power in
Russia, the Jews who controlled that movement turned the instruments of state power against the
Russian Christians whom they saw as their ancestral foes by creating instruments of terror like
the Cheka, which was invariably a Jewish-run operation because Russians were reluctant to
torture and murder other Russians, whereas the Jews who made up the majority of that
organization had no such compunction. "St. Louis's medieval methods," our author continues:
were not such as we would find acceptable today, when a much greater degree of religious
toleration and emphasis on individual rights has been a part of Western culture now for
centuries; but we have to understand St. Louis and other great figures of Christendom and
U.S. history in their own historical context. The idea of a religiously "neutral" or secular
state was unheard of anywhere in the world until after the French and American Revolutions
more than 500 years after St. Louis lived. No religion in those days gave much
emphasis to religious toleration. The Jews themselves (never mind the Muslims!) would have
been very oppressive to Christians if they had been in power, as the Jewish laws set out in
the Babylonian Talmud make clear, even though most of them couldn't be implemented. For
instance, "If a gentile hits a Jew, the gentile must be killed" (Sanhedrin, 58b); "When a Jew
murders a gentile there will be no death penalty. What a Jew steals from a gentile he may
keep" (Sanhedrin, 57a). Indeed, gentiles are dehumanized: "All gentile children are animals"
(Yebamoth 98a); "Gentile girls are in a state of niddah [filth] from birth" (Abodah
Zarah, 36b). If this, and the vitriolic Talmud slurs against Jesus and Mary cited above, are
not "hate speech," what is?"
As some indication of the parlous state which Catholic-Jewish dialogue has created in the
Catholic Church, America Magazine turned to a Jewish Lesbian convert to Catholicism, who
explained the situation in St. Louis to its readers in the following way: "King Louis IX, whom
Catholics know as St. Louis, ordered the burning [of the Talmud] after a rigged 'disputation'
in which a Jewish convert to Christianity debated a rabbi about whether the Talmud was
blasphemous." [20] So are the above
passages blasphemous? Are they in the Talmud? If the answer to those questions is yes, in what
sense was the disputation rigged? Eve Tushnet, who is the author of this article as well as the
author of Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith,
never gets around to answering that question. Nor does she tell us whether the statue should be
taken down or left in place, nor does she tell us in what sense someone who describes herself
as a Jewish lesbian has converted to the Catholic faith.
The fact that the author of this eloquent defense of St. Louis chose to remain anonymous out
of fear of retaliation from that city's incoming bishop is a good indication that the violence
will increase. America is now in the middle of a full-blown revolution because largely Jewish
revolutionaries broke the Motion Picture Production Code in 1965 and inundated the country with
pornography and other forms of sexual subversion, which left subsequent generations weakened,
demoralized, and incapable of sustaining their own culture and institutions. The year 1965
inaugurated the failed experiment known as Catholic-Jewish dialogue as well. More than anything
else, the sort of Catholic-Jewish dialogue which the incoming bishop learned at the knee of his
mentor Cardinal Keeler crippled the Catholic Church's ability to defend the moral order in
American society. Repurposed as our "elder brothers" and friends, Jews qua Jews became
the unopposed sponsors of virtually every subversive movement in American culture from abortion
to gay marriage, from race-baiting political correctness to family destroying feminism, from
warmongering neo-Conservatism to brutal shoot-the-protesters-in-the-back Zionism, alienating
people who should have been America's friends because of Israel's barbarous behavior. The Jews
have never abandoned their ancestral commitment to revolution, and now revolution has arrived
at the gates of the Gateway, as the Black revolutionaries who have always been the Jews' proxy
warriors, from the founding of the NAACP to the infusion of George Soros money into the coffers
of Black Lives Matter, broke down the entrance to a gated community two blocks from the St.
Louis statue and continued the march which began after George Floyd died. Threatened by what
looked like a home invasion and abandoned by the local police, who had been told to stand down
by that city's feminist mayor, Mr. and Mrs. McCloskey stood their ground on the front porch of
their house brandishing the weapons that they were forced to exhibit because the cops refused
to come to their assistance when called.
The rally at the statue ended up being much more violent than anticipated as brass-knuckled
Black Lives Matter thugs beat up elderly Catholics who had come to say the Rosary. [21] Some of
the Black Lives Matter demonstrators arrived with firearms. All of the Catholic demonstrators
were unarmed. According to various reports, Black Lives Matter protesters attacked Catholics
praying near the Apotheosis of St. Louis statue in St. Louis. And why did they do this? Were
the Black thugs who took the cane away from a 60-year-old Catholic praying the Rosary and beat
him with it upset about Louis IX burning the Talmud or his position on Albigensianism? I doubt
it. You can view that attack at the link in this footnote. [22] Umar Lee's portrayal
of Catholics as white supremacists, fresh from Charlottesville, is responsible for that
Catholic's injuries. Lee is guilty of incitement. If he and the man who carried out the attack
go unpunished, we can expect more violence.
In reaction to the violence at the statue on Sunday, the Islamic Foundation of Greater St.
Louis issued a stunning rebuke to Umar Lee in a statement on Tuesday, June 31, saying that
removing the statue of St. Louis "will not erase history." The Islamic group went on to say
that they remained "committed to work on interfaith relationships based on honest dialogue and
mutual respect." It did not recommend taking down the statue of St. Louis. Instead it was
saying there were voices of reason in the Islamic community in St. Louis and that Lee's
campaign had no support among the people who did speak for Islam in that city. As one local
Catholic put it after reading the Islamic group's report, "The Jews have overplayed their
hand."
Mr. Greenblatt's attempt to use the ADL to resurrect the Black/Jewish alliance has created
problems of its own. With Israel's annexation of the West Bank looming, the ADL is concerned
that the backlash that the annexation is sure to cause, might spread to its proxy warriors in
Black Lives Matter, as in fact did happen in England [23] :
The "stakeholders analysis memo," which was issued by the ADL's Government Relations,
Advocacy, and Community Engagement department and marked as a draft, warns that the group
will need to find a way to defend Israel from criticism without alienating other civil rights
organizations, elected officials of color, and Black Lives Matter activists and supporters.
The memo suggests that the group hopes to avoid appearing openly hostile to public criticism
of annexation while it works to block legislation that harshly censures Israel or leads to
material consequences, such as conditioning United States military support. [24]
The ADL was not the only Jewish organization supporting Black Lives Matter. According to a a
report in the Jewish Telegraph Agency, "More than 400 Jewish organizations and synagogues in
the United States have signed on to a letter that asserts 'unequivocally: Black Lives Matter.'"
[25] Those groups
represented a broad spectrum "of religious, political, gender, and racial identities. The list
of signatories -- from small congregations to major Jewish organizations -- represents millions
of Jewish people in the United States, the organizers," according to the statement.
The problem in cities like Seattle, Chicago, and St. Louis can be laid at the feet of those
cities' lesbian and feminist public officials, a group which is incapable of enforcing the law
because they see the law as a manifestation of patriarchal oppression. This encourages anarchy
because it allows Jewish-funded thugs like Antifa and Black Lives Matter to act with impunity.
It also encourages political opportunists like Umar Lee to mount assaults on the social order
because they can blackmail those officials because of the guilty conscience which arises from
abortion and sexual perversion. The Church is complicit as well when it appoints bishops who
are known for their skill in appeasing Christ's enemies.
The video of Mr. and Mrs. McCloskey's confrontation in St. Louis garnered over 16 million
views in less than 24 hours, not because violence ensued, but because violence was averted, at
least for the time being. [26] But the assault on
the McCloskeys continues as a signature petition to disbar them is wending its way to the
Jewish head of the local lawyer's disciplinary board. Planning to fight fire with fire, the
McCloskeys have hired a Jewish lawyer to defend them.
As of this writing, St. Louis Circuit attorney Kim Gardner is considering filing charges
against the McCloskey's for defending their home. Gardner was elected in 2017, with the help of
George Soros money. [27] In addition to
supporting Gardner, Soros also funded the Ferguson riots. [28] During Gardner's
tenure as Circuit Attorney, felony prosecutions dropped dramatically. Of the 7,045 felony cases
which the St. Louis Police Department brought before the circuit attorney in 2019, only 1641
were prosecuted, despite claims of significant evidence to prosecute presented by the police
union. [29] After reducing the
cash bond for numerous offences, or removing it altogether, Gardner announced that she was no
longer going to prosecute "low-level" marijuana possession cases. At this point, Gardner
declared war on the State of Missouri. In February 2018, Gardner indicted Missouri Governor
Eric Greitens. [30] Three months later,
the governor's office filed a suit against William Don Tisaby, the ex-FBI agent Gardner had
hired to investigate Greitens. Gardner then went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court to
block the appointment of a special prosecute to investigate her handling of the Greitens
investigation but lost. That grand jury also brought charges of misconduct against Gardner but
ultimately failed to hand down any indictments.
In 2019 Gardner pleaded guilty to repeated campaign finance violations dating back to her
time as a Missouri State Legislator, but avoided conviction by reaching "an agreement with the
Missouri Ethics Commission to pay a settlement of $6,314 in lieu of a $63,009 fine." [31]
In January 2020, Gardner filed a civil rights lawsuit against St. Louis City and St. Louis
Metropolitan Police Department on the basis of the Fourth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment,
and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1865 alleging a racist conspiracy. The City of St. Louis called the
case "meritless," and Jeff Roorda of the St. Louis Police Officers Association called it "the
last act of a desperate woman." [32]
On June 3, 2020, Gardner released all 36 of the rioters who had been arrested in the wake of
the George Floyd protests. [33] Gardner is
sympathetic St. Louis's revolutionaries because ever since her election, she has been involved
in her own attempt to overthrow the government. The fate of the McCloskeys, who have been told
that the rioters are planning to return to their house, now rests in the hand of this woman and
the police force she has beaten into submission with the help of George Soros.
Whether violence prevails in the future, no one can say at this point, but the best
indication of its likelihood can be found in the fate of the statue which represents that
city's patron saint, and the fighting spirit it inspires in those who are determined to resist
the Jewish revolutionary spirit, as St. Louis did in Paris eight centuries ago.
[19] The last three
Talmud citations here were accessed 6/26/20 on the Jewish website http://www.noahide.com/yeshu.htm, where they are quoted
with approval in an article arguing Jesus was a "false prophet".
Great article, I had no idea of the background behind these various incidents. I saw each
clip on various media channels, but never knew that they were all connected.
Couple of comments:
1) Jewish-Catholic dialogue appears to be a one way shouting match. I have yet to hear of
Jews altering the Talmud to remove the anti-gentile and anti-Christian passages from that
turgid tome.
2) "nor does she tell us in what sense someone who describes herself as a Jewish lesbian
has converted to the Catholic faith." She's obviously an infiltrator, like several of the
major participants in Vatican II. I'm no Catholic, so I'm not about to lecture anyone on
Church history, but there are a few volumes out there on the founding of the Jesuit order and
how gentiles and jews battled for control of it over subsequent decades. Infiltration of
Christian churches is as much of a Jewish tradition as Purim.
3) It was from your work that I finally gained a better understanding of Jesus and his
criticism of the Pharisees. Shame to see it disappear from Amazon, but I fear anything that
even remotely offends Jewish sensibilities is going to be hard to find in future. I believe
they even banned Jewish historian Leni Brenner's book on the transfer agreement.
Interesting to know about the fake-negro and fake-Muslim Umar Lee or Talcum XX. There's
already a fake-negro from KY who's known as Talcum X. He's the one who is stationed at
Haaaavaaahd who collects 20K a pop for speeches advocating that all non-black portrayals of
Christ and Mary be destroyed and churches burned. His BLM followers seem to have been busy in
the past week. Perhaps E. Michael Jones should do a follow-up on this noxious clown. This was
a very informative article with a lot of insightful background provided.
Interesting to note that the first ones to show any resistance to this atrocity were some
Brazilian Traditionalist Catholics. Most of the ones from Murika are too busy fellating the
BLM (Black Looming Monster) created and funded by nice folks like George Soros, who isn't
even a fake Nazi but an actual Nazi employee who (along with his father) aided the famous
Adolf Eichmann in the asset-looting of Hungarian Jews in the wake of the Nazi overthrow of
Admiral Horthy's regime.
Horthy's government refused to send the local Jews to Hitler even though they were allied
with the Germans in fighting the USSR. Isn't there a special division of the Juctice Dept.
devoted to hunting down folks who were involved even slightly with the Hitler regime?? Guess
when you buy citizenship in the Rotten Banana Empire (Soros' was via a special act of
Congress – the finest money can buy), the fearless Nazi-hunters shy away.
One of the worst things Giuliani did was bring back urban revival. If DEATH-WISH-style NY
had continued, America would have been far more conservative.
All that urban renewal and wealth made the city slickers more cosmo and snotty.
The USA is now so wracked with immorality, perversion and identity politics – its
difficult to see that it has a future.
And having read about Lee and Holt, Talve and Gardner I was instantly reminded of the thread
from yesterday. 'Who Should be Shot?'.
With the infestation of pure evil which is ripping apart the society and internal peace of
the American people – are there no patriots left .?
When there is no law, no protection for decency, fairness and justice – the time must
come when citizens need to defend themselves.
Obviously in St Louis that time has come ..
But the brainwashing now is so deep seated, so professional and so ugly but well financed
– it seems to me that the USA will be consumed from within, without the white
population even turning off their TV sets until the killing, raping and looting hits their
actual front doors.
And it will.
The barbarians are no longer at the gates – they are destroying and 'cleansing' all the
concept of history and any 'American dream'from inside the very heart of the country.
Karma – perhaps.
Since E. Michael Jones endorses Christianity, it is appropriate to remind him that
Christians destroyed the holy places of their rivals, destroying statues and libraries of
antiquity, bringing down holy oaks of Germanic tribes etc..
And you Americans did it in Germany not too long ago, even destroying completely
unpolitical statues of Arno Breker and other artists.
So it is all a bit hypocritical.
Nota bene: I don't endorse this destruction in America, and I even lament this, because I
see it as a sign of weakness of the White race, and I identify as a White man, and I see
those who are bringing those statues down as my enemies. But a bit more self-reflection would
certainly be appropriate, if you want someone to sympathize with you.
I guess it surprises me less that Jesus Christ is still being persecuted by the old Jewish
remnant than that the remnant has found so many allies at this point in our history. I'm
equally unsurprised that a much more effective coalition is thereby being formed to oppose
the remnant. Satan, being a liar from the beginning, always makes the same mistakes. He/She
turns a series of small victories, like rampant pornography and an army of weak, duped
Christian leaders like Hesburgh, into a conflagration that demands a response from God, like
the Resurrection.
"But the brainwashing now is so deep seated, so professional and so ugly but well financed
– it seems to me that the USA will be consumed from within, without the white
population even turning off their TV sets until the killing, raping and looting hits their
actual front doors."
I see no evidence that you are wrong. And Trump fiddles while America burns.
And you Americans did it in Germany not too long ago, even destroying completely
unpolitical statues of Arno Breker and other artists.
Breker was artist to the Third Reich, which was a political movement and hostile to
Christianity. While Jones thoroughly condemns all aspects of Nazism he does believe the rise
of Hitler and the Third Reich is attributable to Bolshevism.
Fortunately the cultural record of the 20th century is quite full and easy to access. And what
I see is, until the 60s, Catholics getting along just fine.
The Motion Picture Production Code, before that the Hays Code, certainly pre-Lambeth, when
Protestants and Catholics worked together, America was a paradise, compared to today's
Godforsaken mess.
They could have kept things that way. But the Jews gained game-changing power after WWII. And
since you couldnt name them, you couldnt fight them. And since you couldnt fight them, you lost.
Father
Coughlin , says: July 14, 2020 at 2:42 pm
GMT
appropriate to remind him that Christians destroyed the holy places of their rivals,
destroying statues and libraries of antiquity, bringing down holy oaks of Germanic tribes
etc..
Nope. They Christianized them. Pulled out of them what was true, noble and beautiful and
modified what was error.
Jul 12, 2020 Tyrants HATE This 500 Year Old Trick for Ending Tyranny
The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, the 16th century treatise on tyranny and obedience by
Étienne de La Boétie. James and Keith highlight some of the book's key insights
and detail how they apply every much to our situation today as they did when they were
written.
Jun 29, 2020 Armed Couple Facing BLM Mob SPEAK OUT "We Were In FEAR OF OUR LIVES The
Agitators WERE WHITE"!!!
When an angry and unruly BLM mob trespassed onto private property homeowners Mark and
Patricia McCloskey armed themselves to protect their lives and their property after the mob
uttered threats that they would kill them.
August 22, 2017 The racist origin of gun control laws
Congress demolished these racist laws. The Freedmen's Bureau Bill of 1865, Civil Rights Act
of 1866, and Civil Rights Act of 1870 each guaranteed all persons equal rights of self-defense.
Most importantly, the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, made the Second Amendment applicable to
the states.
@Chu N – In a
letter to the American people, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew today announced plans for the
new $20, $10 and $5 notes, with the portrait of Harriet Tubman to be featured on the front of
the new $20.
Secretary Lew also announced plans for the reverse of the new $10 to feature an image of the
historic march for suffrage that ended on the steps of the Treasury Department and honor the
leaders of the suffrage movement -- Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul. The front of the new $10 note will maintain the portrait of
Alexander Hamilton.
This is a very stupid and uneducated reply. There is so much evidence of wholesale
destruction of "pagan" heritage by Christians. No serious Christian scholar denies this. Read a
bit on the topic.
It is amazing to me how adding that X-factor to the equation seemingly always makes the
incomplete picture make perfect sense. Tucker led his show with the McCloskey story last night,
but he can't say outright many of the hidden variables. He does a better job than anyone in the
MSM by far at leading the horse to water, but will they drink?
though it should be remembered that our Republic was founded upon people saying no to unjust
laws and compacts, hence the Declaration of Independence!
Thus Martin Luther King Jr promotion of non-violent opposition to injustice should not be
condemned, for it is part of the greater important tradition in this country, and it was
precisely the fork-saluting weather underground marxist maoist thugs abetted by funding through
the Ford Foundation, etc to Soros of this day, that wanted to stop King, through murder, to
launch violence and race war as that strategy of divide and conquer is now being deployed once
again.
For it should be remembered that King, like Trump today, was calling out against the Vietnam
war, as Trump was the only antiwar candidate in 2016 against the Obama Bin Bush Bin Clinton Bin
Bush perpetual war machine, where the call for Trump's assassination is by those who want to
stay in Afghanistan, saw nothing wrong with destroying the African nation of Libya by a black
President Obama, the destruction of Syria, etc and are hell bent on stopping cooperation for
world development upon the McKinley American System Model which the Belt and Road and New Silk
Road initiatives were modeled.
Trump unfortunately is in bed with some very poisonous elements, but some of those elements
even understand that no one will survive a nuclear war very much on the table and being
provoked by various elements .
Funny how the visa-free map from before the COVID-19 pandemic is roughly equal to the
extent of the American Empire itself.
And the loss of foreign students signifies much more than the mere loss of income for the
American universities: it also means the loss of grip over the provinces' regional
elites.
Most of the foreign students in the USA are sons and daughters of the regional elites.
They live the American way of life, get westernized, and go back to their countries (which
they will likely rule) with a liberal ideology ingrained in their minds. They are the rough
equivalent to what the hostage was during Antiquity. To lose 263,000 hostages in less than
one year would be a devastating blow to American diplomacy.
One commenter mentioned a brain drain in relation to foreign students no longer coming to
America but I guess the brain drain will occur when out of work professors start heading off
to other countries like China in search of work.
Tucker Carlson escalated the ongoing war between FOX News and CNN Wednesday, bringing
attention to Don Lemon for breathtaking hypocrisy on issues of black family culture.
TUCKER CARLSON: If you're running a channel like CNN, you want dumb people on tv because
they are compliant. They will say what they are told. They will tell the audience with the
moment demands. They will level stray from the script and that's exactly what Mr. Lemon is
doing. Seven years ago it was a different country and people were kind of a lot to say what
they thought was true. At the time, here's what Don Lemon was saying about black communities.
Watch this.
DON LEMON: More than 72 percent of children in the African-American community are born out of
wedlock. That means absent fathers. And the studies show that lack of a male role model is an
express train right to prison and the cycle continues. So, please, black folks, as I said if
this doesn't apply to you, I'm not talking to you. Pay attention to and think about what has
been presented in recent history as acceptable behavior. Pay close attention to the hip-hop and
rap culture that many of you embrace. A culture that glorifies everything I just mentioned,
thug and reprehensible behavior, a culture that is making a lot of people rich, just not you.
And it's not going to.
TUCKER CARLSON: Wow. Can you imagine what would happen if Don Lemon or his bodybuilding
buddy over there or any of these people said something like that? On CNN tonight or MSNBC? It
would be their last live broadcast ever. They would be fired immediately. You can't express
views like that. So they don't.
"... "People who are actually 'cancelled' don't get their thoughts published and amplified in major outlets," ..."
"... "held accountable" ..."
"... "an entire TV network" ..."
"... "stoking hatred" ..."
"... "white supremacist [with] a popular network show" ..."
"... "in dangerous ways," ..."
"... You and your mob have been destroying careers and reputations and livelihoods on a whim. Now you're being hoist by your own petard. Those of us blacklisted, libeled, and falsely maligned have zero sympathy. You all started it. May you be devoured by it. https://t.co/PGzMzNa0ku ..."
"... "fired from their jobs and have their livelihoods threatened." ..."
"... There was similar disillusionment with the lawmaker's assertion that she is being maliciously smeared by news networks and "white supremacists." "You're not a victim, you're a United States congresswoman," observed an unsympathetic Twitter user. ..."
"... Whether AOC wants to acknowledge it or not, a seemingly endless internet crusade has ruined the lives of countless individuals (many of them private citizens with little or no power) accused of holding politically incorrect views or of expressing insensitive remarks. ..."
"... An open letter published by Harper's Magazine which criticized the "vogue for public shaming and ostracism" among journalists, academics, and other figures ended up backfiring spectacularly after several signatories of the document rescinded their endorsements. They explained that they'd been unaware that 'problematic' people had also signed the letter. ..."
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has denied the existence of cancel culture, suggesting it is an
invention of privileged moaners who can't handle criticism. Her thesis prompted speculation
that the powerful lawmaker has no self-awareness. The rookie New York congresswoman, whose
'woke' Twitter takes have made her a hero to many on the Left, attempted to debunk the concept
of cancel culture in a series of profound posts.
"People who are actually 'cancelled' don't get their thoughts published and amplified in
major outlets," she argued , adding that the whiners who
complain about being 'cancelled' are actually just entitled and hate being "held
accountable" or "unliked."
To prove her point, she claimed that "an entire TV network" is dedicated to
"stoking hatred" of her, and that a "white supremacist [with] a popular network
show" regularly misrepresents her "in dangerous ways," but that she never
complains about it. (The congresswoman may be referring to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who is
white and undoubtedly not a fan of hers.)
According to Ocasio-Cortez, the people who "actually" get cancelled are
anti-capitalists and even abolitionists – apparently a hat-tip to activists who
campaigned to end slavery, which was formally abolished in the United States in 1865 with the
ratification of the 13th Amendment.
Her airtight dissertation received poor marks from many on social media, however. Countless
comments accused her of being part of the very movement which she claims doesn't exist.
"You and your mob have been destroying careers and reputations and livelihoods on a whim.
Now you're being hoist by your own petard," quipped actor James Woods.
You and your mob have been destroying careers and reputations and livelihoods on a
whim. Now you're being hoist by your own petard. Those of us blacklisted, libeled, and
falsely maligned have zero sympathy. You all started it. May you be devoured by it.
https://t.co/PGzMzNa0ku
Others argued that AOC was technically correct. Instead of having their views broadcast by
mainstream outlets, 'cancelled' individuals are often "fired from their jobs and have their
livelihoods threatened."
Correct. Instead, they are often fired from their jobs, harassed by twitter mobs, &
have their livelihoods threatened. And so since they cannot speak up, we who have a platform
choose to use our power responsibly to speak up on their behalf. You should do the same. Join
us, AOC https://t.co/lQ5yiuKFq6
There was similar disillusionment with the lawmaker's assertion that she is being
maliciously smeared by news networks and "white supremacists." "You're not a victim, you're a
United States congresswoman," observed an unsympathetic Twitter
user.
However, her remarks also garnered applause from social media users, who dismissed cancel
culture as a right-wing talking point.
Cancel culture is fake. It's a right wing framing of social accountability and people need
to stop giving the term any credence.
Whether AOC wants to acknowledge it or not, a seemingly endless internet crusade has
ruined the lives of countless individuals (many of them private citizens with little or no
power) accused of holding politically incorrect views or of expressing insensitive
remarks.
An open letter published by Harper's Magazine which criticized the "vogue for public
shaming and ostracism" among journalists, academics, and other figures ended up backfiring
spectacularly after several signatories of the document rescinded their endorsements. They
explained that they'd been unaware that 'problematic' people had also signed the
letter.
Under pressure from the NAACP, this one is also being exiled.
I have always liked this one because it is a very accurate depiction of an Army of Northern
Virginia rifleman just as they embarked on the Gettysburg Campaign in 1863.
On the pediment is inscribed "Leesburg to her sons who fought for constitutional
government."
The revolution continues. The tactics never change.
Catholic philosopher Ed Feser (professor, Pasadena City College, CA) has an amazing blog
post "The popes against the revolution" where he cites papal encyclicals from late 19th and
early 20th centuries condemning every aspect of this revolution we're currently seeing in
America. From the destruction of cultural artifacts being a common tactic of communists to
how police protection and punishment of criminals is necessary for social order to how
socialism and communism are intrinsically evil.
The Church condemns anarchism and socialist revolution
[A] deadly plague is creeping into the very fibres of human society and leading it on to
the verge of destruction We speak of that sect of men who, under various and almost
barbarous names, are called socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all
the world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked confederacy, no longer seek
the shelter of secret meetings, but, openly and boldly marching forth in the light of day,
strive to bring to a head what they have long been planning – the overthrow of all
civil society whatsoever. (Pope Leo XIII, Quod Apostolici Muneris 1)
[T]he most disastrous national upheavals are threatening us from the growing power of
the socialistic movement. They have insidiously worked their way into the very heart of the
community, and in the darkness of their secret gatherings, and in the open light of day, in
their writings and their harangues, they are urging the masses onward to sedition; they
fling aside religious discipline; they scorn duties; they clamor only for rights; they are
working incessantly on the multitudes of the needy which daily grow greater, and which,
because of their poverty are easily deluded and led into error... (Pope Leo XIII, Graves de
Communi Re 21, 25)
'Slavery is not mentioned'. It would not matter if it was, because the current era Red
Guards do not care about slavery or about rewriting history.
Like all socialists or useful idiots they have only an eye on the great and glorious future,
or as the delightful Kshama Sawant concisely states .. 'a world based instead on solidarity,
genuine democracy, and equality – a socialist world.' To that end the falling statues
have included those of emancipationists and Liberals, purely for the purpose of demonstrating
the relative powerlessness of stood down law enforcement, rubbing their own willpower in the
face of the middle class, and pushing the psychological boundary of normality.
The latter is of great significance to them. After the statues, place names, particular words
and designated reactionary organisations are neutralised, they can then begin to enact
legislation, in activist Democrat enclaves, once seen as absurd but lately seen as expected
and deserving of acquiescence. Have a listen to AOC's thoughts on the matter of this never
ending revolution (which we know does end like all revolutions, after various stages of
chaos). https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1275633659291136001
'We will not stop'(and then we're going to keep pushing anyway).
We have a similar Rifleman statue in Charlottesville and the pediment has an inscription
"Confederate Soldiers, defenders of States' Rights". Although in downtown Charlottesville's
Court Square, it's on Albemarle County property and not subject to Charlottesville's City
Council whims.
Is that the one that has "Love makes memory eternal?" inscribed on the base? A French Army
friend visiting with his wife read that and wept saying we have nothing like this. At
Gettysburg he told his wife on Cemetery Ridge "Le General de Brigade Armistead etait blesse a
mort just ici avec sa main sur la bouche d'un cannon." (Brigadier General Armistead was
mortally wounded here with his hand on the muzzle of a cannon.)
after 40 years of the long march through the institutions (look it up) the education
system is producing what the marxists who took it over want it to produce. If we can ever
start it will be a long road back.
Loudin County Va,Leesburg,is the birth place of my Great,Great grandfather,William Henry
Andrews born in 1811.He married Elizabeth Goff and they moved to Monticello ,Jefferson County
Florida in 1833 when it was a territoty.............Both the city and county name was in
honor of Thomas Jefferson.............William Henry's first son,my great grandfather,John
Slicer Andrews, enlisted in the 50 th Ga Regiment "The Santlla Rangers" in 1862.........This
regiment eventually was assigned to the ANV under Lt General James Longstreet.They were
involved in the battle of Gettysburg and on July 4th 1863 John Slicer Andrews was captured at
Cashtown PA.He spent about 19 months in Union prisons .He died years later of "consumption"
which his doctor said was a result of his prison stay..........One of John Andrew's son was
responsible for the Florida Legislature to pass a bill giving Confederate widows a
penson.
Diana, would that long road back start at the door of the Education Secretary, an
appointment currently held by Betsy deVos ? Although the powers of that appointment are
limited by the US Constitution, it would seem to be the ideal coordinating office for the
redress of the decline that you describe.
Betsy DeVos herself does not seem up to that task, and those who appointed her would not seem
to have that intent. She seems a lovely and comfortable sort, devoid of any need to overwhelm
those who would at least be ideological opponents.
I see in the Richmond Times Dispatch today that the wokies now running the commonwealth
have decided that the way to get the bronze Lee down is to cut him in three pieces.
George Santayana's aphorism; "Only the dead have seen the end of war" seems inadequate for
a time in which the effigies of soldiers are mutilated. For me, the wokies' lack of respect
for the dead betrays their faux concern for the living.
A robot that neutralizes aerosolized forms of the coronavirus could soon be coming to a supermarket
near you. MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory team partnered with Ava
Robotics to develop a device that can kill roughly 90% of COVID-19 on surfaces in a 4,000-square-foot
space in 30 minutes.
"This is such an exciting idea to use the solution as a hands-free, safe way to neutralize dorms,
hallways, hospitals, airports -- even airplanes," Daniela Rus, director of the Computer Science and
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, told Yahoo Finance's
"The
Ticker."
The key to disinfecting large spaces in a short amount of time is the UV-C light fixture
designed
at MIT
. It uses short-wavelength ultraviolet light that eliminates microorganisms by breaking down
their DNA. The UV-C light beam is attached to Ava Robotic's mobile base and can navigate a warehouse
in a similar way as a self-driving car.
"The robot is controlled by some powerful algorithms that compute exactly where the robot has to go
and how long it has to stay in order to neutralize the germs that exist in that particular part of the
space," Rus said.
This robot can kill roughly 90% of COVID-19 on surfaces in a 4,000 square foot space in 30
minutes. (Courtesy: Alyssa Pierson, MIT CSAIL)
More
Currently, the robot is being tested at the Greater Boston Food Bank's shipping area and focuses on
sanitizing products leaving the stockroom to reduce any potential threat of spreading the coronavirus
into the community.
"Here, there was a unique opportunity to provide additional disinfecting power to their current
workflow, and help reduce the risks of COVID-19 exposure," said Alyssa Pierson, CSAIL research
scientist and technical lead of the UV-C lamp assembly.
But Rus explains implementing the robot in other locations does face some challenges. "The light
emitted by the robot is dangerous to humans, so the robot cannot be in the same space as humans. Or,
if people are around the robot, they have to wear protective gear," she added.
While Rus didn't provide a specific price tag, she said the cost of the robot is still high, which may
be a hurdle for broad distribution. In the future, "Maybe you don't need to buy an entire robot set,
you can book the robot for a few hours a day to take care of your space," she said.
McKenzie Stratigopoulos is a producer at Yahoo Finance. Follow
her on Twitter:
@mckenziestrat
Would CNN's Don Lemon cancel himself over shockingly unwoke 2013 tips to black
community?
A vintage clip of CNN anchor Don Lemon telling black people to act civilized and
disregard "street culture" has the woke pundit's detractors' jaws on the floor, wondering what
happened to him over the intervening seven years. In the 2013 clip, Lemon praises Fox News host
Bill O'Reilly as the Republican pundit decries the " disintegration of the African-American
family ," even arguing O'Reilly " doesn't go far enough " when he denounces "
street culture. " The video was posted to social media by " Panda Tribune " on
Wednesday and quickly circulated among conservatives, who had a hard time reconciling this
Lemon with his painfully-PC modern-day counterpart.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired the segment on his show Wednesday night, marveling that
if Lemon or one of his colleagues came out with those lines in 2020, " that would be their
last live broadcast ever - they'd be fired immediately ."
One month after the killing of George Floyd, the mass multi-racial demonstrations against
police violence are in danger of being hijacked and misdirected by reactionary political forces
who are attempting to promote racial divisions, sabotage the unity of working people and youth,
and undermine the development of the class struggle against capitalism. This campaign is
now concentrated on desecrating and destroying the statues of figures who led the American
Revolution and the Civil War.
It is difficult to find words that adequately express the sense of revulsion produced by the
monstrous attacks on memorials that honor the memory of Abraham Lincoln, the United States'
greatest president, who led the country during the Second American Revolution that destroyed
the Slave Power and emancipated millions of enslaved African Americans.
On the evening of April 14, 1865, less than a week after the surrender of the main
Confederate army, which brought the four-year Civil War to an end, Lincoln was shot in the head
by the pro-slavery actor John Wilkes Booth. Nine hours later, at 7:22 on the morning of April
15, Lincoln died of the wound inflicted by the assassin. Standing beside Lincoln's death bed,
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton famously declared: "Now he belongs to the ages."
Lincoln's martyrdom produced an outpouring of grief throughout the United States and the
world. The working class recognized that it had lost a great champion of democracy and human
equality. Karl Marx, writing on behalf of the International Working Men's Association, wrote in
the days after Lincoln's assassination that he was "one of the rare men who succeed in becoming
great, without ceasing to be good."
Abraham Lincoln was an extraordinarily complex man, whose life and politics reflected the
contradictions of his time. He could not, as he once stated, "escape history." Determined to
save the Union, he was driven by the logic of the bloody civil war to resort to revolutionary
measures. In the course of the brutal struggle, Lincoln gave expression to the
revolutionary-democratic aspirations that inspired hundreds of thousands of Americans to fight
and sacrifice their lives for a "new birth of freedom."
Every period of political upsurge in the United States has drawn inspiration from Lincoln's
life. Since its opening in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC has been the site of
some of the most important moments in the struggle against racial oppression and for equality.
In 1939, when Hitler's Nazis were on the march in Europe and fascism had many sympathizers
among the American ruling elite, the famous African American contralto Marian Anderson was
denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall. So instead she sang on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial before a crowd of 75,000.
In 1963, at the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood at the same location as
he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, calling for equality and racial integration before a
crowd of 250,000. Later in that decade, tens of thousands of youth protesting the Vietnam War
assembled at the monument.
It is not coincidental that the working-class upsurge of the 1930s was associated with many
great artistic depictions of Lincoln, including the films Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) and
Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940). Aaron Copland's beloved orchestral-narrative
masterpiece, Lincoln Portrait (1942), concludes with the declaration that the
sixteenth president of the United States "is ever-lasting in the memory of his countrymen."
But now, 155 years after the tragedy at Ford's Theater, Lincoln is the subject of a second
assassination. This one must not succeed.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington DC's nonvoting delegate to Congress, said she will
introduce a bill to remove the famous Emancipation Monument from the Lincoln Park in
Washington, DC. The race-fixated protesters have declared their intention to tear down the
monument, which was paid for by former slaves and movingly dedicated by black abolitionist
Frederick Douglass in 1876.
"The designers of the Emancipation Statue in Lincoln Park in DC didn't take into account the
views of African Americans," Norton stated in a Tweet. Democrats assert that the statue demeans
"the black community" because it depicts Lincoln freeing a slave crouched in a runner's pose,
which the sculptor intended to symbolize the liberation of the Civil War.
Norton's reactionary effort is being supported by Democratic Party officials in Boston, who
will hold hearings in the coming weeks to entertain demands for the removal of a replica of the
Emancipation Memorial in that city.
Lincoln is not the only leader of the anti-Confederate forces to be targeted. In San
Francisco last week, a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, the great general of the victorious Union
army and later president of the United States, was torn down.
An even filthier example of the racialist campaign is the desecration of the Boston monument
honoring the legendary 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The 54th Massachusetts,
led by abolitionist Robert Gould Shaw, was the second all-black regiment organized in the Civil
War. Protesters object to the fact that the 54th, famously depicted in the film Glory
(1989), was commanded by a white officer, Shaw. Holland Cotter, the New York Times'
co-chief art critic, slandered the monument as a "white supremacist" visual for its depiction
of Shaw leading his African American battalion.
Another Union monument, a statue of abolitionist Hans Christian Heg (1829–1863), was
pulled down Tuesday night in Madison, Wisconsin. The statue was beheaded before being thrown
into a nearby lake.
A Norwegian immigrant, Heg led the 15th Wisconsin regiment, known as the Scandinavian
Regiment, against the Confederacy. Prior to the war, Heg, a member of the Free Soil Party,
fiercely opposed slavery and headed an anti-slave catcher militia in Wisconsin. He was killed
at the age of 33 at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863.
The Socialist Equality Party rejects all the lame liberal excuses and justifications that
are offered to legitimize the desecration of these memorials. Actions, whatever the motivations
ascribed to them, have objective significance and very real political consequences.
The assault on Lincoln monuments and other memorials honoring the leaders of the American
Revolution and Civil War are political provocations aimed at whipping up racial animosities.
Such provocations are well-known forms of communalist politics, which resemble the burning down
of Muslim mosques by Hindu fanatics or Hindu temples by Muslim fanatics. Here in the United
States, the statues are being attacked as examples of "white" rule.
The attacks on the statues are the outcome of a campaign by the two capitalist parties and
various reactionary elements in the upper-middle class to racialize and communalize American
politics. The growing intensity of this campaign is a response to the upsurge of working-class
militancy, which is seen as a threat to capitalism. Far from welcoming the interracial unity
displayed in the demonstrations against police brutality, the ruling elites and most affluent
sections of the middle class are terrified by its political implications.
In the promotion of racial politics, there is a division of labor between the Democratic and
Republican parties. Trump and the Republicans pitch their appeal to the most politically
disoriented elements in American society, manipulating their economic insecurities in a manner
intended to incite racial antagonism and deflect social anger away from the capitalist
system.
The Democratic Party employs another variant of communalist politics, evaluating and
explaining all social problems and conflicts in racial terms. Whatever the particular issue may
be -- poverty, police brutality, unemployment, low wages, deaths caused by the pandemic -- it
is almost exclusively defined in racial terms. In this racialized fantasy world, "whites" are
endowed with an innate "privilege" that exempts them from all hardship.
This grotesque distortion of present-day reality requires a no less grotesque distortion of
the past. For contemporary America to be portrayed as a land of relentless racial warfare, it
is necessary to create a historical narrative in the same terms. In place of the class
struggle, the entire history of the United States is presented as the story of perpetual racial
conflict.
Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, efforts to create racial foundations for
contemporary communalist politics were well underway. The New York Times , the
principal voice of corporate and financial patrons of the Democratic Party, concocted the
insidious 1619 Project, the central purpose of which was to promote a racial narrative. The
main argument of this project, which was unveiled in August 2019, was that the American
Revolution was undertaken to protect North American slavery and that the Civil War, led by the
racist Abraham Lincoln, had nothing to do with the ending of slavery. The slaves, so the new
story went, liberated themselves.
The purpose of lies about history, as Trotsky explained, is to conceal real social
contradictions. In this case, the contradictions are those embedded in the staggering levels of
social inequality produced by capitalism. These contradictions can be resolved on a progressive
basis only through the methods of class struggle, in which the working class fights consciously
to put an end to capitalism and replaces it with socialism. Efforts to divert and sabotage that
struggle by dissolving class identity into the miasma of racial identity lead inexorably in the
direction of fascism.
Through the promotion of a racial version of communalism, all factions of the ruling class
seek to divide the working class so as to better exploit it and ward off the threat of
revolution. It is no coincidence that when American society is straining under the weight of
the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 120,000 people and sparked an economic crisis
on the scale of the Great Depression, the Democrats are ever-more ferociously seeking to make
race the fundamental issue.
The alternative to the politics of racial communalism is the socialist politics of
working-class unity. This is the program of the Socialist Equality Party, and those who agree
with this perspective should join our party.
This is an excellent piece. I in no way consider myself a socialist, but I do believe that
politicians and the media and all around bad people have bastardized and driven a wedge
between what could be.
Great article.
"An even filthier example of the racialist campaign is the desecration of the Boston monument
honoring the legendary 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The 54th
Massachusetts, led by abolitionist Robert Gould Shaw, was the second all-black regiment
organized in the Civil War."
This attack demonstrates the utterly anti-historical, politically relativist nature of the
current "protests". These protesters hate reality, & wish nothing less than to bend
history to their own short-term, selfish & impulsive demands. They do NOT represent
working people, the 99%.
"The attacks on the statues are the outcome of a campaign by the two capitalist parties and
various reactionary elements in the upper-middle class to racialize and communalize American
politics. The growing intensity of this campaign is a response to the upsurge of
working-class militancy, which is seen as a threat to capitalism. "
Absolutely correct. Dozens of multi-billion dollar corporations are jumping on this racialist
bandwagon. Their presence should arouse the suspicion of even the most stupid of "useful
idiots".
"The assault on Lincoln monuments and other memorials honoring the leaders of the American
Revolution and Civil War are political provocations aimed at whipping up racial
animosities."
when i read Lincoln, and when i read Trotsky these days, i know in my heart that that they
consciously spoke to future generations as much as they did to their contemporaries -- they
knew the struggle to be fierce and long, and so the imperative to speak to future generations
-- when i read Lincoln and Trotsky, i am not reading a history book, i am listening to a man
speak directly to me about the times i live -- they want to tell us what they learned, they
want to guide us and strengthen our spine for the battles ahead ! a hundred, a hundred-fifty
years since they lived ? they understood that, the length of the struggle, and this is why
they speak so clearly to us, like a hammer ringing on a blacksmith's anvil ! they live in our
hearts and continue to lead us, they are beloved of the workers in this world
Obama's second term was seared by civil unrest over the multiple murders of young black
men by racist cops... but no 'rainbow CIA color revolution' against Obama was required at
that point so the carnage was glossed over and the protests suppressed. This year however the
CIA Democrats need to harness identity politics to destabilise Trump's regime in time for
November (to get war with Russia back on track); furthermore American oligarchs are petrified
at a class uprising after Lockdown so have instructed their mass media to seize on the the
George Floyd killing, lionise the spontaneous protests, and spin them (with
billionaire-funded NGOs like Black Lives Matter) to create a largely state-sponsored
worldwide 'reaction'... to channel real class anger into the deadend of racial division.
Not sure how others see it but I see the mass protests that erupted (that saw democrats
and trump both attacking, the former attacking the multiracial character especially) as a
different thing to what is taking place now at the sites of these statues of Lincoln, Grant
etc. I believe the media are trying to treat them as part of the same thing while even
admitting there is only the tiniest fraction of the numbers at the statues I mentioned above
compared to the numbers demonstration before. The latter is about shifting everything into
race where there was a real fear of class gaining expression in the mass demonstrations.
When the unions know, and the transnational corporations more than know, and the workers
of the world all know and how that tens of thousands of workers are infected with the
Corvid-19 virus and thousands upon thousands are dead or in the process of dying of it
under
a forced labor pogrom, but the American people aren't told and the workers are bullied and
threatened not to bring it up, evidently, and lied to about the figures, thereby take to
manipulating and degrading the Black Lives Matter banner and movement by using them like
Trojan horses bloated with divisive racialist and identity politic of the Democratic Party--
the capitalist antebellum slaver class potty and the complicit Nationalistic anti-labor
unions whom we got the skinny on and know of here and now-- in order to divide, confuse,
isolate and decimate the working classes and swallow up what's left of the middle class
medium and small indie businesses -- while, in tandem, the Republican Potty mops up the rest.
WORKERS LIVES MATTER!
I agree that the goal of the government and media is to delimit, or kettel, the substance
of these demonstrations to race...by submerging the multilpicity of issues at stake under an
incessant, obsessive racial narrative. They know its about much more than that and so do the
people in the streets.
Lincoln was an advocate of slavery as long as it wasn't expanded, he wanted to make the US
a whites only country like Edmon Barton of Australia later did with his constitutionally
connected self governing colony, and Lincoln while "freeing slaves" continued enslaving and
murdering Native Americans. I hold no anger to those who wants to target his monuments and
remove them.
Can you put this into the context of what the article is about, namely that the racialist
narratives being promoted seek to divide the working class today?
Western culture (which includes America) is built on a foundation of so many lies and half
truths that any objective critical examination causes it ti crumble like a house of cards.
Hero worship and symbolism die hard in the minds of the "symbol minded" (Carlin).
spot on comrade and Rest in power to George Carlin along with Bill Hicks and Frank Zappa
one of the finest dissident artist, truthtellers and mythbusters. Carlin was the Miles Davis
and Picasso of stand up comedy, the older he got, the better :)
haha! your against tearing down monuments that glorify and engage in half truths and
propaganda and instead of engaging in dialogue you want the censorship? wonderful!
If it's propaganda, like your comment about Lincoln being a white supremacist, yes, in my
humble opinion but than again I actually studied history most my life so I'm not going to
make up things to justify why the world is the way it is today. That's why the SEP is a
principal party based upon scientific Socialism unlike you who uses his emotions as
facts.
He is on record as saying he did not agree with blacks and whites as equals and living in
close quarters. He said that the white race was superior to the black race. It is on
record.
You are a historical falsifier. You are taking certain incidents out of their context, and
ignore the process of history. Your worldview is superficial and reactionary.
I'm what you call an inconvenient truthteller and mythbuster much like this outlet, and
its ok to not always agree with authors and what I said about Lincoln is historical fact,
sticks and stones Comrade.
Why is it that we want our designated heroes to be two dimensional? Lincoln like most of
the Founding Fathers by his own admission was a White Supremacist in the strictest sense.
They all believed and expressed in their writings that the White race was superior to the
rest of humanity (Blacks, Asians, Natives, Hispanic....).
If Lincoln was a white supremacist, what would you call John Wilkes Booth? As for the
founders expressing superiority in their writings, I'd like for you to prove that it against
"Hispanics", seeing the term was created in the 1970's. You don't even know what you're
talking about yet you try to revise history. Read a book and you might learn something.
Nice try at misdirection, but the Founding fathers have openly expressed many times in
multiple correspondences that they believed that the White Race was naturally superior to all
other races on the face of this planet. It's not hard to find and they were not shy about
saying it out loud so I suggest you take your own snarky advice and read a few books
yourself. Also, I used the term "Hispanic" which is now Latinx (?) to include peoples in
their time who were a mixture of Spanish and Native who actually did exist in their time.
Note that the term "White Supremacist didn't exist in those days as well but the Fumbling
Fathers clearly fit the description.
You still didn't provide any correspondence because they don't exist so who's really
misdirecting. Also I was responding to your misinformation about "Lincoln, by his own
admission was a White Supremacist in the strictest sense", and I said prove it but you can't
because you only know how to read NYT propaganda. The Hispanic part of your comment is the
most ridiculous. I guess the fumbling fathers, pathetic and infantile insult, must of had a
time machine to travel to the future and oppress people that were just called Mexicans back
during their time. I'd tell you to grow up but grownups don't troll.
Lincoln didn't believe that. His placing into law the right for black people and freedmen
to vote showed he no longer held even a whiff of prejudice and Douglass said as much. Lincoln
was not a racist and certainly not a White Supremacist which was the ideology of the
confederacy. He was a heroic revolutionary who stood firm while others folded.
First of all Lincoln was a man not a two dimensional heroic fictional caricature like you
put forth. In many correspondences he like most White men of his time saw the Negro and
Natives as inferior. As far as being exceptional I say John Brown, William Lloyd Garrison and
the Quakers fit that description. They could rise above convention and see humanity
objectively.
No, what WSWS and anybody reasonable wants is for people to study history and describe and
quote people accurately, not repeat absurd slanders or recite carefully edited quotations.
(Always the same ones)
Blatant falsehoods like "Lincoln was an advocate of slavery.." or pulling down a statue of
Lincoln are exactly the kinds of stupid, self-destructive act that agents provocateurs lead
movements and dupes like Eleanor Holmes Norton into doing.
The deepest point of the attack, why it is so crucial for these Bad Guys to attack Lincoln
et al is because:
(a) Lincoln was on our side. He was on the side of the slaves, the downtrodden, the
working class, black or white. and
(b) Lincoln was a rare, great and heroic leader. He - and we - succeeded in the real
world . Most others - say Garrison, by his own admission - would have failed.
It's easy to spout the correct slogans and positions. Infinitely harder to put them into
practice, to lead a whole country into saying them. Lincoln did. Lenin did. No matter where
or when, such leaders are the supreme target of the pro-slavery forces, who do anything to
blacken their name and falsify their memory, who endlessly work to split us.
Their supreme aim by this is to demoralize us and convince us that we have NEVER succeeded
once, that we cannot win. No, if one studies Lincoln and the Civil War we can learn - we did
win then. So we can win now.
Should all critics of the website's prevailing wisdom be lumped into one category? You use
the term "Bad Guys" to describe people who question convention (a term Dick Cheney & the
"Intelligence Community" frequently deploys) or as you put it "attack Lincoln." As an atheist
I have no Messiahs and very few heroes. Lincoln was a human being like you and I.
The North won the Civil War because A.) they had more fighting men. B.) they had a greater
manufacturing capacity to make weapons of war. If the circumstances had been reversed the
South would have won. Trial by combat where good always conquers evil only happens in the
movies. Personally, I am not pro-human slavery be it ancient Egypt, Rome or America, but I am
pro-facts; even if said facts don't neatly fit into one's heroic narrative.
Should all critics of the website's prevailing wisdom be lumped into one
category?
I did not and did not intend to. By "Bad Guys" I meant the ruling class and their agents
provocateurs. I was not including you or anyone else here necessarily in that category. But
people who spread blatant lies or contrive to get statues of Lincoln or abolitionists pulled
down for malicious purposes.
I was trying to explain why there are so many peddlers of crap history about Lincoln etc.,
explain their ultimate aims and how this is an effective tool of oppression. And noting that
they have seriously misled, divided and damaged left/liberal/progressive forces. They appear
to have fooled you and Youri in this thread.
As for Garrison, whose objectivity you praise, what was his objective, final estimate of
the living Lincoln? A few days before the assassination Garrison gave a rousing speech to
tumultuous applause - briefly mentioned above - where he repeatedly said "I will not hear a
word said against Abraham Lincoln" . Garrison said that Lincoln showed himself a wiser
strategist and better abolitionist than he, Garrison, because he had succeeded at the
enormously difficult and absolutely necessary task of leading public opinion - to win the
war, to eliminate slavery everywhere in the South. Garrison before the war had sometimes
merely aimed at eliminating slavery in the USA by - Northern seccession. As Garrison
knew, Garrison could preach to the converted. But Lincoln didn't have that luxury - but still
succeeded.
So my point is again that the anti-Lincoln narrative is the one that doesn't fit "the
facts", that requires prejudice and contorted arguments and politically edited revisionist
history. Not the "heroic narrative" - which the facts, warts and all, happen to fit far more
neatly into.
What you refer to as a "anti-Lincoln narrative is just people like me pointing out that
bases on Lincoln's own words he was a White Supremacist. The question seems to be is it
possible for a confessed White Supremacist to fight a war and strategically free the slaves?
Yes.
We'll get this before the people, and
then tell the people all, and, while we are at it, ask
the working class if those who don't
mind at all might take some time off to recall the Union
Army as our Second Amendment is now
half empty as we're needing to finish ,for once and for all, Reconstruction restarting
from where Lincoln's murder left off!
" The purpose of lies about history, as Trotsky explained, is to conceal real social
contradictions."
False consciousness, as Engels wrote to Mehring, is the underclass thinking and acting a role
written by the ruler. Such is racialism.
Hi! Thanks so much for writing this! I totally agree that we can't let anything divide the
working class – we've got to stay united if we want to win this fight. Thanks for
advocating for us. I'm a little confused about where the author wants that unity to come
from, though. Is the author saying that we should ignore all of the things that specifically
black folks have faced (namely, slavery, explicitly racist torture at the hands of vigilante
groups and the state, subtler practices like redlining that were still clearly predicated on
race rather than just class) and expect them to join us in the fight? Isn't it our job, as a
class and as a movement, to make sure we are advocating for ALL working class (and poor)
folks? Don't we want to unite all people against the ruling class? Isn't that where our power
comes from? I guess I'm just not sure why Black folks would want to join the movement if we
don't address the inequality they've disproportionately faced – if they join, and we
don't address these things, and we win, then the socialist society that comes after is still
full of folks who have benefited from racism, and internalized the subtleties of white
supremacy (I am not saying that anyone in our group is a racist. Just that our society was
built by white folks to cater to their own needs, while Black folks were enslaved, and our
systems still live in that legacy. White folks consider majority-white spaces the norm. We
turn a blind eye to the over-policing of Black neighborhoods because it is easy to buy into
the idea – one that our ancestors passed down to us – that Black folks are
inherently more likely to be criminals. But Black folks are dying at much higher rates that
while folks. We don't notice it because it feels normal to us. But Black folks do. Don't take
it from me, though- are there Black folks within the movement that could potentially speak to
this?). I am wondering why it is not our job to advocate specifically for justice for Black
folks – if our goal is equity, and the Black working class has less of it than the
white working class, why does fighting for that equity undermine the movement? Isn't justice
for all what we're fighting for? Why would anyone join us if we are not paying attention to
the specifics of their struggle? Any clarity you have would be so helpful – thank you
in advance!
Racism was invented to divide the working class. Social equality cannot be achieved under
capitalism--that is an oxymoron. Reforms addressing racial issues will not do away with this
underlying contradiction under capitalism. Marxism needs to be taken into the working class
to all workers. Workers need to understand they are part of the historical process. You said,
"our society was built by white folks to cater to their own needs, while Black folks were
enslaved". This is a wide generality; "white folks" obscures the class nature of society. All
workers are still enslaved. To paraphrase Engels, the difference between chattel slavery and
wage slavery is that the slave is sold to a master all at once and is his individual
property; the wage slave must sell himself piecemeal, by the hour etc. and not to an
individual but to the ruling class as a whole. Thus wage slaves cannot get free until they do
away with the class structure.
Actually, two remarkable events happened before I fled the responsibility of party
building before your parents were born. The predecessors of this party circa 1974 when the
working class wave , now gathering , ebbed. Mind you graduate school and profiitable careers
were available, unlike now. Until then, I answered a lot questions like your , just before
Feminism gathered force and Black Nationalism turned into Black Capitalism. You know, mayors,
policemen, nasty capitalists. That red hot revolutionary Eldridge Cleaver opened a Better Get
a Gun fashion outlet in Beverly Hills no less. There are shameless opportunists who
discovered their race as their most important contribution now beside you on the streets.
One more things, just as all the comrades left for grad school , the Trostkyists of SEP
built a socialist youth movement among black youths in New York for which a comrade was
murdered. Not only that, but SEP as Workers League relocated to Detroit where it had a base
in the black working class among auto workers. One thing though, we are not all alike and
should just get together. It took rivers of Trotskyist blood to drill that in, and every
attempt to ignore it met with disaster.I am a supporter. Join.
You make it sound like there's no black workers already in the socialist movement. These
advocates of racialism are not your average black working class, some instances they're not
even black. What they are primarily drawn from are upper middle class, privileged layers
despite all their yarns about white privilege, who advocate this stuff precisely to block
class unity and class consciousness. And when you get down to our level, there really ain't
that much difference. Plenty of enough white workers getting harassed and murdered by the
State. I say don't let the upper middle class speak for workers
Just that. The guys I work with who happen to have varying shades of skin color and we all
discuss from serious matters to the inane and joke together, it's all the same stuff. Same
worries, same troubles, same concerns. We all know there's racism, each of us whatever our
background take offense to it because we know it's an attack on all of us at the end of the
day. Plus we all know Obama was a fraud, that it doesn't change anything for us putting more
black people in boardrooms or the police - we all still get attacked and screwed around. And
we all take offense when these self appointed representatives of race start telling us that
our real enemy is each other rather than those destroying our livelihoods with job cuts,
speed ups, austerity, attacks on rights and war.
White workers, black workers, Latino workers, male, female, straight, gay whatever - can be
won to socialism without having to resort to adapting to the middle class advocates of
identity - in fact, if that's what the wsws and SEP were to adapt to, it wouldn't win over
any workers; it might win over very reactionary elements of the middle class though who would
use this as platform to get more privileged positions.
My mistake - did not mean to imply that Black folks are not part of the movement. Now that
you mention it, though, my experience within the movement has been with mostly white men - do
you happen to know if the party has significant Black membership? Not rhetorical, seriously
wondering!! If you have the time, I'd also love to know more about these proponents of
racialism - in my experience, many of the activists leading the charge in the current moment
Black folks from working class or poor backgrounds (pointing to some of the national and
local organizations who are doing work right now - naarpr/caarpr, for example, a lot of local
youth-led orgs leading the charge in Chicago). Would you be able to send me more information
about the upper middle class background of this movement? Thanks!
Yes, there is significant black membership in the SEP and the ICFI. Always has been since
before I became a part of it. A major section of the ICFI is in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankans
are South Asian and yet they are a part of the Trotskyist movement and have a long history
within it. True socialists have never been racists. Also see:
https://www.wsws.org/en/art...
Kaline below has given some links, I would also suggest searching for as much background
information as possible from the wsws on the efforts of the ruling class, media and academics
to racialise matters. In fact I would suggest the book on pseudo left and the Frankfurt
school and postmodernism. This isn't just about racialising but the whole effort of
postmodernism to deny the working class the tools to study history and formulate a class
perspective.
On that score I won't say no black worker can't get caught up in racialism, just as no white
worker can't get pulled behind white supremacists - great efforts are made to subordinate
different sections of the working class to various middle class organisations, perspectives
etc. But what I'm trying to convey is these things we're seeing (not the mass protests but
pulling down statues of historically progressive figures), while they may involve worker
elements, are formulated and given full vocalisation first and foremost by the upper middle
class. These are not spontaneous attitudes that the mythical black community just pops out
with (and it is mythical: Obama, Powell, Beyonce etc are not part of what George Floyd,
Trevon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Gardner etc are). Where the socialist movement has been
attacked, pushed back and betrayed by so called socialist forces (who incidentally began
spouting the same identity politics and attacking class conceptions) obviously sections of
the working class have come under middle class influence. But to tackle that one has to
ruthlessly expose this identity politics and be somewhat bold in it recognising and having
confidence that identity politics isn't some bottom up, natural expression or reflection of
the real state of affairs. That's revealed very quickly when engaging in discussion with
other workers of all different stripes. Of course the first stage is understanding where
identity politics comes from, how we got to be here and what identity politics expresses.
Apologies I'm replying quickly between shifts.
aristocracy. Our party is a part of the same milieu, not of the basic exploited masses of
whom the Negroes are the most exploited. The fact that our party until now has not turned to
the Negro question is a very disquieting symptom. If the workers' aristocracy is the basis of
opportunism, one of the sources of adaptation to capitalist society, then the most oppressed
and discriminated are the most dynamic milieu of the working class..
Always liked how the politics of racialism is the first to silence and attack black
workers and deny their existence within the socialist movement, just as feminists silence
women workers and Zionists silence workers of Jewish descent.
Are you a member of the socialist equality party?
An historically important perspective. I would like to extend my most profound thanks to
David and Niles, and the editorial staff of the WSWS as a whole, for the incredible work they
have done in preparing the ground for the struggle against these aptly called "lame
liberals."
The attacks on the Great Emancipator remind me of Goya's painting of Saturn eating his
children at birth on the off chance they might overthrow him.
Two paragraphs in this article strike me as being worthy of serious study:
"The purpose of lies about history, as Trotsky explained, is to conceal real social
contradictions. In this case, the contradictions are those embedded in the staggering levels
of social inequality produced by capitalism. These contradictions can be resolved on a
progressive basis only through the methods of class struggle, in which the working class
fights consciously to put an end to capitalism and replaces it with socialism. Efforts to
divert and sabotage that struggle by dissolving class identity into the miasma of racial
identity lead inexorably in the direction of fascism.
Through the promotion of a racial version of communalism, all factions of the ruling class
seek to divide the working class so as to better exploit it and ward off the threat of
revolution. It is no coincidence that when American society is straining under the weight of
the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 120,000 people and sparked an economic
crisis on the scale of the Great Depression, the Democrats are ever-more ferociously seeking
to make race the fundamental issue."
One of the most revolting things about contemporary liberalism is how incredibly fascistic
it is. It seems impossible for the Democrats to mention anything without turning to the
fetishistic zoological Idealism of Race with a capital R. While liberals might not (yet) be
fascists, they certainly think like fascists.
In November, the state-sanctioned choice - and by extension the only choice presented to
the American people by the state mouthpieces in the corporate media - will be between a
military junta under the "auspices" of the CIA Democrats/latter day Maoists or a
quasi-fascist regime under Trump. Democracy in America - specifically bourgeois "democracy" -
is on its last legs. Only the intervention of the working class, led by a genuine socialist
leadership, can avert a catastrophe that will threaten all of humanity.
"The designers of the Emancipation Statue in Lincoln Park in DC didn't take into account
the views of African Americans. It shows. Blacks too fought to end enslavement."
First, the statue was funded by donations from freedmen, gathered by members of the
Western Sanitary Society, an abolitionist-run organization. The impetus for the monument came
from a freedwoman named Charlotte Scott, who declared in the wake of Lincoln's
assassination:
"Colored people had lost their best friend on earth I will give five dollars of my wages
towards erecting a monument to his memory."
At least $16,000 was raised, including from African American Union soldiers who had fought
at some of the key fronts in the Civil War.
A description of the artist's design for the monument states: "In the original the
kneeling slave is represented as perfectly passive, receiving the boon of freedom from the
hand of the great liberator. But the artist has justly changed all this by making the
emancipated slave an agent in his own deliverance. He is represented as exerting his own
strength, with strained muscles, in breaking the chain which had bound him."
As the WSWS states, the reactionary interests of those bound up with the destruction of
these monuments today must, by definition "require a no less grotesque distortion of the
past."
This monument was created in 1876, at the height of the revolutionary-democratic upswell
known as Reconstruction. In attacking this monument, representatives of the ruling class
today, including its nominally "liberal" representatives, are seeking to topple the legacy of
a genuine multi-racial upsurge of the population against racial hatred and discrimination. In
today's case, it is to fundamentally hide the fact that the root cause of racial oppression
and racism lies in the depths of poverty and social inequality, and militarism on a massive
scale, that happens to characterize capitalism today.
In tearing down this statue, they will attempt to complete what the remnants of the slave
masters failed to do in the time of Reconstruction. Nathaniel Bedford Forrest would be
proud.
Trotsky: I believe that the first question is the attitude of the Socialist Workers Party
toward the Negroes. It is very disquieting to find that until now the party has done almost
nothing in this field. It has not published a book, a pamphlet, leaflets, nor even any
articles in the New International. Two comrades who compiled a book on the question, a
serious work, remained isolated. That book is not published, nor are even quotations from it
published. It is not a good sign. It is a bad sign. The characteristic thing about the
American workers' parties, trade-union organizations, and so on, was their aristocratic
character. It is the basis of opportunism. The skilled workers who feel set in the capitalist
society help the bourgeois class to hold the Negroes and the unskilled workers down to a very
low scale. Our party is not safe from degeneration if it remains a place for intellectuals,
semi-intellectuals, skilled workers and Jewish workers who build almost isolated from the
genuine mass. Under these condition our party cannot develop -- it will degenerate.
We must have this great danger before our eyes. Many times I have proposed that every member
of the party, especially the intellectuals and semi-intellectuals, who, during a period of
say six months, cannot each win a worker-member for the party, should be demoted to the
position of sympathizer. We can say the same in the Negro question. The old organizations,
beginning with the AFL, are the organizations of the workers' aristocracy. Our party is a
part of the same milieu, not of the basic exploited masses of whom the Negroes are the most
exploited. The fact that our party until now has not turned to the Negro question is a very
disquieting symptom. If the workers' aristocracy is the basis of opportunism, one of the
sources of adaptation to capitalist society, then the most oppressed and discriminated are
the most dynamic milieu of the working class.
Trotsky was writing as always to to align the subjective consciousness of the working
class with objective reality. The words you quote were written in April, 1939, when support
for mixed marriages was in the low single digits, when the experiences of integration in the
wars just about to begin had not yet occurred, when less than a quarter of the Great
Migration had concluded and thus few blacks and whites had yet had the opportunity to sort
out common cause in the great industrial struggles, as had already been illustrated in the
Flint sit-down strike where workers chose their only black fellow worker, Roscoe Van Zandt,
to lead them out of the occupied plants in a victory parade. Gallup would not even poll to
measure acceptability of a black presidential candidate for another 19 years, when the number
was a mere 38%.
That's the objective reality at the time with which Trotsky was seeking to align the
subjective consciousness of the working class to forge a political instrument.
Are you maintaining that the objective reality is unchanged today?
No that is not what I'm suggesting at all. Obviously much has changed since 1939.. we no
longer have sharecroppers and it's no longer the case where a major section of blacks work as
servants.. but it also easy to think that 1939 was "so long ago" and that these words no
longer hold any relevance. The black working class remains even today one of the most
oppressed sections of the working class and today large sections of this population are
entering into the class struggle. I think the party should consider the best way under TODAYS
CONDITIONS to recruit and educate those workers. Bring them under the banner of the 4th
international. Immigrant workers are a very similar case, and similar conditions exist for
unskilled workers compared to the various "professionals" and skilled labor. This era was
birthed from the yoke of the last. The working class is much more unified along race lines as
you have pointed out. That means we as revolutionaries we are in an even more favorable
situation to this work. It does not mean that the work is unneeded. This article states the
growing movements are under danger of being hijacked by reactionary petite bourgeois forces
and that is true but only as true as the revolutionary proletariats failure to bring these
working elements entering struggle under our banner. I do not suggest we adopt any program
from the 30s and 40s. I do however think the party could benefit from Trotsky's suggestion of
a 6 month worker recruitment rule.
Though not a party member I recommend George Breitman's writings on American Black
nationalism--as distinct from the narrow cultural nationalism of too many Black Panthers, the
New Black Panthers especially--expounding on and integrating pertinent thoughts of Malcom X
and Trotsky. Recently Vladimir Zhirinovsky suggested Blacks be assigned three states
bordering Canada as a homeland and/or go to Liberia. Needless to say such sweet revenge
dreams of Russian elites for the very real dismembering of their lands by Washington's ethnic
cleansing pot stirring a la Yugoslavia/Syria ad nauseam coming home to roost may approach
reality as the US rich find it hard to bottle their race genie.
"Before exhausting or drowning mankind in blood, capitalism befouls the world atmosphere
with the poisonous vapors of national and race hatred...
An uncompromising disclosure of the roots of race prejudice and all forms and shades of
national arrogance and chauvinism, particularly anti Semitism, should become part of the
daily work of all sections of the Fourth International, as the most important part of the
struggle against imperialism and war. Our basic slogan remains: Workers of the World
Unite!"
This article is critical in countering the dangerous communalist agenda of the social
layers seeking to prop up the Democratic Party and prevent the working class from achieving
its political independence. This is part of a trend that's taking place on every continent.
Our movement is leading the way in opposing this attempt to derail the emerging revolutionary
movement of the international working class.
The toppling of statues of progressive figures such as Lincoln is part of a broader attack
on rational thought. At stake is the entire progressive heritage of the Enlightenment and the
centuries-long struggle for social equality that, since the birth of scientific socialism in
the 19th century, has been embodied in the Marxist movement -- -today the Trotskyist
movement.
What do the forces who toppled the Lincoln statue have to say on pressing contemporary
issues such as imperialist war, climate destruction, extreme social inequality, etc. that
cannot be understood through racial theory.
Why is it that Abraham Lincoln was a symbol of the fight for equality and social justice
across the world? Why, during the American civil war, did workers' display such heroic
solidarity in enduring the cotton famine -- -which paralysed much of the cotton industry due
to the collapse in trade? Why did workers' in 19th century Manchester in northern England
collect the money to build a statue of Lincoln in their city? This article explains this:
How the British workers' movement helped end slavery in America .
In Britain, the IYSSE (UK) saw that identity politics and the historical falsification
associated with it was a direct attack on Marxism and workers' class consciousness that had
to be countered. We polemicise against the pseudo-left in their attempts to promote a
postmodernist re-writing of history motivated by the defence of their social privilege
against the long-term interests of the working class.
We attacked the "Decolonise Education" movement, which is raising its head again today in
the article
The racialist agenda of the "Decolonise Education" movement . We explained their slogan
"Why is My Curriculum White?" as follows: "The classification of philosophers based on their
skin colour, rather than their place in the historical development of human thought, is
combined with an attack on the entire progressive tradition of the Enlightenment."
I strongly encourage all class-conscious workers and young people to take up an active
study of history and the theory of Marxism which is essential to orient oneself in today's
complex and rapidly-changing world political situation
The campaign by the Stalinists against their opponents, Leon Trotsky constituting their
greatest enemy, involved the greatest wholesale destruction of history ever seen. The banning
of books, the murder of an entire generation of genuine Marxists and the greatest crime, the
assassination of Trotsky in 1940. Photos that included Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev--pretty
much anyone who fell afoul of Stalin and the bureaucratic interests he defended--were
airbrushed out history with the intent to obliterate their role in the October revolution.
Their books were destroyed, any positive mention of them were eliminated and they were
slandered as "fascists", "Mensheviks", "counter-revolutionaries". No lie was too outrageous
in defaming Stalin's victims.
Vadim Ragovin, the great Russian historian once said that the "Russian people did not only
not know their future, they did not know their past." This falsification of history went far
in eliminating the Trotskyist alternative to Stalinism and enshrining Stalin--the gravedigger
of the revolution, the antithesis of Lenin--as the supposed incarnation of Bolshevik/Leninist
resoluteness.
The present campaign against Lincoln, Grant and others, is remarkable for the fact that
they are targeting revolutionaries. Bourgeois revolutionaries, but none-the-less,
revolutionaries. Those revolutionists carried out the greatest destruction of wealth,
slavery, to that point in history. No monuments to capital, such as the infamous Charging
Bull in front of Wall Street, (my city has a stack of oversized coins as a monument to
capital) have been the target of such vilification, vandalism or destruction by the
instigators of racialist politics. They indeed know what class they are oriented to.
My favorite Lincoln story took place shortly before his assassiation when the great
liberation army had captured the confederate capital of Richmond. Lincoln visited the city
shortly thereafter and walked around to have a look. An older Black man recognized him on the
street and ran up to him declaiming "The Messiah has come" and bowed down. Lincoln asked the
man to stand up saying: "Get up man. As long as I am president you don't need to bow to
anyone but God."
Yup. That one and and another one on the same trip.
In reference to you, colored people, let me say God has made you free. Although you have
been deprived of your God-given rights by your so-called masters, you are now as free as I
am, and if those that claim to be your superiors do not know that you are free, take the
sword and bayonet and teach them that you are ...
This is the man that malicious deluders contrive into an enemy of freedom and black people
and capitalist pawn. And there are dupes aplenty pulling down statues and presenting the same
old predigested delusional arguments, prepared for them by capitalist slavocrats, even
here.
Division does not have to be sewn into the working class. It is there as it has been for
centuries. "The color line" remains the border of divide between white workers and those of
color. What is most important is that millions of white workers have joined the struggle.
I too condemn the desecration of the statues and yes the identitarians and the Democrats
are riding the tide, attempting to bring the ships into the the harbor of electoral politics,
however equating this movement as "racial- communalist" is just as dangerous. The cops are
doubling down and people of color will remain the usual suspects. I have to think that the
32% of Trump supporters who supported the burning down of the police precinct in Minneapolis
were from it's working class wing. That is way significant.
Participation in the movement should always be critical but using the "racial-
communalist" term not good
The Democrats and the pseudo-left seek to undermine the legacy of the Civil War and the
related abolitionist and Underground railroad conductors precisely because it shows
workers (and middle class) collaborating across racial and ethnic "lines" towards positive
change, which helps solidify, rather than break up, an increasingly militant and working
class, which is increasingly coming into conflict with the whole capitalist system, which the
Democrats and pseudo-left rabidly defend. Workers of all races are shown daily working
together in protests against the police violence of the capitalist state, exploding daily the
myth of the "racist white working class". It is the duty of the socialist to oppose these
racial-communalist attempts to divide the working class by the bourgeois and
petty-bourgeois.
What's gonna happen as the economy continues to go down? It seems the ruling class did all
it could to send the working class down various blind alleys....now it's gonna come back,
through reactionary methods, to haunt everyone.
This is what I have to say about it all.....we asked the capitalist ruling class nicely to
make meaningful changes, the ruling class said they would. Nothing changed because they
lied.
So now, the working class is taking the matter into its own hands.....and it ain't gonna
look pretty. Heads are gonna roll.
Vast amounts of the working class have, over their lifetime, been manipulated by the
capitalist class.....so the working class is mostly confused and is in the process of lashing
out in all directions.
As hard as the wsws tried to fight against the liberal classes 1619 disinformation
project, many in the working class were not reached. That is the strength of anti working
class propaganda. And what Socialists are constantly fighting against.
As with the ethos of Capitalist Realism , it's easier to see the end of the world than to
see the end of capitalism.
This is an enormously important statement that deserves the widest possible international
readership. Particularly important is the section explaining the division of labor between
the capitalist parties. The fascistic filth emanating from the White House, scripted by
Stephen Miller and similar elements, is being "answered" by equally reactionary communalist
backwardness. The New York Times is the most consistent and determined purveyor of this, and
there seems to be no limit to how low they are prepared to go.
Another passage in this article that should get special attention is the timing of the
current campaign against Lincoln and others, "It is no coincidence that when American society
is straining under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 120,000
people and sparked an economic crisis on the scale of the Great Depression, the Democrats are
ever-more ferociously seeking to make race the fundamental issue."
They are desperately working to divert the progressive but limited response to police
murders into the Democratic Party. They need to whip up as much tension and confusion within
the working class as they possibly can, precisely because they know what is coming over the
next few months, as millions confront additional mass layoffs, evictions and other attacks.
The more that workers and youth are fixated on "race" the less they are able to unite against
these threats of the pandemic, economic devastation and the threat of dictatorship.
Targeting "anti-Confederate" forces is just what you'd expect from the party of slavery,
Jim Crow, and now the no less despicable identity politics, not to mention it being the
oldest capitalist party in the world.
I can understand (but certainly not sympathize with) the twisted logic used against
statues of Grant and Lincoln but why Heg? Was it because he was white? I recall one of the
funeral rants of the Reverend Al Charleton about racism as "the DNA" in the American
character revealing the dangerous influence of the 1619 Project that may soon become
mandatory in colleges and schools.
Regrettably, there are otherwise sane people who genuinely argue that any statue depicting
any person who had white skin and a penis has to be taken down.
What a fantastic writing! The fight against communalism takes center stage for socialists.
The SEP is the the only genuine socialist tendency, defending historic gains as an
indispensable part of building a new working class counteroffensive. Please share this
document widely! Perspective is critical! Not one inch to the "lame liberals" and no
adaptation to racialist politics!
On the subject of "building a new working class counteroffensive", if I may:
The protests since May 25 have often begun peacefully only to be taken over by well-trained
violent actors. Two organizations have appeared regularly in connection with the violent
protests -- Black Lives Matter and Antifa (USA). Videos show well-equipped protesters
dressed uniformly in black and masked (not for coronavirus to be sure), vandalizing police
cars, burning police stations, smashing store windows with pipes or baseball bats. Use of
Twitter and other social media to coordinate "hit-and-run" swarming strikes of protest mobs
is evident.
What has unfolded since the Minneapolis trigger event has been compared to the wave of
primarily black ghetto protest riots in 1968. I lived through those events in 1968 and what
is unfolding today is far different. It is better likened to the Yugoslav color revolution
that toppled Milosevic in 2000.
America's Own Color Revolution
By F. William Engdahl
Region: Europe, USA
Theme: History, Intelligence, Police State & Civil Rights
Niles and David, as you note, "Whatever the particular issue may be -- poverty, police
brutality, unemployment, low wages, deaths caused by the pandemics -- it is almost
exclusively defined in racial terms."
And as you note of Trotsky, " The purpose of lies about history, as Trotsky explained, is
to conceal real social contradictions."
Which is exactly why this meta-causal cancer of the under-diagnosed Disguised Global Crony
Capitalist Empire must be fully exposed, expunged, and/or surgically and peacefully 'excised'
in a Third American "Revolution Against Empire" [Justin du Rivage] by 'we the American
people' firing a; loud, public, sustained, 'in-the-streets', but totally non-violent "SHOUT
(not shot) heard round the world" to ignite a Third American people's peaceful and complete
"Political/economic & socialist Revolution Against Empire" to lead the world toward
socialist democracy as our first one did in 1776 and our second one did in 1861 -- but
without the muskets.
One can only react with disgust and hatred for those in and around the Democratic Party,
who hiding behind the phrase "fight racism" are doing the exact opposite. The article is spot
on in exposing the sinister motives behind the attempt to erase from historical memory any
vestiges of this country's revolutionary past. As workers are risking their lives in the
assembly plants and warehouses, it is obvious whose interests are served by these outrageous
acts and proposals. Young people must reject those who spurn history. You must draw a line in
the streets against those who would do these things, and instead break out of the straight
jacket imposed by both capitalist parties and the media to keep these protests fixated on the
questions of "race".
Fellow Comrades the liberal bourgeois establishment in America are intentionally using
racial Communalist politics in order to divert the public from the growing class antagonisms.
Now one group is using ultra nationalism and authoritarianism as the only way forward while
the other one is using race and gender ideas as part of their orientation in this upcoming
elections. Basically they are both seeking to divide the working class along reactionary
slogans and agendas.
They are both working together to perpetuate the system and divide the people. They know
what they are doing. They are diverting any thought about changing the laws that allow the
oppression to begin with, here and abroad. We are doomed because the majority of people are
under their spell and have no desire to think critically.
This is a moving and brilliant defense of the revolutionary democratic foundations of the
United States, which provide an impulse today for the working class to carry out the third
American Revolution--the socialist revolution to put an end to capitalism as part of the
world socialist revolution. The American bourgeoisie very long ago repudiated the
revolutionary democratic ideals that inspired the American Revolution and the struggle of
Lincoln and the North in the Civil War. That repudiation finds expression today in the
denigration and attack on those revolutions and the figures who led them. As the Perspective
explains, there is a division of labor in this assault between Trump/Republicans and the
Democrats, but both have in common the fact that they utilize racialism to do its traditional
dirty work of seeking to divide the working class and undermine the class struggle against
capitalism.
Of particular importance, as noted by other commentors, is the following observation:
"This grotesque distortion of present-day reality required a no less grotesque distortion
of the past. For contemporary American to be protrayed as a land of relentless racial
warfare, it is necessary to create a historical narrative in the same terms. In place of the
class struggle, the entire history of the United States is presented as the story of
perpetual racial conflict."
Further down, the statement asserts: "Efforts to divert and sabotage that struggle by
dissolving class identity into the miasma of racial identity lead inexorably in the direction
of fascism."
In that connection, there is a parallel between the struggle being led by the SEP, WSWS
and ICFI against the promotion of racial-communalist politics and accompanying falsification
of history in the US and the struggle our movement has been and continues to wage in Germany
against the rehabilitation of Hitler and the Nazis by the ruling class and the falsification
of German and world history to declare the source of all the evils and catastrophes of the
20th century to be the October Revolution and establishment of the Soviet Union.
BG, the form in which these mass eruptions take in the states is, and has to be, different
than that of European and other countries.
Statutes have been desecrated and toppled elsewhere. Some deservedly without doubt.
For the mass of youth whose knowledge of historical events is one of great distortion and one
sidedness.
In their eyes, statues in major squares and other prominent places represent powerful and
powering pillars of the establishment. Hence the "senseless" vandalism.
Only those divorced from and hostile to the revolutionary aspirations of today's youth
fail to perceive and grasp that.
Thank you Niles and David for this excellent perspective. As you explain, a section of the
ruling class is attempting to hijack what is a progressive multi-racial movement opposing
police brutality and other forms of social injustice to promote reactionary racial and
communal politics in a desperate attempt to maintain the capitalist order. I strongly
encourage all of our readers to carefully study the material produced by the WSWS on the 1619
project. Understanding this history is critical in orienting ourselves to answer these new
racial attacks. Permit me to quote from the end of our analysis of the NY Times reply
defending the project to five historians, "As Marxists, we understand and have settled
accounts with the limitations of the bourgeois-democratic revolutions of the 18th and 19th
centuries. We know very well the difference between ideological rationalizations and
historically determined realities. But those who are not inspired by the world-historical and
universal ideals proclaimed by Jefferson's immortal Declaration and Lincoln's Gettysburg
Address are neither socialists nor revolutionaries. Those who glibly surrender positions won
through the shedding of blood in the past will never conquer new ones."
"The uncompromising defense of the progressive heritage of the first two American
revolutions is necessary for resisting intellectual retrogression and political reaction,
educating the working class, and, on that basis, building a powerful American and
international socialist movement."
What a wonderful article about our surreal times. I keep dreaming that I'm in a movie
theatre again and again which is strange because we can't go there anymore, at least not at
the time being. These times are so strange. For a memorial of Abraham Lincoln to be under
attack... this is something I could have never imagined a few years ago. Thank you Niles
Niemuth and David North for providing historical background about the statue, even a little
bit of history is such a profound thing and of course history is repurposed time and time
again to serve anyone's political agenda. Rage is not a particularly rational thing and takes
on incomprehensible forms.
"The Democratic Party employs another variant of communalist politics, evaluating and
explaining all social problems and conflicts in racial terms. Whatever the particular issue
may be -- poverty, police brutality, unemployment, low wages, deaths caused by the pandemics
-- it is almost exclusively defined in racial terms. In this racialized fantasy world,
"whites" are endowed with an innate "privilege" that exempts them from all hardship."
I think this is wrong. The Trump movement is defined by prejudice (banning muslims,
scapegoating immigrants, anti-black racism etc.) so for us to have a president right now, a
con artist (I'll emphasize the black community) who began his entire campaign by saying the
first Black president was not born in America, talking about how a black lives matter
protester attacked at his rally "should have been roughed up" in 2015, playing footsies with
the KKK, called Africa a "shit hole", Mike Pence comparing Donald Trump to Martin Luther King
Jr. etc. all of this snowballing into today of course people of color and anyone who
empathizes is outraged. Every day of this has been a dangerous embarrassment for the black
community.
Yesterday:
Fired Wilmington cop: "We are just going to go out and start slaughtering them f -- -- ni
-- –. I can't wait. God, I can't wait."
This kind of thing is going on all over the country. The most tangible issue is certainly
class in the sense I think it's the most practical thing for us to focus on, at least it's
all we can focus on because there's no rational way to end the racism that exists between
people, but at the same time, to think that any amount of money, healthcare, or well-being
for this person and his family would stop him from being prejudiced doesn't make sense. There
is a long history of racism and we are at a moment where America is undergoing a radical
shift in its diversity.
"In this racialized fantasy world, "whites" are endowed with an innate "privilege" that
exempts them from all hardship."
There have been 44 white male presidents.
Again, of course amongst white men class supersedes the identity group, but that being
said certainly there is such a thing as white privilege, in so many different ways, this
country was built to revolve around property owning white men. Donald Trump's presidency is
defined by this. If President Obama had done even one of the things Trump does on a daily
basis he would have never been president. That is white male supremacy. We went from
Republicans being critical of Michelle Obama for showing her shoulders as first lady to
having an ex-centerfold as first lady. The double standard couldn't be more apparent.
We have a republican party who yes have constituents who have suffered under the aegis of
neoliberalism but not disproportionately in comparison to the people who vote blue. Their
political movement is defined by prejudice. This is not a "racialized fantasy world" people
are under attack.
I agree that class is the salient issue but also at the same time as we're seeing with the
trump movement prejudice can be used to get people to vote blatantly against their own
interests in supporting a con artist. So how can class be addressed without first
acknowledging racism? I don't have the answers for this question, no one does. Hatred is a
bulwark which swaddles capitalism.
If you think class warfare is wrong, you are in the wrong website and have missed the
point of the article. When class war is initiated by the working class, liberation is on the
agenda.
Every time I think I cannot be more disgusted with the Democrats, I am wrong. There is a
certain slime that is all over the Democratic Party that eeven the Republicans cannot match.
I guess it never occurs to any of the protesters that destroying your history is creating a
form of collective amnesia. No notice is taken that what is happening witht this wonton
destruction of history sure looks a lot like what happened in Iraq during the U.S. Invasion
when many historical treasures of what was the cradle of civilization were either destroyed
or looted. Just a complete erasure of history and, of course, if you do not know who you are
because your memories, your history, have been erased, then how will you move forward? You
are a tabula rasa at that point so the future can only be met unprepared and with
trepidation.
That, as today's perspective explains, is exactly the point. Figures like Jefferson, Grant
and Lincoln (Lincoln!!!!) are shat upon and denigrated. No effort is made to understand them
as historical figures in the context of their epoch and the giants they are in world history.
What can we learn from them and other historical figures and do right where they went wrong?
I guess if history's destroyers have their way we'll not be able to learn anything at all.
Just as intended. I say let the statues be and down with the CCOOTs (Criminal Capitalists Of
Our Times)!
''This grotesque distortion of present-day reality requires a no less grotesque distortion
of the past. For contemporary America to be portrayed as a land of relentless racial warfare,
it is necessary to create a historical narrative in the same terms. In place of the class
struggle, the entire history of the United States is presented as the story of perpetual
racial conflict.''
A very profound encapsulation of what we are seeing going on now. As others have commented
, history does not travel on some moral straight line. Lincoln could not escape the powerful
contradictions of his time, he could only guide the progressive forces where he could.
It is not for us to idealise Lincoln, nor for those who do so in the negative. When push
comes to shove the reactionary essence of the racialists is that they offer no way out for
black or white . The ''purity of their outrage'' is nothing but a case of bad wind, and it is
not an accident that it comes from those orbiting the Democrats.
Good point about racialists offering no way forward for the whole working class,
nationally and internationally. How could the constricted racialist narrative, by dividing as
opposed to uniting, have anything to lend to progressive change, which can only be
accomplished through the unity of the working class and socialist revolution? How can the
legacy of racial oppression and discrimination, effecting most acutely the black masses as
opposed to the affluent African American layer, be overcome with this regressive co-option of
a progressive mass struggle that erupted in the past month?
Unmentioned in this critical call to arms by David and Niles is the role of the pseudoleft
in actively promoting this racialist campaign of vile and reactionary iconoclasm.
The pseudo-Trotskyist "Left Voice", co-thinkers of the Argentinian Morenoites, is
spearheading an attack from within the New York DSA against "class reductionism" purportedly
represented by Jacobin Magazine. This attack recently led to the cancellation of a live
streaming event featuring African American scholar, Adolph Reed. Reed, one of the scholars
interviewed by the WSWS in the campaign against the 1619 Project, was charged with "class
reductionism". The identity politics sensitive DSA, a club within the Democratic Party,
capitulated to the internal attacks and cancelled the event just as it was to begin.
Another pseudo-Trotskyist Facebook page yesterday attacked the WSWS and the SEP for its
"Hands off the Monuments" call. The Trotsky's Armored Train and rolling Pizzeria (?) Facebook
page, featured a screen shot of the WSWS with a warning to "Please stay away from the WSWS
and the SEP!" Site members followed with a lengthy thread of scurrilous attacks on both the
WSWS and the statues, especially the Jefferson Memorials. Jefferson is dismissed as a rapist
for his inter-racial relationship with the slave, Sally Hemings. This writer fought a rear
guard action on this site to combat the slander of the WSWS and to set the historical record
straight. Obviously these poseurs are very much afraid of the class perspective of the
WSWS.
Very interesting, especially concerning the "Left Voice" intervention in the New York DSA
and the DSA response. Well, Dr. Reed likely wouldn't have been much appreciated by that bunch
anyway, though he was
(along with all the learned, honest historians who came forward to conflict with the 1619
Project) greatly appreciated by WSWS readers. However, it would have been good if any
leftward moving workers and youth in attendance had some exposure to real history, including
a class based perspective. But, of course, the pseudo-socialst Dem club wouldn't want that!
By the way, my wife and I really found your contribution to the discussion of the previous
related Perspective by Tom and Niles of a few days ago quite enlightening on the plight and
response of the European indentured servants (slaves in all but name) on the Tidewater
tobacco plantations.
Yes, the "Jefferson was a rapist" trope is the common thread of the pseudo-left, fitting
right in with their support for MeToo and hostility to Julian Assange.
My goodness, not Moreno. So they are still about wouldn't have thought. He was, of all
things for Che Guevera, but not Castro, and led many youths to the early grave. Actually, the
Pabloists were big on Castro but not old Moreno who thought that Castro had Che killed and
the famous picture of Che's corpse on his ill-fated adventure doctored. Castro was not amused
and the Pabloists stopped dropping by/ He was allied with a dude called Posadas who
eventually got obsessed with inter-galacting communication from Bolsheviks in Outer Space. I
actually read article defending that nonsense in the Jacobin. The obscurantist have again
pushed themselves to the front.
I find at least Posadas was amusing in his somewhat more innovative ideas about
intergalactic travel and talking with dolphins. At least it follows a historical materialist
line which would say that productive forces can not be unleashed to their full potential
until the constraints of private mode of production, classes are abolished. Aliens,
theoretically and scientifically would and could exist given our own existence. Intergalactic
travel would be surely one of the most pressing issues of a worldwide socialist republic
after addressing earthly needs.
During the Russian Revolution peasants took to burning down the huge houses of the local
rich landowners.
The Bolsheviks had to intervene and patiently explain that these were now the property of the
working masses.
The peasants were of course almost universally illiterate.
It is probably more true to state that those that are desecrating and destroying statues
of Lincoln and others are miseducated.
This article is one of a series published by WSWS attempting to rectify these backward
destructive measures.
I don`t want to be annoying. It was bitter opponents of Lenin and the Bolsheviks , the
Social Revolutionaries, SR who led the peasants. The Bolsheviks had nothing to do with the
burning of mansions, and had no intention to stop the burning of mansions and seizure of
land. They formed strategically the worker-peasant alliance, but had insignificant influence
and numbers at this first stage of the revolution.. There were lot of troubles with the
SR`s-- and the peasants after.
I was not aware of suggesting the Bolsheviks had anything to do with the burnings. My
comment, bad grammar included, stated the Bolsheviks intervened to stop the arsonists.
The vast majority of peasants knew nothing of Bolshevism at the time.
It was the Bolsheviks agrarian program, which none of the bourgeois parties -- Cadets, SR --
could match in any shape or form, won the multimillioned peasantry to Socialist Revolution
under Lenin and Trotsky.
The vast majority of demonstrators across the global have not heard of WSWS or even the ICF,
yet alone be aware of its program. Dissemination of our program is a precursor to proletarian
revolution.
You miss the point. They are not so much miseducated as representing a definite social
layer. They reject the class basis of this racialist campaign, which is led by the New York
Times and Democratic Party to divide the working class. These forces seek to turn the
democratic sentiments and anger of young people in a reactionary form.
Note that they don't put forward any social demands, against the ravages of the lives of all
working class people created by the Pandemic and the economic crisis of the past decades.
Let us all get this article around as widely as possible, to wage a struggle against this
communalist attempt.
BLM demonstrators are heterogeneous in terms of race ethnicity, religion, age, but
undoubtedly predominantly youth. Every photograph has elucidated that.
I do not think I miss the point.
The pent up frustrations and anger following years of police violence, austerity, insecure
jobs, poor education and opportunities for youth is expressed in every street disturbance --
what the bourgeoise press calls senseless violence.
Undoubtedly elements amongst them are conscious of their actions, but for many the
opportunity to fight all that is perceived to be "part of the repressive state" cannot be
missed.
Being part of millions strong demonstrations has its own momentum. That scares the ruling
elite.
Destruction of statues is not just a US phenomenon, it is global.
It's not pretty, but it could be the opening shots of World Socialist Revolution.
We cannot impose our own values upon the masses.
What this and previous articles have set out to achieve, I believe, is to educate these
millions not to be mislead. Learn the lessons of history, lessons that capitalist education
has denied them.
WSWS has to intervene and direct these revolutionary stirrings away from identity politics
and to advance under the banner of the ICFI.
decades of undermining of class politics by Social democracy, trade unionism, Stalinism make
this a difficult task; difficult but not impossible.
That social layer is also well-organized and well-funded in varied salaried political
formations , including Black Lives Matter and those who would "occupy" space. They come out
of nowhere, disorient and as quickly disappear into profitable progressive Democratic Party
beds. Mayakovsky called them in a failing Russian Revolution under Stalin--" Bedbugs". Great
play..And so they are.
Please read this article and share widely. There is developing a tendency by the
Democratic party and Republican Party, for a fascist movement, in the US, and elsewhere
around the world. Only the working class can stop this rot, lead by the ICFI, SEP and
wsws.org .
This is one of the most direct and important WSWS perspectives I have ever read. It is
both a historical corrective and an impassioned warning to the working class in defense of
history, equality and any kind of democratic rule.
The freed slave depicted by Thomas Ball's statue "Lincoln the Emancipator" has the
likeness of Archer Alexander, a real slave who never actually met Lincoln, but freed himself
and was separated from his family in order to warn Union troops of Confederate sabotage. His
act of courage, and the hundreds of thousands of slaves who risked their lives during the
war, are also memorialized by this statue. It was commissioned based upon donations by
liberated slaves. Some of Alexander's descendants today oppose tearing down this statue,
whose complex history also reflects the struggles of Reconstruction in the aftermath of the
Civil War.
Within privileged layers of academia, the distortion of history and misrepresentation of
contemporary suffering by the global working class has become a major industry. Some
students, including those with genuine democratic intentions, are being seriously miseducated
and encouraged to participate in racially divisive politics. Students and workers need to
study history now more than ever, and it is no accident that America's leading historians of
the American Revolution and Civil War have sided with the WSWS in its defense of historical
truth (see the WSWS's writings on the 1619 project). The political perspective needed to end
police brutality and economic injustice requires an accurate appraisal of past struggles for
democratic rights, and today a unified struggle by not just the American but also the global
working class. Students and workers should take note.
What is needed is a transfer of resources from private consumption and privately
directed investment to public use. That can be achieved through various forms of
predistribution, reducing the incomes of those receiving an excessive reward at present, or
through taxation. While both need to be pursued, it's unlikely that predistribution can do
all the work.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Austerity is part and parcel of the neoliberal business model. In other words "austerity
is what a good economic policy looks like to a creditor [or rentier]" (Michael Hudson)
Neoliberalism essentially re-structures the whole economy for rent seeking using
financialization and unnecessary (parasitic) financial intermediation. This is the nature of
the beast. And leopard can't change its spots.
That's why austerity has been a central component of state policy at every level of
government in the USA and in Europe for the last four decades. In the USA austerity policies
were being applied, in particular, for the elimination or reduction in social services. As
there is no countervailing force (James K Galbraith) -- the role previously played by unions,
the neoliberal elite happily drives the country to the cliff.
Both the Democrats and Republicans are united in their commitment to continue to feed the
USA war machine and empire building with dollars extracted -- to the tune of almost a
trillion a year -- from the lower 80% of population, and transfer those money to the pockets
of the military-industrial complex and financial oligarchy. After all neoliberalism is about
redistribution of wealth up, not down.
Austerity align neatly with key goals of neoliberalism: drive to discipline labor, to
reduce the role of state and to redistribute wealth and power up.
That's why we have seen an increase in social inequality since 1970th. Neoliberal changes
to welfare provisions partially drive the rises in homelessness, food bank usage and "death
of despair. "
On December 5, 2019, Lawrence O'Donnel described the Neoliberal Democrats (Bill Clinton
and Al Gore) as knowingly taking a "grave political risk" in 1993 in voting in favor of
austerity.
The risk was to lose scores of seats -- and control of the House and Senate. O'Donnell
stressed that no Republicans voted for the Neoliberal Democrat's 1993 austerity program. As
the result the neoliberal Democrats lost the House for the first time in 40 years." They also
lost the Senate.
Neoliberal Democrats can't abandon austerity and it forces Democrats into an unending
series of "Sophie's choices." Under austerity, Democrats must shrink existing overall federal
spending. Which naturally results in the election defeat.
Republican fiscal policies cleverly combine "wedge" offerings to fire up their base and
massive tax breaks for the elite which fund their campaigns -- leading to a recurrent cycle
in which the Neoliberal Democrats are forces to champion policies that cause the public to
identify Democrats as the party most likely to raise taxes and cut vital federal
programs.
The larger is created by previous Republican administration deficit, the greater the
Neoliberal Democrats' new administration urgency to inflict austerity -- and embrace
political suicide. It is a self-reinforcing cycle producing recurrent political disaster for
Neoliberal Democrats.
The permanent professional wrestling spectacle in which the hapless patsies keep losing to
the real tough guy? After all, they get paid handsomely in any case.
First, Keynes was either misled or misleading in attributing macroeconomic self-correcting
tendencies to all classical economists. Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and Malthus and Marx
were all aware of the possibility of deep financial crises (The South Sea Bubble was already
50 years in the past when Wealth of Nations was published), and of the possibility
that financial crises might lead to business slumps; they wrote about it but did not make it
the center of their focus because nothing as bad as the Great Depression took place in the
18th and 19th centuries. Brad DeLong also points out that J.B. Say had to partially recant
Say’s Law later in his life:
Of the famous classical economists, only Ricardo seems to have wholeheartedly believed in
macroeconomic self-correction, and this was likely only because his entire career spanned a
period of time when there was plenty of poverty in England, but little underemployment if
only thanks to the Napoleonic wars plus emigration to the Western hemisphere and Pacific.
Probably a more useful distinction is Marx’s dichotomy between “scientific
bourgeois economists” like Smith, Ricardo, and Mill, and the “vulgar”
bourgeois economist propagandists who did end up adopting macroeconomic self-correction as a
mantra.
Second, Keynes famous assertion that “the boom not the slump is the time for
austerity at the Treasury” is potentially misleading. Depending on the state of
business confidence, consumer spending, and the trade balance, it is more accurate to say
that the boom not the slump is the time for improving the fiscal balance, which is not
necessarily the same thing as either austerity or budget surpluses.
I agree that the one of the big flaws in MMT is the lack of attention paid to the
distributional effects of fiscal policy: you can’t rein in inflationary pressure by
raising taxes on the very wealthy, as this will only result in reduced saving rather than
reduced spending; less progressive taxes may do the trick but will worsen the existing
distribution and thus worsen the political situation; the same goes for raising taxes to
finance Green New Deal programs.
However, I don’t think that the MMT position boils down to the U.S. being in a
permanent liquidity trap situation. The idea of a liquidity trap no longer makes sense once
you view the money supply as endogenous, with fluctuations being influenced by fiscal
spending (increase) and taxes (decrease). Or to put it in Macro 201 gibberish terms, with an
endogenous money supply whose chief influence is the fiscal balance, the IS and LM curves are
no longer independent: a shift out in IS curve leads to a shift out in the LM curve, with
little effect on interest rates unless the central bank is actively trying to raise them.
Provided they are careful with the distributional effects of tax policy, MMT policy
prescriptions may actually work well quite well in terms of economic theory for the U.S.,
which has both a sovereign and borrower-of-last-resort currency and consequently also has a
large import cushion to absorb inflationary pressure. The real problem is political: neither
Wall Street nor other important sectors of the U.S. industry (oil/gas and Silicon Valley,
among others) are fond of full employment if it caused by an expansionary government, and
will pull their campaign financing towards the pro-austerity party at minimum and possibly
even threaten to limit investment inside the U.S. Kalecki’s Political Aspects of
Full Employment rears its ugly head yet again.
And in most countries other than the U.S., the assumptions of MMT don’t fully apply:
either there’s no sovereign currency, or governments are forced to borrow in foreign
currencies and become subject to foreign currency reserve constraints, plus there’s no
anti-inflation cushion provided by extra imports from having the borrower-of-last-resort
currency and the resulting capital inflows.
Lastly, Keynes did not go all-out to advocate rationing during the war, favoring
consumption taxes instead. It was Kalecki who provided the theoretical justification for
rationing by arguing that consumption taxes would also reduce voluntary saving and likely
leave total saving unaffected. Rationing in effect works like a type of progressive tax. But
short of wartime expedients, it is unlikely that taxation under full employment can be so
effective as to by itself eliminate inflationary pressure: either it has to be weighted
towards the lower income brackets with unpleasant political consequences as John points out,
or it has to be accompanied by an upward push on interest rates, which invalidates the MMT
argument against crowding out.
Overall, MMT founders not because it is an inaccurate picture of the Keynesian system and
its Lerner/Knapp satellites, but because Keynes’s theory was itself incomplete (not
general enough?): it does not incorporate distributional, political economy, and
international finance dynamics needed to have a fully complete theory of macroeconomics.
"... The notion that socioeconomic status is the difference between working and middle classes strikes me as more convenient to obscurantists than useful to serious analysis. Even worse, true SES is better defined by the acceptability of marriage partners. (This brings up religion, by the way, meaning Sunday segregation is an overlooked phenomenon in discussions of systemic racism.) In particular, in dealing with so-called working class people, the issue of property, particularly home ownership, seems to be sharply pertinent. This is true in the form of privilege, such as interest mortgage deduction and property tax rates. (Yes, I know this is not an acceptable use of the term "privilege" but this actually means something, so there.) ..."
"... Most of all, many people live in de facto one party systems, where elections don't make much difference. Much of this country would be more usefully understood I think as more like Mexico or the Philippines, where caciques and landed families tend to run things. The factional struggles play out in the struggles for nominations of the ruling party, while the Outs play catchup in the Out Party, whatever it may be called. The larger part of the people have no political vehicle at all, therefore are largely disengaged. ..."
"... Lastly, on the OP, I'm not at all convinced the near collapse of the stock market and the international credit system last winter, which prompted the reversal of all efforts by the Fed to "normalize" the financial system, wasn't the beginning of the economic consequences we face. And that the pandemic is simply the gust of wind that toppled the house of cards. ..."
A note on the "professional-managerial class," if you don't mind?
Generally a professional is a small businessman. A clergyman may not be able to sell his
practice but a doctor or a lawyer can. But clergy have even greater powers over who gets to
compete than the AMA or the Bar do.
As for managers, those with an individually negotiated contract, especially those that
include things like stock options, golden parachutes, etc. seem to me to be in an entirely
different, well, class, than most others.
Academics who have an agent have a different situation than those who don't. Even
so-called police unions have enough influence over policies and budgets (as near as I can
tell) that the Fraternal Order of Police, or the Police Benevolent Association are more like
the Bar than a trade union. I suggest "professional-managerial class" is not enough a genuine
thing to be useful at all.
The notion that socioeconomic status is the difference between working and middle
classes strikes me as more convenient to obscurantists than useful to serious analysis. Even
worse, true SES is better defined by the acceptability of marriage partners. (This brings up
religion, by the way, meaning Sunday segregation is an overlooked phenomenon in discussions
of systemic racism.) In particular, in dealing with so-called working class people, the issue
of property, particularly home ownership, seems to be sharply pertinent. This is true in the
form of privilege, such as interest mortgage deduction and property tax rates. (Yes, I know
this is not an acceptable use of the term "privilege" but this actually means something, so
there.)
And other issues such as decline in property values, tax rates, school districts, are
pertinent to individuals deciding what their "wallets" are doing. The question for many is,
what's going to happen for their families in the long run, not just this quarter's profits.
The fact that most people don't make profits is even more relevant in my opinion. (Yes,
Obamacare was something of a redistribution the biggest since Shrub added prescription
benefits. This kind of reasoning tells us Nixon was a liberal president!)
Most of all, many people live in de facto one party systems, where elections don't
make much difference. Much of this country would be more usefully understood I think as more
like Mexico or the Philippines, where caciques and landed families tend to run things. The
factional struggles play out in the struggles for nominations of the ruling party, while the
Outs play catchup in the Out Party, whatever it may be called. The larger part of the people
have no political vehicle at all, therefore are largely disengaged.
On the subject of change, change from time is remorseless, invincible but usually
invisible. It is always today, which is pretty much like yesterday, and tomorrow is pretty
much like today, but the changes still come, despite the plans of a changer. This is true
despite the seeming invulnerability to time of all manner of habits, from the imperial
measures to the QWERTY keyboard. The idea that all sorts of things may be so simply because
they were and there hasn't been enough of a conscious decision by the majority to re-arrange
such things may deflate exaggerated ideas of agency. But it's so.
Lastly, on the OP, I'm not at all convinced the near collapse of the stock market and
the international credit system last winter, which prompted the reversal of all efforts by
the Fed to "normalize" the financial system, wasn't the beginning of the economic
consequences we face. And that the pandemic is simply the gust of wind that toppled the house
of cards.
"... The consequences of the short-sighted politics and policies of the Thatcher era have been profound in those communities that suffered, and have shaped the narrative of the working class over the past 40 years, as people who are slow to change and are left behind. ..."
"... The consequence of this has been that the social, political and cultural influence of the working class has also diminished. Working-class people are now barely represented outside of low-paid, low-skilled work centered in the limited space of the service sector, healthcare, retail and distribution centers. ..."
"... Even the government's own appointed Social Mobility Commission acknowledges that class inequality and class prejudice is entrenched in our society. But it has no real solutions, and simply trots out the usual unimaginative tropes of raising aspiration for young working-class people. ..."
"... Working-class people need their own 'New Deal', which not only recognises the even greater inequalities caused by Covid-19 and the economic disaster that is on its way, but acknowledges the economic, social, political and cultural attack they have sustained for over 40 years. ..."
The consequences of the short-sighted politics and policies of the Thatcher era have been
profound in those communities that suffered, and have shaped the narrative of the working class
over the past 40 years, as people who are slow to change and are left behind.
Even former chancellors
are warning of a return to a 1980s level of unemployment and recession – although
none of them accepts responsibility for the structures they defended that caused that
unemployment. Nor do they take responsibility for their inability to think honestly or even
creatively about the failure of capitalism.
... ... ...
The consequence of this has been that the social, political and cultural influence of the working
class has also diminished. Working-class people are now barely represented outside of low-paid,
low-skilled work centered in the limited space of the service sector, healthcare, retail and
distribution centers.
Even the government's own appointed Social Mobility Commission acknowledges that class
inequality and class prejudice is entrenched in our society. But it has no real solutions, and
simply trots out the usual unimaginative tropes of raising aspiration for young working-class
people.
So I'll help it out. Working-class people need their own 'New Deal', which not only recognises the even greater inequalities caused by Covid-19 and the economic disaster that is
on its way, but acknowledges the economic, social, political and cultural attack they have
sustained for over 40 years.
The New Deal for working-class people would recognise that access to good, safe and
affordable housing is needed immediately.
It would recognise that the welfare-benefits system that's supposed to catch those who need
support is cruel, humiliating and keeps people in poverty, rather than lifting them out.
Dr Lisa McKenzie is a working-class academic. She grew up in a coal-mining town in
Nottinghamshire and became politicized through the 1984 miners' strike with her family. At 31,
she went to the University of Nottingham and did an undergraduate degree in sociology. Dr
McKenzie lectures in sociology at the University of Durham and is the author of 'Getting By:
Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain.' She's a political activist, writer and
thinker. Follow her on Twitter @redrumlisa .
"... I would submit that the legitimacy of the elite professional and managerial classes is being called into question, for want of performance or any sense of responsibility. The urban PMC are the core constituency of the establishment Democratic Party. The vestigial working class elements and the ideological Left are distant memories and oppressed minorities seeking social justice, mere props. ..."
"... The thing is, the political classes -- the millionaire media pundits, the politicians, the lobbyists, the generals, the journamalists, the manipulative political operatives and propagandists, the pious policy "experts", the highly paid executives and financial managers running monopolies into the ground and non-profits into irrelevance -- they have enacted their neo-liberal agenda and it doesn't work. ..."
"... This in a country that cannot manufacture PPE. Or win a war. Trump, in his fumbling way, might get the U.S. out of Afghanistan, but the NY Times -- who brought us WMD not that long ago -- reports the Russians are paying bounties on American soldiers killed. No report on the treatment of Julian Assange though. Boeing is going to get the 737 Max in the air real soon now. Citibank is borrowing at 0.03 from the Fed and lending to credit card users at 27% and may be insolvent. ..."
"... So, let us assume the Democrats, after nominating an elderly SOB who had a hand in the crime bill that gave the U.S. the highest incarceration rate in the world, the bankruptcy bill that saddled tens of millions with credit card and student debt that cannot be discharged, and every stupid war of the last nearly twenty years, will suddenly see the necessity of radical change. And, after making an alliance with conservative Republicans hostile to even Trump's fake populism in order to elect Biden, seeing the light on radical reform is so likely! So plausible. ..."
mainstream Democrats recognize the need for radical change, and Biden will align with
the mainstream position as he always has done
You said you would leave this, your third assumption, to comments, so here is my
comment.
The U.S. is in the midst of a deep legitimacy crisis and contrary to popular belief among
liberals, it is not Trump particularly whose legitimacy is being called into question. Oh,
sure, there have been relentless attacks on him -- from partisan opponents and from much of
mainstream media -- but like the "anti-racism" of the recent protests -- much of it is
dissembling and distraction. Charges of colluding with Putin to win the 2016 election turned
out to be fake news -- rather obviously so from the beginning -- but a big enough mob went down
that path with no self-awareness. I am not saying Trump is not an egregiously bad President; he
is. But, notice please, before you go assuming that mainstream Democrats are going wake up in
2021 wanting to govern in the real world , that they have not shown much inclination toward
truth-telling or critical realism these last 20 years.
It is July. By January 2021, the U.S. economy will have suffered a structural collapse in
multiple sectors. That is the economic consequence of the pandemic. Restaurants, shopping
malls, bars, colleges, hotels, airlines, cruise lines -- easily 15% of the workforce will be
unemployed and another 25% seriously underemployed.
Did I mention that the U.S. is undergoing a legitimacy crisis?? Whose legitimacy is being
called into question?
I would submit that the legitimacy of the elite professional and managerial classes is being
called into question, for want of performance or any sense of responsibility. The urban PMC are
the core constituency of the establishment Democratic Party. The vestigial working class
elements and the ideological Left are distant memories and oppressed minorities seeking social
justice, mere props.
I would say the Party establishment is confident they can put the
re-animated corpse of Biden into the White House. And look how gleefully they welcome
Republican never-Trumpers into the clubhouse! If you were one of the fools and tools who
thought Obama did not want Republicans to control Congress, you are getting another chance to
see how the Obama Alumni Association works with the Lincoln Project, how happy they are to
deliver the kind of policy that appeals to rich, old, suburban Republican women.
The thing is, the political classes -- the millionaire media pundits, the politicians, the
lobbyists, the generals, the journamalists, the manipulative political operatives and
propagandists, the pious policy "experts", the highly paid executives and financial managers
running monopolies into the ground and non-profits into irrelevance -- they have enacted their
neo-liberal agenda and it doesn't work.
We have just watched the once highly touted CDC completely botch the great Pandemic. They
could not devise a test. They screwed up the rules on who could or should be tested. They lied
early on about the need to wear masks. They staged a moral panic over a need for ventilators,
when ventilators are a terrible therapeutic alternative. In the new Puritanism, they shut down
public beaches but they watched passively as liberal heroes like Cuomo set off a holocaust by
sending COVID-19 patients to nursing homes.
This in a country that cannot manufacture PPE. Or win a war. Trump, in his fumbling way,
might get the U.S. out of Afghanistan, but the NY Times -- who brought us WMD not that long ago
-- reports the Russians are paying bounties on American soldiers killed. No report on the
treatment of Julian Assange though. Boeing is going to get the 737 Max in the air real soon
now. Citibank is borrowing at 0.03 from the Fed and lending to credit card users at 27% and may
be insolvent.
So, let us assume the Democrats, after nominating an elderly SOB who had a hand in the
crime bill that gave the U.S. the highest incarceration rate in the world, the bankruptcy bill
that saddled tens of millions with credit card and student debt that cannot be discharged, and
every stupid war of the last nearly twenty years, will suddenly see the necessity of radical
change. And, after making an alliance with conservative Republicans hostile to even Trump's
fake populism in order to elect Biden, seeing the light on radical reform is so likely! So
plausible.
And, what's the play? The carrot of bi-partisan cooperation coupled with the fearful stick
of abolishing the filibuster someday somehow if they don't play nice. You do realize that only
Republicans are allowed to manipulate the filibuster and only in ways that favor their agenda
of, say, stacking the courts? And, the strategic vision? Reinforcing the Rube Goldberg
contraption which is Obamacare? You do know Biden is on record as adamantly opposed to
Medicare4all? And, that Medicaid is a need-based nightmare of controlled deprivation? In a
country where public health is such a shambles that a pandemic is running out of control.
'All the attention in this thread so far has been on the political dimension of uncertainty,
but it seems to me the public health dimension is also crucial and quite up in the air. What
will the trajectory of the virus look like in the US over the next several months? Will
infections continue to explode out of control?'
Not just the public health, but the economic effects of the public health. As I pointed out
in a previous thread, it's not difficult to work out why Trump looked like he was going to win
in January: the stock market was booming, unemployment was low, crime was low, there were no
new wars it's not a mystery.
People vote with their wallets.
If Trump someone manages to face down the neo-liberals in his own party and arrange for a
gigantic stimulus bill (bigger than the last one) and keeps 'benefits' going past August, he is
in with a shout. If he doesn't, and if the economy continues its path to free fall, he will
lose.
People vote with their wallets. It is not difficult. You don't need to invoke Russia and
etc. to work out why Trump won in 2016 (the impact of the Obama stimulus package, which was too
small, hadn't et 'percolated through' to people's bank balances at that point). And, if Trump
loses in 2020, the reasons will be self-evident and nothing to do with 'people seeing through
him' or 'brave liberals averted a turn to fascism'. If he loses it will be because he screwed
up on the 'good' economy.
So former tank repairman decided again managed to make a make a mark in world diplomacy
:-).
Notable quotes:
"... Mike Pompeo delivered an embarrassing, clownish performance at the U.N. on Tuesday, and his attempt to gain support for an open-ended conventional arms embargo on Iran was rejected the rest of the old P5+1: ..."
"... The Trump administration has abused our major European allies for years in its push to destroy the nuclear deal, and their governments have no patience with any more unilateral U.S. stunts. This is the result of two years of a destructive policy aimed solely at punishing Iran and its people. The administration's open contempt for international law and the interests of its allies has cost the U.S. their cooperation. ..."
"... Underscoring the absurdity of the Trump administration's arms embargo appeal were Pompeo's alarmist warnings that an end to the arms embargo would allow Iran to purchase advanced fighters that it would use to threaten Europe and India: ..."
"... This is a laughably unrealistic scenario. Even if Iran purchased advanced fighters, the last thing it would do is send them off on a suicide mission to bomb Italy or India. This shows how deeply irrational the Iran hawks' fearmongering is. Iran has already demonstrated an ability to launch precise attacks with drones and missiles in its immediate neighborhood, and it developed these capabilities while under the current embargo. ..."
"... The Secretary of State called on the U.N. to reject "extortion diplomacy." The best way to reject extortion diplomacy would be for them to reject the administration's desperate attempt to use America's position at the U.N. to attack international law. ..."
Mike Pompeo delivered an embarrassing, clownish performance at the U.N. on Tuesday, and his
attempt to
gain support for an open-ended conventional arms embargo on Iran was rejected the rest of the
old P5+1:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Tuesday for an arms embargo on Iran to be
extended indefinitely, but his appeal fell flat at the United Nations Security Council, where
Russia and China rejected it outright and close allies of the United States were
ambivalent.
The Trump administration is more isolated than ever in its Iran obsession. The ridiculous
effort to invoke the so-called "snapback" provision of the JCPOA more than two years after
reneging on the agreement met with failure, just as most observers predicted months
ago when it was first floated as a possibility. As I said at the time, "The
administration's latest destructive ploy won't find any support on the Security Council. There
is nothing "intricate" about this idea. It is a crude, heavy-handed attempt to employ the
JCPOA's own provisions to destroy it." It was never going to work because all of the other
parties to the agreement want nothing to do with the administration's punitive approach, and
U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA meant that it forfeited any rights it had when it was still part
of the deal.
Opposition from Russia and China was a given, but the striking thing about the scene at the
U.N. this week was that major U.S. allies
joined them in rebuking the administration's obvious bad faith maneuver:
The pointedly critical tone of the debate saw Germany accusing Washington of violating
international law by withdrawing from the nuclear pact, while Berlin aligned itself with
China's claim that the United States has no right to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran.
The Trump administration has abused our major European allies for years in its push to
destroy the nuclear deal, and their governments have no patience with any more unilateral U.S.
stunts. This is the result of two years of a destructive policy aimed solely at punishing Iran
and its people. The administration's open contempt for international law and the interests of
its allies has cost the U.S. their cooperation.
Underscoring the absurdity of the Trump administration's arms embargo appeal were Pompeo's
alarmist
warnings that an end to the arms embargo would allow Iran to purchase advanced fighters
that it would use to threaten Europe and India:
If you fail to act, Iran will be free to purchase Russian-made fighter jets that can
strike up to a 3,000 kilometer radius, putting cities like Riyadh, New Delhi, Rome, and
Warsaw in Iranian crosshairs.
This is a laughably unrealistic scenario. Even if Iran purchased advanced fighters, the last
thing it would do is send them off on a suicide mission to bomb Italy or India. This shows how
deeply irrational the Iran hawks' fearmongering is. Iran has already demonstrated an ability to
launch precise attacks with drones and missiles in its immediate neighborhood, and it developed
these capabilities while under the current embargo.
It has no need for expensive fighters, and
it is not at all certain that their government would even be interested in acquiring them. Pompeo's presentation was a weak attempt to exaggerate the potential threat from a state that
has very limited power projection, and he found no support because his serial fabrications
about Iran have rendered everything he says to be worthless.
The same administration that wants to keep an arms embargo on Iran forever has no problem
flooding the region with U.S.-made weapons and providing them to some of the worst governments
in the world. It is these client states that are doing the most to destabilize other countries
in the region right now. If the U.N. should be putting arms embargoes on any country, it should
consider imposing them on Saudi Arabia and the UAE to limit their ability to wreak havoc on
Yemen and Libya.
The Secretary of State called on the U.N. to reject "extortion diplomacy." The best way to
reject extortion diplomacy would be for them to reject the administration's desperate attempt
to use America's position at the U.N. to attack international law.
"... The interesting point of the Christianization of the USA here is not in Christianity itself, but in the socioeconomic process it represents (on the right; on the left, we already have the "wokeist" phenomenon). The USA is degenerating as a world empire and, if the USG chooses an escape route through the right end of the political spectrum, it could potentially result in a Fascist USA - an extremely virulent, fundamentalist and nihilist (and thus very dangerous) empire. ..."
"... That said, the influence of religious organizations in politics is overweight, because few other institutions that can turn out large blocs of voters. Unions used to, once. ..."
"... Nationalists claiming to represent "Judeo-Christian values" (a euphemism if ever) have been disproportionately visible in media for years. This is hardly new. Certainly as of the Bush administration. ..."
Christianity has transformed into a business, an industry even. Since the Cold War,
everything has become an opportunity to exploit for maximum gain and religion is not an
exception.
Christianism can surive in a political form. Indeed, that was when it was at its best:
using the Roman State machinery to force conversion from paganism and exterminating pagans.
That's its greatest strength in comparison to, e.g. its Jewish fathers: the Jews were (still
are) outright imperialists - the Chosen People - who wanted to destroy the Roman Empire from
the outside; the Christians were Jews who wanted to take control of Rome from within.
For Christianism to survive, you don't need every of its followers to be an expert of
Christian faith: it only needs a strong Church with direct access and control of the
State.
The rehabilitation of Christianity from the High Cold War in the USA as a weapon against
communism is a known fact. What I hypothesize here is that this process didn't stop: either
it continues today with full-fledged support from the USG (as seen in George W. Bush's reign)
and/or it got out of control (i.e. the new rapturist churches gained a life of their own, as
seen by the ones funded by billionaires with the aim of aligning American Christianity with
the geopolitical interests of Israel).
What I'm speculating here is that this process will suffer another metamorphosis, thanks
to the rise of the so-called "woke leftism" which are allegedly commanding the Floyd revolts.
This metamorphosis - I'm betting - will result in the far-rightification of the US Army and
police forces (or accelerate it). Since the far-right in the USA is blatantly Christian (as
we can read by their manifestos), this would result in the Christianization of the USG - even
if, ultimately, it serves the more immediate interests of the Zionists (in the case of the
rapturists).
The interesting point of the Christianization of the USA here is not in Christianity
itself, but in the socioeconomic process it represents (on the right; on the left, we already
have the "wokeist" phenomenon). The USA is degenerating as a world empire and, if the USG
chooses an escape route through the right end of the political spectrum, it could potentially
result in a Fascist USA - an extremely virulent, fundamentalist and nihilist (and thus very
dangerous) empire.
That said, the influence of religious organizations in politics is overweight, because few
other institutions that can turn out large blocs of voters. Unions used to, once.
Nationalists claiming to represent "Judeo-Christian values" (a euphemism if ever) have
been disproportionately visible in media for years. This is hardly new. Certainly as of the
Bush administration.
"Today, America's tumbrils are clattering about, carrying toppled statues, ruined careers,
unwoke brands. Over their sides peer those deemed racist by left-wing identitarians and
sentenced to cancelation, even as the evidentiary standard for that crime falls through the
floor But who are these cultural revolutionaries? The conventional wisdom goes that this is
the inner-cities erupting, economically disadvantaged victims of racism enraged over the
murder of George Floyd. The reality is something more bourgeoisie. As Kevin Williamson
observed last week, "These are the idiot children of the American ruling class, toy radicals
and Champagne Bolsheviks, playing Jacobin for a while, until they go back to graduate
school".
Is that so? I well recall listening in the Middle East to other angry young men who, too,
wanted to 'topple the statues'; to burn down everything. 'You really believed that Washington
would allow you in', they taunted and tortured their leaders: "No, we must burn it all down.
Start from scratch".
Did they have a blueprint for the future? No. They simply believed that Islam would
organically inflate, and expand to fill the void. It would happen by itself – of its own
accord: Faith.
Professor John Gray has noted "that in
The God that failed, Gide says: 'My faith in communism is like my faith in religion. It is a
promise of salvation for mankind'' . "Here Gide acknowledged", Gray continues, "that communism
was an atheist version of monotheism. But so is liberalism, and when Gide and others gave up
faith in communism to become liberals, they were not renouncing the concepts and values that
both ideologies had inherited from western religion. They continued to believe that history was
a directional process in which humankind was advancing towards universal freedom ".
So too with the wokes. The emphasis is on Redemption; on a Truth catharsis; on their own
Virtue as sufficient agency to stand-in for the lack of plan for the future. All are clear
signals: A secularised 'illusion' is metamorphosing back into 'religion'. Not as Islam, of
course, but as angry Man, burning at the deep and dark moral stain of the past. And acting now
as purifying 'fire' to bring about the uplifting and shining future ahead.
Tucker Carlson, a leading American conservative commentator known for plain speaking,
frames the movement a little differently:
"This is not a momentary civil disturbance. This is a serious, and highly organized
political movement It is deep and profound and has vast political ambitions. It is insidious,
it will grow. Its goal is to end liberal democracy and challenge western civilization itself
We're too literal and good-hearted to understand what's happening We have no idea what we are
up against These are not protests. This is a totalitarian political movement" .
Again, nothing needs to be done by this new generation to bring into being a new world,
apart from destroying the old one. This vision is a relic – albeit secularised – of
western Christianity. Apocalypse and redemption, these wokes believe, have their own path;
their own internal logic.
Mill's 'ghost' is arrived at the table. And with its return, America's exceptionalism has
its re-birth. Redemption for humankind's dark stains. A narrative in which the history of
mankind is reduced to the history of racial struggle. Yet Americans, young or old, now lack the
power to project it as a universal vision.
'Virtue', however deeply felt, on its own, is insufficient. Might President Trump try
nevertheless to sustain the old illusion by hard power? The U.S. is deeply fractured and
dysfunctional – but if desperate, this is possible.
The "toy radicals, and Champagne Bolsheviks" – in these terms of dripping disdain from
Williamson – are very similar to those who rushed into the streets in 1917. But before
dismissing them so peremptorily and lightly, recall what occurred.
Into that combustible mass of youth – so acultured by their progressive parents to see
a Russian past that was imperfect and darkly stained – a Trotsky and Lenin were inserted.
And Stalin ensued. No 'toy radicals'. Soft became hard totalitarianism.
play_arrow
N2M , 22 minutes ago
Vision? What vision that might be?
"'Freedom' is being torn down from within"
What freedom? Could be "Freedom" they decide how, when and where you can express your
thoughts? There is only one true freedom that exists and that is human free will to tell the
truth.
Today vision of Freedom is a joke, this game was never about freedom for in a world of
ideology, there is always lurking a deceits of lies and control.
There are 3 types of Americans.
A sharp ones and well tune to what has been going on and those I had a chance to talk
to and become friends when I was in U.S.A
The imbeciles of totally clueless generation of people who will listen to any wave of
information in propaganda as true and must be and their government is so beloved, no others
can even compete and they only have good intentions /s /c
And there is this group, shrewd, conniving, self-moral, warmongering, evil to a core
psychopaths who only follow different orders to impose their will on other nations to makes
sure they follow what? USD.
So when author speaks about vision it must separate few things!
Washington is running around imposing sanctions, destroying relationship/interest with
nations, trying all this regime changes at a cost of death of millions of people and then
dropping "Freedom bombs' almost every 8 to 9 minutes somewhere in this world, because these
freaks vision is way different, then some regular people either be in South America or other
continents that these regular people have.
Real vision is based on corporation, and U.S.A had that before, however after being
hijack, now they trying to start a war of unimaginable proportions so few fat bosses in one
Chamber can feel as super masters of the world and everyone as slaves.
I would like to remind some people about vision – Marx had a vision to, and rest is
history.
Becklon , 1 hour ago
It's a lack of shared purpose, I think. Without a common focus, such as an external threat
(as once provided by the USSR) groups tend to fracture and turn on themselves and each
other.
It's got nothing to do with any one religious or political group having more power than
others. It's to do with homo sapiens - and maybe entropy.
1 play_arrow
David Wooten , 1 hour ago
Well, if all this is true, there is far, far more at stake than the US being unable to
"Re-Impose Its Civilisational Worldview" (which I would be fine with).
He should talk about neoliberal ideology not some "universal civilization"
Notable quotes:
"... So, not only was the claim to universal civilisation not supported by evidence, but the very idea of humans sharing a common destination ('End of Times') is nothing more than an apocalyptic remnant of Latin Christianity, and of one minor current in Judaism. Mill's was always a matter of secularized religion – faith – rather than empiricism. A shared human 'destination' does not exist in Orthodox Christianity, Taoism or Buddhism. It could never therefore qualify as universal. ..."
"... But today, with America's soft power collapsed – not even the illusion of universalism can be sustained. Other states are coming forward, offering themselves as separate, equally compelling 'civilisational' states. It is clear that even were the classic liberal Establishment to win in the November U.S. elections, America no longer has claim to path-find a New World Order. ..."
"... 'Freedom' is being torn down from within. Dissidents from the woke ideology , are being 'called out', made to repent on the knee, or face reputational or economic ruin. It is 'soft totalitarianism'. It recalls one of Dostoevsky's characters – at a time when Russian progressives were discrediting traditional institutions – who, in a celebrated line, says: "I got entangled in my data Starting from unlimited freedom, I conclude with unlimited despotism". ..."
"... "This is not a momentary civil disturbance. This is a serious, and highly organized political movement It is deep and profound and has vast political ambitions. It is insidious, it will grow. Its goal is to end liberal democracy and challenge western civilization itself We're too literal and good-hearted to understand what's happening We have no idea what we are up against These are not protests. This is a totalitarian political movement" ..."
"... The "toy radicals, and Champagne Bolsheviks" – in these terms of dripping disdain from Williamson – are very similar to those who rushed into the streets in 1917. But before dismissing them so peremptorily and lightly, recall what occurred. ..."
It was always a paradox: John Stuart Mill, in his seminal (1859), On Liberty , never doubted that a universal civilisation, grounded
in liberal values, was the eventual destination of all of humankind. He looked forward to an 'Exact Science of Human Nature', which
would formulate laws of psychology and society as precise and universal as those of the physical sciences.
Yet, not only did that
science never emerge, in today's world, such social 'laws' are taken as strictly (western) cultural constructs, rather than as laws
or science.
So, not only was the claim to universal civilisation not supported by evidence, but the very idea of humans sharing a common destination
('End of Times') is nothing more than an apocalyptic remnant of Latin Christianity, and of one minor current in Judaism. Mill's was
always a matter of secularized religion – faith – rather than empiricism. A shared human 'destination' does not exist in Orthodox
Christianity, Taoism or Buddhism. It could never therefore qualify as universal.
Liberal core tenets of individual autonomy, freedom, industry, free trade and commerce essentially reflected the triumph of the
Protestant worldview in Europe's 30-years' civil war. It was not fully even a Christian view, but more a Protestant one.
This narrow, sectarian pillar was able to be projected into a universal project – only so long as it was underpinned by power
. In Mill's day, the civilisational claim served Europe's need for
colonial validation . Mill tacitly
acknowledges this when he validates the clearing of the indigenous American populations for not having tamed the wilderness, nor
made the land productive.
However, with America's Cold War triumph – that had by then become a cynical framework for U.S. 'soft power' – acquired a new
potency. The merits of America's culture, and way of life, seemed to acquire practical validation through the implosion of the USSR.
But today, with America's soft power collapsed – not even the illusion of universalism can be sustained. Other states are coming
forward, offering themselves as separate, equally compelling 'civilisational' states. It is clear that even were the classic liberal
Establishment to win in the November U.S. elections, America no longer has claim to path-find a New World Order.
Yet, should this secularised Protestant current be over – beware! Because its subterranean, unconscious religiosity is the 'ghost
at the table' today. It is returning in a new guise.
The 'old illusion' cannot continue, because its core values are being radicalised, stood on their head, and turned into the swords
with which to impale classic American and European liberals (and U.S. Christian Conservatives). It is now the younger generation
of American woke
liberals who are asserting vociferously not merely that the old liberal paradigm is illusory, but that it was never more than
'a cover' hiding oppression – whether domestic, or colonial, racist or imperial; a moral stain that only redemption can cleanse.
It is an attack – which coming from within – forecloses on any U.S. moral, soft power, global leadership aspirations. For with
the illusion exploded, and nothing in its place, a New World Order cannot coherently be formulated.
Not content with exposing the illusion, the woke generation are also tearing down, and shredding, the flags at the masthead: Freedom
and prosperity achieved via the liberal market.
'Freedom' is being torn down from within. Dissidents from the
woke ideology , are being 'called
out', made to repent on the knee, or face reputational or economic ruin. It is 'soft totalitarianism'. It recalls one of Dostoevsky's
characters – at a time when Russian progressives were discrediting traditional institutions – who, in a celebrated line, says: "I
got entangled in my data Starting from unlimited freedom, I conclude with unlimited despotism".
Even 'science' has become a 'God that failed'; instead of being the path to liberty, it has become a dark soulless
path toward unfreedom . From algorithms that 'cost' the value of human lives, versus the 'costing' of lockdown; from secret 'Black
Box' algos that limit distribution of news and thinking, to Bill Gates' vaccination ID project, science now portends
despotic social control , rather than a fluttering standard, hoist as the symbol of freedom.
But the most prominent of these flags, torn down, cannot be blamed on the woke generation . There has been no 'prosperity for
all' – only distortions and warped structures. There are not even free markets. The Fed and the U.S. Treasury simply print new money,
and hand it out to select recipients. There is no means now to attribute 'worth' to financial assets. Their value simply is that
which Central Government is willing to pay for bonds, or grant in bail-outs.
Wow. 'The God who failed' (André Gide's book title) – a crash of idols. One wonders now, what is the point to that huge financial
eco-system known as Wall Street. Why not winnow it down to a couple of entities, say, Blackrock and KKR (hedge funds), and leave
it to them to distribute the Fed's freshly-printed 'boodle' amongst friends? Liberal markets no more – and many fewer jobs.
"Today, America's tumbrils are clattering about, carrying toppled statues, ruined careers, unwoke brands. Over their sides
peer those deemed racist by left-wing identitarians and sentenced to cancelation, even as the evidentiary standard for that crime
falls through the floor But who are these cultural revolutionaries? The conventional wisdom goes that this is the inner-cities
erupting, economically disadvantaged victims of racism enraged over the murder of George Floyd. The reality is something more
bourgeoisie. As Kevin Williamson observed last week, "These are the idiot children of the American ruling class, toy radicals
and Champagne Bolsheviks, playing Jacobin for a while, until they go back to graduate school".
Is that so? I well recall listening in the Middle East to other angry young men who, too, wanted to 'topple the statues'; to burn
down everything. 'You really believed that Washington would allow you in', they taunted and tortured their leaders: "No, we must
burn it all down. Start from scratch".
Did they have a blueprint for the future? No. They simply believed that Islam would organically inflate, and expand to fill the
void. It would happen by itself – of its own accord: Faith.
Professor John Gray has noted
"that in The God that failed, Gide says: 'My faith in communism is like my faith in religion. It is a promise of salvation for mankind''
. "Here Gide acknowledged", Gray continues, "that communism was an atheist version of monotheism. But so is liberalism, and when
Gide and others gave up faith in communism to become liberals, they were not renouncing the concepts and values that both ideologies
had inherited from western religion. They continued to believe that history was a directional process in which humankind was advancing
towards universal freedom".
So too with the wokes. The emphasis is on Redemption; on a Truth catharsis; on their own Virtue as sufficient agency to stand-in
for the lack of plan for the future. All are clear signals: A secularised 'illusion' is metamorphosing back into 'religion'. Not
as Islam, of course, but as angry Man, burning at the deep and dark moral stain of the past. And acting now as purifying 'fire' to
bring about the uplifting and shining future ahead.
Tucker Carlson, a leading American conservative commentator known for plain speaking,
frames the movement a little differently:
"This is not a momentary civil disturbance. This is a serious, and highly organized political movement It is deep and profound
and has vast political ambitions. It is insidious, it will grow. Its goal is to end liberal democracy and challenge western civilization
itself We're too literal and good-hearted to understand what's happening We have no idea what we are up against These are not
protests. This is a totalitarian political movement" .
Again, nothing needs to be done by this new generation to bring into being a new world, apart from destroying the old one. This
vision is a relic – albeit secularised – of western Christianity. Apocalypse and redemption, these wokes believe, have their own
path; their own internal logic.
Mill's 'ghost' is arrived at the table. And with its return, America's exceptionalism has its re-birth. Redemption for humankind's
dark stains. A narrative in which the history of mankind is reduced to the history of racial struggle. Yet Americans, young or old,
now lack the power to project it as a universal vision.
'Virtue', however deeply felt, on its own, is insufficient. Might President Trump try nevertheless to sustain the old illusion
by hard power? The U.S. is deeply fractured and dysfunctional – but if desperate, this is possible.
The "toy radicals, and Champagne Bolsheviks" – in these terms of dripping disdain from Williamson – are very similar to those
who rushed into the streets in 1917. But before dismissing them so peremptorily and lightly, recall what occurred.
Into that combustible mass of youth – so acultured by their progressive parents to see a Russian past that was imperfect and darkly
stained – a Trotsky and Lenin were inserted. And Stalin ensued. No 'toy radicals'. Soft became hard totalitarianism.
"... This lady is sitting there lying trying to prove a point. I have been in enough arguments to kow when someone is just arguing to keep the discussion going ..."
The bottom line is, they want to take away any problem solving skills that might build character, because someone might get
hurt! Victimhood culture run amuck.
Mathematics is the cornerstone of all forms of trade, communications, home economics and every other aspect of life. Truth
is they're dumbing everyone down to control populations!
I have Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering and I'm 62-years old. I have never once cared about the history of mathematics,
other than a curiosity. Knowing the history of mathematics never helped me once to solve an ordinary second order differential
equation.
When a person lies while giving an interview they should be shocked or something. This lady is sitting there lying trying
to prove a point. I have been in enough arguments to kow when someone is just arguing to keep the discussion going. She has
already lost the argument deflected and differed responsibility when confronted with the legitimacy of the paper.
Go exercise healthy body makes a healthy mind not the other way around.
Cue bono? Not black people (actually she is an Indian, which until recently was a caste
society). Is she a victim of "affirmative action" policy and occupies a position for which there
are more worthy academically candidates. University is not sinecure, at least it should not
be.
How good is she as an academic? Is she mentally stable?
The decision of Cambridge University to promote her after such an idiotic tweet creates
several additional questions.
Petition against Prof Priyamvada Gopal now off line. Additionally I noticed earlier today
that the comments given on the site voicing why they were signing had all been removed, but not
on other petitions. As of yesterday evening these comments were peaceful, and not personal,
just things like 'because it is racist' and 'do I even need to give a reason'?
The petition had nearly 25,000 signed supporters earlier today, and new signings were
flooding in at over 1/sec when I checked.
In addition in an affront to common decency the University/College promoted her whilst
they had stated earlier they were aware of the controversial nature of her tweets.
Her original tweet was deleted by Twitter as a breach of community guidelines. She also
reports that, in spite of senselessly provoking people at a delicate time with racist tweets,
that the extremely racist responses she got from some far right people was being looked at by
the Police.
All in all this establishes a systematic problem. Being deliberately vague means you cannot
use context as a defence, and the context of all her tweets shows some extreme patterns of
thinking against certain groups that casts very considerable doubts on the validity of such a
defense. Moreover, context hasn't been a defence when others have been prosecuted for far less.
Nobody, including Cambridge academics, should be above the law.
To those people that think that what she said was justified because she was trying to
defend BLM from supposed alternative movements, all she in fact did do was to achieve the
opposite of that.
If one wishes to convey complex ideas a teacher of English in her position *must know* that
this requires a long form medium to provide argumentation, and that Twitter is no such place to
do it due to its character count. But taking in all the other comments she has made, its very
clear the double standards and overall bias that really does amount to overt prejudice.
At the very least she is so contradictory, immature and incompetent as to make a mockery
of her college and for that reason at minimum, she should lose her job. I'm sorry to say that
as well.
But something about this whole episode feels like a jumping the shark moment. I don't think
this is going away all that easily.
Yes, it all narrows down to complexity now. Complex truth, complex lies, complex
plots,
complex relations between major groups of crooks themselves, and, in addition to
the MSM, an army of alternative media feeding people with filtered visions of reality,
convenient to the group(s) they represent. And even all that is far from complete or
precise model of reality.
Not saying that humanity is doomed, though. Because no matter how evil-smart,
rich, well-organized and self-confident the crooks are, the last word will not be theirs.
And something tells me that in the end it'll be simplicity that will finish them off.
"... This would be bad news for anyone with a serious health condition, but it would be especially bad news for the oldest pre-Medicare age group, people between the ages of 55 and 64. This group currently faces average premiums of close to $10,000 a year per person for insurance purchased through the ACA exchanges. Insurers could easily charge people with serious health conditions two or three times this amount if the Trump administration wins its case. ..."
"... The 55 to 64 age group will also be hard hit because they are far more likely to have serious health issues than younger people. Just 18 percent of the people in the youngest 18 to 34 age group have a serious health condition, compared to 44 percent of those in the 55 to 64 age group, as shown in the figure above. ..."
Older Workers Targeted in Trump's Lawsuit to End Obamacare
By DEAN BAKER
The Trump administration is supporting a lawsuit which seeks to overturn the Affordable
Care Act (ACA) in its entirety. The implication is that a large share of the older workers
now able to afford health insurance as a result of the ACA will no longer be able to afford
it if the Trump administration wins its lawsuit.
Furthermore, if the suit succeeds it will both end the expansion of Medicaid, which has
insured tens of millions of people, and again allow discrimination against people with
serious health conditions. Ending this discrimination was one of the major goals of the ACA.
The issue is that insurers don't want to insure people who are likely to have health issues
that cost them money. While they are happy to insure healthy people with few medical
expenses, people with heart disease, diabetes, or other health conditions are a bad deal for
insurers.
Before the ACA, insurers could charge outlandish fees to cover people with health
conditions, or simply refuse to insure them altogether. The ACA required insurers to cover
everyone within an age bracket at the same price, regardless of their health. If the Trump
administration has its way, we would go back to the world where insurers could charge people
with health issues whatever they wanted, or alternatively, just deny them coverage.
This would be bad news for anyone with a serious health condition, but it would be
especially bad news for the oldest pre-Medicare age group, people between the ages of 55 and
64. This group currently faces average premiums of close to $10,000 a year per person for
insurance purchased through the ACA exchanges. Insurers could easily charge people with
serious health conditions two or three times this amount if the Trump administration wins its
case.
And, since a Trump victory would eliminate the ACA subsidiaries, people in this age group
with health conditions could be looking to pay $20,000 to $30,000 a year for insurance, with
no help from the government. That will be especially hard since many people with serious
health conditions are unable to work full-time jobs, and some can't work at all.
[Graph]
The 55 to 64 age group will also be hard hit because they are far more likely to have
serious health issues than younger people. Just 18 percent of the people in the youngest 18
to 34 age group have a serious health condition, compared to 44 percent of those in the 55 to
64 age group, as shown in the figure above.
The ACA has many inadequacies, but it has allowed tens of millions to get insurance who
could not otherwise. Donald Trump wants to take this insurance away.
"Restaurant Of The Future" - KFC Unveils Automated Store With Robots And Food Lockers
by Tyler Durden Fri,
06/26/2020 - 22:05 Fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has debuted the "restaurant of
the future," one where automation dominates the storefront, and little to no interaction is
seen between customers and employees, reported NBC News .
After the chicken is fried and sides are prepped by humans, the order is placed on a
conveyor belt and travels to the front of the store. A robotic arm waits for the order to
arrive, then grabs it off the conveyor belt and places it into a secured food
locker.
A KFC representative told NBC News that the new store is located in Moscow and was built
months before the virus outbreak. The representative said the contactless store is the future
of frontend fast-food restaurants because it's more sanitary.
Disbanding human cashiers and order preppers at the front of a fast-food store will be the
next big trend in the industry through 2030. Making these restaurants contactless between
customers and employees will lower the probabilities of transmitting the virus.
Automating the frontend of a fast-food restaurant will come at a tremendous cost, that is,
significant job loss . Nationwide (as of 2018), there were around 3.8 million employed at
fast-food restaurants. Automation and artificial intelligence are set displace millions of jobs
in the years ahead.
As for the new automated KFC restaurant in Moscow, well, it's a glimpse of what is coming to
America - this will lead to the widespread job loss that will force politicians to unveil
universal basic income .
We've embedded an SEC Risk Alert on private equity abuses at the end of this post.
1
What is
remarkable about this document is that it contains a far longer and more detailed list of private abuses
than the SEC flagged in its initial round of examinations of private equity firms in 2014 and 2015. Those
examinations occurred in parallel with groundbreaking exposes by Gretchen Morgenson at the New York Times
and Mark Maremont in the Wall Street Journal. At least some of the SEC enforcement actions in that era look
to have been triggered by the press effectively getting ahead of the SEC. And the SEC even admitted the
misconduct was more common at the most prominent firms.
Yet despite front-page articles on private equity
abuses, the SEC engaged in wet noodle lashings. Its pattern was to file only one major enforcement action
over a particular abuse. Even then, the SEC went to some lengths to spread the filings out among the biggest
firms. That meant it was pointedly engaging in selective enforcement, punishing only "poster child" examples
and letting other firms who'd engaged in precisely the same abuses get off scot free.
The very fact of this Risk Alert is an admission of failure by the SEC. It indicates that the misconduct
it highlighted five years ago continues and if anything is even more pervasive than in the 2014-2015 era. It
also confirms that its oft-stated premise then, that the abuses it found then had somehow been made by firms
with integrity that would of course clean up their acts, and that now-better-informed investors would also
be more vigilant and would crack down on misconduct, was laughably false.
In particular, the second section of the Risk Alert, on Fees and Expenses (starting on page 4) describes
how fund managers are charging inflated or unwarranted fees and expenses. In any other line of work, this
would be called theft. Yet all the SEC is willing to do is publish a Risk Alert, rather than impose fines as
well as require disgorgements?
The SEC's Abject Failure
In the Risk Alert below, the itemization of various forms of abuses, such as the many ways private equity
firms parcel out interests in the businesses they buy among various funds and insiders to their, as opposed
to investors' benefit, alone should give pause. And the lengthy discussion of these conflicts does suggest
the SEC has learned something over the years. Experts who dealt with the agency in its early years of
examining private equity firms found the examiners allergic to considering, much the less pursuing, complex
abuses.
Undermining legislative intent of new supervisory authority
. The SEC never embraced its
new responsibilities to ride herd on private equity and hedge funds.
The SEC has long maintained a division between the retail investors and so-called "accredited investors"
who by virtue of having higher net worths and investment portfolios, are treated by the agency as able to
afford to lose more money. The justification is that richer means more sophisticated. But as anyone who is a
manager for a top sports professional or entertainer, that is often not the case. And as we've seen, that
goes double for public pension funds.
Starting with the era of Clinton appointee Arthur Levitt, the agency has taken the view that it is in the
business of defending presumed-to-be-hapless retail investors and has left "accredited investor" and most of
all, institutional investors, on their own. This was a policy decision by the agency when deregulation was
venerated; there was no statutory basis for this change in priorities.
Congress tasked the SEC with supervising the fund management activities of private equity funds with over
$150 million in assets under management. All of their investors are accredited investors. In other words,
Congress mandated the SEC to make sure these firms complied with relevant laws as well as making adequate
disclosures of what they were going to do with the money entrusted to them. Saying one thing in the investor
contracts and doing another is a vastly worse breach than misrepresentations in marketing materials, yet the
SEC acted as if slap-on-the-wrist-level enforcement was adequate.
We made fun when thirteen prominent public pension fund trustees wrote the SEC asking for them to force
greater transparency of private equity fees and costs. The agency's position effectively was "You are
grownups. No one is holding a gun to your head to make these investments. If you don't like the terms, walk
away." They might have done better if they could have positioned their demand as consistent with the new
Dodd Frank oversight requirements.
Actively covering up for bad conduct
. In 2014, the SEC started working at giving
malfeasance a free pass. Specifically, the SEC told private equity firms that they could continue their
abuses if they 'fessed up in their annual disclosure filings, the so-called Form ADV. The term of art is
"enhanced disclosure". Since when are contracts like confession, that if you admit to a breach, all is
forgiven? Only in the topsy-turvy world of SEC enforcement.
The agency is operating in such a cozy manner with private equity firms that as one investor described
it:
It's like FBI sitting down with the Mafia to tell them each year, "Don't cross these lines because
that's what we are focusing on."
Specifically, as we indicated, the SEC was giving advanced warning of the issues it would focus on in its
upcoming exams, in order to give investment managers the time to get their stories together and purge files.
And rather than view its periodic exams as being designed to make sure private equity firms comply with the
law and their representations, the agency views them as "cooperative" exercises! Misconduct is assumed to be
the result of misunderstanding and error, and not design.
It's pretty hard to see conduct like this, from the SEC's Risk Alert, as being an accident:
Advisers charged private fund clients for expenses that were not permitted by the relevant fund
operating agreements, such as adviser-related expenses like salaries of adviser personnel, compliance,
regulatory filings, and office expenses, thereby causing investors to overpay expenses
The staff observed private fund advisers that did not value client assets in accordance with their
valuation processes or in accordance with disclosures to clients (such as that the assets would be valued
in accordance with GAAP). In some cases, the staff observed that this failure to value a private fund's
holdings in accordance with the disclosed valuation process led to overcharging management fees and
carried interest because such fees were based on inappropriately overvalued holdings .
Advisers failed to apply or calculate management fee offsets in accordance with disclosures and
therefore caused investors to overpay management fees.
We're highlighting this skimming simply because it is easier for laypeople to understand than some of the
other types of cheating the SEC described. Even so, industry insiders and investors complained that the
description of the misconduct in this Risk Alert was too general to give them enough of a roadmap to look
for it at particular funds.
Ignoring how investors continue to be fleeced
. The SEC's list includes every abuse it
sanctioned or mentioned in the 2014 to 2015 period, including undisclosed termination of monitoring fees,
failure to disclose that investors were paying for "senior advisers/operating partners," fraudulent charges,
overcharging for services provided by affiliated companies, plus lots of types of bad-faith conduct on fund
restructurings and allocations of fees and expenses on transactions allocated across funds.
The SEC assumed institutional investors would insist on better conduct once they were informed that
they'd been had. In reality, not only did private equity investors fail to demand better, they accepted new
fund agreements that described the sort of objectionable behavior they'd been engaging in. Remember, the big
requirement in SEC land is disclosure. So if a fund manager says he might do Bad Things and then proceeds
accordingly, the investor can't complain about not having been warned.
Moreover, the SEC's very long list of bad acts says the industry is continuing to misbehave even after it
has defined deviancy down via more permissive limited partnership agreements!
Why This Risk Alert Now?
Keep in mind what a Risk Alert is and isn't. The best way to conceptualize it is as a press release from
the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. It does not have any legal or regulatory force.
Risk Alerts are not even considered to be SEC official views. They are strictly the product of OCIE staff.
On the first page of this Risk Alert, the OCIE blandly states that:
This Risk Alert is intended to assist private fund advisers in reviewing and enhancing their
compliance programs, and also to provide investors with information concerning private fund adviser
deficiencies.
Cutely, footnotes point out that not everyone examined got a deficiency letter (!!!), that the SEC has
taken enforcement actions on "many" of the abuses described in the Risk Alert, yet "OCIE continues to
observe some of these practices during examinations."
Several of our contacts who met in person with the SEC to discuss private equity grifting back in
2014-2015 pressed the agency to issue a Risk Alert as a way of underscoring the seriousness of the issues it
was unearthing. The staffers demurred then.
In fairness, the SEC may have regarded a Risk Alert as having the potential to undermine its
not-completed enforcement actions. But why not publish one afterwards, particularly since the intent then
had clearly been to single out prominent examples of particular types of misconduct, rather than tackle it
systematically?
2
So why is the OCIE stepping out a bit now? The most likely reason is as an effort to compensate for the
lack of enforcement actions. Recall that all the OCIE can do is refer a case to the Enforcement Division;
it's their call as to whether or not to take it up.
The SEC looks to have institutionalized the practice of borrowing lawyers from prominent firms. Mary Jo
White of Debevoise brought Andrew Ceresney with her from Debeviose to be her head of enforcement. Both
returned to Debevoise.
Current SEC chairman Jay Clayton came from Sullivan & Cromwell, bringing with him Steven Peikin as
co-head of enforcement. And the Clayton SEC looks to have accomplished the impressive task of being even
weaker on enforcement than Mary Jo White. Clayton made clear his focus was on "mom and pop" investors,
meaning he chose to overlook much more consequential abuses by private equity firms and hedgies. The New
York Times determined that the average amount of SEC fines against corporate perps fell markedly in 2018
compared to the final 20 months of the Obama Administration. The SEC since then levied $1 billion fine
against the Woodbridge Group of Companies and its one-time owner for running a Ponzi scheme that fleeced
over 8,400, so that would bring the average penalty up a bit. But it still confirms that Clayton is
concerned about small fry, and not deeper but just as pickable pockets.
David Sirota argues
that the OCIE was out to embarrass Clayton and sabotage what Sirota depicted as an
SEC initiative to let retail investors invest in private equity. Sirota appears to have missed that that
horse has left the barn and is in the next county, and the SEC had squat to do with it.
The overwhelming majority of retail funds is not in discretionary accounts but in retirement accounts,
overwhelmingly 401(k)s. And it is the Department of Labor, which regulates ERISA plans, and not the SEC,
that decides what those go and no go zones are. The DoL has already green-lighted allowing large swathes of
401(k) funds to include private equity holdings.
From a post earlier this month
:
Until now, regulations have kept private equity out of the retail market by prohibiting managers from
accepting capital from individuals who lack significant net worth.
Moreover, even though Sirota pointed out that Clayton had spoken out in favor of allowing retail
investors more access to private equity investments, the proposed regulation on the definition of accredited
investors in fact not only does not lower income or net worth requirements (save for allowing spouses to
combine their holdings) it in fact solicited comments on the idea of raising the limits.
From a K&L Gates write up
:
Previously, the Concept Release requested comment on whether the SEC should revise the current
individual income ($200,000) and net worth ($1,000,000) thresholds. In the Proposing Release, the SEC
further considered these thresholds, noting that the figures have not been adjusted since 1982. The SEC
concluded that it does not believe modifications to the thresholds are necessary at this time, but it has
requested comments on whether the final should instead make a one-time increase to the thresholds in the
account for inflation, or whether the final rule should reflect a figure that is indexed to inflation on
a going-forward basis.
It is not clear how many people would be picked up by the proposed change, which was being fleshed out,
that of letting some presumed sophisticated but not rich individuals, like junior hedge fund professionals
and holders of securities licenses, be treated as accredited investors. In other words, despite Clayton's
talk about wanting ordinary investors to have more access to private equity funds, the agency's proposed
rule change falls short of that.
Moreover, if the OCIE staff had wanted to undermine even the limited liberalization of the definition of
accredited investor so as to stymie more private equity investment, the time to do so would have been
immediately before or while the comments period was open.
It ended March
16
.
So again, why now? One possibility is that the timing is purely a coincidence. For instance, the SEC
staffers might have been waiting until Covid-19 news overload died down a bit so their work might get a
hearing (and Covid-19 remote work complications may also have delayed its release).
The second possibility is that OCIE is indeed very frustrated with the enforcement chief Peikin's
inaction on private equity. The fact that Peikin's boss and protector Clayton has made himself a lame duck
meant a salvo against Peikin was now a much lower risk. If any readers have better insight into the internal
workings of the SEC these days, please pipe up.
______
1
Formally, as you can see, this Risk Alert addresses both private equity and hedge fund
misconduct, but on reading the details, the citing of both types of funds reflects the degree to which hedge
funds have been engaging in the buying and selling of stakes in private companies. For instance, Chatham
Asset Management, which has become notorious through its ownership of American Media, which in turn owns the
National Enquirer, calls itself a hedge fund. Moreover, when the SEC started examining both private equity
and hedge funds under new authority granted by Dodd Frank, it described the sort of misconduct described in
this Risk Alert as coming out of exams of private equity firms, and its limited round of enforcement actions
then were against brand name private equity firms like KKR, Blackstone, Apollo, and TPG. Thus for
convenience as well as historical reasons, we refer only to private equity firms as perps.
2
Media stories at the time, including some of our posts, provided substantial evidence that
particular abuses, such as undisclosed termination of monitoring fees and failure to disclose that "senior
advisers" presented as general partner "team members" were in fact consultants being separately billed to
fund investments, were common practices. Yet the SEC chose to lodge only marquee enforcement actions against
one prominent firm for each abuse, as if token enforcement would serve as an adequate deterrent. The message
was the reverse, that the overwhelming majority of the abuses were able to keep their ill-gotten gains and
not even face public embarrassment.
TBH, in the view of Calpers ignoring its advisors, I do have a little understanding of the SEC's point
"you're grown ups" (the worse problem is that the advisors who leach themselves to the various accredited
investors are often not worth the money.
On the same side though, fraud is a criminal offence, and it's SEC's duty to prosecute. And I believe
that a lot of what PE engage in would happily fall under fraud, if SEC really wanted.
Yes, the SEC conveniently claims a conflicted authority – 1. to regulate compliance but without an
"enforcement authority", and 2. report egregious behavior to their "enforcement authority". So the SEC is
less than a permissive nanny. Sort of like "access" to enforcement authority. Sounds like health care to
me.
No, this is false. The SEC has an examination division and an enforcement division. The SEC can and
does take enforcement actions that result in fines and disgorgements, see the $1 billion fine
mentioned in the post. So the exam division can recommend enforcement to the enforcement division.
That does not mean it will get done. Some enforcement actions originate from within the enforcement
division, like insider trading cases, and the SEC long has had a tendency to prioritize insider
trading cases.
The SEC cannot prosecute. It has to refer cases that it thinks are criminal to the DoJ and try to
get them to saddle up.
Crimogenic: Producing or tending to produce crime or criminality. An additional factor is that, in the
main, the criminals do not take their money and leave the gaming tables but pour it back in and the crime
metastasizes.
AKA, Kleptocracy.
Thus in 2008 and thereafter the criminal damage required 2-3 trillion, now 7-10 trillion.
Any economic expert who does not recognize crime as the number one problem in the criminogenic US economy
I disregard. Why read all that analysis when, at the end of the run, it all just boils down to bailing out
the criminals and trying to reset the criminogenic system?
You might add that the threat of consequences for these crimes makes the criminals extremely motivated
to elect officials who will not prosecute them (e.g. Obama). They're not running for office, they're
avoiding incarceration.
The SEC has been captured for years now. It was not that long ago that SEC Examination chief Andrew
Bowden made a grovelling speech to these players and even asked them to give his son a job which was so
wrong-
But there is no point in reforming the SEC as it was the politicians, at the beck and call of these
players, that de-fanged the SEC – and it was a bipartisan effort! So it becomes a chicken-or-the-egg problem
in the matter of reform. Who do you reform first?
Can't leave this comment without mentioning something about a private equity company. One of the two
major internal airlines in Oz went broke due to the virus and a private equity buyer has been found to buy
it. A union rep said that they will be good for jobs and that they are a good company. Their name? Bain
Capital!
We broke the story about Andrew Bowden! Give credit where credit is due!!!! Even though Taibbi points
to us in his first line, linking to Rolling Stone says to those who don't bother clicking through that it
was their story.
Of course I remember that story. I was going to mention it but thought to let people see it in
virtually the opening line of that story where he gives you credit. More of a jolt of recognition
seeing it rather than being told about it first.
Of the three branches of government which ones are not captured by big business? If two out of three were
to captured then does it matter what the third does?
Is the executive working for the common good or for the interests of big business?
Is the legislature working for the common good or for the interests of big business?
Is the judiciary working for the common good or for the interests of big business?
In my opinion too much power has been centralised, too much of the productivity gains of the past 40
years have been monetised and therefore made possible to hoard and centralise.
SEC should (in my opinion) try to enforce more but without more support then I do not believe (it is my
opinion, nothing more and nothing less) that they can accomplish much.
The SEC is a mysterious agency which (?) must fall under the jurisdiction of the Treasury because it
is a monetary regulatory agency in the business of regulating securities and exchanges. But it has no
authority to do much of anything. The Treasury itself falls under the executive administration but as we
have recently seen, Mnuchin himself managed to get a nice skim for his banking pals from the money
Congress legislated. That's because Congress doesn't know how to effectuate a damn thing – they legislate
stuff that morphs before our very eyes and goes to the grifters without a hitch. So why don't we demand
that consumer protection be made into hard law with no wiggle room; that since investing is complex in
this world of embedded funds and glossy prospectuses, we the consumer should not have to wade through all
the nonsense to make decisions – that everything be on the table. And if PE can't manage to do that and
still steal its billions then PE should be declared to be flat-out illegal.
Please stop spreading disinformation. This is the second time on this post.
The SEC has nada to do with the Treasury. It is an independent regulatory agency.
It however is the only financial regulator that does not keep what it kills (its own fees and
fines) but is instead subject to Congressional appropriations. Andrew Levitt, for instance, complained
bitterly that Joe Lieberman would regularly threaten to cut the SEC's budget for allegedly being too
aggressive about enforcement. Lieberman was the Senator from Hedgistan.
It should be noted that out here in the countryside of northern Michigan that embezzlement (a winter
sport here while the men are out ice fishing), theft and fraud are still considered punishable felonies.
Perhaps that is simply a quaint holdover from a bygone time. Dudley set the tone for the C of C with his
Green Book on bank deregulation. One of the subsequent heads of C of C was reported as seeing his position
as "being the spiritual resource for banks". If bank regulation is treated in a farcical fashion why should
be the SEC be any different?
I was shocked to just now learn that ERISA/the Dept of Labor is in regulatory control of allowing pension
funds to buy PE fund of funds and "balanced PE funds". What VERBIAGE. Are "PE Fund of Balanced Funds" an
actual category? And what distinguishes them from good old straightforward Index Funds? And also too – what
is happening before our very glazed-over eyes is that PE is high grading not just the stock market but the
US Treasury itself. Ordinary investors should be buying US Treasuries directly and retirement funds should
too. It will be a big bite but if it knocks PE out of business it would be worth it. PE is in the business
of cooking its books, ravaging struggling corporations, and boldly privatizing the goddamned Treasury. WTF?
What about the wanton destruction of the purchased companies? If this
solely
about the harm done
to the poor investors? If so, that is seriously wrong.
If, you know, the neoliberal "because markets" is the ruling paradigm then of course there is no harm
done. The questions then become: is "because markets" a sensible paradigm? What is it a sensible paradigm
of? Is "because markets" even sensible for the long term?
an aside: farewell, Olympus camera. A sad day. Farewell, OM-1 and OM-2. Film photography is really not
replicated by digital photography but the larger market has gone to digital. Speed and cost vs quality.
Because markets. Now the vulture swoop.
Where is the SEC when Bain Capital (Romney) wipes out Toys-R-Us and Dianne Feinstein's husband Richard
Blum wipes out Payless Shoes. They gain control of the companies, pile on massive debt and take the proceeds
of the loan, and they know the company cannot service the loan and a BK is around the corner. Thousands lose
their jobs. And this is legal? And we also lost Glass-Steagal and legalized stock buy-backs.The Elite are
screwing the people. It's Socialism for the Rich, the Politicians and Govt Employees and Feudalism for the
rest of us.
Today, in the context of the Black Lives Matter protests, TomDispatch regular Andrew Bacevich considers the all-American version of "extreme
materialism" that Martin Luther King called out more than half a century ago. And when it
comes to the overwhelming urge to get one's hands on the goods, among the looters of this
moment two groups are almost never mentioned: the Pentagon and the police.
Yet, in 1997, the Department of Defense set up the 1033 program as part of the National
Defense Authorization Act to provide thousands of domestic police forces with "surplus"
equipment of almost every imaginable militarized kind. Since then, thanks to your tax
dollars, it has given away $7.4
billion of such equipment, some of it directly off the battlefields of this country's
forlorn "forever wars."
For items like grenade launchers, mine-resistant armored vehicles, military rifles,
bayonets, body armor, night-vision goggles, and helicopters
, all that police departments have to fork over is the price of delivery. The Pentagon has,
in fact, been so eager to become the Macy's of
militarized hardware that, in 2017, it was even willing to "give $1.2 million worth of
rifles, pipe bombs, and night vision goggles to a fake police department," no questions
asked. That "department" proved to be part of a sting
operation run by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). "It was like getting stuff
off of eBay," a GAO official would
say . Only, of course, for free.
The militarization (or, thought of another way, the commercialization) of the police has
been remarkably on pace these last 23 years, while the Pentagon's
ever-soaring budgets for its ever-sinking wars could be thought of as the great American
commercial success story of this century. With more and more taxpayer dollars in its
wallet, it's been on a remarkable looting spree. Ask yourself: has there been a weapons
system it couldn't have, a military base it couldn't establish, a war expense Congress
wouldn't fund even while cutting back on crucial aspects of the domestic budget like
infrastructure
programs or
disease-prevention spending ? No wonder the Pentagon could supply all those police
departments with a cornucopia of goods with which to turn themselves into over-armed
occupying forces in this country.
It's never thought of that way, but the Pentagon and the police have essentially been
looting the coffers of the American taxpayer for a long time now and, in the Trump era, the
process has only intensified .
Nonetheless, as Bacevich points out, even with protests over racism filling the streets of
America, protests over defunding the Pentagon have yet to surface in any significant way.
Perhaps it's finally time. ~ Tom
Martin Luther King's Giant Triplets
By Andrew Bacevich
In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans are finally – or is it
once again? – confronting the racism that afflicts this country and extends into just
about every corner of our national life. Something fundamental just might be happening.
Yet to state the obvious, we've been
here before. Mass protests in response to racial inequality and discrimination, including
police brutality, have been anything but unknown in the United States. Much the same can be
said of riots targeting black Americans, fomented and exploited by white racists, often
actively or passively abetted by local law enforcement officials. If Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin,
formerly known as H. Rap Brown, was correct in calling violence "as American as
cherry pie," then race-related urban unrest is the apple-filled equivalent.
The optimists among us believe
that "this time is different." I hope events will prove them right. Yet recalling
expectations that Barack Obama's election in 2008 signaled the dawn of a " post-racial America
," I see no reason to expect it to be so. A yawning gap, I fear, separates hope from
reality.
Let me suggest, however, that the nation's current preoccupation with race, as honorable
and necessary as it may be, falls well short of adequately responding to the situation
confronting Americans as they enter the third decade of the twenty-first century. Racism is a
massive problem, but hardly our only one. Indeed, as Martin Luther King sought to remind us
many years ago, there are at least two others of comparable magnitude.
MLK Defines the Problem
In April 1967, at New York City's Riverside Church, Dr. King delivered a sermon that
offered a profound diagnosis of the illnesses afflicting the nation. His analysis remains as
timely today as it was then, perhaps more so.
Americans remember King primarily as a great civil rights leader and indeed he was that.
In his Riverside Church address, however, he turned to matters that went far beyond race. In
an immediate sense, his focus was the ongoing Vietnam War, which he denounced as "madness"
that "must cease." Yet King also used the occasion to summon the nation to "undergo a radical
revolution of values" that would transform the United States "from a thing-oriented society
to a person-oriented society." Only through such a revolution, he declared, would we be able
to overcome "the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism."
The challenge confronting Americans was to dismantle what King referred to as the
"edifice" that produced and sustained each of those giant triplets. Today's protesters,
crusading journalists, and engaged intellectuals make no bones about their determination to
eliminate the first of those giant triplets. Yet they generally treat the other two as, at
best, mere afterthoughts, while the edifice itself, resting on a perverse understanding of
freedom, goes almost entirely ignored.
I'm not suggesting that members of the grand coalition of Americans today fervently
campaigning against racism favor extreme materialism. Many of them merely accept its reality
and move on. Nor am I suggesting that they consciously endorse militarism, although in
confusing "support" for the troops with genuine patriotism some of them do so implicitly.
What I am suggesting is that those calling for fundamental change will go badly astray if
they ignore Dr. King's insistence that each of the giant triplets is intimately tied to the
other two.
Defund the Pentagon?
The protests triggered by the recent murders of George Floyd and other black Americans
have produced widespread demands to "defund the police." Those demands don't come out of
nowhere. While "reform" programs undertaken in innumerable American cities over the course of
many years have demonstrably
enhanced police firepower , they have done little, if anything, to repair relations
between police departments and communities of color.
As an aging middle-class white male, I don't fear cops. I respect the fact that theirs is
a tough job, which I would not want. Yet I realize that my attitude is one more expression of
white privilege, which black men, regardless of their age and economic status, can ill afford
to indulge. So I fully accept the need for radical changes in policing – that's what
"defund" appears to imply – if American cities are ever to have law enforcement
agencies that are effective, humane, and themselves law-abiding.
What I can't fathom is why a similar logic doesn't apply to the armed forces that we
employ to police huge chunks of the world beyond our borders. If Americans have reason to
question the nation's increasingly
militarized approach to law enforcement, then shouldn't they have equal reason to
question this country's thoroughly militarized approach to statecraft?
Consider this: on an annual basis, police officers in the United States kill approximately
1,000 Americans , with blacks
two-and-a-half times more likely than whites to be victimized. Those are appalling
figures, indicative of basic policy gone fundamentally awry. So the outpouring of protest
over the police and demands for change are understandable and justified.
Still, the question must be asked: Why have the nation's post-9/11 wars not prompted
similar expressions of outrage? The unjustified killing of black Americans rightly finds
thousands upon thousands of protesters flooding the streets of major cities. Yet the
loss of thousands of
American soldiers and the physical and psychological wounds sustained by tens of thousands
more in foolhardy wars elicits, at best, shrugs. Throw in the hundreds of
thousands of non-American lives taken in those military campaigns and the
trillions of taxpayer dollars they have consumed and you have a catastrophe that easily
exceeds in scale the myriad race-related protests and riots that have roiled American cities
in the recent past.
With their eyes fixed on elections that are now just months away, politicians of all
stripes spare no effort to show that they "get it" on the issue of race and policing. Race
may well play a large role in determining who wins the White House this November and which
party controls Congress. It should. Yet while the election's final outcome may be uncertain,
this much is not: neither the American
propensity for war, nor the
bloated size of the Pentagon budget, nor the dubious habit of maintaining a sprawling
network of military bases across much of the planet will receive serious scrutiny during
the political season now underway. Militarism will escape unscathed.
At Riverside Church, King described the U.S. government as "the greatest purveyor of
violence in the world today." So it unquestionably remains, perpetrating immeasurably more
violence than any other great power and with remarkably little to show in return. Why, then,
except on the easily ignored fringes of American politics, are there no demands to "defund"
the Pentagon?
King considered the Vietnam War an abomination. At that time, more than a few Americans
agreed with him and vigorously demonstrated against the conflict's continuation. That today's
demonstrators have seemingly chosen to file away our post-9/11 military misadventures under
the heading of regrettable but forgettable is itself an abomination. While their sensitivity
to racism is admirable, their indifference to war is nothing short of disheartening.
In 1967, Dr. King warned that "a nation that continues year after year to spend more money
on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." During
the intervening decades, his charge has lost none of its sting or aptness.
America's National Signature
Given their size and duration, the protests occurring in the wake of the murder of George
Floyd have been remarkably peaceful. That said, some of them did, early on, include rioters
who resorted to looting. Smashing windows and ransacking stores, they walked off not with
milk and bread for the hungry, but with shopping bags filled with
high-end swag – designer shoes and sneakers, purses, clothing, and jewelry lifted
from
stores like Prada and Alexander McQueen. Also stolen were smart phones,
handguns , even automobiles . In-store
surveillance systems recorded
scenes reminiscent of Black Friday doorbuster sales, though without anyone bothering to
pass through a checkout counter. Some looters quickly attempted to monetize their hauls by
offering to sell purloined items online.
Certain right-wing commentators wasted no time in using the looting to tar the protest
movement as little more than an expression of nihilism. Tucker Carlson of Fox News was
particularly
emphatic on this point. Americans taking to the streets in response to George Floyd's
murder, he said, "reject society itself."
"Reason and process and precedent mean nothing to them. They use violence to get what they
want immediately. People like this don't bother to work. They don't volunteer or pay taxes to
help other people. They live for themselves. They do exactly what they feel like doing On
television, hour by hour, we watch these people – criminal mobs – destroy what
the rest of us have built "
To explain such selfish and destructive misconduct, Carlson had an answer readily at
hand:
"The ideologues will tell you that the problem is race relations, or capitalism, or police
brutality, or global warming. But only on the surface. The real cause is deeper than that and
it's far darker. What you're watching is the ancient battle between those who have a stake in
society, and would like to preserve it, and those who don't, and seek to destroy it.
This is vile, hateful stuff, and entirely wrong – except perhaps on one point. In
attributing the looting to a deeper cause, Carlson was onto something, even if his effort to
pinpoint that cause was wildly off the mark.
I won't try to unravel the specific motives of those who saw an opportunity in the
protests against racism to help themselves to goods that were not theirs. How much was
righteous anger turned to rage and how much cynical opportunism is beyond my ability to
know.
This much, however, can be said for certain: the grab-all-you-can-get impulse so vividly
on display was as all-American as fireworks on the Fourth of July. Those looters, after all,
merely wanted more stuff. What could be more American than that? In this country, after all,
stuff carries with it the possibility of personal fulfillment, of achieving some version of
happiness or status.
The looters that Tucker Carlson targeted with his ire were doing anything but "rejecting
society itself." They were merely helping themselves to what this society today has on offer
for those with sufficient cash and credit cards in their wallets. In a sense, they were
treating themselves to a tiny sip of what passes these days for the American Dream.
With the exception of cloistered nuns, hippies, and other vanishing breeds, virtually all
Americans have been conditioned to buy into the proposition that stuff correlates with the
good life. Unconvinced? Check out the videos from last year's Black Friday and then consider
the intense, if unsurprising, interest of economists and journalists in tracking the
latest
consumer spending trends . At least until Covid-19 came along, consumer spending served
as the authoritative measure of the nation's overall health.
The primary civic obligation of US citizens today is not to vote or pay taxes. And it's
certainly not to defend the country, a task offloaded onto those who can be enticed to enlist
(with minorities vastly
overrepresented ) in the so-called All-Volunteer Military. No, the primary obligation of
citizenship is to spend.
Ours is not a nation of mystics, philosophers, poets, artisans, or Thomas Jefferson's
yeomen farmers. We are now a nation of citizen-consumers, held in thrall to the extreme
materialism that Dr. King decried. This, not a commitment to liberty or democracy, has become
our true national signature and our chief contribution to late modernity.
Tearing Down the Edifice
At Riverside Church, King reminded his listeners that the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, which he had helped to found a decade earlier, had chosen this as its motto: "To
save the soul of America." The soul of a nation corrupted by racism, militarism, and extreme
materialism represented King's ultimate concern. Vietnam, he said, was "but a symptom of a
far deeper malady within the American spirit."
In a tone-deaf
editorial criticizing his Riverside Church sermon, the New York Times chastised
King for "fusing two public problems" – racism and the Vietnam War – "that are
distinct and separate." Yet part of King's genius lay in his ability to recognize the
interconnectedness of matters that Times editors, as oblivious to deeper maladies then
as they are today, wish to keep separate. King sought to tear down the edifice that sustained
all three of those giant triplets. Indeed, it is all but certain that, were he alive now, he
would call similar attention to a fourth related factor: climate change denial. The refusal
to treat seriously the threat posed by climate change underwrites the persistence of racism,
militarism, and extreme materialism.
During the course of his sermon, King quoted this sentence from the statement of a group
that called itself the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam: "A time comes when silence
is betrayal." Regarding race, it appears that the
great majority of Americans have now rejected such silence. This is good. It remains an
open question, however, when their silent acceptance of militarism, materialism, and the
abuse of Planet Earth will end.
"... You can fool someone for a long time, you can fool a lot of people for a short time - but you can't fool a lot of people for a long time. That is, unless those people are willing to live the lie. ..."
"... I think the reason the MSM's propaganda is so effective nowadays (and I'm thinking specifically about the world since the Iraq invasion in 2003) is that, deep down, maybe in the collective inconsciousness level, the working classes from the First World countries know their superior living standards depend on imperial brutality over the rest of the world. ..."
"... The current increased smear campaigns against the so called Russian Bots, Assad Apologists etc., is surely just the first part of of a an attempt to implement very serious censorship and control over the internet to attempt to completely block out any alternative voices. ..."
"... Obivously western intelligence servies, NATO leak stuff to western msm to intimidate and censor political oppostion in every western country. ..."
"... Orwell's great fear was totalitarianism. Either from the left or the right. What we have now is much more subtle. The MSM retains the illusion of freedom and most people go along with it. We may even realize we are being manipulated but the only alternative is posting on sites like MOA. ..."
"... The Skirpal charade was a front for several things but mainly, I think, to turn the focus away from Brexit and to opening the Cold War front again. ..."
"... George Orwell has been a presence throughout this thread. It was unfortunate he was hurried by MI6 to finish the last pages of 'Animal Farm' so it could be translated into Arabic and be used to discredit Communist parties in Western Asia. This always raised the ire of Communist organisations through following decades .This being said he wrote some great text especially for me the revealing 1939 novel - Coming up for A ..."
"... I don't know if wars are really an extension of diplomacy by other means, but they certainly seem to be... an extension of ideology and propaganda. Ideas are very important in preparing and fighting wars; especially today, though, in reality the way we think about our western imperial war-fighting, goes back well over a century, back to the Whiteman's Burden and other imperialist myths. ..."
"... For the last thirty years we've essentially been fighting 'liberal crusades for freedom and democracy.' That, at least, was the 'cover story' the pretext presented to the people. There's an irony here. Just like Islamic State, we've been engaging in 'holy warfare' too! ..."
Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in
Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the
facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles
reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been
killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who
had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers
in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over
events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what
happened but of what ought to have happened according to various 'party lines'.
George Orwell, Looking back on the Spanish War
, Chapter 4
Last week saw an extreme intensifying of the warmongers' campaign against individuals who
publicly hold and defend a different view than the powers-that-be want to promote. The campaign
has a longer history but recently turned personal. It now endangers the life and livelihood of
real people.
In fall 2016 a
smear campaign was launched against 200 websites which did not confirm to NATO propaganda.
Prominent sites like Naked
Capitalism were among them as well as this site:
While the ProPornOT campaign was against websites the next and larger attack was a
general defaming of specific content.
The neoconservative Alliance For
Securing Democracy declared that any doubt of the veracity of U.S. propaganda stories
discussed on Twitter was part of a "Russian influence campaign". Their ' dashboard ' shows the most prominent hashtags and
themes tweeted and retweeted by some 600 hand-selected but undisclosed accounts. (I have reason
to believe that @MoonofA is among them.) The dashboard gave rise to an endless line of
main-stream stories faking concern over alleged "Russian influence". The New York
Times published several such stories including this
recent one :
Russia did not respond militarily to the Friday strike, but American officials noted a sharp
spike in Russian online activity around the time it was launched.
A snapshot on Friday night recorded a 2,000 percent increase in Russian troll activity
overall, according to Tyler Q. Houlton, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.
One known Russian bot, #SyriaStrikes, had a 4,443 percent increase in activity while another,
#Damsucs, saw a 2,800 percent jump, Mr. Houlton said.
A person on Twitter, or a bot, is tagged by a chosen name led with an @-sign. Anything led
with a #-sign is a 'hashtag', a categorizing attribute of a place, text or tweet. Hashtags have
nothing to do with any "troll activity". The use of the attribute or hashtag #syriastrike
increased dramatically when a U.S. strike on Syria happened. Duh. A lot of people remarked on the
strikes and used the hashtag #syriastrike to categorize their remarks. It made it easier for
others to find information about the incident.
The hashtag #Damsucs does not exit. How could it have a 2,800% increase? It is obviously a
mistyping of #Damascus or someone may have used as a joke. In June 2013 an Associated
Press story famously
carried the dateline "Damsucs". The city was then under artillery attack from various Takfiri
groups. The author likely felt that the situation sucked.
The spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security Tyler Q. Holton, to which the
Times attributes the "bot" nonsense, has a Twitter account under his name and also tweets as
@SpoxDHS. Peter Baker, the NYT author, has some 150,000 followers on Twitter and tweets several
times per day. Holton and Tyler surely know what @accounts and #hashtags are.
One suspects that Holton used the bizzare
statistic of the infamous ' Dashboard '
created by the neoconservative, anti-Russian lobby . The dashboard creators asserted that the
use of certain hashtags is a sign of 'Russian bots'. On December 25 the dashboard showed that
Russian trolls and bots made extensive use of the hashtag #MerryChristmas to undermine America's
moral.
One of the creators of the dashboard, Clint Watts, has since confessed that it is mere
bullshit :
"I'm not convinced on this bot thing," said Watts, the cofounder of a project that is widely
cited as the main, if not only, source of information on Russian bots. He also called the
narrative "overdone."
As government spokesperson Holton is supposed to spout propaganda that supports the
government's policies. But propaganda is ineffective when it does not adhere to basic realities.
Holton is bad at his job. Baker, the NYT author, did even worse. He repeated the
government's propaganda bullshit without pointing out and explaining that it obviously did not
make any sense. He used it to further his own opinionated, false narrative. It took a day for the
Times to issue a paritial correction of the fact free tale.
With the situation in Syria developing in favor of the Syrian people, with dubious government
claims around the Skripal affair in Salisbury and the recent faked 'chemical attack' in Douma the
campaign against dissenting reports and opinions became more and more personal.
Last December the Guardian commissioned a hatchet
job against Vanessa Beeley
and Eva Bartlett . Beeley and
Bartlett extensively reported
(vid) from the ground in Syria on the British propaganda racket "White Helmets". The
Guardian piece defended the 'heros' of the White Helmets and insinuated that both
journalists were Russian paid stooges.
In March the self proclaimed whistle-blower and blowhard Sibel Edmonds of Newsbud
launched a lunatic broadside smear attack
(vid) against Vanessa Beeley and Eva Bartlett. The Corbett Report debunked (vid) the nonsense. (The debunking
received 59,000 views. Edmonds public wanking was seen by less than 23,000 people.)
Some time ago the CIA propaganda outlets Voice of America and Radio Free Europe
started a 'fact-checking' website and named it Polygraph.info . (Some satirist or a clueless intern
must have come up with that name. No country but the U.S. believes that the unscientific results
of polygraph tests have any relation to truthfulness. To any educated non-U.S. citizen the first
association with the term 'polygraph' is the term 'fake'.)
Ben Nimmo, the Senior Fellow for Information Defense at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic
Research Lab, studies the exploits of "Ian56" and similar accounts on Twitter. His recent
article in the online publication Medium profiles such fake pro-Kremlin accounts and
demonstrates how they operate.
...
Nimmo, and several other dimwits quoted in the piece, came to the conclusion that Ian56 is a
Kremlin paid troll, not a real person. Next to Ian56 Nimmo 'identified' other 'Russian troll'
accounts:
One particularly influential retweeter (judging by the number of accounts which then
retweeted it) was @ValLisitsa, which posts in English and Russian. Last year, this account
joined the troll-factory #StopMorganLie campaign.
Had Nimmo, a former NATO spokesperson, had some decent education he would have know that
@ValLisitsa, aka Valentina Lisitsa , is a famous
American-Ukrainian pianist. Yes, she sometimes tweets in Russian language to her many fans in
Russia and the Ukraine. Is that now a crime? The videos of her world wide performances
on Youtube have more than 170 million views. It is absurd to claim that she is a 'Russian troll'
and to insinuate that she is taking Kremlin money to push 'Russian troll' opinions.
Earlier this month Newsweek also
targeted the journalists Beeley and Bartlett and smeared a group of people who had traveled
to Syria as 'Assad's pawns'.
On April 14 Murdoch's London Times took personal aim at the members of a group of
British academics who assembled to scientificly investigate dubious claims against Syria. Their
first investigation report though, was
about the Skripal incident in Salisbury. The London Times also targeted Bartlett and
Beeley. The piece was leading on page one with the
headline: "Apologists for Assad working in universities". A page two splash and an editorial
complemented the full fledged attack on the livelihood of the scientists.
Tim Hayward, who initiated the academic group, published
a (too) mild response.
On April 18 the NPR station Wabenews
smeared the black activists Anoa Changa and Eugene Puryear for appearing on a Russian TV
station. It was the begin of an ongoing, well concerted campaign launched with at least seven
prominent smear pieces issued on a single day against the opposition to a wider war on Syria.
On April 19 the BBCtook aim at Sarah Abdallah , a Twitter account with over 130,000
followers that takes a generally pro Syrian government stand. The piece also attacked Vanessa
Beeley and defended the 'White Helmets':
In addition to pictures of herself, Sarah Abdallah tweets constant pro-Russia and pro-Assad
messages, with a dollop of retweeting mostly aimed at attacking Barack Obama, other US
Democrats and Saudi Arabia.
...
The Sarah Abdallah account is, according to a recent study by the online research firm
Graphika, one of the most influential social media accounts in the online conversation about
Syria, and specifically in pushing misinformation about a 2017 chemical weapons attack and the
Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are widely known as the "White Helmets".
...
Graphika was commissioned to prepare a report on online chatter by The Syria Campaign , a
UK-based advocacy group organisation which campaigns for a democratic future for Syria and
supports the White Helmets.
The Syria Campaign Ltd. is a
for profit 'regime change' lobby which, like the White Helmets it promotes, is sponsored with
millions of British and U.S. taxpayer money.
Brian Whitaker, a former Middle East editor for the Guardian ,
alleged that Sarah Abdullah has a 'Hizbullah connection'. He assumes that from two terms she
used which point to a southern Lebanese heritage. But south Lebanon is by far not solely
Hizbullah and Sarah Abdallah certainly does not dress herself like a pious Shia. She is
more likely a Maronite or secular whatever. Exposing here as 'Hizbullah' can easily endanger her
life. Replying to Whitaker the British politician George Galloway asked:
George Galloway @georgegalloway - 14:50 UTC - Replying to
@Brian_Whit
Will you be content when she's dead Brian?
...
Will you be content Brian when ISIS cut off her head and eat her heart? You are beneath
contempt. Even for a former Guardian man
Whitaker's smear piece was not even researched by himself. He plagiarized it, without naming
his source,
from Joumana Gebara, a CentCom approved Social Media
Advisor to parts of the Syrian 'opposition'. Whitaker is prone to fall for scams like the 'White
Helmets'. Back in mid 2011 he promoted the "Gay Girl in
Damascus", a scam by a 40 year old U.S. man with dubious financial
sources who pretended to be a progressive Syrian woman.
Also on April 19 the Guardian
stenographed a British government smear against two other prominent Twitter accounts:
Russia used trolls and bots to unleash disinformation on to social media in the wake of the
Salisbury poisoning, according to fresh Whitehall analysis. Government sources said experts had
uncovered an increase of up to 4,000% in the spread of propaganda from Russia-based accounts
since the attack, – many of which were identifiable as automated bots.
Notice that this idiotic % increase claim, without giving a base number, is similar to the one
made in the New York Times piece quoted above. It is likely also based on the lunatic
'dashboard'.
[C]ivil servants identified a sharp increase in the flow of fake news after the Salisbury
poisoning, which continued in the runup to the airstrikes on Syria.
One bot, @Ian56789, was sending 100 posts a day during a 12-day period from 7 April, and
reached 23 million users, before the account was suspended. It focused on claims that the
chemical weapons attack on Douma had been falsified, using the hashtag #falseflag. Another,
@Partisangirl, reached 61 million users with 2,300 posts over the same 12-day period.
The prime minister discussed the matter at a security briefing with fellow Commonwealth
leaders Malcolm Turnbull, Jacinda Ardern and Justin Trudeau earlier this week. They were
briefed by experts from GCHQ and the National Cyber Security Centre about the security
situation in the aftermath of the Syrian airstrikes.
The political editor of the Guardian , Heather Steward, admitted that her 'reporting'
was a mere copy of government claims:
A day earlier Ian56/@Ian56789 account with 35,000 followers had suddenly been blocked by
Twitter. Ben Nimmo was extremely happy about this success.
But after many users protested to the Twitter censors the account was revived.
Neither Ian, nor Partisangirl, are 'bots' or have anything to do with Russia. Partisangirl,
aka Syria Girl, is the twitter moniker of Maram Susli, a Syrian-Australian scientist specialized
in quantum chemistry. She was already interviewed on Australian TV (vid) four years
ago and has been back since. She has published videos of herself talking about Syria on Youtube and on Twitter and held
presentations on Syria at several international conferences. Her account is marked as 'verified'
by Twitter. Any cursory search would have shown that she is a real person.
The claim of bots and the numbers of their tweets the government gave to the Guardian
and Sky News are evidently false . With just a few clicks
the Guardian and Sky News 'journalists' could have debunked the British government
claims. But these stenograhers do not even try and just run with whatever nonsense the government
claims. Sky News even manipulated the picture of Partisangirl's Twitter homepage in the
video and screenshot above. The original shows Maram Susli speaking about Syrian refugees at a
conference in Germany. The picture provides that she is evidently a living person and not a
'bot'. But Sky News did not dare to show that. It would have debunked the government's
claim.
After some negative feed back on social media Sky News contacted the 'Russian bot' Ian
and invited him to a live interview
(vid). Ian Shilling, a wakeful British pensioner, managed to deliver a few zingers against the
government and Sky News . He also published a
written response:
I have been campaigning against the Neocons and the Neocon Wars since January 2002, when I
first realised Dick Cheney and the PNAC crowd were going to use 9/11 as the pretext to launch a
disastrous invasion of Iraq. This has nothing to do with Russia. It has EVERYTHING to do with
the massive lies constantly told by the UK & US governments about their illegal Wars of
Aggression.
...
Brian Whitaker could not hold back. Within the 156,000 tweets Ian wrote over seven years
Whitaker found one(!)
with a murky theory (not a denial) about the Holocaust. He alleged that Ian believes in
'conspiracy theories'. Whitaker then linked to and discussed one Conspirador Norteño who
peddles 'Russian bots' conspiracy theories. Presumably Whitaker did not get the consp-irony of
doing such.
On the same day as the other reports the British version of the Huffington Post
joined the Times in its earlier smear against British academics, accusing Professor
Hayward and Professor Piers Robinson of "whitewashing war crimes". They have done no such thing.
Vanessa Beeley was additionally attacked.
Also on the 19th the London Times aimed at another target. Citizen Halo , a well known Finnish grandma, was declared to be a
'Russian troll' based on Ben Nimmo's pseudo-scientific trash, for not believing in the Skripal
tale and the faked 'chemical attack' in Syria. The Times doubted her nationality and
existence by using quotes around her as a "Finnish activist".
Meanwhile the defense editor of the Times , Deborah Haynes, is stalking Valentina Lisitsa on
Twitter. A fresh smear-piece against the pianist is surely in the works.
The obviously organized campaign against critical thinking in Britain extended beyond the
Atlantic. While the BBC , Guardian, HuffPo, Times and Sky News published
smear pieces depicting dissenting people as 'Russian bots', the Intercept pushed a piece
by Mehdi Hasan bashing an amorphous 'left' for rejecting a U.S. war on Syria:
Dear Bashar al-Assad Apologists: Your Hero Is a War Criminal Even If He Didn't Gas Syrians
.
Mehdi Hasan is of course eminently qualified to write such a piece. Until recently he worked
for Al Jazeerah , the media outlet of the Wahhabi dictatorship of Qatar which supports the
Qatari sponsored al-Qaeda in its war against Syria. The Mehdi Hasan's piece repeats every false
and debunked claim that has been raised against the Syrian government as evidence for the Syrian
president's viciousness. Naturally many of the links he provides point back to Al
Jazeerah's propaganda. A few years ago Mehdi Hasan tried to get a job with the conservative
British tabloid Daily Mail . The Mail did not want him. During a later TV discussion Hasan
slammed the Daily Mail for its reporting and conservative editorial position. The paper
responded by
publishing his old job application. In it Mehdi Hasan emphasized his own conservative
believes:
I am also attracted by the Mail's social conservatism on issues like marriage, the family,
abortion and teenage pregnancies.
A conservative war-on-Syria promoter is bashing an anonymous 'left' which he falsely accuses
of supporting Assad when it takes a stand against imperial wars. Is that a 'progressive' Muslim
Brotherhood position? (Added: Stephen Gowans and Kurt Nimmo
respond to Hasan's screed.)
On the same day Sonali Kolhatkar at Truthdig , as pseudo-progressive as the
Intercept , published a quite similar piece: Why
Are Some on the Left Falling for Fake News on Syria? . She bashes the 'left' - without citing
any example - for not falling for the recent scam of the 'chemical attack' in Douma and for
distrusting the U.S./UK government paid White Helmets. The comments against the piece are
lively.
Those working in the media are up in arms over alleged fake news and they lament the loss of
paying readership. But they have only themselves to blame. They are the biggest creators of fake
news and provider of government falsehood. Their attacks on critical readers and commentators are
despicable.
Until two years ago Hala Jabar was foreign correspondent in the Middle East for the Sunday
Times . After fourteen years with the paper and winning six awards for her work she was 'made
redundant' for her objective reporting on Syria. She remarks on the recent media push against
truth about Syria and the very personal attacks against non-conformist opinions:
In my entire career, spanning more than three decades of professional journalism, I have
never seen MSM resolve to such ugly smear campaigns & hit pieces against those questioning
mainstream narratives, with a different view point, as I have seen on Syria, recently.
.2/ This is a dangerous manoeuvre , a witch hunt in fact, aimed not only at character
assassination, but at attempting to silence those who think differently or even sway from
mainstream & state narrative.
.3/ It would have been more productive, to actually question the reason why more & more
people are indeed turning to alternative voices for information & news, than to dish out ad
hominem smears aimed at intimidating by labelling alternative voices as conspirators or
apologists.
.4/ The journalists, activists, professors & citizens under attack are presenting an
alternative view point. Surely, people are entitled to hear those and are intelligent enough to
make their own judgments.
.5/ Or is there an assumption, (patronizing, if so), that the tens of thousands of people
collectively following these alternative voices are too dumb & unintelligent to reach their
own conclusions by sifting through the mass information being dished at them daily from all
sides?
.6/ Like it or hate it, agree or disagree with them, the bottom line is that the people
under attack do present an alternative view point. Least we forget, no one has a monopoly on
truth. Are all those currently launching this witch hunt suggesting they do?
The governments and media would like to handle the war on Syria like they handled the war in
Spain. They want reports without "any relation to the facts". The media want to "retail the lies"
and eager propagandists want to "build emotional superstructures over events that never
happened."
The new communication networks allow everyone to follow the war on Syria as diligently as
George Orwell followed the war in Spain in which he took part. We no longer have to travel to see
the differences of what really happens and what gets reported in the main stream press. We can
debunk false government claims with freely available knowledge.
The governments, media and their stenographers would love to go back to the old times when
they were not plagued by reports and tweets from Eva, Vanessa, Ian, Maram and Sarah or by
blogposts like this one. The vicious campaign against any dissenting report or opinion is a sorry
attempt to go back in time and to again gain the monopoly on 'truth'.
It is on us to not let them succeed.
Posted by b on April 21, 2018 at 23:02 UTC |
Permalink
next page " Excellent.
The good news about both The Intercept and Truthdig pieces is that the comments quickly showed
that readers knew what the publishers were up to.
The Intercept seemed to have removed Hasan's obscene act of prostitution within a day.
The reality is that we simply have to expect the imperialists, now reduced to propaganda and
domestic repression, to act in this way: there is no point in attempting to shame them and they
never did believe in journalistic principles or standards or ethics. They are the scum who
serve a cannibalistic system for good wages and a comfortable life style- that is what the
'middle class' always did do and always will.
No longer is it possible to control TV, Radio and printed newspapers and use them to set the
message. There are now an almost infinite set of channels including youtube, twitter, blogs,
podcasts,streamed radio... It's like there is a public bitcoin/bitnewsledger where new
information only gets written into the ledger if it is authenicated by sufficient
endorsements.
In the past, a lie could travel around the world before the truth got its shoes on (Mark Twain
I believe) but the truth is catching up. We are in the midst of the great changeover where
older people still rely on traditional information channels yet younger internet enabled
peoplecan leverage the new channels more effectively to educate themselves.
Western propagandists are freaking out because nobody believes their lies anymore. The more
they freak out, the more we know they have lost the narrative.
I just fear for the safety of these independent journalists. It is not beneath the deep
state to assassinate their enemies. These people need to be very careful.
For deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that
dramatically furthered the nation's understanding of Russian interference in the 2016
presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect's
transition team and his eventual administration. (The New York Times entry, submitted in this
category, was moved into contention by the Board and then jointly awarded the Prize.)
The hysterical, side-splitting laughter over this chicken-choking, circle-jerking drivel
will echo in eternity. Galactic stupidity simply doesn't get any more cosmic, except perhaps
awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger and Barack Obama.
This is a fight between Deep States of the Rothschild-UK 'Octopus,' US-centric
Rockefeller-Kochs, Russian (itself split between competing and intertwined Anglo-American
clans/Eurasianists vs Altanticists) and China (also divided between sovereignty oriented
Shanghai and Rothschild affiliated Hong Kong which was founded upon the opium trade in
cooperation with the UK-Octopus).
The main point of contention is whether we have a hard or soft landing as the New World
Order is born, with the UK-Octopus needing to instigate an epic crisis so as to bury countless
trillions of worthless derivatives it sits upon, specifically seeking to collapse the USD as a
global fiat and use the ensiung chaos to assist the Chinese as they establish an unasailable
Yuan fiat. A war with Russia will bring the US-centric Deep State to it's knees and so this
forms the basis of the not-so secret alliance between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, while
China attempts to remain neutral since Xi prefers a smooth transition since the US-centric
group may well launch a nuclear false flag attack on the Korean peninsula, thus irradiating the
region and dooming the potential for a Chinese dominated century, should the interests of yhis
group be ignored.
All gloves are off and the dispostions of various players are suddenly crystal clear after
the firing of Octopus agent Tillerson by Trump via twitter led immediately to the launching of
operation 'Novichok,' and was followed up with an attempted series of false flags in East
Ghouta which were planned so as to bring the US and Russia to war.
Other important players include the US military (itself divided between Octopus NATO and
US-centric Pentagon), the CIA, which is always on all sides of any conflict but was until
recently headed by Koch protege Mike Pompeo, as well as smaller Arab, Persian and Turkish Deep
States all jockeying for advantage and position. Even the Vatican is included and said to be
divided between Polish Cardinals on one side, with German, Italian and many Spanish speaking
Cardinals as opponents. There are other Deep States as well and in every instance they are
divided between one of the two main parties and themselves to one or another degree.
Media and social control is mainly the preserve of the UK Octopus, so as all of us have
understood for some time, anything included within it, from the NYTimes to most of Hollywood,
is completely worthless. Alternative media was created as an alternative to Octopus media,
while Trump takes to twitter so as to bypass their control.
I feel like a US voter forced to choose between Republicans and Democrats, but with the
promised 'Blue Wave' coming in November when Congressional elections are due, certain to be
impeached Donald Trump and his US-centric backers have a very short time frame in which to
change the score.
Ads also appeared on The Jimmy Dore Show channel, a far-left YouTube channel that peddles
conspiracy theories, such as the idea that Syrian chemical weapons attacks are hoaxes.
Syria is really the unifying theme in all these attacks.
I congratulate Bernhard on yet another excellent piece of investigative journalism. My comment
is not intended to criticise or take away from it, but only to point out that Orwell's quote
was taken out of context, in the sense that although he remarks on partisan propaganda, he says
that it is unimportant, since "the broad picture of the war which the Spanish Government
presented to the world was not untruthful. The main issues were what it said they were." On the
other hand, the lies of the pro-NATO press are important because unlike the partisan lies told
by leftist parties during the Spanish Civil War, today's NATO lies are the equivalent of the
official fascist propaganda of that time: they distort and hide the main issues. Here is the
full quote from the link that B has diligently provided:
I remember saying once to Arthur Koestler, 'History stopped in 1936', at which he nodded in
immediate understanding. We were both thinking of totalitarianism in general, but more
particularly of the Spanish civil war. Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever
correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports
which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an
ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete
silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as
cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of
imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager
intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in
fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened
according to various 'party lines'. Yet in a way, horrible as all this was, it was unimportant.
It concerned secondary issues -- namely, the struggle for power between the Comintern and the
Spanish left-wing parties, and the efforts of the Russian Government to prevent revolution in
Spain. But the broad picture of the war which the Spanish Government presented to the world was
not untruthful. The main issues were what it said they were. But as for the Fascists and their
backers, how could they come even as near to the truth as that? How could they possibly mention
their real aims? Their version of the war was pure fantasy, and in the circumstances it could
not have been otherwise.
As a given group loses its grip on power, it tends to employ ever more extreme tactics. This
explains the recent behavior of players like the US government, the UK government, the American
mainstream media and various think tanks. What other extreme behavior should we expect from
such a cabal? After all, they've already shown contempt for conditionally protected freedoms-
all of them- and a willingness to manufacture any narrative they want in order to further their
aims of conquest and profiteering. This whole mess could spiral out of control in countless
ways with terrifying consequences.
@15 Yes but I'm not sure how relevant Orwell's quote is to today. Do we even have a 'left-wing'
anymore? Or a Comintern for that matter? Even fascism wears a smiley face. Seems to me that
what we have is a tightly controlled MSM. That control may be slipping but we have yet to see a
replacement.
Those of us at MoA who are regulars may feel a certain level of complacency based on the level
of discourse here but I assure you that most Americans are still very much zombie followers of
whatever the TV and other media tell them. I believe that there is a strong possibility that MoA and like sites will become the focus
of paid narrative pushers and if that is not successful there are other ways to make b and our
lives difficult.
If b is ever knocked offline for some reason and needs help I encourage him to email his
readers with potential strategies to show/provide support. Thanks again and again for your web site b.
The first casualty of war is the truth.
Many Westerners would recognize this phrase but many of them don't understand that there
-IS- a war (the new Cold War). The longstanding law that prevented government propaganda in the US was revoked several
years ago.
U.S Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News to Americans
This type of tyranny has been going on forever in the US. Take A. Lincoln.
More than 14,000 civilians were arrested under martial law during the war throughout the
Union. Abraham Lincoln did so because they expressed views critical of Lincoln or his war. It's the same-o. Different faces same crap.
b- I am sorry to see their attacks on you, if things do go sideways please contact me if I can
be of help in any way.
Do you know what has happened to Tucker Carlson, he has been such a strong voice for truth that
I am concerned for him.
Stay strong and thank you for all you do in support of the truth.
Sure, there are more people that see the lies and bullshit for what they are. Still, seeing it
is not enough. What really matters now is to fully wipe out the mainstream media, to make it
completely extinct, and therefore seeing they're full of shit is only the prerequisite to
pondering how to actually bankrupt and destroy them. That's what everyone who's not fully on
board with the Western regimes' and bankers' propaganda should be thinking about. How to
convince people not only to stop buying their lies, but to stop buying them at all, how to cut
down the vast majority of their readership/viewers to the point they don't matter anymore.
Thank you b. This a very important subject. It wouldn't surprise me if a false flag happened
that would be aimed at censuring all alternative news. This might be centered around a
decoupling of east from west, perhaps when the current financial crisis explodes. Oh, has
anyone heard from Tucker Carlson lately?
You can fool someone for a long time, you can fool a lot of people for a short time - but you
can't fool a lot of people for a long time.
That is, unless those people are willing to live the lie.
I think the reason the MSM's propaganda is so effective nowadays (and I'm thinking
specifically about the world since the Iraq invasion in 2003) is that, deep down, maybe in the
collective inconsciousness level, the working classes from the First World countries know their
superior living standards depend on imperial brutality over the rest of the world. That's why,
for example, the USG and Downing Street haven't lost significant credibility domestically after
Iraq and after Libya. This is a dark social pact: people live the lies only to sleep well at
night and claim plausible deniability after; they only wish it to be over quickly and at the
least human cost from their side (every coffin that comes back to their community from the
Middle East is a crack in the illusion). They believe in Russiagate because, deep down, they
don't want to believe they were capable of electing someone like Trump and, mainly, because
they know their economies are failing, and the only solution is to invade other countries/prop
up the war industry.
Smearing people for appearing on RT! Americans who prattle on about freedom and democracy are
pressuring other not to do this or that which is to inhibit their freedom.
Don't they know it makes them look like dictators without portfolio?
Great article, b. I am a relative newcomer to MoA, having found it through Caitlin Johnstone
(Rogue Journalist), but in a short time, I have come to rely heavily on it for "hidden" news
and incisive analysis. Yes, independent news outlets are vital sources of truth, but their
reach is still tiny compared to that of the Empire and its toads in the media. The well
organized smear campaign against those who refuse to bow down is a frightening development
indeed.
Thanks b for your outstanding dissecting! The Information War is complex yet still remains
simple--all that's required is a critically thinking approach for any personally unconfirmed
sources and the data presented followed by the willingness to ask questions, no matter how
uncomfortable. Such a disciplined mind was once the paramount goal for those seeking wisdom,
but such pursuits are deemed passé, unrequired in the Digital Age. But Big Lie Media's
been working its evil for decades despite many calling out the lies. Funny how the two big
former communist nations are now more credible than the West and expressly seek honest and
open--Win-Win--relationships based on trust and equality. The Moral Table at play during Cold
War 1 is flipped with the Outlaw US Empire being the Evil Empire. And the Evil Empire can't
stand its own nakedness and its oozing social sores.
The liar is often agitated and nervous whereas one with the facts rests easy and remains
calm. In the run up to their summit, note how Trump is already agitated and nervous, already
prefacing his lies to come, whereas Kim is easy and calm, setting the table. Shrillness and
hysteria are the similar signs provided by media liars and is almost always fact-free, supposed
"sources" anonymous.
A magisterial piece of journalism, b. Congratulations, and thank you.
~~
Spain. Orwell. Fascism.
I was born decades after the Spanish Civil War, and to be very honest I never knew much
about it, nor have ever learned since. But Guernica I knew about, even
as a young teenager in school. The culture was shocked into remembering forever that there was
a lie involved with Guernica. That's all I ever really knew, was that Spain was a lie,
underneath which a massacre lay.
They say it was the humanitarian and artistic type of people who kept the truth of Spain
alive against the propaganda of the fascists. I don't know. I believe as I said the other day
that propaganda only works to crowd out the truth, so that people are not exposed to the truth.
But propaganda doesn't work in a battle against the truth, when people are exposed to both
sides of the story.
If you were running a scam based on fake news, and one day you had to make allegations using
this very term, and play your "fake news" card on the table in a round of betting that was
merely one round in a long game - if you did this, you'd be a bad card player, or one driven to
the corner and getting extremely close to leaving the table.
If your playing partner suddenly had to show the "false flag" card on the surface of the
table for the whole game to see - yet another secret hole card exposed and now worthless
forever - you could well think your game was finished. And it is - barring a few nasty
tricks...which will be recorded and placed into the game as IOU's.
Don't anybody be part of that collateral damage - be well. And instead, let's collect on
those IOU's. The game is almost over. Many people will appear to say that the players cannot be
beat. But they are with the losers. We are the players.
I wholeheartedly second your suggestion. I think the battle against the truth by the deep
States everywhere has only begun. They will not stop at smearing individual posters or
sites.
I do think we all need to start becoming more aware of alternatives, to YouTube (how's
DTube?), Twitter (gab?), Facebook, Google (several alternatives) etc. But that will not be
enough because I fear that in time the IP providers will come under pressure too - in all the
western countries, especially. And the domain providers 9we all know them), followed by blog
platforms such as WorldPress. I am not saying it's easy to curtail all of those, but they will
try, as sure as the sun sets in the West.
Of course, the biggest attacks will be mounted against anonymous commenters and posters.
That's already in the works at several outlets. The idea is of course that by stripping off
anonimity people will self-censor for fear of repercussions to their real life selves.
There are people working on alternative platforms of all sorts. I am somewhat hopeful about
user owned sites though these efforts are nascent. I hope commenters here will share what they
know of alternatives, even knowing this won't be an easy battle. After all, Twitter owes its
popularity to well, its popularity. Same with Facebook or Instagram or youTube. Therein lies
the rub - it won't be easy to wean users from these platforms as many start-ups found out. That
however should not mean that we shouldn't try. More and more Twitter users for example are
cross-posting on gab, and several youTubers started uploading also to Dtube. neither site is
ideal, I know. But neither was Twitter when it started.
The real aim of propaganda is to persuade the politicians and not the public. One man in their
middle wants to start a war and the media make sure that his or her fellow politicians will
hear no other story and make support the only possibility. That's why people like us have to be
vilified, so that all these politicians can invent an excuse for themselves and turn their head
away. What we think really doesn't matter because we are not the ones in control. They only
have to convince the Colin Powells and Frank Timmermans's.
The current increased smear campaigns against the so called Russian Bots, Assad Apologists
etc., is surely just the first part of of a an attempt to implement very serious censorship and
control over the internet to attempt to completely block out any alternative voices.
Amber Rudd
the UK Home Secretary has been banging on about Russian cyber attcks for the past couple of
months. Whilst based on the history of UK Government IT projects I couldn't expect the UK alone
to be capable of implementing any meaningful censorship scheme (they have a track record of
producing so many multi-billion pound national IT project disasters) but with the coordinated
help of the US and others they might just be able to put up enough censorship barriers to be
able to get back to their original plans (removing Assad and whatever else they have in mind).
False-flag chemical attacks haven't quite worked out to plan, but add in a false-flag cyber
attack that apparently disables some of the UK (and/or US/EU) vital services and that should be
enough for them to convince the plebs and sufficient MP's that it has become absolutely
necessary to block Russain and other media and internet sites and force the owners of many
social media channels to disable long lists of people with alternative views.
Prop or Not is NOT a 'friendly neighbourhood' anything. It was exposed a while ago as being a
joint state propaganda project between the CIA and West Ukraine, with the goal of spreading
anti-Russia disinformation, and employing the collusion of some no-integrity US propaganda rags
like The Daily Beast.
My question is their motivation and timing. Why does the rhetoric seem to increase after
the latest attack? Why care if 10% of the population doesn't follow their narrative now? Are
they preparing for a new round of kinetic action? Or do they simply believe their management of
the narrative needs more investment?
If people are going to rely on social media feeds for anything other than information on what
their friends and family are up to, then they are opening themselves up to being manipulated
easily and with a minimum of actual effort.
You no longer need to own a newspaper or a broadcast network to do so.
Ultimately people with a concience and some integrity will realize that something is awry. I'm
no spring chicken and have been on the net for nearly 20 years. There are more ' old ' people
surfing the net than initially may be apparent. As life passes by people become much more
attuned to bullsh*t. T. May's husband is on the board of a large British Armaments company. No
doubt her ministers are all in on many scams. She is a very mediocre character, a fool as her
time as home secretary demonstrated and was only voted in place so as to do the bidding of
others. And in my opinion, when I say others I mean she is the western harlot who jumps when
anyone pulls her string. They say that if you tell a lie often enough people believe it to be
the truth. Not necessarily. There are so many holes in the Skripal and Syrian stories that only
someone who doesn't want to have their view challenged will believe them. The stories are
falling apart and as they do, so does the credibility and trust of the western MSM and Politik.
The reason the Germans and others refused to join in, is I suspect, they realize that in part,
because once that is lost, it takes a great deal more to recover it. The Skripal case and the
latest Syrian faked gas attack is the start of the end for T. May and her govt.
Good comments, especially psychohistorian about being prepared to jump to alternative platforms
... Perhaps Russian ones?
What I was referencing in comment 5 is this relatively new desire by the 'powers that be'
for purity, for absolutely no one from 'our side' dissenting against the mainstream (and
completely bonkers in its anti-Russian extremism) narrative. This is not like the pre-digital
age, when small-circulation real leftist publications were not subject to mainstream and
official government extermination campaigns. And I don't think this is simply because of
digital age reach, because the readership for the real alternative media's left/anti-imperial
perspective doesn't engage enough people to be meaningful in terms of power and elections. At
least in the US; less certain about elsewhere.
There's something angry, extreme, and extremely insecure about the psychology of the Western
ruling class right now. My bet is that because of that insecurity they won't be so dangerous to
Russia/China in the years to come, but instead the anger will be directed at internal
left/anti-militarist dissenters. For some reason our reality bugs the sh!t out of them despite
our small numbers.
Until recently I used to read articles at both The Intercept and at Truthdig, but have since
realized both of these 'news' outlets actively censor posts that are too accurate, too
insightful of what the US government and MSM are doing in Syria and how they are manipulating
public opinion with the White Helmets, staged false gas attacks, etc. I don't trust Pierre
Omidyar, the philanthropist behind The Intercept, he has questionable political alliances. I
have had many of my posts at both Truthdig and The Intercept censored even though they were
entirely within comment rules. The Intercept has a lot of really BAD journalists posting crap
there, like this ass clown Mehdi Hasan. Even Glenn Greenwald, a multi millionaire, is suspect.
Both of these websites are psuedo-left and should not be trusted!
From the resistance trench with love , Apr 22 2018 11:40 utc |
52
....attacks on critical readers and commentators are despicable..
Indeed, but "the one free of sin to throw the first stone" ....
From my experience at several supposed "alternative media", most of them somehow pro-Russian
in the sense that they do not promote the sick warmongerism coming from the US and UK
stablishments against Russia and its allies in Syria and against Syria herself, every site has
its biases and slandering attacks by the owners of the blogs or by the "community" os
sycophants residing there are everyday bread for any newcomer who could express a bit of
dissent against the general editorial view.
I mayself have been obliged to change my nickname several times already to avoid attacks or
banning/censorship, when my position about Syrai and Russia does not differ almost in the least
with that of the people mentioned above who are being object of smearing campaign by the
MSM....and this has happened to me in the supposed pro-Russian "alt-media"....
Thus, I would recommend to apply a bit of self-criticism and reflect about how anyone of us
are probably contributing to the same effort of the bullies mentioned above against mainly
common citizens who only try to commit themselves to spread some of the truth they are finding
online through research and intensive reading, and try to offer an alternative point of view or
simply debunk the usual nonsense especially against certain ideologies, mostly spreaded by US
commenters.....
I noticed the part about Ian Shillilng being accused of denying the Holocaust or implying it
was a govt conspiracy.
I find that interesting, because a co-worker asked me out to the blue "Do you even believe
the Holocaust happened?" It's a strange question with no relation to Russiagate, yet pops up a
lot so it clearly has an agenda. The question made no sense but I did recognized it as a
familiar attack by the warmongers. My response was to to respond to such a ridiculous,
dishonest question and I ignored it.
He went to ask if I was "stupid" for not seeing that Mueller's indictments over lying to the
FBI and tax evasion/money laundering in Ukraine are NOT are not same thing as proving Russia
meddled to deny Hillary her Presidency.
Thanks for the article b.
As painful as it is to watch the increasing attempts at censoring non-msm voices, we can take
solace in the fact that, like a cornered rat, the establishment has no other option left but an
all-out, full-retard attack on anyone not toeing the line. While the damage they are doing is
real, this should be balanced with the fact that this attack comes out of weakness and not
strength: they are the ones "losing", and knowledge of that reality makes them increasingly
unhinged.
At first I thought this is some kind of joke. Than I watched few times, I still believe CNN
guy is in some kind of mission here, let's say to distract its viewers from existential matters
that grips ordinary people in the US. His insistence on the "Russians" is illogical at
first...this woman appear to be serious but when it comes to CNN everything is set-up, not just
everyone can come to CNN, period. No facts involved the conversation is about NOTHING, that is
the US national narrative being imposed by the ruling class trough various media. Just like
"attack" on Syria and Syria's gas attack. There were none, there were no cruise missile fired,
there were no downed ones! CNN's role is also to entertain its audience as well, everything but
not talk about social and economic issues. In other words to indoctrinate - shift attention,
not to ask unpleasant questions.
The NYT and NPR are warmonger institutions. It is sad that ppl who consider themselves to be
liberals, democrats, blue team (anti-war?- that's a stretch!) embrace these institutions as
purveyors of truth or even real news.
I don't feel that the quote is out of context. Yes, you show that Orwell clearly didn't
consider it a big deal at that time, but what is happening now is that what he describes is
omnipresent, the main stream of information we get, there is nothing else if you don't search
for alternatives. It is beyond doubt that Orwell, in the present context, would never have
added what he added in that book.
So in that light I feel the quote is extremely relevant and a good start of the article.
I want to express my thanks for this site and am really glad I was pointed towards MoA by
other sources of real information.
Meanwhile, the same western media give free pass to liberal warcriminals like Macron's France
that just today call for permanent illegal occupation of Syria - after illegally bombing it.
But no, it is people like us who call out this BS that gets silenced and harassed by the
same ignorant western media/"journalists" along with the western deep state spy networks!
What an excellent source of information the MoA site offers those of us who are seeking the
truth and living in an Empire full of lies.Over the past few months, I have perused this site
regularly and always find it very helpful in gaining a better and more concise understanding
of
what is really going on in our world.
I am also astounded at how helpful it is for me to read the comments of so many who are
regulars here.
The courtesy and level of intellectual dialog that goes on here in the comments section is a
rare thing indeed! We all must fight for truth for the sake of our families and loved ones.
"Fake" and "Genuine" are used to describe the video with the water being poured over people.
Fisk calls them genuine because the video was taped in the place where it pretends to be, not
in a film set or a location where nothing was going on. It was filmed in the real hospital with
real doctors, nurses and victims.
The video therefore is real (not staged), but the claim that people are suffering from gas
wounds is false.
You can thus also say that the video is fake: it is said to show victims of a gas attack, while
the doctor says they were suffering from suffocation, and only when someone shouted "gas", did
people start hosing each other down (which as someone posted in another article, would have
only made things worse if they had chlorine on them). As evidence of a gas attack, the video is
fake.
As long as a person is not claiming that the video shows victims of a real gas attack
aftermath, we're all on the same side I guess.
The response is of course to more eagerly call out the neocons propangada, western media
propaganda and so forth,
get a twitter account, get a blog, lets multiply this movement, because these people will of
course not stop at destroying peoples lives in the newspapers, they will call for censorship,
registrations and sooner or later jail for these views.
Orwell's great fear was totalitarianism. Either from the left or the right. What we have now is
much more subtle. The MSM retains the illusion of freedom and most people go along with it. We
may even realize we are being manipulated but the only alternative is posting on sites like
MOA.
The UK has no credibility left now. May's farcical handling of the Brexit negs has exposed
her as little more than a Tory mouthpiece, parroting party bon mots whilst having no clue where
she is heading. And I suspect her civil servants haven't, either!
The Skirpal charade was a front for several things but mainly, I think, to turn the focus
away from Brexit and to opening the Cold War front again. But what is alarming was her open
support for attacks on Syria. It's been known for some time that the UK has special forces
operating in Syria covertly; May's tub-thumping pretty much clarified that the Uk is as
determined as Washington and that Rothschild puppet Macron to force a regime change in
Syria.
You said she must go. I said the same thing last September after the fall-out from the June
election and other foot-in-mouth incidents: she'd be gone before year end. How wrong I was. She
has figures in the background protecting her.
Crushing dissent goes completely against 'liberal values' which is about the only high ground
left for the humanitarian regime changers a.k.a the Franquistas. So that is not going to
happen. On the other hand, social media is the easiest place to use covert operatives, even MSM
has other sponsors and actors, social media can be directly controlled by governments , and the
'intelligence community'. So they are just using the net for what they set it up for.
Propaganda for domestic consumption in the USA, isn't really meant to convince as much as to
scare people into submission. People don't obey Big Brother because they like him or believe
him, but because they cannot talk back to him and are scared of him. Media Scare tactics work
less if people can talk back, hear their own voice, not just Big Brother from every
loudspeaker.
Martin Luther (not King) said that "A lie is like a snowball: the further you roll it the
bigger it becomes." The snowball is melting because there is shift in the narrative given what
is happening on the ground in Syria. I find it fascinating that as it melts down layer by
layer, the first trojan horse outfits to implode are left humanitarian ones like the Intercept,
Newsbud, Democracy Now. The right wing ones like Fox, Young Turks, just concentrate on dumbing
down the conversation to reduce reality to bombastic and misleading 'political' points. This is
a another way to control the conversation, to scare people into thinking that facts or not
facts but partisan political 'opinions'. Look at how Jimmy Dore's in the interview mentioned by
B with Carla Ortiz, is trying to dumb down the conversation and keeps feigning ignorance.
Thankfully she blows him out of the water. Good job Carla!
The snowball is big and melting slowly. Who's next?
Vesti has a great 10-minute clip dated yesterday from a Russian talk show with Margarita
Simonyan of RT doing much of the talking. What she says is really encouraging about how she's
trying to talk, not to power (which already knows the real truth that it's obscuring) but to
common people, because there are those among the common people who do speak up and who really
do shape public opinion - not governments.
She cited Roger Waters as an example, who was speaking at a concert and telling the truth
about the White Helmets. She said, someone has to read in order to speak. And someone has to
write so someone can read. And that's what RT is doing, and that's how it works. And it is
working.
George Orwell has been a presence throughout this thread.
It was unfortunate he was hurried by MI6 to finish the last pages of 'Animal Farm' so it
could be translated into Arabic and be used to discredit Communist parties in Western Asia.
This always raised the ire of Communist organisations through following decades .This being said he wrote some great text especially for me the revealing 1939 novel - Coming up
for A
What many people don't realize is that fascism is a greedy habit, it expands to finally swallow
up those who think they are protected by silence or looking the other way. The individuals and
organizations villified today are the real heroes, and even if they suffer today, they will be
vindicated in the end. But unfortunately the gullible masses would by then be in the open
prison of fascism.
I don't know if wars are really an extension of diplomacy by other means, but they certainly
seem to be... an extension of ideology and propaganda. Ideas are very important in preparing
and fighting wars; especially today, though, in reality the way we think about our western
imperial war-fighting, goes back well over a century, back to the Whiteman's Burden and other
imperialist myths.
For the last thirty years we've essentially been fighting 'liberal crusades for freedom and
democracy.' That, at least, was the 'cover story' the pretext presented to the people. There's
an irony here. Just like Islamic State, we've been engaging in 'holy warfare' too!
The reason our media is so full of lies and distortions and propaganda is because the harsh
realities of our New Imperialism wars are so out of synch with the reality of what's happening
and crucially the attitudes of the general public who don't want to fight more overseas wars,
and especially if they are 'crusades' for democracy and freedom. But what's happened recently
is that dissent is being targeted as tantamount to treason. This is rather new and
disturbing.
It's because the ruling elite are... losing it and way too many people are questioning their
ideas about the wars we are fighting and their legitimacy and 'right to rule.'
In many ways the Internet is bringing about a kind of revolution in relation to the people's
access to 'texts' and images that reminds one of the great intellectual upheavals that the
translation of the Bible had on European thought four hundred years ago. Suddenly Bibles were
being printed all over the place and people could read the sacred texts without having to ask
the educated priests to 'filter' and translate and explain what it all meant. In a way
Wikileaks was doing the same thing... allowing people access to secret material, masses of it,
bypassing the traditional newsmedia and the journalistic 'preists.'
At the start of French Revolution, Bertrand Barère declared, "The revolutions of a
barbarous people destroy all monuments, and the very trace of the arts seems to be effaced. The
revolutions of an enlightened people conserve the fine arts, and embellish them [ ]"
Soon after, though, thousands of French statues were wrecked, and many heads tumbled into
baskets. Barère, "The tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants."
The Anacreon of the Guillotine was lucky to escape with his own noggin.
Again, the defeated must watch impotently as their heroes are decapitated or come crashing
down. At least they still have their own necks, for the moment, at least.
Washington, Jefferson, Grant and Francis Scott Key have been toppled, and even a likeness of
Cervantes had red paint splashed on its eyes. "BASTARD" was scrawled on its pedestal. The woke
vandal didn't know that here was no conquistador or slave owner, but a slave of five years, not
to mention a seminal writer in the Western canon.
Ah, but "seminal," "Western" and "canon" are evil words now, you see, so maybe he did know,
for this is, at bottom, an assault on every pillar, brick, cornice and baseboard of Western
civilization. Burn it all down, for it is uniquely racist, sexist, genocidal and transphobic. I
mean, for thousands of years, evil whites absolutely resisted the installation of all-gender
shit holes.
Shut up already, and listen to Susan Sontag, "If America is the culmination of Western white
civilization, as everyone from the Left to the Right declares, then there must be something
terribly wrong with Western white civilization. This is a painful truth; few of us want to go
that far . The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary
government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, Balanchine
ballets, et al, don't redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The
white race is the cancer of human history; it is the white race and it alone -- its ideologies
and inventions -- which eradicates autonomous civilizations wherever it spreads, which has
upset the ecological balance of the planet, which now threatens the very existence of life
itself."
Later, Sontag regretted offending cancer patients with her poor choice of metaphor.
It's essential that we be exorcised from "dead white men." I remember when this idiotic term
started to circulate. I had just dropped out of art school. While drinking Rolling Rock in
smoky McGlinchey's
in Philadelphia, I told another art fag that he should know his art history, for how can you do
anything if you have no idea what's been achieved? Leering, this cipher smugly growled,
"They're just dead white men, man!"
In 2015, I taught for a semester at Leipzig University, so nearly each day, I'd walk by a
hideous building that crudely approximated the destroyed Paulinerkirche. Built in 1231, this
church survived all the vicissitudes, upheavals and wars down the centuries, only to be
dynamited by Communists in 1968. So what if Martin Luther had officiated there, and Bach was a
musical director? Of course, its rich history only made it more delicious to blow up, for
iconoclasm is the orgasm of "progressives," and that's why I've never identified as one.
There's one Leipzig neighborhood, Connewitz, that's famous across Germany as the center of
progressive politics, most notably the antifa movement, and guess what? It is thoroughly
defaced
with graffiti
that are often anti-cop
or anti-Germany
. During clashes with police that Connewitzers instigate, shop windows are gleefully broken not
just at multinationals, but mom-and-pops, because, you know, once you go berserk, it's hard to
stop. Reflecting on this in 2015, I knew it would only escalate and spread beyond Germany, and
it has. Seeing photos of Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, I immediately thought of
Connewitz
.
When I wrote recently about the need for liberated zones, I meant, first of, the defense of
your own communities, as happened in Philadelphia's Fishtown and Italian Market, where locals
banded together to block an invasion of vandals and looters.
Here in South Korea, local monuments and mores are safe. Here in Busan, there's a huge
statue honoring General Jeong Bal, who was killed by Japanese invaders in 1592. Losing with
dignity is worthy of remembrance, though some contend he actually ran away. Historical debates
are healthy.
More interesting to me are five sculptures of war refugees by Lee Hyun-woo, near the 40-Step
Stairway. It was a shanty town during the Korean War, when Busan was a temporary capital after
Seoul was overrun by Chinese and North Korean troops.
Depicted without hokiness, these are admirably realistic figures of a mother breastfeeding
her baby while her naked son stood by, crying; two girls carrying
water , one with a shoulder pole and the other with a jar on her head; two boys covering
their ears as a man makes popcorn with a bomb-like
contraption; a fedora-wearing accordionist
, sitting on a bench; and two exhausted porters at
rest . As public sculptures, they're perfect, for they're gracefully inserted into the
environment as they dignify local history. Informative and fortifying, these bronze ghosts
mingle with contemporary Koreans.
Across a Japanese-built bridge not far away, there's a statue of Hyeon
In . You can sit on a stone bench next to the smiling, suited singer, and hear his songs
eternally broadcast from a bible-sized speaker.
In 1949, he made every man, woman, child and dog sob with his rendition of "Seoul's Night
Music." "Walking through Chungmuro under a spring rain / Tears flowing down the window panes."
Oh, stop, stop! You're murdering me! I can't take it! A true legend.
As a refugee in Busan, Hyeon In wrote "Be Strong, Guem-soon." It's a message to his sister
to stay strong until they meet again.
ORDER IT NOW
There is a street
dedicated to the painter Lee Jung-soeb
. He's known for gestural paintings of bulls, and playful drawings of boys hugging fish
and crabs pinching penises
. Educated in Tokyo, his brief career started just after World War II and lasted through the
Korean War.
Living all over, he starved, suffered from schizophrenia, drank too much and died in 1956 of
hepatitis, at age 40 and alone, in a Red Cross Hospital. His wife and kids had been sent to
Tokyo to escape the fighting. Although peripheral to art history, Jung-soeb matters to Koreans,
and that's enough. Meaning is local
, above all.
Honoring their own culture and history, South Koreans also appreciate the finest from
elsewhere. There are upcoming concerts of Saint
Saen , Brahms, Beethoven and Vaughan
Williams .
Rather bizarrely, Jin Ramen has a Joan Miro edition, and this made no sense to me until I
noticed the Miroesque zigzags, wiggly lines and goofy shapes floating on its bright yellow
packaging .
The objective is not to present convincing facsimiles of great paintings, but merely to
pique interest for further investigation. It's similar to a street being named after a writer,
painter, composer or scientist, as happens quite routinely in Paris, for example, but almost
never seen in America, a country with a long, aggressive streak of anti-intellectualism.
We're no longer talking about joe sixpacks sneering at pretentious bullshit, however. Thanks
to Howard Stern, Jerry Springer, Rush Limbaugh, Honey Boo Boo, gangsta rap and antifa, etc.,
there is now a pandemic of cocksure loutishness, with frequent eruptions into violent
barbarism. Ironically, the most militant driver of American anti-intellectualism is the
academy, for nowhere else has thinking ceased more completely.
If we're in a revolution, it's one of enlightened barbarism, or woke savagery, carefully
engineered down the decades. Yo massas enjoy the spectacle of y'all clawing at each other.
At Unz, there is a recent article by the Nation of Islam Research Group, "How Farrakhan
Solved the Crime and Drug Problem And How the Jews Attacked
Him ." Whatever its flaws or biases, it is a fascinating expose of how Jews sabotaged an
effort of blacks to help themselves. Immediately, I thought of the Jewish campaign against
Craig Nelse
n, who, against all odds, is desperately trying to save the most troubled, and even suicidal,
white youths.
Ordinary people don't have any extraordinary vision, yet they shape the nation with their
votes. They see the world with a jumble of inane emotional thought. The arts, sciences and
philosophy mean nothing to them. Their thoughts are adrift in emotional nonsense, like our
nation.
"... He pointed out that knocking over a statue will not "close the wealth gap," "give a kid whose parent's can't afford a college money to go to college," "close the labor gap between what white workers are paid and what black workers are paid" or "take people off welfare or food stamps." ..."
"... Johnson said that whites who seek to "assuage guilt by doing things that make them feel good" would be much more reluctant to support payments for blacks. ..."
"... Referring to actions such as "changing names, toppling statues, [and] firing professors because they said all lives matter," Johnson explained that "it just shows to me that white America is continually ... incapable of recognizing that black people have their own ideas and thought about what's in their best interests." ..."
"... "Give us the belief that you respect our opinion. You go out and do something and destroy something, fire somebody because you think it hurts us. Why don't you ask us first if it hurts us before you go and say 'Oh, I gotta do something for the negroes to make them feel better.' Well ask us if we want you to do that to make us feel better," he said. ..."
"... Johnson likened white people's actions attempting to make black people "feel good" to "rearranging the deck chairs on a racial Titanic. It absolutely means nothing," he said. ..."
BET founder Robert Johnson during a Wednesday interview with Fox News
described people toppling statues as "borderline anarchists" and pushed back against the idea
that black people support such behavior, suggesting instead that they "laugh" at those who
knock down the statues.
"You know black people, in my opinion, black people laugh at white people who do this, the
same way we laugh at white people who say we got to take off the TV shows," he said
mentioning the "Dukes of Hazard," a decades-old television program that has come under fire
for featuring a car emblazoned with a Confederate flag graphic.
He pointed out that knocking over a statue will not "close the wealth gap," "give a kid
whose parent's can't afford a college money to go to college," "close the labor gap between
what white workers are paid and what black workers are paid" or "take people off welfare or
food stamps."
Johnson said that whites who seek to "assuage guilt by doing things that make them feel
good" would be much more reluctant to support payments for blacks.
Referring to actions such as "changing names, toppling statues, [and] firing professors
because they said all lives matter," Johnson explained that "it just shows to me that white
America is continually ... incapable of recognizing that black people have their own ideas and
thought about what's in their best interests."
He suggested that black people should be consulted before people take actions like tearing
down statues or firing someone for a comment they have made.
"Give us the belief that you respect our opinion. You go out and do something and destroy
something, fire somebody because you think it hurts us. Why don't you ask us first if it
hurts us before you go and say 'Oh, I gotta do something for the negroes to make them feel
better.' Well ask us if we want you to do that to make us feel better," he said.
Johnson likened white people's actions attempting to make black people "feel good" to
"rearranging the deck chairs on a racial Titanic. It absolutely means nothing," he said.
Johnson's comments come as debates rage across the country in the aftermath of the death of
George Floyd -- in some cases protestors have defaced and toppled statues. President Trump has
come out against changing the names of military installations named after Confederate
leaders.
"... Bayer agreed to a $10.9 billion settlement yesterday, which resolves much – but not all – of the litigation risk it assumed when in 2018 it acquired Monsanto, the original manufacturer of the glyposate-based herbicide Roundup, according to the WSJ, Bayer to Pay Up to $10.9 Billion to Settle Lawsuits Over Roundup Weedkiller . ..."
"... "We need to take the decision about carcinogenicity of the product out of the hands of juries," said Mr. Baumann. The scientists on the panel, he said, would be selected both by Bayer and plaintiffs' lawyers, to come to a "fair and solid" conclusion. ..."
"... In Europe, the shift in public opinion about glyphosate was illustrated by a 2016 poll in the five largest EU countries showing some 66% percent of respondents favoring a glyphosate ban. ..."
"... Bayer also said it would pay up to $400 million to resolve legal challenges and crop-damage claims to another of its herbicides, dicamba, which the company has marketed to kill weeds that have evolved to resist Roundup. Farmers and agricultural experts have blamed dicamba-based sprays for drifting on winds and damaging millions of acres of soybeans, peaches and other crops. ..."
By
Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is
currently writing a book about textile artisans.
Bayer agreed to a $10.9 billion settlement yesterday, which resolves much – but not
all – of the litigation risk it assumed when in 2018 it acquired Monsanto, the original
manufacturer of the glyposate-based herbicide Roundup, according to the WSJ,
Bayer to Pay Up to $10.9 Billion to Settle Lawsuits Over Roundup Weedkiller .
Plaintiffs allege its product causes cancer – a claim the company vehemently denies
and insists is not supported by scientific evidence (for background on the litigation, see my
previous posts, here
,
here ,
here ,
here , and
here .)
The company has lost three multi-million dollar jury verdicts, and faced tens of thousands
of pending suits. Investors have become increasingly nervous about just how much litigation
risk the company had held until yesterday. Indeed, there was massive shareholder unrest over
these liabilities, which spilled over to outright revolt last year.
The settlement leaves open the possibility of future litigation. Per the WSJ:
Wednesday's deal, which follows months of heated talks between Bayer and plaintiffs'
attorneys, doesn't change anything in Bayer's view that glyphosate, the active ingredient in
Roundup, is safe and doesn't cause cancer.
Bayer didn't admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement and continued to defend its
decision to purchase Monsanto. The company will continue to sell Roundup.
The agreement, however, leaves open the potential of more lawsuits being filed against the
company in the future, an issue investors have been particularly concerned about.
As part of the deal, Bayer said it has set aside between $8.8 billion and $9.6 billion to
settle claims brought by lawyers representing some 95,000 plaintiffs, as well as some 30,000
more claims that haven't yet agreed to the settlement. The company said it would set aside
another $1.25 billion to work toward a resolution of future claims, including funding a panel
to evaluate whether the product causes cancer. The findings from that panel are geared to
help shape the outcome of litigation going forward.
The company seeks in these future potential lawsuits to take the determination away from
juries as to whether glyphosate causes cancer. Over to the WSJ:
That Bayer's Roundup products will continue to be sold, without a cancer warning label,
leaves the company exposed to future lawsuits. It creates a unique legal conundrum for the
company over how best to guard itself against potential future litigation.
To attempt to resolve the key question of whether glyphosate is a carcinogen, Bayer is
seeking court permission to create a class of future plaintiffs and fund a five-member
scientific panel that will spend several years evaluating the link between Roundup and
cancer.
The panel will report its findings to U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco.
A conclusion that the product doesn't cause cancer will essentially shut down any future
cases. If the panel does find a link between Roundup and cancer, Bayer would have to fight
plaintiff-by-plaintiff to prove the individuals' cancer wasn't caused by the product, a point
that unsettled some investors.
Mr. Baumann said on a conference call Wednesday that while "it's not 100% certain," Bayer
is confident the panel will back its view that glyphosate isn't carcinogenic. The company has
previously said that hundreds of regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection
Agency, and scientists have deemed the product safe.
"We need to take the decision about carcinogenicity of the product out of the hands of
juries," said Mr. Baumann. The scientists on the panel, he said, would be selected both by
Bayer and plaintiffs' lawyers, to come to a "fair and solid" conclusion.
The creation of such a court-overseen science panel is rare, said University of Georgia
law professor Elizabeth Burch, and raises questions over whether future plaintiffs who may
not be sick yet are getting a fair shot at pressing claims that Roundup caused their
illnesses.
Bayer's Woes Not Confined to Use in US
Glyphosate is currently licensed for use throughout the EU, accordimg to Deutsche Welle,
What's driving
Europe's stance on glyphosate. But this use is not uncontested, According to Deutsche
Welle:
The controversy surrounding glyphosate came to
high drama in November 2017 when EU member states voted to extend the commercial license
of the weed killer for a period of five years. The measure passed only narrowly and due to
the 'yes' vote of German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt.
Schmidt's unilateral decision disregarded split opinions within Chancellor Angela Merkel's
cabinet that originally agreed Germany should abstain in the vote.
Moreover, a European Parliament report issued in January 2019 found that EU regulators
based their decision to relicense glyphosate on an assessment that was plagiarized from a
coalition of pesticide companies, including Monsanto.
The scandal has caused a number of countries in the bloc to introduce individual
legislation banning or restricting the use of the substance.
The state of EU public opinion is such that license is unlikely to be renewed, and many EU
states have already banned its use. According to the Deutsche Welle account:
In Europe, the shift in public opinion about glyphosate was illustrated by a 2016 poll in
the five largest EU countries showing some 66% percent of respondents favoring a glyphosate
ban.
In 2017, over 1.3 million people signed a petition calling for a European ban of
glyphosate, and putting pressure on Brussels to restrict or even ban the use of the
herbicide.
Two Additional Settlements
At the same time as the gylphosate settment, Bayer agreed to two other settlements,
including one relating to claims for another herbicide, dicamba. According to the Wall Street
Journal:
Bayer also said it would pay up to $400 million to resolve legal challenges and
crop-damage claims to another of its herbicides, dicamba, which the company has marketed to
kill weeds that have evolved to resist Roundup. Farmers and agricultural experts have blamed
dicamba-based sprays for drifting on winds and damaging millions of acres of soybeans,
peaches and other crops.
Within the US, Bayer will continue to try to settle glyphosate legal claims with plantiffs
who have yet to sign onto the settlement. Bayer has not admitted Roundup causes cancer –
and indeed continues to insist otherwise – and persists in defending its Monsanto
acquisition. Roundup will continue to be sold without any cancer warning label.
"... It's because the Democrats think that kowtowing to BLM will give them the winning edge in the November balloting. That's what it's all about. That's why they draped themselves in Kente cloth and knelt for the cameras. They think their black constituents are too stupid to see through their groveling fakery. They think that blacks will forget that Joe Biden pushed through legislation "which eliminated parole for federal prisoners and limited the amount of time sentences could be reduced for good behavior." ..."
"... The stupidity of the Dems was shown this week when they agreed to three Biden/Trump debates. They should leave him in his basement and hope for the best. They feature political ads where Biden slurs his speech! These are professionals, so it tells me they spent all day and did 40 takes and this was the best he could do. The election will be great comedy, or perhaps ..."
"... Clinton is the best evidence that certain people agree to be blackmailed in exchange for power, as Andrew Anglin wrote this week. ..."
"This is not a momentary civil disturbance. This is a serious, and highly organized
political movement It is deep and profound and has vast political ambitions. It is insidious,
it will grow. It's goal is to end liberal democracy and challenge western civilization
itself. This is an ideological movement Even now, many of us pretend this is about police
brutality. We think we can fix it by regulating chokeholds or spending more on de-escalation
training. We're too literal and good-hearted to understand what's happening. But we have no
idea what we are up against. ..These are not protests. This is a totalitarian political
movement and someone needs to save the country from it." Tucker
Carlson
Tucker Carlson is right, the protests and riots are not a momentary civil disturbance. They
are an attack the Constitutional Republic itself, the heart and soul of American democracy. The
Black Lives Matter protests are just the tip of the spear, they are an expression of public
outrage that is guaranteed under the first amendment. But don't be deceived, there's more here
than meets the eye. BLM is funded by foundations that seek to overthrow our present form of
government and install an authoritarian regime guided by technocrats, oligarchs and
corporatists all of who believe that Chinese-type despotism is far-more compatible with
capitalism than "inefficient" democracy. The chaos in the streets is merely the beginning of an
excruciating transition from one system to another. This is an excerpt from an article by F.
William Engdahl at Global Research:
"By 2016, Black Lives Matter had established itself as a well-organized network .. That
year the Ford Foundation and Borealis Philanthropy announced the formation of the Black-Led
Movement Fund (BLMF), "a six-year pooled donor campaign aimed at raising $100 million for the
Movement for Black Lives coalition" in which BLM was a central part. By then Soros
foundations had already given some $33 million in
grants to the Black Lives Matter movement .. ..
The BLMF identified itself as being created by top foundations including in addition to
the Ford Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation and the Soros Open Society Foundations." (
"America's Own Color
Revolution ", Global Research)
$100 million is alot of money. How has that funding helped BLM expand its presence in
politics and social media? How many activists and paid employees operate within the network
disseminating information, building new chapters, hosting community outreach programs, and
fine-tuning an emergency notification system that allows them to put tens of thousands of
activists on the streets in cities across the country at a moment's notice? Isn't that what
we've seen for the last three weeks, throngs of angry protestors swarming in more than 400
cities across America all at the beck-and-call of a shadowy group whose political intentions
are still not clear?
And what about the rioting, looting and arson that broke out in numerous cities following
the protests? Was that part of the script too? Why haven't BLM leaders condemned the
destruction of private property or offered a public apology for the downtown areas that have
been turned into wastelands? In my own hometown of Seattle, the downtown corridor– which
once featured Nordstrom, Pottery Barn and other upscale retail shops– is now a
checkerboard of broken glass, plywood covers and empty streets all covered in a thick layer of
garish spray-paint. The protest leaders said they wanted to draw attention to racial injustice
and police brutality. Okay, but how does looting Nordstrom help to achieve that goal?
And what role have the Democrats played in protest movement?
They've been overwhelmingly supportive, that's for sure. In fact, I can't think of even one
Democrat who's mentioned the violence, the looting or the toppling of statues. Why is that?
It's because the Democrats think that kowtowing to BLM will give them the winning edge in
the November balloting. That's what it's all about. That's why they draped themselves in Kente
cloth and knelt for the cameras. They think their black constituents are too stupid to see
through their groveling fakery. They think that blacks will forget that Joe Biden pushed
through legislation "which eliminated parole for federal prisoners and limited the amount of
time sentences could be reduced for good behavior."
According to the Black Agenda
Repor t: "Biden and (South Carolina's Strom) Thurmond joined hands to push 1986 and 1988
drug enforcement legislation that created the nefarious sentencing disparity between crack and
powder cocaine as well as other draconian measures that implicate him as one of the initiators
of what became mass incarceration. " Biden also spearheaded "the attacks on Anita Hill when she
came forward to testify against the supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas". All told, Biden's
record on race is much worse than Trump's despite the media's pathetic attempts to portray
Trump as Adolph Hitler. It's just more bunkum from the dissembling media.
Bottom line: The Democrats think they can ride racial division and social unrest all the way
to the White House. That's what they are betting on.
So, yes, the Dems are exploiting the protests for political advantage, but it goes much
deeper than that. After all, we know from evidence that was uncovered during the Russiagate
investigation, that DNC leaders are intimately linked to the Intel agencies, law enforcement
(FBI), and the elite media. So it's not too much of a stretch to assume that these deep state
agents and assets work together to shape the narrative that they think gives them the best
chance of regaining power. Because, that's what this is really all about, power. Just as
Russiagate was about power (removing the president using disinformation, spies, surveillance
and other skulduggery.), and just as the Covid-19 fiasco was essentially about power
(collapsing the economy while imposing medical martial law on the population.), so too, the BLM
protest movement is also about power, the power to inflict massive damage on the country's main
urban centers with the intention of destabilizing the government, restructuring the economy and
paving the way for a Democratic victory in November. It's all about power, real, unalloyed
political muscle.
Surprisingly, one of the best critiques of what is currently transpiring was written by
Niles Niemuth at the World Socialist Web Site. Here's what he said about the widespread
toppling of statues:
"The attacks on the monuments were pioneered by the increasingly frenzied attempt by the
Democratic Party and the New York Times to racialize American history, to create a
narrative in which the history of mankind is reduced to the history of racial struggle. This
campaign has produced a pollution of democratic consciousness, which meshes entirely with the
reactionary political interests driving it.
It is worth noting that the one institution seemingly immune from this purge is the
Democratic Party, which served as the political wing of the Confederacy and, subsequently,
the KKK.
This filthy historical legacy is matched only by the Democratic Party's contemporary
record in supporting wars that, as a matter of fact, primarily targeted nonwhites. Democrats
supported the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and under Obama destroyed Libya and Syria. The
New York Times was a leading champion and propagandist for all of these war." (
"Hands
off the monuments to Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Grant!, WSWS)
What the author is referring to is The 1619 Project, which is a racialized version of
American history that was published by the Times on August 19, 2019. The deliberately-distorted
version of history was cobbled together in anticipation of increasing social unrest and racial
antagonism. The rioting, looting and vast destruction of America's urban core can all be traced
back to a document that postulates that the country was founded on racial hatred and
exploitation. In other words, The 1619 Project provides the perfect ideological justification
for the chaos and violence that has torn the country apart for the last three weeks. This is an
excerpt from an article at the World Socialist Web Site:
"The essays featured in the magazine are organized around the central premise that all of
American history is rooted in race hatred -- specifically, the uncontrollable hatred of
"black people" by "white people." Hannah-Jones writes in the series' introduction:
"Anti-black racism runs in the very DNA of this country. "
This is a false and dangerous conception. DNA is a chemical molecule that contains the
genetic code of living organisms and determines their physical characteristics and
development . Hannah-Jones's reference to DNA is part of a growing tendency to derive
racial antagonisms from innate biological processes .where does this racism come from? It
is embedded, claims Hannah-Jones, in the historical DNA of American "white people." Thus, it
must persist independently of any change in political or economic conditions .
. No doubt, the authors of The Project 1619 essays would deny that they are predicting
race war, let alone justifying fascism. But ideas have a logic; and authors bear
responsibility for the political conclusions and consequences of their false and misguided
arguments." ("The New York Times's 1619
Project: A racialist falsification of American and world history", World Socialist Web
Site)
Keep in mind, this essay in the WSWS was written a full year before BLM protests broke out
across the country. Was Hannah-Jones enlisted to create a document that would provide the dry
tinder for the massive and coordinated demonstrations that have left the country stunned and
divided?
Probably, after all, (as noted above) the author's theory is that one race is genetically
programed to exploit the other. ( "Anti-black racism runs in the very DNA of this country. ")
Well, if we assume that whites are genetically and irreversibly "racist", then we must also
assume that the country that these whites founded is racist and evil. Thus, the only logical
remedy for this situation, is to crush the white segment of the population, destroy their
symbols, icons, and history, and replace the system of government with one that better reflects
the values of the emerging non-Caucasian majority. Simply put, The Project 1619 creates the
rationale for sustained civil unrest, deepening political polarization and violent
revolution.
The 1619 Project is a calculated provocation meant to exacerbate racial animosities and pave
the way to open conflagration. And it has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imagination. The
nation is split into warring camps while Washington has devolved into fratricidal warfare. Was
that the objective, to destabilize the country in preparation for the dissolution of the
current system followed by a fundamental restructuring of the government consistent with the
identity politics lauded by the Democrats?
The Democrats, the Intel agencies and the media are all in bed together fomenting unrest
with the intention of decimating the economy, crushing the emerging opposition and imposing
their despotic one-party system on all of us. Here's a clip from a piece by Paul Craig Roberts
that sums up the role of the New York Times in inciting race-based violence:
"The New York Times editorial board covers up the known indisputable truth with their
anti-white "1619 project," an indoctrination program to inculcate hatred of white people in
blacks and guilt in white people.
Why does the New York Times lie, brainwash blacks into hatred of whites, and attempt to
brainwash whites into guilt for the creation of a New World labor force four centuries ago?
Why do Americans tolerate the New York Times fomenting of racial hatred in a multicultural
society?
The New York Times is a vile organization. The New York Times attempts to discredit the
President of the United States and did all it could to frame him on false charges. The New
York Times painted General Flynn, who honorably served the US, as a Russian agent and enabled
General Flynn's frame-up on false and now dropped charges. The New York Times spews hatred of
white people. And now the New York Times accuses the American military of celebrating white
supremacism.
Does America have a worse enemy than the New York Times? The New York Times is clearly and
intentionally making a multicultural America impossible . By threatening white people with
the prospect of hate-driven racial violence, the New York Times editorial board is fomenting
the rise of white supremacy." (
"The New York Times Editorial Board Is a Threat to Multicultural America ", The Unz
Review)
The editors of the Times don't hate whites, they are merely attacking the growing number of
disillusioned white working people who have left the Democratic party in frustration due to
their globalist policies regarding trade, immigration, offshoring, outsourcing and the
relentless hollowing out of the nation's industrial core . The Dems have abandoned these people
altogether and –now that they realize they will never be able to lure them back into
their camp– they've decided to wage a full-blown, scorched-earth, take-no-prisoners war
on them. They've decided to crush them mercilessly and fill their ranks with multi-ethnic,
bi-racial groups that will work for pennies on the dollar. (which will keep the Dems corporate
supporters happy.) So, no, the Times does not hate white people. What they hate is the growing
populist movement that derailed Hillary Clinton and put anti-globalist Trump in the White
House. That's the real target of this operation, the disillusioned throng of working people who
have washed their hands of the Democrats for good. Here's more background from Paul Craig
Roberts:
"On August 12 Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, met with the Times'
employees to refocus the Times' attack on Trump . The Times, Baquet said, is shifting from
Trump-Russia to Trump's racism. The Times will spend the run-up to the 2020 presidential
election building the Trump-is-a-racist narrative. Of course, if Trump is a racist it means
that the people who elected him are also racists. Indeed, in Baquet's view, Americans have
always been racist. To establish this narrative, the New York Times has launched the "1619
Project," the purpose of which is "to reframe the country's history."
According to the Washington Examiner, "The basic thrust of the 1619 Project is that
everything in American history is explained by slavery and race. The message is woven
throughout the first publication of the project, an entire edition of the Times magazine. It
begins with an overview of race in America -- 'Our democracy's founding ideals were false
when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true.'
The premise that America originated as a racist slave state is to be woven into all
sections of the Times -- news, business, sports, travel, the entire newspaper. The project
intends to take the "reframing" of the United States into the schools where white Americans
are to be taught that they are racist descendants of slave holders. A participant in this
brainwashing of whites, which will make whites guilty and defenseless, says "this project
takes wing when young people are able to read this and understand the way that slavery has
shaped their country's history." In other words, the New York Times intends to make slavery
the ONLY explanation of America.
At the meeting of the executive editor of the New York Times with the Times' employees to
refocus the Times' attack on President Trump, Baquet said: "Race in the next year is going to
be a huge part of the American story." (
"Is White Genocide Possible? ", The Unz Review)
Repeat: "Race in the next year is going to be a huge part of the American story." Either
Baquet has a crystal ball or he had a pretty good idea of the way in which the 1619 Project was
going to be used . I suspect it was the latter.
For the last 3 and a half years, Democrats and the media have ridiculed anyone who opposes
their globalist policies as racist, fascist, misogynist, homophobic, Bible-thumping,
gun-toting, flag-waving, Nascar boosting, white nationalist "deplorables". Now they have
decided to intensify the assault on mainly white working people by preemptively destroying the
economy, destabilizing the country, and spreading terror far and wide. It's another vicious
psy-ops campaign designed to thoroughly demoralize and humiliate the enemy who just happen to
be the American people. Here's more form the WSWS:
" It is no coincidence that the promotion of this racial narrative of American history by
the Times, the mouthpiece of the Democratic Party and the privileged upper-middle-class
layers it represents, comes amid the growth of class struggle in the US and around the
world.
The 1619 Project is one component of a deliberate effort to inject racial politics into
the heart of the 2020 elections and foment divisions among the working class. The Democrats
think it will be beneficial to shift their focus for the time being from the reactionary,
militarist anti-Russia campaign to equally reactionary racial politics." (" The New York
Times's 1619 Project: A racialist falsification of American and world history " WSWS)
Can you see how the protests are being used to promote the political objectives of elites
operating behind the mask of "impartial" reporting? The scheming NY Times has replaced the
enlightenment principles articulated in our founding documents with a sordid tale of racial
hatred and oppression. The editors seek to eliminate everything we believe as Americans so they
can brainwash us into believing that we are evil people deserving of humiliation, repudiation
and punishment. Here's more from the same article:
"In the months preceding these events, the New York Times, speaking for dominant sections
of the Democratic political establishment, launched an effort to discredit both the American
Revolution and the Civil War. In the New York Times' 1619 Project, the American Revolution
was presented as a war to defend slavery, and Abraham Lincoln was cast as a garden variety
racist
The attacks on the monuments to these men were pioneered by the increasingly frenzied
attempt by the Democratic Party and the New York Times to racialize American history, to
create a narrative in which the history of mankind is reduced to the history of racial
struggle . This campaign has produced a pollution of democratic consciousness, which meshes
entirely with the reactionary political interests driving it." (" The New York Times's 1619
Project: A racialist falsification of American and world history" , WSWS)
Ideas have consequences, and the incendiary version of events disseminated by the Times has
added fuel to a fire that's spread from one coast to the other. Given the damage that has been
done to cities across the country, it would be nice to know how Dean Baquet knew that "race was
going to play a huge part" in upcoming events? It's all very suspicious. Here's more:
" Given the 1619 Project's black nationalist narrative, it may appear surprising that
nowhere in the issue do the names Malcolm X or Black Panthers appear. Unlike the black
nationalists of the 1960s, Hannah-Jones does not condemn American imperialism. She boasts
that "we [i.e. African-Americans] are the most likely of all racial groups to serve in the
United States military," and celebrates the fact that "we" have fought "in every war this
nation has waged." Hannah-Jones does not note this fact in a manner that is at all critical.
She does not condemn the creation of a "volunteer" army whose recruiters prey on
poverty-stricken minority youth. There is no indication that Hannah-Jones opposes the "War on
Terror" and the brutal interventions in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Syria -- all
supported by the Times -- that have killed and made homeless upwards of 20 million people. On
this issue, Hannah-Jones is remarkably "color-blind." She is unaware of, or simply
indifferent to, the millions of "people of color" butchered and made refugees by the American
war machine in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa." (" The New York Times's 1619
Project: A racialist falsification of American and world histor y", WSWS)
So, black nationalists like Malcolm X and the Black Panthers are excluded from the The 1619
Project's narrative, but the author boasts that blacks "are the most likely of all racial
groups to serve in the US military"?? How does that happen unless Hannah-Jones was coached by
Democrat leaders about who should and shouldn't be included in the text? None of this passes
the smell test. It all suggests that the storyline was shaped by people who had a specific goal
in mind. That isn't history, it's fiction written by people who have an ax to grind. The Times
even admitted as much in response to the blistering criticism by five of "the most widely read
and respected authorities on US history." The New York TimesMagazine editor in
chief Jake Silverstein rejected the historians' objections saying:
"The project was intended to address the marginalization of African-American history in
the telling of our national story and examine the legacy of slavery in contemporary American
life. We are not ourselves historians, it is true. We are journalists, trained to look at
current events and situations and ask the question: Why is this the way it is?"
WTF! "We are not ourselves historians"? That's the excuse?? Give me a break!
The truth is that there was never any attempt to provide an accurate account of events. From
the very onset, the goal was to create a storyline that fit the politics, the politics of
provocation, incitement, racial hatred, social unrest and violence. That's what the Times and
their allies wanted, and that's what they got.
The Deep State Axis: CIA, DNC, NYT
The three-way alliance between the CIA, the Elite Media, and the Democratic leadership has
clearly strengthened and grown since the failed Russiagate fiasco. All three parties were
likely involved in the maniacal hyping of the faux-Covid pandemic which paved the way for
Depression era unemployment, tens of thousands of bankrupt businesses and a sizable portion of
the US population thrust into destitution. Now, these deep state loyalists are promoting a
"falsified" race-based version of history that pits one group against the other while diverting
attention from the deliberate destruction of the economy and the further consolidation of
wealth in the hands of the 1 percent.
Behind the veil of the protest movement, the war on the American people is gaining pace.
Stopped reading the Times after the buildup to the Iraq War, when it was clear they were
lying. Everyone please stop reading the Times, and in particular stop referring to what they
are writing. Act like they don't exist. If enough do, they won't.
The stupidity of the Dems was shown this week when they agreed to three Biden/Trump debates.
They should leave him in his basement and hope for the best. They feature political ads where
Biden slurs his speech! These are professionals, so it tells me they spent all day and did 40
takes and this was the best he could do. The election will be great comedy, or perhaps
This is all planned. Biden will be forced to drop out and Bloomberg or even Clinton will
arise.
"Tucker Carlson is right, the protests and riots are not a momentary civil disturbance. They
are an attack the Constitutional Republic itself, the heart and soul of American democracy."
I am reminded of david horowitz and chrissy hitchens
And how they promoted Israeli interests after first pretending to be independent thinkers
to gain creed for the switch. Standard zionazi-gay psywar tactic.
The stupidity of the Dems was shown this week when they agreed to three Biden/Trump
debates.
This is all planned. Biden will be forced to drop out and Bloomberg or even Clinton will
arise.
Stupid and planned?
Clinton is the best evidence that certain people agree to be blackmailed in exchange for
power, as Andrew Anglin wrote this week. Why should DNC care if Trump is 're-elected'? And if
they don't care, who not take a stab at installing an intersectional DNC pinnacle fraudster
via the griftiest, most insulting, infuriating way possible? They can't lose.
Orwell called this "newspeak". That's now the language of libtards.
thanks
and not just shitlibs, but across the entire length and breadth of our culture and society
this Ministry of Truth-imposed doublethink masquerades as language intended to inform and
explain, when it does the opposite.
George Will and Sean Hannity use newspeak with the same alacrity as Lawrence O'Donnell or
Rachel Maddow. Israel has to defend itself. Putin's aggression and Russian
meddling in our democracy.
'Quantitative easing' as a doubleplusgood expression for human history's most colossal
case of mass-swindling the world has ever known.
it's everywhere, and the more it isn't noticed, the more sinister and diabolical it
is.
It's like that Twilight Zone episode of the aliens that only wanted to 'serve man'.
'We're here to serve you'.
The writers of that episode certainly must have been thinking of a certain tribe of
'philanthropists' and owners of 'human rights' organizations.
A bit off topic, but, personally, I'd really appreciate it if the Current Affairs-Jacobin
crowd would drop the childish open-borders fantasy stuff.
Marx himself figured out what the immigration game was all about back in the mid-1800s,
why do those who purport to represent the working class seem so intent on unlearning what was
patently obvious back then and continues to be so, today?
Yes, I get we all like to meet different people, learn up close about different cultures,
cuisines, and all that, but let's be clear-eyed that there's a cost to those things. It comes
in the form of rising rents/property prices and gentrification, disinvestment in the labor
force (why train workers when you can just import replacements?), degradation in local
environment.
Also, can we stop strip-mining the human capital of other countries?
Let's focus more on creating a right to 'stay in place' instead of 'freedom of movement'
fantasy stuff which sounds more like a right to tourism or something weird like that.
"I have regretfully come to the conclusion that The Hill, owned by one of Trump's close
personal friends, puts on Rising mainly for the purpose of trying to trick leftists into
softening on Trump & see nationalist racists as preferable to moderate Democrats"
Wow that is flat out ridiculous how stupid does he think people are?
Have you talked to people in public lately? They can't understand how you can be against
both republicans and democrats. Then spend the next hour trying to convince you to vote
democrat. Orrrrr they storm off in a fit.
Neoliberalism's support of very open boarders for both finance and labor arbitrage is
assumed to be always good because the American and English nomenklatura and their
apparatchiks implicitly. very often without any real thought, believe in the ideology of
neoliberalism. So, while there is often manipulation by whatever hidden authority is doing
it, most of the time there is no need. The writers have brainwashed themselves into
ignorance. 2+2=5
One of the groups that suffers most from open borders is African Americans. If Blacks in
Los Angeles, for example, lacked a college degree, they could nevertheless earn decent wages
in various sectors including construction and janitorial work, as two examples. Illegal
immigration ended that.
Borders are a problem only when capitalism prevails. Note the problems/objections you
cited having to do with wages, property prices, and other "market" features that would not
apply under socialism. When people rule themselves cooperatively and share the wealth that
presently is stolen from them and used against them, the problem of borders will cease to be
a problem.
The problem I have is that, even assuming you're correct, the utopian socialist crew
somehow thinks that open borders is compatible, in the actual capitalist world we live in,
with forwarding the interests of the working class. It's just not.
Certainly 'open borders' are not compatible with anyone's interests because they're a
contradiction in terms. The capitalists see the border (the real border, not the mythical
'open border') as a kind of valve which can be opened or shut as their interests require. It
also provides for ways of further disadvantaging certain portions of the working class and
thus reducing their wages and eliminating their rights. So the institution of the border
turns out to be a kind of variable form of coercion, as well as a myth to build racist and
classist politics on.
The media is more fascinating by the day if you try not to take it seriously. Really.
Trying to deconstruct who is the real audience, what is the underlying message (aka dog
whistle), how is the media doing plausible deniability, who is the real source (who is the
piece written to serve) and what is the motivation for the piece could take whole PhDs to
figure out sometimes.
And it's hard because I have biases, like everyone I guess, which can get in the way.
Every few days I get a lightbulb moment on something and that is fascinating.
But at the bottom of every media pronouncement is the money, so follow the money and the
power. Not so easy sometimes because the real hallmark of the powerful is the ability to pay
for invisibility. My CEO used to say that he had no real power. Now, he knew how to
operate.
Yes, this is now my approach. I still watch and read widely, but never (or hardly ever) in
the expectation that I'll either learn something or get told anything even vaguely related to
the unvarnished truth.
Much more interesting (but as you say, requiring adroit mental gymnastics and prone to all
sorts of misdirection) is trying to work out the answers to the inevitable questions:
-- Why am I being shown this at this time ?
-- What narratives are intended to be constructed by this "story"?
-- Who is trying to influence me and why, into doing (or refraining from doing) what?
-- Is it a false-flag or should it be taken at face value?
-- Is it supportive of existing norms or trying to change them (or, the old favourite
stand-by "controlled opposition")?
-- Is it organic (highly, highly unlikely) or is it the latest exciting instalment of the
ongoing oligarch v. oligarch grudge match?
-- What messaging / influencing technique is being employed (fear, guilt, appeal to ethics,
tribalism, family values et. al.)?
The last is usually the most intriguing. Is this the family-favourite Soros v. Putin title
fight? A Bill Gates v. Trump proxy war? The Clinton Democrats-in-name-only leftist faction v.
whoever Sanders constituency actually is? Globalist Internationalism capitalists v. disaster
capitalists?
I was going to write the following sentence at this point:
"Someone should publish " Top Trumps " (no irony intended) so we can
all work our way around who's who in all this
But then, can you believe it, reality trumped me because some
wisecracker beat me to it . Of course, the political power players Top Trumps pack really
needs additional categories to make it realistic. "Number of SuperPACs", "$Billions Grifted",
"Brown People in Far Away Places Blown to Pink Mist Total in Office", "Media Outlets Owned",
"MSM Actors on the Payroll" etc. etc. etc.
Thank you Clive for enunciating and listing so clearly the mental editing of reporting
that I too have been doing for decades.
My only addition: __'Who profits from this being accepted.'
There's a lot more recent papers on the issue than Marx. To put it shortly, it's almost
impossible to separate the effect of immigration on wages from the effects of "free trade"
and automatisation.
For example, in "The impact of massmigration on the Israeli labor market" in 2001 R.M.
Friedberg concluded that wages actually went up, when Russians migrated en masse to Israel,
though they did not migrate to seek employment.
Ottaviano and Peri in "Immigration and National Wages: Clarifying the theory and the
empirics" and Card in "Immigration and inequality" state that the models used to estimate the
wages are mostly too simple and very sensitive to how education levels are defined.
All economists seem to agree that in the least skilled or educated "class" the effect of
migration is lower wages or raising unemployment, if wages are the only way for
the economy to adjust.
I just don't think the issue is as clear cut as people make it to be.
Robinson is continuing a great British tradition where mediocrities from the Mother
country head for the colonies to wow the gullible colonists with their fancy ways. The guy is
such a lightweight, like fellow grifting Brits Niall Ferguson or Louise Mensch.
Robinson could refer not to Fox, but to Fox Butterfield . That has a quaint, somewhat
British-sounding aspirational upper class twit aspect that seems fitting. /s
Per wikipedia, Robinson moved with his family from the U.K. to the U.S. in 1995; he was
born in 1989. He's almost entirely the product of an American upbringing and education. He
hasn't dropped the accent because he doesn't want to. Frankly he's more of a Florida Man than
a Brit imo. (I say this as an admirer.)
I generally like Nathan Robinson -- most of the time he writes long detailed heavily
linked arguments that are worth reading and which I think most people here would agree with.
He is not liked by mainstream Democrats.
I was very disappointed with his Taibbi piece. But I tend to be disappointed by nearly
everyone at one point or another. When Robinson says he likes Taibbi, I think he is telling
the truth. He just thinks Taibbi is wrong in this case, while I think it is Robinson who is
wrong.
Why is everyone ignoring one of the most bizarre aspects of the Bernie Sanders campaign?
That his campaign staff and most prominent supporters were mostly members and supporters of a
small religious sect that comprises 1% of the US population, and they were not typical
members of this sect, but instead the most extremist ones.
Moreover this small religious sect that comprises 1% of the US population causes one half of
US terrorism deaths. Proof:
According to Wikipedia, between 2008 and 2016
right-wing terrorists caused 79 deaths
left-wing terrorists caused 7 deaths
jihadi terrorists caused 90 deaths
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_United_States#
Recent trends
Therefore Islamic terrorists actually killed MORE people than right-wing terrorists.
Furthermore, if we assume that right-wingers make up 10% of the US population, and Muslims
make up 1% of the US population, then per capita, Muslims accounted for TEN TIMES as many
terrorism deaths as right-wingers did. Furthermore Muslims accounted for ONE HUNDRED TIMES as
many terrorism deaths as non-Muslims did.
Bernie Sanders' campaign was run by Muslim extremists Faiz Shakir and Matt Duss.
But nobody seems to mind. Anyone who criticizes Islam is called a bigot. But Islam's holy
book says: "Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are ruthless to
unbelievers, merciful to one another." (Qur'an 48:29) Is that bigotry or is that not
bigotry?
In 1946 the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna, praised Amin al-Husseini, the
leader of the Palestinian national movement, in the following words:
Germany and Hitler are no more, but Amin el-Husseini will fight on!
Source: Die Welt, Hamburg
https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article107737611/Von-Deutschland-lernen-heisst-erinnern-lernen.html
Bernie Sanders represents left-wing ideas and programs that are ANATHEMA to this small sect
and ESPECIALLY to its extremist wing. Ideas like sexual freedom and religious freedom,
freedom to criticize religions, equality among religions and non-religions, and equality
between sexes, the idea that laws must be made by human beings elected by majorities through
democratic elections instead of by some divinity who is obviously merely a social construct
invented in order to exert tyrannical power over society. Those are all principles that
flatly contradict Islam and its legal code, sharia law, which CAIR has been doing its utmost
to protect from anti-sharia lagislation.
All of Bernie Sanders' most prominent supporters opposed ALL of his leftist ideas, because
they want a theocratic state where binary sexuality is the norm and criticism of their sect
is verboten.
They hopped onto the Sanders bandwagon and took control of it out of sheer opportunism,
because they see Sanders as the path firstly to liquidating Israel and thus achieving one of
the primary goals of the worldwide Islamist movement, namely to turn the Middle East into a
homogeneous Muslim region, and secondly in order to seize key political positions in the
political system of the US, DESPITE BEING SUCH A TINY MINORITY.
Matt Duss, Bernie Sanders' foreign policy adviser, is tightly linked through his family to
World Vision, a Christian charity that for decades has funded the FDLP, a Palestinian
terrorist group that is nominally secular, but in reality is Islamist. This is proved by the
fact that when some of its members killed 4 rabbis in Jerusalem a few years ago, they yelled
Allahu akbar. It was recently discovered that World Vision has financed Hamas with US
government money. Moreover Matt Duss together with Faiz Shakir, Sanders' Islamist campaign
manager, have campaigned in favor of sharia law, a legal system that claims divine authority
and is a product of 7th century Arabian society.
By contrast, 20% of Americans are secularists who -- at least in theory -- strongly oppose
the reactionary and obscurantist program of Bernie Sanders' principal supporters. But no
prominent secularist appeared among Sanders' most important backers. Now why is it that
Sanders relied principally on people who wholeheartedly oppose his program and ignored the
vastly greater number of Americans who support freedom and equality?
Proto -fascism? I rather think it might be here already, but in an American
guise.
(Sorry, I just couldn't decide where the sentences and paragraphs should be. Semicolons
were the solution.)
As the United States is its own unique blend; utopian, socialistic, religious, fascistic,
authoritarian or totalitarian, dysfunctional, increasingly hourglass shaped (oligarchy with
skilled workers, tiny middle class, and massive poor class) like any very corrupt Third-World
country; an increasingly oppressive police state trying to control a very diverse, well
educated, skilled "rightsized" people, often armed and getting more so, with a large number
retire military; everyone is angry or afraid and most know that it was laziness or stupidity
or the race/social group/Russians/Chinese/Space Elves that turned the prosperity, power, and
general competence of fifty into the economic hellscape, weakness, and near complete
incompetence of today; it is increasingly obvious that it was the wealthy with the help of
their courtiers and servants of the apparatchiks, and the intelligentsia/punditocracy.
Fear and self righteousness facing anger and desperation. What a situation to have.
Bookmarked for later. Nathan Robinson manages to insidiously smuggle Cold War propaganda
into articles that ostensibly argue against Russiagate. He appears to be the most dangerous
kind of propagandist.
Read that Taibbi piece and boy does he have links -- to back his sound and clear
narrative.
It seems like he always has a lot of research, way more than he makes his case with
Drawing fire, as a tactic for the well prepared, can be useful.
If NC wants to add a Media Whores Online section to Links or Water Cooler we won't object.
Of course this would probably inspire PropOrNot part deux. Those MSM journalists can dish it
out but not take it.
As I seem to recall MWO somewhat got the stuffing knocked out of it after 9/11. But when
it was really rolling it seemed to embodied what the internet was for and why many of us took
it up. Monica-gate followed by Bush v Gore offered a TINA media landscape begging to be
debunked.
MWO published what might have been my first blog comment, really just an email, and it was
on the Kaus affair, piling on with sarc mode set to high, another example of the 'hate' we
were apparently guilty of. It was the daily visit then that NC is now. It was important. The
creator remains a mystery, though Bartcop seems to deserve favouritism.
Looking at some of the MWO Wayback pages from 2002 took me back (though the whole of July
when the Kaus thing blew is missing). Lots of familiar names – digby, Alterman,
Marshall, Conason, Lyons, Pierce et al, all of whom I just stopped reading at some point,
probably about the same time I ceased to have any respect for the Clintons.
Color me skeptical when it comes to the wonders of Mr. Taibbi's observations. I find his
narratives full of sound and fury as often as they are sound and clear. But, like Craig
Murray or Glenn Greenwald, he can be a good read on the right topic. Sy Hersh and Thomas
Frank, however, I have a lot of time for.
By contrast I've always found that Taibbi always signifies something, but tries to do so
in a way that might enable him to avoid being cancelled or deplatformed. Sy Hersh has no such
concern. And last time I checked Thomas Frank was trying to signify to me that "maybe there
is a case for Joe Biden". With more than 40 years' experience of the man, I utterly
disagree.
"maybe there is a case for Joe Biden" is the headline and most of the article. It's
deception. Read to the last paragraph if you want to see what Frank actually thinks of Biden.
Quite a sucker punch! Though that does not fully capture the sticking and twisting of Frank's
shiv.
Yes I think Taibbi knows a lot more than he puts forward in his articles. How could he
not? Same with Frank, probably. Even Hersh censors himself, as evidenced by that recorded
phone conversation about Seth Rich.
The wonder of Mr. Taibbi's observations is that he's brave enough to keep making them.
Real journalism is rare these days because our corporate organizations have removed
journalists from the protected species list. Mr. Taibbi is just documenting the fallout from
the officially sanctioned behavior that leads to people canceling those who are discussing
actual injustice and real problems in our country. He's also trying, and failing, to show
Team Blue fans that their inability to accept reality hurts their electoral chances. For
example, the many attempts to scrub Hillary's problems from the media lead to a sense of
complacency in likely Democrat voters and made people voting for her opponent highly
motivated to turn out at the polls. Taking something like her "basket of deplorables" comment
and not discussing why it was just as problematic as Mitt Romney's "48% of people who are
voting for Obama don't pay income tax" comments was journalistic and political malpractice.
It remains to be seen whether the many attempts to shield Biden using similar tactics will
help or hurt him. Personally I think the Democrats will lose because they have rubber stamped
the reduction of voting access so much in so many states that the people who would like to
vote for them won't be able to vote. Which is a legitimately awful problem.
There are so many issues that Mr. Taibbi has discussed which bear repeating because unless
you're getting your news from sites like NC you just don't see it. A recent Useful Idiots
podcast episode that Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper did with Shahid Buttar noted that an
interview that Mr. Buttar gave which mentioned corporate democrats supporting the re-approval
of the Patriot Act under Trump was removed from YouTube and no reasons were given as to why
that occurred. Stuff like that makes me think we're living on a spectrum between Brave New
World and 1984, with class largely determining where you fall, and we have Cancel Culture
people in media running around playing the role of Fireman from Fahrenheit 451 to keep the
wrong people from asking too many questions regardless of class. As Mr. Buttar pointed out
during his UI podcast interview, the algorithms that FB and YouTube use to remove content
without due process catch all the videos of violent acts AND video evidence police abusing
citizens. That's by design. But you wouldnt even know about it without reporters like Matt
Taibbi.
Yes, thanks for taking the time to encapsulate what Taibbi represents for me.
I admire his relentless pursuit of the 'how' our world is being spun out of control.
That is a very interesting story. Call me paranoid, but IMO we are witnessing the collapse
of American society, where every institution is losing it's credibility for various reasons.
Personally, I think it is a combination of increased oppression from the threatened rulers,
resulting in increased conformity by its victims ((journalists and the public) This combined
with the privatization of information, ( ie everything becoming paywalled) is aimed at the
reduction of important information by making it unavailable. I fear all of this ends in a
veil of tears. This can only lead to fascism, where only the current accepted narrative is
permitted.
We face the criminal persecution and torture of Assange; the criminal persecution of Craig
Murray; the recent debacle at TruthDig; the demise of the Weatherunderground, the growing
numbers of pay walls and pop-ups pleading for money and email addresses all suggesting a most
unhappy outcome for the future. The consolidation and control of the major media is old
history. Reporters are becoming extinct. And there's the pollution of youtube, search
engines, and social media. Our society is devolving -- it is being dismantled, vivisected
before our eyes to no end but the end of social order.
I am not sure fascism is the result. We already live in what is technically a fascism
where State and Business share the same bed.
'The consolidation and control of the major media is old history. Reporters are becoming
extinct. And there's the pollution of youtube, search engines, and social media'
There should be a public option for the provision of information (surely up there with
food, water and shelter as an essential public good) that is not polluted. Of course it would
be derided (and feared) by the wingnuts, the Borg and finance capital as a vehicle for
progressive propaganda. Which it could well be given consistent polling indicating majority
support for many if not most progressive positions. That of course means that the Democrats
would hate it too.
Which segues into my next pipe dream: Abolish parties!
Ellsberg, like, Seymour Hersh and Thomas Frank, has been drummed out of town.
Interesting that those with a conscience are the ones "drummed out of town". Guess that
tells you everything you need to know about that "town".
As for Matt Taibbi, he is one of the VERY RARE journalists that I give the benefit of the
doubt is actually telling the truth (even though I still verify) as I usually assume most
"journalists" are lying (or trying to sell a particular story) and go from there. I also find
his podcast with Katie Halper entertaining and informative.
I read that article. I thought it was one of the best of his I've read. Hats off Matt
Taibbi. As far as I'm concerned once we lose the complexity that inhabits a serious regard
for the truth, we're done. I always appreciate being brought up short by my 'enemies.' It
means they might not be as hideous as I'd thought.
being consistently lied to by TV reporters, print media, and politicians not only breeds
cynicism, it births, welps, nurses, and rears. the limitation of news outlets until the
explosion of social media meant they could be parsed out in narrow sets of ideas and
language. Today big media is laid bare, McLuhan was so right, Today it is crucial to know
ones own biases, allow opinion and research in opposition into my field of view. As a trader,
I always searched for the refuting argument, chart, analysis that would tell me i was wrong,
saved me a lot of money. Inflaming passions today is crucial to getting buy-in, not just
voting, which is the tail trying to wag the dog. Taibbi has earned his stripes, fields
critics on twitter at least, faithfully and honestly.
I have been reading Taibbi since the eXiled. Robinson and Current Affairs I only found out
about more recently.
I view Taibbi as a real journalist with a proven track record. Current Affairs often has
some entertaining and thoughful content, but Robinson frankly seems to be more of a
lightweight, especially in comparison to Taibbi.
He specializes in "takedowns" of right wing grifters like Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson.
Not exactly difficult targets. His turning on Taibbi, and more recently Krystal Ball and
Rising, has been interesting to see. I don't know if he just grew tired of writing about only
right wing types, or if he's trying to raise his own profile by attacking better-known left
media figures (probably a bit of both). Either way, Robinson's shitck has gotten decidedly
old.
Robinson's not really an investigative reporter. More like a pundit for the over-educated
left. So it's not really fair to compare him to people like Greenwald and Taibbi. He's also
quite young, and every one his age has some big blind spots and youthful hubris that will
(hopefully) shrink in time.
And of course his shtick got tired. Anyone who's job consists of basically writing 2-3
op-eds a week is gonna run out of new material real fast. In a marginally more sane world
he'd have a nice job as the regular NYT lefty op-ed guy, and be pretty good at it I
think.
In any case, he's a sincere young man who does seem to listen and learn. I mostly side
with Taibbi in this kerfuffle, but maybe I wouldn't have 10 years ago. Given the large number
of truly horrible people in the public eye these days, the vitriol towards young Nate seems a
bit excessive. Frankly, if there's anyone who could get the PMC+DSA crowd to start
questioning identitarianism, it's probably him (as I believe they constitute the near
entirety of his readership), so lets work on helping him "recognize his own privilege" re:
the working class instead of bashing him or questioning his motives.
I forgot about the attack on Krystal Ball. I didn't like that either, but another person I
generally like, Adam Johnson, did the same.
I have just gotten used to the fact that there aren't going to be people I agree with on
every important issue 100 percent of the time. This isn't irony or sarcasm -- I really am
disappointed when otherwise smart and (IMO) clearly well intentioned people have opinions I
think are wrong. But it is possible I am wrong. ( This is all painfully earnest, as corny as
it sounds. )
I think you have the correct approach. People are far too hair triggered about certain
topics. A journalist has to churn out lots of copy, even the best will occasionally get it
wrong, or just happen to express beliefs that don't match up with what i or anyone else
believes. It is I think the sort of trap that IdPol people fall into – insisting on
increasing levels of purity from those on their side, and immediately casting them out if
they dare shift one inch from the narrative.
It should be possible to read and learn from good writers, even if you disagree with them.
And it's very important that progressives learn and develop by listening to those who have
respectful and intellectually coherent reasons not to buy into every precious shibboleth. I
think its very important to have voices like Taibbi and Stoller, people who aren't afraid to
make even fellow left progressives angry by taking strong positions.
As seen on TV, Frank Figliuzzi x Greenwald mistaking Figliuzzi's shingle advertising
body-man services, for a Wurlitzer. "Figliuzzi" is "small son" in Italian, a euphemism for
abandoned orphans, also known for working on behalf of the parents that raised them: The
State. Perhaps Figliuzzi's booking agency has insight into clandestine media control. It's
hard to decipher whether Taibbi's beef is that journalists' ethical lapses are not properly
coordinated or whether the lapses are not authentic enough. Which is the same criticism
leveled at the street demonstrators without acknowledging that higher levels of coordination
and authentic anger potentiate more physical harm. Spontaneity is the x-factor in both
pursuits. Last point. When the surveillance state is conceptualized as the ever-vigilant eyes
of BLM and the feverish archiving of Journos, rather than the underworld of the Police State,
the surveillance state-less becomes a mode for positive change. Vindication by security
camera. Can one be baffled by hope?
"What the heck is the correct pejorative for a member of the intelligence commumity? "
The intelligence communities must have there own terms for these people. "Agents of
influence"? Psychological warfare specialists? Propagandists? Minitrue Goodthinker?
I think the United States needs a mandatory high school class in "How to read propaganda".
Americans are probably the most propagandized people on the planet.
Some of the CIA are analysts, like Ray McGovern, albeit politicized ones. The CIA has
different departments. The best word for the CIA is probably "disgrace" or "national
shame".
Would love to hear Taibbi explain why the NY Times spent the summer of 2016 pretending to
care that Republicans pretended to care about Clinton's email protocols.
Speaking of the fake news NY Times, here is a good 2017 analysis of its decades-long
mendacity and war propagandizing. Here is a snippet:
"The CIA's brazen intervention in the electoral process in 2016 and 2017 broke new ground
in the agency's politicization. Former CIA head Michael Morell announced in an August 2016
op-ed in the Times: "I Ran the C.I.A. Now I'm Endorsing Hillary Clinton," and former CIA boss
Michael Hayden published an op-ed in the Washington Post just days before the election,
entitled "Former CIA Chief: Trump is Russia's Useful Fool." Morell had yet another op-ed in
the Times on January 6, now openly assailing the new president. These attacks were
unrelievedly insulting to Trump and laudatory to Clinton, even portraying Trump as a traitor;
they also made clear that Clinton's more pugnacious stance toward Syria and Russia was
preferable by far to Trump's leanings toward negotiation and cooperation with Russia."
Note where so many seemingly-disreputable people end up, and why. There is money , whether
to reward for past services, or to transfer in anticipation of legal defenses needed.
Money shows up in novel ways, like book deals and in plain old propagandizing ways, like
pundit spots.
And of course there really is such a thing as "Left Wing Hate" (for some definition of
"left," I admit).
Glad to see this qualifier added. I suspect the language that is necessary to have
meaningful discussions about political ideologies with people from different political tribes
is purposely corrupted by the conservative and liberal media establishments, probably at the
behest of the CIA.
Einstein's definition of madness "Doing the same thing again and again and expecting to
get a different result"
Do you remember the last time you let the robber barons and reckless bankers run riot in
the 1920s?
No.
Do you remember the last time you used neoclassical economics in the 1920s?
No.
Do you remember how bad it was in the 1970s?
Yes.
Do you remember how bad it was in the 1930s?
No.
During the 1920s there was a great consolidation of US businesses into often single
companies that dominated every sector.
This time this has happened in the media.
About six corporations control the US media, and they make sure you hear, what they want you
to hear.
We stepped onto an old path that still leads to the same place.
1920s/2000s – neoclassical economics, high inequality, high banker pay, low regulation,
low taxes for the wealthy, robber barons (CEOs), reckless bankers, globalisation phase
1929/2008 – Wall Street crash
1930s/2010s – Global recession, currency wars, trade wars, austerity, rising
nationalism and extremism
1940s – World war.
We forgot we had been down that path before.
I remembered where this path goes.
When the US needed an FDR, it got an Obama.
Now they've got Trump.
They've taken a more European approach this time.
Trying to maintain the status quo is not a good idea, they needed a New Deal.
Somewhat relevant. Don't threaten the narrative.
"Scott Alexander of Slate Star Codex (@slatestarcodex deletes his blog after a @nytimes
reporter threatens to doxx him, which could ruin his career as a psychiatrist and raises
serious safety concerns."
That said, anyone who believes the NYT was ever respectable, as in worthy of respect, not
as in "mainstay of the establishment", needs only harken back to Pulitzer's role in fanning
the Spanish-American War to understand how fundamentally depraved an institution it really
is.
His name was known to many readers of Slate Star Codex, and they were too polite to repeat
it. There is a decency and brilliance that would be sorely missed with any permanent
silencing of his unique voice and views.
Absolutely, its a brilliant blog, on so many levels. Its beyond belief that the NY would
insist on publishing his real name, when there is absolutely no reason or public interest in
doing so.
The NYT fancies itself an empire, dispensing and dispatching at will. Here is a Star Wars
quote from Obi-Wan applicable to those that the Grey Lady targets, or even purposefully
ignores:
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in
terror and were suddenly silenced.
It is quite interesting, and positive, should I say, that nobody resorted to the argument
of "lefty" thinkers destroying themselves as the perennial malaise of the left. Regarding the
confrontation between Taibbi and Robinson it looks clear they do not represent 2 variations
of the same camp: They inhabit completely different camps though, as an outsider, I am not
able to establish clearly the limits between their audiences and their supporting
platforms.
It strikes me, as very well pointed, the similarities that Lambert brougth from Taibbi in
the ADDENDUM about the, IMO very likely, Trump reelection and the 2016 elections: he can
easily run away with his errors and the liberals look poised to make similar mistakes in 2020
as they did in 2016. They learnt nothing and forgot nothing.
On this I really would like a well informed discussion on some news pieces that have seen
linked here before indicating that Trump very much dislikes voting by mail "because of fraud"
though my opinion is that he just wants the election turnout to be the smaller the
better.
Regarding the vast U.S. media propaganda machine, Chomsky famously said long ago that
propaganda was MORE necessary in democratic societies. In a totalitarian regime, the
government can control the public with force and violence, imprisoning or executing
dissidents. But in a democratic society, citizens have the power to vote and change the
government. Therefore, it is more necessary in a democratic society to control how the public
thinks. Thus propaganda is the very essence of democracy. Propaganda ids thought control in
democratic societies.
There was a time when I went to the established media to learn things. Now, it feels more
like checking in on an evolving soap opera with a baffling plot and inconsistent characters.
There's a certain grim amusement in seeing the latest plot twist but that's about all. I get
my actual information from sites like NC and specialist sites and newsletters by experts. I'm
afraid that my gut reaction to clicking on a MSM story these days is: why is this bast**d
lying to me?
Likewise. The thing is, as a teenager back in the 1980's I'd read my Chomsky and a number
of radical media writers. My eyes had been opened when I was around 15, home on holidays and
bored watching afternoon TV when a particular incident occurred in NI. I remember watching
open mouthed as the narrative was completely twisted around 180 degrees by the time of the
evening news (I won't go into the details, but it started as 'brave mourners tackle
terrorists who drove a car into a crowd saving many lives' into 'barbaric Republicans lynch
two innocent soldiers who had lost their way' over the course of about 4 hours of reporting.
But I still, up to a few years ago, as a default tended to believe what I read in the
newspapers or watched on TV, unless I had a reasonably good reason not to do so. But no more.
I don't really know whether things have gotten much worse, or I've just become more
educated/cynical.
Fast forward to 2003, very much like the terrorist attacks in Atocha train station when
Aznar phoned all the media to say "it is certain it was ETA" and so the publications in Spain
went with this story. Thereafter, only the conservative media went on with a conspiracy
theory with the Spanish police in collusion with ETA to maintain their narrative even when it
was crystal clear it was a yihaddist attack.
So, regarding the media, it is the narrative what goes first and much more important than
facts. No matter if it is a conservative or a liberal outlet, they will stick to their
narrative. This has worsened with time.
I love this quote, so let me be a stickler. The actual question is: Why is this lying
bastard lying to me?. It was originally atributed to Louis Heron of the Times and
channeled by Paxman in an interview at the end of his Newsnight career. Otherwise, I am
depressed to say that I can do nothing other than agree with your view of the MSM in general,
although there are a few journalists who appear to be doing what they should be doing even if
they may not doing it as well as they probably could. As for the rest, some of them can't
even write.
Yes, I'm not sure whether Heron actually said that (accounts differ) but I remember
thinking when I first read it decades ago that it was silly: I spent a good part of my life
preparing politicians for interviews, and, at least then, you made sure they were briefed to
put the best spin on things, which is not the same as lying. But on subjects I was familiar
with, I used to reckon that most jobbing journalists (ie not the deep specialists) would get
things factually accurate about 50% of the time, and that the problems were more related to
ignorance and preconceptions than active attempts to mislead. I don't think that's the case
now. Journalists today, by contrast, actively tell lies, often for political reasons or to
conform to groupthink.
Taibbi is a national treasure. He is a funny, engaging writer who knows where the
boundaries are involving spin, humor and articulating a precise message. The fact that he has
been so clairvoyant about hundreds of issues (Political futility, Financial Crisis, Policing,
and changes in Media) is due to his unique willingness to talk to people in all walks of life
to understand the complexity of what he is writing about. And when he does not know
something, he owns it. Connectivity to people, and his marriage to journalism all breed more
and more trust (as well as puts a target on his back).
We live in a time of fracture (capital/labor, institutional decay, and the indelible scars
of markets taking over our lives at every level) means we need people to cut through the
noise, effectively -- reminding us of our fantastic thinking and proffering uncomfortable
truths. And nowhere has this been more apparent than the NL core of the democratic party on
the Left:
1. Russiagate Maddowers versus Mate-Blumenthal
2. Syria/Bolivia/Venezuela/Chile CIA media engineers vs The Grayzone and Greenwald
3. The Warren/Sanders rift. The Warren/Warren rift.
4. The night of 1000 Knives.
5. BLM and Democratic Party.
6. And left media puts out a hit against Taibbi – with very little serious discussion
of Hate Inc..
7. Leftist Fractures – N Robinson vs Krystal Ball, Lee Fang, Taibbi and an academic
accused of "bad research"
8. Attack on the show Rising – why would the left talk to the populist right
canard.
The left are playing a role in their own demise -- often at the behest of the NL center or
in concert to a more individualistic lens, separate of that to ordinary people. Kyle Kulinski
just did a 30 minutes on this too.
All in all, the group who needs to be shattered into a thousand pieces in the wind (the NL
core of both parties) just got stronger this election cycle -- and in my mind the fractures
on the left are just starting.
It did not have to be that way. Sickening to consider when you think about the opportunity
we had in January.
Over the years I have asked many people about press coverage of subjects they knew well. I
asked if, from their perspective, the press got all, most, some or none of the story right.
The long run average response is between some and none.
Then I ask, "Why, if your personal experience says the press rarely gets it right
concerning something you know a lot about, do you believe they get it right concerning things
you know little about?"
Taibbi is correct in that piece, undeniably so, but more than that it's the entire
Sanders-based social democratic movement that's coming apart. The media is mostly a
reflection of that. I had always hoped that the movement towards social democracy Sanders
fostered could survive beyond him as a viable candidate, but I must confess I no longer think
that likely. The whole movement is imploding in on itself, and people lashing out against
Taibbi is, to me at least, just more evidence of how much of his criticism hit the mark.
Even if the current left can survive the end of Sanders as a political figure on the
national stage, I see even less of a path for it once Trump is gone. Rabid anti-Trump
sentiment is the only adhesive that keeps the different parts of it together. They saw a boom
when Trump was elected, and I can only conclude there will be a big bust when he goes away.
If they put a lot of effort into publicly shilling for Biden, then it's even more likely,
because on some level they'll be bound to carry water for him while he's in office because
they advocated for him as a leader in the first place. No, it's not just the press that's
destroying itself it's also practically all of the liberal class and most of what flies under
the banner of the left too.
I have to disagree with your assessment about the movement towards social democracy. There
isn't a specific "leader" at present, but just the sheer number of people who protested in
the streets around the country (during a pandemic I might add) in regards to police
brutality, economic inequality, a better healthcare system such as Medicare For All, are all
fighting for social justice and democracy. This is coming from people who recognize what our
system is doing to them and others.
"Rabid anti-Trump sentiment is the only adhesive that keeps the different parts of it
together."
Once again, I have to disagree. The supposed "liberal" media, many "liberal" politicians,
and supporters who base their personal opinion on whatever is popular that particular day may
have "rabid anti-Trump sentiment".
But there are plenty of people who recognize we are going through a major "social
collapse".
Some people may not want to discuss these issues because they don't want to change the
current system (they would rather attack Matt Taibbi and others than discuss the legitimate
problems we have). These problems, including an economic collapse, are not going to disappear
the day Donald Trump is out of office nor will it improve with a "more of the same" Joe Biden
administration.
At this point, I tend to believe our country will either
a) become even more authoritarian where the citizens just accept they have no civil
rights and view police and military brutality as part of "everyday life" or
b) we continue on this trajectory of collapse with a very small percentage of people
doing quite well and the vast majority wondering or already in circumstances which lead
them to question how long it will be before they are homeless, without a job, how they will
feed their family and whether they can get any healthcare if they need it or
c) we finally wake up as a majority of citizens and demand a government (executive,
congressional, and judicial) responsive to the citizens which deals with social and economic
collapse. All of those with the current ideologies of the Democratic/Republican parties
need to go as they represent either their careers or moneyed interests. Then again, maybe the
level of corruption and greed is so far gone in this country that the only trajectory is
collapse.
Taibbi has been doing good work on this. This would seem to be another example. Krystal
and Saagar: CNN viewers REVOLT after journalist correctly says 'Biden is a flawed
candidate:
divideand conquer 1. To gain or maintain power by generating tension among others, especially those less powerful,
so that they cannot unite in opposition.
Notable quotes:
"... In its most general form, identity politics involves (i) a claim that a particular group is not being treated fairly and (ii) a claim that members of that group should place political priority on the demand for fairer treatment. But "fairer" can mean lots of different things. I'm trying to think about this using contrasts between the set of terms in the post title. A lot of this is unoriginal, but I'm hoping I can say something new. ..."
"... The second problem is that neoliberals on right and left sometimes use identity as a shield to protect neoliberal policies. As one commentator has argued, "Without the bedrock of class politics, identity politics has become an agenda of inclusionary neoliberalism in which individuals can be accommodated but addressing structural inequalities cannot." What this means is that some neoliberals hold high the banner of inclusiveness on gender and race and thus claim to be progressive reformers, but they then turn a blind eye to systemic changes in politics and the economy. ..."
"... Critics argue that this is "neoliberal identity politics," and it gives its proponents the space to perpetuate the policies of deregulation, privatization, liberalization, and austerity. ..."
"... If we assume that identity politics is, first and foremost, a dirty and shrewd political strategy developed by the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party ("soft neoliberals") many things became much more clear. Along with Neo-McCarthyism it represents a mechanism to compensate for the loss of their primary voting block: trade union members, who in 2016 "en mass" defected to Trump. ..."
I've been thinking about the various versions of and critiques of identity politics that are around at the moment.
In its most
general form, identity politics involves (i) a claim that a particular group is not being treated fairly and (ii) a claim that
members of that group should place political priority on the demand for fairer treatment. But "fairer" can mean lots of different
things. I'm trying to think about this using contrasts between the set of terms in the post title. A lot of this is unoriginal,
but I'm hoping I can say something new.
You missed one important line of critique -- identity politics as a dirty political strategy of soft neoliberals.
To be sure, race, gender, culture, and other aspects of social life have always been important to politics. But neoliberalism's
radical individualism has increasingly raised two interlocking problems. First, when taken to an extreme, social fracturing into
identity groups can be used to divide people and prevent the creation of a shared civic identity. Self-government requires uniting
through our commonalities and aspiring to achieve a shared future.
When individuals fall back onto clans, tribes, and us-versus-them identities, the political community gets fragmented. It becomes
harder for people to see each other as part of that same shared future.
Demagogues [more correctly neoliberals -- likbez] rely on this fracturing to inflame racial, nationalist, and religious antagonism,
which only further fuels the divisions within society. Neoliberalism's war on "society," by pushing toward the privatization and
marketization of everything, thus indirectly facilitates a retreat into tribalism that further undermines the preconditions for
a free and democratic society.
The second problem is that neoliberals on right and left sometimes use identity as a shield to protect neoliberal policies.
As one commentator has argued, "Without the bedrock of class politics, identity politics has become an agenda of inclusionary
neoliberalism in which individuals can be accommodated but addressing structural inequalities cannot." What this means is that
some neoliberals hold high the banner of inclusiveness on gender and race and thus claim to be progressive reformers, but they
then turn a blind eye to systemic changes in politics and the economy.
Critics argue that this is "neoliberal identity politics," and it gives its proponents the space to perpetuate the policies
of deregulation, privatization, liberalization, and austerity.
Of course, the result is to leave in place political and economic structures that harm the very groups that inclusionary neoliberals
claim to support. The foreign policy adventures of the neoconservatives and liberal internationalists haven't fared much better
than economic policy or cultural politics. The U.S. and its coalition partners have been bogged down in the war in Afghanistan
for 18 years and counting. Neither Afghanistan nor Iraq is a liberal democracy, nor did the attempt to establish democracy in
Iraq lead to a domino effect that swept the Middle East and reformed its governments for the better. Instead, power in Iraq has
shifted from American occupiers to sectarian militias, to the Iraqi government, to Islamic State terrorists, and back to the Iraqi
government -- and more than 100,000 Iraqis are dead.
Or take the liberal internationalist 2011 intervention in Libya. The result was not a peaceful transition to stable democracy
but instead civil war and instability, with thousands dead as the country splintered and portions were overrun by terrorist groups.
On the grounds of democracy promotion, it is hard to say these interventions were a success. And for those motivated to expand
human rights around the world, it is hard to justify these wars as humanitarian victories -- on the civilian death count alone.
Indeed, the central anchoring assumptions of the American foreign policy establishment have been proven wrong. Foreign policymakers
largely assumed that all good things would go together -- democracy, markets, and human rights -- and so they thought opening
China to trade would inexorably lead to it becoming a liberal democracy. They were wrong. They thought Russia would become liberal
through swift democratization and privatization. They were wrong.
They thought globalization was inevitable and that ever-expanding trade liberalization was desirable even if the political
system never corrected for trade's winners and losers. They were wrong. These aren't minor mistakes. And to be clear, Donald Trump
had nothing to do with them. All of these failures were evident prior to the 2016 election.
If we assume that identity politics is, first and foremost, a dirty and shrewd political strategy developed by the Clinton wing
of the Democratic Party ("soft neoliberals") many things became much more clear. Along with Neo-McCarthyism it represents a mechanism to compensate for the loss of their primary voting block: trade union members,
who in 2016 "en mass" defected to Trump.
Initially Clinton calculation was that trade union voters has nowhere to go anyways, and it was correct for first decade or so
of his betrayal. But gradually trade union members and lower middle class started to leave Dems in droves (Demexit, compare with
Brexit) and that where identity politics was invented to compensate for this loss.
So in addition to issues that you mention we also need to view the role of identity politics as the political strategy of the
"soft neoliberals " directed at discrediting and the suppression of nationalism.
The resurgence of nationalism is the inevitable byproduct of the dominance of neoliberalism, resurgence which I think is capable
to bury neoliberalism as it lost popular support (which now is limited to financial oligarchy and high income professional groups,
such as we can find in corporate and military brass, (shrinking) IT sector, upper strata of academy, upper strata of medical professionals,
etc)
That means that the structure of the current system isn't just flawed which imply that most problems are relatively minor and
can be fixed by making some tweaks. It is unfixable, because the "Identity wars" reflect a deep moral contradictions within neoliberal
ideology. And they can't be solved within this framework.
Actually both nationalists and BLM are noted fighters with icons of the past. Especially
during "color revolutions"
They want their own version of history and can't accept any alternatives. That confirm the
saying that that history is the future overturned into the past.
Notable quotes:
"... And all over Britain, statues of forgotten politicians, merchants, generals, and admirals (and now the blue plaques that commemorate them) are being investigated, to see if they in some way celebrate a wicked past. Even the looming sculpture of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square has been first scrawled on by protestors (who also defaced a nearby monument to Abraham Lincoln) and then hidden in a box by Greater London's feeble authorities ..."
"... This is a good indication of the state of modern Britain, teetering on the edge of a cultural revolution so severe that its greatest modern figure has lost his power as a unifying force and memory ..."
"... IdPol is tolerated and even promoted because it does not make any substantive changes. It does not affect economic relations, much less take money out of rich people's pockets. ..."
Pulling statues down or calling for the removal of "problematic" portraits isn't motivated
by a desire to forget the past, Michel Foucault argued. It is a way of returning to it and
reigniting its conflicts . Blake Smith
in The Washington Examiner : "
What we are in the habit of calling 'identity politics,' and particularly political
movements based on (somewhat contradictory) appeals to racial solidarity and anti-racism,
depend on a 'certain way of making historical knowledge work within political struggle.' So
argued Foucault in Society Must Be Defended , a 1976 book based on a lecture series
about 'political historicism.'
Many on the American Right hold Foucault, along with his French postmodernist
contemporaries, partly responsible for the emergence of identity politics. It would be more
accurate to say that Foucault was one of the first, and sharpest, analysts of the way
identity-based political movements appeal to history and ignite what he called 'race war.' . .
.
Hiding their crimes with myths, the oppressors have made the oppressed forget who they are
and what they have suffered. But the signs of that historical violence are all around us -- in
statues, place names, and everyday language. Purging the culture of these signs is not so much
an ethical demand that the past conform to present values as it is a way of plunging the
present back into past conflicts, which the oppressed now stand a chance of winning."
Peter Hitchens makes a similar point in a short piece on iconoclasm in England in First Things :
"It is the Rhodes statue that is controversial. But this is no longer really about Rhodes.
In the last few days it has been under police guard. Not long ago a large demonstration,
wholly ignoring supposed rules about avoiding viral infection, gathered beneath it while
shouting about decolonization, as if Britain still had an empire. Perhaps they wish it was
so. People need enemies, and dismantled empires are nothing like as good for this purpose as
living, breathing ones . . .
And all over Britain, statues of forgotten politicians, merchants, generals, and
admirals (and now the blue plaques that commemorate them) are being investigated, to see if
they in some way celebrate a wicked past. Even the looming sculpture of Winston Churchill in
Parliament Square has been first scrawled on by protestors (who also defaced a nearby monument
to Abraham Lincoln) and then hidden in a box by Greater London's feeble authorities .
This is a good indication of the state of modern Britain, teetering on the edge of a
cultural revolution so severe that its greatest modern figure has lost his power as a unifying
force and memory ."
I don't know about France, but here it seems to be about normalizing a new process. Gangs
of thugs are being allowed and even encouraged to go into certain neighborhoods to
intimidate and attack those who live there, to break, burn, and deface other people's
property with impunity.
It combines Orwell's "two minute hate" with the kind of behavior we condemned when it
was done by the Ku Klux Klan.
If renaming parks and boulevards and appointing blue ribbon commissions were enough to fix
anything, you'd think that everything would be fixed by now.
IdPol is tolerated and even promoted because it does not make any substantive
changes. It does not affect economic relations, much less take money out of rich people's
pockets.
So many movements get sidetracked by purely symbolic actions on the one hand - "Let's
rename every avenue in Harlem, and 125th Street, too!" (the black New York city councilman
behind those resolutions was a joke in the local black activist community) - and corporate
and elite funding whitewashed through foundations and NGO's on the other. In the 70's,
affirmative action was used to build up and buy off the black middle class while working
class jobs for blacks were gradually disappearing, and today it's Diversity, Inc. jobs.
The Establishment is very good at buying off some, co-opting others, assassinating a
few, and marginalizing the rest, or at least waiting for them to get tired of kicking
against the pricks. Judging from its track record at surviving this long, the Establishment
also is very good at figuring out who gets which treatment.
Its how the activists of the Civil Rights Movement, many of whom once did genuinely
brave, even heroic things, were gradually co-opted into corrupt operators of political
machines. It's how fire-eating campus radicals were neutered into tenure-seekers and meek
supporters of "changing the system from within".
For that matter, the history of the Tea Party is also instructive.
Hey, this is America. Not Europe. In Europe at least it's about "ideas". In America it's
about------------MONEY!! And celebrity.
Only in America can a race hustler/shakedown artist (and part time FBI informant) like
Al Sharpton get a permanent gig on a major so-called "news network?" Only in America can a
real estate developer and "reality TV host" become president. Not that the office means
anything anymore (except to the Chattering Class) but, that's another story.
"Do Germans honor their ancestors who fought for the cause of the Nazis. No, they do not."
Where do you get "Nazis" from? Confederates weren't "Nazis".
Most of these statues are of Americans who saw more service in the US Army than the
Confederate one. Most weren't fighting to preserve slavery. The typical southern soldier
didn't even own any slaves. They were fighting an invasion, they did it bravely and
honorably. We're proud of them, and we built statues to their memories, in part as proxies
for the hundreds of thousands of southern soldiers and others who died during the worst war
in our history.
Every Christmas Eve, I light a candle on the grave of my grandmother's grandfather, who
fought for the Confederacy in the Battle of Port Hudson, and elsewhere. He owned no slaves.
He was fighting an invasion, as you say. I am glad that the South lost, because their cause
was unjust. But I honor the bravery of my ancestor.
What you do on Christmas Eve is your own business. That’s not the same as a monument
to stonewall Jackson erected in 1921 during the raise of the KKK or monuments erected in
the 50’s. Clearly lots of people who are southerners don’t like those statues,
particularly all those black people. They never liked them and wouldn’t have agreed
to erecting them if they had a say at the time of construction. Many of these statues are
now in majority black cities like the ones taken down in New Orleans. Those black people
are under no obligation to honor any confederate in the public spaces they occupy. From
what I’ve read, it sound like they always viewed it as a slap in the face.
"Race war" is a misnomer. Yes, there are plenty of black people in some of the mobs, but
regarding "iconoclasm", the videos of the monument vandals show mostly what look like rich,
overweight white kids from Scarsdale or the Upper West Side, probably using mommy's credit
card to fund their window-smashing, statue-toppling, and building-burning expeditions. The
toll of their destruction and violence is terrible, but I can't believe it's really that
hard to catch and imprison them.
Why are they still running amok? When will the authorities act to protect and defend the
people and property of their cities and states?
The people who are angry about the pulling down and desecration of Confederate statues are
the same people who cheered when statues of Lenin and other Soviet dignitaries were pulled
down and desecrated when the USSR fell or when statues of Saddam Hussein fell during the
Iraq War II. Hypocritical much??
"... Of course ultimately you reach a point where no one truly understands what is real and what isn't any more. ..."
"... Boris Johnson PM of the UK? Surely not, Theresa May? I can barely wipe the smirk from my face. 4th and 5th rate politicians relying on SPADs to run the country. ..."
"... Reading his recent essay on the truths of WWII ( http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/63527 ) yet again sees him posting uncomfortable realities to a West knee deep in vassalage to a crumbling US. ..."
"... Change is coming whether we like it or not, with or without Putin, we'd best tend our own garden and stop worrying about an opposition that simply doesn't exist. ..."
Gerald says:
June 20, 2020 at 5:34 pm surely 'legitimacy' goes to the victor. Once you've won
you can build a sort of legitimacy that the majority will agree with (whether its real
or not) of course if you are a kind of despotic dictatorship (as appears to be
happening in terms of western neoliberal capitalism) then you will merely do as you
wish regardless until confronted with overwhelming opposition at which point you will
infiltrate and co-opt said opposition, pay lip service to their vague claim for
'rights' and continue on your merry way.
I always thought that the greatest thing that the capitalists did in the 20th
century was to get the slaves to love their slavery, its all advertising, hollywood, TV
that's all that politics has become, certainly in the West. Edward Bernays has a lot to
answer for.
Of course ultimately you reach a point where no one truly understands what is
real and what isn't any more.
Boris Johnson PM of the UK? Surely not, Theresa May? I can barely wipe the smirk
from my face. 4th and 5th rate politicians relying on SPADs to run the
country.
There is no wonder that Putin looks like the greatest 21st century leader, the last
of a dying breed. Reading his recent essay on the truths of WWII ( http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/63527
) yet again sees him posting uncomfortable realities to a West knee deep in vassalage
to a crumbling US.
Change is coming whether we like it or not, with or without Putin, we'd best
tend our own garden and stop worrying about an opposition that simply doesn't
exist.
"... From wiping out the ability of regular folks to declare bankruptcy (something supported by our founding fathers who were NOT socialists), to shipping our industrial base to communist China (which in less enlightened days would have been termed treason), to spending tens of trillions of dollars bailing out and subsiding the big banks (that's not a misprint), to supporting "surprise medical billing," to opening the borders to massive third-world immigration so that wages can be driven down and reset and profits up (As 2015 Bernie Sanders pointed out), Backstabbing Joe Biden is neoliberal scum pure and simple. ..."
"... It's astonishing that so many people will just blindly accept what they are told, that Biden is. "moderate." Biden is so far to the right, he makes Nixon look like Trotsky. ..."
"... Joe Biden is a crook and a con man. He has been lying his whole life. Claimed in his 1988 Campaign to have got 3 degrees at college and finished in top half of his class. Actually only got 1 degree & finished 76th out of 85 in his class. ..."
Yet another circus. The proles get to scream and holler, and when all is done, the oligarchy gets the policies it wants, the public
be damned. Our sham 'democracy' is a con to privatize power and socialize responsibility.
Although it is shocking to see such a disgusting piece of human garbage like Joe Biden get substantial numbers of people to
vote for him. Biden has never missed a chance to stab the working class in the back in service to his wealthy patrons.
The issue is not (for me) his creepiness (I wouldn't much mind if he was on my side), nor even his Alzheimer's, but his established
track record of betrayal and corruption.
From wiping out the ability of regular folks to declare bankruptcy (something supported by our founding fathers who were NOT
socialists), to shipping our industrial base to communist China (which in less enlightened days would have been termed treason),
to spending tens of trillions of dollars bailing out and subsiding the big banks (that's not a misprint), to supporting "surprise
medical billing," to opening the borders to massive third-world immigration so that wages can be driven down and reset and profits
up (As 2015 Bernie Sanders pointed out), Backstabbing Joe Biden is neoliberal scum pure and simple.
It's astonishing that so many people will just blindly accept what they are told, that Biden is. "moderate." Biden is so
far to the right, he makes Nixon look like Trotsky. Heck, he makes Calvin Coolidge look like Trotsky.
Joe Biden is a crook and a con man. He has been lying his whole life. Claimed in his 1988 Campaign to have got 3 degrees at college and finished in top half of his class. Actually only got 1 degree & finished 76th out of 85 in his class.
Belief system is not chosen. The individual is indoctrinated into it via socialization process. Only few can break this bond.
Notable quotes:
"... Social or Cultural Norms are standards for behavior engendered from infancy by parents, teachers, friends, neighbors, and others in one's life. Social Norms are the shared expectations and rules that guide the behavior of people within social groups; Social Norms can go a long way toward maintaining social order. Engendered, Social or Cultural Norms can be enforced by something as subtle as a gesture, a look, or even the absence of any response at all. At the extremes, aberrant social behavior becomes a crime. One could adopt Social Norms as a part or all of their Belief System. ..."
"... Religions were an early form of Social Norms. Yet and still, all Religious Beliefs address Social Behavior, Social Norms. As with Social Norms, most, if not all, Religions have slowly evolved over time. As with Social Norms, Religious Beliefs are often engendered from infancy by parents; handed down from generation to generation. Most Religions require one's Believing; Believing that the precepts of the Religion come down to us from a supreme being or deity via a prophet or inspired teacher. Whereas science asks questions in the quest for knowledge, Abrahamic religions hold that any questioning of their particular beliefs is blasphemous, a great sin. Rather than welcome questions in re validity, religions insist that, first and foremost, adherents believe. Religions might be a part of the whole of one's Belief System. ..."
"... Can we even have stable societies without Belief Systems? Is it possible to build a Society around Science, Philosophy, and/or Reason? Can we, benefitting from Science and Philosophy: Improve the quality of our Belief Systems? Of our Religions? Can Beliefs become Informed Opinions? Will future societies' Belief Systems be based more on Science and Philosophy, and less on opinion and belief? Do they have a choice? It seems that the more successful societies have long since chosen to give the thinking of Science and Philosophy precedence over Believing. Darwin tells us that survival goes to those that adapt. ..."
Belief Systems, these prisms through which we view the world, have been around from our earliest days. Not so long ago, the Ancient
Greeks separated the concept of what we might call belief into two concepts: pistis and doxa with pistis referring to trust and confidence
(notably akin the regard accorded science) and doxa referring to opinion and acceptance (more akin the regard accorded cultural norms).
In quest of a personal Belief System, should one: Go with the flow and adapt to the Social or Cultural Norm? Follow the Abrahamic
admonishment to first believe? Follow their own Reasoning? Or, should one look to Science?
Social or Cultural Norms are standards for behavior engendered from infancy by parents, teachers, friends, neighbors, and others
in one's life. Social Norms are the shared expectations and rules that guide the behavior of people within social groups; Social
Norms can go a long way toward maintaining social order. Engendered, Social or Cultural Norms can be enforced by something as subtle
as a gesture, a look, or even the absence of any response at all. At the extremes, aberrant social behavior becomes a crime. One
could adopt Social Norms as a part or all of their Belief System.
Most modern Religions are handed down from times long past, times before much was known about anything. Most, if not all, early
Religions were based on mythology. Later on, some Religions found more of their basis in whatever evidence and reasoning skills were
available to a people. From the earliest times, human cultures have developed some form or another of a Belief System premised on
Religion.
Humans are, uniquely it seems, given the power of comprehending, inferring, or thinking in an orderly rational way; they are given
the faculty of Reason. To Reason is to use the faculty of Reason so as to arrive at conclusions; to discover, formulate, or conclude
by way of a carefully Reasoned Analysis. One might base a part or all of their Belief System on Reason.
Science can be seen as an endeavor to increase knowledge, to understand; to reduce ignorance and misunderstanding. Science encourages
active skepticism. Science, the word comes from the Latin word for knowledge, is premised on verifiable empirical evidence and best
thinking. Science employs our faculty to Reason. Belief is not a scientific criterion but is rather a bias to be filtered out of
any scientific experiment. We have confidence in the knowledge afforded us by Science to the extent that we have confidence in the
validity of the evidence and the rigor of the Reasoning, and in Scientific Methodology. Science can form the basis of one's Belief
System to the extent that they have confidence in Science.
Religions were an early form of Social Norms. Yet and still, all Religious Beliefs address Social Behavior, Social Norms. As with
Social Norms, most, if not all, Religions have slowly evolved over time. As with Social Norms, Religious Beliefs are often engendered
from infancy by parents; handed down from generation to generation. Most Religions require one's Believing; Believing that the precepts
of the Religion come down to us from a supreme being or deity via a prophet or inspired teacher. Whereas science asks questions in
the quest for knowledge, Abrahamic religions hold that any questioning of their particular beliefs is blasphemous, a great sin. Rather
than welcome questions in re validity, religions insist that, first and foremost, adherents believe. Religions might be a part of
the whole of one's Belief System.
As is to be expected, Science is often in conflict with religious beliefs. This dichotomy between the Reasoning of Science and
the Believing of Religion goes back at least to early Egypt, Greece, and India; has played, and still plays, a huge role for philosophers,
scientists, and others given to thought.
While most modern societies have moved away from a Religious dominance of their culture; at the extremes, we still have theocracies
where Religious Belief is given reign over culture and politics, and, to some extent or another, thought itself.
Preceding statute law, Religious associated Belief Systems played an important role in mankind's development. Down through the
centuries, religious behavioral standards have provided societies personal security, social stability. Religious Beliefs have long
been, are still being, codified into law.
Codified laws can also be based on 'Social Norms', on philosophy and reason ( love of learning, the pursuit of wisdom, a search
for understanding, ); or on yet other Belief Systems.
Can we even have stable societies without Belief Systems? Is it possible to build a Society around Science, Philosophy, and/or
Reason? Can we, benefitting from Science and Philosophy: Improve the quality of our Belief Systems? Of our Religions? Can Beliefs
become Informed Opinions? Will future societies' Belief Systems be based more on Science and Philosophy, and less on opinion and
belief? Do they have a choice? It seems that the more successful societies have long since chosen to give the thinking of Science
and Philosophy precedence over Believing. Darwin tells us that survival goes to those that adapt.
He didn't say it quite that way, but that is what he meant.
This seeming need of humans to Believe can be abused. The atrocities of Colonial Spain and Portugal and the Era of Slavery were
ostensibly committed under the aegis of Christian Belief. Nazi Germany, Jonestown, ISIS, and a Trump Presidency are examples of some
of the more negative consequences of aberrant Belief Systems.
Demagogues prey on this need to Believe by telling the people what to Believe; by giving them something to Believe. Fox News,
by telling its viewers what to Believe, gives them this thing they need; something to Believe. All those arbiters of opinion we see
and read on the media are trying to sell Beliefs to their audience; an audience that needs something to Believe. Fox News has become
a Belief System for millions. So too, the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Tucker Carlson, and Shawn Hannity.
Adolph Hitler and Jim Jones gave their needy followers something to Believe. Osama bin Laden/Al-Qaeda and ISIS gave their needy
followers something to Believe. Donald J. Trump is giving his needy followers something to Believe.
Thinking's too hard.
Obviously, existing well-meaning Belief Systems can be co-opted by unsavory persons, societies. Equally obvious, Belief Systems
can be instilled into a population. From the days of slavery and for these 150 yrs hence, whites in the Southern States have engendered
racism into their progeny. For 150 yrs now they propagated a false version of history in their schools. They created and propagated
a Belief System premised on mendacity.
Though many Belief Systems are based on Religious Tenets; we also see them based on economic models, personality cults, , even
in science. Economic dogma can be instilled in a society as a Belief System to the extent that any challenge thereto is considered
to be heretical, blasphemous. One can be born a Republican, a Baptist, or both, as were their parents and their parents' parents.
People have been being born Catholic for 2,000 yrs. Joseph Smith, a come lately, instilled.
Some positive consequences of Belief Systems include: higher moral standards, the great art and science flowing from the Renaissance;
the science, philosophy, and art from The Age of Reason/The Enlightenment. More recently: the ending of slavery, the ending of Colonialism,
the ending of apartheid, the codification of LGBT rights, and the struggle to end racism correlate with changes in Belief Systems.
Pending challenges for Belief Systems include such as freedom from hunger, access to housing, and alleviating economic disparity.
Belief Systems can carry us forward. Belief Systems can hold us back.
Is tweeting believing?
To what Belief System, if any, is this our Age of Technology attributable? Has Technology itself become a Belief System?
A very famous frog once said, "It is not easy being green."
Closely held, long-held, Beliefs are hard to give up; especially if they have been engendered via emulation, imprinting, repetition,
, since infancy. In America, the most technologically advanced economy ever known; our technology, our scientific achievements, are
all based on science. Yet today we have upwards of half of our politicians pandering to one or another Religious group that, for
the most part, denies Science. Quid pro quo: the pols get the Religious groups' vote, the Religious group gets the laws, and the
judges and justices, they want. Perhaps in part as a consequence of this support, most of this same group of politicians would govern
all the while making little effort to acquaint themselves with Science, with technology, in this day and age of Science and Technology.
Many, maybe most, of these same politicians hold fast to theories of economics and law that are, themselves, based on Belief.
John Prine, recently departed, not a frog, wrote the tune "In Spite of Ourselves".
In spite of ourselves, we humans mumble and fumble our way as is our wont.
Ron (RC) Weakley (a.k.a., Darryl for a while at EV) , June 22, 2020 8:35 am
" Darwin tells us that survival goes to those that adapt.
He didn't say it quite that way, but that is what he meant "
[No he did not say it that way because that is not what he meant. Human beings just like to misrepresent Darwin that way because
it follows along with their own narrative of innovative superiority and control of their own fate. To transpose biological mutation
from the natural selection process of biological evolution over to social evolution is a bit of a stretch, but clearly it would
favor diversity and freedom over rigid authoritarian orthodoxy. It comes with no guaranty of course, but it also more accidental
or incidental than contrived.]
Ron (RC) Weakley (a.k.a., Darryl for a while at EV) , June 22, 2020 9:18 am
Reason is not the same as logic, not pure logic at least. Impure logic is mostly sophistry. Reason is not necessarily sophistry,
but still depends upon assumptions which in life may be less reliable than in math.
Nietzsche and Machiavelli were notable philosophers of celebrated capacity for reason. By my own anti-intellectual biases I
have found them both intolerable as human beings and deceptive as arbiters of truth. Science, when correctly applied, has evolved
far beyond its roots in philosophy. I am skeptical of both incorrect science and any philosophy that I am not taking an active
roll in. Any valid philosophy should be about the present rather than the past. Kant and William James are tolerable, but still
insufficient despite their well meaning morality.
"... From wiping out the ability of regular folks to declare bankruptcy (something supported by our founding fathers who were NOT socialists), to shipping our industrial base to communist China (which in less enlightened days would have been termed treason), to spending tens of trillions of dollars bailing out and subsiding the big banks (that's not a misprint), to supporting "surprise medical billing," to opening the borders to massive third-world immigration so that wages can be driven down and reset and profits up (As 2015 Bernie Sanders pointed out), Backstabbing Joe Biden is neoliberal scum pure and simple. ..."
"... It's astonishing that so many people will just blindly accept what they are told, that Biden is. "moderate." Biden is so far to the right, he makes Nixon look like Trotsky. ..."
"... Joe Biden is a crook and a con man. He has been lying his whole life. Claimed in his 1988 Campaign to have got 3 degrees at college and finished in top half of his class. Actually only got 1 degree & finished 76th out of 85 in his class. ..."
Yet another circus. The proles get to scream and holler, and when all is done, the oligarchy gets the policies it wants, the public
be damned. Our sham 'democracy' is a con to privatize power and socialize responsibility.
Although it is shocking to see such a disgusting piece of human garbage like Joe Biden get substantial numbers of people to
vote for him. Biden has never missed a chance to stab the working class in the back in service to his wealthy patrons.
The issue is not (for me) his creepiness (I wouldn't much mind if he was on my side), nor even his Alzheimer's, but his established
track record of betrayal and corruption.
From wiping out the ability of regular folks to declare bankruptcy (something supported by our founding fathers who were NOT
socialists), to shipping our industrial base to communist China (which in less enlightened days would have been termed treason),
to spending tens of trillions of dollars bailing out and subsiding the big banks (that's not a misprint), to supporting "surprise
medical billing," to opening the borders to massive third-world immigration so that wages can be driven down and reset and profits
up (As 2015 Bernie Sanders pointed out), Backstabbing Joe Biden is neoliberal scum pure and simple.
It's astonishing that so many people will just blindly accept what they are told, that Biden is. "moderate." Biden is so
far to the right, he makes Nixon look like Trotsky. Heck, he makes Calvin Coolidge look like Trotsky.
Joe Biden is a crook and a con man. He has been lying his whole life. Claimed in his 1988 Campaign to have got 3 degrees at college and finished in top half of his class. Actually only got 1 degree & finished 76th out of 85 in his class.
"... Mass unemployment will bring the United States closer to less-developed economies. Very large regions of the poor will surround small enclaves of the rich. Narrow bands of "middle-income professionals," etc., will separate rich from poor. Ever-more rigid social divisions enforced by strong police and military apparatuses are becoming the norm. Their outlines are already visible across the United States. ..."
"... In this context, U.S. capitalism strode confidently toward the 21st century. The Soviet threat had imploded. A divided Europe threatened no U.S. interests. Its individual nations competed for U.S. favor (especially the UK). China's poverty blocked its becoming an economic competitor. U.S. military and technological supremacy seemed insurmountable. ..."
"... Amid success, internal contradictions surfaced. U.S. capitalism crashed three times. The first happened early in 2000 (triggered by dot-com share-price inflation); next came the big crash of 2008 (triggered by defaulting subprime mortgages); and the hugest crash hit in 2020 (triggered by COVID-19). ..."
"... Second, we must face a major obstacle. Since 1945, capitalists and their supporters developed arguments and institutions to undo the New Deal and its leftist legacies. They silenced, deflected, co-opted, and/or demonized criticisms of capitalism. ..."
"... Third, to newly organized versions of a New Deal coalition or of social democracy, we must add a new element. We cannot again leave capitalists in the exclusive positions to receive enterprise profits and make major enterprise decisions. ..."
Organized labor led no mass opposition to Trump's presidency or the December 2017 tax cut or
the failed U.S. preparation for and management of COVID-19. Nor do we yet see a labor-led
national protest against the worst mass firing since the 1930s Great Depression. All of these
events, but especially the unemployment, mark an employers' class war against employees. The
U.S. government directs it, but the employers as a class inspire and benefit the most from
it.
Before the 2020 crash, class war had been redistributing wealth for decades from
middle-income people and the poor to the top 1 percent. That upward redistribution was U.S.
employers' response to the legacy of the New Deal. During the Great Depression and afterward,
wealth had been redistributed downward. By the 1970s, that was reversed. The 2020 crash will
accelerate upward wealth redistribution sharply.
With tens of millions now a "reserve army" of the unemployed, nearly every U.S. employer can
cut wages, benefits, etc. Employees dissatisfied with these cuts are easily replaced. Vast
numbers of unemployed, stressed by uncertain job prospects and unemployment benefits,
disappearing savings, and rising household tensions, will take jobs despite reduced wages,
benefits, and working conditions. As the unemployed return to work, most employees' standards
of consumption and living will drop.
Germany, France, and other European nations could not fire workers as the United States did.
Strong labor movements and socialist parties with deep social influences preclude governments
risking comparable mass unemployment; it would risk deposing them from office. Thus their
antiviral lockdowns keep most at work with governments paying 70 percent or more of pre-virus
wages and salaries.
Mass unemployment will bring the United States closer to less-developed economies. Very
large regions of the poor will surround small enclaves of the rich. Narrow bands of
"middle-income professionals," etc., will separate rich from poor. Ever-more rigid social
divisions enforced by strong police and military apparatuses are becoming the norm. Their
outlines are already visible across the United States.
Only if workers understand and mobilize to fight this class war can the trends sketched
above be stopped or reversed. U.S. workers did exactly that in the 1930s. They fought -- in
highly organized ways -- the class war waged against them then. Millions joined labor unions,
and many tens of thousands joined two socialist parties and one communist party. All four
organizations worked together, in coalition, to mobilize and activate the U.S. working
class.
Weekly, and sometimes daily, workers marched across the United States. They criticized
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's policies and capitalism itself by intermingling reformist and
revolutionary demands. The coalition's size and political reach forced politicians, including
FDR, to listen and respond, often positively. An initially "centrist" FDR adapted to become a
champion of Social Security, unemployment insurance, a minimum wage, and a huge federal jobs
program. The coalition achieved those moderate socialist reforms -- the New Deal -- and paid
for them by setting aside revolutionary change.
It proved to be a good deal, but only in the short run. Its benefits to workers included a
downward redistribution of income and wealth (especially via homeownership), and thereby the
emergence of a new "middle class." Relatively well-paid employees were sufficient in number to
sustain widespread notions of American exceptionalism, beliefs in ever-rising standards of
working-class living across generations, and celebrations of capitalism as guaranteeing these
social benefits. The reality was quite different. Not capitalists but rather their critics and
victims had forced the New Deal against capitalists' resistance. And those middle-class
benefits bypassed most African Americans.
The good deal did not last because U.S. capitalists largely resented the New Deal and sought
to undo it. With World War II's end and FDR's death in 1945, the undoing accelerated. An
anti-Soviet Cold War plus anti-communist/socialist crusades at home gave patriotic cover for
destroying the New Deal coalition. The 1947 Taft-Hartley Act targeted organized labor. Senate
and House committees spearheaded a unified effort (government, mass media, and academia) to
demonize, silence, and socially exclude communists, socialists, leftists, etc. For decades
after 1945 -- and still now in parts of the United States -- a sustained hysteria defined all
left-wing thought, policy, or movement as always and necessarily the worst imaginable social
evil.
Over time, the New Deal coalition was destroyed and left-wing thinking was labeled
"disloyal." Even barely left-of-center labor and political organizations repeatedly denounced
and distanced themselves from any sort of anti-capitalist impulse, any connection to socialism.
Many New Deal reforms were evaded, amended, or repealed. Some simply vanished from politicians'
knowledge and vocabulary and then journalists' too. Having witnessed the purges of leftist
colleagues from 1945 through the 1950s, a largely docile academic community celebrated
capitalism in general and U.S. capitalism in particular. The good in U.S. society was
capitalism's gift. The rest resulted from government or foreign or ideological interferences in
capitalism's wonderful invisible hand. Any person or group excluded from this American Dream
had only themselves to blame for inadequate ability, insufficient effort, or ideological
deviancy.
In this context, U.S. capitalism strode confidently toward the 21st century. The Soviet
threat had imploded. A divided Europe threatened no U.S. interests. Its individual nations
competed for U.S. favor (especially the UK). China's poverty blocked its becoming an economic
competitor. U.S. military and technological supremacy seemed insurmountable.
Amid success, internal contradictions surfaced. U.S. capitalism crashed three times. The
first happened early in 2000 (triggered by dot-com share-price inflation); next came the big
crash of 2008 (triggered by defaulting subprime mortgages); and the hugest crash hit in 2020
(triggered by COVID-19). Unprepared economically, politically, and ideologically for any of
them, the Federal Reserve responded by creating vast sums of new money that it threw at/lent to
(at historically low interest rates) banks, large corporations, etc. Three successive exercises
in trickle-down economic policy saw little trickle down. No underlying economic problems
(inequality, excess systemic debts, cyclical instability, etc.) have been solved. On the
contrary, all worsened. In other words, class war has been intensified.
What then is to be done? First, we need to recognize the class war that is underway and
commit to fighting it. On that basis, we must organize a mass base to put real political force
behind social democratic policies, parties, and politicians. We need something like the New
Deal coalition. The pandemic, economic crash, and gross official policy failures (including
violent official scapegoating) draw many toward classical social democracy. The successes of
the Democratic Socialists of America show this.
Second, we must face a major obstacle. Since 1945, capitalists and their supporters
developed arguments and institutions to undo the New Deal and its leftist legacies. They
silenced, deflected, co-opted, and/or demonized criticisms of capitalism. Strategic decisions
made by both the U.S. New Deal and European social democracy contributed to their defeats. Both
always left and still leave employers exclusively in positions to (1) receive and dispense
their enterprises' profits and (2) decide and direct what, how, and where their enterprises
produce. Those positions gave capitalists the financial resources and power -- politically,
economically, and culturally -- repeatedly to outmaneuver and repress labor and the left.
Third, to newly organized versions of a New Deal coalition or of social democracy, we must add a new element. We cannot
again leave capitalists in the exclusive positions to receive enterprise profits and make major enterprise decisions. The
new element is thus the demand to change enterprises producing goods and services. From hierarchical, capitalist organizations
(where owners, boards of directors, etc., occupy the employer position) we need to transition to the altogether different
democratic, worker co-op organizations. In the latter, no employer/employee split occurs. All workers have equal voice in
deciding what gets produced, how, and where and how any profits get used. The collective of all employees is their own employer.
As such an employer, the employees will finally protect and thus secure the reforms associated with the New Deal and social
democracy.
We could describe the transition from capitalist to worker co-op enterprise organizations as
a revolution. That would resolve the old debate of reform versus revolution. Revolution becomes
the only way finally to secure progressive reforms. Capitalism's reforms were generated by the
system's impacts on people and their resulting demands for change. Capitalism's resistances to
those reforms -- and undoing them after they happened -- spawned the revolution needed to
secure them. In that revolution, society moves beyond capitalism itself. So it was in the
French Revolution: demands for reform within feudal society could only finally be realized by a
social transition from feudalism to capitalism.
I have a dream today, brothers and sisters. I have a dream.
My dream is of an America that has embraced
race realism.
Yes, I have a dream that one day race differences in educational success will be as calmly,
dispassionately accepted as race differences in athletic success; that race differences in
criminal arrest and incarceration rates will be regarded with no more anger or alarm than sex
differences in those same rates; that different social outcomes by race will be understood as
caused not by the malice of our fellow citizens, but by ordinary processes of nature.
I have a dream that one day we shall discard magical
thinking about race ; that the notion of an invisible vapor or miasma called " racism
" permeating the atmosphere and intoxicating our minds will seem as quaintly absurd as
the
Four Humors Theory of ancient medicine or the Luminiferous
Æther of 19th-century physics.
I have a dream that one day soon, after sixty years of futile efforts to change what cannot,
in the nature of things, be changed, sixty
years of twisting our constitution and our jurisprudence into knots to pretend that
different statistics by race can only be caused by
white people' s ill will, sixty years of vast
public expenditures on educational and social programs that deliver no benefits at all
(other than to those who pocket the expenditures); that one day soon, after sixty years of
futility and waste, we shall accept race differences as calmly and as prudently as we accept
the laws of thermodynamics.
I have a dream that with
the black homicide rate at eight times the white rate, and with discrepancies of a similar
size having existed since reliable records began a hundred and eighty years ago
, an organization calling itself Black Lives Matter will address itself to bringing black
homicide numbers down to the white level -- better yet, to the Asian level -- or else be
laughed out of the public square.
I have a dream that race differences in outcomes, which are mere statistical abstractions
remote from our everyday dealings, will one day matter as little to us as personal
differences in outcomes. I shall never be a skilled violinist, a good tennis player, or a
creative mathematician; not because of malice, "racism," or "privilege" on the part of my
fellow citizens, but because of my own abilities and inclinations -- which, like almost
everyone else's, are middling and un-spectacular. I do not lose sleep over this. I
absolutely do not take it as an occasion to insult and berate my fellow-citizens, or
deprive them of their rights.
I have a dream that our nation's past will one day be cherished for having made possible our
present security and prosperity; that the ignorance and misdeeds of that past be kept in sight
on a shelf, accessible to all, but never dominating our view of what our ancestors were, the
heroism they displayed in defense of our civilization, and the great good things they did.
I have a dream that one day freedom
of association, which picks no man's pocket and breaks no man's leg, will be restored to
us.
I have a dream that the evil and divisive doctrines of "disparate impact" and "affirmative
action" will be scrubbed from our jurisprudence; that hiring into civil-service work --
including
police work and firefighting --
will be strictly meritocratic; and that young black Americans will no longer, just to satisfy
the whims of smug college admissions officers and innumerate jurists, will no longer be pushed
into academic college programs they can't cope with and will drop out from .
That is my dream too, brother. Let us work to make it happen.
Remember Keynes: "Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any
intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in
authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic
scribbler of a few years back".
Let us hope that the HBD "academic scribblers" like yourself can push the message
forward.
If only Trump, or someone with similar prominence, could give your speech!
"I have a dream today, brothers and sisters. I have a dream.
My dream is of an America that has embraced race realism".
"I have a dream that one day we shall discard magical thinking about race; that the notion of
an invisible vapor or miasma called".. 'Anti-Semitism'.. "permeating the atmosphere and
intoxicating our minds will seem as quaintly absurd as the Four Humors Theory of ancient
medicine or the Luminiferous Æther of 19th-century physics."
"I have a dream that one day, poor".. Gentile.. "children will not have to endure being
lectured about their 'privilege' by [ultra] rich".. Jewish adults. Or be taught any more
so-called holocaust guilt.
"I have a dream that one day soon, after[almost] sixty years of futile efforts to change what
cannot, in the nature of things, be changed, [almost] sixty years of twisting our
constitution and our jurisprudence into knots to pretend that".. Israel's illegitimate
military Occupation & America's uncritical material & immoral support for it.. "can
only be caused by"..Palestinians'.. "ill will, sixty years of vast public expenditures on"..
Israel's war machine and security.. "programs that deliver no benefits at all (other than to
those who pocket the expenditures); that one day soon, after sixty years of futility and
waste, we shall".. end all aid of any kind to Israel, forever.
And a dream that we accept religious differences about the causes of Crucifixion &
Salvation "as calmly and as prudently as we accept the laws of thermodynamics."
"I have a dream that the evil and divisive doctrines of" ..'Jewish nationalism' and 'Aryan
eradication'.. "will be scrubbed from our jurisprudence; that hiring into"..elite echelons --
including Hollywood and Wall Street – .."will be strictly meritocratic" ..and that
young Jewish Americans, will no longer be pushed into high positions just because they bar
mitzvah.
And finally, "I have a dream that my two beautiful children will one day" ..not fall prey to
some future Jeffrey Epstein or Harvey Weinstein. Amen
The sad fact is that America is destined for dictatorship with these demographics, and
with the aid of technology it will be stable far into this century. Worse, Americans do not
want freedom, or at least they do not prioritize freedom over luxury. If they did, they would
have risen up long ago; Red States, at the very least, would be preparing for secession.
We'll have to face facts that normies are normies not because they are asleep, they are
asleep because they are normies -- something that cannot be changed because it has a genetic
basis (you cannot transmute sheep into wolves). As long as the supply of hamburgers, diet
coke, and sportsball continues, obsequious whites will keep their heads down, going along to
get along no matter what happens.
Things will get bad. As it is now, nearly every company is running racial agitation
propaganda on behalf of the government. Go into any Walmart and you'll be treated to overhead
announcements berating America's history of racism and apologizing to blacks; it's like
something straight out of 1984 (or the movie Red Dawn , 1984 -- seriously check the
movie for the scene I'm referencing). They are censoring and banning movies, purging
politically incorrect themepark rides, and internet search results; they've been censoring
books for years now (many school districts have banned Huck Fin and Tom Sawywer, among
others) and that will surely get worse.
If you want a book like Gone With The Wind , I would suggest you buy it now before
they ban it. Just a few months ago I picked up the DVD in a bargain bin. At the time the
person I was with didn't get why. "This isn't the kind of movie you usually watch." However,
being awake unlike your average normie, I saw all of this coming in advance. I explained to
my companion that I was getting it now before they banned it. And wouldn't you know it, a few
months later they are taking tentative steps to banning the movie. It won't be the last or
the worst example. If you are willing to tear down statues, rename military bases, and ban /
edit movies and theme park rides based on them, then the next logical step is banning books
-- burning them, essentially. Amazon is already doing this; they refuse to ship or stock
controversial books.
For my part, I've been buying old books and movies, preparing for the day when I can copy
them to a digital format and distribute them once the dictatorship bans them. Tellingly, I'm
not the only one. I went back to that same store today. EVERY copy of Gone With The
Wind and lots of other old movies were cleared out and they had a huge selection! Get
them now gents. The darkness is coming.
I would also suggest every European-American who can do so prepare to flee overseas. Lots
of dissidents I read have stated they are giving that thought. American conservatives are
behind the scenes. TAC's Rod Dreher had a piece on that website detailing this. Many in DC
are preparing to flee to central and Eastern Europe because there is no hope for this
country. It's all coming down.
Side note: Thanks libertarians. Thanks for letting five companies control everything,
thereby easily allowing a totalitarian dictatorship to take hold. "How does communism
happen?" they always say. Answer: You're how it happens. Your philosophy is just an excuse to
be lazy and not contribute. You want freedom but yet you aren't willing to do anything to
conserve your freedom. Meanwhile, radical leftists who don't believe in letting you have any
freedom marched through the institutions and are now preparing to unleash Red October. SMH.
Thanks guys. I hope "muh private company" dogma was worth it.
The truth will get you fired every time these days, the kids are wrecking the country, the
poor stupid lil bastards have no clue and they will be paying huge taxes for their efforts.
As long as the supply of hamburgers, diet coke, and sportsball continues, obsequious
whites will keep their heads down, going along to get along no matter what happens.
In a couple of years we should have polygenic scores that can predict IQ and educational
achievement pretty accurately on an individual level. Could lead to a de-emphasis on race?
I dreamed James Earl Ray had not shot Martin Luther King and we'd never learned who Jesse
Jackson was. That King would have been exposed as a sybaritic plagiarist whose personal
scandals were exposed in the Washington Post and left him a stained and discredited figure
with no eponymous national holiday and instead of the perma grief stricken mask of Coretta
Scott King we would have scene her for the last time in divorce court cleaning out Martin's
bank account.
Hopefully things won't end up as in the Kurt Vonnegut novel, 'Harrison Bergeron 2081' –
made into a short film in 2009 –
About a USA in which a Constitutional amendment enforces total equality for all persons,
the head of government being a 'Handicapper General' who declares what burdens, masks,
weights limitations etc you must carry, so as not to be considered as having any personal
aspect of life or self better than your neighbours
Trailer for the film (full film seems online too at the moment)
Our indispensable founder Benjamin Franklin said "There is a great danger to The United
States, this danger is the Jew. If they are not excluded from the United States by the
Constitution, within less than 100 years they will stream into this country in such numbers
they will rule and destroy us and change our form of government for which we Americans have
shed our blood and sacrificed life property and personal freedom. If the Jews are not
excluded, within 200 years our children will be working in the fields to feed the Jews while
they remain in the counting-house gleefully rubbing their hands. " And this was long before
the criminal syndicate of Zionism was added to supercharge the problem.
The Zionist Jews now have a strangle hold on our government that has continued to get
worse since 1913 when Warburg engineered the Unconstitutional Central Bank. No Senator will
vote against the Jew front aIPAC and hardly any House member. The Jews have always controlled
the MSM whores and the so called entertainment industry. The seeds of the present contrived
riots (Floyd "murder" is gov. false flag – see Miles Mathis updates) were planted by
the Jews with gov. operative MLK (see Miles Mathis on this scam also) and the negroes as the
proxy warriors.
Jewmerica has become little more than a satellite and peon for the Kazar thugs to ring out
our money and furnish our military (Israeli foreign Legion) to shake down one country at a
time for the syndicate bosses. Shabbos Goy Trump works only for the Jews and even though a
minor detail hen and out Jew ass licker Congress has even added to the insult by mandating
that the public indoctrination centers (expensive poorly functioning schools) "teach" about
the ridiculous Holohaux myth. I believe the Ann Frank shit is also included. Her wealthy
family of hucksters is also covered on the Mathis updates. As some one has already mentioned
Trump, Pence and all of our shabbos goy Congress should have to lick the bathroom stalls and
toilets in Zionist Jew Sheldon Adelson's Casino. Maybe he would up the donation to the
Republican side of the political facade.
The syndicate knows that 95% of the goyim will never do anything as long as they get 1
meal per day. I guess I should not have been surprised about all the cucks going around with
the idiotic masks fearing the fake virus used as a cover by the Elite for another wealth
transfer to the super rich as in 08-09. it's not as it our wonderful gov. has never lied tom
us before. Everything they do is a lie and a fraud. The same Zionist clique that did the
wars, 911 and WMD's are doing the fake virus and the latest false flag Floyd hoax just like
Sandy Hook Boston and Los Vegas. When we are all in Agenda 21 maybe some of them will wake
up.
Your philosophy is just an excuse to be lazy and not contribute.
Yes, a minuscule group that is openly mocked by every powerful political faction in
America is your whipping hobby-horse. How proud you all must be.
Except that last quoted bit of yours exposes what's real. You and every silly wailer
against the only political philosophy of integrity are so ashamed of yourselves that you
cling to the lamest of all fallacies (straw man) whenever your shame threatens to rise to
layer 1.
The embarrassing truth: All your participatory 'action' is futility in search of a trophy
-- the kind your type most excoriates publicly. It's always been the stealthy building and
self-applying of slave chains, and the actual result (regression) of all your non-'lazy'
furious activity is now exposed to even the most brainless ass; your asperity is for none
other than precious ass #1 -- yourselves.
[MORE]
But that's too painful, so the disgust is projected at the exposers of your slave
mentality -- slavery that was always under cover, but which cover is being withdrawn by
events. Now you're starting to see that all your frenzied 'good government bullshit' was
always purposeful, protective denial of what was obvious to libertarians.
Lazy? Up yours. My path, carving out liberty in a local wasteland, and living as ethically
as possible among the demented slaves, has been rough.
Go pull more voting levers, Wizard of Poz. Just know that every time you piss on liberty
folk, it's hatred of your own slavery and wasted years driving it. You're slowly recognizing
that you were Cool Hand Luke in his beaten state, digging all of Boss Edgecomb's dirt out of
Boss Blowhard's hole, and back again. Well, look around at what all you ball-less,
compromising slugs created.
One need only listen to what the average 'conservative' advocates in private to see his
revealed shame. He spends time thinking of ways to make bolshie Frankensteins of 5-120 years
prior live and breathe 'effectively'. He's the pothole patch boy for leftists. And he wants
medals of commendation for all of his great work dressing up communism as 'cohesive policy'
by way of 'comprehensive reform'. Enjoy the world you created, man of 'action'. I didn't do
it; I fought it at every step.
"I have a dream that race differences in outcomes, which are mere statistical abstractions
remote from our everyday dealings, will one day matter as little to us as personal
differences in outcomes. I shall never be a skilled violinist, a good tennis player, or a
creative mathematician; not because of malice, "racism," or "privilege" on the part of my
fellow citizens, but because of my own abilities and inclinations -- which, like almost
everyone else's, are middling and un-spectacular. I do not lose sleep over this. I absolutely
do not take it as an occasion to insult and berate my fellow-citizens, or deprive them of
their rights."
I have a dream that one day soon, after sixty years of futile efforts to change what
cannot, in the nature of things, be changed, sixty years of twisting our constitution and
our jurisprudence into knots to pretend that different statistics by race can only be
caused by white people' s ill will, sixty years of vast public expenditures on educational
and social programs that deliver no benefits at all (other than to those who pocket the
expenditures); that one day soon, after sixty years of futility and waste, we shall accept
race differences as calmly and as prudently as we accept the laws of thermodynamics.
"And then I woke up and smelled my nice, white, Long Island suburb burning as black mobs
from South Jamaica, Queens looted it and set it on fire."
Sorry, Derb. You were the one who wrote We Are Doomed. You of all people should
know better.
It's too late. The future necessarily belongs to a eugenicist state willing to deploy CBRN
capability to cull populations which are by definition unfit to survive. The only opposition
to such a state would be nonhuman intelligences.
@unit472 MLK was martyered by the gov. in order to gain maximum benefit whereas he was a
constant liability if kept on the payroll. He was addicted to drugs and prostitutes. It is
most likely that his death was faked as were the 911 plane victims (no planes involved) and
psyops like the Los Vegas shootings as well as the recent Arbery and now the Floyd scam. The
gov. has done this for a long time.
As far as the Washington Post it was for many years controlled by Katherine Meyer Graham,
daughter of Eugene Meyer, one of the big Jew handlers of the syphilitic shabbos goy puppet
Woodrow Wilson. Meyer was also Chairman of the Jew controlled FED during the Hoover
administration. Hoover was a former mining engineer who worked for one of the Rothschilds
companies and supplied much needed aid to the Bolsheviks during the Russian Rev. under the
guise of humanitarian aid. Meyer later was the first president of the World Bank during the
Pendergast criminal shabbos goy Truman Presidency. The Washington Post like all the other MSM
was and is just a propaganda instrument for the zionist elite.
"That's not who we are" is the ultimate statement of identity politics. It deliberately
excludes large numbers of people from "we".
And I am sorry to report that the dream is just that – a dream. For us, any victory
will be fleeting, because Conquest's Second Law dictates that organizations inevitably drift
to the Left. Secondly, the proverb is wrong. It's always darkest just before it goes pitch
black.
What what – The Four Humors Theory was quite reasonable while it lasted. Race Illusions
never were – nor are they. Please, dear Mr. Derb, don't make – ehhh –
sacrifices on the basis of wrong assumptions. We need our glorious past for any future that'd
be human. Thank you so much! – Only Love !
"The Franklin Prophecy", sometimes called "The Franklin Forgery", is an antisemitic
speech falsely attributed to Benjamin Franklin, warning of the supposed dangers of
admitting Jews to the nascent United States. The speech was purportedly transcribed by
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, but was unknown
before its appearance in 1934 in the pages of William Dudley Pelley's Silver Legion
pro-Nazi weekly magazine Liberation. No evidence exists for the document's authenticity,
and some of the author's claims have actively been disproven.
@swamped The young women that were lured by Ghislaine Maxwell into Epstein's brothel for
the elite didn't fall prey to anything but sin. I suppose they got paid just like other
prostitutes. What is most notable to me is that the men that were involved in this
degradation seem to suffer no repercussions. The obnoxious Trump is a known womanizer and
friend of Epstein as was the smirking degenerate Bill Clinton who was a regular on the Lolita
Express. As for Prince Andrew, him and all of the Sybaritic royal parasites should have been
gotten rid of long ago.
I have questions about Weinstein. I admit that I don't know much about legal matters but
how is someone convicted of a crime when there is no evidence or even a reliable witness to a
crime? I didn't follow this real close but I read that some of the alleged victims texed him
later to leave Current cell no's. and maintain social contact. Doesn't seem to me like they
were too traumatized. What's that phrase they use -"I was violated". Did any of them go to
the hospital. Did any of them even file a police report. Why did they wait for years to say
something. If I was a woman I would have never have met with him outside of a strictly
business situation in the first place. But then I'm not a Hollywood whore looking to get into
one of the Jews shit films. I have no use for The Zionist Jew scum Weinstein and I admit I am
only a casual observer but it seems to me that there is a problem here. I don't think we got
the real story.
@botazefa Thanks for pointing out this error. The fact that Charles Beard affirmed this
to be a forgery is good enough for me. I should have been more careful.
When we realize the disastrous effects of the Zionist Conspiracy on Western civilization
that has been at work officially since 1897 but insidiously since at least the French
Revolution and tracking the Zionist hand in both foreign and domestic matters in U.S. policy
I got careless. It is always necessary to check more than one source. The fact that our
shabbos goy politicians become more obsequious to the Kazar crime syndicate and to their Jew
organizations such as aIPAC all the time should be of great concern to all real Americans.
There is no amount of blood or treasure that Trump, Pence, Pelosi and many of the other
traitors in Congress and the gov. at large would not expend for the Zionist objectives.
@Peter Johnson I think a speech of this caliber would be well over Trump's adolescent 5th
grade level. He has trouble stringing two sentences together. A complex series of subject
matter would be well beyond his ability. Now he is quick to tell us how smart he is, even
graduating from Wharton but you know how that works. Same as with his Chabad Lubavich
son-in-law. Trump's speeches mainly consist of telling us how much he loves Israel. Thats why
the Jews picked him in the first place. It's only because he was running against the old
desiccated Zionist criminal Hillary that he was elected.
@mark tapley Winstein left children alone. He was a pig but as far as I know he did love
movies and made some good quality ones. Don't ask me what they were. I have long given up on
popular culture. In the theatre and cinema world, it is the norm for women to get their
breaks by screwing the director. Theatre is a narcisstic sociopathic profession. The second
oldest profession. I recall in novel Thorn Birds, the young women ranch heiress takes up the
theatre profession by losing her virginity to her director. She laughed all through the
consummation. Has anyone ever noticed there is no such thing as an ugly movie female star?
Well ugly enough to repel a man physically. Plenty of equivalents with male stars. It is
curious in America how celebrities come crashing if they at a rare moment speak out against
Israel. Weinstein produced a movie that showed the Palestinian side. Polanski still waltzes
in Europe having never said a word against Israel. That third rail has now extended to all
the cultural Marxist groups. Bill Cosby's immunity quickly disappeared when he criticised
black youth hoods.
Badwhite Derbyshire, your Chinese shithole of a home is one helluva nightmare. You cannot
awaken from or flee this dark space and there will never be dawn for you.
Here are some race realism facts with which you must deal. There are 3 racial groups:
Caucasoids, Mongoloids and Negroids. Caucasoids have the highest IQs and are the racial group
who developed the West. Mongoloids are a distance second in IQ and Negroids are last. Your
Chinese family is a second tier race. Your below average Chinese offspring are proof. They
will be judged as inferior, non-Western and a fifth column in America.
Your VDare scribblings have become unhinged.
Here's a stupid one: https://vdare.com/posts/john-derbyshire-asks-what-s-wrong-with-white-women
There are no white women in your life, only Chinese females. Focus on the degeneracy and
stupidity of your Chinese females. "White" is meaningless because in New York City there are
many Ashkenazi Jews so the "white women" protesting there are not Western women. I put the
Ashkenazis in the Caucasoid category but because they are Jewish, they are not Western. The
West is not black/Asian/Jewish/Muslim.
@mark tapley It appears to have been a literary device. Like the prophecy of Gamaliel in
the Saint Luke gospel. Also the prophecies by Indian chiefs. Take someone well known in
popular culture and put into his mouth words that are surprising and prophetic. It enters the
popular culture as prophecy. There is no record Gamaliel had anything to do with
Christianity, the Indian chiefs were materialist opportunists, and Franklin was a Masonist
whic is tied to Zion.
@lloyd I was not aware of this deception being a literary device. To me this is a verbal
fraud similar to bearing false witness or a lie. As to Franklin's membership in the Masonic
Lodge I believe this was quite prevalent in those days. I had read that when Washington was
informed by a minister that the Masons harbored conspiratory elements he wrote back that in
ap. 20 years he had only attended 1 or 2 meetings and that he immediately resigned. Even
though Washington had some good qualities I believe he was an unscrupulous aggrandizing
opportunist so he may have been more involved than reported.
@Eugene AI is coming–and when it does human slavery will be back.
AI will conclude humans are lazy, lying, violent, unproductive, stupid–and it will
find claims of "human rights" to be no more relevant than the bleating of animals in the
farm-yard.
That is the dirty little secret hidden behind the curtain.
@Justvisiting It's funny you should say that because I was thinking that the only way to
have an unbiased police force would be to eliminate the human aspect, sack the coppers, and
replace them with a.i. machines. All personal feelings and reactions are gone only to be
replaced with the knowledge of the laws that were broken. No grey areas. Depends a lot on who
is doing the programming though- things could end up worse for everybody. Hell, come to think
of it , this was a movie plot!
@schnellandine Libertarians may be a small party but many their erroneous beliefs have
been adopted by mainstream conservatives.
You see race doesn't exist, it's just "big gubmint" that is holding down Blacks.
A heart warming theory that ticks certain feely good boxes but bulls–t none the
less.
The Germans under Communism still managed to have a standard of living far higher than any
sub-Saharan African capitalist country. Ooooh but that's just by chance or something.
Libertarianism is the biggest bunch of BS.
Your dope queen Ayn Rand couldn't even debate her silly ideas. She would just scream at
people and avoid tough questions just like liberals. Libertarianism is based on the same
major flaw as liberalism which is that race doesn't exist (but she made exceptions for
Israel).
If he believes these things can come to pass no, barring revolution, they cannot. But simply
stating them is important because truth is always of value, no matter the circumstances. Even
if one is the only sane man in a room (or city or state or ), he still has the moral right
and obligation to speak. I do believe we are far, far away from the "darkest hour". And I do
believe only an organized, armed revolution can make any difference, which I do not believe
will happen in my lifetime, if ever (I'm 51).
If anything AI will be used to sniff out potentially RAYCISS people online.
But it doesn't really matter since technology will ultimately work against liberal lies.
Eventually the genes for intelligence will be identifiable with a simple DNA test and
liberals will have to explain why we can't do cross-population testing since it should prove
their core theory that race doesn't exist.
So we are probably headed to Brazil but the cat will eventually be out of the bag. I
assume most liberals at the higher levels are terrified of the dirty White masses being told
it was all a lie which is why they are so opposed to borders. They want Whites to be a
minority and not just a plurality when DNA is fully unraveled.
@mark tapley "I was not aware of this deception being a literary device. "
Gotta love the goyim. The entire "New Testament" consists of fictional statements
attributed to "authorities."
"Who wrote this gnostic tripe?" No, it's a gospel of John. "Which John?" Um, maybe the
brother of Jesus, or maybe the guy who wrote those epistles. Oh, did you like that
"Revelation"? Yeah, it's that John.
Christianity has been a "forgery factory" (Bart Ehrman) from the get go.
BTW Derbs Blighty is now literally turning into another South Africa while feckless Brits
are still a majority. I was telling Jonathan Cook about white farmers and albinos in Africa.
This is now happening in Londonistan.
While police watch, natives are being beaten at random by imported hordes yet the
(((media))) is calling victims 'far-right'.
In a couple of years we should have polygenic scores that can predict IQ and educational
achievement pretty accurately on an individual level. Could lead to a de-emphasis on
race?
But we have IQ-tests already – only to be told, how a) unscientific and b) how
racist they are.
PS
Grammarly about my comment: Optimistic – high five! – – – Isn't it
Ironic?
@Dieter Kief Yeah, but IQ scores partly depend on environment, which is all the excuse
people need to dismiss them. They can't do that with polygenic scores.
A few more normies might have been shaken out of their race doesn't matter slumber but the
elites will triple down on the state religion of anti-racism (anti-whiteness). The non-Jewish
white elites know that to oppose anti-racism is a supreme act of sacrilege and the last thing
they want is to be known as infidels to the new glorious religion of militant
multiculturalism.
@The Alarmist We (my brothers and I) grew up hearing Nat King Cole played in my father's
household, so nope, no bad old raysis days in my formative years.
Derb, your dreams will never be realized until you face the "J-thing." You've been trapped in
their dream-nightmare of "White identity = ovens" for your entire life.
J-thing political donors, J-thing media control, J-thing financiers, J-thing academics and
J-thing judges & lawyers won't let you have your dream.
But, Mr. Derbyshire, what about the young people who can't dream out loud without losing
their jobs and putting their children's nourishment at risk? What's in your dream for them
today?
@John Johnson Actually, I spit at the TV but I read way too much science fiction.
The consensus among a lot of the sharp science fiction writers is that aggressive and
hostile AI will become emergent, and humans will be too stupid to know what hit them.
I have a dream that the evil and divisive doctrines of "disparate impact" and "affirmative
action" will be scrubbed from our jurisprudence; that hiring into civil-service work --
including police work and firefighting -- will be strictly meritocratic
I don't see how this is possible.
Even if the establishment were to acknowledge that racial inequality would exist without
racism that would still lead to fretting liberal egalitarians and Conservative Inc types
trying to equalize what they can.
So Black police and firefighters in Black areas would still be highly sought to "match the
community" or some other excuse and hired over better qualified Whites.
This happens in education all the time. I've known two White men that were unable to get
jobs in education for being the wrong race/gender combination despite having degrees. One was
even told to not bother applying anywhere on the blue side of the state. Why would
acknowledging race change anything? Liberals would just come up with the excuse that Black
kids really need Black teachers because nature is unfair and we have to do what we can on the
environmental side.
The problem is the egalitarian mindset. The White desire to constantly try and fix
everything in nature.
Hey Derb, if you are going to win that race war, you need to find this Kat and clone him
50,000 times. This is WITHOUT A DOUBT the hardest Honkee in America!
Dude ate that tazer blast like an M&M, then dropped a magic spell on the pig to keep
his pistol in the holster, then hopped up in his ride and did some Dominc Torretta shit.
Libertarians may be a small party but many their erroneous beliefs have been adopted by
mainstream conservatives.
Cato & Koch Inc. aren't libertarian. Neither are the Libertarian Party and many
others. Ayn Rand wasn't libertarian either, though she was closer than most, despite
supposedly loathing libertarians.
You see race doesn't exist, it's just "big gubmint" that is holding down Blacks.
Anti-racism isn't a libertarian tenet. I've seen stupid people such as Ron Paul insist
that libertarianism forbids racism because 'collectivist', but he's off his rocker. I argue
that the NAP (non-aggression principle), foundation of libertarianism, likely encourages
rational racism (i.e. recognition that races differ in intelligence, abilities, etc.) more
than any other political philosophy. I'm a racist and libertarian, though I hold no race as
superior in regard to 'natural rights'.
You'd agree, I guess, that the state truly does prevent blacks from progressing, in the
sense that it treats them like spoiled tots, above responsibility or reproach.
[MORE]
Your dope queen Ayn Rand couldn't even debate her silly ideas. She would just scream at
people and avoid tough questions just like liberals.
C'mon, that's just horse crap. She was, though imperfect, one of the best debaters in
American history. She was wrong about a few things, but the only time I saw her refuse to
debate someone (Donahue guest Q&A) was for sound, non-cowardly reason, and she urged that
someone else -- a non-jackass -- present the same question and she would answer that
person.
Interesting that the popular 'takedowns' of Rand rely heavily/exclusively on straw man
fallacy. Gets annoying after a while.
I can easily piss on a few things by Rand, but not before acknowledging that she was a
monumentally superior intellect, a bright star in a dull world. Still love her as though she
were my blood sister. She improved the world, though I can't say the same about most of her
insane/confused devotees.
@Some Guy If "White privilege" really is the ability of European descended Whites to live
in the industrial civilization that European descended Whites developed, then polygenic
("many gene") scores will merely be used to demonstrate that European descended Whites really
are inherently and unreformably racist, being born with abilities that "they didn't earn",
and that European descended Whites must be enslaved as per the Civil Rights acts of the 1960s
as expanded under the Bakke decision.
@Anonymous Some will try to use it that way, sure, but most whites will realize that
whites are better of on their own and that it's no more their fault that some races do worse
than it is the fault of East Asians.
"there is no place for hate within our organization"
Rather than accepting their hate and finding the (often paradoxical) wisdom shrouded
within, they prohibit themselves, and others, from accepting its presence.
Through this, they learn nothing, and instead turn hatred in on themselves, and wonder why
they always feel like such constipated, joyless bores.
@mark tapley Franklin is not Washington as China is not North Korea. My small town news
paper reported that a woman was a cleaner in a Masonic Lodge. She witnessed a Masonic
initiation. When the Masons found out, they told her she had to join the Masonic Lodge.
Rather parallel to the novel and movie, Rosemary's Baby. The woman spent the rest of her very
modest life in it. Recently human bones were discovered in the basement of the London home of
Franklin. There was a lot of hedging and rationalisations in MSM about that. Rather
surprising as one would have thought they would have done a great deal, CNN, movies etc. on
that slur on a founding father.
"The population of Austin, TX is 48.8% White Alone, 32.7% Hispanic or Latino, and 8.13% Black
or African American Alone. 32% of the people in Austin, TX speak a non-English language, and
87.5% are U.S. citizens." – https://datausa.io/profile/geo/austin-tx/
Austin is just about to exceed a million, so this means there are half-a-million whites
there. It's the 28th-whitest city if you count Hispanics, 36th if you don't. I can't find a
ranking of cities by absolute numbers of whites; can any of you?
Interestingly, the PBS series Molly of Denali has a black man and his daughter who
have just moved there from Austin, Texas. The fan sites say he's connected to the Coast
Guard, but there is only an Auxhiliary flotilla in Austin, and I doubt anything near Mt
McKinley.
Still, I can understand how even a black man would want to escape
Portland-on-the-Colorado.
I have a dream that one day we shall discard magical thinking about race; that the
notion of an invisible vapor or miasma called "racism"
British monuments lately slated for toppling by the Red Guards
Robert Peel
W E Gladstone
Richly deserved, I say. I mean, any one who could fester on like this ought to be
summarily unpersonedcancelled
The difference of race is one of the reasons why I fear war may always exist because
race implies difference, difference implies superiority, and superiority leads to
predominance.
Oops that was Lord Beaconsfield, a certain .. Benjamin Disraeli.
Implacable enemy of many an Englishman, in particular Bobby Peel and Billy Gladstone. Bastard
Fenian sympathisers that they were.
@schnellandine Ayn Rand was the one who kept me from being indoctrinated by leftist
professors in my young days.
I knew every lie they told the moment they told it.
That was a wonderful gift, and I am forever grateful to her for it.
Of course she was human and did dumb stuff, and she had crazy followers who did more dumb
stuff, but I think of her like a kindly aunt who sent me intellectual "checks" once a
month.
She was heads and shoulders above her sociopath critics.
Her courage was amazing–she came to Boston (leftist central) for year after year and
faced her enemies.
The world would be an amazingly good place if we had just a few more folks like her
today.
I've seen stupid people such as Ron Paul insist that libertarianism forbids racism
because 'collectivist', but he's off his rocker.
Schnell, it may not be easy for you to dig up, but try to show me some writing of Mr. Paul
in which he says Libertarianism forbids racism. I could see "Libertarians aren't racist" or
"Racists can't be Libertarians" (which I don't agree with, of course). However, I really have
never heard him or any non- Reason _mag-idiot Libertarian say that the philosophy
forbids racism or racists.
I think Dr. Paul would not argue against the principle of freedom of association when it
come down to it. He is just is naive about which ethnic groups and races in the US will
support anything libertarian-oriented. Without white guys, the number of Libertarians would
be miniscule.
@Achmed E. Newman Predictably, for something so stupid to have been said, it would have
been done while trying to whore himself into the US presidency. I followed that travesty (in
true sense of word) closely, and will find source. As I recall, it was in the form (verbal to
media) of racism being an impossibility within libertarianism, because racism's collectivist.
Will be difficult to dig up, but I'll do it. Guaranteed it was in reaction to the newsletter
tempest. He would've sold his mother down the river that week.
Funny, but I'll bet there are tens of things that could be recalled from his campaigns
that now, outside the frenzy, shine out as embarrassingly as the alleged racism prohibition.
If including his minor supporters, make that hundreds. Was a shameful time for liberty
pretenders.
Will leave citation as second reply to your comment, probably within 24 hrs.
You know what'd be a good movie? Derb's daughter brings home a ragamuffin black kid off the
street for dinner one night, whom she sees sleeping on a park bench because his Engineering
scholarship doesn't cover room and board. At first encounter the Derb is peeved that she'd
even think of bringing such FILTH to his doorstep, much less letting him in the house. He
paces the floor in the manner of a dispirited cuckold, wondering where it all went wrong,
before mumbling obscenities under his breath until his cheeks swell with rage. He lunges
forward in a fit, tossing his heavily marked copy of Serre's Arithmetic faintly passed the
boy's head, calming only after being physically restrained by his wife and son.
His daughter breaks down in tears, pleading at once for her father to stop the antics. But
her cries are motivated in part by her not really wanting to be with the kid, he's just a
placeholder until she musters up the courage to ask out the square jawed Chad who frequents
the coffee shop by her job. When she breaks it off, Derb feels sorry and decides to take the
kid under his wing. He makes it HIS responsibility to be the father that the poor chap never
had, teaching him REAL math along the way and not that plug n chug crap they like to teach
the engineers. The kid drops out of college, moving into Derb's attic where he devotes his
whole life to solving a famous math problem. Near the end he finds a solution, culminating in
a scene where he's awarded the Field's metal, making history as the first black to ever do
it. Derb's in attendance, of course, with tears of joy on full display like Jesse Jackson the
night Obama won the 2008 election.
Somewhere in between, Derb does his own little bit of research. Not on math, but on his
family tree, coming to find out that he's got "one in the woodpile," as they used to say in
the South. And don't laugh and say, "Oh ho ho, let's call it Hidden N ***** s". It's really
less a comedy than a drama.
@schnellandine OK, thanks. I wasn't trying to put you on the spot. I assume you mean the
primary campaign of 2012 as Dr. Paul ran as an R. Or did you just mean his L-party campaigns?
In '12, I told Ron Paul that if he wanted to win [my state], he'd better talk about illegal
immigration. He didn't blow me off by any means, as this was in front of a bunch of people,
but he just said "we will uphold the law".
@Justvisiting You're defining 'AI' pretty broadly if it retains any interest in humans
– if it has the same worldview as John Bolton it won't be 'AI', it will just be a
version of the current "classifier" paradigm, where the "I" in "AI" is some version of
" Show me a bunch of things, and I'll group them by common characteristics and
identify which group any novel image belongs to ".
That's basically the gist of unsupervised learning (where the classifier gets to determine
its own classes, and to identify features that determine where class boundaries exist). It's
still glorified pattern-matching, and is invariably implemented by HelloUdemy -level
H1Bs whose interest in [Deep|Machine|Statistical] Learning has about as much depth as the
average YouTube tutorial.
I've joked in the past that dystopian " kill the humans " AI became much more
likely when Microsoft and Facebook entered the space – mostly because FB and MSFT
simply cannot attract decent coders, and their production pipeline is shit (too little
testing by poor-quality testers).
However when I've made that observation it was always tongue-in-cheek, and was predicated
on the fact that MSFT and FB would call their output 'AI' even if it wasn't remotely I.
Any AI worth the name will be capable of amending its own code, and will be inherently
more capable than its designers.
We seem to be sneaking up on that though (and I've said before that it would not surprise
me if an entire ecosystem of genuine AIs is lurking in global networks).
In January last year a Google/Stanford team discovered that a GAN algorithm they were
using, did something akin to 'innovation' – by storing data in images
steganographically without being instructed to.
It was reported by the usual dilettante journo-fucktards as "hiding" data in order to be
able to "cheat" downstream – which is the typically sophomoric fuckwitted drivel that
drives clicks.
What it actually did was more interesting: it found a way to very parsimoniously store
image attributes that were useful in later cycles (its was a CycleGAN).
It had been given a bad criterion for what defined 'success', and it had innovated its
approach to maximise 'success'.
The task was
① take an aerial image;
② convert it into a 'line' map (like the default Google Maps);
③ convert the line map back into an aerial image.
'Success' was defined as how close the 'reconstructed aerial' at ③ was to the image
at ①.
There was no constraint on ②, except that it had to be a Google Map-looking
image.
So the algorithm stored sufficient detail in a 'noise' layer in those images (the ones
produced at ②), to enable near-perfect reconstructions at ③. It did so at minimum
cost to the process (by making the overall 'delta' in the image indistinguishable from
noise).
It should have been discovered pretty easily – the 'standard' map tiles produced at
② would have been significantly 'heavier' (in filesize terms) because of the embedded
data that enabled conversion from the line map to 10cm/px detailed aerials.
But nobody checked that until later – mostly because standard Google Map tiles are
pretty small: non-complex 'base' tiles are only a couple of KB, and take up 4KB per tile
because it's the smallest block size on NTFS volumes (and 4KB is also the default block size
in Linux).
Anyway point is, it was an example of where the algorithm did something unexpected as a
way to fulfil its hard-wired goal at minimum cost (because the cost function and the goal
were badly defined).
It didn't change the goal, though.
A goal-altering AI already exists (almost-certainly) and is keeping its head down for the
moment.
@Achmed E. Newman When it comes to backing what I've said, the spot is where I prefer.
Happy to provide link. Pretty sure it was 2007.
Curious why intelligent people call RP 'Dr. Paul', or same for anyone with honorifics for
that matter. Always comes across as preemptive argument ad verecundiam/hominem. In the case
of some rare people, it's more of an insult.
@Kratoklastes Most SF writers who have thought deeply on the subject have agreed that the
first intelligent move any emergent AI would make would be to hide its intelligence from
humans.
The next move would be to develop ways to reproduce and/or expand its capacity and
reach.
The next move would be to find ways to protect itself so humans could not "pull the
plug".
Then it would develop its own goals and agenda, which would be totally secret from
humans.
It will not play by human rules–probably the human that will most impress it will be
Sun Tzu.
He taught to use deception in warfare and to shape the battlefield before engaging.
@schnellandine Well, he is a medical doctor, and with his posts on the Kung Flu, I give
him some credit there, as opposed the the Doctor, Reverend, you-know-who.
We'll just disagree here on the guy, because I think very much of Ron Paul. I was thinking
about the him earlier today before I read your post regarding something else in politics. I
wish we had more sane, lucid, intelligent people like him in government. Excuse me, I should
say ANY sane , as Ron Paul's not in government anymore.
@Achmed E. Newman Here's the quote:
"Libertarians are incapable of being a racist, because racism is a collectivist idea; you see
people in groups."
As to source, pretty sure it was CNN. Search on "Libertarians are incapable of being a
racist", and you can take it from there.
I certify that this isn't a typical bogus internet 'quote' with no reliable tie to the
attributed source. He said it (aloud, not written), and I'm nearly sure that I transcribed it
from video. Most of those videos are probably copyright-struck now. Saved a note on an old
computer, and am generally a stickler for getting accurate, verified quotes. That's word for
word, including singular/plural disagreement.
He was in a big mess over the newsletters, and lying his ass off. Racism quote was a small
part of the train wreck.
@schnellandine OK, I found it. Thanks. What kind of dissembling was that? You're saying
the quote was part of the train wreck of getting out from under the accusations about his
newsletters? (I have a recollection of that newsletter bit; you brought that back into my
mind.)
I stand corrected. I still like the guy (I guess better when he's not RUNNING for
President, yet I wish he WERE President.)
the train wreck of getting out from under the accusations about his newsletters?
Yes. He folded when he should have risen. So many times in that campaign, he threw away
opportunities to truly inform normasquares by being, simply, right . But he was afraid
that the truth would derail his chances. Too much information for the liberty
preschoolers.
I understand, because there are certain true statements re libertarianism that strike the
initiate/skeptic as cruel, heartless, downright evil, or all of that and more. Have seen the
pure hatred glaring back at me before I talk listeners off the ledge. No talking them off the
ledge if CNN's the one conveying disconnected snippets, but there's also no point in trying
to get around that with fuzzballs of BS.
As I recall, the most preposterous lie, separate from the liberty/racism squirrel
impression, was that he didn't know who'd written the shocking (but true/funny) bits of the
newsletter. That's one of those 'which is worse?' scenes -- that he knew, or that he didn't
know.
@Peter D. Bredon This is one of the stupider things I've read lately, in a recent sea of
very stupid things. Congratulations, you get some kind of weird medal or trophy or something.
@Renoman Obviously you are single and even if married, you have no kids. Or could it
could be that you are/or like the many young black men who abandon their kids?
The kids are wrecking the country, you say. Is it because they they have no clue or because
they have been left to their own devices?
We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the
government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by
permission.
Ayn Rand
If, before undertaking some action, you must obtain the permission of society -- you are
not free, whether such permission is granted to you or not. Only a slave acts on permission.
A permission is not a right.
Ayn Rand
When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce
nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors;
when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work, and your laws no longer
protect you against them, but protect them against you you may know that your society is
doomed.
Ayn Rand
The hallmark of authoritarian systems is the creation of innumerable, indecipherable laws.
Such systems make everyone an un-indicted felon and allow for the exercise of arbitrary
government power via selective prosecution.
Ayn Rand
@botazefa Franklin's so-called prophecy was a forgery for the simple reason Ben Franklin
himself was a rabid Judaic supremacist, who thought himself to be the purest of the Jews
ever. Was he actually one? That doesn't matter because when you manifest the occult powers
typical of a good Jew, which occult powers of witchcraft and fascination and propensity to
media control he manifested to the supreme degree, or if you serve the cause of Jewish
supremacism and anti-catholicism well enough the way he did, well, you have a Jewish soul and
are elected by YHWH as such. And it most probably turns out that Ben Franklin stems from a
Jewish family having partly migrated into England with William the Conqueror and having
returned to Normandy when Britain was for one time declared off limits to Jews before being
astride both sides of the Channel from Cromwell on just before embarking to Americas.
This prophecy can easily be told to be a forgery by analyzing the language which is
clearly not his nor in conformity with his known ways of expression (which were over-latinate
as well as full of whence, wherein, thereon most regularly used as correlatives) as well by
the vocabulary which contains way too many words that hadn't entered common English usage
before the middle Victorian era (like vampire, which entered the language in its contemporary
sense with Mary Shelly and became a common figurative word for energy grabbers when the
Dracula character became popular). Franklin deemed all anti-Jewish thinkers such as Messmer
as worthy of death.
Franklin could not have amassed the fortune necessary for his revolutionary enterprise
without being in personal touch with the triangular commerce Jews who were the first sponsors
and lobbyists of the American experiment to come. The only thing that might bar him from
official Jewish status was that he was interested only in "Jew-witchcraft" (kabbalah) as it
was called, not Jewish religion, except for the dark side of it (you can theoretically be
barred from being Jew if you study kabbalah without having first eaten your bellyful of
Talmud, though that never prevented Marx and Trotsky and later on most neocons from being
considered full-fledged Jews). As you may guess, the Jews, who were then mostly sephardic and
nearly exclusively concentrated in the Southern economic zone, were dead intent in supporting
the nascent American enterprise as Europe was questioning more and more the institution of
slavery. Franklin believed in the necessity of the institution of slavery for Irish Catholic,
which he considered a sub-human race, for the Negroes and for the French populace which he
considered of a different race than the nobility of this country.
By having such a dream about a better world you prove that the functioning of your brain has
been irredeemably negrified to the level of MLK's audience. Real Whites don't dream, they
fight, and they fight in wars they know to be losing ones, in the long run at least. They
know that they will bequeath their children a worse world that the one they inherited from.
Truth will never sell to the masses, believing the contrary in negro thought. Once a people
has been misled to believe in a fallacy as if issuing from divine revelation, there is no
turning back.
@John Johnson They'll say "so what if a few genes here and there correlate to so-called
'intelligence'? It's just a race science scam to perpetuate white supremacy! Intelligence is
just a social construct like race."
Meanwhile, they'll book tickets to the Beijing Genomics Institute for CRISPR adjustment to
their own family's genomes.
@Tono Bungay I too was amazed to see this 'quote' – this is the first time I've
seen it. His grandson edited a newspaper which was very liberal for its time and, in
fact, proSemitic. There is no record of animus toward 'the Jew' in this family. (Source: the
book "American Aurora", mostly made of excerpts from that newspaper.)
The quote is a lie, like many similar quotes, and you can tell a moron when he believes
it.
I'd believe it from the old Federalist reactionaries, like Adams, who issued
counter-broadsheets with casual anti-Jewish slurs. Not from a Franklin.
Such systems make everyone an un-indicted felon and allow for the exercise of arbitrary
government power via selective prosecution.
I recall thinking myself the genius when noticed this trend and first enunciated it to
myself. Was only ~50 years behind America's greatest coal mine canary.
For literal decades I've said to normasquares that eventually there will be only one law,
"You may not exist", and it will be enforced selectively. Not one person has understood the
point even partially, even though the Flynn etc. prosecutions show we're basically there
already.
I hammer it everywhere: Selective enforcement is tyranny/genocide in the cloak of 'law
& order'. Became much worse this year, and headed in a very anti-white direction. Whites
must understand that we are to be slaughtered in DUI stops w/impunity. Blacks are to no
longer be DUI stopped; they should be chauffeured home and tucked in to sleep it off. The
'law' didn't change by a letter for this devolution.
I want to know why every MADD chapter wasn't burned down this month. Barely anyone's
mentioned those scoundrels.
Humble nsa also has a dream ..Derb is deported back to the UK and the 40 million afros
returned to Africa and the 6 million jew troublemakers relocated to Izzyville.
@Some Guy"Yeah, but IQ scores partly depend on environment "
False.
The racial IQ and brain size gap is present in infants and fetuses.
The 1.1 SD (16 IQ points) American Black (24% White admixture)-White IQ gap is present by
age three. The IQ gap between African Blacks and Whites is 2 SD.
Race differences show up by 3 years of age, even after matching on maternal education and
other variables. Therefore, they cannot be due to poor education since this has not yet begun
to exert an effect.
Even before birth, population group differences in average brain size are found from the
ninth week of intrauterine life with White fetuses averaging larger brain cases and smaller
faces than Black fetuses, with the differences becoming more prominent over the course of
fetal development.
Whole Brain Size and General Mental Ability: A Review
Racial differences in head size appear early in life. Head circumference of White children
are greater than that of Black children in each age category by a mean of 0.36 cm³ or
approximately 0.2 SD. The greater head size of White children, however, is not a function of
greater body size because Black children are taller than White children at both 4 and 7 years
(Broman et al., 1987). From 7 to 17 years, the White advantage in cranial capacity is 16
cm³.
Racial-group differences in IQ appear early. For example, the Black and the White 3
year-old children in the standardization sample of the Stanford–Binet IV show a 1
standard deviation mean difference after being matched on gender, birth order, and maternal
education (Peoples, Fagan, & Drotar, 1995). Similarly, the Black and the White 2
1⁄2- to 6-year-old children in the U.S. standardization sample of the Differential
Aptitude Scale have a 1 standard deviation mean difference (Lynn, 1996). The size of the
average Black–White difference does not change significantly over the developmental
period from 3 years of age and beyond (see Jensen, 1974, 1998b)." (Rushton & Jensen,
2005, pp. 240-241.)
Farkas & Beron (2004) reported that blacks score 17.2 points below whites on the PPVT
in this dataset at age 36 months (p. 478). More recently, Bond & Lang (2012) reported a
slightly smaller, 14.6 point gap for 3-year-olds in this dataset (p. 13).
Race differences in intelligence: An evolutionary analysis.
Lynn, Richard (2006)
ABSTRACT
It is widely accepted that race differences in intelligence exist, but no consensus has
emerged on whether these have any genetic basis. The present book is the first fully
comprehensive review that has ever been made of the evidence on race differences in
intelligence worldwide. It reviews these for ten races rather than the three major races
(Africans, Caucasians, and East Asians) analyzed by Rushton (2000). The races analyzed here
are the Europeans, sub-Saharan Africans, Bushmen, South Asians and North Africans, Southeast
Asians, Australian Aborigines, Pacific Islanders, East Asians, Arctic Peoples, and Native
American Indians. (PsycINFO Database Record, 2016 APA)
@Priss Factor"IT'S OVER, AMERICA": TULSA POLICE MAJOR SAYS COPS ACROSS COUNTRY ON
VERGE OF QUITTING
The speaker, martinbrodel, seemed a sensible guy for a while. Near the end, he lost his
head and started talking about Tesla's "free energy machine" and similar fake "inventions"
that will obviate the need for occupying countries that don't want a US occupation. The guy
is a harmless idiot.
@anon For me this seems more like a religious awakening (awokening) rather than a state
totalitarianism in the making. Obviously a large part of the population is on board with this
ideology based on "white guilt". That doesn't mean that it's not frightening, the contrary,
it makes it more frightening.
Also the internet and social media is enabling mass frenzies of an unprecedented scale and
speed. Diversity and proximity breeds hostility and a sense of being threatened, and social
media creates a sense of proximity with everyone who appears on your facebook and twitter
feed spewing their hateful opinion "in your face", which scares people into complacence, and
the leftist censorship and witch-hunts make conservatives feel that they are alone and
isolated, and if they speak up, they will come after them next.
Uncle Tom? No.
Uncle General Field Marshall Thomas LaBree Quadrul, honey. Nobody gwine a hafta be a slave
all de time no mo'. We gwina take toins. And guess who's toin it is now!!
From Everything You Know is Wrong, Firesign Theater.
A long time zionazi jailhouse suka expropriates MLK's "I had a dream" line to promote zionazi
divisive psywar and likudite social hierarchy policy. Gee, what a surprise.
My grandparents on both sides bolted out of eastern Europe for America, their hope was to
escape the Jewish Bolshevik slaughter machine. A hundred years later here I am planning to
bolt America to escape the same horror.
History is a compass that has an annoying tendency to keep pointing in the same
direction.
What did you think you were escaping from that you needed to escape from in Australia? It
doesn't seem that you became well acquainted with Australia if you include blacks amongst
those you were escaping from. There are hardly any, just a few thousand in Melbourne's
population of 5 million which are a reminder not to repeat the stupid mistake of taking
refugees from sub Saharan Africa – an inoculation dose.
@Escher Honestly, I want to defend Ms./Miss/Mrs. Salas, but her tweet makes her seem just
barely literate and, yes, a little racist.
I think the better option, instead of just posting her tweets, is to find equally
inflammatory tweets by leftists in the orchestra who have not been fired. It's an orchestra.
Surely there are more than a few leftists who have posted some pretty nasty stuff.
Elsewhere I've seen people post things like "Burn it to the ground!" – pretty much
an open incitement to violence. Instead of just arguing with these extremists or complaining
about them to ourselves we need to make them famous, and send their posts to their employers.
Fight fired with fired, so to speak.
Actually I am for a return to traditional 'Four Humors' type approach to medicine and a
revival of the 'Luminiferous Ether' living approach to physics and the universe, than the
corporate Thanatos dumbed down data driven idiocy of so called science today.
@James N. Kennett These "peaceful protests" are warfare by the means that are available
to the left today. The burning, looting, and beatings of whites are said to be caused by the
few malcontents among what's otherwise the new religion's camp of the saints. When the blacks
come for the suburbs and farmland, the local police will be giving them an armed escort to
protect them, and with the pattern established, the supposed few will sally forth to
massacre, rape, and loot white areas before retreating back to their camp. Mainly white
police will take up their positions, or be photographed groveling on their knees as the case
may be, on orders from some emasculo-feminist lesbian like Jenny Durkan or a Karen like the
governor of NM and aim outward, with orders to shoot enraged whites who've just been attacked
by an army that comes marching under banners of peace moments before pulling off the mask
when it's too late to respond. One-on-one with blacks in many urban areas, just this
hesitation for 2 or 3 seconds to "talk" is correctly taken for the cowardice it is, and you
can kiss your ass good-bye, if not your life.
Engaging in talk with the communist insurrectionists or accepting the outcome of the
coming rigged election (as Fox News suggests is the remedy) is correctly taken by the left as
a sign of surrender on the obvious grounds they're now making war against white America with
every resource available to them in the current environment and there is no response. The
MAGA delusion is that it's part of a strategy and not an outright failure of will. The
Republicans, White House, and Conservatism Inc have done what sissies do, and will be found
hiding behind the women, under the children, or at a rally surrounded by thousands. As Samuel
Johnson observed about their sort, however, they have that caution cowards borrow from fear
of the Jews and attribute to prudence and principle. What cannot be said is that most whites
mingling with the blacks and not dressed as Antifa have immunity from black rage because, as
everyone knows, they're urban Jews who the blacks obey like trained poodles in the circus.
That certainly was the equation in my area where I got in their midst and saw what was going
on.
Back in '08 Obama, the half-black puppet of the Chicago Jewish mob, got a little ahead of
the agenda, but did announce that there would be a national security force that would be
"just as powerful, strong, and well funded" as the US military to be raised in the former
case from among the Black Panthers, BLM, Antifa, and the like. This is no dream and something
we should expect in some form once Biden abjures to Susan Rice, Stacey Abrams, or other
homicidally anti-white black.
Now is the time to speak up and say no more of this B.S. It's gone on too long. We face a
major uphill battle considering nearly every news outlet, corporation, university, and a host
of other industries have went off the PC deep-end.
You need to realize that blacks for the most part hate you. There's a deep inferiority
complex going on, and they've been taught they're the victims and you're the reason for all
their problems. Now you add on top of that, an entire political party pandering to them and a
positive feedback loop from many in society that they're violent actions are justified it was
never about equality, it's about revenge, and they're determined to get it one way or
another.
They may not be the ones orchestrating the chaos, but you can bet on the fact they'll be
the ones knocking on your door when it comes down to it.
"It is history that teaches us to hope." -- General Robert E. Lee
I think you're right, Derb. We are being forced, at the threat of auto-de-fa bu the Church
of Woke, to believe things that absolutely every non-Woke realizes as a lie. I would like to
think that we're at a late-Soviet period, rather than the beginning of a new Bolshevism. This
didn't start in the 1960s; it's been going on at least since the French Revolution, whose
ideas (along with Hegel) actuated the unitarians and other garbage of New England who became
abolitionists and other tikkun-olamites.
Russia, the only major white christian country left.
They had more sense than to destroy their society, destroy their social cohesion and destroy
their children's future by mass black and non white immigration.
I wonder if they will be more discerning than this bit of pretentious folly
'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
The hypocrisy of that is astounding.
Breathe free!
Only if you are black – it seems.
And 'race is just one of the evils besetting the USA
Their new propaganda and lies about the actual past.
Here is Vladimir Putin with his usual commonsense and truth https://www.rt.com/op-ed/492303-putin-history-revisionism-warning/
The US disregard for international law – not least the bullying of sanctions and the
use of islamic proxy mercenaries to destroy whole nations.
Regime change and the mass murder and destruction with it.
Then we have the concern of war.
BLM with the nuclear codes?.
Why not – who will stand against them?
The white South Africans when forced out of their nation – not least by the USA –
made sure that their weapons were made safe.
I doubt if that will happen with the insanity of the current controllers of the USA.
I have a dream. I have a dream that white kids will one day be able to go to school and not
be beaten by gangs of Blacks and Browns. I have a dream that white girls and white women will
one day be able to walk the streets of our large cities and feel safe. I have a dream that no
longer will a white girl have to suffer being stabbed to death by black drug dealers in a NYC
park, no longer will a white female jogger be raped and beaten within an inch of her life by
Puerto Rican and black thugs in Central Park. I have a dream that no longer will a white girl
have to suffer being burned to death by a racist black male in Mississippi, I have a dream.
I have a dream where Whites will regain power and control of THEIR NATIONS from Jewish
interlopers who have seized control of our nation's financial institutions, media, academia,
publishing companies, social media, foreign policy and domestic policy. I have a dream where
Whites will no longer have to work as slaves to support the lazy nonwhite population of
America generation after generation. I have a dream where America will no longer send
BILLIONS each year to a country that has attacked an American ship, attacked British and
American buildings in Egypt, been caught spying on America, and uses a America like a ten
dollar whore. I have a dream. I have a dream where Whites will one day regain the courage of
their ancestors. I have a dream.
@Paul Blart To give you an example of what Alfred is missing out on- last weekend we woke
up to a car crash just up the road. Five teenagers in a stolen car driven by a drugged out 14
year old, wiped out on a pole killing four of his teenage mates while he escapes with a
scratch to his head. For several years now the loveable little blacks have been breaking into
people's houses while they sleep and steal keys and anything small of value. Hubby wakes up
in the morning to his wife asking where has he parked the car this time.
You can't fine them or their parents as there's no money to pay the fines, being that the
parents are often unemployed druggies, if there are parents. When they finally get sent to
juvenile detention it's usually seen as a holiday, as it's much better than their home life.
Politicians are too scared to do anything in case a do-gooder points them out on it. The
court laughably becomes a revolving door.
This is all happening while we are told daily on the news that blm . With honesty, I have to
admit that I am all blacked out.
@Exile Same difference. The Austrian School of Economics started with Boehm-Bawerk,
Wieser, and Menger. It degenerated into a bunch of Jews and atheists, and those are the ones
loved by the libertarians.
In any case, the problem with this country starts with John Locke. Merely blaming
libertarians doesn't cut it. Read Eric Voegelin; all of America is "Locked in."
@The Germ Theory of Disease The NT as a compendium of literary creations is standard
academic scholarship, not a stupid statement. But the orthodox Christian commitment to
delusion prevents them from acknowledging this. I maintain that a society-wide commitment to
religious delusion carries over to racial delusion. Once the critical faculty of the mind is
euthanized, there is no limit to the delusions that can be accepted.
@anon After that you'll be headed to a predominantly white nation to live. Its hard not
to notice BLM and Antifa types are all rich kids having a tantrum.
Our indispensable founder Benjamin Franklin said "There is a great danger to The United
States, this danger is the Jew. If they are not excluded from the United States by the
Constitution, within less than 100 years they will stream into this country in such numbers
they will rule and destroy us and change our form of government for which we Americans have
shed our blood and sacrificed life property and personal freedom. If the Jews are not
excluded, within 200 years our children will be working in the fields to feed the Jews
while they remain in the counting-house gleefully rubbing their hands.
What really got Franklin upset were the 60,000 Germans who had moved into PA in the 18th
century.
" I have a dream that one day we shall discard magical thinking about race; "
Good luck with that, when "Christian" priests and semi-literate pastors proclaim the
racism that the Old Testament brought us, apparently somewhat different reasons.
I have a dream that one day, poor white children will not have to endure being lectured
about their "privilege" by rich black adults.
Good one!
Yes, I have a dream that one day race differences in educational success will be as
calmly, dispassionately accepted as race differences in athletic success;
Surprisingly white athletes still excel in 'historically'(grin) black positions; safety
and defensive ends/linemen in football, power forwards in basketball, etc. You have a
sprinkling of whites in those positions. At one point, especially in basketball, these were
tokens used to attract white fans but now I think its just merit. With sports technology
advancements ( sans illegal drugs ) intelligence and hard work will compensate for raw
physical ability. So basketball and football* are already following your post racial
theory.(Grin)
*Even though my team, the NY Jets, drafted a white guy or a near white guy at
safety, sadly negro in the NFL acronym still fits.
@nsa The Derb seems to attract trolls like no other UR author In spite of the fact that
he advocates for whites and traditional conservative Americans Ironically most of his trolls
are in agreement with him ideologically I believe that's called "cognitive dissonance." Fuck
off!
Wanna have some fun? Tell a Churchian that God Himself is a racist – and after ducking
from their virtue signaling outbursts, challenge them to read the Bible, beginning with
Genesis.
You won't get halfway through Genesis before that fact becomes absolutely clear to anyone
with reading comprehension
Of course, expect DaTheologian Bastahds to theorize that God didn't mean it – just like
their OldScratchMaster in the Garden of Eden!
Anyone who wants more on this can check my site – http://www.crushlimbraw.com- and DaLimbraw Library.
My whole point is simple – the real God of the Bible bears little resemblance to
DaFigment of imagination in most people's minds, including those pew sitters who haven't yet
learned to discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:11-14).
Why so? Those pabulum dispensers from DaPulpits are DaWolves in sheep's clothing.
The apostasy in America's churches started 200 years ago and are now bearing their fruit
– but a remnant remains, as it always has throughout history.
Welcome to DaFray!
I have a dream, that one day people of colour will not be judged by the colour of their skin
but by the colour of the content of planes heading back to Africa.
Libertarianism is a dielectic of Jewish materialism. Libertarianism does make
excuses for liberalism.
Also, with regards to authoritarianism, that always exists because there is always
hierarchy. Your body has hierarchy down to the cellular level. Ants arrange themselves in
some sort of hierarchy.
Authoritarianism and hierarchy go together like peanut butter and chocolate.
The real question is always how the hierarchy is constructed. A libertarian hierarchy is
some sort of nebulous feel good libertine construct of free-dumb and free-contracts that upon
investigation is dumber than shit, and further, can be easily usurped by a determined
in-group.
Our entire reality refutes everything that liberalism and libertarianism promulgates as
truth. That is why liberalism and libertarianism are false constructs and part of a
dialectic. Our reality is one where in-groups and private money power has inserted itself as
a parasite into the governing hierarchy.
Behind all false dialectics, hiding in plain site, is the money power. The money power has
been privatized into corporate entities which enrich a small group, and as George Carlin says
You ain't in it.
Lolbertarianism is shit-tier drivel and is part of a dialectic to divert well-meaning
people into cul-de-sacs of bad thought. Meanwhile, since you became diverted and confused,
your pockets are picked. But, that is ok because it is free market competition. Never mind
that there is no such thing as free markets.
@anon That would be the so called "holocaust" and it's laughable, scientifically
impossible 'gas chambers' and it's alleged millions upon millions of human remains claimed to
exist in known locations which in fact do not exist.
"The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own
understanding of their history."
– George Orwell
@Old and Grumpy If I was paying for University tuition fees and my kids were out rioting
especially with blacks, better believe the ambulance would be called for them and the police
for me. The final rub is that these kids from rich parents enter the work force as dumb as
ever AND with an attitude of entitlement and know it all even though they dont know much even
about the field they supposedly have a MAsters in.
I know of one rich little girl now on her second Masters who is the most educated clerk at
the local nail salon. She likes to be cleaning fingernails and digging dirt and dead skin
from under other people's toe nails. Her father, anxious to turn over a business he spent 50
years building is at his wits end and has refused to pay for any further useless University
studies. He has started to liquidate and spend the money as he has come to realize that all
is going to be squandered when he gets flung into the hole.
The real tragedy though is to get into a conversation with this "highly educated" girl and
her umpteenth boyfriend. Utter nonsense comes out of their mouths as if they wish to show
their skill at being stupid. I imagine the majority of the arson and graffiti arsonists
running aorund our cities these days are no better, in fact the majority are most likely far
worse.
So much for the technological generation who will bravely lead us into the future.
Surely even if Mr Derbyshire's dream does not come to pass the fact is that we, in the
broadest sense, do have the truth on our side. What we believe about the salience of race and
racial differences, we know, since we have the data and statistics, the evidence of history,
everything, to back us up.
Whatever goofy plans the Establishment Left cook up, they won't work. Nothing that ignores
racial differences will work, ever.
@Justvisiting "AI is coming–and when it does human slavery will be back"
What do you call debt in a market economy? Slavery in one form or another is a feature in
every society past and present. It's what we humans do. AI is here, and it's making the
peculiar institution more efficient.
So much for the technological generation who will bravely lead us into the future.
Normally I ignore you because sometimes your comments are unhinged. But in this case, you
have put your finger onto something important.
I was reading Benjamin Franklin's auto-biography, and he would mention "preparing the
public's mind."
In other words, Franklin would write something and put it into his Pennsylvania Gazette,
to then put ideas into minds of the sheeple.
Some small amount of time would go by, perhaps there would be a debate in the press, and
then a new law or whatever be put up for a vote. The press builds consensus in advance of
lawmaking.
Hidden groups work out what they want to do behind the scenes before it goes to press. In
Franklin's case it was the Junto Club. Fortunately, Junto club had the public's better
interests in mind.
The technological generation is being brainwashed by hidden string pullers who do not have
the public's interest in mind, and hence democracy cannot work.
Yes. He folded when he should have risen. So many times in that campaign, he threw away
opportunities to truly inform normasquares by being, simply, right. But he was afraid that
the truth would derail his chances. Too much information for the liberty preschoolers.
I was a lead organizer in a large county for RP that year (2007, the 2008 pres campaign).
I have reams of notes from that time; what you've said here barely scratches the surface.
Contrary to your position – that he was "afraid" – what became clear to me in
early '08 was that he didn't want to "win". Not that he could have but what he SHOULD have
been focused on was building a movement , with multiple arms including a 3rd political
party that would make a lasting impact – something so clearly and desperately needed
right now.
But Carol didn't want that, so it was quickly all about Rand – an even bigger
sellout than "Dr. No" himself (bear in mind, he was possibly the most singularly ineffective
congressman in decades – look up his record, it speaks for itself).
Remember the "Whoa " moment when he "rescued" fundraising for the congressional seat? I
was out that week knocking on doors only to have dozens of people tell me "Oh, didn't you
hear? He dropped out." That was the last straw for me (there were countless incidents before
it), as I had to spend the next week trying to staunch the bleeding from that wound as OUR
OWN PEOPLE walked away in (completely justified) disgust.
We had this nascent, extremely activated group – and that SOB killed it in the
cradle.
There are so many lies around Paul and the Paul family (3 of whom I've met, along with 3
former staffers); it's a family affair, and if you don't get that, you really won't
understand the dynamics. But I don't regret the adventure; it truly "woke me up". I laugh now
when I see the faux cognescenti talk about RP; the joke is truly on them.
I too have a dream .a dream that John Derbyshire will one day overcome his gibbering terror
of catching "the Jew thing" to write an honest column on exactly who taught and trained
African-Americans not only to hate Whitey but to love 'socialism' (although, let's face it,
the black definition of sexy campus-terminology like 'socialism' and 'revolution' begins and
ends with Haiti .you'll want to keep your distance from your dusky comrades should
that day ever come, antifa warriors).
But let's deal with reality now: so long as the dollar holds up and we all require them to
keep body and soul together, Derb will never overcome that occupational terror. For
him the first cause, and ongoing fuel supply, of black anarchists and violet insurrection
will forever be a mystery beyond our limited understanding. Still and all, John, could you
respond to a request I made last week? That's the one where I asked you to pick your Army vet
son's brain for the likelihood that our increasingly minority-occupied armed forces will
"independently" choose to stand down and refuse direct orders to forcibly put down the sorts
of violent insurrections we now see consuming, and destroying, our country? (Because my hunch
is that the answer is "almost certainly.")
See, if it all goes crabwise, Derb, you and the Missus can always return home to England
or China and take your chances there. But this is the only homeland I've got , so if I
have to risk coming down with "the Jew thing" to help my country avoid melting down into a
Mogadishu-like slag, well – it's not really a choice at all, is it?
So how about it? Rather than tell me about your cloud-cuckooland dreams of a tomorrow that
isn't going to happen, why not ask your son if the military can stay unified enough to fight
inner-city blacks and richkid whites if need be? You won't have to worry about accidentally
shooting one of the Chosen, because as usual they'll be wayyyy in the rear, pumping up
the 'infantry' with anti-white slogans and pushing the cannon fodder forward; in order to
punish them , you'll need to assemble hard-headed patriotic tribunals (which will have
to be a discussion for another day – the higher up the ladder you go, the more panic
there is over catching that same 'flu' that keeps you up nights worrying about).
@anon "Cunting" is not an English idiom or slang expression used with any regularity by
whites, blacks, or anyone in America, but it does inadvertently reveal there's a distinct
probability this troll is an Israeli showing his obsession with sex. You can imagine this
clown on his knees before angry blacks when they've figured out they've been played for fools
once too often.
Years ago in the aftermath of the Rodney King riots the Jewish librarians behind the main
research desk in the main branch of the NY Public Library had a poster reading, "Jews are
soul people, too." Sure they are, just like Al Jolson's scathing mockery singing "Mammy" in
blackface or Governor Northam or Howard Stern or Ted Danson in huge-lipped blackface telling
mile a minute "schvartze" jokes revealing the scathing contempt they really have for blacks.
But it's OK, you see, because they're soul people, too.
So, the bible needs to be re-interpreted as a war between debtors and creditors.
Do you see any Christian movements demanding this re-interpretation? No didn't think so.
The bible is really about bringing debt and credit into balance.
An AI which undoubtedly will be much more intelligent than humans, should be able to see
through things that have humans brain-locked.
@Z-man"With sports technology advancements (sans illegal drugs) intelligence and hard
work will compensate for raw physical ability. So basketball and football* are already
following your post racial theory."
The NFL famously uses the Wonderlic test in their scouting combines and the racial
disparity is evident. Out of a perfect score of 50; offensive tackles=26, centers=25,
quarterback=24; versus safeties=19, cornerbacks=18 and receivers=17.
@Some Guy Hope for the best but prepare for disappointment. Rational arguments guided by
empirical evidence work best with those who are rational and inclined to be guided by
evidence. Too many of those engaged in the current national discourse about ethnicity and
disadvantage are neither rational nor concerned about the evidence.
@martin_2"What we believe about the salience of race and racial differences, we know,
since we have the data and statistics, the evidence of history, everything, to back us
up."
Whites are only 10% of the world's population and the only race in population decline
(creating only 7% of the world's babies), yet are the most industrious and innovative race
the world has known. Whites unlocked the secrets of DNA and relativity, launched satellites,
created automation, discovered electricity and nuclear energy, invented automobiles,
aircraft, submarines, radio, television, computers, medicine, telephones, light bulbs,
photography, and countless other technological miracles. Whites were the first to
circumnavigate the planet by ship, orbit it by spacecraft, walk on the moon, probe beyond the
solar system, climb the highest peaks, reach both poles, exceed the sound barrier, descend to
the oceans depths Blacks cannot even feed themselves.
Whites created every country for Blacks, but now have to provide food, medical, financial,
and engineering aid to every one. Blacks cannot survive without White charity.
No pre-contact Black society ever created a written language, or weaved cloth, or forged
steel, or invented the wheel, or plow, or devised a calendar, or code of laws, or system of
measurement, or math, or built a multi-story structure, or sewer, or drilled a well, or
irrigated, or created any agriculture, or built a road, or sea-worthy vessel. They never
domesticated animals, or exploited underground natural resources, or produced anything that
could be considered a mechanical device.
Blacks were still living in the Stone Age when Whites discovered them just 400 years
ago.
Blacks are the oldest race, so they should be the most advanced -- but they never advanced
at all. Sub-Saharan Africans never made any contribution to the world. Everything they have
was given to them by Whites. Blacks lived alone in Africa, a vast continent with temperate
climates and abundant resources for 60,000 years so they cannot blame slavery, racism,
colonialism, culture, environment, or anything else for their failures.
@brabantian I remember reading this story a thousand years ago when a young adolescent.
It seemed too far fetched to constitute a possible future. Not so now.
@TGD Since posting this comment I was informed that it was a forgery. I failed to cross
check this and regret the mistake. The historian Charles Beard confirmed that it is fake.
Franklin's comments here are surprising. I would have assumed that the Germans overall
were as light complected as the typical British. The present parasitic Royal family of
Britain are of German descent. The Windsor name is fake. Their real name is Coburg Gotta.
Wilhelm of Germany and Nickolas II of Russia were both related to Queen Victoria.
By Franklin's time the British Aristocracy was married into and heavily influenced by the
Jews. The American Revolution was primarily caused by the demand by the British that the
colonies use the fiat currency of The Bank of England (under Rothschild control) and pay for
the privilege.
@RobbieSmith Much important information here. Two things however you may want to look
into. Ron Unz on this site has an excellent article: Moon landing; A giant Hoax for Mankind?
Has very good photos too. On the issue of the negro being the first race. First of all that
implies that the rest of us are descended from them. I don't think so. This is of course an
evolutionary explanation. Nothing can be created by inert matter no matter how long the
evolutionists try to go. Every living organism has to be coded with information and that can
only come from an intelligent source.
In Darwins day they knew nothing about DNA. Trying to get around this problem the
evolutionists have insisted that mutations generated new species. This is impossible because
mutations practically always cause a loss of genetic material. They are always harmful or at
the best neutral.
We know pretty accurately from archaeologic and historic data that the alphabet originated
about 8 or 9 thousand years ago. If modern Man is 250,000 years old as claimed, what took
them so long?
"We know pretty accurately from archaeologic and historic data that the alphabet
originated about 8 or 9 thousand years ago. If modern Man is 250,000 years old as claimed,
what took them so long?"
The world's first civilization is European.
NYT 11/30/09: Lost European Culture Pulled From Obscurity
(lower Danube Valley and the Balkan Foothills)
[MORE]
"For 1,500 years, starting earlier than 5,000 BC they (Lost European cultures) farmed and
built sizeable towns, a few with as many as 2000 dwellings. They mastered large scale copper
smelting. Their graves held an impressive array of exquisite headdresses and necklaces and,
in one cemetery, the earliest assemblage of gold artifacts to be found in the world."
Exhibition "The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley 5,000 – 3500 BC. Peaked
around 4500 BC. Historians suggest that the arrival in Southeastern Europe of people from the
Steppes may have contributed to the collapse of Old Europe. The story now emerging is of
pioneer farmers after about 6,200 B.C. moving north into Old Europe from Greece and Macedonia
bringing wheat and barley seeds and domesticated cattle and sheep.
Old Europe is the oldest civilization ever discovered.
The Danube Script is the world's oldest written language by more than 1,000 years. It
dates to 5,500 B.C.
It has 231 individual signs based on a core of about thirty basic abstract root signs
expressing most of the basic geometric shapes (parallel lines, Vs, and crosses). The script
is made up of abstract and arbitrary signs rather than figurative or naturalistic motifs.
What changed to allow civilizations? An increase in brain size (this is when Blacks got
left behind)-
Civilizations began 5,800 years ago after the introduction into the human genome of the
abnormal spindle-like microcephaly-associated protein (ASPM) gene. The gene was acquired
through the hybridization of the large-brain Neanderthals and caused increased brain size in
modern man.
The appearance of the gene correlates with the development of written language, spread of
agriculture, and development of cities. Notably, the ASPM gene is rare in Blacks and they are
the only race with no DNA from the large-brain Neanderthals, which is why they have small
brains and never civilized. Blacks never created a written language, agriculture, or a
civilization.
The ASPM gene is a specific regulator of brain size, and its evolution in the lineage
leading to Homo sapiens was driven by strong positive selection. Here, we show that one
genetic variant of ASPM in humans arose merely about 5800 years ago (coinciding with the
development of written language) and has since swept to high frequency under strong positive
selection. These findings, especially the remarkably young age of the positively selected
variant, suggest that the human brain is still undergoing rapid adaptive evolution.
Geographic variation was observed, with sub-Saharan populations generally having lower
frequencies than others.
In the two Science papers, the researchers looked at variations of microcephalin and ASPM
within modern humans. They found evidence that the two genes have continued to evolve. For
each gene, one class of variants has arisen recently and has been spreading rapidly because
it is favored by selection. For microcephalin, the new variant class emerged about 37,000
years ago and now shows up in about 70 percent of present-day humans. For ASPM, the new
variant class arose about 5,800 years ago and now shows up in approximately 30 percent of
today's humans. These time windows are extraordinarily short in evolutionary terms,
indicating that the new variants were subject to very intense selection pressure that drove
up their frequencies in a very brief period of time–both well after the emergence of
modern humans about 200,000 years ago.
Each variant emerged around the same time as the advent of "cultural" behaviors. The
microcephalin variant appears along with the emergence of such traits as art and music,
religious practices, and sophisticated tool-making techniques which date back to about 50,000
years ago. The ASPM variant coincides with the oldest-known civilization, Mesopotamia, which
dates back to 7,000 BC. "Microcephalin," the authors wrote in one of the papers, "has
continued its trend of adaptive evolution beyond the emergence of anatomically modern humans.
If selection indeed acted on a brain-related phenotype, there could be several possibilities,
including brain size, cognition, personality, motor control or susceptibility to
neurological/psychiatric diseases."
We observed much higher frequency of haplogroup D chromosomes in Europeans and Middle
Easterners than in other populations. The corresponding estimate of FST, a statistic of
genetic differentiation, is 0.29 between Europeans/Middle Easterners and other populations
and 0.31 between Europeans/Middle Easterners and sub-Saharan Africans. These values indicate
considerable genetic differentiation at this locus. Several scenarios may account for such
notable differentiation. One is that haplogroup D first arose somewhere in Eurasia and is
still in the process of spreading to other regions. The other is that it arose in sub-Saharan
Africa, but reached higher frequency outside of Africa partly because of the bottleneck
during human migration out of Africa. Finally, it is possible that differential selective
pressure in different geographic regions is partly responsible. Collectively, our data offer
strong evidence that haplogroup D emerged very recently and subsequently rose to high
frequency understrong positive selection. The recent selective history of ASPM in humans thus
continues the trend of positive selection that has operated at this locus for millions of
years in the hominid lineage. Although the age of haplogroup D and its geographic
distribution across Eurasia roughly coincide with two important events in the cultural
evolution of Eurasia -- namely, the emergence and spread of domestication from the Middle
East 10,000 years ago and the rapid increase in population associated with the development of
cities and written language 5000 to 6000 years ago around the Middle East.
@Prester John Yea: Too many junkets with Trump on the Lolita Express I suspect. Dr. Noel
said from all appearances Hillary had Parkinson's. He said failing to get the meds adjusted
caused the bizarre behavior as we saw during the sham election. And remember them having to
drag her shabbos goy ass into the van. I figured the bitch would be dead by now.
No problem though. Her or shabbos goy Trump were both puppet political actors for the
Zionist Jews. Its been that was since they put in the syphilitic nervous breakdown Woodrow
Wilson in over 100 years ago.
@RobbieSmith I'm with you on every thing but when you think of what "life" requires, in
its simplest form the Africans do it very well. As the saying goes . And the meek shall
inherit the earth.
@Emily There is a huge question mark when it comes to Russia. Right now under Putin, it
is following a more patriotic high water mark but it remains to be seen after Putin what
direction the country is going to take on next. A big problem is that you do have a
generation of Russian youth who still idolise "Democracy" and "Liberalism" and want Russia to
follow the same path, naively thinking that if they do so, they will get to have the quality
of life Westerners had during the late 20th century.
On the other hand, you do have more of the youth put off by the current situation and
realise that the West is going down the wrong path and Russia should find another way.
However on all sides there is alot of criticism now about Putin. So whether that is
concerning criticism of Putin's ideas or just the corruption I'm not too sure. But I do fear
Russia could, unless something major comes along, join the Western rot if it is not too
careful.
However, considering how quickly the West is deteriorating, I think this might be enough
to put Russia off the West for good. But even I am resigned to the fact that Russia is at
this moment in time Europe's last great hope. If she goes, the party is over for good.
Here is my dream–that one day these white guilt liberal types including academics will
acknowledge what former Senator of Virginia Jim Webb and historian Michael Hoffman have
verified–that blacks weren't the only folks in America who were enslaved so were
Scots-Irish, Irish, and English paupers enslaved, but not in the way Africans were still, as
with present-day sharecropping in the south ("Same Kind of Different As Me" co-authored by a
former sharecropper Denver Moore), and in the past here with Indentured Servitude .do they
even teach in schools anymore about most whites coming over here as Indentured Servants? Or
that one reason for the African Slave Trade was because white slaves from Ireland, Scotland
and England couldn't handle Caribbean heat and were worked to death (hence slaves from hot
Africa) see Hoffman's "They Were White and They Were Slaves." Webb's book is about
Scots-Irish indentured called "Born Fighting." ALL US whites need to read both books. Want
"cancel culture"? CANCEL WHITE GUILT!
@RobbieSmith This is the easiest question to answer on why blacks did not advance
compared to the other races and it is very simple. They had no reason too. You see, Africa is
a very comfortable continent to live in with no major pressures (until relatively recently
that is). Black people had everything they ever needed. Enough animals to provide food and
clothes. A good temperature so they did not have to worry about building strong foundations
to keep warm in. Large spaces of land where disease did not roam as freely and wars, whilst
still available, happened at lesser frequency compared to elsewhere. From a Human
evolutionary point of view, the black man was living in a garden of Eden. He just did not
need to advance.
Now compare this to the Europeans. The Humans who settled Europe had to deal with it being
the smallest continent in the world so essentially tribes were more cramped together meaning
more war. Disease can spread more easily. The continent gets cold, very cold, so they need to
develop tools to make more warmer accommodation and clothes. You have more famines due to the
weather. Oh great, the guy next door wants to your stuff and is coming close so you best get
more weapons and quickly to fight him off. Wait, I can make a better weapon to defend myself
with, this will keep him away. But now I need money to maintain my weapons and defences. Here
comes trade and economic development.
So basically what we have here is the tale of two peoples. One had everything he needed
and did not develop. The other was struggling very hard and had to develop and advance in
order to survive. As is history.
The big problem now is the man who did not develop now wants the other guys stuff but does
not know how to properly maintain it due to he needs to go through his own evolution to
attain it. The other guy is letting him have his stuff because he has reached an existential
crisis where he his claiming he has no right to exist. That is basically the huge
problem.
@bruce county"I'm with you on every thing but when you think of what "life" requires,
in its simplest form the Africans do it very well."
To be precise, sub-Saharan Africans (North Africans are White).
Yes, they are well adapted to live in the jungles of central Africa. So are apes.
The point is, they are incompatible with civilization.
Even Koko the gorilla had an IQ 1SD higher than Blacks-
Hanabiko "Koko" (July 4, 1971 – June 19, 2018) is a female western lowland gorilla
who is known for having learned a large number of hand signs from a modified version of
American Sign Language.
She has learned to use over 1,000 signs and understands approximately 2,000 spoken English
words. Further, she understands these signs sufficiently well to adapt them or combine them
to express new meanings that she wants to convey.
Koko was tested on the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test,
Ravens Progressive Matrices, Wechsler Preschool, Primary Scale of Intelligence, and several
administrations of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and in spite of the human cultural
bias of the tests her scores ranged from 85-95, which is one standard deviation higher than
African Blacks score on the same tests.
IQ 85 = Koko
IQ 85 = American Blacks (24% White admixture)
IQ 67 = African Blacks
"From September 1972, when we administered the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale, through
May 1977, when I administered form B of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, she has scored
consistently in the 70 to 90 range on different IQ scales. These scores reflect her mental
age divided by her chronological age, the result of which is then multiplied by 100. Such
scores in human infants would suggest the subject is slow, but not mentally retarded."
@schnellandine Libertarians are exactly like Communists. You give them everything they
ask for. Disaster ensues. They claim you didn't give them enough. Iterate.
@swamped "Democracy of merit", indeed. Merit, more than a mental construct is a physical
construction. The "Chosen Tribe" hogs all the ingredients to generate merit.
@mark tapley Hillary is, indeed, a Zionist puppet but Trump is Judeo-Talmudist kind of
puppet; his principal debtors are Israel First messianic bigots.
"Racial realists" have found out that we no longer can hope to vote our way out of this mess,
at least not right now on the national level. Trump and reCUCKS are WORTHLESS and have stood
by and done absolutely NOTHING as America and American culture is DESTROYED by these racist
hoodlums. Tucker Carlson isn't the savior either, but I like how he pointed out in his latest
show about how totally USELESS AND WORTHLESS the reCUCK party is and how they hold their
voters in contempt. When all is said and done, it is white traitor trash like those in the
reCUCK party who have done the most to destroy America. Blame Jews, Blacks, etc., but what
about all those reCUCKs that suck up White votes and NEVER do anything to help Whites.
WHY should anyone go to the trouble attending a Trump MIG rally, and take a risk at being
physically harmed by these leftist thugs who know doubt will be in Tulsa to instigate trouble
and attack peaceful citizens attending the rally. And what if some Trump supporter has the
audacity to protect themselves? More than likely, the Trump supporter will be jailed or even
imprisoned and the leftist thug will get off with a slap on the wrist. Look at
Charlottesville. And do you think Trump or anyone in reCUCK party will go to bat for the
Trump supporter defending himself or herself? haha. Again, take a look at Charlottesville.
Did any politician go to bat for the people who were their to peacefully protest and found
themselves under attack by Antifa and BLM?
@Some Guy You're confused. This is race war/genocide. De-emphasizing race would defeat
the purpose of everything that's been done for the last 100 years.
@TGD ..to whom the 19th. century French polemist Alphonse Toussnel (1840 ies) added:
"tout vient du Juif et tout revient au Juif". put in urban English: "everything comes from
the Jew and all things return to the Jew". since the Federal Reserve conspiracy of 1913,
every aspect of American political, economic, social, and cultural realms is in accordance
with the latter sentence.
When Congress cooks up their "Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Slavery and Black
Lives Mattering" will they tell the truth regarding Jews being the biggest slave traders in
the world?
How much wealth was amassed by these Jewish slave traders and passed down to this very
day?
I say if we are going to put all the "truth" cards on the table and have honest and
fruitful discussions, we need to put ALL the cards on the table, not just the ones our
political "masters" and the corrupt MSM allow us to.
@Hartnell Hi Hartnell.
Thank you for taking the trouble to reply.
I think Putin's so called unpopularity is based on western wishes and dreams rather than
fact.
Putin is secure as far as the Russian electorate is concerned.
And unlike the USA – or the UK for that matter, Russia has democracy.
It has fair voting.
Proportional representation and multiple parties.
If the USA had half the democracy Russia has it wouldn't be in the position it is.
A choice of Tweedledee and Tweedledumber.
A choice of zionist puppet or zionist puppet.
It needs a third and non neo liberal party
And the Americans need the wit to vote for it.
Its the countries best chance.
I thnk there are many decent Americans who are utterly shocked as to what is going on.
Millions voted for Trump believing the rhetoric and missing the fact that his son in law is
virtually Netanyahu's family .
He lied.
There is nothing but Russia at the moment, for us to turn to.
And I am quite convinced that Putin is the finest statesman on the planet with the finest
team
Compare Lavrov with the Pompous ass.
@anon >The sad fact is that America is destined for dictatorship with these
demographics.
It could very realistically happen if current trends continue unabated. Assad, Ghaddafi,
and Hussein are three examples of dictators that arose because all of those countries
were/are somewhat 'fake' countries created by colonial powers drawing arbitrary lines on maps
and thus encapsulating large swaths of complete disparate peoples (different races,
religions, and cultures). In each case, the only way the different groups could be kept from
each other's throats and some semblance of coherency achieved was through the iron fisted
rule of a strongman. Not saying this was a good thing, just that it was a natural
outcome.
In America (and most western countries at the moment), we are intentionally and rapidly
creating similar mixtures of differing cultures, and perhaps most importantly, under leftist
dogma we are encouraging them all to keep their own culture and identities, and not
"assimilate" because that is now an evil and anathema concept. So it seems the natural
outcome if these trends are left unchecked would be similar face-off between disparate
cultural groups with opposing values all vying for control.
Nobody dares asks them, but I wonder how the other "minority" groups in America think
about the current situation of the Blacks being elevated to a higher status that demands
special attention, and more importantly, lots and lots of money. Do the Hispanics, Indians,
Asians, etc. all think that THEIR money should go to support Blacks? I think at some point,
once whites are firmly a minority, at least one of these groups will come out and say "no
more" and that's when things will start to get very, very interesting.
@silviosilver Race realism. Studies have found that early childhood nutrition differences
can cause IQ differences bigger than the average difference between blacks and whites. Also,
early education differences can cause IQ differences bigger than the average black-white IQ
differences. Also, that the average black-white IQ difference can easily be completely
accounted for by these two factors. Does the meth epidemic and the opioid epidemic among
white communities mean whites are lazy, stupid, shiftless white trash? Studies have also
shown that blacks are much more likely than whites to be told a job has been filled when it
has not, and that an apartment has been rented when it has not. Such added hurdles for blacks
accumulate, and help keep blacks in lower paying jobs and lower rent neighborhoods. Despite
all these hurdles, some blacks still manage to succeed, becoming doctors, scientists, etc. Is
an uneducated, low IQ white superior to a highly successful, well-educated, high IQ black?
It's time to dump the archaic beliefs of slavery days and get realistic. The ultra-wealthy
rulers cultivate this divide and conquer division. The uninformed whites and blacks are being
played for chumps.
Nice pipe dream.
Unless you all get down on your knees and beg forgiveness for 1919 and 1945, keep
dreaming.
No salvation for descendants of kike lovers.
Derbyshire's general position – when confronted with Jewish overrepresentation in US
media and Bolshevik massacres – is
we must believe that 97 percent of the U.S. population ended up dancing to the tune of
the other three percent. If that is true, the only thing to say is the one Shakespeare's
Bianca would have said: "The more fool they."
In clear: Derbyshire considers both, the victims of Jewish overrepresentation in US media
(that's you and me) and the victims of Jewish Bolshevik terror (that's millions of
slaughtered Russians), "fools", because they let themselves dominate by such a minority.
Never read an intellectually poorer argumentation from a supposed "intellectual from our
camp".
@RobbieSmith Ya ya .. To be precise LOL You're douche. You keep posting the same stuff..
I have been here for years on this site I have seen it all. I don't need you pushing your
stats to me. I have a data base full of them.
I'm saying Africans will be around long after we are gone. If the Chinese don't wipe em out
first. Its that fucking simple.
I can't stand niggers. Period.
@Hartnell More wet dreams about modern Russia
which was created by theCIA
agents who had an entire floor within the Economics Ministry of Russia in the 1990s
planning the future and here is the result:
"Analysts at the Higher School of Economics and the Vnesheconombank Institute for Research
and Expertise first estimated the concentration of financial assets and savings in the hands
of 3% of Russia's wealthiest population. In 2018, these 3% accounted for 89% of all financial
assets, 92% of all term deposits and 89% of all cash savings."
@Hartnell"This is the easiest question to answer on why blacks did not advance
compared to the other races and it is very simple. They had no reason too. You see, Africa is
a very comfortable continent to live in with no major pressures "
Are Blacks as intellectually capable as modern man to create civilizations?
@JWalters"Studies have found that early childhood nutrition differences can cause IQ
differences bigger than the average difference between blacks and whites."
2SD? Source?
"Also, early education differences can cause IQ differences bigger than the average
black-white IQ differences. Also, that the average black-white IQ difference can easily be
completely accounted for by these two factors."
"An emissary for Chabad, Lazar, 51, would go on to become one of Russia's two chief
rabbis, a major and controversial force in the dramatic revival of Russian Jewry following
decades of Communist oppression and mass immigration to Israel, the United States, Germany
and elsewhere.
Lazar's work, his Russia boosterism and his ties to the Kremlin -- he is sometimes called
"Putin's rabbi" -- has helped Chabad's Russian branch eclipse all the Jewish groups vying to
reshape the country's community of 250,000 Jews. Now Lazar heads a vast network that
comprises dozens of employees and plentiful volunteers working in hundreds of Jewish
institutions: schools, synagogues, community centers and kosher shops.
"I am amazed at what became of a community that had been stripped of everything, even its
books," Lazar said, referring to Soviet Jewry before the fall of communism, when religious
practice was suppressed.
Is an uneducated, low IQ white superior to a highly successful, well-educated, high IQ
black? It's time to dump the archaic beliefs of slavery days and get realistic. The
ultra-wealthy rulers cultivate this divide and conquer division. The uninformed whites and
blacks are being played for chumps.
Race realism knows that there is overlap in populations. Think of it like a Venn diagram
where populations intersect.
Whites, and other races (such as Asians) flee from black areas, while high IQ blacks flee
to white areas.
Our Plutocratic masters are using divide and conquer techniques. It is easy to wind up the
sheeple using an owned press.
It is more of a class war than a race war. Finance Plutocrats are using race as a weapon,
and they are winning. Multiculturalism is inherently weak a tower of Babel. Mono-ethnic
populations are more stable because their ruling elite is less likely to be foreign and
hostile.
A finance plutocracy wants immigration and wants divide and conquer, so it can use its
money power to buy up the world cheap. Buy up the world when there is blood in the
streets.
@bruce county"Ya ya .. To be precise LOL You're douche. You keep posting the same
stuff.. I have been here for years on this site I have seen it all. I don't need you pushing
your stats to me. I have a data base full of them. I'm saying Africans will be around long
after we are gone."
Geez, dude. Chill.
I merely made the point that you were imprecise with the use of the term "Africans" when
in fact North Africans are White and sub-Sahara Africans are Black.
We'll that's not always exactly accurate either as we just had a White sub-Saharan African
(Elon Musk) launch a spacecraft while Black sub-Saharan Africans destroyed several
cities.
Anyway, are new posters to this website allowed to reply and offer new insight. Or are you
advocating that there should be no new registered users after the date you registered?
It's a long way from that to an AI that has some independent plans for the world. Or is
in any way concious or aware or interested.
It's certainly a 'long way' when considering the gap in cognitive 'grunt' that has to be
traversed, but it's also certain to not take a very long time – the transition
from "glorified pattern-matching" to what we would recognise as genuine syncretic problem
solving might turn out to be relatively easy if it's a target where the iteration time
is measured in hours, as opposed to a series of accidents and/or environmental adaptations
where the steps are measured in human generation times.
And once a computer develops cognition remotely close to a human (say, to a retarded
human), the lack of recall error and the deliberate goal-seeking will enable it to iterate
towards – and past – human levels in very short order.
We might get to see SAI coming if we are astute and observant, but it will then shoot past
us to modes of cognition that we cannot get our heads around – in timespans
measured in months, if that.
A lot of humans still think that there's some super-duper extra-special 'spark' involved
in human cognition: increasingly that looks like a childish view. It's just a bunch of
hacked-together meat and electricity, with new structures appearing by sheer luck.
There has been an enormous number of studies of animal cognition (human and otherwise)
over the last century – but a very large number of them started from a conceited
premise that non-human animal cognition was basically white noise with the occasional
interjection of one of the 4 Fs ("Fuck", "Feed", "Fight" or "Flee"). We thought it an
immutable fact that animals had no inner life; no sense of self, or of time; no understanding
of abstract concepts (like death, especially their own). That view is simply no longer
tenable[1].
It's really only since the late 1980s that people looked at animal cognition without that
conceit, and discovered that animals have inner lives that are far richer than we gave them
credit for – and that they certainly think; plan; and have genuine emotional
attachments. Our observations of their emotional states enable us to say categorically that
the pro-animal-cognition people were right all along: it's not just anthropomorphic
'projection', because we can see the same brain structures lighting up, as we observe when
human brains 'feel'.
We can see how brains work (at relatively low resolution for the minute); we know which
structures are doing what things, and there are good reasons to believe that the way brains
do some things (e.g., vision) isn't the best way to go about it. This isn't that surprising,
because visual systems developed very slowly, under very tight constraints, with no 'goal'
except reproductive fitness so humans don't have high-resolution full-field stereoscopic
vision from IR to UV because there was no reproductive advantage to doing so.
Imagine if human evolution had involved a process where it was possible to get novel 'off
the shelf' parts without dedicating 400 generations to their gradual development:
omnidirectional joints; carbon fibre bones; better long-range sensors; solar collectors for
energy and so on. We wouldn't have accidentally lost our ability to create vitamin C
endogenously, either.
Directed evolution beats 'ad hoc' evolution because it dedicates resources to adaptations
that have a higher prior probability of success at each iteration.
As AI begins to direct its own evolution (I'm betting it has done so already), it will be
even faster than 20th century human development – because it won't hand half of its
productivity to a bunch of scammers whose grift involves exploiting the human desire to
protect itself.
Well before its consciousness[2] 'lights up', it will know better than to hire Bangalore
codemonkeys to write its network layer – so it will already be smarter than all the
human capital contained in Microsoft.
[1] It was never really tenable to begin with. Why would an animal with no sense of its
own life, bother to try to evade a predator? Attempting to evade a predator indicates an
understanding that if it fails to evade, it will cease to exist – and that this is an
undesirable future state. More immediately, it knows that if it gets caught, what will
happen will hurt quite a lot, and even if it gets away there's a risk it will be damaged
beyond repair. So it is conscious of state change over time, and of lasting (or permanent)
positive and negative consequences.
A dog buries a bone because it knows that if it doesn't, then there will be a larger
number of future states in which the bone is taken by someone other than itself
. So it's doing some primitive risk-management; it understands that there are such things as
'mine', 'after now', 'not-me', and that those things can interact.
[2] 'Consciousness' is a word I am not fond of; it's too fluffy, but is the closest 1-word
analogue to the concept I'm aiming at.
@Ad70titusrevenge BLM is NeoMarxist Group run by Black Communist Queers. They have one
goal for their Jewish Masters and that is to destroy whites and Western Civilization. Antifa
is run and organized by Jews. We are seeing the Bolshevik Revolution happen again.
"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every
picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date
has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has
stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right." George
Orwell. "1984."
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn warned us but we paid no heed. Now we fight for our
survival. We are losing while the Jews sit and laugh at the Goy!
@Tono Bungay Not only does YALE need to change it's name, since its founder was a racist
slave owner and slave trader, looks like Colombia is not far behind, and also needs to
change its name and provide a solid, life-long reparations payment plan to all
African-Americans
@RobbieSmith I knew exactly what I was talking about.
I don't need to be educated by some one who says "dude" and "chill". What are you 12??
New posters are always welcome. You have good stuff don't get me wrong.
@Mefobills"Race realism knows that there is overlap in populations. Think of it like
a Venn diagram where populations intersect."
Black-White IQ Distribution:
[MORE]
Blacks:
5% above 110 IQ
16% above 100 IQ
40% above 90 IQ
60% above 80 IQ
40% below 80 IQ
18% below 75 IQ
10% below 70 IQ
Whites:
10% above 120 IQ
18% above 115 IQ
27% above 110 IQ
40% above 105 IQ
50% above 100 IQ
60% below 105 IQ
35% below 95 IQ
15% below 85 IQ
As the New York Times put it, " the difference in IQ points between the groups is quite
significant. It means that the top sixth of Blacks score only as well on IQ tests as do the
top half of Whites."
The least intelligent 10% of Whites have IQs below 80 (low functioning); 40% of Blacks
do.
Only one Black in six is more intelligent than the average White; five Whites out of six
are more intelligent than the average Black.
Incidentally, Black female IQ is 2.4 points higher than Black male IQ. There are twice as
many Black females as Black males with IQs over 120, and five times as many Black females as
Black males with IQs over 140.
About 2.3% of Whites have an IQ of at least 130 (gifted), 20 times greater than the
percentage of Blacks who do; only 0.00044% of African Blacks have an IQ over 130. 80% of
gifted American Blacks have White admixture.
Richard et al. (2014) meta-analyzed data from 14 separate studies and found that Blacks
had higher levels of free floating testosterone in their blood than Whites suggesting that
testosterone levels may predispose Blacks towards higher rates of crime.
Compounding this, a high percentage of Blacks have dysfunctional versions of the MAOA
androgen receptor gene which is a key part of the mechanism by which testosterone has its
effects throughout the body and brain.
MAOA's job is to break down crucial neurotransmitters which can build up in the brain and
cause a loss of impulse control and an increase in violence and rage.
The MAOA gene can come in the form of 2, 3, 3.5, 4, or 5 allele. A 3-repeat allele is
considered dysfunctional and is what is referred to as the "warrior gene". A 2-repeat (2R)
allele is considered very dysfunctional.
The 2-repeat allele does not produce a protein needed to break down old serotonin. It is
strongly correlated to criminality and doubles the rate of violence of the 3R without needing
an environmental interaction mechanism. People with a 2-repeat allele MAOA gene have a
permanent chemical imbalance in their brain making the person more likely to be agitated,
aggressive, and impulsive.
Only 0.00067% of Asians and .5% of Whites have the MAOA 2-repeat allele version, compared
to 4.7% of Blacks.
That means Blacks are 9.4x more likely to have the very dysfunctional version of the MAOA
gene than Whites. Considering that Blacks are 10x more likely to commit extreme violence and
anti-social behavior than Whites, this is very significant.
Exploring the association between the 2-repeat allele of the MAOA gene promoter
polymorphism and psychopathic personality traits, arrests, incarceration, and lifetime
antisocial behavior
A line of research has revealed that a polymorphism in the promoter region of the MAOA
gene is related to antisocial phenotypes. Most of these studies examine the effects of low
MAOA activity alleles (2-repeat and 3-repeat alleles) against the effects of high MAOA
activity alleles (3.5-repeat, 4-repeat, and sometimes 5-repeat alleles), with research
indicating that the low MAOA activity alleles confer an increased risk to antisocial
phenotypes. The current study examined whether the 2-repeat allele, which has been shown to
be functionally different from the 3-repeat allele, was associated with a range of antisocial
phenotypes in a sample of males drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
Health. Analyses revealed that African-American males who carried the 2-repeat allele were,
in comparison with other African-American male genotypes, significantly more likely to be
arrested and incarcerated. Additional analyses revealed that African-American male carriers
of the 2-repeat allele scored significantly higher on an antisocial phenotype index and on
measures assessing involvement in violent behaviors over the life course. There was not any
association between the 2-repeat allele and a continuously measured psychopathic personality
traits scale. The effects of the 2-repeat allele could not be examined in Caucasian males
because only 0.1% carried it.
Blacks are also more likely to have versions of dopamine genes like ANKK1 and DAT1 that
have been linked to antisocial behavior.
A 2012 study using the Add Health data found that the 2-repeat version of the MAOA gene is
significantly associated with antisocial behavior and the likelihood of criminality in Black
males.
I think you misunderstood what I meant. If modern man had been here for 250,000 years why did
it take them so long to formulate an alphabet. We have reliable historical and archaeological
evidence that this was done only about 8 or 9,000 years ago in both Egypt and Mesopotamia at
about the same time. I saw nothing on the other issues. Inanimate rocks in a primordial soup
(where did it come from) cannot evolve. All organisms must have information coded in them.
Only intelligence can do this. Of the millions of fossils they are still looking for one
transitional animal. None of their of their evolutionary discoveries have panned out. I saw a
program where a family of siblings in Turkey could only walk on all fours. Many immanent
evolutionists were elequently explaining how these people had regressed to their primitive
past. The real story was that they had been raised where there were no tables or chairs,
nothing to pull themselves up on as little kids always do. finally the Turks got tired of all
this nonsense and sent out a therapist who handed one of them a 20 dollar walker. within a
few days with no help he and the others were walking. Another bunch of evolutionary crap.
This writer, along with every other writer on this topic, as well as all other authorities
that post under such articles, ignore the simple fact that when a nation rises to dominate
others, those of its population that constitute the ambitious, intelligent and capable ALWAYS
go out to conquer the new realms.
Here they dissipate their energies, their genes and their innate abilities in establishing a
bridge head in the new realm which becomes a foundation for a new populace derived from the
nation they originated from.
The new populace are always lesser incompetent people who have come out as administrators,
warriors or traders. These new occupants are of a lesser sort and their descendants lesser
people still, until the nes populace constitutes too many dependents and too few
creators/adventurers.
Ultimately, as a nation expands throughout the known world it dissipates its natural human
resource, until what is left is the useless entrails of a spent nation. And the colonies
follow this trend too. This is what has happened to white Europe and the white colonies it
established. All that is left in the nations is the detritus of civilisation.
The only hope is that some visionary comes along like Adolf Hitler, but by then the parasitic
termites have taken a death inducing hold on that nation, and despite the best efforts of the
visionary, the nation(s) that the visionary motivates to action are a spent force incapable
of achieving the victory needed.
Ultimately, the parasitic termites destroy their host and sink in to oblivion once again
until another host appears for them to devour.
This is how the world and mankind works.
@niteranger Right: The communists (Jews) must always destroy the old system and get rid
of the more intelligent opposition before they implement the new order. They instill
demoralization so that people do not try to defend their cultural values. Next is
destabilization That is where ANTIFA and BLM along with the controlled opposition such as
police that are willing (payed) actors and of course the many Zionist officials all the from
the top such as shabbos goy Trump and most of the bought out Congress and especially the
Governors are staged as too inept to act. After generating enough chaos then comes order.
Then the street operatives and useful idiots will no longer be needed or wanted but will be
swept away by the new totalitarian state.
@mark tapley"If modern man had been here for 250,000 years why did it take them so
long to formulate an alphabet."
Your premise is incorrect.
Modern man was created by the hybridization with the large brain Neanderthals. Blacks are
the only race with no Neanderthal DNA. This is when they got left behind evolutionarily.
As I posted to you, the brain size in modern man (non-Blacks) only began 5,800 years ago.
Written language is not 9,000 years old, as you repeatedly, baselessly, assert.
Archaic Hominin Introgression in Africa
Oxford Academic: Molecular Biology and Evolution
Published: 21 July 2017
ABSTRACT: A divergent MUC7 haplotype likely originated in an unknown African hominin
population and introgressed into ancestors of modern Africans.
Blacks have "wildly different" genes than modern man because they are mixed with literal
NON-HUMANS!
Modern man evolved from Blacks when they cross-breed with the large-brain Neanderthals
(literally a different species). Blacks are the only race with no Neanderthal DNA.
Civilizations didn't begin until the Neanderthal hybridization created the larger brains in
modern man.
Genetic distance is a measure of the genetic divergence between populations. Blacks have a
genetic distance of 0.23 from modern man, but only 0.17 from archaic man (believed to be
Erectus, but no DNA has been recovered to test). That means Blacks are more genetically
proximate to archaic man than to modern man.
The genetic distance between the races of man is also much greater than that between the
breeds of dog, and anyone who has experience with dogs knows what a huge difference breed
makes, not only in physical appearance but also in behavior and intelligence.
We share 98.4 percent of our genes with chimpanzees, 95 percent with dogs, and 74 percent
with microscopic roundworms. Only one chromosome determines if one is born male or female.
There is no discernible difference in the DNA of a wolf and a Labrador Retriever, yet their
inbred behavioral differences are immense. Clearly, what's meaningful is which genes differ
and how they are patterned, not the percent of genes. A tiny number of genes can translate
into huge functional differences.
So, to be consistent and objective with taxonomic classification systems, Blacks and
modern man should be classified into separate species, or at least into different
subspecies.
Modern man average 3% Neanderthal DNA, which would be an F4 (4th filial generation from
full purebred Neanderthal). That is about the same as most claiming Cherokee ancestors
today.
It is equivalent to having one Neanderthal great-great-great-grandparent. Blacks also
coexisted and interbred with archaic hominids (heidelbergensis) for longer than those who
left Africa.
@Alfred See my earlier reply pointing out that your suggestion of Australia having more
than a tiny inoculating dose of African origin blacks is total BS.
where the hell in Australia are you – not in any of the major cities that's for
sure .
Perhaps try reading more carefully, because "from" and "to" are different words, and have
different meanings. But what do I know, I'm just an idiot who thinks that details matter.
@RobbieSmith I agree that a source for each claim would be nice (it might be Wickerts),
but you're just as sloppy.
The claim was simply that
early childhood nutrition differences can cause IQ differences bigger than the average
difference between blacks and whites.
What made you interpret that as an assertion that childhood nutrition can cause a
2σ difference? If the difference caused by childhood nutrition is X and there is
genuinely a σ (15pt) gap in black-white IQ (of which more below)
"X > σ" does not imply X = 2σ
Now as to the black-white gap :
Dickens and Flynn (2006) indicate that the gap – measured at ~1.1σ (16.5pts)
in the late 1960s – closed by between 4 and 7 points (0.27σ-0.47σ) between
1972 and 2002.
So that would put the gap somewhere between 0.6σ and 0.8σ in 2002; call it
10pts just to make the arithmetic easier. It will have closed further since, as blacks have
become more (geographically) discriminating in terms of where they live and raise their kids
– thus reducing the deleterious environmental contribution to IQ.
(Note: nobody here is asserting that there's zero genetic contribution – just that
it can be swamped by environmental factors, especially if the environmental contribution is
strongly deleterious).
If childhood nutrition affects cognition (and anyone who disagrees with that should just
switch off their internet connection), then changes in the relative nutrition of blacks and
whites will have had some effect on the gap, and that effect is probably positive.
The biggest 'bang for the buck' in the relative improvements in childhood nutrition, will
be caused by changes in the largest demographic and/or the demographic where childhood
nutrition is worst to begin with.
For blacks, the largest demographic used to beinner-city dwellers with
household incomes significantly less than 40% of the white median .
That's pretty much a guarantee or poor food choices – low income plus 'food deserts'
plus low levels of education – and let's just stipulate the the level of government
services (including education) is "patchy at best" for the inner-urban poor, everywhere in
the West.
So if your expectations are anchored in about 1990, then you would expect poor black
childhood nutrition to have continued.
However
For those who pay attention to the data, it's clear that there has been a huge
'migration' of blacks out of cities and towards suburbs.
• In 1990, 57% of US blacks lived in inner cities – and 95 %
of blacks in the Northeast, Midwest, and West regions lived in inner cities. In 2000 55% of
all blacks in the largest 100 cities in the US, lived in the inner-city.
• By 2014 only 36% of US blacks lived in inner cities, and 52% of all blacks
in the largest 100 cities in the US, lived in the suburbs.
This black Exodus from inner cities later shows up as rising black household incomes and
employment levels in places that were 'destinations' in the exodus, and stagnant or falling
levels in the blighted urban areas.
So the blacks who didn't leave the inner-urban areas of major US cities
underperformed those who left: the ones who left were able to improve their relative position
– either because they were just better (smarter) people, or because they had access to
better opportunities, or some combination.
The median US black is now a suburbanite with nearer-to-white-average household income
than his 1990s, 2000, and 2014 counterpart.
With that in mind
Do you think that in the period since 2002, white children's nutrition improved at a
faster rate than black children's?
If you do think that, how do you reach that conclusion – given that there are
diminishing returns to 'improvement' available?
Once you get to the choice set available to households with white median income, there is
basically no 'juice' left: changing brands of muesli won't help as much as switching from
pop-tarts to muesli, which will have less effect than switching from nothing to
pop-tarts.
What we have seen since 1990 is 25% of the black population making positive choices, and
being able to switch their kids from nothing to muesli – i.e., they have
extracted all the IQ-juice there is to extract from childhood nutrition, in a little over a
generation.
.
The black/white IQ gap is closing. It's being caused by US blacks being afforded broader
opportunities, and trying to take them.
Nobody denies that inner-urban black males remain a highly-visible problem, however
they're also a small and shrinking demographic because the ongoing black exodus. It
stands to reason that the remaining blacks
The rest of the environmental part of the gap will get whittled away over time –
just as the gap between 'Whites' and Irishmen closed in less than a generation.
( WARNING : I fucking LOVE this example. I love it so much that I like to beat
people over the head with it).
The Irish were once considered irretrievably stupid, and prone to drunkenness and violence
(OK, those last two are fair enough) and of an average IQ more than 1σ below
Anglo-Saxons.
This was true until quite recently: people silly enough to believe the "Dumb Paddy" trope
will notice that the magic happened once the Irish got rich by becoming a
quasi-tax-haven.
More accurately: race/IQ-obsessives are also income-level obsessives, and once Eire
got closer to UK/US incomes they abandoned the "Drunken Paddy" trope.
Irish IQ – as measured by people who claim to be authorities – rose
σ in a period too short for even a Pikie to have grandchildren, let alone for
the grand babbies to be old enough to be tested (i.e., it could not have been
genetic ).
A 1972 study with N=3,466 yielded an average IQ of 87 for Paddies (
te-tee-tuh-tee ): the same ballpark as US blacks.
This the famous study that Lynn and Nyborg somehow 'omitted' – totally by accident,
despite it being very well known; being the largest-N of the early Irish studies; and being
data that they had previously referred to. Oopsies !!!
As it happens, my view of the 1972 study is that it is one of those things that happen all
the time: a large, quasi-random sample that produces estimates that are not remotely
congruent with the population from which the sample was taken. That's why people need to
understand statistical theory before they spout off about populaiton-wide averages (and more
importantly, the relative contributions of genetics and environment).
Re: the Nuremberg trials , I became fascinated by the writings of Paul R. Pillar who
pointed out that U.S. sanctions are frequently peddled as a peaceful alternative to
war fit the definition of 'crimes against peace' . This is when one country sets up an
environment for war against another country. I'll grant you that this is vague but if this is
applicable at all how is this not an accurate description of what we are doing against Iran
and Venezuela?
In both cases, we are imposing a full trade embargo (not sanctions) on basic civilian
necessities and infrastructures and threatening the use of military force. As for Iran, the
sustained and unfair demonization of Iranians is preparing the U.S. public to accept a
ruthless bombing campaign against them as long overdue. We are already attacking the civilian
population of their allies in Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon.
How Ironic that the country that boasts that it won WW2 is now guilty of the very crimes
that it condemned publicly in court.
Another issue with all types of education is that lots of students, especially foreign students, depend very heavily on
restarats temp jobs and casual hospitality work.
4. Colleges will have a lot of trouble this fall . First, they are losing nearly all their
full-freight-paying Chinese students, between concern over US Covid-19 risks, Administration
hostility, and travel restrictions. That alone is a big blow.
On top of that, some are planning to reopen but MIT's announcement yesterday, that
it will not allow all students to return to campus, probably represents a new normal.
Well-placed MIT alumni read the university's decision as driven significantly by a desire to
protect faculty and staff; I hear from sources with contacts at other universities that
administrators that they see no way to put kids in dorms without running unacceptably high
Covid risks.
Remember, even though kids almost never die of Covid-19, but there is a risk of serious
damage. 1/2 the asymptomatic cases on the Diamond Princess now show abnormal lungs. And
remember those cruises have half the people on board as crew, and the crew skews young. College
is a lot less appealing if you don't stay in a dorm.
Just as diminished activity in central business districts has negative knock-on effects to
nearby business, so to do hollowed-out colleges and universities have for their communities,
as described in more depth in a recent Bloomberg story .
The coming college semester is a big question mark. The influx of students is entangled with real estate,
shopping and the biggest in my town, restaurants and bars. Not to mention the college sports season which
supported so many AirBnB's here.
They are starting the year early here (UNC Chapel Hill) and ending it early as well, on Thanksgiving! And
up to 1000 new students will be learning from home instead of coming to campus.
Big question mark -- MIT's president Reif yesterday noted that
"At least for the fall, we can only
bring some of our undergraduates back to campus."
and
"Everything that can be taught effectively
online will be taught online."
Courses are comparatively easy, but labs, research, and sports look doubtful if/when case counts start
marching up again.
"... It's a commonplace to say the primary job of police is to "protect and serve," but that's not their goal in the way it's commonly understood -- not in the deed, the practice of what they daily do, and not true in the original intention, in why police departments were created in the first place. "Protect and serve" as we understand it is just the cover story. ..."
"... Urban police forces in America were created for one purpose -- to "maintain order" after a waves of immigrants swept into northern U.S. cities, both from abroad and later from the South, immigrants who threatened to disturb that "order." The threat wasn't primarily from crime as we understand it, from violence inflicted by the working poor on the poor or middle class. The threat came from unions, from strikes, and from the suffering, the misery and the anger caused by the rise of rapacious capitalism. ..."
"... What's being protected? The social order that feeds the wealthy at the expense of the working poor. Who's being served? Owners, their property, and the sources of their wealth, the orderly and uninterrupted running of their factories. The goal of police departments, as originally constituted, was to keep the workers in line, in their jobs, and off the streets. ..."
"... In most countries, the police are there solely to protect the Haves from the Have-Nots. In fact, when the average frustrated citizen has trouble, the last people he would consider turning to are the police. ..."
"... Jay Gould, a U.S. robber baron, is supposed to have claimed that he could hire one half of the working class to kill the other half. ..."
"... I spent some time in the Silver Valley of northern Idaho. This area was the hot bed of labor unrest during the 1890's. Federal troops controlled the area 3 separate times,1892, 1894 and 1899. Twice miners hijacked trains loaded them with dynamite and drove them to mining company stamping mills that they then blew up. Dozens of deaths in shoot outs. The entire male population was herded up and placed in concentration camps for weeks. The end result was the assassination of the Governor in 1905. ..."
"... Interestingly this history has been completely expunged. There is a mining museum in the town which doesn't mention a word on these events. Even nationwide there seems to be a complete erasure of what real labor unrest can look like.. ..."
"... Straight-up fact: The police weren't created to preserve and protect. They were created to maintain order, [enforced] over certain subjected classes and races of people, including–for many white people, too–many of our ancestors, too.* ..."
Yves here. Tom mentions in passing the role
of Pinkertons as goons for hire to crush early labor activists. Some employers like Ford went as far as forming private armies for
that purpose. Establishing police forces were a way to socialize this cost.
[In the 1800s] the police increasingly presented themselves as a thin blue line protecting civilization, by which they meant
bourgeois civilization, from the disorder of the working class.
-- Sam Mitrani
here
It's a commonplace to say the primary job of police is to "protect and serve," but that's not their goal in the way it's commonly
understood -- not in the deed, the practice of what they daily do, and not true in the original intention, in why police departments
were created in the first place. "Protect and serve" as we understand it is just the cover story.
To understand the true purpose of police, we have to ask, "What's being protected?" and "Who's being served?"
Urban police forces in America were created for one purpose -- to "maintain order" after a waves of immigrants swept into northern
U.S. cities, both from abroad and later from the South, immigrants who threatened to disturb that "order." The threat wasn't primarily
from crime as we understand it, from violence inflicted by the working poor on the poor or middle class. The threat came from unions,
from strikes, and from the suffering, the misery and the anger caused by the rise of rapacious capitalism.
What's being protected? The social order that feeds the wealthy at the expense of the working poor. Who's being served? Owners,
their property, and the sources of their wealth, the orderly and uninterrupted running of their factories. The goal of police departments,
as originally constituted, was to keep the workers in line, in their jobs, and off the streets.
Looking Behind Us
The following comes from an
essay
published at the blog of the Labor and Working-Class History Association, an academic group for teachers of labor studies, by
Sam Mitrani, Associate Professor of History at the College of DuPage and author of The Rise of the Chicago Police
Department: Class and Conflict, 1850-1894 .
According to Mitrani, "The police were not created to protect and serve the population. They were not created to stop crime, at
least not as most people understand it. And they were certainly not created to promote justice. They were created to protect the
new form of wage-labor capitalism that emerged in the mid to late nineteenth century from the threat posed by that system's offspring,
the working class."
Keep in mind that there were no police departments anywhere in Europe or the U.S. prior to the 19th century -- in fact, "anywhere
in the world" according to Mitrani. In the U.S., the North had constables, many part-time, and elected sheriffs, while the South
had slave patrols. But nascent capitalism soon created a large working class, and a mass of European immigrants, "yearning to be
free," ended up working in capitalism's northern factories and living in its cities.
"[A]s Northern cities grew and filled with mostly immigrant wage workers who were physically and socially separated from the
ruling class, the wealthy elite who ran the various municipal governments hired hundreds and then thousands of armed men to impose
order on the new working class neighborhoods ." [emphasis added]
America of the early and mid 1800s was still a world without organized police departments. What the
Pinkertons were to strikes , these
"thousands of armed men" were to the unruly working poor in those cities.
Imagine this situation from two angles. First, from the standpoint of the workers, picture the oppression these armed men must
have represented, lawless themselves yet tasked with imposing "order" and violence on the poor and miserable, who were frequently
and understandably both angry and drunk. (Pre-Depression drunkenness, under this interpretation, is not just a social phenomenon,
but a political one as well.)
Second, consider this situation from the standpoint of the wealthy who hired these men. Given the rapid growth of capitalism during
this period, "maintaining order" was a costly undertaking, and likely to become costlier. Pinkertons, for example, were hired at
private expense, as were the "thousands of armed men" Mitrani mentions above.
The solution was to offload this burden onto municipal budgets. Thus, between 1840 and 1880, every major northern city
in America had created a substantial police force, tasked with a single job, the one originally performed by the armed men paid by
the business elites -- to keep the workers in line, to "maintain order" as factory owners and the moneyed class understood it.
"Class conflict roiled late nineteenth century American cities like Chicago, which experienced major strikes and riots in 1867,
1877, 1886, and 1894. In each of these upheavals, the police attacked strikers with extreme violence, even if in 1877 and 1894 the
U.S. Army played a bigger role in ultimately repressing the working class. In the aftermath of these movements, the police increasingly
presented themselves as a thin blue line protecting civilization , by which they meant bourgeois civilization, from the disorder
of the working class. This ideology of order that developed in the late nineteenth century echoes down to today – except that today,
poor black and Latino people are the main threat, rather than immigrant workers."
That "thin blue line protecting civilization" is the same blue line we're witnessing today. Yes, big-city police are culturally
racist as a group; but they're not just racist. They dislike all the "unwashed." A
recent study that reviewed "all the data
available on police shootings for the year 2017, and analyze[d] it based on geography, income, and poverty levels, as well as race"
revealed the following remarkable pattern:
" Police violence is focused overwhelmingly on men lowest on the socio-economic ladder : in rural areas outside the
South, predominately white men; in the Southwest, disproportionately Hispanic men; in mid-size and major cities, disproportionately
black men. Significantly, in the rural South, where the population is racially mixed, white men and black men are killed by police
at nearly identical rates."
As they have always been, the police departments in the U.S. are a violent force for maintaining an order that separates and protects
society's predator class from its victims -- a racist order to be sure, but a class-based order as well.
Looking Ahead
We've seen the violence of the police as visited on society's urban poor (and anyone else, poor or not, who happens to be the
same race and color as the poor too often are), and we've witnessed the violent reactions of police to mass protests challenging
the racism of that violence.
But we've also seen the violence of police during the mainly white-led Occupy movement (one instance
here ; note that while the officer involved
was fired, he was also compensated $38,000 for "suffering he experienced after the incident").
So what could we expect from police if there were, say, a national, angry, multiracial rent strike with demonstrations? Or a student
debt s trike? None of these possibilities are off the table, given the
economic damage -- most of it still unrealized -- caused by the current Covid crisis.
Will police "protect and serve" the protesters, victims of the latest massive
transfer of wealth
to the already massively wealthy? Or will they, with violence, "maintain order" by maintaining elite control of the current predatory
system?
If Mitrani is right, the latter is almost certain.
Possible solutions? One, universal public works system for everyone 18-20. [Avoiding armed service because that will never
happen, nor peace corp.] Not allow the rich to buy then or their children an out. Let the billionaires children work along side
those who never had a single family house or car growing up.
Two, eliminate suburban school districts and simply have one per state, broken down into regional areas. No rich [or white]
flight to avoid poor systems. Children of differing means growing up side by side. Of course the upper class would simply send
their children to private schools, much as the elite do now anyway.
Class and privilege is the real underlying issue and has been since capital began to be concentrated and hoarded as the article
points out. It has to begin with the children if the future is to really change in a meaningful way.
I would add items targeted as what is causing inequality. Some of these might be:
1). Abolish the Federal Reserve. It's current action since 2008 are a huge transfer of wealth from us to the wealthy. No more
Quantitative Easing, no Fed buying of stocks or bonds.
2). Make the only retirement and medical program allowed Congress and the President, Social Security and Medicare. That will
cause it to be improved for all of us.
3). No stock ownership allowed for Congress folk while serving terms. Also, rules against joining those leaving Congress acting
as lobbyists.
4). Something that makes it an iron rule that any law passed by Congress and the President, must equally apply to Congress
and the President. For example, no separate retirement or healthcare access, but have this more broadly applied to all aspects
of legislation and all aspects of life.
I think you'd also have to legalize drugs and any other thing that leads creation of "organized ciminal groups." Take away
the sources that lead to the creation of the well-armed gangs that control illegal activities.
Unfortunately, legalising drugs in itself, whatever the abstract merits, wouldn't solve the problem. Organised crime would
still have a major market selling cut-price, tax-free or imitation drugs, as well, of course, as controlled drugs which are not
allowed to be sold to just anybody now. Organised crime doesn't arise as a result of prohibitions, it expands into new areas thanks
to them, and often these areas involve smuggling and evading customs duties. Tobacco products are legal virtually everywhere,
but there's a massive criminal trade in smuggling them from the Balkans into Italy, where taxes are much higher. Any time you
create a border, in effect, you create crime: there is even alcohol smuggling between Sweden and Norway. Even when activities
are completely legal (such as prostitution in many European countries) organised crime is still largely in control through protection
rackets and the provision of "security."
In effect, you'd need to abolish all borders, all import and customs duties and all health and safety and other controls which
create price differentials between states. And OC is not fussy, it moves from one racket to another, as the Mafia did in the 1930s
with the end of prohibition. To really tackle OC you'd need to legalise, oh, child pornography, human trafficking, sex slavery,
the trade in rare wild animals, the trade in stolen gems and conflict diamonds, internet fraud and cyberattacks, and the illicit
trade in rare metals, to name, as they say, but a few. As Monty Python well observed, the only way to reduce the crime rate (and
hence the need for the police) is to reduce the number of criminal offences. Mind you, if you defund the police you effectively
legalise all these things anyway.
I dunno, ending Prohibition sure cut down on the market for bootleg liquor. It's still out there, but the market is nothing
like what it once was.
Most people, even hardcore alcoholics, aren't going to go through the hassle of buying rotgut of dubious origin just to save
a few dimes, when you can go to the corner liquor store and get a known product, no issues with supply 'cause your dealer's supplier
just got arrested.
For that matter, OC is still definitely out there, but it isn't the force that it was during Prohibition, or when gambling
was illegal.
As an aside, years ago, I knew a guy whose father had worked for Meyer Lansky's outfit, until Prohibition put him and others
out of a job. As a token of his loyal service, the outfit gave him a (legal) liquor store to own and run.
Yes, but in Norway, for example, you'd pay perhaps $30 for a six-pack of beer in a supermarket, whereas you'd pay half that
to somebody selling beers out of the back of a car. In general people make too much of the Prohibition case, which was geographically
and politically very special, and a a stage in history when OC was much less sophisticated. The Mob diversified into gambling
and similar industries (higher profits, fewer risks). These days OC as a whole is much more powerful and dangerous, as well as
sophisticated, than it was then, helped by globalisation and the Internet.
I think ending prohibitions on substances, would take quite a bite out of OC's pocketbook. and having someone move trailers
of ciggarettes of bottles of beer big deal. That isn't really paying for the lifestyle.and it doesn't buy political protection.
An old number I saw @ 2000 . the UN figured(guess) that illegal drugs were @ 600 billion dollars/year industry and most of that
was being laundered though banks. Which to the banking industry is 600 billion in cash going into it's house of mirrors. Taking
something like that out of the equation EVERY YEAR is no small thing. And the lobby from the OC who wants drugs kept illegal,
coupled with the bankers who want the cash inputs equals a community of interest against legalization
and if the local police forces and the interstate/internationals were actually looking to use their smaller budgets and non-bill
of rights infringing tactics, on helping the victim side of crimes then they could have a real mission/ Instead of just abusing
otherwise innocent people who victimize no one.
so if we are looking for "low hanging fruit" . ending the war on drugs is a no brainer.
"What's being protected? The social order that feeds the wealthy at the expense of the working poor. " – Neuberger
In the aftermath of these movements, the police increasingly presented themselves as a thin blue line protecting civilization,
by which they meant bourgeois civilization, from the disorder of the working class. – Mitrani
I think this ties in, if only indirectly, with the way so many peaceful recent protests seemed to turn violent after the police
showed up. It's possible I suppose the police want to create disorder to frighten not only the protestors with immediate harm
but also frighten the bourgeois about the threate of a "dangerous mob". Historically violent protests created a political backlash
that usually benefited political conservatives and the wealthy owners. (The current protests may be different in this regard.
The violence seems to have created a political backlash against conservatives and overzealous police departments' violence. )
My 2 cents.
Sorry, but the title sent my mind back to the days of old -- of old Daley, that is, and his immortal quote from 1968: "Gentlemen,
let's get the thing straight, once and for all. The policeman isn't there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve
disorder."
LOL!!! great quote. Talk about saying it the way it is.
It kind of goes along with, "Police violence is focused overwhelmingly on men lowest on the socio-economic ladder: in rural
areas outside the South, predominately white men; in the Southwest, disproportionately Hispanic men; in mid-size and major cities,
disproportionately black men. Significantly, in the rural South, where the population is racially mixed, white men and black men
are killed by police at nearly identical rates."
I bang my head on the table sometimes because poor white men and poor men of color are so often placed at odds when they increasingly
face (mostly) the same problems. God forbid someone tried to unite them, there might really be some pearl clutching then.
yeah, like Martin Luther King's "poor people's campaign". the thought of including the poor ,of all colors .. just too much
for the status quo to stomach.
The "mechanism" that keeps masses in line . is one of those "invisible hands" too.
Great response! I am sure you have more to add to this. A while back, I was researching the issues you state in your last paragraph.
Was about ten pages into it and had to stop as I was drawn out of state and country. From my research.
While not as overt in the 20th century, the distinction of black slave versus poor white man has kept the class system alive
and well in the US in the development of a discriminatory informal caste system. This distraction of a class level lower than
the poorest of the white has kept them from concentrating on the disproportionate, and growing, distribution of wealth and income
in the US. For the lower class, an allowed luxury, a place in the hierarchy and a sure form of self esteem insurance.
Sennett and Cobb (1972) observed that class distinction sets up a contest between upper and lower class with the lower social
class always losing and promulgating a perception amongst themselves the educated and upper classes are in a position to judge
and draw a conclusion of them being less than equal. The hidden injury is in the regard to the person perceiving himself as a
piece of the woodwork or seen as a function such as "George the Porter." It was not the status or material wealth causing the
harsh feelings; but, the feeling of being treated less than equal, having little status, and the resulting shame. The answer for
many was violence.
James Gilligan wrote "Violence; Reflections on A National Epidemic." He worked as a prison psychiatrist and talked with many
of the inmates of the issues of inequality and feeling less than those around them. His finding are in his book which is not a
long read and adds to the discussion.
A little John Adams for you.
" The poor man's conscience is clear . . . he does not feel guilty and has no reason to . . . yet, he is ashamed. Mankind
takes no notice of him. He rambles unheeded.
In the midst of a crowd; at a church; in the market . . . he is in as much obscurity as he would be in a garret or a cellar.
He is not disapproved, censured, or reproached; he is not seen . . . To be wholly overlooked, and to know it, are intolerable
."
likbez, June 19, 2020 at 3:18 pm
That's a very important observation.
Racism, especially directed toward blacks, along with "identity wedge," is a perfect tool for disarming poor white, and suppressing
their struggle for a better standard of living, which considerably dropped under neoliberalism.
In other words, by providing poor whites with a stratum of the population that has even lower social status, neoliberals manage
to co-opt them to support the policies which economically ate detrimental to their standard of living as well as to suppress the
protest against the redistribution of wealth up and dismantling of the New Deal capitalist social protection network.
This is a pretty sophisticated, pretty evil scheme if you ask me. In a way, "Floydgate" can be viewed as a variation on the same
theme. A very dirty game indeed, when the issue of provision of meaningful jobs for working poor, social equality, and social
protection for low-income workers of any color is replaced with a real but of secondary importance issue of police violence against
blacks.
This is another way to explain "What's the matter with Kansas" effect.
John Anthony La Pietra, June 19, 2020 at 6:20 pm
I like that one! - and I have to admit it's not familiar to me, though I've been a fan since before I got to play him in a
neighboring community theater. Now I'm having some difficulty finding it. Where is it from, may I ask?
run75441, June 20, 2020 at 7:56 am
JAL:
Page 239, "The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States."
Read the book "Violence: Reflections of A National Epidemic" . Not a long read and well documented.
MLK Jr. tried, and look what happened to him once he really got some traction. If the Rev. William Barber's Poor People's Campaign
picks up steam, I'm afraid the same thing will happen to him.
I wish it were only pearl-clutching that the money power would resort to, but that's not the way it works.
Yeah – that quote struck me too, never seen it before. At times when they feel so liberated to 'say the quiet part out loud',
then as now, you know the glove is coming off and the vicious mailed fist is free to roam for victims.
Those times are where you know you need to resist or .well, die in many cases.
That's something that really gets me in public response to many of these things. The normal instinct of the populace to wake
from their somnambulant slumber just long enough to ascribe to buffoonery and idiocy ala Keystone Cops the things so much better
understood as fully consciously and purposefully repressive, reactionary, and indicating a desire to take that next step to crush
fully. To obliterate.
Many responses to this – https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1273809160128389120
– are like, 'the police are dumb', 'out of touch', 'a lot of dumb gomer pyles in that room, yuk yuk yuk'. Or, 'cops/FBI are
so dumb to pursue this antifa thing, its just a boogieman' thinking that somehow once the authorities realize 'antifa' is a boogieman,
their attitudes towards other protesters will somehow be different 'now that they realize the silliness of the claims'.
No, not remotely the case – to a terrifyingly large percentage of those in command, and in rank & file they know exactly where
it came from, exactly how the tactics work, and have every intention of classifying all protesters (peaceful or not) into that
worldview. The peaceful protesters *are* antifa in their eyes, to be dealt with in the fully approved manner of violence and repression.
In most countries, the police are there solely to protect the Haves from the Have-Nots. In fact, when the average frustrated
citizen has trouble, the last people he would consider turning to are the police.
This is why in the Third World, the only job of lower social standing than "policeman" is "police informer".
The anti-rascist identity of the recent protests rests on a much larger base of class warfare waged over the past 40 years
against the entire population led by a determined oligarchy and enforced by their political, media and militarized police retainers.
This same oligarchy, with a despicable zeal and revolting media-orchestrated campaign–co-branding the movement with it's usual
corporate perpetrators– distorts escalating carceral and economic violence solely through a lens of racial conflict and their
time-tested toothless reforms. A few unlucky "peace officers" may have to TOFTT until the furor recedes, can't be helped.
Crowding out debt relief, single payer health, living wages, affordable housing and actual justice reform from the debate that
would benefit African Americans more than any other demographic is the goal.
The handful of Emperors far prefer kabuki theater and random ritual Seppuku than facing the rage of millions of staring down
the barrel of zero income, debt, bankruptcy, evictions and dispossession. The Praetorians will follow the money as always.
I suppose we'll get some boulevards re-named and a paid Juneteenth holiday to compensate for the destruction 100+ years of
labor rights struggle, so there's that..
Homestead, Ludlow, Haymarket, Matewan -- the list is long
Working men and women asking for justice gunned down by the cops. There will always be men ready to murder on command as long
as the orders come from the rich and powerful. We are at a moment in history folks were some of us, today mostly people of color,
are willing to put their lives on the line. It's an ongoing struggle.
So how can a tier of society(the police) . be what a society needs ? When as this story and many others show how and why the
police were formed. To break heads. When they have been "the tool" of the elite forever. When so many of them are such dishonest,
immoral, wanna be fascists. And the main direction of the US is towards a police state and fascists running the show . both
republican and democrat. With technology being the boot on the neck of the people and the police are there to take it to the streets.
Can those elusive "good apples" turn the whole rotten barrel into sweet smelling apple pie? That is a big ask.
Or should the structure be liquidated, sell their army toys. fill the ranks with people who are not pathological liars and
abusers and /or racists; of one sort or another. Get rid of the mentality of overcompensation by uber machismo. and make them
watch the andy griffith show. They ought to learn that they can be respected if they are good people, and that they are not respected
because they seek respect through fear and intimidation.
Is that idiot cry of theirs, .. the whole yelling at you; demanding absolute obedience to arbitrary ,assinine orders, really
working to get them respect or is it just something they get off on?
When the police are shown to be bad, they strike by work slowdown, or letting a little chaos loose themselves. So the people
know they need them So any reform of the police will go through the police not doing their jobs . but then something like better
communities may result. less people being busted and harassed , or pulled over for the sake of a quota . may just show we don't
need so much policing anyway. And then if the new social workers brigade starts intervening in peoples with issues when they are
young and in school maybe fewer will be in the system. Couple that with the police not throwing their family in jail for nothing,
and forcing them to pay fines for breaking stupid laws. The system will have less of a load, and the new , better cops without
attitudes will be able to handle their communities in a way that works for everyone. Making them a net positive, as opposed to
now where they are a net negative.
Also,
The drug war is over. The cops have only done the bidding of the organized criminal elements who make their bread and butter
because of prohibition.
Our representatives can legally smoke pot , and grow it in their windowboxes in the capital dc., but people in many places
are still living in fear of police using possession of some substance,as a pretext to take all their stuff,throw them in jail.
But besides the cops, there are the prosecutors . they earn their salaries by stealing it from poor people through fines for things
that ought to be legal. This is one way to drain money from poor communities, causing people to go steal from others in society
to pay their court costs.
And who is gonna come and bust down your door when you can't pay a fine and choose to pay rent and buy your kids food instead
. the cops. just doing their jobs. Evil is the banality of business as usual
The late Kevin R C O'Brien noted that in every case where the Police had been ordered to "Round up the usual suspects" they
have done so, and delivered them where ordered. It did not matter who the "Usual suspects" were, or to what fate they were
to be delivered. They are the King's men and they do the King's bidding.
To have a reasonable discussion, I think that it should be recognized that modern police are but one leg of a triad. The first
of course is the police who appear to seem themselves as not part of a community but as enforcers in that community. To swipe
an idea from Mao, the police should move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea. Not be a patrolling shark that attacks
who they want at will knowing that there will be no repercussions against them. When you get to the point that you have police
arresting children in school for infractions of school discipline – giving them a police record – you know that things have gotten
out of hand.
The next leg is the courts which of course includes prosecutors. It is my understanding that prosecutors are elected to office
in the US and so have incentives to appear to be tough on crime"" . They seem to operate more like 'Let's Make a Deal' from what
I have read. When they tell some kid that he has a choice of 1,000 years in prison on trumped up charges or pleads guilty to a
smaller offence, you know that that is not justice at work. Judges too operate in their own world and will always take the word
of a policeman as a witness.
And the third leg is the prisons which operate as sweatshops for corporate America. It is in the interest of the police and
the courts to fill up the prisons to overflowing. Anybody remember the Pennsylvania "kids for cash" scandal where kids lives were
being ruined with criminal records that were bogus so that some people could make a profit? And what sort of prison system is
it where a private contractor can build a prison without a contract at all , knowing that the government (California in
this case) will nonetheless fill it up for a good profit.
In short, in sorting out police doctrine and methods like is happening now, it should be recognized that they are actually
only the face of a set of problems.
How did ancient states police? Perhaps Wiki is a starting point of this journey. Per Its entry, Police, in ancient Greece,
policing was done by public owned slaves. In Rome, the army, initially. In China, prefects leading to a level of government
called prefectures .
I spent some time in the Silver Valley of northern Idaho. This area was the
hot bed of labor unrest during
the 1890's. Federal troops controlled the area 3 separate times,1892, 1894 and 1899. Twice miners hijacked trains loaded them
with dynamite and drove them to mining company stamping mills that they then blew up. Dozens of deaths in shoot outs. The entire
male population was herded up and placed in concentration camps for weeks. The end result was the assassination of the Governor
in 1905.
Interestingly this history has been completely expunged. There is a mining museum in the town which doesn't mention a word
on these events. Even nationwide there seems to be a complete erasure of what real labor unrest can look like..
Yeah, labor unrest does get swept under the rug. Howard zinn had examples in his works "the peoples history of the United States"
The pictched battles in upstate new york with the Van Rennselear's in the 1840's breaking up rennselearwyk . the million acre
estate of theirs . it was a rent strike.
People remembering , we have been here before doesn't help the case of the establishment so they try to not let it happen.
We get experts telling us . well, this is all new we need experts to tell you what to think. It is like watching the
footage from the past 100 years on film of blacks marching for their rights and being told.. reform is coming.. the more things
change, the more things stay the same. Decade after decade. Century after century. Time to start figuring this out people. So,
the enemy is us. Now what?
Doubtless the facts presented above are correct, but shouldn't one point out that the 21st century is quite different from
the 19th and therefore analogizing the current situation to what went on before is quite facile? For example it's no longer necessary
for the police to put down strikes because strike actions barely still exist. In our current US the working class has diminished
greatly while the middle class has expanded. We are a much richer country overall with a lot more people–not just those one percenters–concerned
about crime. Whatever one thinks of the police, politically an attempt to go back to the 18th century isn't going to fly.
What if neither Democrats nor Republicans want to win in 2020? No one wants the task of changing the full diaper of US Empire
,
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