If the threat of "armed insurrectionists" and "domestic terrorists" is as great as some claim, why do they have to keep lying and peddling crude media fictions about it?
You forgot the hallmark of true authoritarian conspiracy nuts: the fact that nothing happened on March 4 is proof that the "counter-measures" worked, and need to be maintained and (god willing!) enhanced.
"You forgot the hallmark of true authoritarian conspiracy nuts: the fact that nothing happened on March 4 is proof that the "counter-measures" worked, and need to be maintained and (god willing!) enhanced."
Good point.
They win either way. If there's violence, it shows their warnings were prescient. If there's none, it shows their warnings were effective.
Robert Barnes and others had been warning for past 2 years that Qanon is run by the Intel agencies and telling people to stay the f away from it. There’s a reason why no one is yet questioning who’s running qanon.
The last Q drop on the 6th was a link to Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It.’ Hmmm. It was a very sophisticated psyop, with enough truth to sustain and grow. The overarching theme is total war on populism.
A "sophisticated" war on "populism"? To whom does The "We" in "We're Not Gonna Take It" refer?
Don't get me wrong: You are right. Q is TOTALLY a Statist chimera, made possible by an in-the-tank-for-the-State media, and for one purpose only: dragnet for libertarians. See, Conservatives have shown they can easily be co-opted with croni-Capitalism, but the libertarians, they're a tougher nut to crack, with that "stupid" individual freedom running through their veins.
It was a sophisticated psyop. Very few missteps or tells. The wacky stuff was never actually in the drops.
But the last drop - morning of - pulled the mask off, completely...as does the fact that we don’t (and won’t) know Q’s identity despite Q’s ‘culpability’ and total spectrum surveillance.
Long game trap, nurtured with patience and skill. Impressive, really. Shows some respect for Deplorables. Indicates the road back to legit self governance is 10,000 miles of broken glass
The anti-populists have always been their elite urban progressive cousins, with also elite socialist academics feeding those "we are one" inclusiveness. Both are forcing cultural and societal self-destruction to collapse everything into total equality. Whatever level the society and its economy collapses into is acceptable to them so long as they, the elite, remain not too damaged.
I've been telling people that if the MAGA fanatics on 1/6 had read more Sun Tzu and less of Trump's stupid tweets, they would've never accepted any invitation to walk into the Capitol building after there was already a melee outside. No security force does that unless getting people inside was part of some offensive plan. It's pretty obvious that the MAGA dupes waltzed right into a fairly well planned narrative/optics trap that never put anyone in Congress at risk but gave the FBI a long list of "terrorists" to destroy for years of political hysteria value.
That sounds about right. In fact, it's one of the few observations on the actions of the Capitol Police that day that make any sense.
Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into these events. Or not. I'm beginning to adopt the general attitude that suspecting the very worst about any national political event is the safest and most realistic option.
In fact someone posted footage early on, now lost in the flood of keywords, of the very first rush past the perimeter barricades on the outskirts of the grounds and even there the cops were pushing back and fighting them, they were just overrun.
I'm not sure the actions of the cops trying to beat back a crushing onslaught with batons and CS gas before being overpowered needs any explanation.
Yes, and there was also footage of the doors being opened and the protestors waved into the Capitol... AFTER there was already fighting outside. That makes absolute zero sense from a security point of view, none.
Considering the hyperbolic, breathless coverage surrounding Qanon - and the fact that a VERY leaky Fed almost certainly knows who it is - the absence of follow-up stories concerning Q's "real" identity certainly suggests it was an Intelligence operation.
Fed typically refers to the Federal Reserve. Assuming you mean it as the govt more generally, they likely don't know who Q is. It could be Russian or Chinese intelligence, or simply an American troll, but as long as they're using the right browser and basic security software like VPN there's no way to determine who they are. People have run entire darkweb marketplaces with billions of $ of illegal sales for years without being caught because it's so difficult to penetrate the tech, and to my knowledge, every single time a DW market was shut down it was a sloppy user mistake rather than overpowering the anonymizing technology.
Quite honestly, I thought it was a massive internet troll from Day 1.
It could be a bored 58 year old nerd in his mom's basement.
It could be a group of Russians in St. Petersburg figuring out how best to mess with the US. It could be the same in China, or Iran. (Twitter has had to flag and remove hundreds of thousands of accounts from foreign actors who push tribalism; 180k in 2020 alone: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/information-operations-june-2020.html )
But, sure, it could be CIA, I suppose.
Whoever it was, they apparently use a pretty good VPN.
As I noted above, the ten million indoctrinated "we know better than you do" guardians of "correct" thinking will keep them from influencing us too much.
The Left knows at some point the 5% who truly embrace and practice freedom independence and autonomy will say “Done!!!”
Except when that happened in 1776, the real patriots and committed independents didn’t have to worry their neighbors and fellow citizens would stab them in the back fighting for freedom. But, we surely do today...
It's like the campfire joke at Cub Scout camps: An older Scout or adult comes out on stage pretending to spray from a can. Then a younger Scout comes out and asks what they're doing. "I'm spraying giraffe repellant." "But there are no giraffes here!" "See - it works!"
It's called a "groaner" because of the predictable audience reaction. At least, though, the Cub Scouts are smart enough to see that it's a joke ...
Qanon is a sad joke. I think it helped recruiting for certain stupid groups of people inclined to wrong-headed magical thinking. Mostly kkk/white christian nationalist/stupid fucking redneck groups. That's why some of the same language like "the storm" is used interchangeably in these movements. MSM loves covering qanon because it checks several boxes for news entertainment. They are of no significance. I do look forward to seeing all the documentaries and the various Q tattoos the next few years.
The major players don't subscribe to qanon. They are lying low for a while. We're probably looking at an attempt of something on scale between OK city and 9/11. The heat is on and they may not be able to pull off anything big. Which could lead to many smaller scale attacks on soft targets. My guess would be mass shootings and pipe bombings. Once these turds realize things aren't going to end the way they want it, they'll probably engage in their own personal storms in a purge mentality of sorts. They work in small pods so this will tough to stop.
The overzealous security after 1/6 seems more like TSA still requiring us to take our shoes off going through airport security than some totalitarian counter measure. Both are done for show and serve no purpose. I hope there are smart people working on anti-terrorism that are good at their jobs. We do not have a rich history in our country of handling nuanced things like anti-terrorism (international or domestic) very well. I hope it's different this time.
Same thing for the Covid lockdown. The death rate is low because of the lockdown, and if we end it lots of people will die. This issue is related to Bobby Soave's article "America's Lost Generation": https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/americas-lost-generation
The fascination here is how the two conspiracy cults--Qanon and BlueAnon--are mutually reinforcing. And how members of each might be feeling the way Henry Emmons, a follower of William Miller, who predicted the second coming for October 22, 1844:
"I waited all Tuesday [October 22] and dear Jesus did not come;– I waited all the forenoon of Wednesday, and was well in body as I ever was, but after 12 o'clock I began to feel faint, and before dark I needed someone to help me up to my chamber, as my natural strength was leaving me very fast, and I lay prostrate for 2 days without any pain– sick with disappointment."--Wikipedia, "Great Disappointment"
I recall reading a fairly modern example of belief perseverance detailed in a study on the subject.
A doomsday cult predicted the end of the world would come on X day. As believers, they would be spared. They all divested themselves of their worldly possessions and met in one place to pray.
When the end of the world didn't happen, the leader proclaimed that they had been witness to a miracle. The power of their prayers and their faith was so great, it had saved the entire world. "O Great Day!"
Not only did they come away from the event more certain than before that their beliefs were The Truth, they also became more enthusiastic in their proselytization efforts.
Perhaps Mr. Emmons would have not fallen into a two day funk had he been told his prayers had helped stave off the end of all things.
Er...the entire QAnon subject is to instill the fear of conspiracy to the point of turning DC into an armed camp ringed by the Pelosian Guard. I have worked inside the beltway for 25 years and the only mention I’ve ever heard of QAnon is from CNN, MSNBC, and the Washington Post. I do know however that when I changed my screen name to ‘CIA owns the WaPo’ I was immediately banned from the reader comments section. There’s a conspiracy theory for you.
Hell, the battle is lost, the war is over. Q, Blue, or whatever, we are in a one party state, media on board, tech in full throated support. The revolution was actually not televised (thank you, Gill Scott Heron) it happened while the world watched something else.
I first posted months ago about being afraid to live in my own adopted country for the first time in my life. I came here as a one year old child from the Philippines with my mother, the new foreign wife of a soldier returning from the Vietnam War in 1966. When we were stateside, we lived mostly here in the South and it wasn’t easy for my mother to be seen as “colored” or for me to be seen as a small step above being black in south GA. I entered my 1st grade year in 1971, the first year the school was integrated at that level. Before that, I was only allowed to attend a segregated kindergarten. I know more about racism than most of the know-NOTHINGS protesting in our city streets today. Now, my fear has only grown...& it’s NOT Trump supporters that I fear.
Thank you for remaining true to your core beliefs in free speech, Mr. Greenwald. I don’t think I’m overstating how valuable that is.
Is that a threat? Do you know something about M. michele morgan that we should know? Why should she/he/them worry about being stopped by a "policeman"? Who are you, Red? Come clean. That's my real name. What's yours?
Conservative here. It’s not my side that is pursuing cancel culture, doxing, shaming, book banning and censoring. These are the authoritarian moves of the left.
I have been following the travails of Jodi Shaw, avowed liberal,formerly of Smith College, who resigned her position and refused to take a financial settlement that would have bought her silence. She is speaking out against the outright racism against white people like herself that has become a college norm everywhere now. Confess your white guilt? What?! She is planning to sue Smith. She set up gofundme and paypal, and is amazed at the support pouring in from “the right”. Of course the right supports someone who is brave enough to choose freedom over comfort.
How many on the left pay for subscriptions to conservative publications and want to know how others think?
The left is worse, they've infected our nation's HR departments, but the right also bears watching sometimes. They're trying to censor books in Tennessee and in Kentucky they're trying to make it illegal to insult cops, for Pete's sake.
I do check in a lot with publications on the right and, at least for the moment, there's an unusually great diversity of thought. Here's hoping that the ones who genuinely want to help the working class (not just seem to, for political purposes) win out.
You got me there, M. russian bot, but I never liked those old monickers like "Commie" and "Pinko" (where DID pinko come from?). I did see a movie called Reds, I think, which (I could be mistaken) seems to perfectly fit the current discussion.
Look, M. Sonja is living her Marxist past. There, is that better?
You sent a message to me asking about how I might feel the next time a policeman stops me? Bless your heart, you’re just so pitiable with your generalizations. You only demean yourself, my dear, when you allow your assumptions to be based upon nothing more than your own selectively limited perspective.
You think someone else is deluded? I have not voted in a presidential election in the 21st century except this year, for La Riva, to protest Leonard Peltier's continued incarceration, and did so in person on election day. I only voted for Obama and Sanders in the primaries. At no time did I vote for any ticket with a Biden on it. So much for your febrile perspicuity.
What sort of a "move" is it when heavily armed civilians invade state capitol buildings in protest of COVID restrictions, or act as de facto law enforcement with the encouragement of local police on the scene?
I'm not minimizing what is happening at Smith. I had a taste of it where I taught as adjunct (not my main gig) and left, of course. When you realize someone can destroy you out of malice or on a whim, and that nothing you can say or do will matter, while they will be rewarded for it, or at least remain unscathed, the chill and foreboding you feel is unique. But these people don't have guns. There's at least that.
"Subscriptions?" Oh please. I see you're sheltered.
That's because you're rational. Culture wars are ALWAYS a diversion, no matter who is playing. There is something quite different going on that they all have an interest in diverting you from seeing. Glenn has been great in shedding light on that.
Are you two people, Red? Or maybe a committee? Or a.......commune? You sure talk in innuendo, as if you can't seem to come to a.....collective decision?
You always go halfway there, and then end with ad hominem. Come on, state plainly your philosophy and politics. Are you an individual, or just an insult committee?
It was plain to see on January 6th, to everyone with even a modicum of intelligence and a passing affinity for reality, that what took place was a riot carried out by a hodgepodge of Trump supporters and others with a variety of grievances. By every conceivable metric (duration, property damage, violent assaults), this riot was much less severe than the dozens of riots that occurred (to the cheers of the same media pundits of elected Democrats decrying the January 6th riot) throughout 2020. Indeed, most of the "casualties" from the riot occurred because the participants were so infirm and elderly they were dropping from heart attacks and strokes.
It was clear from the beginning that the powers-that-be, however, were going to milk this riot for everything they could. The subtle shift in lies surrounding the narrative woven by our Dear Leaders in the days following the riot were important. They very quickly shifted from blaming Trump himself to blaming, "right wing extremists" and "white supremacy". This was a very telling shift, as well as being critical to their strategy. If the source of the problem was Trump (or any specific, identifiable source), then the crisis could eventually be resolved. Trump could be jailed or otherwise eliminated from the scene, and the crisis would be resolved, with all "emergency" powers relinquished. But that isn't the goal. Like the "war on drugs" or the "war on terror", a war against a slogan or an idea has no achievable victory conditions. How can we know when the war against "white supremacy" has been won? How do we know what freedoms are necessary to sacrifice in order to win the war against "dangerous ring-wing extremists"? Who are these enemies? What does one have to do or say to be considered a domestic terrorist who is so dangerous that they cannot be afforded legal or Constitutional rights? What speech is so dangerous that it cannot be allowed?
These things are all undefined and unknowable by design. There are no powers that cannot be claimed, no person that cannot be silenced, no end to the "emergency" that requires this totalitarianism. Even raising questions about the reality "emergency" itself denotes one as someone who probably harbors sympathy for "the enemy" (as evidenced by the treatment received regularly by Greenwald).
Unfortunately, those feebleminded enough to believe that "our very democracy" is at stake and threatens to be toppled by an unhinged mob of racist Trump supporters that want to sow nationwide destruction, are all in. For them, this is an existential threat, where the ends justify the means. Even those with the capacity to perceive a sliver of objective reality and see through some of the lies, see those lies as inconsequential (or even justified and necessary!). After all, if a false narrative about an officer being beaten to death with a fire extinguisher can rally support in the war against evil, right-wing, white-supremacists whose divisions are laying in wait, ready to take over the country, is that really a bad thing?
Many have described the rise of Trump as the "post-truth era". Unfortunately they didn't know how accurate that was.
You are so right, damn it all to hell. It's so infuriating. The machinations of Pelosi and Shumer are so utterly transparent in their invention and manipulation. It drives me crazy how many people fail or refuse to see through it and call it out.
Creating fear is a power grab. At the same time, we are being told that the demons of racism are everywhere and people need to be fired for saying the wrong thing. We are a year into the lockdown, and we are still being told that if we reopen the economy a large number of people will die.
You ask "After all, if a false narrative about an officer being beaten to death with a fire extinguisher can rally support in the war against evil, right-wing, white-supremacists whose divisions are laying in wait, ready to take over the country, is that really a bad thing?"
We have seen this before. It can result in horrible suffering and death. Witness Colin Powell standing before the UN waving photographs of a burned out panel van claiming it was a mobile chemical weapons laboratory.
Yes, Powell et al (and boy that sure was a worldwide Statist clusterf...) did demagogue and dissemble, but his target wasn't Americans.
The Authoritarian Socialists (another term for Fascists, btw) ringing themselves with conscertina wire today have you, freedom-loving Americans, in the crosshairs.
We have NEVER seen this before, not to this level of blatant power-grab.
Most of the feebleminded who believe the ends justify the means are supporting those for whom the means are the ends--incompetents who find material compensation in wielding power with psychopaths and sociopaths telling them how to wield it.
"This is what happens when the demand for insurrection exceeds the supply."
The beauty of the capitalist system is that supply can be adjusted upwards to meet the demand. The FBI have extensive experience in manufacturing 'terrorists' i.e. dupes to whom an FBI informant provides a home made bomb and then turns them in. This simple formula can be used to manufacture a virtually unlimited number of insurrectionists. So while there may be temporary insurrection inflation, the system is ultimately self-correcting.
"So while there may be temporary insurrection inflation, the system is ultimately self-correcting." I love to see an analogy pushed to its limits and continue to function.
I am a socialist and recent events have had me puzzled. What I can say is that today's politicians can be described in the words of cowboy movies as "lily livered." Neither of our 2 Parties represent me. If it were me, I would have gone out to greet the "insurrectionists" and talked with them about their concerns. I am unafraid when it comes to reaching out to those who don't think like I do. what does this say about today's members of Congress that they scuttled Pence out the back door to "safety" when he could have spoken as Trump's VP to the "invaders." To make this short: Elected officials don't know who their constituencies are and fear them because only powerful and wealthy donors matter. Leave it to Glenn to explain a panoply of complicated stuff.
Your mistake is in believing that their rationale is not cynical. With a couple of exceptions that fall into the category of "useful idiots," none of them truly believe an insurrection is occurring or in the process of doing so. This is a power play. I despise drawing comparisons of this nature because it always sounds hyperbolic and stupid, but this is a fake Reichstag Fire.
With each new accusation, the Democrats have upped the stakes. We've gone from Russian meddling to outright insurrection. The hyperbole is rising with each wave of spittle-flecked demagoguery. They know what they're saying is untrue, they just don't care. They have power, they intend to keep it no matter the cost.
The Reichstag actually burned, just the Nazis blamed the communists for what they did themselves. The Democrats are claiming an armed insurrection that didn't even happen.
I am a libertarian and fully agree. As a social liberal I recognize that government has legitimate functions, and one is helping to care for the vulnerable. The social safety nets of Scandinavia are often cited as examples of socialism that works, but the leaders of every Scandinavian country disagree vociferously. They say they are market-based economies, not socialist. I believe them.
As a fiscal conservative I recognize that being a social liberal is a luxury that can only be afforded if we are fiscal conservatives.
I, too, would have greeted the insurrectionists and asked them to speak. The escalating authoritarianism has only one destination: civil war. This is beyond sick.
The reason Scandinavian countries disagree with being labelled socialists is because they practice the exact opposite of what Bernie sanders and his supporters want. Scandinavian Countries have the lowest corporate tax rate and the highest personal income tax rate. This is the exact opposite of what Bernie claims to want as he complains corporations aren’t paying enough taxes. So either Bernie can claim to want to be like Scandinavian countries or he can tell lie and he picked lying. He also used to be vehemently against illegal immigration and even called it “right wing” policy which lowers wages until trump came. Then he did a while 180 on it. I had known Bernie was a fraud since I saw this happen in 2016.
Yes, Scandinavian countries are free market countries with a strong social safety net. I'm not sure why you are claiming that they practice the "exact opposite" of what Bernie Sanders wants. Bernie Sanders wanted to lower personal income taxes on the wealthy? News to me. While there may be differences in Sanders policies vs. Scandinavian policies (which differ between countries), "exact opposite" is not being truthful. He is for taxing the wealthy fairly and using this to fund a social safety net similar to Scandinavian countries. A social safety net that their citizens love for very good reason.
No, you are confusing "wealthy" with someone who makes barely over the average income. Denmark's income tax is 60% on 1.3x the average income (source below). So if average income is $50k, then it means anyone making $65k and over pays 60% in income tax. Also 25% sales tax on everything you buy - from eggs to everything.
Do you think Bernie has told people that he would like to tax 60% any household making $65k? And would you be okay with an extra 25% sales tax on eggs, milk and everything?
Do you think $65k is considered "wealthy"?
Do you think it's wise to pay 60% of your income for the rest of your life in taxes just to get university and health care? Or would it be wise to decide by yourself which insurance you want to pick? Or get it from your employer?
Btw, I am NOT saying US's current health care or education system is any good. I am saying Bernie doesn't tell the truth.
Search through his twitter history. I can point to 8 tweets where he was bashing millionaires and billionaires. Then suddenly he changed his tune to only bashing billionaires and not millionaires because he himself became a millionaire. Can such a person be trusted?
And how does one claim to provide a social safety net while doing a full 180 on their position on illegal immigration? Do you think Scandinavian countries allow illegal immigration? They are the most low population homogenized countries.
Norway also charges 78 percent tax on oil extraction because they have massive reserves. This also doesn't fit the whole environment friendly narrative.
Scandinavian countries are low population homogenized Monarchy's that found wealth through rich oil deposits.
> "Scandinavian countries tend to levy top personal income tax rates on (upper) middle-class earners, not just high-income taxpayers. For example, in Denmark the top statutory personal income tax rate of 55.9 percent applies to all income over 1.3 times the average income. From the American perspective, this means that all income over $65,000 (1.3 times the average U.S. income of about $50,000) would be taxed at 55.9 percent."
> "However, depending on the structure, a VAT can be a regressive tax because it falls more on those that consume a larger share of their income, which tend to be lower-income earners."
> "While Scandinavian countries raise a lot of revenue from individuals through the income tax, social security contributions, and the VAT, corporate income taxes—as in the United States—play a less significant role in terms of revenue. All Scandinavian countries’ corporate income tax rates are lower than the United States’ rate."
> " Norway is situated on large reserves of oil and charges companies a corporate income tax rate of 78 percent on extractive activities."
So in your previous post you said that Bernie wants to do the opposite of Scandinavian countries, now you are worried that he will do exactly what they do. Which do you believe? His tax proposals were nowhere near the rates you quote from Denmark. Your sales tax numbers are correct from Denmark (and too high and regressive, yes), but the personal income tax numbers are not that high. Also, you are paying in part for a medical system. So in the US you have to add in insurance and co pay costs etc. since you are still paying for medical. And factor in all the other stuff you "get" in Denmark that you don't in the US. (yay! we pay lower taxes but our infrastructure and medical system are s**t! Freedom!)
Also, the corporate tax rate is similar between the US and Scandinavian countries.
Taxes go to far more than just university and health care. People in Scandinavian countries are happy with their systems and proof that the social contract works. Providing basic health care through your employer is a dramatic failure...a bizarre idea...immoral and not cost effective.
The Tax Foundation is a right wing think tank for the wealthy by the wealthy. They are advocating for lower taxes for the rich and misrepresenting Bernie Sanders tax plan? Shocker.
The corporate tax rate became similar between the US and Scandinavian countries by Orange man. Before that, it was higher in US.
> Which do you believe?
You didn't answer my questions. Do you think $65k is considered "wealthy" and would you be okay with paying 60% tax on that plus 25% sales tax? Do you think Bernie's 180 flip on illegal immigration was honest? Do you think it's possible to have medicare for all with illegal immigration?
Bernie is a fraud because he says things which low info people want to hear (free stuff for lower income tax and high corporate tax) while the things he wants to achieve cannot be achieved using his ideas. That's why he's a fraud - he knows he can't achieve the things, so he gets people to vote for democrats and then bends over to the establishment - done it twice.
> "The Tax Foundation is a right wing think tank for the wealthy by the wealthy. They are advocating for lower taxes for the rich and misrepresenting Bernie Sanders tax plan? Shocker."
Okay now you are just doing the typical reddit convo instead of something I would expect on Greenwald's comment thread. I simply shared the first link which showed up on google. The article doesn't even mention anything about Bernie Sanders. It simply states what the tax rates are - these are numbers - not an opinion. You can find the same numbers anywhere you like. Nothing to do with right wing or left wing. Just because something doesn't agree with your view point doesn't mean it's some evil right wing site.
I don't have a horse in this game because I am from Canada (moving to US in future). Even the whole "Canadian health care is so much better" is a lie.
The main thing to remember is that any high tax ideas is stupid when everyone's already complaining about the massive bloated and corrupt government. Why would you want to give them even more power?
Health care through employment was part of ww2 and the price controls. Companies couldn’t use wages to compete for workers so they used increasingly complex and extravagant benefit packages instead.
Pre-ww2 health insurance was basically non-profit and run by doctors and hospitals so more customers could afford the payments.
Another great example of the problems with war time freedom grabs that never get reversed.
Are you suggesting these are flat taxes, or marginal tax rates? The US had higher marginal income tax rates under Eisenhower. In return, people in Scandinavia can count on high quality medical care for life, education from preschool through doctoral degrees, including law and medicine for all who qualify, environmental protection, wholesome food, law enforcement they don't need to mistrust or fear, and a decent life for the disabled.
The vicious circle we've developed instead forces me to be skeptical that our government and political class could achieve anything comparable, though we know that four years of state school tuition was something a kid could earn by working for one year at minimum wage and saving his money. This was true in a lot of places as recently as the 1980s.
The only thing our government can reliably produce is poverty, resentment, and violence at home, and refugees abroad. Extravagant lying has been added to the list.
It's flat tax. Everyone who makes 1.3x average income in Denmark gets taxed 60%.
"For example, in Denmark the top statutory personal income tax rate of 55.9 percent applies to all income over 1.3 times the average income. From the American perspective, this means that all income over $65,000 (1.3 times the average U.S. income of about $50,000) would be taxed at 55.9 percent. Norway and Sweden have similarly flat income tax systems. Norway’s top personal tax rate of 38.4 percent applies to all income over 1.6 times the average Norwegian income. Sweden’s top personal tax rate of 57.1 percent applies to all income over 1.5 times the average national income."
I just never understood why anyone who complains how the government is super corrupt, bloated and incompetent should have even more power to now run even more areas of ones life.
"They are the most low population homogenized countries." Sweden is a major exception to this. Several large city areas are dominated by recent immigrants who are not joining the Swedish people.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-immigration-crackdown-idUSKBN19Y0G8 "Tough measures against immigrants go against the grain for many in Sweden, a country of 10 million which once called itself “a humanitarian superpower” that generously welcomed migrants fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa."
Fair point however that's a very recent change. And to accommodate that change, their policies will change too. I would highly recommend watching the documentary Borderless regarding this.
If we want to be against racism and help minorities, we should be preventing our governments from going on regime change wars and bombing them to not create such crisis in the first place.
And the poor head to U.S.A., because they know 1) Bjorn Borg's and Stefan Edberg's (and ALL) wealth heads to our capital and labor markets, creating the omly thing that ACTUALLY helps the poor, a job and a chance to help themselves.
And 2) OUR safety net is the only true safety net: individual freedom.
Being a social liberal is also much easier when 95% of society looks and sounds the same. We are a tribal species. No amount of CRT re-education will change the fact that humans are most comfortable around those who they know or perceive to know better than others of disparate backgrounds/beliefs/behaviors. It may not sound nice, or feel good, but it's honest. And not talking about it doesn't make it so.
The idea that different backgrounds caused disharmony was obvious to people many millenia ago. People forget that the Tower of Babel story had a purpose...
Not particularly honest, no. True, we are animals and have a tribal history, but your contention ignores the possibility of civilizing and bringing others into our "tribe". It also ignores the other causes of harmony/disharmony. People of different backgrounds work mostly peacefully throughout the world in socially liberal countries. Conversely, there are examples of culturally homogenous countries that are or have been violent clusterf**ks.
Tribalism still exists, but it is clearly on a downward slide. That is the reality today.
Nitpicking here. You're correct that tribalism weakens with assimilation, and introduction of new genes to the pool keeps the species strong. I don't see tribalism as a problem, though, so long as the tribe members have similar interests and are willing to talk with other tribes about how to accomplish both tribes' goals. The GG subscriber tribe is the most immediately obvious kind of non-problem tribalism. We share an interest in protecting freedom of expression. Those who subscribed knowing that Glenn was a passionate liberal, and expecting to hear what other authoritarians calling themselves liberal to illiberally oppress their opposition soon learned that they were welcome to speak, just challenged respectfully to consider facts, motivations and legitimate differences of opinions. Few get much support.
Yes. Freedom of association does NOT necessarily lead to tribalism. In fact, a SHARED recognition of freedom of association (which would NECESSARILY include a freedom of cross-cultural and cross-racial association) across "tribal" lines would PUBLICLY allow individuals the freedom they already have to judge who they wish to associate with.
The INDIVIDUAL, not society, and certainly not the State, should have free license to associate, even for (stupid) reasons of race, political party, etc.
CRT is an American invention. Not clear what you think Scandinavians or any other Europeans would need it for. Over two centuries of slavery on its soil, indigenous genocide, lynch mobs, apartheid, eugenics, and endless wars, hot, cold, and covert, against non-white and non-Western peoples . . . ? Who else does that describe? Not only do I not feel comfortable around people in America who "look like me," I know from over four decades of bitter experience I need to fear them.
And the most successful European countries with safety nets have assimilated minority populations. Those without have problems. Google Cologne New Years Eve.
Ask those in the banlieues outside Paris if the social safety net of France is as good as advertised. Ask the Brexiteers if the NHS was good enough to make them happy.
I wish more libertarians understood this. What most libertarians miss is that the market isn’t free if you don’t have a choice to exit - and the poor don’t have a choice to exit unless you have a safety net. If you have no choice to exit, it’s called slavery - and we certainly don’t support that.
I personally want eventual abolition of the state and taxation, but that can’t happen unless and until we have mutual aid organizations acting as a non-governmental safety net. As long as the state exists, and it probably always will, I think libertarians should push for a means tested UBI as the sole social safety net. Even Friedman and Hayek were begrudgingly accepting of its validity as the most freedom inducing form of social safety net and least economically warping. As long as we actually fund it through taxation, not debt, I think libertarians should support and push for its implementation.
This is also a very real way to start bridging the gap to get some democrats to jump ship and join with the libertarians. So far we mostly have disgruntled republicans, but this would get a lot of Dems to be more friendly to our ideas as well.
So long as Democrats remain an authoritarian party and use support of the news media and Big Tech to deny evidence of their racism, few will become libertarians.
I think the democrats who supported Tulsi or Yang and the types who were appalled by the patriot act are not authoritarians and might join, but those are few and far between.
No, the "only one destination" is absolute totalitarian control, which is where the U.S. is headed, as well as the entire globe under one-world government and religion [a "New Age" mix of all religions, led out in by Catholicism, as predictably became clear in the end of the TV show, Lost (to my absolute disgust---we're being indoctrinated and conditioned to accept one-world religion and government)], which the PTB have been bringing about, slowly but surely, for over one hundred years, but particularly since W.W.2 and 9/11. We will truly, literally all be enslaved soon, very much like in Orwell's book, 1984, if we don't stop globalism. But can we really stop it? It looks like global government and religious (counterfeit "Christian") enslavement, which is truly "Fourth Reich" corporate-fascism (aka, national socialism; aka, Nazism) in disguise, is a foregone conclusion, and will soon be fully in place, at least nationally (until national sovereignty is done away with, then internationally).
I believe the Third Reich was a trial run for how they could achieve it, what they could get away with, and how they could get away with it---and that today's "Fourth Reich" is favored and being sought for by the neocons and neolibs, really all neolibs, but neocon neolibs are hiding behind so-called "conservatism" (that doesn't "conserve" anything except for preventing a true government of, by and for the people, especially seeking to prevent, and often successfully preventing, social programs), or they're neocons like the Clintons, hiding behind "liberalism". We're being propagandized and manipulated as never before, like Goebbels, the Third Reich's propaganda minister, could never have conceived the level of today, but he and the Third Reich Nazis would be proud, particularly by the end game that is so successfully being fulfilled today, complete corporate-fascist, "Fourth Reich" global domination (in other words, the Nazis are winning this time).
The astoundingly large number of otherwise freedom-loving Americans who have been fooled into filling their hearts full of Authoritarian Socialism as a vehicle of (false) freedom.
Yep, exactly, except they've been enslaved in the guise of being "free" for so long that they don't know what real freedom is. Yes, Authoritarian National Socialism has given them a false sense of "freedom".
Talking with is replaced by talking at until the authoritarians seize the narrative by demanding to define the other side's terms. No talk allowed until we are guaranteed to be able to shut down opposition.
You may be correct, and I certainly can't disprove your thesis. I see the current era as being very similar to the actions of asset-stripping investors, who take over a company, load it up with debt to fund their acquisition, strip out everything that has value, then walk away. Except, this time, it's not a company, but the U.S. that is the target. That may be a way-station to your destination, but a reason to impose self-destruction on the only power on earth able to contend with globalism's greed will be a civil war. What happens after that I do not know.
Divide and conquer has been used by the elites to rule and gain power over the poor plebs for centuries. The left and right have a ton in common but the uni party knows that they can keep them distracted by letting the left and right fight each other instead of focusing on the real common enemy- the uni party politicians.
I'm starting to feel like I have more in common with disenfranchised socialists than I do with the *moderate* political parties of our time. For context, I consider myself to be a civil libertarian AND a supply sider. But I get the feeling that if we sat down for a beer, we would share many common views as long as we steered clear of economics and federalism. Even if it did, we would still be able to have a productive conversation. That seems odd and it completely makes sense somehow.
The biggest mistake the left made in the last decade was pushing Trump out. They threw away their pinata and now we all can see the emperor has no clothes. Bonus question will Joe try to deliver an SOU this year or have Kamala do it?
I keep saying the same thing: I’m an old-school pro-labor anti-war pro-civil-liberties leftist. I don’t care if you call me a socialist, a democratic socialist, a social democrat or aunt Myrtle. I just want everyone to have healthcare as a right, like every other civilized country in the world, and for the US to stop bullying, coup-ing and bombing every country under the sun that refuses to submit to its (corporate & military) interests.
I'm Canadian. Health care here may be a "right" but it often doesn't feel that way.
Summer 2012, me: "Honey, I think I figured out what might be wrong with you. I just followed links from urticaria pigmentosa to a page on mastocytosis, and they have 28 symptoms listed, 25 of which you have."
Him: "I'm going straight to the doctor. I'll leave the phone on so you can listen."
Dr: "I normally warn people away from google diagnoses, but after 8 years of this, I think you might have found it. I'll refer you to a dermatologist."
8 months later, a dermatologist: "Mastocytosis? Never heard of it. Have you tried putting some cream on it?"
6 months after that, an allergist: "Well, technically you're only allergic to pollen and dogs. I've never heard of this mastocytosis thing. Have you tried an antihistamine? A guy your size can take twice the adult dose on the label, you know. I'll write you a scrip for an epipen."
5 months after that, a hematologist: "Yes, that sounds like mastocytosis. I'm going to send you for some tests."
6 months, a serum tryptase test, an abdominal ultrasound, a bone scan, a barium swallow, and a bone marrow biopsy later, the hematologist: "Your tests were inconclusive. I'm going to send you to a dermatologist for a lesion biopsy. We'll book an appointment when the results come in. In the meantime, I'm going to put you on montelukast. It's a fairly benign drug that's shown promise off label for mastocytosis. If it works, it works."
(It worked. Not perfectly, but in combination with his already highly restricted diet, he went from 2-5 anaphylactic episodes a week to one every few weeks.)
4 months later: "The lesion biopsy was inconclusive. I could send you for a biopsy of your stomach lining. It's clear there are abnormal mast cells somewhere in your body. That would be the next logical place to look, since it appears that it's what you're eating that's causing the anaphylaxis and you don't have chronic breathing problems."
My husband and I: "No thanks. It's been 2 1/2 years already. The medicine's working. If there's nothing else you can prescribe for it, why bother hunting down a diagnosis?"
(Actually, there was another medicine she prescribed when she prescribed the montelukast. It's generally administered in eye drops, but that won't work for a systemic disorder. The pills? $675 per month. We didn't have extended health insurance at the time, so we opted not to even try.)
Anyone notice anything about the sequence of events here? One specialist referral at a time, and months of waiting between appointments. During that 2 1/2 years he ended up in emergency three times, blew through 5 epipens and spent countless nights alternating between double-strong black coffee and the treadmill as a home remedy for shock because epipens are fucking expensive.
Anyone who tells you Canada doesn't put limitations on health care is selling you something. In the US, it's money. In Canada, it's time.
I'm not saying the US system is better. But a "right" you have to wait for for months or years is hardly a right.
In the US 90 million people are uninsured or underinsured and cannot afford healthcare either on a regular basis or AT ALL, resulting in 70,000 preventable deaths and 530,000 bankruptcies due to medical debt EVERY SINGLE YEAR. And healthcare cost her capita is multiples of what other advanced countries, including Canada, spend.
No one EVER asks WHY healthcare is so expensive that you need health insurance. Why does an X-ray in Japan or Russia cost $25 but costs $650 in the USA...
Not even to mention the US’s actual DECREASE in life expectancy in recent years, something unheard of in a first-world country (except in extreme circumstances such as wartime).
(Shhh.....the current and historic open-borders, not to mention the swansong of freedom, has led to a recent immigrant class that is not as long-lived as the current population, thus lowering the life-expectancy of, ahem, citizens.)
Honey, you spend half of what we do per person. HALF. If you spent the same, you’d have your results before your diagnosis limousine pulled up to your treatment spa.
I'm so sorry this happened to you, it is terrible. But people in the US with unusual disordered are misdiagnosed very often. The sequence you describe has left people bankrupt. Routinely so.
You aren't a natural English speaker, are you. Not that there is anything wrong with being a non-native English speaker, but you try to deceive with it. You end up soundind NOTHING but condescending.
If you try to force something that requires human effort, resources, and finances just to exist in ANY amount (like food, housing, and especially healthcare) into being a "right," you allow the powers that be (like, say, the Authoritarian Socialists now in charge) the right to FORCE their production.
And those two things are actually one and the same thing - that's why fighting for reasonable foreign policy is also a fight for better life at home. Cutting Pentagon budget in half would still keep it bigger than China and Russia together, but 500 billion every year reinvested elsewhere, and the freed up talent and industrial capacity could be used for domestic, high quality jobs. That way working class kids of all races would have another upward mobility opportunity except 10 years in military in some far flung base, or deployment that destroys their bodies and minds.
Yep. And there is PERFECT historical precedence and evidence:
We defeated BOTH Fascism (WWII) and Communism (Cold War) by out-PRODUCING the enemy. It was inevitable, of course. Capitalism (even our mixed economy) ALWAYS produces much more wealth than any form of Socialism.
The problem, regardless of who they were (the officials and/or leaders picked by lottery), they would still end up being controlled, as the entire system is now controlled the military-industrial(-corrupted)-congresspeople-industrial complex; or, more specifically, the "al CIAduh(!)"-NSA(-and-their-neocon-and-neolib-subcontractor)-corporate-fascist-globalist-"Fourth-Reich" complex [did I forget any of the nationalist, national socialist conspirator/real-traitor-terrorist threat(s) to U.S. freedom, liberty and rights, and to both national and global sovereignty?]. Otherwise, if they refused to be controlled, they would die (by assassination---perhaps made to look like something else), have to be otherwise removed from office (impeachment, etc.), and/or have to resign from office.
As far as your allusion the the founders of the U.S. goes, under normal circumstances I believe they would be against it; but, considering where we are at today with a huge, out-of-control, monstrous-monstrosity, mass-murderous, illegal-war(s)-of-aggression [under BOTH international AND U.S. law(s)---"the supreme international crime" according to the law of the Nuremberg Protocols, signed onto by the U.S. government, and joined to the U.S. Constitution through the Supremacy Clause of same, and therefore not simply U.S. law by way of same, but also part of constitutional law], increasingly-corporate-fascist-authoritarian-and-totalitarian U.S. federal government, I think you're right that they might very well be for it (picking government leaders and/or officials by lottery)...AS LONG AS THEY, AS THE MONETARY-OLIGARCHS OF THE TIME, COULD CONTROL THEM.
Are you a proponent of Anarchy, that you trash the Constitution? Or just working to change the Constitution, as we have somewhat successfully over 245 (or 232 from 1789) years?
What?! Where did you get THAT from my comment?? I am an independent constitutionalist. I am NOT against the Constitution, and I a NOT a proponent of anarchy, violent anarchy anyway. Did you know that the word, "anarchy", originally meant NON-violent dissent? I believe we should all non-violently rise up en masse against the authoritarian and totalitarian mass-insanity that is taking over the U.S. and the world.
To answer your question, I don't believe, with the government presently-constituted (constipated?) the way it is, that we would stand a snowball's chance in hell of successfully adding any amendment(s) to the Constitution that would truly benefit us, or overturn any that don't benefit us, but would benefit us if we overturned them (like the Federal Reserve and income tax amendments). If we stood a chance of it, it might have already happened.
I'm sorry, but the U.S. and the world are fracked (NOT that I'm giving up).
Sorry, I must have misunderstood you, M. Steppen-Wolf.
I think from this post (one above) and a previous one above or below, I got the feeling you were for revolution leading to either anarchy or perhaps a new "constituting" document. I, too, consider myself an independent Constitutionist, and I believe in preserving the Declaration and its Constitution.
I think your last sentence here tells me what I think I thought was missing, that you are NOT giving up.
Anyway, I will reread your posts, which I have tended to enjoy, and sorry again for my misperception. I share your frustration at the current state of affairs.
He's right but if you don't pander to wealthy donors, you'll never get elected. It's kind-of hilarious when you think about it. Our system excludes people with principles from ever getting the chance to govern.
My criterion for voting is the most principled decision-making process. It's what cost Obama my vote in 2008; he wanted public funding on principle until he discovered he could swamp his opponent with private donations and principle went out the window. In 2016 I didn't vote; in 2020 I voted for Kanye West, figuring the bipolar guy was the safest bet.
"good" choices: i.e. those Mostly agreeable to you?
No one is "preventing" good choices. In the end, Bernie (only for example) just needed more support, even with Democrat Party chicanery. That he didn't get it isn't MY fault (I am a beleiver in the "lesser of two evils" voting: It's the ONLY thing keeping political parties in check).
Sve "ljepsi" - bio u Berkeley-u -- na Shattuck aveniji stotine i stotine permanentnih satora -- dakle stalne nastambe. Skoro se upisao jer u samoobrani svi zahodi su "out of order" -- gdje ti ljudi idu na zahod? Od sada nosim bocicu sa sirokim grlom u autu... ;-))
Biden je strogo cuvan da ne otvori usta -- tko zapravo sada vlada Amerikom, njenim ratovima i nuklearnim bombama? A drustvo vrtoglavo ide u kolaps.
Haha, ajoj... Ni tu na istoku nije bajno - sve puno korporativnih Wall Street tipova koje bas boli dupe za raju, da li imaju sto jesti ili ne, da li imaju zdravstveno ili ne... Nikad se necu naviknuti na to da zivim u zemlji gdje desetine milijuna mojih sugradjana nemaju ni najosnovnije zdravstveno osiguranje... A mojim prijateljima ovdje (sve super obrazovani, dragi, dobri ljudi) je to nesto najnormalnije na svijetu... Sta propaganda od rodjendan pa nadalje radi od ljudi... 😢
Then you aren’t a commie :) you care about liberties and freedom, something commies through out history don’t want. You are a classical liberal probably just like most of us.
I catch your drift but can’t agree. At least as far as I’m concerned, it’s all about taking the “leap from necessity to freedom.” Which is the underlying theme of The German Ideology, Theses on Feuerbach, The Manifesto, Capital, and everything in between, not to mention in Luxemburg’s work or Deb’s activism. Liberals, classical or otherwise, don’t exactly have a great track record historically when it comes to freedom and liberty.
This is all 100% out of the CIA playbook. Use the press to overstate an actual threat (9-11, Covid, Capital riots) make the public frightened in a constant and out of proportion level to the threat. Use it as a way to usurp civil liberties and to create unconstitutional "new norms".
Robert Barnes has been warning for 2 years that qanon is an inorganic movement most likely run by Intel agencies and telling people to stay the f away from it. I agree.
Exactly, but add the Oklahoma City Bombing to that as well. And, in addition, Waco and Ruby Ridge. Those are the false-flag, phony "Reichstag fires" that started the whole process of "totaliterrorizing" and "totalitarianizing" us and the world.
P.S.---And add the JFK assassination to the mix, too. It, and the other false-flags, put us, and/or got us back in or kept us in, the state of shock that anything can happen in the U.S.; and, later, that our government is capable of anything; so, from the PTB's POV, "you better keep your mouths shut and bow down without question to the 'national (in)security' state, deep state shadow government, 'or else'..." According to them we're all supposed to live in a fantasy world, and stay there, and/or stay that way (like the 'cogs', the 'human batteries', in the 'Matrix' movies control grid, allowing the system to enslave us and use us more and more, until they're finished allowing us to continue to exist, and they eradicate most us as the "useless eaters" that "'Heinrich' Kissinger" called the masses, and that all of them believe we are. To them, most of us are nothing but 'worthless, overpopulating animals', and are expendable. They don't need most of us. Only the elitist globalist, "Fourth Reich" corporate fascists, and about 300 to 500 million people, out of seven billion, are 'supposed' to survive, the latter to be nothing but their servants and slaves.
One of the reasons that the Democrats are acting like this is because they know, as everyone else does, that they stole the election. When you steal something, it makes you wide-eyed and alert for anyone who could possibly find out/turn you in/or be a threat in any way. They have to exaggerate that threat to keep the narrative on the "threat" rather than the facts.
If you believe that Joe Biden got TWELVE MILLION more votes than Barack Obama, you're an idiot and a fool. I lived through the election of Barack Obama and his reelection. It pained me to do so, but I would NEVER deny that he was a popular candidate with charm and charisma. Joe Biden couldn't draw flies to his political rallies.
There was a red wave in the House. Unsurprisingly, it went unreported. Also, unsurprisingly, the establishment GOP (the controlled opposition) never talks about that.
Just like no one talks about stopping the counting of ballots in six states (unheard of in prior elections) while Trump was ahead. And wouldn't ya know it, Biden managed to come from behind and win. Ain't that sumthin'.
“ Joe Biden couldn't draw flies to his political rallies.”
Not just this. Even his videos and live streams on his YouTube channel barely get any views and comments are often disabled. One could make excuses how he couldn’t get crowds because of covid (even though he didn’t get crowds even before covid) but one would expect at least his live streams to get some decent views for being the most popular president in history?
The favorite adjectives of the TV news commentary during election coverage were "unproven" and "unsubstantiated" to describe Trump's allegations of election fraud. Considering how recounts in multiple states were halted, how then were election results deemed to be "proven" or "substantiated?" I think one is as likely as the other, especially considering how Biden has all the charisma of a deflated soccer ball bouncing down a flight of stairs, as you have intimated.
I can't accept that the election was stolen. Joe Biden, for whom I did not vote, is my President, as was Trump, for whom I also did not vote. I have noted that the last two elections have left half the country feeling they were fraudulently won, which is the real danger. If we have no belief by the electorate that elections matter, what are we to do?
I want an open discussion and examination of how fraud can enter our election processes and what we can do to deter, detect and defeat it. That starts with an audit trail for the ballot. That's complicated in a secret ballot election but not impossible. If you want a list of how fraud can be encouraged, read HR1, the election "reform" bill, otherwise known as the permanent one-party state bill.
Read https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign and look at how many votes came in for Joe after the states closed down the count. They were mostly Joe, and none were witnessed, many were brought in by unsecured means. Be sure to take a look at the Georgia video about the suitcases opened early morning after the election. Also, many compelling testimonies at each of the state hearings in weeks to follow led me to believe the impossible was accomplished. I would start with allowing Republicans to view the entire process at any time at any station and I certainly would demand that the count is videoed so that everyone can view it. In Taiwan, any citizen can question any paper vote. All votes are paper, and all votes are in person there. In other words, everything is verifiable.
I read an interesting book Rigged, by James Rosone, that lays out how this could be done through a multitude of ways, each making an audit trail impossible for one to one thousand or more votes. I can vouch for a great deal of it.
I don't think this proves the Democrats stole the election. The problem is, this election was so unusual, and statistically anomalous, that it is difficult not to have some doubts about the results. That's not the same as saying Trump won, and it was stolen from him. On the one hand, a fair count would likely have had the same result -- but "likely" is not supposed to be good enough for an election. On the other, Trump couldn't rely on suspicions about an election that was unique; he actually had to prove fraud or error, and he failed in that, completely.
There were so many things Trump did wrong during his term in office, especially during the past year and the campaign, that if he had not been so utterly lazy and stupid he almost certainly would have been reelected. It's ridiculous for him to blame the DNC for that. You don't find his attacks reminiscent of Hillary's endless excuses and Russia-blaming?
Look. We can see there's something very wrong with Biden -- plenty, in fact. You cannot see there is something very wrong with Trump? How is that possible?
Sullivan was also the source of those phoney flyers for armed protests. Those flyers were so phoney, any sane person could figure out it did not originate from trump supporters. The flyers had no American flags, were all red and yellow, had the fist symbol, diagonal fonts similar to last summer protests. Then he was caught on chats wanting to dress up as trump supporters and then in video yelling “burn this b down”.
The increasingly extreme, coordinated, and crude manipulation of public narratives, coupled with the emotional bullying to get the general public to JOIN in the enforcement of these narratives, is a serious and clear warning of what is coming.
While mainstream narratives about what the US stands for and the integrity of our various institutions have long been full of shit, the last few years represent an marked shift into fact-free, brain-stem stimulation perhaps worse than the Red Scare.
This has become so extreme and powerful that even truth speakers like Greenwald and Chomsky refuse to touch new "third rails" that are no less propagandized than the issues these authors feel comfortable addressing.
Hell, even as an "anonymous" poster I have concerns about saying it plainly.
I'm old enough, too, and I concur that the Statism is much greater today than at anytime in my experience, and at anytime in history as far as I can glom.
If the implications of all this weren't so serious, it would be a farcical comedy of the highest order. Dems should be embarrassed, but aren't in the slightest. You just can't make this shit up.
"If the threat of "armed insurrectionists" and "domestic terrorists" is as great as some claim, why do they have to keep lying and peddling crude media fictions about it?"
Because upwards of 70 million people will believe anything you tell them.
It is far higher than that. I would say it's at about 250 million "Amerikans", because most of them are completely, or at least almost-completely, brainwashed (I say that number to not include children---although they will likely grow up to be brainwashed, even more so than most of us used to be). Face it, most "Amerikans" believe everything, or most everything, that the government and their propaganda arm, the MSM, tell them. The U.S.-government-loving cop shows, including with the "cord-cutter's" streaming shows and movies, are propaganda to (quite successfully) get most of us to blindly trust government, the MSM, the U.S. military, and the police. That's why when that majority of brainwashed people hear anything differing from the party line, they think it is "conspiracy theory(ies)", "insane", "weird", etc. This has been proven to be absolutely true to me because I can't talk to most people as someone who completely faces what is really going on, since most of them are so-far-gone brainwashed that they completely don't want to hear it and refuse to believe it. How does one wake people up like that? With most of them, one doesn't. Did anybody but a very small minority come out of the "Matrix" control grid in the trilogy movies of that name? No, the vast majority of the enslaved stayed enslaved until the monstrous system that controlled them was completely destroyed, if it ever really was.
I still want to know where are all these QAnon people. One august media source (Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel) reports that he was told by some guy named “Ken” that Trump would be inaugurated on March 4th (but now I gather it’s actually going to be March 20th)...
That’s it??? Some random guy named Ken is driving all this madness?
Politicians use fear, always have always will. See here examples of past campaign ads that use fear, starting with Johnson against Goldwater with the famous 'Daisy' ad
What is different this time (well, actually similar to post-9/11) is the cheer-leading that the media does, rather than searching for the truth that supports or undermines the case for fear.
And that of course is driven by new media models - where fear sells
Examples of genuine armed Insurrection in our history are: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Whiskey Rebellion, John Brown's group at Harpers Ferry. These were carried out by people who bet their lives on it, and were armed with clear intent to overthrow the government. The incidents in Washington don't begin to compare with these. But there are so many who parrot Nancy Pelosi's words in a chorus of misinformation and propaganda.
Glenn’s biggest problem as a journalist is that he is a real journalist. Go figure! Rather than propagandize a hidden agenda, he is a truth teller. He also has too much common sense and that doesn’t work in today’s world of “hysteria”reporting. With all of this said, thank goodness for Glenn’s CALM and RATIONAL essays. I always come away from his articles thinking that is still hope for the blithering world we live in.
Frankly, all the brutal honesty and efforts to expose rampant cruel sociopathy ain’t gonna amount to jack feces if people keep cowering and kneeling...
A minor point, but I think subconsciously they are also nervous about the imminent lifting of COVID restrictions. The destabilizing, temporary medical-like shock of the past year is wearing off and more people are beginning to question the authoritarian measures to which we agreed in that climate of "emergency. It wasn't just medical purity motivating the rage of the COVID pietists when two states just went full-on "open"--the DNC/MSM/Big Tech leadership are depending upon the noise of "crisis" in the background to continue hiding Biden, and to consolidate their gains over the past year.
Trump was the first supposed destabilizing narrative, and then the virus--with both gone, citizens are dusting off the shock.
There's another dimension to this too, reminiscent of people who grow up in crazy families--you get addicted to the adrenaline rush of chaos and emergency, and you're afraid of what will happen during stability because the focus is taken off someone else and put back onto you. The crisis-junkies don't just need another "Other," they need a threat to give their lives meaning, if they haven't cultivated that elsewhere.
This has to be a major factor. The COVID response has been overblown by some Democratic leaders - and as the vaccines take effect, people are beginning to rethink the past 12 months.
It explains why Cuomo is being hoisted by the #metoo petard rather than the nursing home thing...
It explains why Biden did his (unsurprising) gaffe thing this week by calling southerners Neanderthals...
It's why Dr. Seuss's racism is *now* a big deal... even after the resurfacing of tweets celebrating the man by the current VP and the Obamas...
It's why they are racing against the clock to get this 1.9 Billion Dollar "package" passed before any more positive economic indicators come out (decreasing unemployment and COVID death rates, increasing market indices...)
Are they really so nose-blind as to not smell their own farts?
I seriously think that the sexual harassment thing against Cuomo is a distraction from the actual crimes by him and 4 other governors who forced covid patients into nursing homes. I also think the establishment is trying to get rid of Cuomo to prevent completion for kamala in 2024.
Keep treating millions of well-armed people, many of whom have firsthand experience in guerrilla warfare as veterans, who already distrust the government, and are already in your country as if they are terrorists. I mean what could possibly go wrong? If only there were history books and after action reports that said this was a bad idea.
It's only a bad idea if you want a peaceful society. What if the the goal is actually to generate a violent backlash against your persecution to create a retroactive rational for your behavior?
Something... something... law of unintentional consequences.
I forgot to mention these potential insurgents are widespread throughout the country, have a nasty geographical advantage, and are massively imbedded within police and military forces!
Interestingly, organization often comes after an insurgency kicks off and the lack of large-scale organization can make it difficult to defend against. When things start getting organized is when you have to start watching out for the “El Presidente” wannabes.
You forgot the hallmark of true authoritarian conspiracy nuts: the fact that nothing happened on March 4 is proof that the "counter-measures" worked, and need to be maintained and (god willing!) enhanced.
"You forgot the hallmark of true authoritarian conspiracy nuts: the fact that nothing happened on March 4 is proof that the "counter-measures" worked, and need to be maintained and (god willing!) enhanced."
Good point.
They win either way. If there's violence, it shows their warnings were prescient. If there's none, it shows their warnings were effective.
Anyone else beginning to wonder if QAnon has been taken over by the CIA and is now a false flag operation?
Robert Barnes and others had been warning for past 2 years that Qanon is run by the Intel agencies and telling people to stay the f away from it. There’s a reason why no one is yet questioning who’s running qanon.
The last Q drop on the 6th was a link to Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It.’ Hmmm. It was a very sophisticated psyop, with enough truth to sustain and grow. The overarching theme is total war on populism.
A "sophisticated" war on "populism"? To whom does The "We" in "We're Not Gonna Take It" refer?
Don't get me wrong: You are right. Q is TOTALLY a Statist chimera, made possible by an in-the-tank-for-the-State media, and for one purpose only: dragnet for libertarians. See, Conservatives have shown they can easily be co-opted with croni-Capitalism, but the libertarians, they're a tougher nut to crack, with that "stupid" individual freedom running through their veins.
It was a sophisticated psyop. Very few missteps or tells. The wacky stuff was never actually in the drops.
But the last drop - morning of - pulled the mask off, completely...as does the fact that we don’t (and won’t) know Q’s identity despite Q’s ‘culpability’ and total spectrum surveillance.
Long game trap, nurtured with patience and skill. Impressive, really. Shows some respect for Deplorables. Indicates the road back to legit self governance is 10,000 miles of broken glass
The anti-populists have always been their elite urban progressive cousins, with also elite socialist academics feeding those "we are one" inclusiveness. Both are forcing cultural and societal self-destruction to collapse everything into total equality. Whatever level the society and its economy collapses into is acceptable to them so long as they, the elite, remain not too damaged.
Taken over? No. Run, from the beginning?
As I recall, Q’s first post was that Hillary’s arrest was imminent.
Obviously she was never arrested or charged or indicted or “locked up”.
This bogus prognostication should have been. Easy to understand since she is untouchable.
Of course. Holy Mother Hillary is about to be beatified, isn't she?
I've been telling people that if the MAGA fanatics on 1/6 had read more Sun Tzu and less of Trump's stupid tweets, they would've never accepted any invitation to walk into the Capitol building after there was already a melee outside. No security force does that unless getting people inside was part of some offensive plan. It's pretty obvious that the MAGA dupes waltzed right into a fairly well planned narrative/optics trap that never put anyone in Congress at risk but gave the FBI a long list of "terrorists" to destroy for years of political hysteria value.
That sounds about right. In fact, it's one of the few observations on the actions of the Capitol Police that day that make any sense.
Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into these events. Or not. I'm beginning to adopt the general attitude that suspecting the very worst about any national political event is the safest and most realistic option.
There's a shitload of footage of Capitol police pushing back hard on rioters, it just didn't go as viral in some circles because it doesn't feed their desired narrative that they were set-up. One of many, for example - https://nypost.com/2021/01/08/video-shows-capitol-police-cop-getting-crushed-by-protesters/
In fact someone posted footage early on, now lost in the flood of keywords, of the very first rush past the perimeter barricades on the outskirts of the grounds and even there the cops were pushing back and fighting them, they were just overrun.
I'm not sure the actions of the cops trying to beat back a crushing onslaught with batons and CS gas before being overpowered needs any explanation.
Sounds like a slow day in Portland
Yes, and there was also footage of the doors being opened and the protestors waved into the Capitol... AFTER there was already fighting outside. That makes absolute zero sense from a security point of view, none.
Considering the hyperbolic, breathless coverage surrounding Qanon - and the fact that a VERY leaky Fed almost certainly knows who it is - the absence of follow-up stories concerning Q's "real" identity certainly suggests it was an Intelligence operation.
Fed typically refers to the Federal Reserve. Assuming you mean it as the govt more generally, they likely don't know who Q is. It could be Russian or Chinese intelligence, or simply an American troll, but as long as they're using the right browser and basic security software like VPN there's no way to determine who they are. People have run entire darkweb marketplaces with billions of $ of illegal sales for years without being caught because it's so difficult to penetrate the tech, and to my knowledge, every single time a DW market was shut down it was a sloppy user mistake rather than overpowering the anonymizing technology.
From one I saw storming the Capitol, I suspect is the "visitors" in Area 51.
Quite honestly, I thought it was a massive internet troll from Day 1.
It could be a bored 58 year old nerd in his mom's basement.
It could be a group of Russians in St. Petersburg figuring out how best to mess with the US. It could be the same in China, or Iran. (Twitter has had to flag and remove hundreds of thousands of accounts from foreign actors who push tribalism; 180k in 2020 alone: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/information-operations-june-2020.html )
But, sure, it could be CIA, I suppose.
Whoever it was, they apparently use a pretty good VPN.
Our intel agencies know who Qanon is, but haven't told us AND the media doesn't ask.
It's obviously them.
If so, that's exactly what they would want you to wonder :)
QAnon is chimera.
Always has been.
As I noted above, the ten million indoctrinated "we know better than you do" guardians of "correct" thinking will keep them from influencing us too much.
I think they are real: all four members.
QAnon is probably a product of the CIA, like the KGB used to create organisations, that pushed forward those who likely would resist or make trouble
The Left knows at some point the 5% who truly embrace and practice freedom independence and autonomy will say “Done!!!”
Except when that happened in 1776, the real patriots and committed independents didn’t have to worry their neighbors and fellow citizens would stab them in the back fighting for freedom. But, we surely do today...
Agreed, but I think it's a lot higher than 5%, and growing.
It's like the campfire joke at Cub Scout camps: An older Scout or adult comes out on stage pretending to spray from a can. Then a younger Scout comes out and asks what they're doing. "I'm spraying giraffe repellant." "But there are no giraffes here!" "See - it works!"
It's called a "groaner" because of the predictable audience reaction. At least, though, the Cub Scouts are smart enough to see that it's a joke ...
Same with Covid response.
Same with AGW.
And I thought all this time that "win-win" had fairness as a necessary condition!
Turns, out Democrat "win-win" means "heads I win, tails you lose"!!!
there were no counter measures - there was nothing to counter. that's the point of Glenn's article
Isn't the Guard deployed in DC indefinitely a counter measure?
Same with poverty programs.
Actually, there was a commentator on MSNBC this week saying exactly that.
In that kind of "damned if we do, damned if we don't" narrative atmosphere their actions produce, what the hell can be done to push back against it?
Qanon is a sad joke. I think it helped recruiting for certain stupid groups of people inclined to wrong-headed magical thinking. Mostly kkk/white christian nationalist/stupid fucking redneck groups. That's why some of the same language like "the storm" is used interchangeably in these movements. MSM loves covering qanon because it checks several boxes for news entertainment. They are of no significance. I do look forward to seeing all the documentaries and the various Q tattoos the next few years.
The major players don't subscribe to qanon. They are lying low for a while. We're probably looking at an attempt of something on scale between OK city and 9/11. The heat is on and they may not be able to pull off anything big. Which could lead to many smaller scale attacks on soft targets. My guess would be mass shootings and pipe bombings. Once these turds realize things aren't going to end the way they want it, they'll probably engage in their own personal storms in a purge mentality of sorts. They work in small pods so this will tough to stop.
The overzealous security after 1/6 seems more like TSA still requiring us to take our shoes off going through airport security than some totalitarian counter measure. Both are done for show and serve no purpose. I hope there are smart people working on anti-terrorism that are good at their jobs. We do not have a rich history in our country of handling nuanced things like anti-terrorism (international or domestic) very well. I hope it's different this time.
Same thing for the Covid lockdown. The death rate is low because of the lockdown, and if we end it lots of people will die. This issue is related to Bobby Soave's article "America's Lost Generation": https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/americas-lost-generation
Yep. No wonder people are escaping to red states.
This is happening and a perfect description of quite a few ilibs when I asked why nothing keeps happening with all these dire warnings.
The fascination here is how the two conspiracy cults--Qanon and BlueAnon--are mutually reinforcing. And how members of each might be feeling the way Henry Emmons, a follower of William Miller, who predicted the second coming for October 22, 1844:
"I waited all Tuesday [October 22] and dear Jesus did not come;– I waited all the forenoon of Wednesday, and was well in body as I ever was, but after 12 o'clock I began to feel faint, and before dark I needed someone to help me up to my chamber, as my natural strength was leaving me very fast, and I lay prostrate for 2 days without any pain– sick with disappointment."--Wikipedia, "Great Disappointment"
I recall reading a fairly modern example of belief perseverance detailed in a study on the subject.
A doomsday cult predicted the end of the world would come on X day. As believers, they would be spared. They all divested themselves of their worldly possessions and met in one place to pray.
When the end of the world didn't happen, the leader proclaimed that they had been witness to a miracle. The power of their prayers and their faith was so great, it had saved the entire world. "O Great Day!"
Not only did they come away from the event more certain than before that their beliefs were The Truth, they also became more enthusiastic in their proselytization efforts.
Perhaps Mr. Emmons would have not fallen into a two day funk had he been told his prayers had helped stave off the end of all things.
Yeah, but they had to start from $0 again. Do you think they learned THAT lesson? (Probably did individually, and quietly.)
Good god. Take a breath. Take another breath. Now walk a mile or two. The fear of conspiracy will abate and you’ll see more clearly.
Er...the entire QAnon subject is to instill the fear of conspiracy to the point of turning DC into an armed camp ringed by the Pelosian Guard. I have worked inside the beltway for 25 years and the only mention I’ve ever heard of QAnon is from CNN, MSNBC, and the Washington Post. I do know however that when I changed my screen name to ‘CIA owns the WaPo’ I was immediately banned from the reader comments section. There’s a conspiracy theory for you.
Hell, the battle is lost, the war is over. Q, Blue, or whatever, we are in a one party state, media on board, tech in full throated support. The revolution was actually not televised (thank you, Gill Scott Heron) it happened while the world watched something else.
Hearted, except for "the war is over."
TAS/pop122 - talk to me in a couple of years and see how you feel about the war.
If you don’t have the brains to participate in the discussion, don’t.
Lack of brains is a feature of that particular poster.
Also, accuse your enemies of that for which you are guilty. The security state put DC under military occupation to prevent a military occupation of DC
I first posted months ago about being afraid to live in my own adopted country for the first time in my life. I came here as a one year old child from the Philippines with my mother, the new foreign wife of a soldier returning from the Vietnam War in 1966. When we were stateside, we lived mostly here in the South and it wasn’t easy for my mother to be seen as “colored” or for me to be seen as a small step above being black in south GA. I entered my 1st grade year in 1971, the first year the school was integrated at that level. Before that, I was only allowed to attend a segregated kindergarten. I know more about racism than most of the know-NOTHINGS protesting in our city streets today. Now, my fear has only grown...& it’s NOT Trump supporters that I fear.
Thank you for remaining true to your core beliefs in free speech, Mr. Greenwald. I don’t think I’m overstating how valuable that is.
"A small step?" Big enough not to end up in a chain gang I am sure. (See, e.g., Douglas Blackmon) https://books.google.com/books/about/Slavery_by_Another_Name.html?id=2v-BYWrjl9IC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&gboemv=1
Are you Douglas Blackmon, trying to pitch your book?
The next time a policeman stops you, come back and tell us how you felt.
Is that a threat? Do you know something about M. michele morgan that we should know? Why should she/he/them worry about being stopped by a "policeman"? Who are you, Red? Come clean. That's my real name. What's yours?
Conservative here. It’s not my side that is pursuing cancel culture, doxing, shaming, book banning and censoring. These are the authoritarian moves of the left.
I have been following the travails of Jodi Shaw, avowed liberal,formerly of Smith College, who resigned her position and refused to take a financial settlement that would have bought her silence. She is speaking out against the outright racism against white people like herself that has become a college norm everywhere now. Confess your white guilt? What?! She is planning to sue Smith. She set up gofundme and paypal, and is amazed at the support pouring in from “the right”. Of course the right supports someone who is brave enough to choose freedom over comfort.
How many on the left pay for subscriptions to conservative publications and want to know how others think?
The left is worse, they've infected our nation's HR departments, but the right also bears watching sometimes. They're trying to censor books in Tennessee and in Kentucky they're trying to make it illegal to insult cops, for Pete's sake.
I do check in a lot with publications on the right and, at least for the moment, there's an unusually great diversity of thought. Here's hoping that the ones who genuinely want to help the working class (not just seem to, for political purposes) win out.
How do we "help" the working class? Hinder those that would and could hire them to.....work?
Everybody I know knows Trump voters, and knows why they voted as they did.
How many people here are agreeing with you, Red? C'mon, you better up your posting. Maybe you can change someone's mind.
Come on Timothy you should know your colors. It's not Red, it's Commie Pinko, isn't it?
You got me there, M. russian bot, but I never liked those old monickers like "Commie" and "Pinko" (where DID pinko come from?). I did see a movie called Reds, I think, which (I could be mistaken) seems to perfectly fit the current discussion.
Look, M. Sonja is living her Marxist past. There, is that better?
I prefer red diaper doper baby.
I already cancelled my subscription here weeks ago. Runs out in a few days.
Say, I hope your sports betting is better.
You sent a message to me asking about how I might feel the next time a policeman stops me? Bless your heart, you’re just so pitiable with your generalizations. You only demean yourself, my dear, when you allow your assumptions to be based upon nothing more than your own selectively limited perspective.
Thanks! Got any tips?
Who cares what white Americans think? Are you two percent of humanity, or three?
And another shoe drops.
Lol, the CCP isn't going to treat blacks any better than Uighurs.
Why did ALL Trump voters vote as they did, Sonja?
Yeah, and you and everybody YOU know sure could FIX everyone else's vote, since YOU know, not only why we voted for DJT, but how we SHOULD have voted.
You think someone else is deluded? I have not voted in a presidential election in the 21st century except this year, for La Riva, to protest Leonard Peltier's continued incarceration, and did so in person on election day. I only voted for Obama and Sanders in the primaries. At no time did I vote for any ticket with a Biden on it. So much for your febrile perspicuity.
Note I did NOT say you voted for Mr. Biden.
What sort of a "move" is it when heavily armed civilians invade state capitol buildings in protest of COVID restrictions, or act as de facto law enforcement with the encouragement of local police on the scene?
I'm not minimizing what is happening at Smith. I had a taste of it where I taught as adjunct (not my main gig) and left, of course. When you realize someone can destroy you out of malice or on a whim, and that nothing you can say or do will matter, while they will be rewarded for it, or at least remain unscathed, the chill and foreboding you feel is unique. But these people don't have guns. There's at least that.
"Subscriptions?" Oh please. I see you're sheltered.
"...heavily armed civilians..."
You are deluded. I rest my case.
Michigan, Texas, North Carolina, that I can immediately recall, though the list is longer. Unless that was toy gun cosplay.
If you think those were "heavily armed civilians," then you have another think coming.
The FBI said in front of the Senate that not one protestor had a firearm... not one.
I expressly said STATE capitols, in fact. What is wrong with you?
M. Sonja, take your ridiculous ad hominem, and go to Hell.
I was referring to the protests at state capitols, against COVID restrictions (which -- namely, the shutdowns -- I agree were ill conceived).
WOW if your memory, and your tropisms, are that bad, media has you where it wants you.
That's because you're rational. Culture wars are ALWAYS a diversion, no matter who is playing. There is something quite different going on that they all have an interest in diverting you from seeing. Glenn has been great in shedding light on that.
Yep.
Are you two people, Red? Or maybe a committee? Or a.......commune? You sure talk in innuendo, as if you can't seem to come to a.....collective decision?
You always go halfway there, and then end with ad hominem. Come on, state plainly your philosophy and politics. Are you an individual, or just an insult committee?
It was plain to see on January 6th, to everyone with even a modicum of intelligence and a passing affinity for reality, that what took place was a riot carried out by a hodgepodge of Trump supporters and others with a variety of grievances. By every conceivable metric (duration, property damage, violent assaults), this riot was much less severe than the dozens of riots that occurred (to the cheers of the same media pundits of elected Democrats decrying the January 6th riot) throughout 2020. Indeed, most of the "casualties" from the riot occurred because the participants were so infirm and elderly they were dropping from heart attacks and strokes.
It was clear from the beginning that the powers-that-be, however, were going to milk this riot for everything they could. The subtle shift in lies surrounding the narrative woven by our Dear Leaders in the days following the riot were important. They very quickly shifted from blaming Trump himself to blaming, "right wing extremists" and "white supremacy". This was a very telling shift, as well as being critical to their strategy. If the source of the problem was Trump (or any specific, identifiable source), then the crisis could eventually be resolved. Trump could be jailed or otherwise eliminated from the scene, and the crisis would be resolved, with all "emergency" powers relinquished. But that isn't the goal. Like the "war on drugs" or the "war on terror", a war against a slogan or an idea has no achievable victory conditions. How can we know when the war against "white supremacy" has been won? How do we know what freedoms are necessary to sacrifice in order to win the war against "dangerous ring-wing extremists"? Who are these enemies? What does one have to do or say to be considered a domestic terrorist who is so dangerous that they cannot be afforded legal or Constitutional rights? What speech is so dangerous that it cannot be allowed?
These things are all undefined and unknowable by design. There are no powers that cannot be claimed, no person that cannot be silenced, no end to the "emergency" that requires this totalitarianism. Even raising questions about the reality "emergency" itself denotes one as someone who probably harbors sympathy for "the enemy" (as evidenced by the treatment received regularly by Greenwald).
Unfortunately, those feebleminded enough to believe that "our very democracy" is at stake and threatens to be toppled by an unhinged mob of racist Trump supporters that want to sow nationwide destruction, are all in. For them, this is an existential threat, where the ends justify the means. Even those with the capacity to perceive a sliver of objective reality and see through some of the lies, see those lies as inconsequential (or even justified and necessary!). After all, if a false narrative about an officer being beaten to death with a fire extinguisher can rally support in the war against evil, right-wing, white-supremacists whose divisions are laying in wait, ready to take over the country, is that really a bad thing?
Many have described the rise of Trump as the "post-truth era". Unfortunately they didn't know how accurate that was.
You are so right, damn it all to hell. It's so infuriating. The machinations of Pelosi and Shumer are so utterly transparent in their invention and manipulation. It drives me crazy how many people fail or refuse to see through it and call it out.
Creating fear is a power grab. At the same time, we are being told that the demons of racism are everywhere and people need to be fired for saying the wrong thing. We are a year into the lockdown, and we are still being told that if we reopen the economy a large number of people will die.
Bang on!
You ask "After all, if a false narrative about an officer being beaten to death with a fire extinguisher can rally support in the war against evil, right-wing, white-supremacists whose divisions are laying in wait, ready to take over the country, is that really a bad thing?"
We have seen this before. It can result in horrible suffering and death. Witness Colin Powell standing before the UN waving photographs of a burned out panel van claiming it was a mobile chemical weapons laboratory.
No, we haven't seen this before.
Yes, Powell et al (and boy that sure was a worldwide Statist clusterf...) did demagogue and dissemble, but his target wasn't Americans.
The Authoritarian Socialists (another term for Fascists, btw) ringing themselves with conscertina wire today have you, freedom-loving Americans, in the crosshairs.
We have NEVER seen this before, not to this level of blatant power-grab.
Maybe not here but we definitely have seen it before. The Reichstag in 1933 comes to mind.
Most of the feebleminded who believe the ends justify the means are supporting those for whom the means are the ends--incompetents who find material compensation in wielding power with psychopaths and sociopaths telling them how to wield it.
Your comment is an excellent supplement to Glenn's excellent essay. Thank you.
Fuck ‘em. They wanna use 1984 as a handbook? Fine.
The Principles of Newspeak was written in the past tense.
Exactly. The State's "newspeak" is the timeless attempt to destroy individualism, which is the for-all-time enemy of the State.
It’s just not gonna work.
This is what happens when the demand for insurrection exceeds the supply.
"This is what happens when the demand for insurrection exceeds the supply."
The beauty of the capitalist system is that supply can be adjusted upwards to meet the demand. The FBI have extensive experience in manufacturing 'terrorists' i.e. dupes to whom an FBI informant provides a home made bomb and then turns them in. This simple formula can be used to manufacture a virtually unlimited number of insurrectionists. So while there may be temporary insurrection inflation, the system is ultimately self-correcting.
Once again, crony-Capitalism is not Capitalism. It is anti-Capitalism.
"So while there may be temporary insurrection inflation, the system is ultimately self-correcting." I love to see an analogy pushed to its limits and continue to function.
The dreaded insurrection arbitrage...
Doesn’t have anything to do with economic systems but point taken.
You supply siders think you are so clever, don't you? :)
And you non-supply-siders are so happy with your "discovered" crony-Capitalism.
So clever of you to yell. "See? See? Down with Capitalism!"
But maybe I misunderstand M. Scott, with that sneaky :)
:)
When the "demand" is State generated, that is the very definition of Crony-Capitalism, NOT Capitalism.
Well said
I am a socialist and recent events have had me puzzled. What I can say is that today's politicians can be described in the words of cowboy movies as "lily livered." Neither of our 2 Parties represent me. If it were me, I would have gone out to greet the "insurrectionists" and talked with them about their concerns. I am unafraid when it comes to reaching out to those who don't think like I do. what does this say about today's members of Congress that they scuttled Pence out the back door to "safety" when he could have spoken as Trump's VP to the "invaders." To make this short: Elected officials don't know who their constituencies are and fear them because only powerful and wealthy donors matter. Leave it to Glenn to explain a panoply of complicated stuff.
Your mistake is in believing that their rationale is not cynical. With a couple of exceptions that fall into the category of "useful idiots," none of them truly believe an insurrection is occurring or in the process of doing so. This is a power play. I despise drawing comparisons of this nature because it always sounds hyperbolic and stupid, but this is a fake Reichstag Fire.
With each new accusation, the Democrats have upped the stakes. We've gone from Russian meddling to outright insurrection. The hyperbole is rising with each wave of spittle-flecked demagoguery. They know what they're saying is untrue, they just don't care. They have power, they intend to keep it no matter the cost.
How do you know the Reichstag fire wasn't faked?
The Reichstag actually burned, just the Nazis blamed the communists for what they did themselves. The Democrats are claiming an armed insurrection that didn't even happen.
The story is more complicated than that. Nazis bad, duh, but they weren’t behind it either
But regardless, the Nazis, like today's Democratic Party, sure knew how to "use" it. That should be crystal clear in both cases.
I don't think M. Lee meant to imply that. Didn't M. Lee mean to say, "....but this is a fake, like the cause of the Reichstag Fire."
I am a libertarian and fully agree. As a social liberal I recognize that government has legitimate functions, and one is helping to care for the vulnerable. The social safety nets of Scandinavia are often cited as examples of socialism that works, but the leaders of every Scandinavian country disagree vociferously. They say they are market-based economies, not socialist. I believe them.
As a fiscal conservative I recognize that being a social liberal is a luxury that can only be afforded if we are fiscal conservatives.
I, too, would have greeted the insurrectionists and asked them to speak. The escalating authoritarianism has only one destination: civil war. This is beyond sick.
The reason Scandinavian countries disagree with being labelled socialists is because they practice the exact opposite of what Bernie sanders and his supporters want. Scandinavian Countries have the lowest corporate tax rate and the highest personal income tax rate. This is the exact opposite of what Bernie claims to want as he complains corporations aren’t paying enough taxes. So either Bernie can claim to want to be like Scandinavian countries or he can tell lie and he picked lying. He also used to be vehemently against illegal immigration and even called it “right wing” policy which lowers wages until trump came. Then he did a while 180 on it. I had known Bernie was a fraud since I saw this happen in 2016.
https://youtu.be/vf-k6qOfXz0
Yes, Scandinavian countries are free market countries with a strong social safety net. I'm not sure why you are claiming that they practice the "exact opposite" of what Bernie Sanders wants. Bernie Sanders wanted to lower personal income taxes on the wealthy? News to me. While there may be differences in Sanders policies vs. Scandinavian policies (which differ between countries), "exact opposite" is not being truthful. He is for taxing the wealthy fairly and using this to fund a social safety net similar to Scandinavian countries. A social safety net that their citizens love for very good reason.
No, you are confusing "wealthy" with someone who makes barely over the average income. Denmark's income tax is 60% on 1.3x the average income (source below). So if average income is $50k, then it means anyone making $65k and over pays 60% in income tax. Also 25% sales tax on everything you buy - from eggs to everything.
Do you think Bernie has told people that he would like to tax 60% any household making $65k? And would you be okay with an extra 25% sales tax on eggs, milk and everything?
Do you think $65k is considered "wealthy"?
Do you think it's wise to pay 60% of your income for the rest of your life in taxes just to get university and health care? Or would it be wise to decide by yourself which insurance you want to pick? Or get it from your employer?
Btw, I am NOT saying US's current health care or education system is any good. I am saying Bernie doesn't tell the truth.
Search through his twitter history. I can point to 8 tweets where he was bashing millionaires and billionaires. Then suddenly he changed his tune to only bashing billionaires and not millionaires because he himself became a millionaire. Can such a person be trusted?
And how does one claim to provide a social safety net while doing a full 180 on their position on illegal immigration? Do you think Scandinavian countries allow illegal immigration? They are the most low population homogenized countries.
Norway also charges 78 percent tax on oil extraction because they have massive reserves. This also doesn't fit the whole environment friendly narrative.
Scandinavian countries are low population homogenized Monarchy's that found wealth through rich oil deposits.
https://taxfoundation.org/bernie-sanders-scandinavian-countries-taxes/
> "Scandinavian countries tend to levy top personal income tax rates on (upper) middle-class earners, not just high-income taxpayers. For example, in Denmark the top statutory personal income tax rate of 55.9 percent applies to all income over 1.3 times the average income. From the American perspective, this means that all income over $65,000 (1.3 times the average U.S. income of about $50,000) would be taxed at 55.9 percent."
> "However, depending on the structure, a VAT can be a regressive tax because it falls more on those that consume a larger share of their income, which tend to be lower-income earners."
> "While Scandinavian countries raise a lot of revenue from individuals through the income tax, social security contributions, and the VAT, corporate income taxes—as in the United States—play a less significant role in terms of revenue. All Scandinavian countries’ corporate income tax rates are lower than the United States’ rate."
> " Norway is situated on large reserves of oil and charges companies a corporate income tax rate of 78 percent on extractive activities."
So in your previous post you said that Bernie wants to do the opposite of Scandinavian countries, now you are worried that he will do exactly what they do. Which do you believe? His tax proposals were nowhere near the rates you quote from Denmark. Your sales tax numbers are correct from Denmark (and too high and regressive, yes), but the personal income tax numbers are not that high. Also, you are paying in part for a medical system. So in the US you have to add in insurance and co pay costs etc. since you are still paying for medical. And factor in all the other stuff you "get" in Denmark that you don't in the US. (yay! we pay lower taxes but our infrastructure and medical system are s**t! Freedom!)
Also, the corporate tax rate is similar between the US and Scandinavian countries.
Taxes go to far more than just university and health care. People in Scandinavian countries are happy with their systems and proof that the social contract works. Providing basic health care through your employer is a dramatic failure...a bizarre idea...immoral and not cost effective.
The Tax Foundation is a right wing think tank for the wealthy by the wealthy. They are advocating for lower taxes for the rich and misrepresenting Bernie Sanders tax plan? Shocker.
The corporate tax rate became similar between the US and Scandinavian countries by Orange man. Before that, it was higher in US.
> Which do you believe?
You didn't answer my questions. Do you think $65k is considered "wealthy" and would you be okay with paying 60% tax on that plus 25% sales tax? Do you think Bernie's 180 flip on illegal immigration was honest? Do you think it's possible to have medicare for all with illegal immigration?
Bernie is a fraud because he says things which low info people want to hear (free stuff for lower income tax and high corporate tax) while the things he wants to achieve cannot be achieved using his ideas. That's why he's a fraud - he knows he can't achieve the things, so he gets people to vote for democrats and then bends over to the establishment - done it twice.
> "The Tax Foundation is a right wing think tank for the wealthy by the wealthy. They are advocating for lower taxes for the rich and misrepresenting Bernie Sanders tax plan? Shocker."
Okay now you are just doing the typical reddit convo instead of something I would expect on Greenwald's comment thread. I simply shared the first link which showed up on google. The article doesn't even mention anything about Bernie Sanders. It simply states what the tax rates are - these are numbers - not an opinion. You can find the same numbers anywhere you like. Nothing to do with right wing or left wing. Just because something doesn't agree with your view point doesn't mean it's some evil right wing site.
I don't have a horse in this game because I am from Canada (moving to US in future). Even the whole "Canadian health care is so much better" is a lie.
The main thing to remember is that any high tax ideas is stupid when everyone's already complaining about the massive bloated and corrupt government. Why would you want to give them even more power?
Health care through employment was part of ww2 and the price controls. Companies couldn’t use wages to compete for workers so they used increasingly complex and extravagant benefit packages instead.
Pre-ww2 health insurance was basically non-profit and run by doctors and hospitals so more customers could afford the payments.
Another great example of the problems with war time freedom grabs that never get reversed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/upshot/the-real-reason-the-us-has-employer-sponsored-health-insurance.html
Are you suggesting these are flat taxes, or marginal tax rates? The US had higher marginal income tax rates under Eisenhower. In return, people in Scandinavia can count on high quality medical care for life, education from preschool through doctoral degrees, including law and medicine for all who qualify, environmental protection, wholesome food, law enforcement they don't need to mistrust or fear, and a decent life for the disabled.
The vicious circle we've developed instead forces me to be skeptical that our government and political class could achieve anything comparable, though we know that four years of state school tuition was something a kid could earn by working for one year at minimum wage and saving his money. This was true in a lot of places as recently as the 1980s.
The only thing our government can reliably produce is poverty, resentment, and violence at home, and refugees abroad. Extravagant lying has been added to the list.
It's flat tax. Everyone who makes 1.3x average income in Denmark gets taxed 60%.
"For example, in Denmark the top statutory personal income tax rate of 55.9 percent applies to all income over 1.3 times the average income. From the American perspective, this means that all income over $65,000 (1.3 times the average U.S. income of about $50,000) would be taxed at 55.9 percent. Norway and Sweden have similarly flat income tax systems. Norway’s top personal tax rate of 38.4 percent applies to all income over 1.6 times the average Norwegian income. Sweden’s top personal tax rate of 57.1 percent applies to all income over 1.5 times the average national income."
I just never understood why anyone who complains how the government is super corrupt, bloated and incompetent should have even more power to now run even more areas of ones life.
Yes, and millions of Americans should have already emigrated to Scandinavia.
I thus refute your simpleton, black and white,Pollyanna-ish-ness.
"They are the most low population homogenized countries." Sweden is a major exception to this. Several large city areas are dominated by recent immigrants who are not joining the Swedish people.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/muslim-refugees-and-the-cost-of-sweden-s-kindness-1.912737
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-immigration-crackdown-idUSKBN19Y0G8 "Tough measures against immigrants go against the grain for many in Sweden, a country of 10 million which once called itself “a humanitarian superpower” that generously welcomed migrants fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO9vBHZRBQ4
Fair point however that's a very recent change. And to accommodate that change, their policies will change too. I would highly recommend watching the documentary Borderless regarding this.
If we want to be against racism and help minorities, we should be preventing our governments from going on regime change wars and bombing them to not create such crisis in the first place.
Don't forget - as soon as a Swede makes it big, he moves to Monte Carlo. Ask Bjorn Borg or Stefan Edberg. So much for solidarity and the safety net.
And the poor head to U.S.A., because they know 1) Bjorn Borg's and Stefan Edberg's (and ALL) wealth heads to our capital and labor markets, creating the omly thing that ACTUALLY helps the poor, a job and a chance to help themselves.
And 2) OUR safety net is the only true safety net: individual freedom.
Being a social liberal is also much easier when 95% of society looks and sounds the same. We are a tribal species. No amount of CRT re-education will change the fact that humans are most comfortable around those who they know or perceive to know better than others of disparate backgrounds/beliefs/behaviors. It may not sound nice, or feel good, but it's honest. And not talking about it doesn't make it so.
The idea that different backgrounds caused disharmony was obvious to people many millenia ago. People forget that the Tower of Babel story had a purpose...
CRT reeducation is to tribalism what manure is to poo.
Not particularly honest, no. True, we are animals and have a tribal history, but your contention ignores the possibility of civilizing and bringing others into our "tribe". It also ignores the other causes of harmony/disharmony. People of different backgrounds work mostly peacefully throughout the world in socially liberal countries. Conversely, there are examples of culturally homogenous countries that are or have been violent clusterf**ks.
Tribalism still exists, but it is clearly on a downward slide. That is the reality today.
Tribalism is best solved by assimilation - not by continued segregation and charges of cultural appropriation.
Nitpicking here. You're correct that tribalism weakens with assimilation, and introduction of new genes to the pool keeps the species strong. I don't see tribalism as a problem, though, so long as the tribe members have similar interests and are willing to talk with other tribes about how to accomplish both tribes' goals. The GG subscriber tribe is the most immediately obvious kind of non-problem tribalism. We share an interest in protecting freedom of expression. Those who subscribed knowing that Glenn was a passionate liberal, and expecting to hear what other authoritarians calling themselves liberal to illiberally oppress their opposition soon learned that they were welcome to speak, just challenged respectfully to consider facts, motivations and legitimate differences of opinions. Few get much support.
Yes. Freedom of association does NOT necessarily lead to tribalism. In fact, a SHARED recognition of freedom of association (which would NECESSARILY include a freedom of cross-cultural and cross-racial association) across "tribal" lines would PUBLICLY allow individuals the freedom they already have to judge who they wish to associate with.
The INDIVIDUAL, not society, and certainly not the State, should have free license to associate, even for (stupid) reasons of race, political party, etc.
Blow the Tower of Babel out your ass. You’d be surprised how many people you can get along with if you’re not a moron.
And if you don't mind salty language (wink, wink, and I'm guilty as sin).
(Or rather guilty as shit.)
CRT is an American invention. Not clear what you think Scandinavians or any other Europeans would need it for. Over two centuries of slavery on its soil, indigenous genocide, lynch mobs, apartheid, eugenics, and endless wars, hot, cold, and covert, against non-white and non-Western peoples . . . ? Who else does that describe? Not only do I not feel comfortable around people in America who "look like me," I know from over four decades of bitter experience I need to fear them.
You must not have visited a major European city since, what? 1970?
Scandinavian countries are homogeneous. This is not debatable.
Norway: 83% ethnic Norwegian https://www.indexmundi.com/norway/demographics_profile.html
Sweden: 81% ethnic Swedish
https://www.indexmundi.com/sweden/demographics_profile.html
Denmark: 86% ethnic Danish
https://www.indexmundi.com/denmark/demographics_profile.html
And the most successful European countries with safety nets have assimilated minority populations. Those without have problems. Google Cologne New Years Eve.
They're (meaning the Scandinavians) the only ones with substantial social safety nets? Do tell.
Or are UK, France, Germany not so successful? In some ways, certainly moreso.
Ask those in the banlieues outside Paris if the social safety net of France is as good as advertised. Ask the Brexiteers if the NHS was good enough to make them happy.
Oh, and Germany... 87% ethnic German
https://www.indexmundi.com/germany/demographics_profile.html
With an "official" state language to boot.
I wish more libertarians understood this. What most libertarians miss is that the market isn’t free if you don’t have a choice to exit - and the poor don’t have a choice to exit unless you have a safety net. If you have no choice to exit, it’s called slavery - and we certainly don’t support that.
I personally want eventual abolition of the state and taxation, but that can’t happen unless and until we have mutual aid organizations acting as a non-governmental safety net. As long as the state exists, and it probably always will, I think libertarians should push for a means tested UBI as the sole social safety net. Even Friedman and Hayek were begrudgingly accepting of its validity as the most freedom inducing form of social safety net and least economically warping. As long as we actually fund it through taxation, not debt, I think libertarians should support and push for its implementation.
This is also a very real way to start bridging the gap to get some democrats to jump ship and join with the libertarians. So far we mostly have disgruntled republicans, but this would get a lot of Dems to be more friendly to our ideas as well.
So long as Democrats remain an authoritarian party and use support of the news media and Big Tech to deny evidence of their racism, few will become libertarians.
I think the democrats who supported Tulsi or Yang and the types who were appalled by the patriot act are not authoritarians and might join, but those are few and far between.
Tulsi supporters yes. Yang supporters no imo.
No, the "only one destination" is absolute totalitarian control, which is where the U.S. is headed, as well as the entire globe under one-world government and religion [a "New Age" mix of all religions, led out in by Catholicism, as predictably became clear in the end of the TV show, Lost (to my absolute disgust---we're being indoctrinated and conditioned to accept one-world religion and government)], which the PTB have been bringing about, slowly but surely, for over one hundred years, but particularly since W.W.2 and 9/11. We will truly, literally all be enslaved soon, very much like in Orwell's book, 1984, if we don't stop globalism. But can we really stop it? It looks like global government and religious (counterfeit "Christian") enslavement, which is truly "Fourth Reich" corporate-fascism (aka, national socialism; aka, Nazism) in disguise, is a foregone conclusion, and will soon be fully in place, at least nationally (until national sovereignty is done away with, then internationally).
I believe the Third Reich was a trial run for how they could achieve it, what they could get away with, and how they could get away with it---and that today's "Fourth Reich" is favored and being sought for by the neocons and neolibs, really all neolibs, but neocon neolibs are hiding behind so-called "conservatism" (that doesn't "conserve" anything except for preventing a true government of, by and for the people, especially seeking to prevent, and often successfully preventing, social programs), or they're neocons like the Clintons, hiding behind "liberalism". We're being propagandized and manipulated as never before, like Goebbels, the Third Reich's propaganda minister, could never have conceived the level of today, but he and the Third Reich Nazis would be proud, particularly by the end game that is so successfully being fulfilled today, complete corporate-fascist, "Fourth Reich" global domination (in other words, the Nazis are winning this time).
My word. Doesn’t that all sound very scary!
Lol
Who are “they”? An army of Hitler clones from Brazil?
The astoundingly large number of otherwise freedom-loving Americans who have been fooled into filling their hearts full of Authoritarian Socialism as a vehicle of (false) freedom.
Yep, exactly, except they've been enslaved in the guise of being "free" for so long that they don't know what real freedom is. Yes, Authoritarian National Socialism has given them a false sense of "freedom".
I take it that's sarcasm? Don't you read very well? I already answered your question in the comment: The corporate-fascist globalists.
I’m an anarchist and agree with both of you!
First thing you do is talk! How is any of this rocket science?
Talking with is replaced by talking at until the authoritarians seize the narrative by demanding to define the other side's terms. No talk allowed until we are guaranteed to be able to shut down opposition.
Then I look forward to sharpening my insults!
The Nazis have been winning all along. 17 Nazis hung after Nuremberg. 1000+ Nazis imported to the USA and across the globe via Paperclip
I recall quite a few being killed in the war. Including the top one. But sure.
And the ones that are left are older than the POTUS. Yikes!
You may be correct, and I certainly can't disprove your thesis. I see the current era as being very similar to the actions of asset-stripping investors, who take over a company, load it up with debt to fund their acquisition, strip out everything that has value, then walk away. Except, this time, it's not a company, but the U.S. that is the target. That may be a way-station to your destination, but a reason to impose self-destruction on the only power on earth able to contend with globalism's greed will be a civil war. What happens after that I do not know.
Catabolic capitalism is probably the next stage.
Well, if that is anything like Laissez-faire free-market Capitalism, or at least a "pre-stage" of such, then count me in!
Talk about a silver lining!
Divide and conquer has been used by the elites to rule and gain power over the poor plebs for centuries. The left and right have a ton in common but the uni party knows that they can keep them distracted by letting the left and right fight each other instead of focusing on the real common enemy- the uni party politicians.
I CAN agree with this!
I'm starting to feel like I have more in common with disenfranchised socialists than I do with the *moderate* political parties of our time. For context, I consider myself to be a civil libertarian AND a supply sider. But I get the feeling that if we sat down for a beer, we would share many common views as long as we steered clear of economics and federalism. Even if it did, we would still be able to have a productive conversation. That seems odd and it completely makes sense somehow.
We've always had way more in common than differences. That's one of the reason they don't want us talking to one another, and want us yelling instead.
This has been Matt Taibbi's thesis for a while - and it is proving more salient than ever, especially with Orange Man Out.
The biggest mistake the left made in the last decade was pushing Trump out. They threw away their pinata and now we all can see the emperor has no clothes. Bonus question will Joe try to deliver an SOU this year or have Kamala do it?
Yep. The Democrats own it all now. All that should be left is the hoisting on their own petards.
I keep saying the same thing: I’m an old-school pro-labor anti-war pro-civil-liberties leftist. I don’t care if you call me a socialist, a democratic socialist, a social democrat or aunt Myrtle. I just want everyone to have healthcare as a right, like every other civilized country in the world, and for the US to stop bullying, coup-ing and bombing every country under the sun that refuses to submit to its (corporate & military) interests.
I'm Canadian. Health care here may be a "right" but it often doesn't feel that way.
Summer 2012, me: "Honey, I think I figured out what might be wrong with you. I just followed links from urticaria pigmentosa to a page on mastocytosis, and they have 28 symptoms listed, 25 of which you have."
Him: "I'm going straight to the doctor. I'll leave the phone on so you can listen."
Dr: "I normally warn people away from google diagnoses, but after 8 years of this, I think you might have found it. I'll refer you to a dermatologist."
8 months later, a dermatologist: "Mastocytosis? Never heard of it. Have you tried putting some cream on it?"
6 months after that, an allergist: "Well, technically you're only allergic to pollen and dogs. I've never heard of this mastocytosis thing. Have you tried an antihistamine? A guy your size can take twice the adult dose on the label, you know. I'll write you a scrip for an epipen."
5 months after that, a hematologist: "Yes, that sounds like mastocytosis. I'm going to send you for some tests."
6 months, a serum tryptase test, an abdominal ultrasound, a bone scan, a barium swallow, and a bone marrow biopsy later, the hematologist: "Your tests were inconclusive. I'm going to send you to a dermatologist for a lesion biopsy. We'll book an appointment when the results come in. In the meantime, I'm going to put you on montelukast. It's a fairly benign drug that's shown promise off label for mastocytosis. If it works, it works."
(It worked. Not perfectly, but in combination with his already highly restricted diet, he went from 2-5 anaphylactic episodes a week to one every few weeks.)
4 months later: "The lesion biopsy was inconclusive. I could send you for a biopsy of your stomach lining. It's clear there are abnormal mast cells somewhere in your body. That would be the next logical place to look, since it appears that it's what you're eating that's causing the anaphylaxis and you don't have chronic breathing problems."
My husband and I: "No thanks. It's been 2 1/2 years already. The medicine's working. If there's nothing else you can prescribe for it, why bother hunting down a diagnosis?"
(Actually, there was another medicine she prescribed when she prescribed the montelukast. It's generally administered in eye drops, but that won't work for a systemic disorder. The pills? $675 per month. We didn't have extended health insurance at the time, so we opted not to even try.)
Anyone notice anything about the sequence of events here? One specialist referral at a time, and months of waiting between appointments. During that 2 1/2 years he ended up in emergency three times, blew through 5 epipens and spent countless nights alternating between double-strong black coffee and the treadmill as a home remedy for shock because epipens are fucking expensive.
Anyone who tells you Canada doesn't put limitations on health care is selling you something. In the US, it's money. In Canada, it's time.
I'm not saying the US system is better. But a "right" you have to wait for for months or years is hardly a right.
In the US 90 million people are uninsured or underinsured and cannot afford healthcare either on a regular basis or AT ALL, resulting in 70,000 preventable deaths and 530,000 bankruptcies due to medical debt EVERY SINGLE YEAR. And healthcare cost her capita is multiples of what other advanced countries, including Canada, spend.
No one EVER asks WHY healthcare is so expensive that you need health insurance. Why does an X-ray in Japan or Russia cost $25 but costs $650 in the USA...
(Hint: it’s not a free market)
Yep. At the very least, we need to remove all Certificate of Need laws AND the artificial med student cap.
If we're going to do universal healthcare, we need to increase our supply PRONTO.
"Luckily" for us, that is also what would drive prices down (and why the laws and the cap exist in the first place.)
Not even to mention the US’s actual DECREASE in life expectancy in recent years, something unheard of in a first-world country (except in extreme circumstances such as wartime).
My point being: I very much doubt that Canadians can even begin to grasp the level barbarism of the US healthcare “system”.
(Shhh.....the current and historic open-borders, not to mention the swansong of freedom, has led to a recent immigrant class that is not as long-lived as the current population, thus lowering the life-expectancy of, ahem, citizens.)
Honey, you spend half of what we do per person. HALF. If you spent the same, you’d have your results before your diagnosis limousine pulled up to your treatment spa.
I'm so sorry this happened to you, it is terrible. But people in the US with unusual disordered are misdiagnosed very often. The sequence you describe has left people bankrupt. Routinely so.
You aren't a natural English speaker, are you. Not that there is anything wrong with being a non-native English speaker, but you try to deceive with it. You end up soundind NOTHING but condescending.
Thank you, M. Karen Straughan.
If you try to force something that requires human effort, resources, and finances just to exist in ANY amount (like food, housing, and especially healthcare) into being a "right," you allow the powers that be (like, say, the Authoritarian Socialists now in charge) the right to FORCE their production.
That IS slavery of the individual to the State.
And those two things are actually one and the same thing - that's why fighting for reasonable foreign policy is also a fight for better life at home. Cutting Pentagon budget in half would still keep it bigger than China and Russia together, but 500 billion every year reinvested elsewhere, and the freed up talent and industrial capacity could be used for domestic, high quality jobs. That way working class kids of all races would have another upward mobility opportunity except 10 years in military in some far flung base, or deployment that destroys their bodies and minds.
Yep. And there is PERFECT historical precedence and evidence:
We defeated BOTH Fascism (WWII) and Communism (Cold War) by out-PRODUCING the enemy. It was inevitable, of course. Capitalism (even our mixed economy) ALWAYS produces much more wealth than any form of Socialism.
You sound like someone who could make a good elected official!
Comment I read on a right-wing site recently:
“We’d be far better off at this point if our officials were not elected but simply chosen by lottery from among the general population”.
Couldn’t agree more, and I don’t think the founding fathers would have a problem with it.
"Crap, I'm a congressman!"
"But I thought I bought a LOTTERY ticket!"
Can we impeach someone for being a lucky bastard?
Or
Can we force someone to serve a full term? (make "pulling a Nixon" illegal?)
The problem, regardless of who they were (the officials and/or leaders picked by lottery), they would still end up being controlled, as the entire system is now controlled the military-industrial(-corrupted)-congresspeople-industrial complex; or, more specifically, the "al CIAduh(!)"-NSA(-and-their-neocon-and-neolib-subcontractor)-corporate-fascist-globalist-"Fourth-Reich" complex [did I forget any of the nationalist, national socialist conspirator/real-traitor-terrorist threat(s) to U.S. freedom, liberty and rights, and to both national and global sovereignty?]. Otherwise, if they refused to be controlled, they would die (by assassination---perhaps made to look like something else), have to be otherwise removed from office (impeachment, etc.), and/or have to resign from office.
As far as your allusion the the founders of the U.S. goes, under normal circumstances I believe they would be against it; but, considering where we are at today with a huge, out-of-control, monstrous-monstrosity, mass-murderous, illegal-war(s)-of-aggression [under BOTH international AND U.S. law(s)---"the supreme international crime" according to the law of the Nuremberg Protocols, signed onto by the U.S. government, and joined to the U.S. Constitution through the Supremacy Clause of same, and therefore not simply U.S. law by way of same, but also part of constitutional law], increasingly-corporate-fascist-authoritarian-and-totalitarian U.S. federal government, I think you're right that they might very well be for it (picking government leaders and/or officials by lottery)...AS LONG AS THEY, AS THE MONETARY-OLIGARCHS OF THE TIME, COULD CONTROL THEM.
Are you a proponent of Anarchy, that you trash the Constitution? Or just working to change the Constitution, as we have somewhat successfully over 245 (or 232 from 1789) years?
What?! Where did you get THAT from my comment?? I am an independent constitutionalist. I am NOT against the Constitution, and I a NOT a proponent of anarchy, violent anarchy anyway. Did you know that the word, "anarchy", originally meant NON-violent dissent? I believe we should all non-violently rise up en masse against the authoritarian and totalitarian mass-insanity that is taking over the U.S. and the world.
To answer your question, I don't believe, with the government presently-constituted (constipated?) the way it is, that we would stand a snowball's chance in hell of successfully adding any amendment(s) to the Constitution that would truly benefit us, or overturn any that don't benefit us, but would benefit us if we overturned them (like the Federal Reserve and income tax amendments). If we stood a chance of it, it might have already happened.
I'm sorry, but the U.S. and the world are fracked (NOT that I'm giving up).
Sorry, I must have misunderstood you, M. Steppen-Wolf.
I think from this post (one above) and a previous one above or below, I got the feeling you were for revolution leading to either anarchy or perhaps a new "constituting" document. I, too, consider myself an independent Constitutionist, and I believe in preserving the Declaration and its Constitution.
I think your last sentence here tells me what I think I thought was missing, that you are NOT giving up.
Anyway, I will reread your posts, which I have tended to enjoy, and sorry again for my misperception. I share your frustration at the current state of affairs.
Very nice of you!
He's right but if you don't pander to wealthy donors, you'll never get elected. It's kind-of hilarious when you think about it. Our system excludes people with principles from ever getting the chance to govern.
My criterion for voting is the most principled decision-making process. It's what cost Obama my vote in 2008; he wanted public funding on principle until he discovered he could swamp his opponent with private donations and principle went out the window. In 2016 I didn't vote; in 2020 I voted for Kanye West, figuring the bipolar guy was the safest bet.
"...the bipolar guy was the safest bet."
One for the ages. M. Bill Heath! But if in miracle one such were elected, would I be behind him on the up days, and against him on the down, or.....
The other way around!!!!
I guess my joke works better with a schizophrenic than a bipolar guy.
The forces that prevent good choices are the same ones urging you to pick the lesser of two evils.
That line always reminds me of the joke in Master and Commander with, "...the lesser of two weavels." It is a dad joke so that makes it agreeable.
"good" choices: i.e. those Mostly agreeable to you?
No one is "preventing" good choices. In the end, Bernie (only for example) just needed more support, even with Democrat Party chicanery. That he didn't get it isn't MY fault (I am a beleiver in the "lesser of two evils" voting: It's the ONLY thing keeping political parties in check).
I misread that as electards. Which is a useful new word.
But we want to encourage poor spellers AND the spelling police. They have things to say, too.
NO edit button!
Ah -- we meet again ;-))
Haha, da! Kako zivot na razvijenom Zapadu? 🙃
Sve "ljepsi" - bio u Berkeley-u -- na Shattuck aveniji stotine i stotine permanentnih satora -- dakle stalne nastambe. Skoro se upisao jer u samoobrani svi zahodi su "out of order" -- gdje ti ljudi idu na zahod? Od sada nosim bocicu sa sirokim grlom u autu... ;-))
Biden je strogo cuvan da ne otvori usta -- tko zapravo sada vlada Amerikom, njenim ratovima i nuklearnim bombama? A drustvo vrtoglavo ide u kolaps.
Haha, ajoj... Ni tu na istoku nije bajno - sve puno korporativnih Wall Street tipova koje bas boli dupe za raju, da li imaju sto jesti ili ne, da li imaju zdravstveno ili ne... Nikad se necu naviknuti na to da zivim u zemlji gdje desetine milijuna mojih sugradjana nemaju ni najosnovnije zdravstveno osiguranje... A mojim prijateljima ovdje (sve super obrazovani, dragi, dobri ljudi) je to nesto najnormalnije na svijetu... Sta propaganda od rodjendan pa nadalje radi od ljudi... 😢
Od “rodjenja”, ne “rodjendan”.
Go ahead, heart each other! (just kidding, I couldn't resist)
Commie here who agrees with you 100%, Suzanne.
Then you aren’t a commie :) you care about liberties and freedom, something commies through out history don’t want. You are a classical liberal probably just like most of us.
I catch your drift but can’t agree. At least as far as I’m concerned, it’s all about taking the “leap from necessity to freedom.” Which is the underlying theme of The German Ideology, Theses on Feuerbach, The Manifesto, Capital, and everything in between, not to mention in Luxemburg’s work or Deb’s activism. Liberals, classical or otherwise, don’t exactly have a great track record historically when it comes to freedom and liberty.
Bullshit (sorry, but bullshit).
True Classical Liberals have a perfect record when it comes to freedom and liberty. They are our lodestar, beacon, indeed our raison d'etre.
Once you Communists get your definitions right, and apprehend reality, you join us.
Also, sub Socialists, Fascists, Marxists, crony-Capitalists, and all of the Radical Left (100% State control, 0% individual freedom) for Communists.
So well said, M. CNNisFakeNews. The mismatch today between labels and substance is mind-boggling.
Remember Nixon and the protesters? Can you imagine?
Yes!
You and Tucker!
Sorry, GG, I couldn't resist.
This is all 100% out of the CIA playbook. Use the press to overstate an actual threat (9-11, Covid, Capital riots) make the public frightened in a constant and out of proportion level to the threat. Use it as a way to usurp civil liberties and to create unconstitutional "new norms".
Robert Barnes has been warning for 2 years that qanon is an inorganic movement most likely run by Intel agencies and telling people to stay the f away from it. I agree.
You forgot how the Snowden affair gave them the best excuse for a do-over of the entire intelligence apparatus they ever had. Yeah. They hated that.
Exactly, but add the Oklahoma City Bombing to that as well. And, in addition, Waco and Ruby Ridge. Those are the false-flag, phony "Reichstag fires" that started the whole process of "totaliterrorizing" and "totalitarianizing" us and the world.
P.S.---And add the JFK assassination to the mix, too. It, and the other false-flags, put us, and/or got us back in or kept us in, the state of shock that anything can happen in the U.S.; and, later, that our government is capable of anything; so, from the PTB's POV, "you better keep your mouths shut and bow down without question to the 'national (in)security' state, deep state shadow government, 'or else'..." According to them we're all supposed to live in a fantasy world, and stay there, and/or stay that way (like the 'cogs', the 'human batteries', in the 'Matrix' movies control grid, allowing the system to enslave us and use us more and more, until they're finished allowing us to continue to exist, and they eradicate most us as the "useless eaters" that "'Heinrich' Kissinger" called the masses, and that all of them believe we are. To them, most of us are nothing but 'worthless, overpopulating animals', and are expendable. They don't need most of us. Only the elitist globalist, "Fourth Reich" corporate fascists, and about 300 to 500 million people, out of seven billion, are 'supposed' to survive, the latter to be nothing but their servants and slaves.
One of the reasons that the Democrats are acting like this is because they know, as everyone else does, that they stole the election. When you steal something, it makes you wide-eyed and alert for anyone who could possibly find out/turn you in/or be a threat in any way. They have to exaggerate that threat to keep the narrative on the "threat" rather than the facts.
If you believe that Joe Biden got TWELVE MILLION more votes than Barack Obama, you're an idiot and a fool. I lived through the election of Barack Obama and his reelection. It pained me to do so, but I would NEVER deny that he was a popular candidate with charm and charisma. Joe Biden couldn't draw flies to his political rallies.
There was a red wave in the House. Unsurprisingly, it went unreported. Also, unsurprisingly, the establishment GOP (the controlled opposition) never talks about that.
Just like no one talks about stopping the counting of ballots in six states (unheard of in prior elections) while Trump was ahead. And wouldn't ya know it, Biden managed to come from behind and win. Ain't that sumthin'.
They know and we know.
“ Joe Biden couldn't draw flies to his political rallies.”
Not just this. Even his videos and live streams on his YouTube channel barely get any views and comments are often disabled. One could make excuses how he couldn’t get crowds because of covid (even though he didn’t get crowds even before covid) but one would expect at least his live streams to get some decent views for being the most popular president in history?
The favorite adjectives of the TV news commentary during election coverage were "unproven" and "unsubstantiated" to describe Trump's allegations of election fraud. Considering how recounts in multiple states were halted, how then were election results deemed to be "proven" or "substantiated?" I think one is as likely as the other, especially considering how Biden has all the charisma of a deflated soccer ball bouncing down a flight of stairs, as you have intimated.
They remind of shoplifters who affect spluttering indignation when caught.
Absolutely agree!! Guilty conscience. Scared to get caught. The truth will come out.
Isn't it "The guilty flee even when none pursue"?
Then have a heart!
I can't accept that the election was stolen. Joe Biden, for whom I did not vote, is my President, as was Trump, for whom I also did not vote. I have noted that the last two elections have left half the country feeling they were fraudulently won, which is the real danger. If we have no belief by the electorate that elections matter, what are we to do?
I want an open discussion and examination of how fraud can enter our election processes and what we can do to deter, detect and defeat it. That starts with an audit trail for the ballot. That's complicated in a secret ballot election but not impossible. If you want a list of how fraud can be encouraged, read HR1, the election "reform" bill, otherwise known as the permanent one-party state bill.
Read https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign and look at how many votes came in for Joe after the states closed down the count. They were mostly Joe, and none were witnessed, many were brought in by unsecured means. Be sure to take a look at the Georgia video about the suitcases opened early morning after the election. Also, many compelling testimonies at each of the state hearings in weeks to follow led me to believe the impossible was accomplished. I would start with allowing Republicans to view the entire process at any time at any station and I certainly would demand that the count is videoed so that everyone can view it. In Taiwan, any citizen can question any paper vote. All votes are paper, and all votes are in person there. In other words, everything is verifiable.
I read an interesting book Rigged, by James Rosone, that lays out how this could be done through a multitude of ways, each making an audit trail impossible for one to one thousand or more votes. I can vouch for a great deal of it.
I don't think this proves the Democrats stole the election. The problem is, this election was so unusual, and statistically anomalous, that it is difficult not to have some doubts about the results. That's not the same as saying Trump won, and it was stolen from him. On the one hand, a fair count would likely have had the same result -- but "likely" is not supposed to be good enough for an election. On the other, Trump couldn't rely on suspicions about an election that was unique; he actually had to prove fraud or error, and he failed in that, completely.
There were so many things Trump did wrong during his term in office, especially during the past year and the campaign, that if he had not been so utterly lazy and stupid he almost certainly would have been reelected. It's ridiculous for him to blame the DNC for that. You don't find his attacks reminiscent of Hillary's endless excuses and Russia-blaming?
Look. We can see there's something very wrong with Biden -- plenty, in fact. You cannot see there is something very wrong with Trump? How is that possible?
At some point, they may create their own "insurrection" just to prove themselves right. That scares me more than anything.
...after selling his videos to major news organizations https://nypost.com/2021/02/17/accused-capitol-rioter-john-sullivan-sold-footage-for-35k-to-nbc-cnn/
Sullivan was also the source of those phoney flyers for armed protests. Those flyers were so phoney, any sane person could figure out it did not originate from trump supporters. The flyers had no American flags, were all red and yellow, had the fist symbol, diagonal fonts similar to last summer protests. Then he was caught on chats wanting to dress up as trump supporters and then in video yelling “burn this b down”.
Sullivan also falsely claimed that Andy Ngo was at the riot and fled to Paris to avoid arrest. Ngo was actually in the UK the whole time.
The increasingly extreme, coordinated, and crude manipulation of public narratives, coupled with the emotional bullying to get the general public to JOIN in the enforcement of these narratives, is a serious and clear warning of what is coming.
While mainstream narratives about what the US stands for and the integrity of our various institutions have long been full of shit, the last few years represent an marked shift into fact-free, brain-stem stimulation perhaps worse than the Red Scare.
This has become so extreme and powerful that even truth speakers like Greenwald and Chomsky refuse to touch new "third rails" that are no less propagandized than the issues these authors feel comfortable addressing.
Hell, even as an "anonymous" poster I have concerns about saying it plainly.
I have already reported you to the Ministry of Truth. I just thought you should know that your concerns are justified.
I'm sure it will augment a robust record.
You ARE my countryman!
I'm old enough, too, and I concur that the Statism is much greater today than at anytime in my experience, and at anytime in history as far as I can glom.
If the implications of all this weren't so serious, it would be a farcical comedy of the highest order. Dems should be embarrassed, but aren't in the slightest. You just can't make this shit up.
"You just can't make this shit up"
No, that's kind of the point: you can *absolutely* make this stuff up, and they are.
It is just this disconnect between what is being peddled and what is reasonably possible. It is mind-boggling to me.
"If the threat of "armed insurrectionists" and "domestic terrorists" is as great as some claim, why do they have to keep lying and peddling crude media fictions about it?"
Because upwards of 70 million people will believe anything you tell them.
Not to mention their dead relatives and non-citizen family members...
For the record, if anyone presumes to vote for me after I die, I will raise myself from the dead and exact my revenge. It will not be pretty.
Mark Twain famously said he wanted to be buried in Chicago so he could stay politically active. Nothing has changed
If that isn't true, it should be.
Too bad Samuel Clemens isn't alive today. Instead of one city, he'd have a choice of 6 states.
I love Twain. Will Roger's too. They knew how to skewer the elites with a sharp stick in the eye, and smile doing it.
I don’t believe Biden got any more than maybe 40 million votes and that maybe is a huge maybe.
I never said all 70 million voted Democrat... ;-)
It is far higher than that. I would say it's at about 250 million "Amerikans", because most of them are completely, or at least almost-completely, brainwashed (I say that number to not include children---although they will likely grow up to be brainwashed, even more so than most of us used to be). Face it, most "Amerikans" believe everything, or most everything, that the government and their propaganda arm, the MSM, tell them. The U.S.-government-loving cop shows, including with the "cord-cutter's" streaming shows and movies, are propaganda to (quite successfully) get most of us to blindly trust government, the MSM, the U.S. military, and the police. That's why when that majority of brainwashed people hear anything differing from the party line, they think it is "conspiracy theory(ies)", "insane", "weird", etc. This has been proven to be absolutely true to me because I can't talk to most people as someone who completely faces what is really going on, since most of them are so-far-gone brainwashed that they completely don't want to hear it and refuse to believe it. How does one wake people up like that? With most of them, one doesn't. Did anybody but a very small minority come out of the "Matrix" control grid in the trilogy movies of that name? No, the vast majority of the enslaved stayed enslaved until the monstrous system that controlled them was completely destroyed, if it ever really was.
I still want to know where are all these QAnon people. One august media source (Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel) reports that he was told by some guy named “Ken” that Trump would be inaugurated on March 4th (but now I gather it’s actually going to be March 20th)...
That’s it??? Some random guy named Ken is driving all this madness?
https://www.newsweek.com/qanon-theorists-switch-date-march-20-after-no-trump-inauguration-call-4th-false-flag-1573871
If this isn’t a complete sham to justify eliminating peoples’ liberties, then what is??
Qanon was always being run by the Intel agencies. There’s a reason why no one is questioning the origination and who’s running it.
Civil liberties be damned. Ken is going down! Principles only go so far.
YEA!!!! Get KEN!!!!
Can we all line up to slap him, like that panicking passenger in "Airplane"?
What's the frequency, Kenneth?
Ha! Is THAT what Michael Stipe meant?!?!
R.E.M. IS QANON!
btw, great tune ruined by the artist's politics (imo).
Politicians use fear, always have always will. See here examples of past campaign ads that use fear, starting with Johnson against Goldwater with the famous 'Daisy' ad
https://butseriously.substack.com/p/let-us-protect-you
What is different this time (well, actually similar to post-9/11) is the cheer-leading that the media does, rather than searching for the truth that supports or undermines the case for fear.
And that of course is driven by new media models - where fear sells
They have only two buttons: fear and obedience. At some point they make it clear that you must fear your own disobedience.
That "Daisy" ad is the perfect example. Thank you for reminding us!
Examples of genuine armed Insurrection in our history are: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Whiskey Rebellion, John Brown's group at Harpers Ferry. These were carried out by people who bet their lives on it, and were armed with clear intent to overthrow the government. The incidents in Washington don't begin to compare with these. But there are so many who parrot Nancy Pelosi's words in a chorus of misinformation and propaganda.
Glenn’s biggest problem as a journalist is that he is a real journalist. Go figure! Rather than propagandize a hidden agenda, he is a truth teller. He also has too much common sense and that doesn’t work in today’s world of “hysteria”reporting. With all of this said, thank goodness for Glenn’s CALM and RATIONAL essays. I always come away from his articles thinking that is still hope for the blithering world we live in.
You delusional clueless romantic...
You mean you know for certain that M. JDawg voted for Mr. Biden?
Poor tongue and cheek sarcasm, my bad...
Frankly, all the brutal honesty and efforts to expose rampant cruel sociopathy ain’t gonna amount to jack feces if people keep cowering and kneeling...
Got it! And you're not bad, I'm slow.
Agreed: The answer to fear is to get mad and tell it to go to hell.
A minor point, but I think subconsciously they are also nervous about the imminent lifting of COVID restrictions. The destabilizing, temporary medical-like shock of the past year is wearing off and more people are beginning to question the authoritarian measures to which we agreed in that climate of "emergency. It wasn't just medical purity motivating the rage of the COVID pietists when two states just went full-on "open"--the DNC/MSM/Big Tech leadership are depending upon the noise of "crisis" in the background to continue hiding Biden, and to consolidate their gains over the past year.
Trump was the first supposed destabilizing narrative, and then the virus--with both gone, citizens are dusting off the shock.
There's another dimension to this too, reminiscent of people who grow up in crazy families--you get addicted to the adrenaline rush of chaos and emergency, and you're afraid of what will happen during stability because the focus is taken off someone else and put back onto you. The crisis-junkies don't just need another "Other," they need a threat to give their lives meaning, if they haven't cultivated that elsewhere.
This has to be a major factor. The COVID response has been overblown by some Democratic leaders - and as the vaccines take effect, people are beginning to rethink the past 12 months.
It explains why Cuomo is being hoisted by the #metoo petard rather than the nursing home thing...
It explains why Biden did his (unsurprising) gaffe thing this week by calling southerners Neanderthals...
It's why Dr. Seuss's racism is *now* a big deal... even after the resurfacing of tweets celebrating the man by the current VP and the Obamas...
It's why they are racing against the clock to get this 1.9 Billion Dollar "package" passed before any more positive economic indicators come out (decreasing unemployment and COVID death rates, increasing market indices...)
Are they really so nose-blind as to not smell their own farts?
I seriously think that the sexual harassment thing against Cuomo is a distraction from the actual crimes by him and 4 other governors who forced covid patients into nursing homes. I also think the establishment is trying to get rid of Cuomo to prevent completion for kamala in 2024.
Exactly. Very soon people are going to realize there was never any reason for the lockdowns and they were all about the election.
Keep treating millions of well-armed people, many of whom have firsthand experience in guerrilla warfare as veterans, who already distrust the government, and are already in your country as if they are terrorists. I mean what could possibly go wrong? If only there were history books and after action reports that said this was a bad idea.
It's only a bad idea if you want a peaceful society. What if the the goal is actually to generate a violent backlash against your persecution to create a retroactive rational for your behavior?
Something... something... law of unintentional consequences.
I forgot to mention these potential insurgents are widespread throughout the country, have a nasty geographical advantage, and are massively imbedded within police and military forces!
Nat'l Guard, too. (I guess "military" covers them.) Sheriffs especially true.
I don't think 10% of the "public" guns are going to fire on their own public.
Hell, not 1%. But we know it's not going to come to that. The whole "insurgent" thing is just excuse and con game.
This thought has definitely crossed my mind. I'm also not inclined to believe that they are smart enough to orchestrate something like that.
Stan... good point. Isn't that exactly what the Dems have done with the Capitol riot?
His point, I think.
Well-armed is not well organized.
Interestingly, organization often comes after an insurgency kicks off and the lack of large-scale organization can make it difficult to defend against. When things start getting organized is when you have to start watching out for the “El Presidente” wannabes.
And the "El Presidente" bandwagonners and starry-eyed unknowing-Statists.