I used to work for an intel Agency. I just had to retire early after 18 years for medical reasons. I can honestly say I am ashamed to have believed the BS that was fed to us. I feel like I was brainwashed almost to justify things that I find myself sickened by now. I went to work there after 9/11. I believed in what I did at first, but things changed. Employees who questioned things suffered in their careers. Literally before I started separating myself from there and reading things on my own, I would hear ‘Glenn Greenwald’ and think ‘Snowden’ who i was led to believe was the devil. Once away from the IC cult, I realize where the truth is, where the bravery is. It’s with journalists like Glenn. Thank you for your courage and bravery taking on the national security apparatus that has played us for too long.
Thank you. I have a lot of truth to share, but when you work there, they make you paranoid and put so much fear in you. To this day, I am terrified. All I can say is always question when you hear people cite an “intel source.” Or a “high-ranking official.” And you can safely assume that whatever Adam Schiff or someone like John Brennan claims is true, it is probably the exact opposite.
I have had two experiences in my life where I was overcome by a feeling of brutal cold malevolence upon seeing a person I did not know. The first time was when I saw someone at a pizza place who turned out to be Jerry Sandusky. The second time was when I walked by someone on a plane who turned out to be John Brennan. Strangely enough, in both cases I learned who they were within hours of the event by reading a glowing newspaper article about them.
I got into federal work right after 9/11. They were looking for people with military backgrounds to work all over the globe.
Wanted to do my bit. PLUS by agreeing to go to Afghanistan as a contractor for a year I got FOUR TIMES my salary TAX FREE for a year with all my housing, transportation, food and healthcare paid for by the taxpayer. I took home half a million dollars for one yr.
“If you identify as a conservative and continue to believe that your prime enemies are ordinary leftists, or you identify as a leftist and believe your prime enemies are Republican citizens, you will fall perfectly into the trap set for you. Namely, you will ignore your real enemies, the ones who actually wield power at your expense: ruling class elites, who really do not care about “right v. left” and most definitely do not care about “Republican v. Democrat” — as evidenced by the fact that they fund both parties — but instead care only about one thing: stability, or preservation of the prevailing neoliberal order.”
It’s the age old reality that politicians need an enemy to rally their followers around. Then they proclaiming to be the only ones to provide the solution to the supposed emergency. And of course the organs of the government fall in line lest they lose funding and power.
Of course Mr. Xiden misses the point that the new 'Domestic Terrorists' are clealy Trump supporters. The normal Hegelian Dialectic is inapplicable in this instance, the L/R paradigm is now upended by the mule in the Foundation: Donald Trump, who has taken the Republic Party and remade it in his image. Niether Left nor Right but a middleground called 1776 style Patriotism.
It is this new flowering of the Spirit of 76 that is seen as an exisential threat to the corporatist oligarchy.
This is why the constant and perpetual harrassment of President Trump from the moment he won the 2016 election. and the reason the corporatists rigged the 2020 Presidential election.
The 2020 Presidential Election was rigged by a cabal of corporate oligarchs to install their own meat-puppet into the White House as a titular figure so they could rule behind the curtain of Oz
PROLOGUE
It has become increasingly obvious after several months of dealing with the repercussions of the TIMES Magazine article by Molly Ball that some preliminary remarks are in order to understand the meaning of this article.
First and foremost is Ms. Ball’s use of language. The language she uses is what George Orwell referred to as, “Political Language”, wherein the terminology takes on rather deceitful nuances to portray a message that although true, is couched in coded terms. So that when Ms. Ball is describing what is clearly a conspiracy to manipulate the 2020 Presidential election, she chose the term “to save” it.
This key phrase has allowed for a disingenuous interpretation of the message Ms. Ball is giving the readers. This tactic allows for mollification of those who will automatically recoil from the real message that the article conveys, that the 2020 presidential election was ‘rigged’ ie; stolen by the cabal of corporatist oligarchs who conspired to place the candidate of their choice in the White House.
Another thing is obvious from the article, and that is that Ms. Ball was obviously taken into confidence by the leadership of this conspiracy and given first hand detailed information. They wanted this story to be revealed to the public. They knew because of their powerful positions that they are impervious to any legal consequences for their plainly illegal activities, as they have the impunity of wealth and political power. These people can brag about this outrage and get away with it.
There are quite a few things that have been revealed since the 2020 Presidential Election that prove the election was rigged.The most important of these are those revealed in the TIME Magazine article by Molly Ball on Feb. 4, 2021 that describe in great detail a conspiracy to rig the 2020 Presidential Election. I shall herein transcribe that in its complete form:
I'm a 54 yr old veteran, Desert Storm veteran. I have served in the federal government for the last 17 yrs. I live and work in DC.
If this does not scare the crap out of you then you are a fool. Just a fool.
The supposed "insurrection" was a joke. 5000 ppl manage to basically walk over or past Capital security. Nobody who was not a protester was hurt. No fires were set. Some of the supposed leaders are known mental patients.
As someone who lives here, I can tell you that if you want to bump off a congress critter or senator it is just not that hard to find them around the capital or the Hart building. Ya do not need to invade the capital building to do it.
To call the reaction to this as being over the top and bizarre is to understate the situation.
Me? I am getting the heck out of here. I retire in 9 yrs and I plan to be living overseas. This country is heading for an ugly and dangerous place. The left is becoming EXACTLY what they accused Trump of TRYING to be, authoritarian control freaks ready to punish, penalize, harass, arrest, monitor and control HALF the population that supported Trump.
I've been planning this move for 3 yrs. Heading to my destination of choice in March to buy a house and then rent it out until I am ready to go. The day I retire I am liquidating everything I own here and then taking every penny I have and going. I may start a business outside the states consulting but it will not be to the US government. NO WAY.
Thing is, I am not the only one that is thinking this and planning it. A good friend, retired Col, retired and moved to Chile with his wife. They probably took about $2 million in savings with them given what they got for their house in Alexandria and that his wife was a lawyer in town. Never mind he still collects his military pension. Another friend just bought property in Costa Rica and she is moving next year and going to run her consulting business remotely from there. My neighbor, an Air Force vet, and his wife, a senior program manager for a federal contractor, are looking at Western Panama. Their last kid moved out last year and they are getting their house ready to sell. Have a good friend in Boston, she and her husband have no kids. THEY are looking at Prague. Same deal. They can consult from there.
I've even told my kids to look at getting out. My daughter has a degree in neurscience and is finishing her JD. She is fluent in Spanish. Told her to look at Spain or Mexico or even Peru. My son, told him the same thing.
I have also told them, that despite coming from a family that has served in the military since the Civil War on one side and one that served from the Civil War through WWII on the other, that NEITHER of them should enlist, not even as a JAG officer. I've put away all the family photos of military pictures including from my own time. Told them I would be ashamed if they did enlist. The military is now just a means of projecting imperial power and the politicians will throw their lives away for the oil companies. Next it will be used to control the population.
It's a thought I have been considering as well. Issues being that I own a business, have three school age children, and aging parents. I never thought I would be mentally where I'm at today, but then again I never thought I'd see a poll where 25% of the general population thought breaking up the USA was a good idea. Or see a fully militarized DC that looks like Pyongyang in full paranoid regalia. Maybe it's the 50 year cycle of instability in this country and we'll swing back, but the structural economic issues we have now tend to make me think this time is very different.
My personal opinion is that you should PLAN to do it like I have been doing.
We are not some dramatic Hollywood types who say we are moving to Canada and then dont.
Figure out when you CAN go and where you WANT to go and then work backwards.
I'm going to wait just long enough for my son to be out of school and to maximize my retirement.
I have researched where to go and what I need to qualify to be there and to get health insurance etc. I mean I probably have over 200 hrs of research time into this.
You even have to research how you plan to bank, how you move your money. Gotta get into the details.
Maybe you have to wait til your parents pass...or maybe you take them with you.
The kids will be fine once they are launched. Then you can liquidate everything and go.
You might find that you inspire them to open their minds to living anywhere in the world they might want and not be locked into the US as the only option. I showed my kids where I plan to go and they both said that they either want very much to travel there and visit or even move there as well.
I imagine your going to find after doing a lot of research that there are a lot of very beautiful and interesting places to go live outside the US and that they will cost you a fraction of what it costs here to live and that your retirement will look a lot nicer.
Morally the country is in bad shape and it is possible that good people will lose whatever fight is mounted, but it is not possible that they MUST lose. Rethink merely escaping.
Friends who know what I do for a living have been calling, emailing and texting me to know what I think.
I tell them all the same thing. The risk of staying exceeds the risk of leaving. Keep your head down, preserve your assets, prepare to liquidate and figure out where you want to go.
I KNOW what our government is capable of, I helped build portions of the tools they have. I have feared for years where it would lead to and now my fears are being realized.
It is NOT out of the question that if enough people look to leave and take their money with them that the leftists in the government will start looking to make leaving or leaving with your money illegal. This is about control and the only acceptable answer is to comply. Even leaving and being seen to leave will be construed as a criticism of their policies and the government and they will try to stamp on it. Never mind that they are going to be desperate for tax dollars and if enough people leave with their wealth they are not going to be happy.
First they will ignore it and say good riddence to us leaving.
Then, as more people do it, they will criticize us for being unpatriotic.
Then, if enough people do it they will say how awful and ungrateful we are and that we owe the country something, despite having paid taxes since I was 14.
Then they will look to take your money as you leave if enough people go.
Finally, they will make leaving illegal in some way and if any one or two countries in particular become popular then they will look to penalize those countries.
Friend of mine gave up his US citizenship and got Columbian citizenship when he moved there 6 yrs ago. Took every penny he had, bought a gorgeous condo overlooking a national park and moved. Talked with him about a month ago when he was back for Christmas to see his kids. He comes back from Thanksgiving through New Years each year and then heads back. Told me he has absolutely no regrets.
I've done my bit. I've fought wars and voted and been politically active. I've paid my taxes and raised my kids. Given to charities and the homeless and helped to provide the basics for really poor kids so they can get an education.
Let the frigging millenials deal with the mess. They seem to be convinced they hold the moral high ground on every freaking issue and that they are smarter and wiser than we of GenX.
Let them solve the problems. Its their future. I'm happy to go sit on the sidelines and watch them try. Think they are gonna have to hit rock bottom before they figure it out and I am not gonna waste the rest of my life pushing on a string. No. I am going to go and enjoy what time is left and see some other parts of the world.
"It is NOT out of the question that if enough people look to leave and take their money with them that the leftists in the government will start looking to make leaving or leaving with your money illegal."
California is already working on this, with a bill in the Legislature to establish a state "wealth tax" that would still apply for 10 years after you move out of the state - their argument being that, gosh, you didn't build that wealth, the government did! (It would be prorated downward each year after you left the state - but it's not even an income tax, it's a wealth tax - you have to give the state a percentage of your estate each year.)
Ironically, the biggest opposition to this is coming from college and pro sports teams, who worry that no star or potential star will be willing to relocate to California if they're going to be taxed even if they leave.
Thats because the liberal utopia ran out of other peoples money and the smart money bailed early.
Thats the thing...the smart money leaves first.
Then, the aholes in charge look to rape anyone left behind and for them it is too late to get out.
You dont want to be the dumb money.
CA is hosed unless the federal government bails them out and that is really not likely in at least this session of congress. If it EVER happens it will be too late in all probability.
This is an incredibly smart and awake post. I'd like to add that Gen X never got a chance to govern the country due to these awful narcissistic Silent Gens and older boomers.
Woke pro sports is hurting financially. Those who aint woke said to hell with watching. Guess there is enough of those people to really hurt the bottom line.
Twitter and FB stock and use way down. Guess if you persecute and stifle the non woke and ban them you lose a lot of people.
Ratings for FOX, CNN etc.....Down. Guess if you mock, insult and call for harm to be done to millions of people they will stop watching.
See...here is the thing. All that has to happen is for as many people as possible to just not play along. Just refuse to participate. Not feed the beast.
As I said, I am leaving the country as soon as I retire. I wont spend money here, watch TV here, use social media or pay property taxes here. I'm just taking my money and going.
At some point the path these people are on is going to lead to some sort of economic crisis, likely even a crisis in the dollar. The social stratification and parsing is going to lead to the groups turning on each other eventually. Smaller and smaller groups deciding who is least privileged. I wont be here. Fight among yourselves. Let the left take control and have full responsibility. Let them do their thing. When they end up with a miserable, broke and desperate country maybe they will wake up. Either way, I do not intend to play. Ultimately it will end in a disaster and probably involve a lot of government persecution before it is over. Sad, but nothing I can do about it so I get out and go someplace where I can live free of the mess and not have to be stressed about it or witness it.
The moneyed and clear-minded men who founded this country had an adversary 4000 miles away, that was a lot less powerful than the US government in 2020.
See you in AOC's re-education camp. You won't want to leave. You'll want to stay here and fight tight-wing terrorism. Speaking of re-education and terrorism, I just had a liberal friend write me after I sent a non-political heartwarming piece about a woman who saved Jewish children during the Holocaust that I should know that Epoch Times, which published it, is, according to Wikipedia (that unbiased source of info) dangerously right-wing. I explained to her that it was founded by Falun Gong followers, a gentle Qi Gong movement, actually something everyone over 60 should practice, hardly terrorist, and they were tortured by the CCP, so, no, they're not crazy about Communism, but hardly a threat to Nancy Pelosi. Have not heard back. She's probably reported me to the Terrorism Board.
Europe is playing along with this. Paris presently has a 6:00pm curfew -- get indoors by 6:00pm or get a ticket. So I'd discard any European country as a safe haven. They generally despise Americans anyway.
I give it two years. Prediction: America will be in full continuous lockdown by 2023. The criminals are running out of time and they will bring the hammer down ASAP. They won't let your money out of the country. These things can happen very quickly, ask anyone in Russia.
No, I'm sorry but you either love your country and fight for the ideals you believe in or not. If the freedoms we have here disappear they will vanish from Earth. I can't say I respect your decision to abandon the Nation your ancestors fought to create, defend and uphold. Serving the corrupt system instead of finding solutions to repair it and then abandoning it when it needs you most. How long will these ideals last on planet Earth if they die here? This is a Democratic Republic and it must be fought for by people who believe in the Constitution.
Running away because it's easier is not the answer. The tyranny and oppression will follow you if it vanishes from this country.
There is no doubt that moral courage is the virtue which is more needed than any other in the modern democratic state, and that truckling to popularity is the worst political vice. The press, the platform, and the pulpit have all fallen under this vice, and there is evidence that the university also, which ought to be the last citadel of truth, is succumbing to it likewise.
Interesting how relevant parts of this speech are today. Thanks for sharing, I'm enjoying reading it.
"The military is now just a means of projecting imperial power and the politicians will throw their lives away for the oil companies."
They're leading us toward the existential threats of nuclear war and climate catastrophe, and the impact of either one will be massive and global . Just how far away do you plan to move?
Thank you, Glenn. A question: why don't the Democrats talk about the Weather Underground bombing of the Capitol? Oh, right, I can answer that - because Bill Ayers and Susan Rosenberg are now a cozy part of the Obama/Biden circle. Also to refer to a commenter below who's upset about the threat of White Supremacists - please, grow up. Take a driving trip around this country as I have. You aren't going to find enough White Supremacists to overthrow a tractor, not even in Idaho. The threat of Woke Supremacists is much greater.
White Supremacist indoctrination is only really a problem in prison which is ironic as that is precisely where they are threatening to send Trump supporters who entered the Capitol. They are creating their own enemy.
I now live back in my hometown, a lovely city in SoCal with too many wealthy white liberals. The people I know here who have been yakking for the last four years about the dangers of White Supremacists are all white liberals with an unseemly masochism about their race which they project onto anyone who is white and proud of their heritage and call them “White Supremacists.” We have a botanic garden here that's very sweet. The current director issued a bulletin last summer about the dangers of White Supremacism at the garden, and that there would be no tolerance of any racial threats. I asked him (he's white as is his board) to give me a specific White Supremacist incident and he said “it's systemic.” I told him if he really wanted to do good to become a paramedic on the South Side of Chicago, but he feels his real work fighting the Nazi/racists/slavery terrorism is here. Okay, the better weather is really what he's talking about. But there has been this War on White Terrorism in CA now for some time. And the wealthy liberals here just love it. Sometimes I suggest they think about the genocide of the Uyghurs and how their iPhone is made by slave Uyghurs but of course they just look blank.
A vastly exaggerated media-driven fetish used for political purposes. Outside the prisons, there are probably only a few thousand affiliated white supremacists. The idea of a mass movement to overthrow the government is a pure fabrication.
I used to sing in rock bands in the 60s and 70s. One of my drummers was a heroin addict and went to prison for robbery to get cash to feed his habit.
Within a year he was a raging 'white supremacist neonazi fuckhead.
Thing in prison you are stuck inside where ethnic gangs rule. It is dangerous to try to be an individual and stay out of the fray.
John, the drummer was an asshole, but it was prison that really ruined the guy's mind, even more than the heroin.
If the legal system is going to radicalize people for life, then they have an obligation to keep them locked up for life. An illiberal sentiment to be sure, but totally practical.
And don't think the 'Screws" (prison guards)are immune to this insane mindset.
It only takes a few years and they are as fucked up as the prisoners.
I knew some people in Georgia who had reletives that were prison guards. They were all crazy as shit house rats.
Now don't be too quick to minimize the threat. Remember the two Nigerian white supremacists who tried to lynch that famous French actor, Juicy Sommelier, in Chicago? How insidious and diabolical!
Worse yet, they almost stole his sandwich. His SANDWICH, for God's sake! If these nefarious bastards can operate so freely in the forward looking, peaceful citadel of Chicago, NO ONE IS SAFE!
It's pretty hilarious, but we must remember that Kamala Harris, who is well acquainted with M. Sommelier, sponsored the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, and referred to poor Juicy as a "victim of a modern day lynching" before the story began to fall apart.
Her gambit got put on ice pretty quickly thanks to Juicy's gross incompetence. But now that her political career has been revived (by virtue of having a vagina and dark-ish skin) we can be sure it will be back just as soon as they can repackage and rebrand it.
And this is exactly what the libertarians have been screaming about for almost two decades at this point. Everything we were warning about is happening right in front of our eyes.
No one listens to us!! haha. I really backed off trying to yell from the rooftops when we all got bent over the bankers barrel in 2008-2009 and NO ONE CARED.
Curious if the MAGA people will start to feel the same way and move on as a lot of us have from the 2008 fiery days of Ron Paul supporters blowing up EVERY youtube/facebook/news comment thread.
The thing I got from that time...even though we couldn't impact the gov't machine in anyway...we walked away with a set of ideals that will live on forever for us...I'm still not sure what the MAGA people are going to walk away with when Trump is crushing cheeseburgers in Mar-a-Lago. I wish someone would explain that to me.
Now that's a good question. Trump is a 90's Democrat with a pragmatic populist streak. That he became so popular is a scathing indictment of our ruling class and how worthless they are. What he leaves behind is mostly a sincere and well-earned distrust of DC, how that fleshes out may be "exciting," unfortunately.
Yep. As always and as it should be, the vote for POTUS is a vote for the lesser of two "evils." DJT beat Republican establishment because we didn't want another mealy-mouth Bush, then he beat the Democrat establishment (Bernie would have beat Trump) because we didn't want another corrupt Clinton. He became popular because for the first time in 30 years, lay republicans finally and refreshingly and surprisingly had someone actually acting like what we vote for!!!!
And increasing distrust of foggy bottom is ALWAYS exciting!
From the outside looking in, Trump never really lead any discussion on what reform would look like. If the current state of politics is the result of the incentives inherent to system, how are we going to change that? What in the system must be changed? If you blame the individual actors within an incentive structure you will never fix anything.
"You are being screwed over by the ruling class" is a message for everyone. The Bernie supporters will tell you the same thing. If the message has to be connected to conservative politics, there has to be a realization that you will limit who you will reach with your message. If you connect it to an individual, you are asking for those that would oppose reform to tear apart your strawman.
America first, Biden over reach will blow the Dems out in 2022. We are in the middle of a pandemic with our companies going under and jobless hoards and the addled old geezer the genius’s elected is inviting all of Central America to come get amnesty and free healthcare
"If you connect it to an individual, you are asking for those that would oppose reform to tear apart your strawman."--Wes D.
All of us are individuals, unless you buy into the collectivist bullshit.
An individual that embodies the principles that the United States was founded upon is the only one who can fight for those principles. Any "party platform" is going to be a collectivist compromise. That is why a maveric like Trump is needed at this critical time in history. And that is why the Corporatist Left is doing all in its power to destroy Trump and his supporters.
Glenn's aricle here is what that is about! Trump and his supporters are the new "domestic terrorists" according the the current regime.
How can so many of you have lost sight of this in the short time since you read the article?
This is a critically dangerous moment in our nation's history. One false step, and the nation is doomed. Wrap your heads around that.
I thought he was going to be the kingmaker of Mar-a-Lago but now he overplayed his hand on this election fraud nonsense and the republican establishment is going to distance themselves from him.
In 2010 I actually campaigned for Rand but he has proven to be a party hack and I have no faith in him. He picks his spots but is not principled like his father was.
He's playing a role. There's something about becoming a senator that is even creepier than Skull and Bones, the Stone Cutters, or even finding out who Xenu really is. Whatever it is, it gets them all.
Maybe the Deep State puts something in their booze. Either that or they're possessed by the Lizard People.
"he overplayed his hand on this election fraud nonsense"--Wes D.
That is where you are terribly wrong! The election was indeed rigge, and those like you who refuse to inform yourself of the facts are bound to fuck everything up as bad as the corporatist Democrats. Damnit man!
2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FRAUD
The 2020 Presidential Election was rigged by a cabal of corporate oligarchs to install their own meat-puppet into the White House as a titular figure so they could rule behind the curtain of Oz
PROLOGUE
It has become increasingly obvious after several months of dealing with the repercussions of the TIMES Magazine article by Molly Ball that some preliminary remarks are in order to understand the meaning of this article.
First and foremost is Ms. Ball’s use of language. The language she uses is what George Orwell referred to as, “Political Language”, wherein the terminology takes on rather deceitful nuances to portray a message that although true, is couched in coded terms. So that when Ms. Ball is describing what is clearly a conspiracy to manipulate the 2020 Presidential election, she chose the term “to save” it.
This key phrase has allowed for a disingenuous interpretation of the message Ms. Ball is giving the readers. This tactic allows for mollification of those who will automatically recoil from the real message that the article conveys, that the 2020 presidential election was ‘rigged’ ie; stolen by the cabal of corporatist oligarchs who conspired to place the candidate of their choice in the White House.
Another thing is obvious from the article, and that is that Ms. Ball was obviously taken into confidence by the leadership of this conspiracy and given first hand detailed information. They wanted this story to be revealed to the public. They knew because of their powerful positions that they are impervious to any legal consequences for their plainly illegal activities, as they have the impunity of wealth and political power. These people can brag about this outrage and get away with it.
Great post. IMO by playing the sore loser Trump loses a lot of moderate independents who would have given at least some of the benefit of the doubt to him regarding election illegalities. I also feel his list of pardons were as whorish as Bill Clinton's were (if not more) and so he falls even further in my eyes.
Another election, another shitty set of choices :(
Rand Paul would get destroyed in an election. Trump had multiple strengths, one being that he had never been a politician, but the biggest strength is that he was a known media entity and got free media focus every time he spoke. Not every candidate can generate that. Regardless of whether you like how elections are won currently, there is a clear system to victory. Outspending your opponent in every way shape or form to control the narrative tends to win elections.
This is just another wing of the conservative movement?
General question for conservatives: If you seek the preservation of the institutions that you believe the country was built on, I ask you this, is there no room for consideration that a lot of people have been disenfranchised by some of those institutions? Should those individuals be ignored?
Can you be specific? In what way have “a lot of people been disenfranchised” by the institutions the country was founded on? Disenfranchised means no voice.
Seriously? Have you seen the numbers on woke professional sports? How about Fox News ratings since the election? How about Twitter/Facebook stock in the last two weeks? How about Hollywood movie studios or woke college enrollment? There are many examples of MAGA destroying brands, companies, even industries based on their persecution of dissent. It is legally all MAGA has left to fight back.
I think it is about defending the conservative ideals/values upon which classic liberalism and the USA were founded upon. Even these allow for broad social/cultural changes. I’m not sure what else can be done by average citizens. Voting doesn’t seem to matter anymore either.
Reform and policies are controlled by the UniParty that do not represent these values.
To me it means decentralized government, less federal power, strong national defense with minimal foreign entanglements, defense of civil rights, following the Constitution, etc. All the traditional red meat foundational stuff. Basically the polar opposite of what we currently see.
We libertarians will argue that you cannot collect our nation's power and money in a centralized location such as DC and expect only good actors to arrive. The only to achieve a gov't that rules for the people is to make it as local as possible.
So for the Trumpers, what is the solution? I will also argue, if the idea is to elect the right people, you are not going to change anything.
Speaking for myself, I've been in favor devolution of power "as local as possible" forever. Trump adhered to that for the most part, witness his fateful decision not to try to enforce a national COVID policy as Exhibit A. No, you can't rely on "elect the right people", we know exactly how that works. It's hard to say what "the solution" is right now. Most of us are probably looking for "Trump 2.0", someone who wants to #MAGA, but maybe with a personality a little more thoughtful and not so verbally combative.
I will give Trump credit for plenty, but trying to defang the executive branch is not something I will give him credit for. Even before COVID he signed off on massive budget deficit like all the other before him. His cabinet was chalked full of lobbyist.
Point is South Dakota was allowed to pursue a very different COVID strategy than New York. A Democrat would've tried very hard to make everyone follow the same rules.
He could not enforce a national covid policy. Biden will be restricted in the same way. Biden has already begun prepping for enforcing his COVID policy on Federal Property.
He initiated the national emergency, EUA giveaways to pharma, enabled CDC to enact property laws in name of public health.... you must be kidding!!! States absolutely expanded this but he began the “executive” power grab.
The question was more about the relationship between federal and local power, there were a lot of people really pushing for a NATIONAL COVID strategy whereas Trump left it to the states, so South Dakota handled things very differently than New York.
In no way am I a Trumper. I liked maybe 20% of his policy and about 10% of his words.
But, if you are, as you say "blowing up youtube facebook news comment" you are literally helping those empires profit and thrive. The media today (for the most part) sells advertising based on impressions. Thats raw views. They never saw where the views come from or if they are the same IP 3423494 times in a day. When the entire industry sells like this, as a purchaser you have no other options. Every time you visit their site you add to a number that they then sell from. If you comment, you now increase their user interaction, which is another metric they sell by. If you stay on that site for a long time, typing tons of responses, you increase yet another metric which is time spent on site.
At least Glenn is nice enough to do the youtube links with no-cookie, but he ought to consider downloading those videos (you can use any search engine BUT google to find youtube download sites) locally, and then reposting them to another site.
What do you think of the idea that everyone turn off their ad-block and anti-popup apps and click on as many as possible so it costs the advertisers so much money it runs them and the social media parasites out of business?
Sure. But that takes time. In the meantime the advertisers will have their ad budgets drained without the expected income from purchases. Any immediate price hikes would also result in lost sales and money.
I was recently informed by an acquaintance that libertarians helped facilitate the rise of Trump and therefore are to be considered enemies. The old saw about cutting down the forest of laws to get at the Devil comes to mind.
If a libertarian screams in the forest, and no one is there to hear him, does he make a sound? (Has to be a "him." No chicks allowed.)
In all seriousness, though, libertarians, in addition to being vastly outnumbered, suffer greatly from their association in the public mind with Libertarians.
Lighten up, man. No offense intended. In 2016 I actually voted for the pot-addled compulsory gay wedding cake guy and his smarmy RINO-reject running mate who "vouched for Hillary" in 2016. I even joined the Libertarian Party briefly, out of desperation, I suppose. But the reach of any political party where one of the most recognizable perennial candidates wears a boot on his head and whose convention features a large, hairy man doing a striptease on stage will always be self limiting.
Not that being serious would yield much better results versus the fixed R and D duopoly controlled by the oligarchs whose corruption inspired the original article, as well as the media propagandists, which these oligarchs also control. Either way, we're screwed.
Your second paragraph says it perfectly, and explains why your first paragraph is completely wrong.
They are simply looking for an excuse to marginalize us. If nothing existed, they would simply make it up. Vermin Supreme or the stripping guy have nothing to do with it.
Maybe so. But consider this. I have observed two traits among my fellow human beings that seem to be so pervasive as to constitute a large part of "human nature." Perhaps you've also observed these tendencies. The first is what seems to be an instinct toward tribalism. We tend to prefer to associate with others who share certain similarities, one of which is likemindedness. In and of itself, maybe that's not a bad thing, but maybe sometimes it is.
The second is the instinct to force others to act in ways that comport with one's own viewpoint, and by extension, that of our likeminded brethren, usually--although not always--out of a belief that it is the Right Thing To Do, and that sacrificing just a wee bit of freedom (particularly someone else's freedom) is worth it for the greater good of all. A good example of this would be Gary Johnson's position on the gay wedding cake controversy. When this instinct acts together with the instinct toward tribalism, as it inevitably does, individual freedom always loses.
So I would contend that, given human nature, libertarian ideas are easily marginalized, even by those of us who consider ourselves to be libertarians and that coercion is, by default, an erosion of or assault on individual freedom (except for this one small thing, of course, and maybe the next, then the next, etc.--for the greater good, of course). And the average naked ape doesn't think it through even to this limited extent. So maybe the line between "they" and "us," and exactly who is doing the marginalizing, isn't so well defined, and that therefore, libertarianism--silly or not--is indeed self-limiting to a great extent.
And maybe the large "L" silly side of it is a way to laugh to keep from crying over the human condition and a humorous recognition that being libertarian is, at least at this point in human evolution, so rare as to be an exercise in futility, broadly speaking.
But being a real libertarian is not caring what other people are doing, unless they are harming somebody.
Human nature being what it is, real libertarians will ALWAYS be outnumbered and outgunned by the "elite" in society who want to keep their power. But libertarian ideas are powerful and persuasive when people actually stop to listen, so we must be marginalized as freaks. Hell, you do it and you voted for GJ!
Voting on principles (that in our opinion are the founding principles of our nation) as we watch the republicans and democrats destroy our country is a moral high ground I'm happy to be on with the other 2% of voters that pull the "L" lever.
Too bad we have to live in the world the 98% of yall have built for all of us. It kinda sucks now.
You vote? That's not very libertarian of you. Just kidding. I was trying (and failing) to make two points, though. The first is that those of us who view being left alone (and leaving others alone) as opposed to using the power of Government to perpetually bash people with whom we disagree over the head is a vanishingly small subset of the electorate.
The second is that the Libertarian Party is a fundamentally unserious bunch, moral high ground notwithstanding. I actually joined the party and voted for their ticket in 2016 (and for the extraordinarily well qualified and competent candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner. He lost badly, of course, to the Republican hack du jour). In a hostile system controlled by R's and D's, unserious is never going to cut it... although it's an exercise in futility regardless.
(I claim to be uber-libertarian, you know getting kind of close to that other Rand, no not Ron, but the one who wrote the hated book. The name and the book both start with A.)
Gee, Socialism wins again.....and again and again.
Thanks a lot doctrinaire libertarian/Libertarian/Conservatives
Look, wake up to the unavoidable reality that there is a very, very good reason why there can be only two parties, one more-or-less in power, and one more-or-less in opposition.
For POTUS anyway, either you vote for the lesser of two "evils," or you are increasing the chance that the greater of two "evils" wins.
(That would be Socialism/Statism, right libertarians?)
98% of us have built for all of us? I don't think so. There are only two ways to look at this equation. One is that 1% of us built this world for themselves, but find the rest of us useful to keep their feet dry - OR - two, that 100% of us built this world and have to live in our own sandcastles.
The moment local media was replaced by national/global empires we were doomed. The vertical integration of media, politics, legal and finance is a terrible hydra that I fear will require a lot of fire to destroy. I could go on and with voluminous evidence but any critical thinker already sees it. The evidence is all around us.
Yeah, exactly as predicted, vast waves of right wing violence and voting with massive consolidation of right wing and establishment power, utterly ruled by corporations.
You know, what libertarians always tell people "hey, hey now, you guys better watch out".
The Democrips and Rebloodicans are on the right now, ty Gov Ventura! Real freedom lovers cannot align with them. We may have to relabel. l'm a Christian Socialist and I'm horrified at what is happening under JoKa. I'm trying to tell you that real lefties don't want suppression of free speech. That and a middle class are all that make this place livable.
It’s crazies all around. The schizophrenic shifting of “principles” btw the parties (war, policing, censorship, policing, “religion”, big pharma) is so clear to us libertarians—how both sides can’t see it is stunning. Meanwhile—more bailouts for the bankers, the pharma, the lawyers, the hospital conglomerates, “government essential employees”....while everyone forgot about their $2k Check. No one was prosecuted after 2008 financial crisis, and no one will be held accountable in this endless covid crisis.
The elite sure aren’t suffering. Liz Cheney is a hero now, police must protect our celebrity politicians, and “hate speech” must be eliminated. Most of all—positions must align 100% with what the leaders declare for the team.
We went from Dennis kucinnich and Ron Paul challenging their parties with consistent principles (opposite sides but same enemy)....to AOC and Hawley as “principled hero’s”. Fuck due process and civil liberties!
Yeah, wow, it was Liz who? last month. She sure knew just when to grab some celebrity status. But she must be way too principled to actually be opportunistic, right? (crickets.)
Glenn, I owe you an apology. I was one of those people after 9/11 who was willing to give up some of my freedoms if it would keep America safe. You sounded the alarm. You were right and I was wrong. Recently, when you referenced the Claiborne County case I researched it and also read about the 9th Circuit decision on the Nuremberg Files website case. The website published the names and addresses of abortion doctors and later three doctors were murdered. I know personally how horrific and tragic those murders were because two occurred in the city where I lived at the time. Planned Parenthood sued the Nuremberg Files website creators. The 9th Circuit, probably the most liberal court in the country, ruled unanimously it was protected speech with similar reasoning used in the Claiborne case.
Excellent article . . . depressing and scary but excellent.
>> and also read about the 9th Circuit decision on the Nuremberg Files website case. The website published the names and addresses of abortion doctors and later three doctors were murdered. I know personally how horrific and tragic those murders were because two occurred in the city where I lived at the time. Planned Parenthood sued the Nuremberg Files website creators. The 9th Circuit, probably the most liberal court in the country, ruled unanimously it was protected speech<<
Not really accurate.
That 9th Circuit case was overturned en banc (all the judges of that circuit rehearing the matter):
>>The decision of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco (9th Cir.) overturns a three-judge panel ruling from March 2001 that deemed the Web site’s content protected speech because it did not directly threaten violence.
But a 6-5 majority thought otherwise.
Judge Pamela Ann Rymer, writing for the majority, said the American Coalition of Life Activists clearly issued a threat to abortion doctors listed on the Nuremberg Files site.
“ACLA was aware that a “wanted”-type poster would likely be interpreted as a serious threat of death or bodily harm by a doctor in the reproductive health services community who was identified on one, given the previous pattern of “WANTED” posters identifying a specific physician followed by that physician’s murder,” Rymer wrote.<<
On the narrow facts of that case I find that the en banc court had the stronger case. That is, The Nuremberg Files site did constitute a "true threat," which is not protected speech.
Right, and Hugo Black was a KKK member and Supreme Court Justice. Not every voter thinks that lawyers and judges should be the final word, especially when the bar is the largest criminal organization in America, and probably the most powerful. Any ruling not affirmed or voided by the Supreme Court is really just waiting for reversal.
That is the problem with America today, lawyers are running the place.
Would you call it "a true threat" if someone reads Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2 in public?
Ultimately. But thats because the members of the 9th circuit change, no? You conveniently ignore the FACT that they did rule unanimously it was protected speech.
But there you are, good little DNC lawyer, picking out a specific point that helps your case and ignoring the poster pointing out the hypocrisy of the people in power on cases that help their narrative vs hurt them.
"But thats because the members of the 9th circuit change, no?"
No.
It's because the full circuit of judges reversed the subset that was the original 3-judge panel. There was a mere year between the 2 decisions.
In any event, I wished to correct the error the original commenter made, as the 9th Circuit (sitting en banc) did not ultimately rule as she said. Your non sequiturs -- including ad hominem attacks on me -- are all irrelevant to that.
The original 9th circuit ruling was as the poster said though? So they were speaking factually.
It's not an ad hominem attack to point out the poster was accurate and the 9th circuit did rule that way, even if it was overturned. Not every petitioner has unlimited funds and time to continue hoping a court "gets it right".
The judiciary is the ruling class. If you have any doubt, remember that legislation passed by congress and signed into law by the President still can be declared illegal or unconstitutional by people appointed for life by politicians, every single one of whom has been a member of the bar at some point.
Every single corporation and entity on earth someone would declare as "powerful" has an attorney or multiple in their upper management and a budget for them as well.
The real gunslingers of the 21st century are lawyers and they have endless paperwork and cost for weapons.
You are most welcome, Margaret. It's not easy to follow the history of a case unless one is using a pricey legal database. Your error is an easy one to make -- it's not usual for a circuit court panel to be reversed by the full circuit, as happened in this case.
I unsuccessfully tried to follow the trail with my limited resources because I did assumed it would have eventually ended up in the Supreme court. I also appreciate your clear and concise explanation to a non-attorney like me!
I wonder if any of the so-called "liberals" pushing for a domestic "war on terror" akin to the "war on terror" the government waged against Al Qaeda realize that only a decade after launching the first "war" the government was funding and arming Al Qaeda in Syria (when it suited their purposes). Of course all of the police-state powers assumed by the government to prosecute the "war on terror" were maintained (and expanded), even as our purported enemy in this war (Al Qaeda) was acting as one of our proxies. Its almost as if the hysteria created by these "wars" is all about seizing power and stifling freedom and has nothing at all to do with "terror".
Come on, man. The next thing you'll say is that the U.S. gave weapons to the Taliban way back in the eighties just to stick it to the nefarious Rooskies.
As if our elites would really do something so stupid...
But the war on the spread of Statism/Communism, albeit conducted wastefully and driven, to a dangerous level by the "warmachine" (Eisenhower warning, right?), WAS important to win (unlike the idiotic wars on behavior like drug-use, and non-state terrorism, which are totally driven and abused by police-State power and money interests).
The arming of the Taliban DID defeat the USSR there, and helped win the Cold War, and we only know how bad the Taliban were in light of their post-war behavior.
A very important point - I asked a liberal friend if they were aware of the actual genocide - actual insofar as Islamic State actually said they intended to genocide the Yazidi people and actually tried to carry it out - and they had never heard of the Yazidis and I'm guessing as I didn't push them would not have believed that the USA during the Obama presidency actually de-facto backed the Islamists in Syria.
That's some first class sarcasm right there. I think? I logged to post something like, "So we are fucked and doomed to live under a security state that will rival the Stassi?"
I have been told there is a file on me in the Stasi archives, as I traveled there as a child and young adult to visit family. While I don't agree with Lee that it is still living, he is he is 100% correct in saying they would have wished they had the tools the US Gov't has now.
One only listen to yesterday's incomprehensible sputterings by Clinton and Pelosi about establishing a commission to determine if Trump was coordinating with Putin during his attempted coup to feel that we're way beyond the veil. So many stolen bases, so many cynical lies, so transparently done, yet there is a significant portion of the country that eats it up and begs for more.
It is extraordinary isn't it, how hurt Clinton appears to be by her defeat in 2016 - how she must have revenge. It really beggars belief, but many people I know believe the whole Russia collusion, which despite great effort and huge support appears to have no evidence.
Move anywhere where people have some sense of reality. We have thousands of people here who got some kind of uni education, yet no chance to use it, except for looking down on others. Discontent is bad, think some smart dude wrote a book about it.
There is so much discontent (inside and outside of both parties) with how our kleptocratic oligarchies have managed and mismanaged the country, really since the 70s but especially since the end of the Cold War, that at this stage they can only hold on to their power and privileges not by subtle wealth transfers alone but by taking the new political step of dictatorship--"fascism," by the tacit contemporary usage, but now in the name of "progressivism" or "human rights." The only thing to add to Glenn's outstanding prognosis is that the new tyranny will be exercised in the name of "human rights" even as it abrogates civil rights. It will use corporate Leninism to circumvent the constitution to impose wokeness, not for the purpose of improving people's lives or freedom, but for the sake of amplifying its power and wealth. Leninism is ideology used as a means of control and coercion; corporations, too, may be used as means of ideology; and the two arcs may coincide. Thus our corporate elites are using race (for example) as a means of protecting any challenge to their privilege.
Engel's dogmatizing of Marx (and Hegel) was an essential component of Leninism, which though very clever is not known for any genuinely philosophical inspiration of its own. By the way, there is little appreciation in Engels for what Hegel understands by freedom (he has been unfairly tarred by association with Marx), and the passage you quote could be asserted by any Stoic philosopher of late antiquity. But I see your historical point and agree. Bolshevism is precisely the method of a secretive, conspiratorial group with limitless political ambitions and fancying itself the vanguard of humanity (sort of like Davos or the World Economic Forum). Their "scientific" understanding of history (a k a necessity) entitles them to the absolute power to engineer the future.
It's not just communications; it's payment/banking systems too. Those who find themselves on the wrong side of cancel culture (Louis Bingo's term corporate Leninism is brilliant) can find themselves unable to send or receive money.
Leninism was originally modeled on the kind of corporate despotism Vladimir Ilyich so admired in industrial capitalism, the most effective form of social engineering by far. Lenin carried it over into radical politics, where it was easily adopted by rightists too, though perhaps less successfully than the single-minded Russian ideologue. Now we have reached the point where Leninism is returning to its corporate roots, as corporations go "woke" and insist on ideological uniformity as an instrument of social control. This is truly frightening.
And I would add that just as in the original forms of Leninism, political institutions (that are nominally democratic) are reduced to the facade of a real power behind and above them, in effect the central committee, just as the central committee was essentially a corporate board.
Fantastic piece. Have to say I am finding myself agreeing with you on more and more issues.
I tried to speak with a group of friends who are all left of center in their political views, well educated and upper, upper middle class. Every single one remains so blinded by their rage against the yellow-haired devil, that they are unwilling to see the drift into totalitarian dictatorship occurring right before their eyes. I even conceded that Facebook, Twitter and the like booting Trump off their platform is arguably well within those firms purview, no matter how damaging this move is to their platform. But, and this to me is absolutely a fundamentally different and more ominous set of actions, the clearly coordinated attack on Parler by Apple, Google and Amazon is a direct frontal assault on the 1st Amendment rights of every American citizen. Any academic, journalist, editor, publisher or public interest group (hey ACLU where have you been) who does not rise-up and openly denounce and fight this blatant assault is a complete and utter fraud. As I said before, my forefathers back to the 1700's fought and in several cases died to achieve and guarantee these rights to EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN. I'll be damned if I am going to remain silent and let them be taken away.
Glenn, you certainly hit the nail on the head with this one, and as one who does not share your political viewpoint, it is profoundly depressing to find myself in almost complete agreement with your frank and honest analysis.
This isn't at its root a left vs. right issue, although the powers-that-be and their media propagandists, in a classic divide and conquer approach, are going to great lengths to portray it as such. In hindsight, it seems to me that the "Republic" began its demise as such as soon as the first indigestible omnibus bill containing the phrase, "The Secretary will, at his discretion..." was passed into law by legislators who had not read it, just as surely as a star that forms the first iron atom within its core begins its inevitable path to self-destruction.
The various bureaucratic entities within the ever-metastasizing Executive Branch, especially the corrupt and secret "intelligence community" with their black budgets, long ago ceased to be accountable to anyone but themselves in any meaningful sense, and no president, Congress or judge has the power, much less the political will, to challenge the status quo and every incentive to refrain from doing so. And the twelve (for now, at least) Nazgul of the Supreme Court have blessed the entire unholy arrangement, effectively setting it in stone using the doctrines of "deference" and stare decisis to rationalize their complicity.
Right now there are 25,000 troops deployed in Washington, DC, to protect the incoming regime from a citizenry it fears during its inaugural "celebration." Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how anyone can, with a straight face, refer to the erstwhile "United" States of America a republic. At best, it is now a progressive oligarchy. And President Trump, with his seemingly inexhaustible supply of idiosyncratic and narcissistic flaws, did at least manage to expose that fact for everyone (except the willfully blind) to see.
Well, I can't be aboard for all this. So now I must face the fact that despite having been a productive citizen and an American patriot my whole life and trying my best for the last twelve years to care for my fellow human beings of all races, ethnicities and creeds as a critical care RN in a large public hospital, that my government now considers me to be a dissident and probably worse. So be it, then. Screw the Empire. Screw the new Caesar. And God bless the sovereign state of Texas and all the citizens of the former republic of the United States of America, and give us the strength and the compassion to face whatever comes next.
Food for thought. Thanks. For now I plan to stay in Texas and continue working where I am. I have a pretty esoteric specialty, and there is a huge need for what I do. This might be a mistake, but I've never been a huge fan of running. It is what it is, and the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side of the fence (plenty of fences in the world, too, it seems, but I digress).
That being said, I'm eligible for early retirement this year if things get too bad, and I understand the use of tools if worst come to worst. On the bright side, as you point out, there are options.
Even someone who sells pillows, Mike Lindell who supports Trump, and believes the election was stolen is being targeted, as are the stores who carry his products. Stores, like Bed Bath and Beyond, Wayfair, etc, are dropping his products due to political pressure from the left. Comply or suffer the consequences. I just called Bed Bath and Beyond and told them I would never enter their store again, and I do like to shop there, if they concede to this political pressure. It puts them in a bad position, since either way they lose, and she did say she got a lot of phone calls that expressed the same opinion as mine. Who do I blame mostly for all this? The "left." "The left" stream media, like CNN, MSNBC, and the mainstream media, as well as those "left wing" sites I use to go to in previous years for truth who unfortunately they didn't maintain their independence during these last four years and were overly compliant with the democrats, and way too often brutal in their attacks on Trump.
“The Dem Party and its media have convinced tens of millions of people that anyone who disagrees with them is evil, a traitor, a Russian asset, a fascist. The Repub Party and its media have convinced tens of millions of people that anyone who disagrees with them is evil, a traitor, a Chinese asset, a communist. Meanwhile, the billionaires and corporations that own both parties, the entirety of the MSM and everything else under the sun are making out like bandits at the expense of everyone else and the planet. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Cheers!”
Do you really think in the last four years the republicans played as dirty as the democrats? I was a registered democrat and in my book they played so dirty I'm now an independent.
Well, it did start originally with Fox and right-wing radio, but then eventually the entire msm adopted the same business model of extreme partisanship and perpetual outrage at the other side, no matter what. So, I’m really not talking just about the last 4 years; this has been decades in the making, on both sides, I’m afraid.
I don't disagree with your broader point. But when Fix News came on the scene it was the ONLY tv network that wasn't left leaning. It's simply untrue that "fox started it".
Glenn, you have been heroically assailing the apparent ubiquity of groupthink in the american media since the beginning of your career and this piece is emblematic of that. I too am exceptionally concerned about the evolving Thucydidian dialectic between the combined forces of the Neoliberal centrist state (corporate media, academia, upper middle class managerial class, and security state/"military industrial complex") and the "Trump base". I was wondering what you think the role of groupthink is in contemporary culture? One question I have been pondering of recent is how can there be such a uniformity of understanding in interpreting, or evaluating events, such as the "stroming of the Capitol", and in ascribing causes to them? And crucially what can be done to deflate this phenomenon and get people to jump out of these manufactured psychological grooves which are seemingly being spun to benefit the ends of the Neoliberal order?
Please keep writing stories like this, you are needed now more than ever.
To stymie groupthink eschew labels (right/left, liberal/conservative, Dem/Republican, racist/anti-racist, etc. ) Most people who think they are thinking find out that they are not when they cannot use labels. Ask friends to avoid labels in conversation--watch them struggle. Eventually they begin to think.
About that "uniformity of understanding," particularly within the media, you might consider the possibility that some conspiracy theories might contain an element of truth. Propaganda is an old art, but technology makes the old new, and the lie that used to make its way around the world before the truth could put its pants on now moves at the speed of light.
I used to work for an intel Agency. I just had to retire early after 18 years for medical reasons. I can honestly say I am ashamed to have believed the BS that was fed to us. I feel like I was brainwashed almost to justify things that I find myself sickened by now. I went to work there after 9/11. I believed in what I did at first, but things changed. Employees who questioned things suffered in their careers. Literally before I started separating myself from there and reading things on my own, I would hear ‘Glenn Greenwald’ and think ‘Snowden’ who i was led to believe was the devil. Once away from the IC cult, I realize where the truth is, where the bravery is. It’s with journalists like Glenn. Thank you for your courage and bravery taking on the national security apparatus that has played us for too long.
Thank you for your honesty. Please continue to advocate for liberty.
Thank you. I have a lot of truth to share, but when you work there, they make you paranoid and put so much fear in you. To this day, I am terrified. All I can say is always question when you hear people cite an “intel source.” Or a “high-ranking official.” And you can safely assume that whatever Adam Schiff or someone like John Brennan claims is true, it is probably the exact opposite.
I have had two experiences in my life where I was overcome by a feeling of brutal cold malevolence upon seeing a person I did not know. The first time was when I saw someone at a pizza place who turned out to be Jerry Sandusky. The second time was when I walked by someone on a plane who turned out to be John Brennan. Strangely enough, in both cases I learned who they were within hours of the event by reading a glowing newspaper article about them.
I CAN SO RELATE!
I got into federal work right after 9/11. They were looking for people with military backgrounds to work all over the globe.
Wanted to do my bit. PLUS by agreeing to go to Afghanistan as a contractor for a year I got FOUR TIMES my salary TAX FREE for a year with all my housing, transportation, food and healthcare paid for by the taxpayer. I took home half a million dollars for one yr.
I look back now and want to throw up.
Worth repeating
“If you identify as a conservative and continue to believe that your prime enemies are ordinary leftists, or you identify as a leftist and believe your prime enemies are Republican citizens, you will fall perfectly into the trap set for you. Namely, you will ignore your real enemies, the ones who actually wield power at your expense: ruling class elites, who really do not care about “right v. left” and most definitely do not care about “Republican v. Democrat” — as evidenced by the fact that they fund both parties — but instead care only about one thing: stability, or preservation of the prevailing neoliberal order.”
It’s the age old reality that politicians need an enemy to rally their followers around. Then they proclaiming to be the only ones to provide the solution to the supposed emergency. And of course the organs of the government fall in line lest they lose funding and power.
So Awesome, why I'm happy to see my monthly auto-draft got to Mr. Greenwald.
Worth shouting from the mountain tops.
Ideally, individuals get together and hire/form political parties to effect the changes WE want. Not today. It's inverted.
Is the AI already in control? (sarc, you detractors)
Of course Mr. Xiden misses the point that the new 'Domestic Terrorists' are clealy Trump supporters. The normal Hegelian Dialectic is inapplicable in this instance, the L/R paradigm is now upended by the mule in the Foundation: Donald Trump, who has taken the Republic Party and remade it in his image. Niether Left nor Right but a middleground called 1776 style Patriotism.
It is this new flowering of the Spirit of 76 that is seen as an exisential threat to the corporatist oligarchy.
This is why the constant and perpetual harrassment of President Trump from the moment he won the 2016 election. and the reason the corporatists rigged the 2020 Presidential election.
The 2020 Presidential Election was rigged by a cabal of corporate oligarchs to install their own meat-puppet into the White House as a titular figure so they could rule behind the curtain of Oz
PROLOGUE
It has become increasingly obvious after several months of dealing with the repercussions of the TIMES Magazine article by Molly Ball that some preliminary remarks are in order to understand the meaning of this article.
First and foremost is Ms. Ball’s use of language. The language she uses is what George Orwell referred to as, “Political Language”, wherein the terminology takes on rather deceitful nuances to portray a message that although true, is couched in coded terms. So that when Ms. Ball is describing what is clearly a conspiracy to manipulate the 2020 Presidential election, she chose the term “to save” it.
This key phrase has allowed for a disingenuous interpretation of the message Ms. Ball is giving the readers. This tactic allows for mollification of those who will automatically recoil from the real message that the article conveys, that the 2020 presidential election was ‘rigged’ ie; stolen by the cabal of corporatist oligarchs who conspired to place the candidate of their choice in the White House.
Another thing is obvious from the article, and that is that Ms. Ball was obviously taken into confidence by the leadership of this conspiracy and given first hand detailed information. They wanted this story to be revealed to the public. They knew because of their powerful positions that they are impervious to any legal consequences for their plainly illegal activities, as they have the impunity of wealth and political power. These people can brag about this outrage and get away with it.
There are quite a few things that have been revealed since the 2020 Presidential Election that prove the election was rigged.The most important of these are those revealed in the TIME Magazine article by Molly Ball on Feb. 4, 2021 that describe in great detail a conspiracy to rig the 2020 Presidential Election. I shall herein transcribe that in its complete form:
https://thedissedent.page/2021/07/01/2020-presidential-election-fraud/
\\][//
I'm a 54 yr old veteran, Desert Storm veteran. I have served in the federal government for the last 17 yrs. I live and work in DC.
If this does not scare the crap out of you then you are a fool. Just a fool.
The supposed "insurrection" was a joke. 5000 ppl manage to basically walk over or past Capital security. Nobody who was not a protester was hurt. No fires were set. Some of the supposed leaders are known mental patients.
As someone who lives here, I can tell you that if you want to bump off a congress critter or senator it is just not that hard to find them around the capital or the Hart building. Ya do not need to invade the capital building to do it.
To call the reaction to this as being over the top and bizarre is to understate the situation.
Me? I am getting the heck out of here. I retire in 9 yrs and I plan to be living overseas. This country is heading for an ugly and dangerous place. The left is becoming EXACTLY what they accused Trump of TRYING to be, authoritarian control freaks ready to punish, penalize, harass, arrest, monitor and control HALF the population that supported Trump.
I've been planning this move for 3 yrs. Heading to my destination of choice in March to buy a house and then rent it out until I am ready to go. The day I retire I am liquidating everything I own here and then taking every penny I have and going. I may start a business outside the states consulting but it will not be to the US government. NO WAY.
Thing is, I am not the only one that is thinking this and planning it. A good friend, retired Col, retired and moved to Chile with his wife. They probably took about $2 million in savings with them given what they got for their house in Alexandria and that his wife was a lawyer in town. Never mind he still collects his military pension. Another friend just bought property in Costa Rica and she is moving next year and going to run her consulting business remotely from there. My neighbor, an Air Force vet, and his wife, a senior program manager for a federal contractor, are looking at Western Panama. Their last kid moved out last year and they are getting their house ready to sell. Have a good friend in Boston, she and her husband have no kids. THEY are looking at Prague. Same deal. They can consult from there.
I've even told my kids to look at getting out. My daughter has a degree in neurscience and is finishing her JD. She is fluent in Spanish. Told her to look at Spain or Mexico or even Peru. My son, told him the same thing.
I have also told them, that despite coming from a family that has served in the military since the Civil War on one side and one that served from the Civil War through WWII on the other, that NEITHER of them should enlist, not even as a JAG officer. I've put away all the family photos of military pictures including from my own time. Told them I would be ashamed if they did enlist. The military is now just a means of projecting imperial power and the politicians will throw their lives away for the oil companies. Next it will be used to control the population.
It's a thought I have been considering as well. Issues being that I own a business, have three school age children, and aging parents. I never thought I would be mentally where I'm at today, but then again I never thought I'd see a poll where 25% of the general population thought breaking up the USA was a good idea. Or see a fully militarized DC that looks like Pyongyang in full paranoid regalia. Maybe it's the 50 year cycle of instability in this country and we'll swing back, but the structural economic issues we have now tend to make me think this time is very different.
My personal opinion is that you should PLAN to do it like I have been doing.
We are not some dramatic Hollywood types who say we are moving to Canada and then dont.
Figure out when you CAN go and where you WANT to go and then work backwards.
I'm going to wait just long enough for my son to be out of school and to maximize my retirement.
I have researched where to go and what I need to qualify to be there and to get health insurance etc. I mean I probably have over 200 hrs of research time into this.
You even have to research how you plan to bank, how you move your money. Gotta get into the details.
Maybe you have to wait til your parents pass...or maybe you take them with you.
The kids will be fine once they are launched. Then you can liquidate everything and go.
You might find that you inspire them to open their minds to living anywhere in the world they might want and not be locked into the US as the only option. I showed my kids where I plan to go and they both said that they either want very much to travel there and visit or even move there as well.
I imagine your going to find after doing a lot of research that there are a lot of very beautiful and interesting places to go live outside the US and that they will cost you a fraction of what it costs here to live and that your retirement will look a lot nicer.
Morally the country is in bad shape and it is possible that good people will lose whatever fight is mounted, but it is not possible that they MUST lose. Rethink merely escaping.
Friends who know what I do for a living have been calling, emailing and texting me to know what I think.
I tell them all the same thing. The risk of staying exceeds the risk of leaving. Keep your head down, preserve your assets, prepare to liquidate and figure out where you want to go.
I KNOW what our government is capable of, I helped build portions of the tools they have. I have feared for years where it would lead to and now my fears are being realized.
It is NOT out of the question that if enough people look to leave and take their money with them that the leftists in the government will start looking to make leaving or leaving with your money illegal. This is about control and the only acceptable answer is to comply. Even leaving and being seen to leave will be construed as a criticism of their policies and the government and they will try to stamp on it. Never mind that they are going to be desperate for tax dollars and if enough people leave with their wealth they are not going to be happy.
First they will ignore it and say good riddence to us leaving.
Then, as more people do it, they will criticize us for being unpatriotic.
Then, if enough people do it they will say how awful and ungrateful we are and that we owe the country something, despite having paid taxes since I was 14.
Then they will look to take your money as you leave if enough people go.
Finally, they will make leaving illegal in some way and if any one or two countries in particular become popular then they will look to penalize those countries.
Friend of mine gave up his US citizenship and got Columbian citizenship when he moved there 6 yrs ago. Took every penny he had, bought a gorgeous condo overlooking a national park and moved. Talked with him about a month ago when he was back for Christmas to see his kids. He comes back from Thanksgiving through New Years each year and then heads back. Told me he has absolutely no regrets.
I've done my bit. I've fought wars and voted and been politically active. I've paid my taxes and raised my kids. Given to charities and the homeless and helped to provide the basics for really poor kids so they can get an education.
Let the frigging millenials deal with the mess. They seem to be convinced they hold the moral high ground on every freaking issue and that they are smarter and wiser than we of GenX.
Let them solve the problems. Its their future. I'm happy to go sit on the sidelines and watch them try. Think they are gonna have to hit rock bottom before they figure it out and I am not gonna waste the rest of my life pushing on a string. No. I am going to go and enjoy what time is left and see some other parts of the world.
"It is NOT out of the question that if enough people look to leave and take their money with them that the leftists in the government will start looking to make leaving or leaving with your money illegal."
California is already working on this, with a bill in the Legislature to establish a state "wealth tax" that would still apply for 10 years after you move out of the state - their argument being that, gosh, you didn't build that wealth, the government did! (It would be prorated downward each year after you left the state - but it's not even an income tax, it's a wealth tax - you have to give the state a percentage of your estate each year.)
Ironically, the biggest opposition to this is coming from college and pro sports teams, who worry that no star or potential star will be willing to relocate to California if they're going to be taxed even if they leave.
Thats because the liberal utopia ran out of other peoples money and the smart money bailed early.
Thats the thing...the smart money leaves first.
Then, the aholes in charge look to rape anyone left behind and for them it is too late to get out.
You dont want to be the dumb money.
CA is hosed unless the federal government bails them out and that is really not likely in at least this session of congress. If it EVER happens it will be too late in all probability.
Wonder how long before Hollywood bails out?
This is an incredibly smart and awake post. I'd like to add that Gen X never got a chance to govern the country due to these awful narcissistic Silent Gens and older boomers.
And we never will if younger generations helped elect an octogenarian.
I’m not necessarily saying we’d have done better. But don’t believe it’d have been worse!
Consider this....
Woke pro sports is hurting financially. Those who aint woke said to hell with watching. Guess there is enough of those people to really hurt the bottom line.
Twitter and FB stock and use way down. Guess if you persecute and stifle the non woke and ban them you lose a lot of people.
Ratings for FOX, CNN etc.....Down. Guess if you mock, insult and call for harm to be done to millions of people they will stop watching.
See...here is the thing. All that has to happen is for as many people as possible to just not play along. Just refuse to participate. Not feed the beast.
As I said, I am leaving the country as soon as I retire. I wont spend money here, watch TV here, use social media or pay property taxes here. I'm just taking my money and going.
At some point the path these people are on is going to lead to some sort of economic crisis, likely even a crisis in the dollar. The social stratification and parsing is going to lead to the groups turning on each other eventually. Smaller and smaller groups deciding who is least privileged. I wont be here. Fight among yourselves. Let the left take control and have full responsibility. Let them do their thing. When they end up with a miserable, broke and desperate country maybe they will wake up. Either way, I do not intend to play. Ultimately it will end in a disaster and probably involve a lot of government persecution before it is over. Sad, but nothing I can do about it so I get out and go someplace where I can live free of the mess and not have to be stressed about it or witness it.
What would have happened if the moneyed and clear-minded men who founded this country had chosen to flee instead?
The moneyed and clear-minded men who founded this country had an adversary 4000 miles away, that was a lot less powerful than the US government in 2020.
I am breaking off from the crowd here to agree with you Mostly.
I say we stand and fight if it comes to that. I say we yell as loud as we can that we are not going to take this draconian bullshit.
DON'T TREAD ON ME.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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There would be no US without the French. That was a completely different reality.
Good wishes here; I do not think the world waits on your plans, this is all those above.
I’ve seen the Green Zone movie and it sucks. They always do this, they don’t know how to do anything else.
See you in AOC's re-education camp. You won't want to leave. You'll want to stay here and fight tight-wing terrorism. Speaking of re-education and terrorism, I just had a liberal friend write me after I sent a non-political heartwarming piece about a woman who saved Jewish children during the Holocaust that I should know that Epoch Times, which published it, is, according to Wikipedia (that unbiased source of info) dangerously right-wing. I explained to her that it was founded by Falun Gong followers, a gentle Qi Gong movement, actually something everyone over 60 should practice, hardly terrorist, and they were tortured by the CCP, so, no, they're not crazy about Communism, but hardly a threat to Nancy Pelosi. Have not heard back. She's probably reported me to the Terrorism Board.
cookie cutter cargo cult conspiratard narrative
Official Narrative believers are the greatest fools of them all.
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I doubt you'll have a pension in 9 years. Your analysis is correct.
Europe is playing along with this. Paris presently has a 6:00pm curfew -- get indoors by 6:00pm or get a ticket. So I'd discard any European country as a safe haven. They generally despise Americans anyway.
I give it two years. Prediction: America will be in full continuous lockdown by 2023. The criminals are running out of time and they will bring the hammer down ASAP. They won't let your money out of the country. These things can happen very quickly, ask anyone in Russia.
So if you're planning to leave, go now.
No, I'm sorry but you either love your country and fight for the ideals you believe in or not. If the freedoms we have here disappear they will vanish from Earth. I can't say I respect your decision to abandon the Nation your ancestors fought to create, defend and uphold. Serving the corrupt system instead of finding solutions to repair it and then abandoning it when it needs you most. How long will these ideals last on planet Earth if they die here? This is a Democratic Republic and it must be fought for by people who believe in the Constitution.
Running away because it's easier is not the answer. The tyranny and oppression will follow you if it vanishes from this country.
The USA ceased to exist in 1899
https://mises.org/library/conquest-united-states-spain
There is no doubt that moral courage is the virtue which is more needed than any other in the modern democratic state, and that truckling to popularity is the worst political vice. The press, the platform, and the pulpit have all fallen under this vice, and there is evidence that the university also, which ought to be the last citadel of truth, is succumbing to it likewise.
Interesting how relevant parts of this speech are today. Thanks for sharing, I'm enjoying reading it.
They That Can Give Up Essential Liberty to Obtain a Little Temporary Safety Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Safety - Benjamin Franklin
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e.pierce (Banned) ceased to exist in January 2021.
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https://youtu.be/dncyXvPR8uU
The End of Universities? | Jordan B. Peterson
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Retire early; do not wait.
Dystopia certainly awaits all who flee their duty as Patriots.
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"The military is now just a means of projecting imperial power and the politicians will throw their lives away for the oil companies."
They're leading us toward the existential threats of nuclear war and climate catastrophe, and the impact of either one will be massive and global . Just how far away do you plan to move?
Running doesn’t seem like it’s in your blood. But working in DC makes cowards, I guess. Should’ve spent your time somewhere more wholesome
Seems absurd
Just so you don't have the wrong impression, many LEOs at the capitol were injured in the event.
I'm divorced and my girlfriend in Peruvian. She is open to living almost anywhere outside the US
Thank you, Glenn. A question: why don't the Democrats talk about the Weather Underground bombing of the Capitol? Oh, right, I can answer that - because Bill Ayers and Susan Rosenberg are now a cozy part of the Obama/Biden circle. Also to refer to a commenter below who's upset about the threat of White Supremacists - please, grow up. Take a driving trip around this country as I have. You aren't going to find enough White Supremacists to overthrow a tractor, not even in Idaho. The threat of Woke Supremacists is much greater.
White Supremacist indoctrination is only really a problem in prison which is ironic as that is precisely where they are threatening to send Trump supporters who entered the Capitol. They are creating their own enemy.
That's how you keep the violence going.
Well, they might manage to push over an outhouse. Not as heavy as a tractor.
I now live back in my hometown, a lovely city in SoCal with too many wealthy white liberals. The people I know here who have been yakking for the last four years about the dangers of White Supremacists are all white liberals with an unseemly masochism about their race which they project onto anyone who is white and proud of their heritage and call them “White Supremacists.” We have a botanic garden here that's very sweet. The current director issued a bulletin last summer about the dangers of White Supremacism at the garden, and that there would be no tolerance of any racial threats. I asked him (he's white as is his board) to give me a specific White Supremacist incident and he said “it's systemic.” I told him if he really wanted to do good to become a paramedic on the South Side of Chicago, but he feels his real work fighting the Nazi/racists/slavery terrorism is here. Okay, the better weather is really what he's talking about. But there has been this War on White Terrorism in CA now for some time. And the wealthy liberals here just love it. Sometimes I suggest they think about the genocide of the Uyghurs and how their iPhone is made by slave Uyghurs but of course they just look blank.
A vastly exaggerated media-driven fetish used for political purposes. Outside the prisons, there are probably only a few thousand affiliated white supremacists. The idea of a mass movement to overthrow the government is a pure fabrication.
I used to sing in rock bands in the 60s and 70s. One of my drummers was a heroin addict and went to prison for robbery to get cash to feed his habit.
Within a year he was a raging 'white supremacist neonazi fuckhead.
Thing in prison you are stuck inside where ethnic gangs rule. It is dangerous to try to be an individual and stay out of the fray.
John, the drummer was an asshole, but it was prison that really ruined the guy's mind, even more than the heroin.
If the legal system is going to radicalize people for life, then they have an obligation to keep them locked up for life. An illiberal sentiment to be sure, but totally practical.
And don't think the 'Screws" (prison guards)are immune to this insane mindset.
It only takes a few years and they are as fucked up as the prisoners.
I knew some people in Georgia who had reletives that were prison guards. They were all crazy as shit house rats.
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Now don't be too quick to minimize the threat. Remember the two Nigerian white supremacists who tried to lynch that famous French actor, Juicy Sommelier, in Chicago? How insidious and diabolical!
Worse yet, they almost stole his sandwich. His SANDWICH, for God's sake! If these nefarious bastards can operate so freely in the forward looking, peaceful citadel of Chicago, NO ONE IS SAFE!
It's pretty hilarious, but we must remember that Kamala Harris, who is well acquainted with M. Sommelier, sponsored the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, and referred to poor Juicy as a "victim of a modern day lynching" before the story began to fall apart.
Her gambit got put on ice pretty quickly thanks to Juicy's gross incompetence. But now that her political career has been revived (by virtue of having a vagina and dark-ish skin) we can be sure it will be back just as soon as they can repackage and rebrand it.
Lmao. Juicy Sommelier and Nigerian White supremacists. At least we can still laugh
Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. God bless Dave Chappelle.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
And this is exactly what the libertarians have been screaming about for almost two decades at this point. Everything we were warning about is happening right in front of our eyes.
No one listens to us!! haha. I really backed off trying to yell from the rooftops when we all got bent over the bankers barrel in 2008-2009 and NO ONE CARED.
Curious if the MAGA people will start to feel the same way and move on as a lot of us have from the 2008 fiery days of Ron Paul supporters blowing up EVERY youtube/facebook/news comment thread.
The thing I got from that time...even though we couldn't impact the gov't machine in anyway...we walked away with a set of ideals that will live on forever for us...I'm still not sure what the MAGA people are going to walk away with when Trump is crushing cheeseburgers in Mar-a-Lago. I wish someone would explain that to me.
MAGA folks are listening
In all honesty, I do want to know what political ideals are going to be the champion of the movement when Trump is no longer around.
Now that's a good question. Trump is a 90's Democrat with a pragmatic populist streak. That he became so popular is a scathing indictment of our ruling class and how worthless they are. What he leaves behind is mostly a sincere and well-earned distrust of DC, how that fleshes out may be "exciting," unfortunately.
Yep. As always and as it should be, the vote for POTUS is a vote for the lesser of two "evils." DJT beat Republican establishment because we didn't want another mealy-mouth Bush, then he beat the Democrat establishment (Bernie would have beat Trump) because we didn't want another corrupt Clinton. He became popular because for the first time in 30 years, lay republicans finally and refreshingly and surprisingly had someone actually acting like what we vote for!!!!
And increasing distrust of foggy bottom is ALWAYS exciting!
Trump may seem to be a "lesser of two evils" to you Timothy, but I see him as a true patriot and the last hope for a free America.
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From the outside looking in, Trump never really lead any discussion on what reform would look like. If the current state of politics is the result of the incentives inherent to system, how are we going to change that? What in the system must be changed? If you blame the individual actors within an incentive structure you will never fix anything.
"You are being screwed over by the ruling class" is a message for everyone. The Bernie supporters will tell you the same thing. If the message has to be connected to conservative politics, there has to be a realization that you will limit who you will reach with your message. If you connect it to an individual, you are asking for those that would oppose reform to tear apart your strawman.
America first, Biden over reach will blow the Dems out in 2022. We are in the middle of a pandemic with our companies going under and jobless hoards and the addled old geezer the genius’s elected is inviting all of Central America to come get amnesty and free healthcare
"If you connect it to an individual, you are asking for those that would oppose reform to tear apart your strawman."--Wes D.
All of us are individuals, unless you buy into the collectivist bullshit.
An individual that embodies the principles that the United States was founded upon is the only one who can fight for those principles. Any "party platform" is going to be a collectivist compromise. That is why a maveric like Trump is needed at this critical time in history. And that is why the Corporatist Left is doing all in its power to destroy Trump and his supporters.
Glenn's aricle here is what that is about! Trump and his supporters are the new "domestic terrorists" according the the current regime.
How can so many of you have lost sight of this in the short time since you read the article?
This is a critically dangerous moment in our nation's history. One false step, and the nation is doomed. Wrap your heads around that.
God Bless America.
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Let's not count our Left behinds" before they are actually left behind.
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It’s not complicated: America first
Assuming Trump isn't going to run and instead wants to play kingmaker, look at the people close to him.
I'm hoping for Rand Paul.
I don't think Paul can win the general. Just too much anti-libertarianism.
Besides, I sure do love him in that Senate!
I thought he was going to be the kingmaker of Mar-a-Lago but now he overplayed his hand on this election fraud nonsense and the republican establishment is going to distance themselves from him.
In 2010 I actually campaigned for Rand but he has proven to be a party hack and I have no faith in him. He picks his spots but is not principled like his father was.
Rand Paul is no Ron Paul, that's for sure.
But he looks like George Washington next to Kamala Harris.
It’s the voters who give Trump strength
He's playing a role. There's something about becoming a senator that is even creepier than Skull and Bones, the Stone Cutters, or even finding out who Xenu really is. Whatever it is, it gets them all.
Maybe the Deep State puts something in their booze. Either that or they're possessed by the Lizard People.
"he overplayed his hand on this election fraud nonsense"--Wes D.
That is where you are terribly wrong! The election was indeed rigge, and those like you who refuse to inform yourself of the facts are bound to fuck everything up as bad as the corporatist Democrats. Damnit man!
2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FRAUD
The 2020 Presidential Election was rigged by a cabal of corporate oligarchs to install their own meat-puppet into the White House as a titular figure so they could rule behind the curtain of Oz
PROLOGUE
It has become increasingly obvious after several months of dealing with the repercussions of the TIMES Magazine article by Molly Ball that some preliminary remarks are in order to understand the meaning of this article.
First and foremost is Ms. Ball’s use of language. The language she uses is what George Orwell referred to as, “Political Language”, wherein the terminology takes on rather deceitful nuances to portray a message that although true, is couched in coded terms. So that when Ms. Ball is describing what is clearly a conspiracy to manipulate the 2020 Presidential election, she chose the term “to save” it.
This key phrase has allowed for a disingenuous interpretation of the message Ms. Ball is giving the readers. This tactic allows for mollification of those who will automatically recoil from the real message that the article conveys, that the 2020 presidential election was ‘rigged’ ie; stolen by the cabal of corporatist oligarchs who conspired to place the candidate of their choice in the White House.
Another thing is obvious from the article, and that is that Ms. Ball was obviously taken into confidence by the leadership of this conspiracy and given first hand detailed information. They wanted this story to be revealed to the public. They knew because of their powerful positions that they are impervious to any legal consequences for their plainly illegal activities, as they have the impunity of wealth and political power. These people can brag about this outrage and get away with it.
https://thedissedent.page/2021/07/01/2020-presidential-election-fraud/
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But Rand has to get Conservative Republicans to vote for him, too!
I am libertarian to my core, but you are being unfair to a true libertarian hero.
Great post. IMO by playing the sore loser Trump loses a lot of moderate independents who would have given at least some of the benefit of the doubt to him regarding election illegalities. I also feel his list of pardons were as whorish as Bill Clinton's were (if not more) and so he falls even further in my eyes.
Another election, another shitty set of choices :(
I would not assume that Trump will not run if I were you.
Keep up vocal support for him and he will. To my mind he MUST RUN.
For God and our nation's sake support Trump!
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Justin Amash!
Rand Paul would get destroyed in an election. Trump had multiple strengths, one being that he had never been a politician, but the biggest strength is that he was a known media entity and got free media focus every time he spoke. Not every candidate can generate that. Regardless of whether you like how elections are won currently, there is a clear system to victory. Outspending your opponent in every way shape or form to control the narrative tends to win elections.
You are too jaded. Stop voting.
And you don't give the American voter enough credit.
Your lines of reason lead the Unipartyestablishments to offer up Bushes and Clintons forever, like we've returned to dynastic monarchies.
But the voters are woke now. DJT has got us looking ahead to our next Reagan or modern Coolidge.
The same ideals we have always had. Conservative values don’t allow for fundamental ideals/values to change. It is in the definition of the word.
Now if you are asking about right wing campaign slogans, who knows?
This is just another wing of the conservative movement?
General question for conservatives: If you seek the preservation of the institutions that you believe the country was built on, I ask you this, is there no room for consideration that a lot of people have been disenfranchised by some of those institutions? Should those individuals be ignored?
Can you be specific? In what way have “a lot of people been disenfranchised” by the institutions the country was founded on? Disenfranchised means no voice.
You surely do not understand what it means to be a political conservative.
Why is that or I am supposed to read your mind?
Wes, What makes you think that Trump will no longer be around.?
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Seriously? Have you seen the numbers on woke professional sports? How about Fox News ratings since the election? How about Twitter/Facebook stock in the last two weeks? How about Hollywood movie studios or woke college enrollment? There are many examples of MAGA destroying brands, companies, even industries based on their persecution of dissent. It is legally all MAGA has left to fight back.
So....just anti-wokiness in the private sector? That is what this is about? What reforms are required for this? What policies?
I think it is about defending the conservative ideals/values upon which classic liberalism and the USA were founded upon. Even these allow for broad social/cultural changes. I’m not sure what else can be done by average citizens. Voting doesn’t seem to matter anymore either.
Reform and policies are controlled by the UniParty that do not represent these values.
"Conservative ideals" can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. For purpose of this discussion, can you expand what you mean by that?
To me it means decentralized government, less federal power, strong national defense with minimal foreign entanglements, defense of civil rights, following the Constitution, etc. All the traditional red meat foundational stuff. Basically the polar opposite of what we currently see.
A federal government that looks out for its citizens?
Wouldn't we all!
We libertarians will argue that you cannot collect our nation's power and money in a centralized location such as DC and expect only good actors to arrive. The only to achieve a gov't that rules for the people is to make it as local as possible.
So for the Trumpers, what is the solution? I will also argue, if the idea is to elect the right people, you are not going to change anything.
Speaking for myself, I've been in favor devolution of power "as local as possible" forever. Trump adhered to that for the most part, witness his fateful decision not to try to enforce a national COVID policy as Exhibit A. No, you can't rely on "elect the right people", we know exactly how that works. It's hard to say what "the solution" is right now. Most of us are probably looking for "Trump 2.0", someone who wants to #MAGA, but maybe with a personality a little more thoughtful and not so verbally combative.
I will give Trump credit for plenty, but trying to defang the executive branch is not something I will give him credit for. Even before COVID he signed off on massive budget deficit like all the other before him. His cabinet was chalked full of lobbyist.
Point is South Dakota was allowed to pursue a very different COVID strategy than New York. A Democrat would've tried very hard to make everyone follow the same rules.
DING DING DING
He could not enforce a national covid policy. Biden will be restricted in the same way. Biden has already begun prepping for enforcing his COVID policy on Federal Property.
He initiated the national emergency, EUA giveaways to pharma, enabled CDC to enact property laws in name of public health.... you must be kidding!!! States absolutely expanded this but he began the “executive” power grab.
The question was more about the relationship between federal and local power, there were a lot of people really pushing for a NATIONAL COVID strategy whereas Trump left it to the states, so South Dakota handled things very differently than New York.
In no way am I a Trumper. I liked maybe 20% of his policy and about 10% of his words.
But, if you are, as you say "blowing up youtube facebook news comment" you are literally helping those empires profit and thrive. The media today (for the most part) sells advertising based on impressions. Thats raw views. They never saw where the views come from or if they are the same IP 3423494 times in a day. When the entire industry sells like this, as a purchaser you have no other options. Every time you visit their site you add to a number that they then sell from. If you comment, you now increase their user interaction, which is another metric they sell by. If you stay on that site for a long time, typing tons of responses, you increase yet another metric which is time spent on site.
At least Glenn is nice enough to do the youtube links with no-cookie, but he ought to consider downloading those videos (you can use any search engine BUT google to find youtube download sites) locally, and then reposting them to another site.
What do you think of the idea that everyone turn off their ad-block and anti-popup apps and click on as many as possible so it costs the advertisers so much money it runs them and the social media parasites out of business?
The advertisers will just pass their costs on to consumers. You know this.
Sure. But that takes time. In the meantime the advertisers will have their ad budgets drained without the expected income from purchases. Any immediate price hikes would also result in lost sales and money.
And where is that massive ad revenue ending up?
Do you work for Dorsey, maybe? (I kid!)
I was recently informed by an acquaintance that libertarians helped facilitate the rise of Trump and therefore are to be considered enemies. The old saw about cutting down the forest of laws to get at the Devil comes to mind.
Eh, we were ALWAYS considered enemies by anybody who would say something so dumb.
If a libertarian screams in the forest, and no one is there to hear him, does he make a sound? (Has to be a "him." No chicks allowed.)
In all seriousness, though, libertarians, in addition to being vastly outnumbered, suffer greatly from their association in the public mind with Libertarians.
Yep, and a whole lot of that association in the public mind is thanks to the exact same media who has been lying to you about Russiagate for years.
Allow that to sink in for a moment.
Lighten up, man. No offense intended. In 2016 I actually voted for the pot-addled compulsory gay wedding cake guy and his smarmy RINO-reject running mate who "vouched for Hillary" in 2016. I even joined the Libertarian Party briefly, out of desperation, I suppose. But the reach of any political party where one of the most recognizable perennial candidates wears a boot on his head and whose convention features a large, hairy man doing a striptease on stage will always be self limiting.
Not that being serious would yield much better results versus the fixed R and D duopoly controlled by the oligarchs whose corruption inspired the original article, as well as the media propagandists, which these oligarchs also control. Either way, we're screwed.
Your second paragraph says it perfectly, and explains why your first paragraph is completely wrong.
They are simply looking for an excuse to marginalize us. If nothing existed, they would simply make it up. Vermin Supreme or the stripping guy have nothing to do with it.
Maybe so. But consider this. I have observed two traits among my fellow human beings that seem to be so pervasive as to constitute a large part of "human nature." Perhaps you've also observed these tendencies. The first is what seems to be an instinct toward tribalism. We tend to prefer to associate with others who share certain similarities, one of which is likemindedness. In and of itself, maybe that's not a bad thing, but maybe sometimes it is.
The second is the instinct to force others to act in ways that comport with one's own viewpoint, and by extension, that of our likeminded brethren, usually--although not always--out of a belief that it is the Right Thing To Do, and that sacrificing just a wee bit of freedom (particularly someone else's freedom) is worth it for the greater good of all. A good example of this would be Gary Johnson's position on the gay wedding cake controversy. When this instinct acts together with the instinct toward tribalism, as it inevitably does, individual freedom always loses.
So I would contend that, given human nature, libertarian ideas are easily marginalized, even by those of us who consider ourselves to be libertarians and that coercion is, by default, an erosion of or assault on individual freedom (except for this one small thing, of course, and maybe the next, then the next, etc.--for the greater good, of course). And the average naked ape doesn't think it through even to this limited extent. So maybe the line between "they" and "us," and exactly who is doing the marginalizing, isn't so well defined, and that therefore, libertarianism--silly or not--is indeed self-limiting to a great extent.
And maybe the large "L" silly side of it is a way to laugh to keep from crying over the human condition and a humorous recognition that being libertarian is, at least at this point in human evolution, so rare as to be an exercise in futility, broadly speaking.
Generally you're right.
But being a real libertarian is not caring what other people are doing, unless they are harming somebody.
Human nature being what it is, real libertarians will ALWAYS be outnumbered and outgunned by the "elite" in society who want to keep their power. But libertarian ideas are powerful and persuasive when people actually stop to listen, so we must be marginalized as freaks. Hell, you do it and you voted for GJ!
"Either way, we're screwed."
So your opinion is there is no exit from the Alexander Tytler cycle.
I was always hoping mankind would one day find a way to guide societies out at the "freedom" points.
Voting on principles (that in our opinion are the founding principles of our nation) as we watch the republicans and democrats destroy our country is a moral high ground I'm happy to be on with the other 2% of voters that pull the "L" lever.
Too bad we have to live in the world the 98% of yall have built for all of us. It kinda sucks now.
You vote? That's not very libertarian of you. Just kidding. I was trying (and failing) to make two points, though. The first is that those of us who view being left alone (and leaving others alone) as opposed to using the power of Government to perpetually bash people with whom we disagree over the head is a vanishingly small subset of the electorate.
The second is that the Libertarian Party is a fundamentally unserious bunch, moral high ground notwithstanding. I actually joined the party and voted for their ticket in 2016 (and for the extraordinarily well qualified and competent candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner. He lost badly, of course, to the Republican hack du jour). In a hostile system controlled by R's and D's, unserious is never going to cut it... although it's an exercise in futility regardless.
No offense intended.
(I claim to be uber-libertarian, you know getting kind of close to that other Rand, no not Ron, but the one who wrote the hated book. The name and the book both start with A.)
40% Socialist, 30% libertarian/Libertarian, 30% Conservative
Gee, Socialism wins again.....and again and again.
Thanks a lot doctrinaire libertarian/Libertarian/Conservatives
Look, wake up to the unavoidable reality that there is a very, very good reason why there can be only two parties, one more-or-less in power, and one more-or-less in opposition.
For POTUS anyway, either you vote for the lesser of two "evils," or you are increasing the chance that the greater of two "evils" wins.
(That would be Socialism/Statism, right libertarians?)
98% of us have built for all of us? I don't think so. There are only two ways to look at this equation. One is that 1% of us built this world for themselves, but find the rest of us useful to keep their feet dry - OR - two, that 100% of us built this world and have to live in our own sandcastles.
Exactly, the moment the TCA became law in 1996 the countdown began.
https://www.fcc.gov/general/telecommunications-act-1996
The moment local media was replaced by national/global empires we were doomed. The vertical integration of media, politics, legal and finance is a terrible hydra that I fear will require a lot of fire to destroy. I could go on and with voluminous evidence but any critical thinker already sees it. The evidence is all around us.
Yeah, exactly as predicted, vast waves of right wing violence and voting with massive consolidation of right wing and establishment power, utterly ruled by corporations.
You know, what libertarians always tell people "hey, hey now, you guys better watch out".
Yeah, all that right-wing violence that burned Portland all summer.
The ministry of truth being formed under Biden.
You're really on the money, man.
The Democrips and Rebloodicans are on the right now, ty Gov Ventura! Real freedom lovers cannot align with them. We may have to relabel. l'm a Christian Socialist and I'm horrified at what is happening under JoKa. I'm trying to tell you that real lefties don't want suppression of free speech. That and a middle class are all that make this place livable.
"...real lefties don't want suppression of free speech."
Hmmm.....oh, right, you wrote that AFTER this:
"We may have to relabel."
May I please have your relabeling schema?
Not too bright are we?
I'm a little slow, M.Garebear. If you are still attending the thread could you explain where you're coming from and what you mean?
Shoo troll
It’s crazies all around. The schizophrenic shifting of “principles” btw the parties (war, policing, censorship, policing, “religion”, big pharma) is so clear to us libertarians—how both sides can’t see it is stunning. Meanwhile—more bailouts for the bankers, the pharma, the lawyers, the hospital conglomerates, “government essential employees”....while everyone forgot about their $2k Check. No one was prosecuted after 2008 financial crisis, and no one will be held accountable in this endless covid crisis.
The elite sure aren’t suffering. Liz Cheney is a hero now, police must protect our celebrity politicians, and “hate speech” must be eliminated. Most of all—positions must align 100% with what the leaders declare for the team.
We went from Dennis kucinnich and Ron Paul challenging their parties with consistent principles (opposite sides but same enemy)....to AOC and Hawley as “principled hero’s”. Fuck due process and civil liberties!
Yeah, wow, it was Liz who? last month. She sure knew just when to grab some celebrity status. But she must be way too principled to actually be opportunistic, right? (crickets.)
Glenn, I owe you an apology. I was one of those people after 9/11 who was willing to give up some of my freedoms if it would keep America safe. You sounded the alarm. You were right and I was wrong. Recently, when you referenced the Claiborne County case I researched it and also read about the 9th Circuit decision on the Nuremberg Files website case. The website published the names and addresses of abortion doctors and later three doctors were murdered. I know personally how horrific and tragic those murders were because two occurred in the city where I lived at the time. Planned Parenthood sued the Nuremberg Files website creators. The 9th Circuit, probably the most liberal court in the country, ruled unanimously it was protected speech with similar reasoning used in the Claiborne case.
Excellent article . . . depressing and scary but excellent.
>> and also read about the 9th Circuit decision on the Nuremberg Files website case. The website published the names and addresses of abortion doctors and later three doctors were murdered. I know personally how horrific and tragic those murders were because two occurred in the city where I lived at the time. Planned Parenthood sued the Nuremberg Files website creators. The 9th Circuit, probably the most liberal court in the country, ruled unanimously it was protected speech<<
Not really accurate.
That 9th Circuit case was overturned en banc (all the judges of that circuit rehearing the matter):
>>The decision of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco (9th Cir.) overturns a three-judge panel ruling from March 2001 that deemed the Web site’s content protected speech because it did not directly threaten violence.
But a 6-5 majority thought otherwise.
Judge Pamela Ann Rymer, writing for the majority, said the American Coalition of Life Activists clearly issued a threat to abortion doctors listed on the Nuremberg Files site.
“ACLA was aware that a “wanted”-type poster would likely be interpreted as a serious threat of death or bodily harm by a doctor in the reproductive health services community who was identified on one, given the previous pattern of “WANTED” posters identifying a specific physician followed by that physician’s murder,” Rymer wrote.<<
https://www.rcfp.org/appeals-court-deems-anti-abortion-site-threat/
On the narrow facts of that case I find that the en banc court had the stronger case. That is, The Nuremberg Files site did constitute a "true threat," which is not protected speech.
Right, and Hugo Black was a KKK member and Supreme Court Justice. Not every voter thinks that lawyers and judges should be the final word, especially when the bar is the largest criminal organization in America, and probably the most powerful. Any ruling not affirmed or voided by the Supreme Court is really just waiting for reversal.
That is the problem with America today, lawyers are running the place.
Would you call it "a true threat" if someone reads Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2 in public?
It's easy to forget that rule of law is just a euphamism for rule by lawyers. Laws, after all, have no agency.
Your non sequiturs do not alter the fact that the 9th Circuit ultimately ruled as I indicated it did in the Nuremberg Files case.
Ultimately. But thats because the members of the 9th circuit change, no? You conveniently ignore the FACT that they did rule unanimously it was protected speech.
But there you are, good little DNC lawyer, picking out a specific point that helps your case and ignoring the poster pointing out the hypocrisy of the people in power on cases that help their narrative vs hurt them.
"But thats because the members of the 9th circuit change, no?"
No.
It's because the full circuit of judges reversed the subset that was the original 3-judge panel. There was a mere year between the 2 decisions.
In any event, I wished to correct the error the original commenter made, as the 9th Circuit (sitting en banc) did not ultimately rule as she said. Your non sequiturs -- including ad hominem attacks on me -- are all irrelevant to that.
Good night.
The original 9th circuit ruling was as the poster said though? So they were speaking factually.
It's not an ad hominem attack to point out the poster was accurate and the 9th circuit did rule that way, even if it was overturned. Not every petitioner has unlimited funds and time to continue hoping a court "gets it right".
And P.S.: The Supreme Court twice rejected an appeal of the case.
PS there is a new conservative court in town, perhaps you hadn't noticed.
The judiciary is the ruling class. If you have any doubt, remember that legislation passed by congress and signed into law by the President still can be declared illegal or unconstitutional by people appointed for life by politicians, every single one of whom has been a member of the bar at some point.
Every single corporation and entity on earth someone would declare as "powerful" has an attorney or multiple in their upper management and a budget for them as well.
The real gunslingers of the 21st century are lawyers and they have endless paperwork and cost for weapons.
Thank you the additional information and clarification.
You are most welcome, Margaret. It's not easy to follow the history of a case unless one is using a pricey legal database. Your error is an easy one to make -- it's not usual for a circuit court panel to be reversed by the full circuit, as happened in this case.
I unsuccessfully tried to follow the trail with my limited resources because I did assumed it would have eventually ended up in the Supreme court. I also appreciate your clear and concise explanation to a non-attorney like me!
I wonder if any of the so-called "liberals" pushing for a domestic "war on terror" akin to the "war on terror" the government waged against Al Qaeda realize that only a decade after launching the first "war" the government was funding and arming Al Qaeda in Syria (when it suited their purposes). Of course all of the police-state powers assumed by the government to prosecute the "war on terror" were maintained (and expanded), even as our purported enemy in this war (Al Qaeda) was acting as one of our proxies. Its almost as if the hysteria created by these "wars" is all about seizing power and stifling freedom and has nothing at all to do with "terror".
Come on, man. The next thing you'll say is that the U.S. gave weapons to the Taliban way back in the eighties just to stick it to the nefarious Rooskies.
As if our elites would really do something so stupid...
But the war on the spread of Statism/Communism, albeit conducted wastefully and driven, to a dangerous level by the "warmachine" (Eisenhower warning, right?), WAS important to win (unlike the idiotic wars on behavior like drug-use, and non-state terrorism, which are totally driven and abused by police-State power and money interests).
The arming of the Taliban DID defeat the USSR there, and helped win the Cold War, and we only know how bad the Taliban were in light of their post-war behavior.
A very important point - I asked a liberal friend if they were aware of the actual genocide - actual insofar as Islamic State actually said they intended to genocide the Yazidi people and actually tried to carry it out - and they had never heard of the Yazidis and I'm guessing as I didn't push them would not have believed that the USA during the Obama presidency actually de-facto backed the Islamists in Syria.
Remember, Joe said he would start the Game again. They've been playing mostly internationally, but the field has narrowed down to us.
Have you ever heard a scarier phrase than "the same consensual reality"? JHC
What comes next will not be consensual for you.
Fantastic retort! HA!
Well, yeah; sad, but still....
"Thoughtcrime"= not sharing consensual reality
The new normal. The great reset. The same consensual reality.
The 'ruling class' perception is leaking.
Consent is mandatory, Citizen.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Resistance is futile.
Cunning linguists indeed.
Consensual reality is a confidence game.
This is a beautiful article. Makes me feel hopeful.
I hope people listen and put down the daggers of hate.
Thanks Glenn
That's some first class sarcasm right there. I think? I logged to post something like, "So we are fucked and doomed to live under a security state that will rival the Stassi?"
The old, still-living Stasi wish they had the tools the US government has now.
I have been told there is a file on me in the Stasi archives, as I traveled there as a child and young adult to visit family. While I don't agree with Lee that it is still living, he is he is 100% correct in saying they would have wished they had the tools the US Gov't has now.
Hard to put those daggers of hate down when the democrats continue a mounted offense filled with hate.
Never thought I'd say this, but...
I feel like moving back to Russia would be a smart move in today's fascist climate
One only listen to yesterday's incomprehensible sputterings by Clinton and Pelosi about establishing a commission to determine if Trump was coordinating with Putin during his attempted coup to feel that we're way beyond the veil. So many stolen bases, so many cynical lies, so transparently done, yet there is a significant portion of the country that eats it up and begs for more.
Well, it does make everyone who was sure Hillary would start WWIII feel justified!
It is extraordinary isn't it, how hurt Clinton appears to be by her defeat in 2016 - how she must have revenge. It really beggars belief, but many people I know believe the whole Russia collusion, which despite great effort and huge support appears to have no evidence.
Remarkable how HRC can criticize Trump for failing to accept defeat. Someone needs to buy that woman a mirror
Move anywhere where people have some sense of reality. We have thousands of people here who got some kind of uni education, yet no chance to use it, except for looking down on others. Discontent is bad, think some smart dude wrote a book about it.
There is so much discontent (inside and outside of both parties) with how our kleptocratic oligarchies have managed and mismanaged the country, really since the 70s but especially since the end of the Cold War, that at this stage they can only hold on to their power and privileges not by subtle wealth transfers alone but by taking the new political step of dictatorship--"fascism," by the tacit contemporary usage, but now in the name of "progressivism" or "human rights." The only thing to add to Glenn's outstanding prognosis is that the new tyranny will be exercised in the name of "human rights" even as it abrogates civil rights. It will use corporate Leninism to circumvent the constitution to impose wokeness, not for the purpose of improving people's lives or freedom, but for the sake of amplifying its power and wealth. Leninism is ideology used as a means of control and coercion; corporations, too, may be used as means of ideology; and the two arcs may coincide. Thus our corporate elites are using race (for example) as a means of protecting any challenge to their privilege.
Engel's dogmatizing of Marx (and Hegel) was an essential component of Leninism, which though very clever is not known for any genuinely philosophical inspiration of its own. By the way, there is little appreciation in Engels for what Hegel understands by freedom (he has been unfairly tarred by association with Marx), and the passage you quote could be asserted by any Stoic philosopher of late antiquity. But I see your historical point and agree. Bolshevism is precisely the method of a secretive, conspiratorial group with limitless political ambitions and fancying itself the vanguard of humanity (sort of like Davos or the World Economic Forum). Their "scientific" understanding of history (a k a necessity) entitles them to the absolute power to engineer the future.
Gulags will no longer be necessary--the unlucky will just be thrown out on the street, banned from all enjoyment of societal goods.
Actually what you get thrown in these days is an communication gulag.
Takin' it to the next level.
It's not just communications; it's payment/banking systems too. Those who find themselves on the wrong side of cancel culture (Louis Bingo's term corporate Leninism is brilliant) can find themselves unable to send or receive money.
Leninism was originally modeled on the kind of corporate despotism Vladimir Ilyich so admired in industrial capitalism, the most effective form of social engineering by far. Lenin carried it over into radical politics, where it was easily adopted by rightists too, though perhaps less successfully than the single-minded Russian ideologue. Now we have reached the point where Leninism is returning to its corporate roots, as corporations go "woke" and insist on ideological uniformity as an instrument of social control. This is truly frightening.
And I would add that just as in the original forms of Leninism, political institutions (that are nominally democratic) are reduced to the facade of a real power behind and above them, in effect the central committee, just as the central committee was essentially a corporate board.
I've been searching for a shorthand to describe the new ruling ideology, and Corporate Leninism is maybe the best I've seen so far.
Fascism at the speed of thought.
There's an app for that!
Fantastic piece. Have to say I am finding myself agreeing with you on more and more issues.
I tried to speak with a group of friends who are all left of center in their political views, well educated and upper, upper middle class. Every single one remains so blinded by their rage against the yellow-haired devil, that they are unwilling to see the drift into totalitarian dictatorship occurring right before their eyes. I even conceded that Facebook, Twitter and the like booting Trump off their platform is arguably well within those firms purview, no matter how damaging this move is to their platform. But, and this to me is absolutely a fundamentally different and more ominous set of actions, the clearly coordinated attack on Parler by Apple, Google and Amazon is a direct frontal assault on the 1st Amendment rights of every American citizen. Any academic, journalist, editor, publisher or public interest group (hey ACLU where have you been) who does not rise-up and openly denounce and fight this blatant assault is a complete and utter fraud. As I said before, my forefathers back to the 1700's fought and in several cases died to achieve and guarantee these rights to EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN. I'll be damned if I am going to remain silent and let them be taken away.
Agree about the power of corporate platforms that have 230 protection AND they profit from promoting disunity.
Your too late.
Just keep your head down and mouth shut until you can leave the country.
Bank all the money you can and go.
Generally I have been as it is the only way I can keep my anger in control.
Any suggestions on where to go?
Mexico - (Ajjic or San Miguel de Allende)
Columbia - (Medellin)
Western Panama - (Panama has GREAT deals for American retirees)
Peru
Bolivia
Chile
Slovakia
Prague
Thailand
Malaysia
Ecuador
Costa Rica
Belize
Greece
There are so many....
Don’t be absurd.
Glenn, you certainly hit the nail on the head with this one, and as one who does not share your political viewpoint, it is profoundly depressing to find myself in almost complete agreement with your frank and honest analysis.
This isn't at its root a left vs. right issue, although the powers-that-be and their media propagandists, in a classic divide and conquer approach, are going to great lengths to portray it as such. In hindsight, it seems to me that the "Republic" began its demise as such as soon as the first indigestible omnibus bill containing the phrase, "The Secretary will, at his discretion..." was passed into law by legislators who had not read it, just as surely as a star that forms the first iron atom within its core begins its inevitable path to self-destruction.
The various bureaucratic entities within the ever-metastasizing Executive Branch, especially the corrupt and secret "intelligence community" with their black budgets, long ago ceased to be accountable to anyone but themselves in any meaningful sense, and no president, Congress or judge has the power, much less the political will, to challenge the status quo and every incentive to refrain from doing so. And the twelve (for now, at least) Nazgul of the Supreme Court have blessed the entire unholy arrangement, effectively setting it in stone using the doctrines of "deference" and stare decisis to rationalize their complicity.
Right now there are 25,000 troops deployed in Washington, DC, to protect the incoming regime from a citizenry it fears during its inaugural "celebration." Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how anyone can, with a straight face, refer to the erstwhile "United" States of America a republic. At best, it is now a progressive oligarchy. And President Trump, with his seemingly inexhaustible supply of idiosyncratic and narcissistic flaws, did at least manage to expose that fact for everyone (except the willfully blind) to see.
Well, I can't be aboard for all this. So now I must face the fact that despite having been a productive citizen and an American patriot my whole life and trying my best for the last twelve years to care for my fellow human beings of all races, ethnicities and creeds as a critical care RN in a large public hospital, that my government now considers me to be a dissident and probably worse. So be it, then. Screw the Empire. Screw the new Caesar. And God bless the sovereign state of Texas and all the citizens of the former republic of the United States of America, and give us the strength and the compassion to face whatever comes next.
Your an RN. You can go almost anyplace in the world and find work.
There is NO need to stay in the US. There is a big and beautiful world out there to see and explore.
Honestly, I feel freer in Mexico than in the US.
I'm heading out the day I retire.
Food for thought. Thanks. For now I plan to stay in Texas and continue working where I am. I have a pretty esoteric specialty, and there is a huge need for what I do. This might be a mistake, but I've never been a huge fan of running. It is what it is, and the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side of the fence (plenty of fences in the world, too, it seems, but I digress).
That being said, I'm eligible for early retirement this year if things get too bad, and I understand the use of tools if worst come to worst. On the bright side, as you point out, there are options.
Even someone who sells pillows, Mike Lindell who supports Trump, and believes the election was stolen is being targeted, as are the stores who carry his products. Stores, like Bed Bath and Beyond, Wayfair, etc, are dropping his products due to political pressure from the left. Comply or suffer the consequences. I just called Bed Bath and Beyond and told them I would never enter their store again, and I do like to shop there, if they concede to this political pressure. It puts them in a bad position, since either way they lose, and she did say she got a lot of phone calls that expressed the same opinion as mine. Who do I blame mostly for all this? The "left." "The left" stream media, like CNN, MSNBC, and the mainstream media, as well as those "left wing" sites I use to go to in previous years for truth who unfortunately they didn't maintain their independence during these last four years and were overly compliant with the democrats, and way too often brutal in their attacks on Trump.
I'm a Green. When Ivanka's clothing was banned, I deliberately looked for some, nice design too.
I get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never thought this would happen to me, but I guess, democrats, especially like Clinton, make it all possible.
“The Dem Party and its media have convinced tens of millions of people that anyone who disagrees with them is evil, a traitor, a Russian asset, a fascist. The Repub Party and its media have convinced tens of millions of people that anyone who disagrees with them is evil, a traitor, a Chinese asset, a communist. Meanwhile, the billionaires and corporations that own both parties, the entirety of the MSM and everything else under the sun are making out like bandits at the expense of everyone else and the planet. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Cheers!”
Do you really think in the last four years the republicans played as dirty as the democrats? I was a registered democrat and in my book they played so dirty I'm now an independent.
'
Well, it did start originally with Fox and right-wing radio, but then eventually the entire msm adopted the same business model of extreme partisanship and perpetual outrage at the other side, no matter what. So, I’m really not talking just about the last 4 years; this has been decades in the making, on both sides, I’m afraid.
I don't disagree with your broader point. But when Fix News came on the scene it was the ONLY tv network that wasn't left leaning. It's simply untrue that "fox started it".
Big difference between “leaning this way or that” and “non-Republicans are evil, traitors, communists, unpatriotic, unAmerican” etc etc.
You obviously havent watched Fox News. NONE of your characterization is correct
“Hate Inc.” — Matt Taibbi.
I think it was bad W was installed by his Gov brothers state. This feels like payback. They say, we conceded and Al grew a beard and moved on
McConnel announced his opposition to all things Obama and the hypocrites blew the budget out when they wanted and cried deficit when they didn’t.
Those empty judgeships weren’t empty because Obama was lazy, I am guessing
Me too!
Glenn, you have been heroically assailing the apparent ubiquity of groupthink in the american media since the beginning of your career and this piece is emblematic of that. I too am exceptionally concerned about the evolving Thucydidian dialectic between the combined forces of the Neoliberal centrist state (corporate media, academia, upper middle class managerial class, and security state/"military industrial complex") and the "Trump base". I was wondering what you think the role of groupthink is in contemporary culture? One question I have been pondering of recent is how can there be such a uniformity of understanding in interpreting, or evaluating events, such as the "stroming of the Capitol", and in ascribing causes to them? And crucially what can be done to deflate this phenomenon and get people to jump out of these manufactured psychological grooves which are seemingly being spun to benefit the ends of the Neoliberal order?
Please keep writing stories like this, you are needed now more than ever.
-Brian
To stymie groupthink eschew labels (right/left, liberal/conservative, Dem/Republican, racist/anti-racist, etc. ) Most people who think they are thinking find out that they are not when they cannot use labels. Ask friends to avoid labels in conversation--watch them struggle. Eventually they begin to think.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/study-folklore-structure-reveals-how-conspiracy-theories-emerge-fall-apart/
About that "uniformity of understanding," particularly within the media, you might consider the possibility that some conspiracy theories might contain an element of truth. Propaganda is an old art, but technology makes the old new, and the lie that used to make its way around the world before the truth could put its pants on now moves at the speed of light.