Andrew Lowenthal spent more than two decades defending digital rights, and watched as peers and partner organizations switched to an opposite mission called "anti-disinformation." An inside account
Jacob Siegel, who wrote the recent masterpiece “Guide to the Hoax of the Century” in Tablet, said in an interview on Unherd’s YT channel that the establishment of anti-disinformation operations was literally a coup. It’s counterinsurgency and we’re the “enemy.”
The Great Financial Crime Spree of 2008 took $29 TRILLION bailout ( that amount BTW would have bought all the mortgages in the U.S.) AND the banks also took 18 million homes through foreclosure using phony forged documents.
It wasn't a "soft coup" it was a total and utter hard coup and the banks are still not stable.
We exported so much fraud across the globe. We should be so proud, our 2 biggest exports are warmongering and Financial fraud. *clap clap
State Media, which is all about protecting the Powerful, hardly covered the Wall Street Casino Bailouts of (mostly) 2008 to 2012. $29 Trillion is more than the GDP of the US (itself inflated by the derivatives. The US economy is only about 10% manufacturing, and 30% rentier -- Finance, Insurance and Real Estate). As Michael Hudson has noted we are not a productive economy, unlike China (and even Russia):
While such catastrophes were once feared, now they are seen as opportunities, some of which like the the bank bailouts and foreclosures were "quasi-legal", but most involved untouchable corruption by greedy people at the top. America today.
I wouldn't call foreclosures conducted with forged documents "quasi legal" I would call it RICO, with the U.S. courts playing an integral role in that RICO.
In fighting the financial industry in 2008's, every single agency was lock-step with the "program" including state agencies as well. Every single judge too. So, no, I think it's now an organized machine to crush the plebs.
I dunno, our most lasting contribution will probably be protecting the carbon industry until it killed the lot of us; but there won't be many people around to fully appreciate that.
The George Carlin bit about The Earth going through a lot worse than us is my sentiment. Maybe let us spawn simply cause it couldn’t make plastic.
We should act as stewards of this planet and every individual should play their part in keeping it clean and beautiful, but any solution proposed involving government decree and I’m out.
Yep. Fascism comes from within, cloaked in promises to protect in exchange for the surrender of basic rights and freedoms. And it already happened: not all fascists are Nazis, but we are already jailing people for truth telling and disloyalty to imposed ideology, while scape goating half the country (that half being the poor half, the fascists being the moneyed half that are pretending to fight while throwing protesters and activists in jail).
It was. I genuinely hope the Twitter files is published as a book people can buy. Makes deleting it harder. Does this mean the crew is back on good terms with Musk? I don’t want Musk buying Substack, but the two entities can drive traffic to each other and create an influence counter to dying legacy media.
After reading this article I said to my wife I'm so glad that we're in our mid-sixties. In theory we won't be around to see how this nightmare ends. If I'm still around my main concern will be if I'm getting my jello at 5pm and the Orwellian-Kafka world can turn without me. But my wise wife then said..."Just remember, we're ONLY in our mid-sixties". Point taken. The speed and evolution of this new world has--is---and will firmly in place. Pity the 20–30-year-olds facing down this nightmare. They will inherit and have a front row seat to the show. Sorry to be so negative, but who really believes this can be turned around--even for a generation. Thank you to Andrew, Matt, Mike, and the other true journalists who have exposed it all. Stay safe and blessed.
Yeah, right there with you, but in my early 60s. Moved away from the east coast, to Texas, no children, family (extended) in various forms of denial. Also, they like Biden so estrangement, and they believe the medical community. I wake up in the morning, I check the following, we have; electricity, water, food and we watch DVDs and occasionally when we can get it, Amazon Prime. Listening to music helps a lot. Fun stuff, talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Fleetwood Mac. We get basic media if we wanted it. Don’t want it, don’t watch. My life now.
"Preppers" to varying degrees, aren't looking so crazy now, are they? I'm looking at buying some raw, harvestable acreage right now for this very reason.
Look at everything around the property, including water, if a dump site is near and find out future plans for the area. Also when SHTF could you live there undisturbed, or off the grid. Good luck.
Bravo to the author for being critical of his work and speaking out. We need more traitors to their profession to step up.
It amazes me the thousands of people that go ahead and keep doing their jobs at these think tanks, non profits, and alphabet soup beauracracies. They have to know at some level what they are doing is deeply destructive, yet they manage to quiet the voices and keep doing it. 'Institutionalized Immorality'. Maybe many of them are true believers, or just never recieved the equipment for empathetic critical thinking. Maybe they are cynics and just don't care so long as they can live a life of material priveledge.
I think a lot of them believe they're doing the Lord's Work. After all, we are evil: deplorables, white supremacists, Nazis and so on. Everyone is the hero in their own story.
The results are still out on that one as revolutions have tended to be reversed by the empire before they have a chance to take hold. Those that have taken hold for the most part, have remained revolutionary.
When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles. -- Frank Herbert (Dune)
The necessary lying begins with lying to oneself. Then you think "Everybody does it." Then your society falls apart because people know longer know who they are or where they are.
Not always lying though. Most of these people believe in an Enlightened dictatorship them being the enlightened. And of course everyone would be fine if the people just listened and obeyed to their superior wisdom! That is why you see people like Jimmy Carter sucking up to dictators. Those guys have the power that he, and most other President's, wanted to have and I am sure he was certain he knew what was best for us.
In the XX Century is always the socialists who have done irreparable damage: Mussolini, Lenin, Hitler, Castro and Mao. Remember that the SA started as a very liberal and avant-garde homosexual militia and that Mussolini was a Marxist thinker before the Fascia.
Please, stop this nonsense. Mussolini and Hitler were not socialists. Before the Jews, the Nazis crushed the socialists and communists. That was what they were hired to do. And if you want to do a tally, you'll find the capitalists have killed far more people than Stalin and Mao ever did.
This is free instruction comrade: Mussolini’s affinity with trade unionism is obvious; he was not only a leader of the Italian Socialist Party, but according to historian Denis Mack Smith, a hard-core Marxist, who “once belonged to the Bolshevik wing of the Italian Socialist party.” Interestingly, Mussolini was for about six years both a Marxist and a Fascist leader. He founded the Fascist Revolutionary Party in 1915, supported Lenin’s October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and called himself the “Lenin of Italy” in the 1919 election. In other words, Mussolini was what I call a “Fascist-Marxist.” Not until around 1921 did he begin to pull away from Marxism, mostly due to Lenin’s unpopularity over the economic collapse of Soviet Russia’s economy that had caused massive unemployment.
Economist Ludwig von Mises, who fled the Nazi conquest of Europe, contended that the “economic program of Italian Fascism did not differ from the program of British Guild Socialism as propagated by the most eminent British and European socialists.”
I see that you haven't read the first biography of Benito Mussolini, nor the history of Ernst Röhm and the German SA. Good for you! Innocence is priceless. And who are the capitalists? Ford, Rockefeller, Rothschild??
Homework: Recalling that Mussolini began his political career as a distinguished Italian socialist, Gregor writes: "Fascism’s most direct ideological inspiration came from the collateral influence of Italy’s most radical ‘subversives’ — the Marxists of revolutionary syndicalism."
And yet capitalism is destroying the world as we speak. They are going to kill the lot of us while debating whether "socialists" or "fascists" killed more people 80 years ago.
You call it capitalism and blame the destruction of the world on that trite sci-fi construct. Fine. But really, what's destroying the world are the 9 billion people polluting, crapping and consuming frantically. It's Evolution, the human species as the inevitable dominant force in the universe. Not too long ago, ecologist Eric Pianka was subjected to criticism for sugesting that a global war or a plague that would destroy 3/4 of humanity would solve the problem. Capitalism is just a sinecdoque for humanity, we've seen socialism first hand and even communism. Capitalism is more reasonable, workable and well Hungus.
Actually, we are mostly in agreement. I don't think climate change is sci-fi, I am old enough to remember the changes happening, and that's scary because planetary change on the human timeframe is bad news.
But climate change is a facet of overpopulation. And capitalism is just a facet of the few destroying everything for their own benefit. France exploded in protest when they tried to cut consumption, socialist China is the world's worst polluter largely at capitalist US's behalf- the elite need more bodies to rule over, and even if climate change was fake, there's 50 problems caused by overpopulation waiting to potentially destroy civilization and fuck up our day.
And yeah, I do think the few think a war or plague would solve the problem, but I'm not totally sure I'm not on the wrong side of that sacrifice.
The idea that there is a "right side" of the sacrifice encapsulates my position that most people's concept of overpopulations as "too may of you, just enough of me."
true - but the conservatives are irrelevant, they lost and are out for the the long term.. I could say more but have neither the time not the inclination.
Well, okay, if you apply it to both sides I think you’re right.
But some liberals and leftists really were defenders of free speech for everyone, most famously even for Nazis in Skokie. But those days seem very distant now.
I was a youngster in Northern IL during that time. The lesson it taught me was an entirely noble and correct approach to free speech. The ACLU today...bought and paid for by corporate donations.
"Distant?" That's hilarious. The ACLU doesn't exist anymore as it used to. Nor do they and their "supporters" now want them to.
FYI I am an Illinois resident who remembers the Skokie march. The ACLU stood for speech. It now condones censorship. "The ACLU, Champion of 1A." His-tor-y.
We're all out and irrelevant. Once free speech is the enemy, you know the people in charge aren't doing it for the good of the rest of us. And if free speech and association is banned, they can disenfranchise whoever they want.
Conservative/Liberal doesn’t apply anymore, period. Not in the sense that was understood prior to recent decades. Now we have the people who are interested in preserving individual rights within the Constitution and in our culture as a whole, and those who are interested in suppressing individual rights and in rejecting rationality and free expression as long as it’s in the name of the right cause--and who are just fine with government, corporate, and cultural institutions holding all the power to enforce these strictures.
So, no, when we have the people who believe in limited government and personal freedom in power, by definition they won’t be just the same. Because the power will be disbursed to everyone within Constitutional protections. Technology and globalization have given those interested in absolute power for themselves the tools, for the first time in history, to impose a turn-key lockdown of those who resist.
Fucking asshole centrist Democrats gave progressivism a bad name by claiming it's failures while refusing its innovations. There hasn't been a legitimate progressive around Washington since Kucinich left.
Well that was a damn fine, if depressing, read. It seems like at some point the institutions said, "enough with this damn internet and all these deplorables making fun of us online. Time to put and end to it!"
And here we are.
Andrew says that we need to stop funding these groups, hard to imagine what's going to make that happen.
Trump and Brexit are offered up as separate instances of “populism”, a term that liberals use to describe the political blowback against the social disruption that their policies create. Anti-disinformation is their effort to silence that blowback.
It never occurs to them that their policies are the problem. They always conclude that the blowback is evidence that the people are the problem, or rather, the ignorance of the people is the problem. They will never concede that unchecked immigration has a negative effect on the employment market, availability of social services and creates massive disruption to communities. They simply lambaste us with accusations of racism.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn : “ beware the pitiless crowbar of events”.
For everyone’s betterment, they need to not steal the next election in America . Bloviating orange man is a release valve. They control all the institutions, and he will be able to achieve little to nothing. His rhetoric will simulate chaos, his efforts will produce little change.
"Trump and Brexit are offered up as separate instances of “populism”..."
Don't forget Bernie Sanders too. Or before he threw in with the Dems, anyway.
As for the next election, i'm just getting my popcorn ready. I suspect it's not going to the way anyone of any political persuasion or none expects it to. Buckle up.
I'm a former (female) Bernie Bro before he threw in with the Dems.
There is apparently no appetite whatsoever for either Biden or Trump. Or even any of the potential other contenders so far. And the shit looks set to hit the fan (or drip drip drip anyway) on Biden's family and administration fuckups. If there's a viable third party / Indy candidate, now or soon is the time to make an appearance before it's too late.
Elon or Tucker could be fun. And i'm a lefty. Or Walter Kirn even, your country needs you.
When trump vs Hillary was going on I was in line and didn’t want either of them. On the ballot I went down the list, “sweet meteor of death” was listed. Bam! Got my vote. Kid you not.
I am a former Bernie Bro female. I am embarrassed to say that now. Bernie should have stood solid in opposition to the Dems eviscerating his populism. Instead, he capitulated. Hillary probably threatened to Seth Rich his ass. But nonetheless, Bernie showed himself as weak.
Should this next election be a rematch between Biden and Trump, I will overwhelmingly vote Trump.
I'd fine-tune that by changing liberals to statists, as conservatives, you know, liberals driving the speed limit, are also known to use the term populism derogatorily.
What the heck is a “progressive-minded” person? This article on anti-disinformation starts with a desinformación trope. Actually, the “progressive-minded” hag is the clunkiest and tawdriest of all disinformation factotum.
A lot of those we used to call "Civil Libertarians" thought of themselves as progressive. And what we used to call Civil Libertarian now easily applies to the cross section here in these forums (Racket News supporters).
I never got how people get into pegging such things into "black and white". Like "Environmentalists" originally was a mostly a conservative phenomenon (Primarily hunters and fisherman).
Yeah kinda caught that there with the same reaction. As far as i can remember, and I've got 68 years of memories, progressive, left, fascist,communist, all meant the same thing. If, as a supposed progressive fighting for free speech, or freedom in any form, you were leaning conservative libertarian. Because every prog I've ever known has been pretty much a communist at heart.
The deception starts with language reform. In 1959 Castro said: I’m not a communist. Then the American historians helped him establish the falsehood that he was pushed into the arms of the Russians. But politically enlightened Cubans had defined him accurately as early as 1953. Nobody believe them. Same situation here.
I suggest people lay off pasting pre-printed labels on things and people and instead of asking "what kind of _ist_ are you," ask them what they want to do. And say what you want to do. In practical, material terms. The labels have all been written over and over again and are unreadable.
Exactly. It should be obvious by now that we don't all mean the same thing with the labels we use, so let's stop getting hung up on which _ist_ a person uses.
I've only got 52 years but no, those terms did not and still don't mean the same thing. There has always been a free-speech contingent of left/progressive people, as there is a libertarian-free speech contingent of conservatives.
I won't make excuses for democrats who support Antifa or Black Lives Matter but whether one supports the other isn't the point, and these aren't the terms mentioned in the original comment.
I have never been so disappointed in my life as I am with the "progressives". They have sold their souls to the devil and are collaborating with evil. Please keep exposing all of these conspiracies (not theories) and maybe someday people will get angry enough to start at least contributing time and energy to maintaining and guarding our Constitutional freedoms.
Interestingly, a lot of pushback to the censorship is coming from the right. Perhaps that can be used as a unifying force among the poor and working classes who have ben divided by social issues and propaganda. A lot of them are already angry.
"Progressive" was always kind of a bullshit "mean anything you want it to" term anyways. It's the perfect cover for budding sociopaths working to climb the social / economic ladder.
"Always" may depend on how long you've been around. Once upon a time it meant folks who were devoted to everyone making progress toward a better life, especially those with few or no advantages.
Here's a reasonable definition from Wikipedia:
"While the term progressivism represents a range of diverse political pressure groups, not always united, progressives rejected social Darwinism, believing that the problems society faced, such as class warfare, greed, poverty, racism and violence, could best be addressed by providing good education, a safe environment, and an efficient workplace." And, much more.
While there may be sociopaths describing themselves as progressives, it's really not the best way to climb the social/economic ladder. For example, the Squad (in Congress) called themselves progressive, yet when it came to ladder climbing, they threw that out the window and paid tribute to their leaders, Pelosi et al.. Another huge disappointment.
Outstanding. And chilling, all suspicions gain support. There is an extraordinary parallel between those developments and what has happened in the Big Pharma-Academia-Medical Practice interdependency.
And that particular “collaboration,” threat, dominance, blackmail, has been the most puzzling for the masses to comprehend. Teachers, professors, physicians, and other medical professionals?
Sybil, I was active from the start in the process. Resistance proved largely futile and the biggest disappointment was how easy it was for Pharma to buy so many colleagues.
I appreciate your efforts and applaud you. It is absolutely shocking how many cowed to the agenda, consequently causing the very harm they vowed to uphold. That level of betrayal is beyond comprehension. The grand display of cowardice was and still is soul-killing for us who needed them the most.
Typically I say we should be thankful when people show us who they are so we may respond accordingly. But when those people turn out to be our doctors, our pharmacists, our counselors - we can do nothing but stand afar off in utter disbelief. Such brokenness. Thank you, George.
Apr 26, 2023·edited Apr 26, 2023Liked by Andrew Lowenthal
Thank you for this. An outstanding complement to the important work Matt's been doing. Hopefully we'll hear much more from you.
For a while, it seemed like the modern era of instant electronic communications might help to tame the war pigs, but it seems they have found a way to continue: by dividing us, and appealing to the half with more political power--appealing to their better instincts, and maybe to their narcissism a little bit--they can keep right on blowing people to shreds in faraway places.
As for the loss of liberties in western society, it is a sign of weakness--just as surely as Xi's tightening grip in China. "Weakness" in both cases, China and the West, means an unsustainable economic model, which means a declining standard of living for most of us. Our voices will be silenced so we are unable to organize and push back against the controlled demolition of our civilization.
Jacob Siegel, who wrote the recent masterpiece “Guide to the Hoax of the Century” in Tablet, said in an interview on Unherd’s YT channel that the establishment of anti-disinformation operations was literally a coup. It’s counterinsurgency and we’re the “enemy.”
2008 Financial sector bailout also needs to be understood as pretty much a soft willing coup.
The Great Financial Crime Spree of 2008 took $29 TRILLION bailout ( that amount BTW would have bought all the mortgages in the U.S.) AND the banks also took 18 million homes through foreclosure using phony forged documents.
It wasn't a "soft coup" it was a total and utter hard coup and the banks are still not stable.
We exported so much fraud across the globe. We should be so proud, our 2 biggest exports are warmongering and Financial fraud. *clap clap
State Media, which is all about protecting the Powerful, hardly covered the Wall Street Casino Bailouts of (mostly) 2008 to 2012. $29 Trillion is more than the GDP of the US (itself inflated by the derivatives. The US economy is only about 10% manufacturing, and 30% rentier -- Finance, Insurance and Real Estate). As Michael Hudson has noted we are not a productive economy, unlike China (and even Russia):
levyinstitute.org/publications/29000000000000-a-detailed-look-at-the-feds-bailout-of-the-financial-system
While such catastrophes were once feared, now they are seen as opportunities, some of which like the the bank bailouts and foreclosures were "quasi-legal", but most involved untouchable corruption by greedy people at the top. America today.
I wouldn't call foreclosures conducted with forged documents "quasi legal" I would call it RICO, with the U.S. courts playing an integral role in that RICO.
Nothing about this federal government has been legitimate for quite a while now.
It's a Somewhat Organized Crime operation.
I'd argue it's very organized.
In fighting the financial industry in 2008's, every single agency was lock-step with the "program" including state agencies as well. Every single judge too. So, no, I think it's now an organized machine to crush the plebs.
Hey, Kamala's refusal to prosecute Steven Mnuchin probably played into her becoming VP.
I dunno, our most lasting contribution will probably be protecting the carbon industry until it killed the lot of us; but there won't be many people around to fully appreciate that.
I doubt it. Climate alarmist goalposts move more than the jab pushers goalposts.
Those goalposts are moving towards us though. Maybe you don't remember, but everything USED to be "by 2100".
The George Carlin bit about The Earth going through a lot worse than us is my sentiment. Maybe let us spawn simply cause it couldn’t make plastic.
We should act as stewards of this planet and every individual should play their part in keeping it clean and beautiful, but any solution proposed involving government decree and I’m out.
Yep. Fascism comes from within, cloaked in promises to protect in exchange for the surrender of basic rights and freedoms. And it already happened: not all fascists are Nazis, but we are already jailing people for truth telling and disloyalty to imposed ideology, while scape goating half the country (that half being the poor half, the fascists being the moneyed half that are pretending to fight while throwing protesters and activists in jail).
Informative piece. The fact that the military and IC is funding this Anti-Dis stuff tell you all you need to know. It's baaaaaad.
It was. I genuinely hope the Twitter files is published as a book people can buy. Makes deleting it harder. Does this mean the crew is back on good terms with Musk? I don’t want Musk buying Substack, but the two entities can drive traffic to each other and create an influence counter to dying legacy media.
After reading this article I said to my wife I'm so glad that we're in our mid-sixties. In theory we won't be around to see how this nightmare ends. If I'm still around my main concern will be if I'm getting my jello at 5pm and the Orwellian-Kafka world can turn without me. But my wise wife then said..."Just remember, we're ONLY in our mid-sixties". Point taken. The speed and evolution of this new world has--is---and will firmly in place. Pity the 20–30-year-olds facing down this nightmare. They will inherit and have a front row seat to the show. Sorry to be so negative, but who really believes this can be turned around--even for a generation. Thank you to Andrew, Matt, Mike, and the other true journalists who have exposed it all. Stay safe and blessed.
Yeah, right there with you, but in my early 60s. Moved away from the east coast, to Texas, no children, family (extended) in various forms of denial. Also, they like Biden so estrangement, and they believe the medical community. I wake up in the morning, I check the following, we have; electricity, water, food and we watch DVDs and occasionally when we can get it, Amazon Prime. Listening to music helps a lot. Fun stuff, talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Fleetwood Mac. We get basic media if we wanted it. Don’t want it, don’t watch. My life now.
Late 50's here. I didn't become 'homeless' 7 years ago, I just retired early into RV/trailer living, LOL.
I am lucky at least I rent a place I can have chickens and a garden.
Greatest rock concert video of all time, ever, bar none. Stop making sense!
+3 for Talking Heads reference.
Just a 3??
"Preppers" to varying degrees, aren't looking so crazy now, are they? I'm looking at buying some raw, harvestable acreage right now for this very reason.
Look at everything around the property, including water, if a dump site is near and find out future plans for the area. Also when SHTF could you live there undisturbed, or off the grid. Good luck.
Bravo to the author for being critical of his work and speaking out. We need more traitors to their profession to step up.
It amazes me the thousands of people that go ahead and keep doing their jobs at these think tanks, non profits, and alphabet soup beauracracies. They have to know at some level what they are doing is deeply destructive, yet they manage to quiet the voices and keep doing it. 'Institutionalized Immorality'. Maybe many of them are true believers, or just never recieved the equipment for empathetic critical thinking. Maybe they are cynics and just don't care so long as they can live a life of material priveledge.
I'd appreciate it more if he took some "credit" for enabling his erstwhile allies.
I think a lot of them believe they're doing the Lord's Work. After all, we are evil: deplorables, white supremacists, Nazis and so on. Everyone is the hero in their own story.
“…this man entrusted with so much arbitrary power must have believed what he said or else he could not have gone on bearing the responsibility.”
Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911
“The banality of evil.” ~Hannah Arendt.
She also said “the most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution”
The results are still out on that one as revolutions have tended to be reversed by the empire before they have a chance to take hold. Those that have taken hold for the most part, have remained revolutionary.
The only example I can recall is ours. The others end up just a changing of the guards.
TL:DR somewhere between 1984, Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World - we are already there.
Poor fool - he did not realize that being a progressive was about getting and keeping power. They only believed in freedom until they got in charge.
When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles. -- Frank Herbert (Dune)
yes the funny thing is expecting people to actually believe your BS when all they really want is power.
The necessary lying begins with lying to oneself. Then you think "Everybody does it." Then your society falls apart because people know longer know who they are or where they are.
Not always lying though. Most of these people believe in an Enlightened dictatorship them being the enlightened. And of course everyone would be fine if the people just listened and obeyed to their superior wisdom! That is why you see people like Jimmy Carter sucking up to dictators. Those guys have the power that he, and most other President's, wanted to have and I am sure he was certain he knew what was best for us.
Carter still owe you money or something?
on the contrary. I can think of more than one policy by Jimmy Carter that was financially beneficial to me and the US.
It's more and more amazing how prophetic Frank Herbert was. Now all we need is the Butlerian Crusade (he taps out on his little thinking machine).
One could say exactly the same thing about conservatives.
Ideologues always think it is only the other side which can’t be trusted with power.
In the XX Century is always the socialists who have done irreparable damage: Mussolini, Lenin, Hitler, Castro and Mao. Remember that the SA started as a very liberal and avant-garde homosexual militia and that Mussolini was a Marxist thinker before the Fascia.
Please, stop this nonsense. Mussolini and Hitler were not socialists. Before the Jews, the Nazis crushed the socialists and communists. That was what they were hired to do. And if you want to do a tally, you'll find the capitalists have killed far more people than Stalin and Mao ever did.
This is free instruction comrade: Mussolini’s affinity with trade unionism is obvious; he was not only a leader of the Italian Socialist Party, but according to historian Denis Mack Smith, a hard-core Marxist, who “once belonged to the Bolshevik wing of the Italian Socialist party.” Interestingly, Mussolini was for about six years both a Marxist and a Fascist leader. He founded the Fascist Revolutionary Party in 1915, supported Lenin’s October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and called himself the “Lenin of Italy” in the 1919 election. In other words, Mussolini was what I call a “Fascist-Marxist.” Not until around 1921 did he begin to pull away from Marxism, mostly due to Lenin’s unpopularity over the economic collapse of Soviet Russia’s economy that had caused massive unemployment.
Economist Ludwig von Mises, who fled the Nazi conquest of Europe, contended that the “economic program of Italian Fascism did not differ from the program of British Guild Socialism as propagated by the most eminent British and European socialists.”
I see that you haven't read the first biography of Benito Mussolini, nor the history of Ernst Röhm and the German SA. Good for you! Innocence is priceless. And who are the capitalists? Ford, Rockefeller, Rothschild??
Homework: Recalling that Mussolini began his political career as a distinguished Italian socialist, Gregor writes: "Fascism’s most direct ideological inspiration came from the collateral influence of Italy’s most radical ‘subversives’ — the Marxists of revolutionary syndicalism."
And yet capitalism is destroying the world as we speak. They are going to kill the lot of us while debating whether "socialists" or "fascists" killed more people 80 years ago.
You call it capitalism and blame the destruction of the world on that trite sci-fi construct. Fine. But really, what's destroying the world are the 9 billion people polluting, crapping and consuming frantically. It's Evolution, the human species as the inevitable dominant force in the universe. Not too long ago, ecologist Eric Pianka was subjected to criticism for sugesting that a global war or a plague that would destroy 3/4 of humanity would solve the problem. Capitalism is just a sinecdoque for humanity, we've seen socialism first hand and even communism. Capitalism is more reasonable, workable and well Hungus.
Actually, we are mostly in agreement. I don't think climate change is sci-fi, I am old enough to remember the changes happening, and that's scary because planetary change on the human timeframe is bad news.
But climate change is a facet of overpopulation. And capitalism is just a facet of the few destroying everything for their own benefit. France exploded in protest when they tried to cut consumption, socialist China is the world's worst polluter largely at capitalist US's behalf- the elite need more bodies to rule over, and even if climate change was fake, there's 50 problems caused by overpopulation waiting to potentially destroy civilization and fuck up our day.
And yeah, I do think the few think a war or plague would solve the problem, but I'm not totally sure I'm not on the wrong side of that sacrifice.
The idea that there is a "right side" of the sacrifice encapsulates my position that most people's concept of overpopulations as "too may of you, just enough of me."
*We* of course, are both virtuous and wise.
true - but the conservatives are irrelevant, they lost and are out for the the long term.. I could say more but have neither the time not the inclination.
Well, okay, if you apply it to both sides I think you’re right.
But some liberals and leftists really were defenders of free speech for everyone, most famously even for Nazis in Skokie. But those days seem very distant now.
I was a youngster in Northern IL during that time. The lesson it taught me was an entirely noble and correct approach to free speech. The ACLU today...bought and paid for by corporate donations.
"Distant?" That's hilarious. The ACLU doesn't exist anymore as it used to. Nor do they and their "supporters" now want them to.
FYI I am an Illinois resident who remembers the Skokie march. The ACLU stood for speech. It now condones censorship. "The ACLU, Champion of 1A." His-tor-y.
yes - vey naive to think any other way. Used to live right next to Skokie. But there is a decent Cab waiting for me. Done for the night.
oh and have a good night!
We're all out and irrelevant. Once free speech is the enemy, you know the people in charge aren't doing it for the good of the rest of us. And if free speech and association is banned, they can disenfranchise whoever they want.
Conservative/Liberal doesn’t apply anymore, period. Not in the sense that was understood prior to recent decades. Now we have the people who are interested in preserving individual rights within the Constitution and in our culture as a whole, and those who are interested in suppressing individual rights and in rejecting rationality and free expression as long as it’s in the name of the right cause--and who are just fine with government, corporate, and cultural institutions holding all the power to enforce these strictures.
So, no, when we have the people who believe in limited government and personal freedom in power, by definition they won’t be just the same. Because the power will be disbursed to everyone within Constitutional protections. Technology and globalization have given those interested in absolute power for themselves the tools, for the first time in history, to impose a turn-key lockdown of those who resist.
I should correct this - I should not have said "fool." I believe the correct term is "useful idiot."
Fucking asshole centrist Democrats gave progressivism a bad name by claiming it's failures while refusing its innovations. There hasn't been a legitimate progressive around Washington since Kucinich left.
Brilliant
Well that was a damn fine, if depressing, read. It seems like at some point the institutions said, "enough with this damn internet and all these deplorables making fun of us online. Time to put and end to it!"
And here we are.
Andrew says that we need to stop funding these groups, hard to imagine what's going to make that happen.
Fine, indeed! Thank you, Andrew!
Trump and Brexit are offered up as separate instances of “populism”, a term that liberals use to describe the political blowback against the social disruption that their policies create. Anti-disinformation is their effort to silence that blowback.
It never occurs to them that their policies are the problem. They always conclude that the blowback is evidence that the people are the problem, or rather, the ignorance of the people is the problem. They will never concede that unchecked immigration has a negative effect on the employment market, availability of social services and creates massive disruption to communities. They simply lambaste us with accusations of racism.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn : “ beware the pitiless crowbar of events”.
For everyone’s betterment, they need to not steal the next election in America . Bloviating orange man is a release valve. They control all the institutions, and he will be able to achieve little to nothing. His rhetoric will simulate chaos, his efforts will produce little change.
"Trump and Brexit are offered up as separate instances of “populism”..."
Don't forget Bernie Sanders too. Or before he threw in with the Dems, anyway.
As for the next election, i'm just getting my popcorn ready. I suspect it's not going to the way anyone of any political persuasion or none expects it to. Buckle up.
Agree, Bernie and Bernie Bros were vilified just like MAGA nation.
The next election could be pretty wild.
I'm a former (female) Bernie Bro before he threw in with the Dems.
There is apparently no appetite whatsoever for either Biden or Trump. Or even any of the potential other contenders so far. And the shit looks set to hit the fan (or drip drip drip anyway) on Biden's family and administration fuckups. If there's a viable third party / Indy candidate, now or soon is the time to make an appearance before it's too late.
Elon or Tucker could be fun. And i'm a lefty. Or Walter Kirn even, your country needs you.
Vote like it means something. New saying for me.
I try. Which means that's I vote 3rd party, write-in, or not at all.
When trump vs Hillary was going on I was in line and didn’t want either of them. On the ballot I went down the list, “sweet meteor of death” was listed. Bam! Got my vote. Kid you not.
Voted for whack candidates in 2016 and 2020 with no regrets. I still pay ALL my taxes, and hope for someone credible next year. We deserve better.
I am a former Bernie Bro female. I am embarrassed to say that now. Bernie should have stood solid in opposition to the Dems eviscerating his populism. Instead, he capitulated. Hillary probably threatened to Seth Rich his ass. But nonetheless, Bernie showed himself as weak.
Should this next election be a rematch between Biden and Trump, I will overwhelmingly vote Trump.
I’ve always enjoyed your posts. I think they are intelligent.
Aw, thank you! Mostly i feel like i'm just mumbling to myself.
Ok mumbles
And Occupy Wall St.
I'd fine-tune that by changing liberals to statists, as conservatives, you know, liberals driving the speed limit, are also known to use the term populism derogatorily.
That’s hilarious: conservatives, liberals, driving the speed limit. Permission to use that gem.
I definitely didn't come up with it. Think I heard it first from Tom Woods (Tom Woods Show) or Dave Smith (Part of the Problem).
What the heck is a “progressive-minded” person? This article on anti-disinformation starts with a desinformación trope. Actually, the “progressive-minded” hag is the clunkiest and tawdriest of all disinformation factotum.
A more accurate descriptor would be "totalitarian."
Many such words have been taken or abused.
A lot of those we used to call "Civil Libertarians" thought of themselves as progressive. And what we used to call Civil Libertarian now easily applies to the cross section here in these forums (Racket News supporters).
I never got how people get into pegging such things into "black and white". Like "Environmentalists" originally was a mostly a conservative phenomenon (Primarily hunters and fisherman).
Yeah kinda caught that there with the same reaction. As far as i can remember, and I've got 68 years of memories, progressive, left, fascist,communist, all meant the same thing. If, as a supposed progressive fighting for free speech, or freedom in any form, you were leaning conservative libertarian. Because every prog I've ever known has been pretty much a communist at heart.
The deception starts with language reform. In 1959 Castro said: I’m not a communist. Then the American historians helped him establish the falsehood that he was pushed into the arms of the Russians. But politically enlightened Cubans had defined him accurately as early as 1953. Nobody believe them. Same situation here.
I suggest people lay off pasting pre-printed labels on things and people and instead of asking "what kind of _ist_ are you," ask them what they want to do. And say what you want to do. In practical, material terms. The labels have all been written over and over again and are unreadable.
Exactly. It should be obvious by now that we don't all mean the same thing with the labels we use, so let's stop getting hung up on which _ist_ a person uses.
I've only got 52 years but no, those terms did not and still don't mean the same thing. There has always been a free-speech contingent of left/progressive people, as there is a libertarian-free speech contingent of conservatives.
We'll explain the difference between black lies matter, antifa, democrat politicians,and those who support them.
I won't make excuses for democrats who support Antifa or Black Lives Matter but whether one supports the other isn't the point, and these aren't the terms mentioned in the original comment.
I have never been so disappointed in my life as I am with the "progressives". They have sold their souls to the devil and are collaborating with evil. Please keep exposing all of these conspiracies (not theories) and maybe someday people will get angry enough to start at least contributing time and energy to maintaining and guarding our Constitutional freedoms.
Interestingly, a lot of pushback to the censorship is coming from the right. Perhaps that can be used as a unifying force among the poor and working classes who have ben divided by social issues and propaganda. A lot of them are already angry.
Shoe-on-other-foot reminded me of Martin Niemoller (Then they came for me...): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists.
"Progressive" was always kind of a bullshit "mean anything you want it to" term anyways. It's the perfect cover for budding sociopaths working to climb the social / economic ladder.
"Always" may depend on how long you've been around. Once upon a time it meant folks who were devoted to everyone making progress toward a better life, especially those with few or no advantages.
Here's a reasonable definition from Wikipedia:
"While the term progressivism represents a range of diverse political pressure groups, not always united, progressives rejected social Darwinism, believing that the problems society faced, such as class warfare, greed, poverty, racism and violence, could best be addressed by providing good education, a safe environment, and an efficient workplace." And, much more.
While there may be sociopaths describing themselves as progressives, it's really not the best way to climb the social/economic ladder. For example, the Squad (in Congress) called themselves progressive, yet when it came to ladder climbing, they threw that out the window and paid tribute to their leaders, Pelosi et al.. Another huge disappointment.
The good guys are never the ones who have to control information or else.
Good piece, thank you sir.
Outstanding. And chilling, all suspicions gain support. There is an extraordinary parallel between those developments and what has happened in the Big Pharma-Academia-Medical Practice interdependency.
And that particular “collaboration,” threat, dominance, blackmail, has been the most puzzling for the masses to comprehend. Teachers, professors, physicians, and other medical professionals?
Sybil, I was active from the start in the process. Resistance proved largely futile and the biggest disappointment was how easy it was for Pharma to buy so many colleagues.
And this was in the news today on incentives. https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/the-great-covid-19-vaccine-bribe_5193428.html?utm_source=ccpvnoe&src_src=ccpvnoe&utm_campaign=2023-04-26&src_cmp=2023-04-26&utm_medium=email&est=EqEDL1we3DrNBp1VKeLsY5Nddx4OWG0zJNOrRAaGozne0MGdcp7rrCM8qEfF5hYUs5E%3D Utterly maddening. I will leave you alone now.
I appreciate your efforts and applaud you. It is absolutely shocking how many cowed to the agenda, consequently causing the very harm they vowed to uphold. That level of betrayal is beyond comprehension. The grand display of cowardice was and still is soul-killing for us who needed them the most.
Typically I say we should be thankful when people show us who they are so we may respond accordingly. But when those people turn out to be our doctors, our pharmacists, our counselors - we can do nothing but stand afar off in utter disbelief. Such brokenness. Thank you, George.
If anyone hasn't read Mr. Lowenthal's Twitter thread, i'd recommend it. Some serious reciepts on there.
Oh yes - he’s good
Another great piece. It's almost impossible to get people to read and absorb any of this, very discouraging.
Thank you for this. An outstanding complement to the important work Matt's been doing. Hopefully we'll hear much more from you.
For a while, it seemed like the modern era of instant electronic communications might help to tame the war pigs, but it seems they have found a way to continue: by dividing us, and appealing to the half with more political power--appealing to their better instincts, and maybe to their narcissism a little bit--they can keep right on blowing people to shreds in faraway places.
As for the loss of liberties in western society, it is a sign of weakness--just as surely as Xi's tightening grip in China. "Weakness" in both cases, China and the West, means an unsustainable economic model, which means a declining standard of living for most of us. Our voices will be silenced so we are unable to organize and push back against the controlled demolition of our civilization.