That’s not newspeak. That’s a member of the Biden administration saying, “you have the right to think it, but no right to say it.” This is the evolution of the left. If the first amendment isn’t safe, the entire bill of rights is in jeopardy
Why would someone want to install new guardrails on a highway that's pitted with huge potholes & deeply in danger of collapsing?
Why do liberals always feel compelled to come up with cheezy metaphors that, in the end, only prove how liberals are lame & bankrupt of ideas.
Why does America have to consistently pat itself on the back about its "greatness" while its quite apparent that whatever "greatness" it had has left the building for an undisclosed location & an undetermined rest period?
Why does no one in the media notice that America's leadership Olympics just pitted an orange windbag with a Twitter addiction against a handsy old grandpa who never had a real job or a good idea in his life?
Why would anyone sane think this shitshow of an election is an indicator that "America's guardrails are holding?"
Is there a special journalism class entitled "Bullshitting Yourself & The Public 101?"
Is this shit scripted?
One thing that I've learned from the last 4 years is your average card carrying partisan liberal
Democrat is every bit as credulously stupid & butt ignorant as the right wing rednecks they love to parody.
After watching the huge smelly piles of shit your average liberal Democrat is willing to swallow to maintain his mental safe space I wouldn't trust a partisan Democrat to change my car tire let alone decide what ideas I see.
Yeah, I know how to code. I have two engineering degrees. Have lived and worked in five countries on three continents. Even completed a nanodegree in Data Science (The #1 job on GlassDoor!!!!) last year. And here I am seriously thinking about going back to driving OTR because everyone wants fives years experience for a entry level position.
Yeah, how do they do it? I recently moved from the strange land of western Washington state. Some educated, accomplished people there, but when it came to politics or an understanding of the larger world- nothing but mush. They'll believe the most easily disproved concepts. Smug, self righteous and arrogant.
I don't know. I've actually started wondering if the Democratic Party only exists to discredit actual progressives. I don't know if you've ever listened to right wing talk radio, but they sell the Democrats as extreme socialists. They're extreme something but I really don't think it's socialists. Otherwise they wouldn't have derailed Sanders. Twice.
The Republicans sell the Dems as demons to their echo chamber while the Dems sell the Repubs as demons to their echo chamber.
Meanwhile behind the scenes they tag team dropping hellfire on the rest of us.
Matt's article on the Socialists being de-platformed is telling. Personally, I find much more fault with the conventional democrats than any true progressive. I don't listen to the radio or watch television. Don't read newspapers either. It's the internet, personal experience and much observation. So no right wing stuff per se.
Socialism doesn't sit too well with the DNCs big donors: Wall Street, the banks, MIC, big pharma and so on. Above all else, to the Democrat party establishment, the status quo must be protected. The RNC was little different. When a Sanders or Ron Paul or Trump or Gabbard comes along- well, you can see what happens. What I find funny is that those who support Sanders and Trump are not really that far apart- certainly much closer than say Sanders and Biden or Trump and Romney/McCain. Had Sanders run in 2016 or 2020 against Trump, I believe that fully 80% of the population would have been satisfied with the overall result no matter who won.
Instead, largely due to the media (looking at you too, Fox) enough of us are and remain confused. And the dirty tricks are legion- look at what they did to Sanders or Ron Paul, the impeachment hoax and finally the 2020 election. Notice a pattern? Blind man could see it a mile away.
Totally agree. In some ways it's like the Dems remember that Bush official's pronouncement about how the US elite now create reality while the rest of us are left to just comment and they've run with it.
AOC tweets that the CARES ACT wealth transfer was entirely the fault of the Republicans yet you can find the actual video clip of the vote & the only guy who protested against the oral vote was a Republican. The entire squad voted for it. Even Sanders. Average American gets $1200, while the wealthy get $5 trillion. So what's the point in blaming it solely on the Republicans unless you think that, by saying it, you make it true?
Jimmy Dore has a great clip of 3 women on CNN telling the faithful that Trump's plan to bring home the soldiers will hurt the soldiers. So they're saying that war is safe but peace is dangerous?
Senator Tammy Duckworth said about Trump's troop withdrawal plan, "We all want our soldiers home, but not in body bags."
Again, they're safe in a war zone, but if we withdraw them they'll die?
It makes no sense.
When I was a kid I loved comic books. In Superman they created a comedy version of Superman called Bizarro Superman. He lived on Bizarro World. On Bizarro World they did everything opposite than what humans did on Earth. Bad was good. Good was bad. You get the point.
I swear, for I while now I keep feeling like I wandered into Bizarro World. It's either that or the people in power get way better drugs than I get so I'm probably jealous.
"One thing that I've learned from the last 4 years is your average card carrying partisan liberal Democrat is every bit as credulously stupid & butt ignorant as the right wing rednecks they love to parody."
It got so obvious in the recent past, to many people. It's hilarious yet troubling reading the D elites diagnose their relatively poor performance in 2020. Without irony they break down the electorate and designate themselves and their friends as "knowledge workers" and the "educated intellectual elite" then wonder why so much of the country hates their guts.
Yeah, it seems like the Democrats were literally shitting their pants daily over Trump so any alternative, no matter how deranged it appears & how much irrational bullshit they'll have to swallow to make it work, it will still be better than shitting their pants everyday.
Yes. Both Trump and Sanders are demagogues and many of the fools who voted for Trump in 2016 would have voted for Sanders in 2020. Demagogue being someone who offers simple solutions to complex problems.
Sorry, no. Trump voters wave the flag, Sanders supporters are America hating like the other Dems. Huge difference in what policies they would support. No offense meant, but I kinda wonder what rock you've been under.
«if the Democratic Party only exists to discredit actual progressives. I don't know if you've ever listened to right wing talk radio, but they sell the Democrats as extreme socialists.»
"Communist" and "Socialist" in the USA mean generally "nasty", they don't refer to the actual political positions.
«They're extreme something but I really don't think it's socialists. Otherwise they wouldn't have derailed Sanders. Twice.»
The DLC Democrats are "socially progressive right-wingers", that is "whigs"/neoliberals/neocons, as opposed to "socially repressive right-wingers", that is "tories"/conservatives/nationalists.
When I worked in higher education, I was convinced that there was a "Journal of Cockamamie Ideas" that only Deans and higher-ranking administrators could subscribe to, because they couldn't possibly come up with those ideas on their own. Now I am convinced that journalists subscribe to a similar publication.
I used to think that people were overstating the threat, the ubiquity, of 'political correctness'. But the left now seems to have a mania for suppressing speech. I don't think I've voted for a single Republican in my life (only because Democrats seem marginally less bad). If they start to implement "guard rails", that's what will eventually force me to vote against Democrats.
It's not "the left"; it's the Machine masquerading as "the left" in an effort to finally crack down on their own helplessness to A: maintain control of everyone in the internet age and B: their own INability to reach the minds of the unwashed masses.
Guardrails... sure. They're shutting down freedom and it's not going to end well for them even if they make some short term gains.
It's not going to end well for them, even if they make some short term gains,, unless they get their mitts on the Deep State's arsenal of surveillance technology, in which case they'll delight in making all of their foes' lives Hell, and make it impossible for any resistance to begin to grow.
If necessary, they'll enslave the internet, e.g. by sabotaging all "problematic" DNS connections.
Distinction without a difference. The left and right are cesspools of groupthink treacle. Believing there's a 'good' side in any of this is delusional.
Bah, they're just selling the public on giving up their freedom to interact online. IT's got nothing to do with the paid-for writings of these bots.
The establishment may have around 30-35% of the 321 million people living in the US fooled and I'd bet that they're either so desperate or so delusional that they'll roll the dice here and try to ram this shit home inside of four years and life will never be the same.
You are going to see a consolidation of power and influence that would have Herr Hitler and the National Socialists of 1933-45 looking on in envy.
But once you get past a certain point, all bets are off and events take on a life of their own. It will happen slowly at first- little will be above ground and visible. Put the right people in all positions, change policy, regulations, and throw out conventional restraint. Give it a few years and then remove the gloves. A compliant/complicit press will give you all the cover you need.
It will take hard times or many years to undo the damage- ask the average German of 1945.
Sadly, it looks like Matt wants to be in on it. Maybe the lure of the "cool kids club" is just too great. His foray to the edge must have spooked him.
His writing isn't edgy. He is spooked and is not writing anything of consequence. Of course, he will lose his audience in time if this keeps up. No one wants to read stupid stuff. Things are so far beyond free speech...that rant is old.
You don't have to send a memo when you're already on the same wavelength. Most of the blue check universe is a giant game of telephone. These people have no exposure to ideas outside of their narrow sphere, so it's no mystery why they all say the same things at the same time. It's wild how many otherwise smart people are oblivious to textbook propaganda.
"You don't have to send a memo when you're already on the same wavelength."
This is a great statement. I've thought the same for some number of years now. Conspiracy theories are sexy, but once you know that journalists are all in the same twitter-sphere, they chat together in Journo-lists, are educated in the same places and also feed off of one another's stories the need for a conspiracy is eliminated. A sci-fi consensus hive-mind starts to come to mind.
Same thing in my social circle. Hard to have an interesting discussion when 90% of the crowd watches nothing but John Oliver, Colbert, et. al. Doesn't get any more dull and predictable.
Amen. SO BORING. One in 100 people I know or meet has anything interesting to say about hot button topics. I had to bail on numerous regular Zoom chats and text chains because they became rampaging signaling frenzies. I'd rather trim my cuticles than pretend I'm interested in their "opinions". Sheesh.
I like going Alex Jones now and then. But that doesn't take away from fact that trends are very real, especially with words. I hate where they are going with articles like these, but I actually do like the term guardrails in the sense that it describes something very well.
Guardrails are a big fuckin deal, man. My grandfather used to say, "Joey, enjoy the ride but mind the guardrails". Then my grandmother would shout down from the porch, "Joey if you're riding to Delaware, just make sure it isn't so easy to get out from under credit card debt." I mean, come on man. Workin' across the aisle, man. Soul of a nation.
The "Blue Ribbon Panel" headed by James Baker and Jimmy Carter issued a report that gave warnings on how elections could be compromised and the Democrats took that as a road map to cheat and has spent the past fifteen years making sure that NONE of the recommendations would ever be implemented.
"Guardrails" should be certified as a new entry in the Devil's Dictionary of Democrat Demagoguery.
Guardrails (noun, plural guardrails) -- Government and media institutions in countries that describe themselves as democracies that exist to perpetuate -- through propaganda, law and force -- the power of political elites against the will of the people.
Along with "guardrails", "Our Democracy" is another new entry in the Devil's Dictionary of Democrat Demagoguery.
Our Democracy (proper noun, slogan, cliche) -- i. The apparatus of domestic political institutions and organs of government available to skillful operatives as vehicles for self-promotion and self-enrichment. ii. A clever slogan used in political propaganda that asserts ownership and control of political institutions while conveying the illusion of shared public participation and common good.
Examples of usage:
"Our democracy was under threat from malicious actors and radical extremists, but the guardrails held."
"It's strange. The more I talk about guardrails and our democracy, the more money I make from book deals and speaking gigs."
"Our think tank has put up guardrails along the hallway to the rest rooms to remind our staff how we make money and discourage radical and extremist thinking."
I grew up near the Canadian border and pre-cable had access to more Canadian television channels and radio stations than U.S., LOVED Barbara Frum...she wouldn’t back down in her questions to Pierre Trudeau, ha!
"What made this document so fascinating, so revealing, is the CIA’s discussion of how to manipulate public opinion to ensure it remains at least tolerant if not supportive of Endless War and, specifically, the vital role President Obama played for the CIA in packaging and selling U.S. wars around the world. In this classified analysis, one learns a great deal about how the “military industrial complex,” also known as the “Blob” or “Deep State,” reasons; how the Agency exploits humanitarian impulses to ensure continuation of its wars; and what the real function is of the U.S. President when it comes to foreign policy.
"What prompted the memo was the CIA’s growing fears that the population of Western Europe was rapidly turning against the War on Terror generally and the war in Afghanistan specifically — as evidenced by the fall of the Dutch Government driven in large part by the electorate’s anger over involvement in Afghanistan. The CIA was desperate to figure out how to stem the tide of anti-war sentiment growing throughout that region, particularly to shield France and Germany from it, by manipulating public opinion.
"The Agency concluded: its best and only asset for doing that was President Obama and his popularity in Western European cities."
I can already hear the accusations that Greenwald is a Russian agent.
2. Finds, based on the facts and evidence presented and our own Board of Elections data, that the Presidential election held on November 3, 2020, in Pennsylvania is irredeemably corrupted;
Seems like the “guardrails” differ from writer to writer.
Is there really anything wrong with calling out lies? Is there anything wrong with operating within institutional norms? Is attempting to overturn electoral slates with disingenuous arguments about fraud not something to be condemned?
Hmmm. In the last few months, COVID fear has resulted in a vast contraction of fundamental liberties in America. You’re willing to jettison two centuries of freedom because you think your fellow citizens can’t handle “disingenuous arguments?”
And you’ve lost a vast number of your fundamental freedoms? Maybe you can tell me what they were. I don’t feel like I’ve lost a thing. I can come and go as I please. I can read what ever I can point my browser to or download whatever book I want or watch whatever electronic source of information I choose.
As far as COVID is concerned, I can go out and even eat out as long as I obey the mask requirements, which are pretty light and not unreasonable.
You’re subscribed to a service that I assume you chose and no government is harassing you or threatening to arrest you for do so. But you’re mad about something you haven’t articulated.
Maybe what your mad at is that the so-called main stream media no longer takes a neutral stance to whack jobs like Trump and directly debunks and calls out his lies. But you can still access his lies and anything else you want to wallow in. No one has repealed the 1st Amendment.
Here is a sampling of arbitrary infringement on individual liberties that occurred at various times in my state since March 2020 (all were imposed by executive fiat and without due process):
- ban on all travel between any two residences within the state
- prohibition on the right to associate in my home or in public with those outside my immediate family
- ban on attending religious services as non-essential
- ban on the right to make private contracts with businesses deemed non-essential including the majority of non-emergency doctor-patient services
- prohibition on the purchase of a wide variety of goods deemed non-essential even when offered alongside goods otherwise deemed essential and authorized for purchase
- curfew prohibiting presence in public outside designated hours
- prohibition on a variety of other liberties including use of personal property such as boats and recreational vehicles and access to schools, parks, and other public spaces
- suspension of all Freedom of Information Act obligations and other open government laws
I'm guessing CA or NY. Enforcement has varied from fines and license withdrawal for restaurants, to threats to cut off water/power to buildings that hosted a "large gathering", to police literally going into places holding religious services to try to shut them down.
Take it up with your Governor. They have emergency powers to protect the public health. Different states handle this differently. My state has generally issued guidance and let the counties decide how to implement regulations, but if the counties fail to control it, they can be ordered to.
Are you willing to forgo medical treatment if you catch COVID 19 by violating public health ordinances? The health system is out at risk by people not attempting to control the spread of the virus. Why should they have to help those who won’t do their part?
You tried to recast my original point by suggesting I was “just mad” about something I never mentioned. You then specifically asked me to tell you how my fundamental liberties were infringed during the COVID reaction and I did so. You now suggest I am in favor of breaking the law and should commit to you in a comment board that I will not see a doctor if I get sick. My impression is that you’re not interested in a good faith exchange despite asking me to answer your question. I think I’ll move on and dialogue with someone who’s actually interested in what I have to say
It is difficult to imagine what it is the rails are guarding against. I suppose it could be said that they secure free speech, democracy, or any of the other catchphrases of the republic, but these are not ends to themselves. Domestic tranquility? When has it ever been so? And that manner of tranquility can be bought with the coin of foreign conflict as easily by monarchs as by senators. A more perfect union? Of what? Increasingly, I get the sense we've figured out how to do a billion different things, but nobody knows what the hell we're doing anymore. If they ever did.
"I’m all for protecting “thought that we hate,” but not speech that incites hate."
Newspeak is alive and well
That’s not newspeak. That’s a member of the Biden administration saying, “you have the right to think it, but no right to say it.” This is the evolution of the left. If the first amendment isn’t safe, the entire bill of rights is in jeopardy
First they come for the hate, and then they come for the hostile and finally the mildly upset will have to go, too. It's a vicious cycle.
Stengel incited a lot of hate with that speech and thereby self-canceled.
Thanks, I was wondering what that was supposed to mean.
Why would someone want to install new guardrails on a highway that's pitted with huge potholes & deeply in danger of collapsing?
Why do liberals always feel compelled to come up with cheezy metaphors that, in the end, only prove how liberals are lame & bankrupt of ideas.
Why does America have to consistently pat itself on the back about its "greatness" while its quite apparent that whatever "greatness" it had has left the building for an undisclosed location & an undetermined rest period?
Why does no one in the media notice that America's leadership Olympics just pitted an orange windbag with a Twitter addiction against a handsy old grandpa who never had a real job or a good idea in his life?
Why would anyone sane think this shitshow of an election is an indicator that "America's guardrails are holding?"
Is there a special journalism class entitled "Bullshitting Yourself & The Public 101?"
Is this shit scripted?
One thing that I've learned from the last 4 years is your average card carrying partisan liberal
Democrat is every bit as credulously stupid & butt ignorant as the right wing rednecks they love to parody.
After watching the huge smelly piles of shit your average liberal Democrat is willing to swallow to maintain his mental safe space I wouldn't trust a partisan Democrat to change my car tire let alone decide what ideas I see.
"every bit as credulously stupid & butt ignorant as the right wing rednecks they love to parody."
Perhaps more so, seeing as the "rednecks" are *far* less likely, to style themselves to be qualified to run Society.
"I wouldn't trust a partisan Democrat to change my car tire...."
Nor would I.
Cuomo really showed the Dem Elite mentality, when he urged folks unemployed from the lockdowns to "learn how to code".
For those who want to actually open their minds, and esp. those who disdain the attitude of "learn how to code", I can recommend sites like that of
(ret.) ArchDruid J.M. Greer (nowadays, at https://www.ecosophia.net/ ),
J.H. Kunstler (Jew, ex-Rolling Stone, at https://kunstler.com/writings/clusterfuck-nation/ ),
Gary Savage (respected gold-etc. “in real-time” markets trader, at https://blog.smartmoneytrackerpremium.com/ ),
(ret. Navy Intel) J.E. (Jen) Dyer (at https://LibertyUnyielding.com ), and
(ret. FBI) Mark Wauck (serious Catholic, at https://meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/ ).
All of these folks have very serious things to say about stuff besides politics (and Coding!), and great knowledge about politics.
Yeah, I know how to code. I have two engineering degrees. Have lived and worked in five countries on three continents. Even completed a nanodegree in Data Science (The #1 job on GlassDoor!!!!) last year. And here I am seriously thinking about going back to driving OTR because everyone wants fives years experience for a entry level position.
Yeah, how do they do it? I recently moved from the strange land of western Washington state. Some educated, accomplished people there, but when it came to politics or an understanding of the larger world- nothing but mush. They'll believe the most easily disproved concepts. Smug, self righteous and arrogant.
I don't know. I've actually started wondering if the Democratic Party only exists to discredit actual progressives. I don't know if you've ever listened to right wing talk radio, but they sell the Democrats as extreme socialists. They're extreme something but I really don't think it's socialists. Otherwise they wouldn't have derailed Sanders. Twice.
The Republicans sell the Dems as demons to their echo chamber while the Dems sell the Repubs as demons to their echo chamber.
Meanwhile behind the scenes they tag team dropping hellfire on the rest of us.
It appears to be working.
Matt's article on the Socialists being de-platformed is telling. Personally, I find much more fault with the conventional democrats than any true progressive. I don't listen to the radio or watch television. Don't read newspapers either. It's the internet, personal experience and much observation. So no right wing stuff per se.
Socialism doesn't sit too well with the DNCs big donors: Wall Street, the banks, MIC, big pharma and so on. Above all else, to the Democrat party establishment, the status quo must be protected. The RNC was little different. When a Sanders or Ron Paul or Trump or Gabbard comes along- well, you can see what happens. What I find funny is that those who support Sanders and Trump are not really that far apart- certainly much closer than say Sanders and Biden or Trump and Romney/McCain. Had Sanders run in 2016 or 2020 against Trump, I believe that fully 80% of the population would have been satisfied with the overall result no matter who won.
Instead, largely due to the media (looking at you too, Fox) enough of us are and remain confused. And the dirty tricks are legion- look at what they did to Sanders or Ron Paul, the impeachment hoax and finally the 2020 election. Notice a pattern? Blind man could see it a mile away.
Totally agree. In some ways it's like the Dems remember that Bush official's pronouncement about how the US elite now create reality while the rest of us are left to just comment and they've run with it.
AOC tweets that the CARES ACT wealth transfer was entirely the fault of the Republicans yet you can find the actual video clip of the vote & the only guy who protested against the oral vote was a Republican. The entire squad voted for it. Even Sanders. Average American gets $1200, while the wealthy get $5 trillion. So what's the point in blaming it solely on the Republicans unless you think that, by saying it, you make it true?
Jimmy Dore has a great clip of 3 women on CNN telling the faithful that Trump's plan to bring home the soldiers will hurt the soldiers. So they're saying that war is safe but peace is dangerous?
Senator Tammy Duckworth said about Trump's troop withdrawal plan, "We all want our soldiers home, but not in body bags."
Again, they're safe in a war zone, but if we withdraw them they'll die?
It makes no sense.
When I was a kid I loved comic books. In Superman they created a comedy version of Superman called Bizarro Superman. He lived on Bizarro World. On Bizarro World they did everything opposite than what humans did on Earth. Bad was good. Good was bad. You get the point.
I swear, for I while now I keep feeling like I wandered into Bizarro World. It's either that or the people in power get way better drugs than I get so I'm probably jealous.
"One thing that I've learned from the last 4 years is your average card carrying partisan liberal Democrat is every bit as credulously stupid & butt ignorant as the right wing rednecks they love to parody."
It got so obvious in the recent past, to many people. It's hilarious yet troubling reading the D elites diagnose their relatively poor performance in 2020. Without irony they break down the electorate and designate themselves and their friends as "knowledge workers" and the "educated intellectual elite" then wonder why so much of the country hates their guts.
Yeah, it seems like the Democrats were literally shitting their pants daily over Trump so any alternative, no matter how deranged it appears & how much irrational bullshit they'll have to swallow to make it work, it will still be better than shitting their pants everyday.
Yes. Both Trump and Sanders are demagogues and many of the fools who voted for Trump in 2016 would have voted for Sanders in 2020. Demagogue being someone who offers simple solutions to complex problems.
Sorry, no. Trump voters wave the flag, Sanders supporters are America hating like the other Dems. Huge difference in what policies they would support. No offense meant, but I kinda wonder what rock you've been under.
An utterly absurd statement. I'm a moderate Democrat and I love this country. Conservatives don't own patriotism.
Hey, thanks for your simple assessment!
«if the Democratic Party only exists to discredit actual progressives. I don't know if you've ever listened to right wing talk radio, but they sell the Democrats as extreme socialists.»
"Communist" and "Socialist" in the USA mean generally "nasty", they don't refer to the actual political positions.
«They're extreme something but I really don't think it's socialists. Otherwise they wouldn't have derailed Sanders. Twice.»
The DLC Democrats are "socially progressive right-wingers", that is "whigs"/neoliberals/neocons, as opposed to "socially repressive right-wingers", that is "tories"/conservatives/nationalists.
Talk radio types use “socialism” the same way that D partisans use “fascism”.......
Why do believe he's a liberal? Here's just your average sociopath, power grubber in a suit and believing his own bull. It's where we are.
Bravo!
When I worked in higher education, I was convinced that there was a "Journal of Cockamamie Ideas" that only Deans and higher-ranking administrators could subscribe to, because they couldn't possibly come up with those ideas on their own. Now I am convinced that journalists subscribe to a similar publication.
Maybe they are just bought and paid for.....
... by guardrail manufacturers.
I used to think that people were overstating the threat, the ubiquity, of 'political correctness'. But the left now seems to have a mania for suppressing speech. I don't think I've voted for a single Republican in my life (only because Democrats seem marginally less bad). If they start to implement "guard rails", that's what will eventually force me to vote against Democrats.
It's not "the left"; it's the Machine masquerading as "the left" in an effort to finally crack down on their own helplessness to A: maintain control of everyone in the internet age and B: their own INability to reach the minds of the unwashed masses.
Guardrails... sure. They're shutting down freedom and it's not going to end well for them even if they make some short term gains.
It's not going to end well for them, even if they make some short term gains,, unless they get their mitts on the Deep State's arsenal of surveillance technology, in which case they'll delight in making all of their foes' lives Hell, and make it impossible for any resistance to begin to grow.
If necessary, they'll enslave the internet, e.g. by sabotaging all "problematic" DNS connections.
Orwell missed it by c. 50 years.
"1984" should've been called "2034".
Or 2024.
It might not take as long as 2034.
Still, you are spot on.
They already have their mitts on the deep state arsenal and are actively using everything at their disposal to undermine ANY populism, period.
You're spot on though. Ugh... what do we do with this living nightmare?
How about a general strike?
Distinction without a difference. The left and right are cesspools of groupthink treacle. Believing there's a 'good' side in any of this is delusional.
If any of these writers rode a motorcycle, they wouldn't be so enamored of guardrails.
Bah, they're just selling the public on giving up their freedom to interact online. IT's got nothing to do with the paid-for writings of these bots.
The establishment may have around 30-35% of the 321 million people living in the US fooled and I'd bet that they're either so desperate or so delusional that they'll roll the dice here and try to ram this shit home inside of four years and life will never be the same.
You are going to see a consolidation of power and influence that would have Herr Hitler and the National Socialists of 1933-45 looking on in envy.
But once you get past a certain point, all bets are off and events take on a life of their own. It will happen slowly at first- little will be above ground and visible. Put the right people in all positions, change policy, regulations, and throw out conventional restraint. Give it a few years and then remove the gloves. A compliant/complicit press will give you all the cover you need.
It will take hard times or many years to undo the damage- ask the average German of 1945.
Sadly, it looks like Matt wants to be in on it. Maybe the lure of the "cool kids club" is just too great. His foray to the edge must have spooked him.
So true!
"it looks like Matt wants to be in on it."
What now makes you believe that?
His writing isn't edgy. He is spooked and is not writing anything of consequence. Of course, he will lose his audience in time if this keeps up. No one wants to read stupid stuff. Things are so far beyond free speech...that rant is old.
"No one wants to read stupid stuff. Things are so far beyond free speech."
What part of what he's writing is stupid stuff?
Please clarify, in what respect things are so far beyond free speech?
I'd like a "inside baseball" from Mr Taibbi on how these phrases seem to crop up on all the usual publications at almost the same time.
Don't want to go all Alex Jones, but it almost looks like a memo was sent.
Pack journalism
You don't have to send a memo when you're already on the same wavelength. Most of the blue check universe is a giant game of telephone. These people have no exposure to ideas outside of their narrow sphere, so it's no mystery why they all say the same things at the same time. It's wild how many otherwise smart people are oblivious to textbook propaganda.
"You don't have to send a memo when you're already on the same wavelength."
This is a great statement. I've thought the same for some number of years now. Conspiracy theories are sexy, but once you know that journalists are all in the same twitter-sphere, they chat together in Journo-lists, are educated in the same places and also feed off of one another's stories the need for a conspiracy is eliminated. A sci-fi consensus hive-mind starts to come to mind.
Same thing in my social circle. Hard to have an interesting discussion when 90% of the crowd watches nothing but John Oliver, Colbert, et. al. Doesn't get any more dull and predictable.
Amen. SO BORING. One in 100 people I know or meet has anything interesting to say about hot button topics. I had to bail on numerous regular Zoom chats and text chains because they became rampaging signaling frenzies. I'd rather trim my cuticles than pretend I'm interested in their "opinions". Sheesh.
That narrowness is their guardrails.
read The Boys on the Bus!
I like going Alex Jones now and then. But that doesn't take away from fact that trends are very real, especially with words. I hate where they are going with articles like these, but I actually do like the term guardrails in the sense that it describes something very well.
Guardrails are a big fuckin deal, man. My grandfather used to say, "Joey, enjoy the ride but mind the guardrails". Then my grandmother would shout down from the porch, "Joey if you're riding to Delaware, just make sure it isn't so easy to get out from under credit card debt." I mean, come on man. Workin' across the aisle, man. Soul of a nation.
Oh, no..
They removed all the guardrails with prejudice.
The "Blue Ribbon Panel" headed by James Baker and Jimmy Carter issued a report that gave warnings on how elections could be compromised and the Democrats took that as a road map to cheat and has spent the past fifteen years making sure that NONE of the recommendations would ever be implemented.
"Guardrails" should be certified as a new entry in the Devil's Dictionary of Democrat Demagoguery.
Guardrails (noun, plural guardrails) -- Government and media institutions in countries that describe themselves as democracies that exist to perpetuate -- through propaganda, law and force -- the power of political elites against the will of the people.
Yes,. the guardrails held! hahahahah.
Along with "guardrails", "Our Democracy" is another new entry in the Devil's Dictionary of Democrat Demagoguery.
Our Democracy (proper noun, slogan, cliche) -- i. The apparatus of domestic political institutions and organs of government available to skillful operatives as vehicles for self-promotion and self-enrichment. ii. A clever slogan used in political propaganda that asserts ownership and control of political institutions while conveying the illusion of shared public participation and common good.
Examples of usage:
"Our democracy was under threat from malicious actors and radical extremists, but the guardrails held."
"It's strange. The more I talk about guardrails and our democracy, the more money I make from book deals and speaking gigs."
"Our think tank has put up guardrails along the hallway to the rest rooms to remind our staff how we make money and discourage radical and extremist thinking."
Guardrails dovetail zero sum dispositive Potemkins.
Could you do a few more of those?
That high pitched sound you hear is David Frum's mother (an honest to goodness Journalist) spinning in her grave.
I grew up near the Canadian border and pre-cable had access to more Canadian television channels and radio stations than U.S., LOVED Barbara Frum...she wouldn’t back down in her questions to Pierre Trudeau, ha!
She would now! sadly, so would her son
Here's an article by Glenn Greenwald that confirms something that I thought was pretty obvious.
That Obama was the perfect candidate to run cover for the bail out and, more importantly, the war machine.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/a-long-forgotten-cia-document-from
"What made this document so fascinating, so revealing, is the CIA’s discussion of how to manipulate public opinion to ensure it remains at least tolerant if not supportive of Endless War and, specifically, the vital role President Obama played for the CIA in packaging and selling U.S. wars around the world. In this classified analysis, one learns a great deal about how the “military industrial complex,” also known as the “Blob” or “Deep State,” reasons; how the Agency exploits humanitarian impulses to ensure continuation of its wars; and what the real function is of the U.S. President when it comes to foreign policy.
"What prompted the memo was the CIA’s growing fears that the population of Western Europe was rapidly turning against the War on Terror generally and the war in Afghanistan specifically — as evidenced by the fall of the Dutch Government driven in large part by the electorate’s anger over involvement in Afghanistan. The CIA was desperate to figure out how to stem the tide of anti-war sentiment growing throughout that region, particularly to shield France and Germany from it, by manipulating public opinion.
"The Agency concluded: its best and only asset for doing that was President Obama and his popularity in Western European cities."
I can already hear the accusations that Greenwald is a Russian agent.
2. Finds, based on the facts and evidence presented and our own Board of Elections data, that the Presidential election held on November 3, 2020, in Pennsylvania is irredeemably corrupted;
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20190&cosponId=32629
Frum is to liberals what Luntz is to conservatives. Spinner in chief.
Seems like the “guardrails” differ from writer to writer.
Is there really anything wrong with calling out lies? Is there anything wrong with operating within institutional norms? Is attempting to overturn electoral slates with disingenuous arguments about fraud not something to be condemned?
Hmmm. In the last few months, COVID fear has resulted in a vast contraction of fundamental liberties in America. You’re willing to jettison two centuries of freedom because you think your fellow citizens can’t handle “disingenuous arguments?”
And you’ve lost a vast number of your fundamental freedoms? Maybe you can tell me what they were. I don’t feel like I’ve lost a thing. I can come and go as I please. I can read what ever I can point my browser to or download whatever book I want or watch whatever electronic source of information I choose.
As far as COVID is concerned, I can go out and even eat out as long as I obey the mask requirements, which are pretty light and not unreasonable.
You’re subscribed to a service that I assume you chose and no government is harassing you or threatening to arrest you for do so. But you’re mad about something you haven’t articulated.
Maybe what your mad at is that the so-called main stream media no longer takes a neutral stance to whack jobs like Trump and directly debunks and calls out his lies. But you can still access his lies and anything else you want to wallow in. No one has repealed the 1st Amendment.
Here is a sampling of arbitrary infringement on individual liberties that occurred at various times in my state since March 2020 (all were imposed by executive fiat and without due process):
- ban on all travel between any two residences within the state
- prohibition on the right to associate in my home or in public with those outside my immediate family
- ban on attending religious services as non-essential
- ban on the right to make private contracts with businesses deemed non-essential including the majority of non-emergency doctor-patient services
- prohibition on the purchase of a wide variety of goods deemed non-essential even when offered alongside goods otherwise deemed essential and authorized for purchase
- curfew prohibiting presence in public outside designated hours
- prohibition on a variety of other liberties including use of personal property such as boats and recreational vehicles and access to schools, parks, and other public spaces
- suspension of all Freedom of Information Act obligations and other open government laws
Is any of this even true? What state? What were the actual consequences?
I'm guessing CA or NY. Enforcement has varied from fines and license withdrawal for restaurants, to threats to cut off water/power to buildings that hosted a "large gathering", to police literally going into places holding religious services to try to shut them down.
Take it up with your Governor. They have emergency powers to protect the public health. Different states handle this differently. My state has generally issued guidance and let the counties decide how to implement regulations, but if the counties fail to control it, they can be ordered to.
Are you willing to forgo medical treatment if you catch COVID 19 by violating public health ordinances? The health system is out at risk by people not attempting to control the spread of the virus. Why should they have to help those who won’t do their part?
You tried to recast my original point by suggesting I was “just mad” about something I never mentioned. You then specifically asked me to tell you how my fundamental liberties were infringed during the COVID reaction and I did so. You now suggest I am in favor of breaking the law and should commit to you in a comment board that I will not see a doctor if I get sick. My impression is that you’re not interested in a good faith exchange despite asking me to answer your question. I think I’ll move on and dialogue with someone who’s actually interested in what I have to say
It is difficult to imagine what it is the rails are guarding against. I suppose it could be said that they secure free speech, democracy, or any of the other catchphrases of the republic, but these are not ends to themselves. Domestic tranquility? When has it ever been so? And that manner of tranquility can be bought with the coin of foreign conflict as easily by monarchs as by senators. A more perfect union? Of what? Increasingly, I get the sense we've figured out how to do a billion different things, but nobody knows what the hell we're doing anymore. If they ever did.