Beware of the “Military Industiral Complex”. Eisenhower warned us. Second, remember Chuck Schumer’s words about Trump: “If you cross the Intel community they have 6 ways to Sunday to get back at you”. How those words are reigning truth…keep revealing this evil.
What part of "get back at you" did you miss? I understand it's hard for those reared in the Comfortable Class to come to grips with the idea an government agency has gone so badly rogue it can threaten members of Congress with impunity, but those of us who lived through three assassinations of political figures who threatened the desired program in the space of 5 years know better.
I think MarthaAW's point is that NO ONE in the media has ever asked Schumer about it. Not once. Likely because they knew exactly what he meant and also knew that the same would happen to them if they even asked the question. I have to say that Schumer's comment was perhaps the most chilling thing I have ever heard an American politician utter in public, and was utterly prescient about the ensuing several years.
Thank you, that is exactly what I meant. I heard him say that in real time and remembering spinning my head with “ what did he just say??” I also was taken aback when Schumer yelled “ were coming for you Gorsuch, we’re coming for you Kavanaugh!”... I just expect more civility from members of Congress....but hey, politeness and manners have gone the way of common sense.
Yes, but where is the press to follow up on these statements?! Matt Taibbi can't be everywhere at once! Cheers to you for your original point. Very few people remember that chilling quote from Schumer...
You should read some of history of Congress if you're expecting civility. LOL In fact, Schumer would have been laughed at for a pantywaist with that "threat". For starters, look up "Charles Sumner". :-)
Ugh, it’s so depressing. It’s like when Biden calls a Republican “ my good friend” and then trashes them .. Shut up. It’s a game to far too many of these yahoos.
An extremely funny BACK TO THE FUTURE IV would involve Charles Schumer falling asleep in 2022 and awakening in the body of Charles Sumner in 1856. HELLO HOLLYWOOD
You’re misreading the tone of my post. I’m right there with you...just frightening to have a U.S. Senator acknowledge their out of control abuse of power.. in a comment sounding like we should all just bend over and accept it.
It's a very powerful set of agencies, if you include all the private contractors it's ungovernable. If they want you they have you, if you did anything illegal or not is irrelevant.
try to imagine the most evil thing the cia and fbi could do and then just realize they probably thought of and did it a decade or more ago and to a degree much worse than you realize. they no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt and there is no downside to this approach. they are agency traitors to the American citizen, Nature and humanity and deserve to be destroyed.
watching the old movie Dr. Strangelove and How I Learned to love the bomb, feels more fact than fiction when you read of the factual CIA plan of Northwoods, where the deaths of 10 million Americans was a sacrifice they were prepared to make, in the 60's ie. a Russian nuclear attack on Florida during the Kruschev v Kennedy years...
We have got to see perp walks. Trials, convictions, jail time. Justice. If the intel community gets away with this, I dread to think where we are as a country.
What has become disturbingly clear to me through the release of the files, people don’t care. They cannot see the danger and think that the role of government is to police thought, content, and speech. Good students of history and those that have escaped authoritarian systems seem to be the only ones who can intelligently interact with the files. It appears those people are the minority now. It keeps me awake at night. Thanks Matt for your courage.
Caitlin Johnstone has written several excellent articles on her website about the massive amount of propaganda with which the American people are bombarded. The poor education doesn't help, but the extremely sophisticated propaganda is hard to combat. Yes, people are brainwashed, but it's happening every day, not just in schools.
Yeah, Caitlin’s ok, I recently had to unsubscribe (free subscriber so she’s not missing much). I appreciate her staunch anti-war stance and calling out the propaganda, but she would benefit from reading some Mises to have a better understanding of capitalism. It’s hard for me to spend time reading someone who obviously doesn’t comprehend so much of what she’s railing against.
Ludwig Von "Moses" was an ardent champion and practitioner of Praxeology, a pseudoscientific theory that holds that people are always rational (HA!) when making decisions in the market place. Compiler of volumes of Apologetics for the worst excesses off Capital.
Essentially a paid shill for Capital, an Ayn Rand with a PhD. Hero to those on the right who live in houses haunted by spectres, most of them imaginary Marxists grasping for the levers of THE STATE. Wrote millions of words about "money" without having the foggiest notion of what the hell money was. As an economist, much like any other economist: a birdwatcher.
It’s easier and more accurate to think of Mises and the Austrians as what, historically, they were, which were the most widely-circulated proselytizers of the ideology of the leaders of the Habsburg empire. The twin enemies in the system are empowered labor and democracy, both being the agents Habsburg fascism believed would usher in ‘socialism’. (By which they meant social democracy, where the average person could vote against the decisions of the rentier class and demand, through unionization, higher wages than the rentiers believed they deserved)
I too enjoy Caitlin Johnstone, but it is more opinion than reporting. And she at times goes too far into the "burn it all down" angle for my liking. But she gets it and has many other talents including music and poetry and art.
Who brainwashed the teachers, Frank? Nixon people? And when did the cycle of American educational brainwashing commence? During the Coolidge administration? What, exactly, is your definition of brainwashing, Frank?
The shit here being discussed on these threads doesn't even register for the vast majority of people on Earth. Why? It's not that they "don't care"---they simply don't have the luxury, or need, to care about such things. They are busy trying to stay alive, keeping their families alive, and scratching out a living---or figuring out HOW to scratch out a living.
Concern for the security state and its machinations are the exclusive providence of the privileged few and a few busybodies who have decided to make a career or hobby out of harassing or offending the security state on behalf of others or themselves. For now, anyway.
It’s a solid point but it doesn’t make the discussion any less relevant and I’m grateful there are people who do care and have the intelligence and time to Interact with the material. The mainstream is untrustworthy and it’s feeding the masses garbage. I appreciate those who aren’t aligned with that dumpster fire. The masses benefit on the long run to the people seeking truth.
The discussion now taking place is seemingly relevant to a small group of people, relatively speaking. Whether what's being discussed is important or a wraith of balderdash is another subject.
What's being discussed may or may not in the future have implications for: those currently not discussing it, those who are unlikely to discuss it ever, those who are ignoring it because they sense they have better ways to spend their time, those who have briefly discussed it and dismissed it as so many "nothingcheeseburgers" without even a smattering of relish or mustard, or those who are merely killing time by doing very little other than discussing it.
You must be quite young---the "mainstream" for more than 10,000 years has never not been anything but "untrustworthy." In fact, it's how the mainstream has always defined itself, both publicly and privately. Untrustworthiness is their calling card. You wouldn't be able to recognize the mainstream if they weren't untrustworthy.
And, finally, more often than not, historically, the people seeking truth have been big, big pains in the asses for the masses. Mazel tov.
I’m fail to see what you’re railing against here. You seem both critical of the mainstream and alternatives. So why are you here? To tell people they are dumb for being here? That seems fairly self-sabotaging frankly. Either add to the points of the discussion or don’t but to suggest the engagement here is worthless make it highly ironic that you are even on this Substack.
"...You seem both critical of the mainstream and alternatives." Something of that nature, yes. And right again---my presence here is more ironic than you could possibly fathom.
So what you're saying, and said in the comment that showed up on my email, is that you're engaging with the discussion on this topic as a critique of the discussion itself, and the various positions of the group members, rather than with the topic itself, which is whether we agree with Caitlin's premise or not and why. In other words, you're sorting through the comments like a deck of cards and pulling out the ones you don't like. I think that's kind of intellectually dishonest, and it sets you up as a self-appointed judge of the people who are engaged with the topic.
I see a perfect totalitarian state enabled, inter alia, by all seeing AI's as completely inevitable. That largely because most people don't have the wherewithal to make it an issue.
‘Smith!’ yelled a voice from the telescreen. ‘6079 Smith W.! Hands out of pockets in the cells!’
Not everyone is on Twitter, no msm is reporting on this, many do not read this substack.
We live in an era of nothing but noise and legacy media is part of that.
The sheep who just put up flags on social media profile en masse overnight will never listen unless they are told it is important…but that is up to us on the left and right who actually care about truth. We need to bring this up, gently or strongly depending upon what is necessary, with the people we encounter.
I love how Ted Lieu is posting “silly you Matt, don’t you know we’ve been doing this all along, since 2017 (ahem, when Trump was President)”. As though Twitter readers will just say, “Oh, well, OK then”.
What they did to Trump opened my eyes to the corruption. It is so scary, but I do wish Trump would "step back". I think his constant involvement won't help. I wish someone could shake him and tell him we know he was sabotaged, but it's time to try to be a statesman. (Fat chance, I'm afraid). He's too divisive and it will be harder to hold people accountable if he's involved.
I agree 💯... but Trump does deserve some sort of acknowledgment that he was indeed sabotaged in many many ways. Between Hillary, the DNC, most of his cabinet, Pelosi and almost all of msm , their goal was to disqualify him. The two year old brats won.
True. They turned me into a trump fan. I actually just watched his speech to the WEF. It was brilliant. I couldn't have heard it pre-lockdown/mask/mandates etc. He was spot on and not the fool msm would have me believe.
3 days before the hearing Clinton blew up the al Shifa Pharma plant in Sudan. Since Sudan was under sanctions at the time, and could not get enough medicines, an estimated 50,000 extra deaths occurred.
I think you have overstayed your two week self imposed banishment. It's been almost a month. Or, are you like your heroes that say shit you have no intention of following through on.
I didn't say anything about Republicans or Democrats. I asked about your self imposed deadline for leaving this site. Your non answer answered my question.
I think Trump is part of it. He has voluntarily agreed to serve as the foil, to distract liberals into supporting the most illiberal policies.
The Democrats could never move their totalitarian agenda if they didn’t have Trump to beat up on/trigger their base.
Note, Trump defends himself very poorly. If Trump were an honest broker, he would point out that his warp speed program put vaccines into arms faster than any human endeavor on the planet to date. Instead he lets the Democrats claim he bungled that. Trump was pro VAX, and let himself be portrayed as anti-VAX.
Trump said bad things about NATO and then went on to increase military spending by NATO countries. He pretended to be anti-NATO, but was pro-NATO.
Trump pretended to be anti-NAFTA and then negotiated elimination of the five year sunset provision.
He is like Biden, who continues Trump’s wall. Both of them support exactly the same policies, and claim different ones. They are on the same team.
i've re-visited trump and some of his speeches lately. he really did stick it to the wef and that was when he stopped being allowed to pose as our prez, i'm convinced lol. he called out hillary for the haiti fuckery and what they've been doing to children to her face...
i just don't know. he seemed to be tight with epstein, or was he? idk...
It’s been my experience that Trump is an unprincipled liar. He lied continuously, from small issues like his inauguration crowd being one of the largest ever to issues critical to his oath to uphold the constitution, he repeatedly ignored his legal council and wrongly claimed that constitution allowed Mike Pence to give the election to him. No, he didn’t bend or fold to anyone under pressure, because he is a text box narcissist. The truth does not matter to him unless it serves him. He could not fathom accepting defeat.
It’s too bad so many Substack authors critical of the left, and their readers, ignored the Jan. 6 committee hearings. I know the arguments that it was one sided, but I watched anyway and saw one after another right wing, Republican and conservative witnesses working in the Trump administration, many his close advisors and counsel (his lawyers, Ivanka, Hope Hicks etc) many there only because of legal subpoenas and all under oath, give damning testimony related to Trumps involvement in the Jan. 6 debacle. Many closest to him, Meadows, Flynn, Bannon etc refused to testify or pleaded the fifth, none came forward to offer defense of their or Trumps actions. Those that testified were given time to say want they would, none were cut short, all had ample time to defend Trump if they could, or would. Hardly onesided.
I’m not going to go into detail, it’s all there for anyone to read. As someone on the left I am appalled at the actions of the FBI in many cases including the Twitter files. But I try hard to find time to listen to or read prominent journalists and comment on both sides, from Steve Bannon to Matt, Greenwald, to NYT op-eds (note this is not a complete list). I don’t want to fall prey to echo chamber syndrome.
I went on and on here, my apologies, but again Trump is neither a statesman or a leader. I tire of those apologizing for his bad and even illegal behavior and many serious character flaws when it suits their preferred agenda.
They've been doing it longer than that. It started with the unconstitutional Patriot Act, and all the unconstitutional agencies that came afterwards. Secret courts, no fly lists, National Security letters, ect.
RB is one of the shining lights, like JDore. as far as pop media goes, they are different but important. the corporate "press" has been insane. but i bet it works on a lot of people, at first. gr8 interview. _JC
What to think of Elon Musk? I don't know. He's too rich and powerful for the rest of us to know his motivations. However, the guy he put in charge of deciphering and reporting the Twitter Files is the ONLY guy in the whole wide fucking world that I trust to do the job!
I think I speak for many in here when I say I'm proud of you, Matt Taibbi! You're standing strong against a hurricane. You are the old man in Poe's 'A Descent into the Maelstrom'. Just keep swimming, Matt. Thanks.
No, it's not. He's been in ICU since the summer. He has a tracheotomy, and by now has lost all of his muscle. I am no expert, but yeah. I feel sorry for Glenn, he really depends on David.
So, if Musk is too rich and powerful for us to understand his motivations, then it stands to reason that, as with most rich pricks, he might just be motivated by sinister self-interest, and if Taibbi is the "only guy in the whole wide fucking world" to be trusted for the "job," the question then surfaces: What exactly is the job?
Although it a great word and cudgel, "psychopath" is not an actual thing, it is not in the DSM.
Some of my psychologist friends think it should be.
I don't think that Musk rises to that level. It's just rhetoric.
It is true, I think, that being "rich" diminishes empathy. Arguably empathy is what makes us human.
I am not a fan of Lord Musk. Right now it looks like he got the call and will wash his hands of Twitter and it will then quickly go back to what it was, a branch of the Ministry of Truth.
"Same language like they got a memo or something."
Slow on the uptake again. This was the standard all throughout the Russia! hysteria and Trump's entire presidency. References to 4 a.m. talking points, complete with roles and responsibilities by media organization.
It's all corrupt. You're just now seeing it b/c you are the current target.
He's not slow on the uptake. Matt has spoken and written about how newsrooms shape reporting via editors decisions about what to publish and when. There literally is no memo, just a ton of mimicry and groupthink. Have you read Hate Inc.?
"...I don't know how they think this isn't a story, to see screenshots...where the FBI has asked you to look at this and this and this. That's not a story?"
Actually, it's very much a story to journalists like yourself but not to mass media which isn't populated with journalists any longer...but, you already knew that and have been writing about it for years. March on MT, the world needs journalists now more than ever...
The pen is mightier. They’re legitimate heroes. Gonna dbl my membership fee for Mr. Taibbi. Also, feel vindicated in bashing B. Weiss couple weeks ago after seeing her BS inability to distinguish between expression and harassment/potential assassination attempts.
I would legit make these people disappear if I was the richest man in the world. Don’t fuck with my family.
"In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king."
What a load of dung that little saying turned out to be.
It's more like "In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man will be socially ostracized by the blind because the blind no longer believe that something called "sight" actually exists."
Meanwhile Musk is losing in his poll asking if he should step down as CEO. Either he did it to flush out the bots, of it is proof that the numbers of free-speech-hating people is bigger than we know.
How does Musk leaving as CEO affect free speech on Twitter? He owns Twitter. Even if he isn’t “CEO”, he can do whatever he wants with that cesspool, and what he wants to do with it has nothing to do with free speech. This is all just a dumb publicity stunt.
You could argue that somehow the people voting for Elon to step down are hoping Twitter would go back to its previous management, but that isn’t happening. The best you could hope for is that Elon just pulls the plug on Twitter when he steps down.
It appears that you don't understand corporate governance. For Musk to hand over CEO reigns to someone else, that person would be responsible for the strategy, planning and overall direction of Twitter. Sure he could try to find and hire a puppet CEO like Joe Biden is POTUS, but good luck finding anyone qualified that would take that job.
Musk has opened up Twitter to be more free. The latest banning of accounts were based on the doxing rules, and it was 100% transparent and temporary and non-partisan (the left media is not reporting that non-liberal accounts were also banned in the sweep). Those accounts are back now. Message received I would hope.
The best we can hope is that Elon continues to grow Twitter into the free and open town square and prevents the illegal collusion between radical leftists employed by Twitter and the Democrat government.
When did liberals shift from being the primary to demand free speech to opposing free speech? I have the answer, but interested in yours.
Beware of the “Military Industiral Complex”. Eisenhower warned us. Second, remember Chuck Schumer’s words about Trump: “If you cross the Intel community they have 6 ways to Sunday to get back at you”. How those words are reigning truth…keep revealing this evil.
And please, Matt, keep yourself safe. I can’t fathom the amount of danger you’re in right now. You’re at the top of mine and of many peoples prayers.
"Danger" from what or who? Sounds dramatic and interesting. Please share.
I’ve often thought that I hope an occasion arises where Schumer should specifically have to explain that comment... it’s quite loaded.
What part of "get back at you" did you miss? I understand it's hard for those reared in the Comfortable Class to come to grips with the idea an government agency has gone so badly rogue it can threaten members of Congress with impunity, but those of us who lived through three assassinations of political figures who threatened the desired program in the space of 5 years know better.
I think MarthaAW's point is that NO ONE in the media has ever asked Schumer about it. Not once. Likely because they knew exactly what he meant and also knew that the same would happen to them if they even asked the question. I have to say that Schumer's comment was perhaps the most chilling thing I have ever heard an American politician utter in public, and was utterly prescient about the ensuing several years.
Thank you, that is exactly what I meant. I heard him say that in real time and remembering spinning my head with “ what did he just say??” I also was taken aback when Schumer yelled “ were coming for you Gorsuch, we’re coming for you Kavanaugh!”... I just expect more civility from members of Congress....but hey, politeness and manners have gone the way of common sense.
Yes, but where is the press to follow up on these statements?! Matt Taibbi can't be everywhere at once! Cheers to you for your original point. Very few people remember that chilling quote from Schumer...
You should read some of history of Congress if you're expecting civility. LOL In fact, Schumer would have been laughed at for a pantywaist with that "threat". For starters, look up "Charles Sumner". :-)
Ugh, it’s so depressing. It’s like when Biden calls a Republican “ my good friend” and then trashes them .. Shut up. It’s a game to far too many of these yahoos.
IKR? They used to have duels in the chambers!
An extremely funny BACK TO THE FUTURE IV would involve Charles Schumer falling asleep in 2022 and awakening in the body of Charles Sumner in 1856. HELLO HOLLYWOOD
Easily chilled, evidently.
You’re misreading the tone of my post. I’m right there with you...just frightening to have a U.S. Senator acknowledge their out of control abuse of power.. in a comment sounding like we should all just bend over and accept it.
Well, I mean, he *is* a senator from New York State who is avid about demolishing the Second Amendment.
Upstaters: Every time I talk shit about "New York," I don't mean youse guys. Is "youse" a PA thing?
"Is "youse" a PA thing?"
Why yes it is.
Philly
What's to explain?
It's a very powerful set of agencies, if you include all the private contractors it's ungovernable. If they want you they have you, if you did anything illegal or not is irrelevant.
All adults know this.
Remember that 2 of Schumer's daughters work at tech. One is a lobbyist for Amazon, and one is a marketing manager at FB.
Oh FFS, where do I throw up?? I sure they were both the most qualified by far....
I fully expect the Schumer Family to achieve world domination by the end of the year. Or Valentine's Day at the latest.
try to imagine the most evil thing the cia and fbi could do and then just realize they probably thought of and did it a decade or more ago and to a degree much worse than you realize. they no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt and there is no downside to this approach. they are agency traitors to the American citizen, Nature and humanity and deserve to be destroyed.
watching the old movie Dr. Strangelove and How I Learned to love the bomb, feels more fact than fiction when you read of the factual CIA plan of Northwoods, where the deaths of 10 million Americans was a sacrifice they were prepared to make, in the 60's ie. a Russian nuclear attack on Florida during the Kruschev v Kennedy years...
Pls keep the focus on govt involvement, especially the IC that have charters against domestic surveillance.
We have got to see perp walks. Trials, convictions, jail time. Justice. If the intel community gets away with this, I dread to think where we are as a country.
They've gotten away with it. Grow up and make a new plan.
troll much?
Not recently, no.
What has become disturbingly clear to me through the release of the files, people don’t care. They cannot see the danger and think that the role of government is to police thought, content, and speech. Good students of history and those that have escaped authoritarian systems seem to be the only ones who can intelligently interact with the files. It appears those people are the minority now. It keeps me awake at night. Thanks Matt for your courage.
Thank the education system. Masses of people brainwashed.
Caitlin Johnstone has written several excellent articles on her website about the massive amount of propaganda with which the American people are bombarded. The poor education doesn't help, but the extremely sophisticated propaganda is hard to combat. Yes, people are brainwashed, but it's happening every day, not just in schools.
Yeah, Caitlin’s ok, I recently had to unsubscribe (free subscriber so she’s not missing much). I appreciate her staunch anti-war stance and calling out the propaganda, but she would benefit from reading some Mises to have a better understanding of capitalism. It’s hard for me to spend time reading someone who obviously doesn’t comprehend so much of what she’s railing against.
Mises?
Ludwig Von Mises, an Austrian Economist that had to flee Europe as the Nazi’s rose to power.
Ludwig Von "Moses" was an ardent champion and practitioner of Praxeology, a pseudoscientific theory that holds that people are always rational (HA!) when making decisions in the market place. Compiler of volumes of Apologetics for the worst excesses off Capital.
Essentially a paid shill for Capital, an Ayn Rand with a PhD. Hero to those on the right who live in houses haunted by spectres, most of them imaginary Marxists grasping for the levers of THE STATE. Wrote millions of words about "money" without having the foggiest notion of what the hell money was. As an economist, much like any other economist: a birdwatcher.
It’s easier and more accurate to think of Mises and the Austrians as what, historically, they were, which were the most widely-circulated proselytizers of the ideology of the leaders of the Habsburg empire. The twin enemies in the system are empowered labor and democracy, both being the agents Habsburg fascism believed would usher in ‘socialism’. (By which they meant social democracy, where the average person could vote against the decisions of the rentier class and demand, through unionization, higher wages than the rentiers believed they deserved)
Basically, any economist of the Austrian school is a shill for capitalism.
I too enjoy Caitlin Johnstone, but it is more opinion than reporting. And she at times goes too far into the "burn it all down" angle for my liking. But she gets it and has many other talents including music and poetry and art.
Learned helplessness is a thing.
That and no state will ever teach their citizens enough to actually be aware.
There is a reason that logic is not taught in grade school.
Who brainwashed the teachers, Frank? Nixon people? And when did the cycle of American educational brainwashing commence? During the Coolidge administration? What, exactly, is your definition of brainwashing, Frank?
The shit here being discussed on these threads doesn't even register for the vast majority of people on Earth. Why? It's not that they "don't care"---they simply don't have the luxury, or need, to care about such things. They are busy trying to stay alive, keeping their families alive, and scratching out a living---or figuring out HOW to scratch out a living.
Concern for the security state and its machinations are the exclusive providence of the privileged few and a few busybodies who have decided to make a career or hobby out of harassing or offending the security state on behalf of others or themselves. For now, anyway.
It’s a solid point but it doesn’t make the discussion any less relevant and I’m grateful there are people who do care and have the intelligence and time to Interact with the material. The mainstream is untrustworthy and it’s feeding the masses garbage. I appreciate those who aren’t aligned with that dumpster fire. The masses benefit on the long run to the people seeking truth.
The discussion now taking place is seemingly relevant to a small group of people, relatively speaking. Whether what's being discussed is important or a wraith of balderdash is another subject.
What's being discussed may or may not in the future have implications for: those currently not discussing it, those who are unlikely to discuss it ever, those who are ignoring it because they sense they have better ways to spend their time, those who have briefly discussed it and dismissed it as so many "nothingcheeseburgers" without even a smattering of relish or mustard, or those who are merely killing time by doing very little other than discussing it.
You must be quite young---the "mainstream" for more than 10,000 years has never not been anything but "untrustworthy." In fact, it's how the mainstream has always defined itself, both publicly and privately. Untrustworthiness is their calling card. You wouldn't be able to recognize the mainstream if they weren't untrustworthy.
And, finally, more often than not, historically, the people seeking truth have been big, big pains in the asses for the masses. Mazel tov.
I’m fail to see what you’re railing against here. You seem both critical of the mainstream and alternatives. So why are you here? To tell people they are dumb for being here? That seems fairly self-sabotaging frankly. Either add to the points of the discussion or don’t but to suggest the engagement here is worthless make it highly ironic that you are even on this Substack.
"...You seem both critical of the mainstream and alternatives." Something of that nature, yes. And right again---my presence here is more ironic than you could possibly fathom.
Starting to catch on, I fear.
So what you're saying, and said in the comment that showed up on my email, is that you're engaging with the discussion on this topic as a critique of the discussion itself, and the various positions of the group members, rather than with the topic itself, which is whether we agree with Caitlin's premise or not and why. In other words, you're sorting through the comments like a deck of cards and pulling out the ones you don't like. I think that's kind of intellectually dishonest, and it sets you up as a self-appointed judge of the people who are engaged with the topic.
This is completely true.
It's also an important issue.
Power trades on the facts that you presented.
I see a perfect totalitarian state enabled, inter alia, by all seeing AI's as completely inevitable. That largely because most people don't have the wherewithal to make it an issue.
‘Smith!’ yelled a voice from the telescreen. ‘6079 Smith W.! Hands out of pockets in the cells!’
Snowden came and went with hardly a sound.
Assange is being tortured and killed for his truth telling. "Yawn"
Mostly people deserve what they get.
True
Not everyone is on Twitter, no msm is reporting on this, many do not read this substack.
We live in an era of nothing but noise and legacy media is part of that.
The sheep who just put up flags on social media profile en masse overnight will never listen unless they are told it is important…but that is up to us on the left and right who actually care about truth. We need to bring this up, gently or strongly depending upon what is necessary, with the people we encounter.
I am not sure how to do this, yet.
We need to bring this up, gently or strongly depending upon what is necessary, with the people we encounter.
Good advice. I do this wherever and whenever I can.
I'd recommend sandwich boards and bullhorns.
Also chalking slogans on sidewalks. If rain is not in the forecast of course!
Ah yes, just like the Declaration of Independence shaped this country
‘The End is Near’ sandwich boards are always very stylish.
I love how Ted Lieu is posting “silly you Matt, don’t you know we’ve been doing this all along, since 2017 (ahem, when Trump was President)”. As though Twitter readers will just say, “Oh, well, OK then”.
What they did to Trump opened my eyes to the corruption. It is so scary, but I do wish Trump would "step back". I think his constant involvement won't help. I wish someone could shake him and tell him we know he was sabotaged, but it's time to try to be a statesman. (Fat chance, I'm afraid). He's too divisive and it will be harder to hold people accountable if he's involved.
I agree 💯... but Trump does deserve some sort of acknowledgment that he was indeed sabotaged in many many ways. Between Hillary, the DNC, most of his cabinet, Pelosi and almost all of msm , their goal was to disqualify him. The two year old brats won.
True. They turned me into a trump fan. I actually just watched his speech to the WEF. It was brilliant. I couldn't have heard it pre-lockdown/mask/mandates etc. He was spot on and not the fool msm would have me believe.
If I were elected president, I would. Oh, but that's right, we don't elect anyone anymore, that's the WEF's job.
But thanks for the tip, those are all better investments than giving $$$ to zelensky.
3 days before the hearing Clinton blew up the al Shifa Pharma plant in Sudan. Since Sudan was under sanctions at the time, and could not get enough medicines, an estimated 50,000 extra deaths occurred.
I guess that the Congress missed that.
And the sun rises in the East.
Like most people, you never heard of al Shifa.
Buhs's crimes are well known.
America has killed four million Muslims since 1992. Killing Muslims is a bipartisan project.
No, lying to Congress. But yes, it was stupid. I would prefer you not use crude juvenile language..but hey, that’s free speech!
"Blowjob" is an adult word, not juvenile language. Anyway what, then, would you call a blowjob if not "blowjob?"
She was referring to the "RepooplicKKKunts."
That's crude juvenile language. (Somebody has to tell you.)
"Fellatio?"
I think you have overstayed your two week self imposed banishment. It's been almost a month. Or, are you like your heroes that say shit you have no intention of following through on.
I didn't say anything about Republicans or Democrats. I asked about your self imposed deadline for leaving this site. Your non answer answered my question.
I think Trump is part of it. He has voluntarily agreed to serve as the foil, to distract liberals into supporting the most illiberal policies.
The Democrats could never move their totalitarian agenda if they didn’t have Trump to beat up on/trigger their base.
Note, Trump defends himself very poorly. If Trump were an honest broker, he would point out that his warp speed program put vaccines into arms faster than any human endeavor on the planet to date. Instead he lets the Democrats claim he bungled that. Trump was pro VAX, and let himself be portrayed as anti-VAX.
Trump said bad things about NATO and then went on to increase military spending by NATO countries. He pretended to be anti-NATO, but was pro-NATO.
Trump pretended to be anti-NAFTA and then negotiated elimination of the five year sunset provision.
He is like Biden, who continues Trump’s wall. Both of them support exactly the same policies, and claim different ones. They are on the same team.
And why I need to stop caring. Stop spending hours reading about it all. So depressing.
great points...
i've re-visited trump and some of his speeches lately. he really did stick it to the wef and that was when he stopped being allowed to pose as our prez, i'm convinced lol. he called out hillary for the haiti fuckery and what they've been doing to children to her face...
i just don't know. he seemed to be tight with epstein, or was he? idk...
He is not capable of statesmanship, or the leadership needed to hold this country together.
Boy that’s a leap. Don’t see how my comment on a narcissistic autocrat could lead you to your conclusion.
It’s been my experience that Trump is an unprincipled liar. He lied continuously, from small issues like his inauguration crowd being one of the largest ever to issues critical to his oath to uphold the constitution, he repeatedly ignored his legal council and wrongly claimed that constitution allowed Mike Pence to give the election to him. No, he didn’t bend or fold to anyone under pressure, because he is a text box narcissist. The truth does not matter to him unless it serves him. He could not fathom accepting defeat.
It’s too bad so many Substack authors critical of the left, and their readers, ignored the Jan. 6 committee hearings. I know the arguments that it was one sided, but I watched anyway and saw one after another right wing, Republican and conservative witnesses working in the Trump administration, many his close advisors and counsel (his lawyers, Ivanka, Hope Hicks etc) many there only because of legal subpoenas and all under oath, give damning testimony related to Trumps involvement in the Jan. 6 debacle. Many closest to him, Meadows, Flynn, Bannon etc refused to testify or pleaded the fifth, none came forward to offer defense of their or Trumps actions. Those that testified were given time to say want they would, none were cut short, all had ample time to defend Trump if they could, or would. Hardly onesided.
I’m not going to go into detail, it’s all there for anyone to read. As someone on the left I am appalled at the actions of the FBI in many cases including the Twitter files. But I try hard to find time to listen to or read prominent journalists and comment on both sides, from Steve Bannon to Matt, Greenwald, to NYT op-eds (note this is not a complete list). I don’t want to fall prey to echo chamber syndrome.
I went on and on here, my apologies, but again Trump is neither a statesman or a leader. I tire of those apologizing for his bad and even illegal behavior and many serious character flaws when it suits their preferred agenda.
That's a creative Trump apology.
They've been doing it longer than that. It started with the unconstitutional Patriot Act, and all the unconstitutional agencies that came afterwards. Secret courts, no fly lists, National Security letters, ect.
RB is one of the shining lights, like JDore. as far as pop media goes, they are different but important. the corporate "press" has been insane. but i bet it works on a lot of people, at first. gr8 interview. _JC
What to think of Elon Musk? I don't know. He's too rich and powerful for the rest of us to know his motivations. However, the guy he put in charge of deciphering and reporting the Twitter Files is the ONLY guy in the whole wide fucking world that I trust to do the job!
I think I speak for many in here when I say I'm proud of you, Matt Taibbi! You're standing strong against a hurricane. You are the old man in Poe's 'A Descent into the Maelstrom'. Just keep swimming, Matt. Thanks.
Matt or Glenn are the only two I would trust to do the job, but Glenn is in Brazil...
In Brazil and almost totally preoccupied with the plight of his husband David.
Not a word on his condition in weeks. It's looking bad for them right now.
It’s sepsis. Not promising.
No, it's not. He's been in ICU since the summer. He has a tracheotomy, and by now has lost all of his muscle. I am no expert, but yeah. I feel sorry for Glenn, he really depends on David.
Glenn and David have been in my prayers. Such good people.
They are. Glenn is who he appears to be, there is no lie, no artifice. I don't know David as well, but trust Glenn's judgement.
So, if Musk is too rich and powerful for us to understand his motivations, then it stands to reason that, as with most rich pricks, he might just be motivated by sinister self-interest, and if Taibbi is the "only guy in the whole wide fucking world" to be trusted for the "job," the question then surfaces: What exactly is the job?
To carry water for a rich, sinister prick?
I give you credit for formulating the issued talking point in such a fashion that it doesn't appear to be read off of a computer punch card.
It's called "thinking." Pass the word on down the line...
I hate musk and always have.
He's a grifter and liar, and psychopath who never invented one single thing.
I said this on CBC comments one day and for my trouble they "deactivated" my "content".
Psychopath? So he's been upgraded from sociopath? How did I miss this? When did this happen?
Do the shrinks and physicians charged with updating the DSM-5 (DSM-6) spend a lot of time on Twitter? Curious.
Although it a great word and cudgel, "psychopath" is not an actual thing, it is not in the DSM.
Some of my psychologist friends think it should be.
I don't think that Musk rises to that level. It's just rhetoric.
It is true, I think, that being "rich" diminishes empathy. Arguably empathy is what makes us human.
I am not a fan of Lord Musk. Right now it looks like he got the call and will wash his hands of Twitter and it will then quickly go back to what it was, a branch of the Ministry of Truth.
Big ups for deep-cut Poe.
Signed, Brevet Brig. Gen. John A.B.C. Smith, of the late Bugaboo and Kickapoo Unpleasantness
"He's too rich and powerful for the rest of us to know his motivations"
Musko is a hairless killer ape just like all of us. I know what he wants.
And he knows you know what he wants. Tread lightly.
heh!
"Same language like they got a memo or something."
Slow on the uptake again. This was the standard all throughout the Russia! hysteria and Trump's entire presidency. References to 4 a.m. talking points, complete with roles and responsibilities by media organization.
It's all corrupt. You're just now seeing it b/c you are the current target.
He's not slow on the uptake. Matt has spoken and written about how newsrooms shape reporting via editors decisions about what to publish and when. There literally is no memo, just a ton of mimicry and groupthink. Have you read Hate Inc.?
As Chomsky said about that, "it's structural". No kommissar's required.
As if this comment section isn't a case study in "group think" day after day after day...
I can’t wait for the twitter files on covid.
Get a head start on them here: (35 pages worth of emails)
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/the-cdc-falls-to-new-lows
I assume that’s what Musk was referencing when he mentioned the coupe de grace?
"...I don't know how they think this isn't a story, to see screenshots...where the FBI has asked you to look at this and this and this. That's not a story?"
Actually, it's very much a story to journalists like yourself but not to mass media which isn't populated with journalists any longer...but, you already knew that and have been writing about it for years. March on MT, the world needs journalists now more than ever...
The pen is mightier. They’re legitimate heroes. Gonna dbl my membership fee for Mr. Taibbi. Also, feel vindicated in bashing B. Weiss couple weeks ago after seeing her BS inability to distinguish between expression and harassment/potential assassination attempts.
I would legit make these people disappear if I was the richest man in the world. Don’t fuck with my family.
"In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king."
What a load of dung that little saying turned out to be.
It's more like "In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man will be socially ostracized by the blind because the blind no longer believe that something called "sight" actually exists."
Meanwhile Musk is losing in his poll asking if he should step down as CEO. Either he did it to flush out the bots, of it is proof that the numbers of free-speech-hating people is bigger than we know.
How does Musk leaving as CEO affect free speech on Twitter? He owns Twitter. Even if he isn’t “CEO”, he can do whatever he wants with that cesspool, and what he wants to do with it has nothing to do with free speech. This is all just a dumb publicity stunt.
You could argue that somehow the people voting for Elon to step down are hoping Twitter would go back to its previous management, but that isn’t happening. The best you could hope for is that Elon just pulls the plug on Twitter when he steps down.
It appears that you don't understand corporate governance. For Musk to hand over CEO reigns to someone else, that person would be responsible for the strategy, planning and overall direction of Twitter. Sure he could try to find and hire a puppet CEO like Joe Biden is POTUS, but good luck finding anyone qualified that would take that job.
Musk has opened up Twitter to be more free. The latest banning of accounts were based on the doxing rules, and it was 100% transparent and temporary and non-partisan (the left media is not reporting that non-liberal accounts were also banned in the sweep). Those accounts are back now. Message received I would hope.
The best we can hope is that Elon continues to grow Twitter into the free and open town square and prevents the illegal collusion between radical leftists employed by Twitter and the Democrat government.
When did liberals shift from being the primary to demand free speech to opposing free speech? I have the answer, but interested in yours.