This is a great addition to the already superb content you’ve been churning out. I’ve switched all my MSM spend dollars to supporting a diverse, thought provoking stable of “alternative” sources and proud to support this growing movement. It gives me hope that the search for truth and greater understanding of issues is still alive in the hearts of many. Hoping for critical mass once the rest of the public wakes up to the shenanigans being played by corporate media.
Me too. I was spending about $300 a year on NYT, WaPo, Atlantic, AJC, Boston Globe, Nation and more. Still spending for journalism but on alternative sources like TK and GG.
Kathleen, you are yourself an alternative conduit of information. I'd have said "source," but that has a specific meaning in your profession. I find that by reading your substack, I expose myself to more information and points of view. That's the essence of intellectual curiosity, and you feed so many of us who are starving.
Yes, Some of the articles have been great but it is the rotating masthead,roster of writers that made me realize it's the same people. So you only need to read one the sources to get the same pov. The repackaging is why I didn't need to sub anymore.
TK, yeah. I had to drop GG. He's gotten too wrapped up in the DNC/media dynamic (which is obvious to anyone watching or reading) and the "culture wars" - Plus he's a multi-millionaire and doesn't need the money. He did great work at UT, Salon, The Gruaniad and The Intercept, but the way he privatized and monetized - then locked away - the Snowden leaks has still not been adequately explained and he'll block anyone on Twitter with a serious following who asks him about it.
It's only obvious if you are tuned in. I believe he's trying to impact those who are not. It's probably futile, but you can't blame the guy for trying.
Mark Ames and Sasha Levine aren't to be fucked with. Ken Silverstein, whatever. But Ames and Levine do not leave any stones unturned and they'll debate anyone anytime.
He had already written pretty much all there was to say on the Bruce Ivins story back in the day. If I had to guess, he's comparing the anthrax thing to the possibility of a lab leak for COVID (hopefully an AMERICAN lab)??
As for this video, it really pissed me off that mainstream outlets are only interested in showing racial strife even when the opposite is the truth. Also that they simply refuse to cover people coming together when so much in the news is about conflict. I know that bad news sells, but the media has a moral responsibility to not intentionally exacerbate civil unrest by falsely over stating it. All this does is drive people apart.
Jeff, please pardon my cynicism. I've been looking at the outline of the American journey for the past five years. This isn't "If it bleeds, it leads." Rather, it is a long-term effort by the Democrat party to delegitimize Trump and, prevent the people of America from coming together. Whether or not that works, to make things as unpleasant as possible for Americans while Trump was still in office. With proposed changes in laws concerning elections, this will ensure at least a 100-year single-party state.
Trump didn't help himself with his blustering and buffoonery. He walked straight into a trap, and tried to satisfy his critics rather than ignoring them. Matt's story is reality.
TDS was certainly a factor, but corporate media has moved on to simply serve as the Democrat party's Pravda. It's much broader than Trump. I'm most disappointed in local media as featured in the video. Local media used to be much less partisan and ideological.
Most of the local media ownership has a strong right/conservative bias. On the national level it varies, but generally skews center-right to center-left, which is exactly how I'd describe the DNC.
Trump did a pretty good delegitimizing himself years ago, and continued to do so once elected by a minority. Trump himself had no desire to unite anyone, let alone people who voted against him. Also, given his consistent ass clown behavior and incompetence its a bit rich (to put it kindly) to blame Democrats for what happened to him. And let's not discuss the grifting eh?
If you want to blame someone for "America not coming together" , blame Newt Gingrich.
Trump was temperamentally unfit to be President, as was his predecessor and is his successor. You're listening to what he says and objecting to the tone. Me, too. I never voted for him. I've looked behind the off-putting tone and don't see what the press, Big Tech and the Democrats see, because they're hung up on tone over substance.
Trump was not significantly different from most of his predecessors. He had successes and failures. TDS was prompted by his most significant difference from all other Republican presidents. He fought back. His assigned role was to accept whatever insults and provocations were thrown at him, try to explain or apologize. Instead, he punched back. TDS is a form of rage in which one cannot think clearly.
It led to #THERESISTANCE in which entrenched bureaucrats and intelligence agencies combined with Big Tech and the mainstream press to form an alliance with Democrats to rid the country of the man who didn't know his proper place. Trump was rude and crude, making it easy to do. The Russia collaboration hoax played out long enough for Democrats to re-take the House of Representatives. Then came an impeachment handled in secret, that required changing many rules to bring to pass. The trial failed to remove him, so when a pandemic hit the Democrats and their allied forces were left to making sure everything was blamed on Trump, and refusing to cooperate in preventing catastrophe. After all, the worse things were for America, the better chance Naptime Joe had to become President.
His ego got in the way of dealing competently with the pandemic, and Democrats were happy to complicate things. As for grifting, he lost approximately half his fortune while in office, unlike his two Democrat predecessors who entered office as men of modest means and left wealthy.
I'd be interested in hearing the case against Gingrich. I assume you'll start your own Substack and present it.
I was with you until the last line about Gingrich. And not even because of the smugness. Dude, educate yourself. His memo has been online since the ‘90s.
Trump's "blustering and buffoonery" are exactly what got him elected the first time. If Bernie Sanders had tried screaming at the corporate "fake news" media, he would have easily won the demo-rat nomination and the presidency.
Mainstream media works for the owner class - stirring up racial strife is part of "divide et impera" strategy since time immemorial to keep power. Dangerous game, but there is no alternative as more and more people recognize that the "American dream" has devolved into a morass of debt, and their kids have less social and economic chances they had. The anger will mount - even competent populists may get elected down the line. Best to preempt by having them all at each other's throats and blaming the "other".
"The News" likes to exacerbate racial strife because they're a mouth piece for our overlords. And those people know that if people actually united, it would be guillotines in the street and bad news for them.
Not really. The Weimar authorities banned all sorts of wing nuts. No uniforms, banning parties for years at a time, 3 month suspensions for calling the Prussian police chief "Isidore". Didn't help them much in the end. The bans seemed to enhance popularity.
I have been to so many events--protests, conventions, etc. and the "news" coverage shoe-horned into a pre-determined narrative never reflected what happened.
This is exactly the kind of on the ground reporting that activists don't get enough of, thank you so much! As a former "protest whore" I've been frustrated endlessly by how poorly the mainstream media covers protests, usually somewhere in between "haha dumb kids/women/rednecks" and "omg scary mob". I will read this next one and forward it to a friend who's shared with me some hilarious boogaloo memes.
The media has always depicted the Boogaloo Boys as a bunch of extreme, violent right wing gun nuts, obsessed with 4chan memes, but it was obvious this was a lie from the start. First of all they only appeared on the scene after the death of George Floyd. There is not even a trace of their existence before that. Second, no one in the gun community knew a damn thing about these guys. This was compounded by the Boogaloo Boys acting like they had been part of the community for a while. Third, there is no way they were connected to 4chan. They were too well organized, with a uniform style of dress and brand new "Pepe" patches. Also no one is that particular cesspool of the internet knew who they were either. Fourth, there was no connection to any libertarian groups either. Finally, they always sided with BLM during the protests and marched along side them. Not exactly enemies huh? I'm still not sure who they actually are but a lot of people I know have their money on a fed honey pot and I would not be surprised if some of them actually were federal agents.
Can you provide some evidence to back this up? I normally don't ask for evidence on message boards like this, but as a regular reader of rightwing forums, your claim is contrary to my experience. I recall the same as Matt is saying: it sort of cropped up all of a sudden, and the consensus among regular posters was there was no way it was organic.
Here's an excerpt showing that there was, in fact, reference to "boogaloo boys."
The term "boogaloo" has also been seen in real-world activism. At the Virginia Citizens Defense League's annual Lobby Day in Richmond in January, a group of protesters who go by the name Patriot Wave wore Pepe the Frog patches emblazoned with "Boogaloo Boys." One man carried a sign that read, "I have a dream of a Boogaloo." The rally was held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Sorry, I missed that part. So the best I can offer is my anecdotal experience that this stuff appeared very suddenly on 4chan and other similar forums, that it was widely rejected and ridiculed as a government operation there. A small group of guys wearing a patch on the shoulder does not negate my claim--but I acknowledge my claim is hopelessly unfalsifiable.
No, and a lot of forums have since been shut down. You could still go to 4chan any time though, and just ask what they think of the Boogaloo Boys. The reaction I would expect is a lot of derision and people accusing you of being an FBI agent.
So I guess they did make public appearances prior to the Floyd protests, but they weren't really acting out (i.e.; participating in violence and shooting at police).
No problem. This article is from February of 2020 and claims that they started getting "mainstream attention" in 2019, both of which are well before the George Floyd protests when they started making public appearances and acting out.
I should clarify: I'm speaking specifically about the "Boogaloo Boys", i.e. a group going by that moniker. That's also the group Matt was referring to, and I thought it was who you were referring to when you referred to a "they" as in a specific group of people.
I believe the group "Boogaloo Boys" is a government operation. If your claim is only that the term "boogaloo" was in common use prior to that (as described in the article you linked), we have no disagreement.
Any evidence on hand that supports your "feeling" that the boogie boys are merely a fun street gang of feds? Or it just that, a "feeling," wholly unrelated to the world of researched evidence and corroborated facts?
I described my only evidence two posts up. That is, the very social milieu one would expect to be knowledgeable about them rejected them at the time they emerged, and warned all readers that it was a honey pot.
Dude I showed you pictures of just such a group with actual patches saying as much dating to 2019. What else do you want? Were those FBI infiltrators into the right wing 'movement'? B/C it's always been my reading/experience that the pigs are way more interested in co-opting labor/leftist movements and actually supporting the right....ya know, since like whenever that agency was re-named from the previous union busting/organized labor murdering pigs they were.
My claim is that there appeared to be an orchestrated campaign for the Boogaloo Boys on several popular rightwing forums, and that it was widely dismissed as a "glowie" op by the people on those forums. And yes, when guys showed up wearing those silly badges (and elsewhere wearing Hawaiian shirts), the consensus was those were FBI agents. Were they right or wrong? I don't know. I'm just saying they don't have much legitimacy on popular rightwing forums.
Don't get too invested in the notion that the intel agencies support the right and subvert the left. The real picture is surely more complicated than that.
The Boogaloo Boys have been well known, (if not as well physically represented as the Proud Boys) in the Right Wing Skin Head Scene in and around Portland, Oregon for many years. Just because a commenter has just now heard of them does not mean that the mob just fell off of a turnip truck yesterday.
Likewise, depending upon searchable references to particular groups is not an accurate path to anything meaningful. In and around Portland, OR, the Proud Boys have existed for literal decades. But, for *most of that time they existed as a *SECRET organization. Only since the time of Trump have these Skin Head Mafias DARED to go public with so much as their names and logos. You would *not have found written news references to them before that time, bcuz they once prided themselves on remaining "underground" organizations. While they were underground, they worked to infiltrate and influence the local and State Police organizations in Oregon. Only after Trump was elected did they *dare to "come out" under their own gang names and "colors".
"Boogaloo" was well known, this group calling themselves the "Boogaloo Boys," no. A funny thing happens when you look at the search term history for "Boogaloo Boys." Before the protests, they were basically nonexistent.
Yeah, that's exactly what I wrote if you'd care to re-read it. There wasn't any large scale demonstrations going on between the Michael Brown and George Floyd protests and the Boogaloo Boys sprung up mostly through online boards and social media in that exact period. By the time the Floyd protests were happening, the Boogaloo Boys were organized enough to start taking to the streets. In fact, most of the police killings during 2020 that occurred surrounding protests were committed by so-called Boogaloos.
So you're suggesting that the murders of local law enforcement during the 2020 demonstrations were not only state sanctioned, but carried out by state actors? Careful where you tread, son. The government also says: "Don't tread on me...."
Yeah no shit the government says don't tread on them and they've built up a massive militarized police/prison/surveillance apparatus as well as won countless court battles in conservative judge/justice dominated courts that have given them more liberties to deprive us of ours at the same time as giving them zero accountability but ultimate accountability for us. I recommend the Rutherford Institute's website for some eye opening articles/opinions/legal filings.
The Rutherford Institute? Get the fuck outta here with the Rutherford Institute. The Rutherfordians are a claque of sloppy pseudo- "christian" propagandists, dishonest and disingenuous, hiding under the rubric "non-profit dedicated to the defense of civil liberties and human rights." In reality they are a busybody claque of medieval, retrograde propagandists trafficking in authoritarian bible-thumping. They're truncheon-wielders for jesus, their angry god, and their angry donors. Pulpitarian harp-polishers. End-of-timers. Their big thing is fag-bashing. They have an unusual obsession with pedophilia. But they don't discriminate, they like to spread the ill-will around. A classy bunch. The right sort of candidates for a tour through the goverment's "massive militarized police/prison/surveillance apparatus."
It wouldn't shock my if its a fed honey pot. personally I'm of the opinion that you should own a lot of firearms but leave it as something that's unsaid and be quiet about it.
Boogaloo was and is a meme, not a movement, some guys made up a meme to make fun of the crowd on the gun boards that always seemed to *want* a civil war to break out (the template involved Hawaiian shirts, drugs, ghosts of the founding fathers, etc), and then thought it would be funny to show up at events dressed like the meme. Look at the footage of the 2019 Virginia lobby day protests, you'll see Hawaiian shirts and boogaloo signs, but no organization because it wasn't one, it was just a joke. The meme has been around a while too, it was all over AR15.com (one of if not the largest gun boards), among other places, long before Floyd protests.
What I'm saying is that there is no such group and never was, it was just guys dressing up like in the memes as a joke. What little organization did occur was just guys chatting in the meme groups on Facebook or through the gun boards, there never was any sort of over arching organization with any kind of goals, just a bunch of randos in luau shirts and tactical gear who were immersed in a similar online culture.
My take on the boogaloos? They are a product of the pandemic quarantine. They are actually unemployed, Covid-sidelined actors taken to cosplaying private nationalist militias. Dabbling in a bit of street work, performance art, honing their chops until Netflix or Amazon Prime comes a-callin.' No evidence, just a feeling...
Nah, I provided evidence that they were around in 2019. Unless they ARE a FIB infiltration op and "chinavirus" came from Fort Detrick, I'm pretty sure the boogaboos have been a "thing" since well before Jonathan's 4-chan incels started questioning it.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to do a 5 year study of these activist if they each applied to become police officers? I am in agreement, the system needs serious adjustments, and since these people profess to see the problem, why don’t they become the solution? After 5 years on the force it would be a great learning experience to hear what they would say about the situation at that point in time.
I think that the activists could obtain a more seasoned perspective by finding jobs as medical first responders, such as EMTs. They'd be in the position of sharing many of the experiences of police officers on the street- and also in situations that entail communication and collaboration with them, in shared performance of their job duties. The skill sets acquired by training and qualifying to be an EMT have a wide application, and they're easily transferrable to many other occupations. First aid certification and other first responder skills are an asset on any job application.
I do totally get why activists would reject the option of becoming police officers. But becoming a medical first responder obviates practically all of the ethical objections, while providing a means of entry into the realm of the institutional power that's tasked with providing for public health and safety (and, indirectly, preserving civil order.) EMTs get respect from police. Mutual respect is foundational to keeping a dialogue open with the goal of increasing the level of peace and civility in the daily life of communities.
It's also worth mentioning that in many locales around the country, there are evening classes that teach skills like first aid, CPR, lifesaving, and physical fitness to anyone willing to take those courses. The courses are typically inexpensive- like, less than the cost of one parking ticket- and a huge bargain, considering the value of the skills that someone can learn if they pay attention and, uh, do the work. (Please, let "do the work" not be exclusively identified with ideological nuttery. There's a meaning that predates the hijacking of the phrase by extremists.)
As long as we're talking about classes- anyone can take courses in the Criminal Justice major. You don't have to be a police cadet or a security guard to enroll in those courses, which are often offered as evening classes. But you will encounter a lot of fellow students who will eventually be hired as police. If you're looking for a place to begin productive dialog- which is not to be confused with harangue- that might be a good place to start. No activist-reformer should expect to be coddled by the instructors- but that's a good thing. Because both the instructors and students do typically welcome some level of reasoned dissent and argument, and the teachers will only step in if things become uncivil. Activists who sign up for those classes should also expect at least a few of the police cadets in their CJ courses to be nonwhite and/or female, and if they share an overlap of identity status in that regard they may find out that they understand each other a little better. The bottom line is that everybody has a story, even police trainees. Reasons why they're doing what they're doing, that often don't fit a cookie cutter stereotype. Just like activists don't fit a cookie cutter stereotype- and a CJ course might provide a grand opportunity to undercut the nonsense. Although depending on where the courses are being offered, the instructor, and the other students, I can also feature some good reasons why an activist might prefer to keep their motivations on the down-low, and be circumspect in their attitude.
Beyond that, the content of CJ courses provides all sorts of valuable information, in and of itself. Information of the sort that any American citizen should find valuable, but especially grassroots political activists and organizers.
Its similar to saying why not become a politician or a lawyer? The Greenwald piece on Kucinich really illustrated how most people with the best of intentions do not have the integrity to withstand the internal forces of our lobbyist saturated "democracy" or anocracy. Police are then obligated to enforce the laws made by those same predictably corrupted politicians. To be a lawyer you have to internalize the entire body of that corruption in order to navigate it. Then your options seem to be either incredibly banal, or picking a team in criminal law which has equally profound ugliness attached to either side. The possiblity of being a prosecutor and ruining peoples lives by accident or by design as with the war on drugs, or being a defense lawyer and possibly freeing people who will go on to cause greater harm. The net effect being policing is a terrible job for a society bent on ruining lives for social control with zero accountability for the many layers of trauma generated by the culture shaped by the laws of the USA. Police are invited to the worst moments of someones day, week, year or life. Then they have to pick a side whether the circumstances are clear or not and mistakes are easy to make when empathy is an excluded personality trait for that line of work and probably drives the suicide rate for cops. Our society exacerbates mental health problems through indifference to the choices forced on people in poverty and the sociopathic qualities the business world endlessly rewards for the rest of the classes. There isnt a quick fix to undo these subsets of cultural phenomena in any meaningful way. I support the idea of increasing funding into programs that can divert young people into meaningful livelihoods, and community development as an incubator to provide opportunities to practice that work at the expense of building new jails. Maybe the business world can somehow value the society it finds itself in above the profit motive. Maybe externalized costs both human and environmental need to be made real and the calculus changes by the magic of the market. But that cant fix people who sold their souls long ago and are already committed to that path in life.
Who best to fix what they claim is wrong? They seem to think, and I don’t necessarily disagree with them, they have identified problems they think need to be addressed. Who would you pick, people who see no problems?
The system consist of good and bad individuals. To improve the system the bad need to replaced with the good. Based on what was said in the video it appeared the advocates would be considered good, so they can join the system and improve it. Other-wise it’s nothing more than noise.
All of these people citing a flawed system, but no one discussing ways to address the flaws; unless you think saying “systematic change” means something in and of itself. Much like saying one half of the tire is flat so let’s use the good side.
There's an activist spectrum. There are gradations. In my field, animal protection, mainly wildlife, more often than not, the people who show up a protest and shout the loudest consider that "work" done -- many are MIA during the daily grind of reform. Effecting change through the system means education, research, papers, opinion pieces, lawsuits, drafting legislation, working with lawmakers. It's a civil process distinct from simply showing up in the street. It's called liberal democracy. The venues are there.
I partially agree. God gave me a heart for animals and gave me the ability to get some land in the country; it’s a great way of me explaining my moniker, Conservative Contrarian.
I currently take care of 27 dogs, not a bad one in the bunch, 3 horses and 3 cats; most are rescues.
If I were the stereotypical self-proclaiming conservative I would say shoot them; if I were a stereotypical progressive I would say let government take them. I’ll do neither!
I do what I can, I’m not a non-profit status guy, I accept it as a gift to me, even as they go through 25+ pounds of food each day.
That’s my way of addressing a somewhat bad situation, animal over population, and I embrace it everyday. I don’t demand others do it in my place.
In many cases what you describe is indeed true. The hard work of reforming a system from WITHIN a system is too often left to those people like you. BUT there are other ways to change a system from OUTSIDE of it, and that's what these "loud" yellers ostensibly aim to accomplish. That having been said - the media more often than not gives all the attention to the loud/violent/scary portions of demonstrations in order to best serve their corporate law and order agenda.
The guys in the video weren't doing policy prescriptions (which would ultimately have to be handed down from above), but there are plenty of ideas out there about demilitarizing police forces, making them specialize into the various police functions. Create a system of public safety professionals more like the post office than the army. (probably would require replacing most of the people, maybe give them first dibs for military jobs)
If you told every beat cop that all homeless persons and domestic squabble calls would now be handled by social workers, they would jump for joy. The problem is what happens when the homeless dude won’t comply or the domestic situation turns violent on the social worker? Back to square one.
Like the Post Office???? Haaa, that’s great, first lost letters, now lost prisoners. That happens in third world countries already, and if that strikes you as an improvement, all I can do is echo Bob Welch and say “Oh Well!”.
I'm going to enlist in the Army as a buck private because I want to change the military from within. I know I can do it if I just try really hard and don't give up hope. In a few years the Pentagon will be listening to me, as I get promoted to Master Sergeant, and the entire military will become a non-intervening in other countries' affairs peace keeping force. The US won't be bombing and occupying and controlling other countries just because they disobey our orders and refuse to comply with our imperialist agenda and schemes. I can put a stop to all that.
Maybe Gen. Smedley Butler couldn't do it decades ago but he was a wuss. So what if he won two medals of honor and every other citation for bravery anyone can name, and soon thereafter became the most vocal critic of this rigged and belligerent capitalist imperialist system we've ever seen. He just didn't know how to effectively change a monolithic and monstrous system like the US military killing machine from within. I'm sure I can do what Smedley Butler failed to do.
You'd be the one here contributing "nothing but noise."
Nonsense. Plenty of ideas and policies. Some of them have unappealing (and frankly inaccurate) names like "defund the police" (where what's really being advocated is taking away social work and dog catcher duties from cops) and other longstanding movements like end the War on Drugs.
Consider, with the tools at your disposal, my initial post. I said it would be interesting to do a 5 year study to see, IF those folks became police, what, if any noticeable changes took place related to their opinions, 5 years later.
I assume your term “systematic change” means change the system. If that’s your point, change it to what, another system?
Politics makes strange bedfellows. Love seeing people dialogue and really listen and try to understand each other. The elites are afraid of how much we might agree. To their detriment
Which is why they must shut down free speech on the internet. It really drew the curtain back and revealed so much of their grift -much of it genocidal and vile. Things changed with this sudden flow of ideas and they're prepping to squash it hard.
Yeah be careful out there! The elites will come and shut down your personal blog! Or erase your comments on internet forums! Or censor your IRC channel! Whats next? Usenet? We're doomed!
Try a little experiment - ask on the Guardian comment section about the Skripals, highlight the hypocrisy of treating annexation of Golan vs. Crimea differently, or say that Palestinians are being ethically cleansed by Israelis or similar, and watch your comment be removed in a few minutes - as if it never existed.
"The elites are afraid of how much we might agree." Highly doubtful. Don't flatter yourself. Interferes with real and further action. Intolerant to your hopes and desires perhaps. But fearful? They don't get paid to be fearful.
If they were not fearful, they would not insist on such unprecedented crack-down on freedom of speech, alternative media, whistleblowers etc. None of those are signs of confidence. Maybe they know something we don't - massive instability may be in the books and better to secure all the bases and undermine any future possible centers of dissent or opposition.
Crackdowns on freedom of speech, alternative media, whistleblowers unprecedented? Hardly. I would argue that today’s elite are operating at high levels of confidence. It’s the level of confidence that’s unprecedented. It’s ok to sweat a little, but let’s make certain we’re sweating about the right thing....
So there may in fact be a credible threat to the established oligarchy and the news isn't reporting on the connectedness to make them seem less significant?
Then out of left field, (seemingly,) "Domestic War on Terror" and they're all rounded up and or harassed and rooted out while the press only presents the "Homogenized Evil Villains" that the establishment wants anyone to see -also hiding a lot of atrocity.
I can't bring myself to view zealots in ersatz military get-ups and ski masks, at events often ending in melees,"activists." They're something, but not that. Would the brats who invaded the restaurants in DC, demanding that diners raise their fists and take oaths "activists"? They were brown shirts. We're in the land of a thousand putsches.
Very much looking forward to this. I know I'm preaching to the choir, and the preacher as well, but it can't be said too often today: what is selected for publication and what is omitted is the essence of journalistic integrity. Coverage of a "women's march" could show the rally as far left, left, center, right and far right. Covid-19 is the sniffles compared to the pandemic of confirmation bias. That said, I have quite a bit of trust that Matt Taibbi speaks the truth, and I am grateful for that.
This is primo example of how and why corporate media gets it wrong not once, but twice. At the 7 minute mark, Fischer shows how local news covered the event and how they completely mischaracterized what was happening. Thanks to consolidation of broadcast media and the ensuing cost-cutting measures, on-the-ground TV reporters don't have the time to cover events with any kind of nuance or expertise. Nor do they get paid much - at least the younger ones. It's just slam-bam, write, edit and slap the finished product up for the evening or late-night broadcasts and move on to the next assignment. The secondary effect is more troubling. Since there's not time to cover the event in any depth, reporters end up following the assumptions within the conventional false narrative (i.e. ALL Boogaloo Bois are racist and would never lock arms with BLM), which spreads the false narrative even more out into the zeitgeist. This is why what Fischer and other independent video journalists are doing out there is crazy important. And this is why Fischer and others are being demonetized by YouTube and shouted down by the liberal establishment media. Glad to see TK News giving Fischer a platform. Congratulations. I hope it will lend credibility and increase visibility to a truly awesome cause.
It’s capitalism. The people running the political system, funding NGOs, owning media, bankrolling politicians and “major” parties are all capitalists. They may have disagreements in tactics, but they agree fundamentally on capitalist rule, class rule over the working class whether black, white, brown, woman or man. And that is often obscured by divisions created and aided by this system—divide and conquer. That working people are finding and expressing solidarity in struggle exposes (you can see it in the capitalist media coverage of that joint protest) this tactic of divide-and-conquer.
Meh. You would have the same issues if you replaced capitalism with any other economic structure. People will always compete for power and form hierarchies.
This is a great addition to the already superb content you’ve been churning out. I’ve switched all my MSM spend dollars to supporting a diverse, thought provoking stable of “alternative” sources and proud to support this growing movement. It gives me hope that the search for truth and greater understanding of issues is still alive in the hearts of many. Hoping for critical mass once the rest of the public wakes up to the shenanigans being played by corporate media.
Me too. I was spending about $300 a year on NYT, WaPo, Atlantic, AJC, Boston Globe, Nation and more. Still spending for journalism but on alternative sources like TK and GG.
Good idea. Nice to read credible sources. Tired of all the lies
Kathleen, you are yourself an alternative conduit of information. I'd have said "source," but that has a specific meaning in your profession. I find that by reading your substack, I expose myself to more information and points of view. That's the essence of intellectual curiosity, and you feed so many of us who are starving.
Thanks for encouraging me. Sometimes library history applies to the bigger world.
The Atlantic is one of the few places that covers non political topics really well, and IMHO still does politics pretty well too.
Yes, Some of the articles have been great but it is the rotating masthead,roster of writers that made me realize it's the same people. So you only need to read one the sources to get the same pov. The repackaging is why I didn't need to sub anymore.
TK, yeah. I had to drop GG. He's gotten too wrapped up in the DNC/media dynamic (which is obvious to anyone watching or reading) and the "culture wars" - Plus he's a multi-millionaire and doesn't need the money. He did great work at UT, Salon, The Gruaniad and The Intercept, but the way he privatized and monetized - then locked away - the Snowden leaks has still not been adequately explained and he'll block anyone on Twitter with a serious following who asks him about it.
It's only obvious if you are tuned in. I believe he's trying to impact those who are not. It's probably futile, but you can't blame the guy for trying.
Differs radically from his woke hard leftist position in Brazilian media. Wonder why.
There is a bit of axe grinding against his old coworkers.
Mark Ames and Sasha Levine aren't to be fucked with. Ken Silverstein, whatever. But Ames and Levine do not leave any stones unturned and they'll debate anyone anytime.
LOL yeah. I mean there are several sites that are out to get him. Some of them legit others not. The legit ones make good points.
Here's a legit one: https://pando.com/2013/11/27/keeping-secrets/
Here's one that gets a lot wrong (but also some right - I disagree with lumping Taibbi into it and any site that publishes Louis Proyect (long story) is automatically suspect): https://washingtonbabylon.com/glenn-greenwald-hates-the-tech-oligarchy-ok-but-how-did-the-worlds-biggest-hypocrite-get-rich-from-tech-oligarch-money/
Good article this week on anthrax.
He had already written pretty much all there was to say on the Bruce Ivins story back in the day. If I had to guess, he's comparing the anthrax thing to the possibility of a lab leak for COVID (hopefully an AMERICAN lab)??
Somewhat but has some good points.
First, fantastic idea for a series.
As for this video, it really pissed me off that mainstream outlets are only interested in showing racial strife even when the opposite is the truth. Also that they simply refuse to cover people coming together when so much in the news is about conflict. I know that bad news sells, but the media has a moral responsibility to not intentionally exacerbate civil unrest by falsely over stating it. All this does is drive people apart.
Jeff, please pardon my cynicism. I've been looking at the outline of the American journey for the past five years. This isn't "If it bleeds, it leads." Rather, it is a long-term effort by the Democrat party to delegitimize Trump and, prevent the people of America from coming together. Whether or not that works, to make things as unpleasant as possible for Americans while Trump was still in office. With proposed changes in laws concerning elections, this will ensure at least a 100-year single-party state.
Trump didn't help himself with his blustering and buffoonery. He walked straight into a trap, and tried to satisfy his critics rather than ignoring them. Matt's story is reality.
TDS was certainly a factor, but corporate media has moved on to simply serve as the Democrat party's Pravda. It's much broader than Trump. I'm most disappointed in local media as featured in the video. Local media used to be much less partisan and ideological.
https://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6?op=1
Most of the local media ownership has a strong right/conservative bias. On the national level it varies, but generally skews center-right to center-left, which is exactly how I'd describe the DNC.
Are you suggesting Gannett is a right wing organization? I suppose if you are Mao or Lenin, maybe...
Just some interesting and sad reading for your Saturday: https://tedium.co/2020/10/20/journalism-outsourcing-trimming-history/
Gannett is newspapers. By local media I meant ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox affiliates. Look up the Sinclair Group.
Re: newspapers even those are being bought up by content mills and most cities that used to have two dailies only have one now.
I don't get this.
Trump did a pretty good delegitimizing himself years ago, and continued to do so once elected by a minority. Trump himself had no desire to unite anyone, let alone people who voted against him. Also, given his consistent ass clown behavior and incompetence its a bit rich (to put it kindly) to blame Democrats for what happened to him. And let's not discuss the grifting eh?
If you want to blame someone for "America not coming together" , blame Newt Gingrich.
Trump was temperamentally unfit to be President, as was his predecessor and is his successor. You're listening to what he says and objecting to the tone. Me, too. I never voted for him. I've looked behind the off-putting tone and don't see what the press, Big Tech and the Democrats see, because they're hung up on tone over substance.
Trump was not significantly different from most of his predecessors. He had successes and failures. TDS was prompted by his most significant difference from all other Republican presidents. He fought back. His assigned role was to accept whatever insults and provocations were thrown at him, try to explain or apologize. Instead, he punched back. TDS is a form of rage in which one cannot think clearly.
It led to #THERESISTANCE in which entrenched bureaucrats and intelligence agencies combined with Big Tech and the mainstream press to form an alliance with Democrats to rid the country of the man who didn't know his proper place. Trump was rude and crude, making it easy to do. The Russia collaboration hoax played out long enough for Democrats to re-take the House of Representatives. Then came an impeachment handled in secret, that required changing many rules to bring to pass. The trial failed to remove him, so when a pandemic hit the Democrats and their allied forces were left to making sure everything was blamed on Trump, and refusing to cooperate in preventing catastrophe. After all, the worse things were for America, the better chance Naptime Joe had to become President.
His ego got in the way of dealing competently with the pandemic, and Democrats were happy to complicate things. As for grifting, he lost approximately half his fortune while in office, unlike his two Democrat predecessors who entered office as men of modest means and left wealthy.
I'd be interested in hearing the case against Gingrich. I assume you'll start your own Substack and present it.
I was with you until the last line about Gingrich. And not even because of the smugness. Dude, educate yourself. His memo has been online since the ‘90s.
Trump's "blustering and buffoonery" are exactly what got him elected the first time. If Bernie Sanders had tried screaming at the corporate "fake news" media, he would have easily won the demo-rat nomination and the presidency.
LOL
Mainstream media works for the owner class - stirring up racial strife is part of "divide et impera" strategy since time immemorial to keep power. Dangerous game, but there is no alternative as more and more people recognize that the "American dream" has devolved into a morass of debt, and their kids have less social and economic chances they had. The anger will mount - even competent populists may get elected down the line. Best to preempt by having them all at each other's throats and blaming the "other".
"The News" likes to exacerbate racial strife because they're a mouth piece for our overlords. And those people know that if people actually united, it would be guillotines in the street and bad news for them.
How come Twitter doesn’t ban them
They think banning Trump and friends is useful. One should ask the Weimar authorities how well that worked out for them.
We're they private corporation?
Orthogonal to the statement.
So what you're saying is Trump is Hitler?!
Not really. The Weimar authorities banned all sorts of wing nuts. No uniforms, banning parties for years at a time, 3 month suspensions for calling the Prussian police chief "Isidore". Didn't help them much in the end. The bans seemed to enhance popularity.
Definitely worth focusing on where the official narratives conflict with public reality.
I have been to so many events--protests, conventions, etc. and the "news" coverage shoe-horned into a pre-determined narrative never reflected what happened.
This is exactly the kind of on the ground reporting that activists don't get enough of, thank you so much! As a former "protest whore" I've been frustrated endlessly by how poorly the mainstream media covers protests, usually somewhere in between "haha dumb kids/women/rednecks" and "omg scary mob". I will read this next one and forward it to a friend who's shared with me some hilarious boogaloo memes.
Your use of "protest whore" has earned you ten Taibbi points.
I am grateful for your work Matt. You endure the pitfalls of real reporting, which grows more rare every day
I hope you (and everyone) read his books too. That's where we get the very deep dives.
Hearing "In collaboration with TK news" makes me happy.
The media has always depicted the Boogaloo Boys as a bunch of extreme, violent right wing gun nuts, obsessed with 4chan memes, but it was obvious this was a lie from the start. First of all they only appeared on the scene after the death of George Floyd. There is not even a trace of their existence before that. Second, no one in the gun community knew a damn thing about these guys. This was compounded by the Boogaloo Boys acting like they had been part of the community for a while. Third, there is no way they were connected to 4chan. They were too well organized, with a uniform style of dress and brand new "Pepe" patches. Also no one is that particular cesspool of the internet knew who they were either. Fourth, there was no connection to any libertarian groups either. Finally, they always sided with BLM during the protests and marched along side them. Not exactly enemies huh? I'm still not sure who they actually are but a lot of people I know have their money on a fed honey pot and I would not be surprised if some of them actually were federal agents.
Uh, they were well known before the George Floyd murder; there just hadn't been any large scale protests, etc. for them to get publicly involved in.
Can you provide some evidence to back this up? I normally don't ask for evidence on message boards like this, but as a regular reader of rightwing forums, your claim is contrary to my experience. I recall the same as Matt is saying: it sort of cropped up all of a sudden, and the consensus among regular posters was there was no way it was organic.
Here's an excerpt showing that there was, in fact, reference to "boogaloo boys."
The term "boogaloo" has also been seen in real-world activism. At the Virginia Citizens Defense League's annual Lobby Day in Richmond in January, a group of protesters who go by the name Patriot Wave wore Pepe the Frog patches emblazoned with "Boogaloo Boys." One man carried a sign that read, "I have a dream of a Boogaloo." The rally was held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Sorry, I missed that part. So the best I can offer is my anecdotal experience that this stuff appeared very suddenly on 4chan and other similar forums, that it was widely rejected and ridiculed as a government operation there. A small group of guys wearing a patch on the shoulder does not negate my claim--but I acknowledge my claim is hopelessly unfalsifiable.
Interesting. Are there any remaining links to this government op theory?
No, and a lot of forums have since been shut down. You could still go to 4chan any time though, and just ask what they think of the Boogaloo Boys. The reaction I would expect is a lot of derision and people accusing you of being an FBI agent.
So I guess they did make public appearances prior to the Floyd protests, but they weren't really acting out (i.e.; participating in violence and shooting at police).
No problem. This article is from February of 2020 and claims that they started getting "mainstream attention" in 2019, both of which are well before the George Floyd protests when they started making public appearances and acting out.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/what-boogaloo-how-online-calls-violent-uprising-are-getting-organized-n1138461
I should clarify: I'm speaking specifically about the "Boogaloo Boys", i.e. a group going by that moniker. That's also the group Matt was referring to, and I thought it was who you were referring to when you referred to a "they" as in a specific group of people.
I believe the group "Boogaloo Boys" is a government operation. If your claim is only that the term "boogaloo" was in common use prior to that (as described in the article you linked), we have no disagreement.
Any evidence on hand that supports your "feeling" that the boogie boys are merely a fun street gang of feds? Or it just that, a "feeling," wholly unrelated to the world of researched evidence and corroborated facts?
I described my only evidence two posts up. That is, the very social milieu one would expect to be knowledgeable about them rejected them at the time they emerged, and warned all readers that it was a honey pot.
Dude I showed you pictures of just such a group with actual patches saying as much dating to 2019. What else do you want? Were those FBI infiltrators into the right wing 'movement'? B/C it's always been my reading/experience that the pigs are way more interested in co-opting labor/leftist movements and actually supporting the right....ya know, since like whenever that agency was re-named from the previous union busting/organized labor murdering pigs they were.
My claim is that there appeared to be an orchestrated campaign for the Boogaloo Boys on several popular rightwing forums, and that it was widely dismissed as a "glowie" op by the people on those forums. And yes, when guys showed up wearing those silly badges (and elsewhere wearing Hawaiian shirts), the consensus was those were FBI agents. Were they right or wrong? I don't know. I'm just saying they don't have much legitimacy on popular rightwing forums.
Don't get too invested in the notion that the intel agencies support the right and subvert the left. The real picture is surely more complicated than that.
Floyd was killed in May of 2020 IIRC.
@Mango M3 Huffy
The Boogaloo Boys have been well known, (if not as well physically represented as the Proud Boys) in the Right Wing Skin Head Scene in and around Portland, Oregon for many years. Just because a commenter has just now heard of them does not mean that the mob just fell off of a turnip truck yesterday.
@Mango M3 Huffy PART II
Likewise, depending upon searchable references to particular groups is not an accurate path to anything meaningful. In and around Portland, OR, the Proud Boys have existed for literal decades. But, for *most of that time they existed as a *SECRET organization. Only since the time of Trump have these Skin Head Mafias DARED to go public with so much as their names and logos. You would *not have found written news references to them before that time, bcuz they once prided themselves on remaining "underground" organizations. While they were underground, they worked to infiltrate and influence the local and State Police organizations in Oregon. Only after Trump was elected did they *dare to "come out" under their own gang names and "colors".
"Boogaloo" was well known, this group calling themselves the "Boogaloo Boys," no. A funny thing happens when you look at the search term history for "Boogaloo Boys." Before the protests, they were basically nonexistent.
Yeah, that's exactly what I wrote if you'd care to re-read it. There wasn't any large scale demonstrations going on between the Michael Brown and George Floyd protests and the Boogaloo Boys sprung up mostly through online boards and social media in that exact period. By the time the Floyd protests were happening, the Boogaloo Boys were organized enough to start taking to the streets. In fact, most of the police killings during 2020 that occurred surrounding protests were committed by so-called Boogaloos.
So you're suggesting that the murders of local law enforcement during the 2020 demonstrations were not only state sanctioned, but carried out by state actors? Careful where you tread, son. The government also says: "Don't tread on me...."
No, what I was saying is that the killings OF police were attributed to "boogaloo boys" and in another reply I included links.
Oakland: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/17/boogaloo-steven-carrillo/
Minneapolis: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/austin-police-release-boogaloo-bois-minneapolis-precinct.html
Apparently he also tried to pass himself off as BLM or antifa too: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/boogaloo-bois-minneapolis-precinct-antifa_n_5f938cdfc5b6a2e1fb616689
Yeah no shit the government says don't tread on them and they've built up a massive militarized police/prison/surveillance apparatus as well as won countless court battles in conservative judge/justice dominated courts that have given them more liberties to deprive us of ours at the same time as giving them zero accountability but ultimate accountability for us. I recommend the Rutherford Institute's website for some eye opening articles/opinions/legal filings.
The Rutherford Institute? Get the fuck outta here with the Rutherford Institute. The Rutherfordians are a claque of sloppy pseudo- "christian" propagandists, dishonest and disingenuous, hiding under the rubric "non-profit dedicated to the defense of civil liberties and human rights." In reality they are a busybody claque of medieval, retrograde propagandists trafficking in authoritarian bible-thumping. They're truncheon-wielders for jesus, their angry god, and their angry donors. Pulpitarian harp-polishers. End-of-timers. Their big thing is fag-bashing. They have an unusual obsession with pedophilia. But they don't discriminate, they like to spread the ill-will around. A classy bunch. The right sort of candidates for a tour through the goverment's "massive militarized police/prison/surveillance apparatus."
It wouldn't shock my if its a fed honey pot. personally I'm of the opinion that you should own a lot of firearms but leave it as something that's unsaid and be quiet about it.
You need to go correct the lengthy Wikipedia article on them then. It claims a story unlike your version.
Boogaloo was and is a meme, not a movement, some guys made up a meme to make fun of the crowd on the gun boards that always seemed to *want* a civil war to break out (the template involved Hawaiian shirts, drugs, ghosts of the founding fathers, etc), and then thought it would be funny to show up at events dressed like the meme. Look at the footage of the 2019 Virginia lobby day protests, you'll see Hawaiian shirts and boogaloo signs, but no organization because it wasn't one, it was just a joke. The meme has been around a while too, it was all over AR15.com (one of if not the largest gun boards), among other places, long before Floyd protests.
I know what the meme is. I am talking specifically about the group calling themselves the Boogaloo Boys.
What I'm saying is that there is no such group and never was, it was just guys dressing up like in the memes as a joke. What little organization did occur was just guys chatting in the meme groups on Facebook or through the gun boards, there never was any sort of over arching organization with any kind of goals, just a bunch of randos in luau shirts and tactical gear who were immersed in a similar online culture.
My take on the boogaloos? They are a product of the pandemic quarantine. They are actually unemployed, Covid-sidelined actors taken to cosplaying private nationalist militias. Dabbling in a bit of street work, performance art, honing their chops until Netflix or Amazon Prime comes a-callin.' No evidence, just a feeling...
Nah, I provided evidence that they were around in 2019. Unless they ARE a FIB infiltration op and "chinavirus" came from Fort Detrick, I'm pretty sure the boogaboos have been a "thing" since well before Jonathan's 4-chan incels started questioning it.
No, they were guys that hung out on gun forums who decided to cosplay a meme at rallies, I actually know some of them.
That was satirical, kid....give them my best...
Wouldn’t it be interesting to do a 5 year study of these activist if they each applied to become police officers? I am in agreement, the system needs serious adjustments, and since these people profess to see the problem, why don’t they become the solution? After 5 years on the force it would be a great learning experience to hear what they would say about the situation at that point in time.
Or do they plan on leaving that to others?
I think that the activists could obtain a more seasoned perspective by finding jobs as medical first responders, such as EMTs. They'd be in the position of sharing many of the experiences of police officers on the street- and also in situations that entail communication and collaboration with them, in shared performance of their job duties. The skill sets acquired by training and qualifying to be an EMT have a wide application, and they're easily transferrable to many other occupations. First aid certification and other first responder skills are an asset on any job application.
I do totally get why activists would reject the option of becoming police officers. But becoming a medical first responder obviates practically all of the ethical objections, while providing a means of entry into the realm of the institutional power that's tasked with providing for public health and safety (and, indirectly, preserving civil order.) EMTs get respect from police. Mutual respect is foundational to keeping a dialogue open with the goal of increasing the level of peace and civility in the daily life of communities.
It's also worth mentioning that in many locales around the country, there are evening classes that teach skills like first aid, CPR, lifesaving, and physical fitness to anyone willing to take those courses. The courses are typically inexpensive- like, less than the cost of one parking ticket- and a huge bargain, considering the value of the skills that someone can learn if they pay attention and, uh, do the work. (Please, let "do the work" not be exclusively identified with ideological nuttery. There's a meaning that predates the hijacking of the phrase by extremists.)
As long as we're talking about classes- anyone can take courses in the Criminal Justice major. You don't have to be a police cadet or a security guard to enroll in those courses, which are often offered as evening classes. But you will encounter a lot of fellow students who will eventually be hired as police. If you're looking for a place to begin productive dialog- which is not to be confused with harangue- that might be a good place to start. No activist-reformer should expect to be coddled by the instructors- but that's a good thing. Because both the instructors and students do typically welcome some level of reasoned dissent and argument, and the teachers will only step in if things become uncivil. Activists who sign up for those classes should also expect at least a few of the police cadets in their CJ courses to be nonwhite and/or female, and if they share an overlap of identity status in that regard they may find out that they understand each other a little better. The bottom line is that everybody has a story, even police trainees. Reasons why they're doing what they're doing, that often don't fit a cookie cutter stereotype. Just like activists don't fit a cookie cutter stereotype- and a CJ course might provide a grand opportunity to undercut the nonsense. Although depending on where the courses are being offered, the instructor, and the other students, I can also feature some good reasons why an activist might prefer to keep their motivations on the down-low, and be circumspect in their attitude.
Beyond that, the content of CJ courses provides all sorts of valuable information, in and of itself. Information of the sort that any American citizen should find valuable, but especially grassroots political activists and organizers.
Here's a small selection of what happens to cops who try to work to improve their department from the inside. Hint: it doesn't go well. https://www.ranker.com/list/police-department-whistleblowers/brent-sprecher
Its similar to saying why not become a politician or a lawyer? The Greenwald piece on Kucinich really illustrated how most people with the best of intentions do not have the integrity to withstand the internal forces of our lobbyist saturated "democracy" or anocracy. Police are then obligated to enforce the laws made by those same predictably corrupted politicians. To be a lawyer you have to internalize the entire body of that corruption in order to navigate it. Then your options seem to be either incredibly banal, or picking a team in criminal law which has equally profound ugliness attached to either side. The possiblity of being a prosecutor and ruining peoples lives by accident or by design as with the war on drugs, or being a defense lawyer and possibly freeing people who will go on to cause greater harm. The net effect being policing is a terrible job for a society bent on ruining lives for social control with zero accountability for the many layers of trauma generated by the culture shaped by the laws of the USA. Police are invited to the worst moments of someones day, week, year or life. Then they have to pick a side whether the circumstances are clear or not and mistakes are easy to make when empathy is an excluded personality trait for that line of work and probably drives the suicide rate for cops. Our society exacerbates mental health problems through indifference to the choices forced on people in poverty and the sociopathic qualities the business world endlessly rewards for the rest of the classes. There isnt a quick fix to undo these subsets of cultural phenomena in any meaningful way. I support the idea of increasing funding into programs that can divert young people into meaningful livelihoods, and community development as an incubator to provide opportunities to practice that work at the expense of building new jails. Maybe the business world can somehow value the society it finds itself in above the profit motive. Maybe externalized costs both human and environmental need to be made real and the calculus changes by the magic of the market. But that cant fix people who sold their souls long ago and are already committed to that path in life.
Become the change you wish to see-Mohandas Gandhi
So turning protesters into cops is your solution for "becoming part of the solution?" Nice. Really nice...and interesting.
Who best to fix what they claim is wrong? They seem to think, and I don’t necessarily disagree with them, they have identified problems they think need to be addressed. Who would you pick, people who see no problems?
The system consist of good and bad individuals. To improve the system the bad need to replaced with the good. Based on what was said in the video it appeared the advocates would be considered good, so they can join the system and improve it. Other-wise it’s nothing more than noise.
The point about systems is that you have to fix them at the systemic level. Individuals, no matter how virtuous, get absorbed into them.
And I think that's something these guys get, so no, you won't see them becoming cops.
All of these people citing a flawed system, but no one discussing ways to address the flaws; unless you think saying “systematic change” means something in and of itself. Much like saying one half of the tire is flat so let’s use the good side.
Nothing but noise.
There's an activist spectrum. There are gradations. In my field, animal protection, mainly wildlife, more often than not, the people who show up a protest and shout the loudest consider that "work" done -- many are MIA during the daily grind of reform. Effecting change through the system means education, research, papers, opinion pieces, lawsuits, drafting legislation, working with lawmakers. It's a civil process distinct from simply showing up in the street. It's called liberal democracy. The venues are there.
I partially agree. God gave me a heart for animals and gave me the ability to get some land in the country; it’s a great way of me explaining my moniker, Conservative Contrarian.
I currently take care of 27 dogs, not a bad one in the bunch, 3 horses and 3 cats; most are rescues.
If I were the stereotypical self-proclaiming conservative I would say shoot them; if I were a stereotypical progressive I would say let government take them. I’ll do neither!
I do what I can, I’m not a non-profit status guy, I accept it as a gift to me, even as they go through 25+ pounds of food each day.
That’s my way of addressing a somewhat bad situation, animal over population, and I embrace it everyday. I don’t demand others do it in my place.
In many cases what you describe is indeed true. The hard work of reforming a system from WITHIN a system is too often left to those people like you. BUT there are other ways to change a system from OUTSIDE of it, and that's what these "loud" yellers ostensibly aim to accomplish. That having been said - the media more often than not gives all the attention to the loud/violent/scary portions of demonstrations in order to best serve their corporate law and order agenda.
The guys in the video weren't doing policy prescriptions (which would ultimately have to be handed down from above), but there are plenty of ideas out there about demilitarizing police forces, making them specialize into the various police functions. Create a system of public safety professionals more like the post office than the army. (probably would require replacing most of the people, maybe give them first dibs for military jobs)
If you told every beat cop that all homeless persons and domestic squabble calls would now be handled by social workers, they would jump for joy. The problem is what happens when the homeless dude won’t comply or the domestic situation turns violent on the social worker? Back to square one.
Like the Post Office???? Haaa, that’s great, first lost letters, now lost prisoners. That happens in third world countries already, and if that strikes you as an improvement, all I can do is echo Bob Welch and say “Oh Well!”.
I'm going to enlist in the Army as a buck private because I want to change the military from within. I know I can do it if I just try really hard and don't give up hope. In a few years the Pentagon will be listening to me, as I get promoted to Master Sergeant, and the entire military will become a non-intervening in other countries' affairs peace keeping force. The US won't be bombing and occupying and controlling other countries just because they disobey our orders and refuse to comply with our imperialist agenda and schemes. I can put a stop to all that.
Maybe Gen. Smedley Butler couldn't do it decades ago but he was a wuss. So what if he won two medals of honor and every other citation for bravery anyone can name, and soon thereafter became the most vocal critic of this rigged and belligerent capitalist imperialist system we've ever seen. He just didn't know how to effectively change a monolithic and monstrous system like the US military killing machine from within. I'm sure I can do what Smedley Butler failed to do.
You'd be the one here contributing "nothing but noise."
If you think that's a comparable scenario, ok.
Nonsense. Plenty of ideas and policies. Some of them have unappealing (and frankly inaccurate) names like "defund the police" (where what's really being advocated is taking away social work and dog catcher duties from cops) and other longstanding movements like end the War on Drugs.
"where what's really being advocated is taking away social work and dog catcher duties from cops"
Is that actually your take?
Frustrating noise. Really looking for concrete solutions not vacuous slogans
Or might it be you do not have the tools needed to process what was said in the video or my comment?
I joined TK not more than a week ago and I already have contusions on my forehead from this sort of thing...hold onto your hat and good luck!
Consider, with the tools at your disposal, my initial post. I said it would be interesting to do a 5 year study to see, IF those folks became police, what, if any noticeable changes took place related to their opinions, 5 years later.
I assume your term “systematic change” means change the system. If that’s your point, change it to what, another system?
Politics makes strange bedfellows. Love seeing people dialogue and really listen and try to understand each other. The elites are afraid of how much we might agree. To their detriment
Which is why they must shut down free speech on the internet. It really drew the curtain back and revealed so much of their grift -much of it genocidal and vile. Things changed with this sudden flow of ideas and they're prepping to squash it hard.
Careful out there!
Yeah be careful out there! The elites will come and shut down your personal blog! Or erase your comments on internet forums! Or censor your IRC channel! Whats next? Usenet? We're doomed!
Try a little experiment - ask on the Guardian comment section about the Skripals, highlight the hypocrisy of treating annexation of Golan vs. Crimea differently, or say that Palestinians are being ethically cleansed by Israelis or similar, and watch your comment be removed in a few minutes - as if it never existed.
"The elites are afraid of how much we might agree." Highly doubtful. Don't flatter yourself. Interferes with real and further action. Intolerant to your hopes and desires perhaps. But fearful? They don't get paid to be fearful.
If they were not fearful, they would not insist on such unprecedented crack-down on freedom of speech, alternative media, whistleblowers etc. None of those are signs of confidence. Maybe they know something we don't - massive instability may be in the books and better to secure all the bases and undermine any future possible centers of dissent or opposition.
Crackdowns on freedom of speech, alternative media, whistleblowers unprecedented? Hardly. I would argue that today’s elite are operating at high levels of confidence. It’s the level of confidence that’s unprecedented. It’s ok to sweat a little, but let’s make certain we’re sweating about the right thing....
We shall see, the elites had an amazing sense of confidence in 1913 too, "Belle Epoque" was almost the Panglossian best of of all worlds, and then...
Thank you for this feature. It was already worth the subscription price and now this is icing on the cake.
So there may in fact be a credible threat to the established oligarchy and the news isn't reporting on the connectedness to make them seem less significant?
Then out of left field, (seemingly,) "Domestic War on Terror" and they're all rounded up and or harassed and rooted out while the press only presents the "Homogenized Evil Villains" that the establishment wants anyone to see -also hiding a lot of atrocity.
Well said, Scott
I can't bring myself to view zealots in ersatz military get-ups and ski masks, at events often ending in melees,"activists." They're something, but not that. Would the brats who invaded the restaurants in DC, demanding that diners raise their fists and take oaths "activists"? They were brown shirts. We're in the land of a thousand putsches.
This is awesome!
Very much looking forward to this. I know I'm preaching to the choir, and the preacher as well, but it can't be said too often today: what is selected for publication and what is omitted is the essence of journalistic integrity. Coverage of a "women's march" could show the rally as far left, left, center, right and far right. Covid-19 is the sniffles compared to the pandemic of confirmation bias. That said, I have quite a bit of trust that Matt Taibbi speaks the truth, and I am grateful for that.
This is primo example of how and why corporate media gets it wrong not once, but twice. At the 7 minute mark, Fischer shows how local news covered the event and how they completely mischaracterized what was happening. Thanks to consolidation of broadcast media and the ensuing cost-cutting measures, on-the-ground TV reporters don't have the time to cover events with any kind of nuance or expertise. Nor do they get paid much - at least the younger ones. It's just slam-bam, write, edit and slap the finished product up for the evening or late-night broadcasts and move on to the next assignment. The secondary effect is more troubling. Since there's not time to cover the event in any depth, reporters end up following the assumptions within the conventional false narrative (i.e. ALL Boogaloo Bois are racist and would never lock arms with BLM), which spreads the false narrative even more out into the zeitgeist. This is why what Fischer and other independent video journalists are doing out there is crazy important. And this is why Fischer and others are being demonetized by YouTube and shouted down by the liberal establishment media. Glad to see TK News giving Fischer a platform. Congratulations. I hope it will lend credibility and increase visibility to a truly awesome cause.
What IS the system?
It’s capitalism. The people running the political system, funding NGOs, owning media, bankrolling politicians and “major” parties are all capitalists. They may have disagreements in tactics, but they agree fundamentally on capitalist rule, class rule over the working class whether black, white, brown, woman or man. And that is often obscured by divisions created and aided by this system—divide and conquer. That working people are finding and expressing solidarity in struggle exposes (you can see it in the capitalist media coverage of that joint protest) this tactic of divide-and-conquer.
Bravo for making these videos available.
Meh. You would have the same issues if you replaced capitalism with any other economic structure. People will always compete for power and form hierarchies.