The 2024 presidential race increasingly looks like it will be decided by lawyers, not voters, as Democrats unveil plans for America's first lawfare election
Let's see. The Progressive-Democrat-Media-Academia-Government complex has told us:
Climate change poses an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
The pandemic poses an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
Traditional American values (aka the white patriarchy) pose an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
Capitalism poses an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
Fossil fuels pose an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
Republicans and conservatives pose an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
And of course Trump poses an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us. (Actually this is the second round of Trump catastrophism.)
Now, what seems to be a common theme, and what can we infer that these people want?
“We will take a hard look at the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security, and our environment. This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time,” [Biden] said.
The EU will be forced to throw Ukraine (and maybe Estonia soon) under the bus since the U.S. doesn't want to ensure their energy independence, not to mention the benefit of U.S. jobs and exports. Global warming? China and India (and others) are making a mockery of attempts to reduce CO2. How stupid is this administration?
I wonder why no one in DC sees looming energy shortages as an existential threat? For some of us, heat in winter is not a luxury, but literally the difference between life and death. When home heating becomes a survival challenge it will focus priorities for millions of people in a way that the imaginary threat of climate change has not.
The move to electrify everything is about control, not the climate. They can track every milliwatt you use with electricity. If you have an electric vehicle, they know your every movement. And they can control it all with the flip of a switch. And heating your home with electricity is about 3-5X the cost of with natural gas.
You're right! I've listened to Red Barchetta probably 1,000 times. It's my favorite Rush song, except for all the others. But the context is exactly the same as where we are now, differing only by degree. Similarly, I think that 1984 was prescient beyond coincidence. Thanks for the perspective!
Thank you for saying that truth Hugh. I'd bet you 99 Americans out of 100 would think you're crazy. If only those 99 people would read the WEF's own statements that it is their plan. Farmers all over Europe are rejecting the orders to cull 90% of their cattle because of NOx. They are destroying the institutions necessary to sustain life on the planet in slow motion.
Maybe many species, but I am sure cockroaches are doing fine. That's what you all will be eating. I will be dead. But not forgotten. After all, Soylent Green is...wait, there is a knock at the door.
This is the wisest, most obvious objective of the motivation that drives the will of blind unprincipled brutes (US government officials) toward ultimate power in every totalitarian force in human history.
I don't care how many PhDs they have, how many theses they published in reputable journals, how sophisticated their rationales are for relieving the "little people'" of the "burden" of freedom. The lust for power trumps every excuse they come up with. Democrat or Republican, we the people MUST always push back against the elected elite when they condescendingly tell us they need more power "for our own good".
Surprisingly, the vast unknown but free-thinking Americans usually can come up with far better solutions than can the elected, power-biased and shackled personnel of the managerial elite. Who'd a thunk?
But the real fear is whether the know-it-alls in DC will care about our dire existential reality enough to do anything about it. My fear is that they will downplay the reality of our lack of essential energy for daily activities. via the grid, , life-saving heat, and indispensable electricity for daily life, and expect us to "deal with " being inconveniently colder and expect more primitive living conditions as the price we must all pay to "save the planet". WHO VOTED FOR THIS?
That’s why he added the /s (sarcasm). It was clearly the US - who stood to gain the most from the act of state sponsored terrorism of destroying civilian infrastructure.
Driving a wedge between Germany and Russia. Unluckily for Germany, they’re so eager to atone for WWII they’ve sided with the fascists again (the US).
In the phrase " being dependent on Russian natural gas.", "dependent" has a deliberate negative tone. This negative view was intentionally built into all reporting of European use of Russian natural gas. The reason for this is clear, Russia was to be demonized, and then “dependency” could later be weaponized. That was what the reporting wanted to preconfigure. There was no pushback in the media and thus the plan to characterize use of Russian gas as a negative and dangerous situation, succeeded.
If a more positive view of Russia -- as a friendly and valuable partner in the prosperity of Europe -- would have been allowed, Then the phrase might very well have been:
"European prosperity is made possible by an abundant supply of cheap Russian energy. Clearly, Russia and and its European partners enjoy a strikingly beneficial partnership in the march to a prosperous and abundant future."
But no, the (((Neocons))), driven by 1000 years of implacable hatred, want to destroy and loot Russia.
You sound like Jake Sullivan. Your passive-voice bullshit shows a lack of understanding of economics. Nordstream 1 & 2 were built to facilitate trade. Europe needs cheap energy to operate. Russia has it. That pissed off Europe's US masters, so they got woke, armed Nazis in Ukraine and blew up Nordstream. Europe is sliding into deindustrialization at an ever-increasing rate, but we sure showed those Russkies, huh?!
Europeans are fighting back against the fascist EU/WEF Davos tyranny. And they're suffering. 3000 plus arrests a year and prosecutions for speech, thought crimes and video posts. SUBSTACK needs a journalist who reports on what's happening to the other free peoples of the world. The DNC/CCP/EU Davos crowd fully intends to destroy all democratic institutions across the world.
Biden doesn't "want" anything. He is exactly what the grifters RACKET described in this report want: A marionette. They want what all fascists and totalitarians have always wanted. Uneducated throw away subsistence labor, access to and control of all natural resources for exploitation and profit without consequence.
The ultimate aim of the WEF and their minions is massive depopulation. With that as a goal, do you really think the elite care about them getting cold?
That’s why he has to get Kamala Harris as VP, it’s painful that a complete fucking moron like her is in her position. There are plenty of capable black women - they needed an idiot black woman to hit their diversity goal and ensure no one would try to replace Poopy Pants.
I guess someone wrote a book and claims that Jennifer Whitmer was Joe's first pick for VP running mate. We definitely dodged a bullet there. Kamala seems to be completely helpless, but mostly harmless, whereas, Whitmer in the White House could be a really terrible experience.
Color has nothing to do with competency and we all know it. The fight here is to recapture the American national dialogue, take away the power of the LIE people like Harris represent and replace it with the healthy truth/fact based conversation American's deserve. And we're winning!! (A recent Greenwald report on he collapse of the MSM affirms it.)
"You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time. But you can never fool all the people all the time." A.Lincoln
I think Americans are all pretty much tired of being played for fools.
He's not dumb. This is deliberate and it is getting the desired result. Higher energy prices, fewer and more costly goods, and housing becoming unaffordable. What good is the equity in one's home if there is no one to buy it?
Agreed. The damage is and has for six decades been deliberate. But this RACKET report clearly indicates they're not morons. They are pitiable emotional/spiritual cripples with access to unregulated immense wealth. Much of it looted from the hard labor of American lives and American treasure. They have no intention of giving it up the gold mine. They're dangerous and they're scared. We're about to find out how powerful the truth is.
Not just POTUS but Canada Netherlands Germany Belgium. All of these governments are pushing through policies made at international level. It seems to me that transnational interests are intent on robbing the coffers of wealthy nations while at the same time facilitating their destruction. At which time they can move in and use the funds that were robbed from the people to buy up all the nations assets. That’s how to gain control of a country. Demolition to reconstruction.
"...U.S. LNG capacity has doubled in recent years and is set to double again under projects already approved, the White House said. Current methods the Energy Department uses to evaluate LNG projects don’t adequately account for potential cost hikes for American consumers and manufacturers or the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, officials said.
“There’s a long runway here (for LNG projects) and we’re taking a step back and thinking, okay, let’s take a hard look before that runway continues to build out,’' said White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi."
The LNG project will move forward after the election, whether Biden or Trump is in the White House. Discount, heavily, any rhetoric you hear from any governmental office or campaign headquarters and wink at any of the earnest, feel-good propaganda from the Oil majors. Every last recoverable drop of oil will eventually be siphoned up from the earth's crust, from the Arctic to the North Pole. Lip service will continue to be paid to the anti-fossil fuel crowd---yes, yes, we're studying this and calculating that...and we will continue to clutter the landscape with windmills and magic black sun plates. Mankind will be producing and using as much energy from myriad sources as science, gravity, and the 2nd law of thermodynamics allows.
Any and all future U.S. energy policies will not make a dent in Co2 emissions. Zilch. Nada. None. Zero. It's a global phenomenon and nearly half the world's population lives in China and India and together they will be belching Co2 like there's no tomorrow and with little thought or care that the livable tomorrows might be numbered.
China is the template of what the Earth's energy near-term future looks like. They just built 35 new coal-burning power plants the size of River Rouge. More are on the way. The numbers on China projected solar projects are other-worldly. The Chinese have also made a commitment to a fully electric fleet of passenger vehicles in the next 10-15 years, a project, no matter where it is located on earth, that is about as green as month-old lettuce. India is now the most populous nation in the world, and they occupy the same developmental space that China did 40 years ago and plan on occupying the same space China now does and sooner rather than later.
And then there's the rest of the world, which isn't going away. The U.S. has no serious, coherent energy plan for the future. Nor does most of the rest of the world. You can't reverse engineer a modern, industrial, technologically advanced world economy that is run by fossil fuels and only exists because of fossil fuels. You can run a modern economy on solar, wind and other so-called "renewables"---just not the one we have. And you can augment a fossil-fuel based economy with solar, wind etc., but you can't replace one with them. Buy into the science behind climate change? Yes? No? Does it matter?
Here's the money graph:
..."The decision is complicated because Biden has praised U.S. exports in the past. But he has faced strong criticism from environmental groups who worry about the rapid expansion of LNG exports in recent years and question Biden’s commitment to phasing out fossil fuels such as oil and gas. U.S. oil production has surged since Biden took office."
Such a strong commitment to phasing out fossil fuels that U.S. oil production surged since
Biden took office. Who believes any nation will be cutting their fossil fuel use when every other nation is ramping up. Zilch. Nada. None. Zero.
I continue to think the core problem is distortion, capture and control of the dialogue around just about everything. Energy included. Most Americans are just fighting to survive the consequence of six decades of bad social/economic/financial policy. Bombarded by lies and manipulated by the ascending totalitarianism how would they have time to research and generate the truth/fact based reality that would put solutions on the table. But it is their, on the way to work, exhausted, on the freeway two hours before dawn, labor and faith holding the Republic together.
The psyop (LIE) talks over the top of legitimate discourse and brutalizes the participants while attempting to reduce everything and everyone to a lowest common denominator falsehood and caricature. The entirety of the psyop is to fracture social cohesion and prevent actual solutions while exploiting natural resources and economies for personal gain and profit. The swept under the rug un-prosecuted (energy involved) Biden/Ukraine scandal is no doubt only one example of the grift. The question is how do Americans regain their agency as citizens, personal control of their lives and resources without being convinced that they should abandon the Constitution Republic that informs the fact of their actual freedom. Which is exactly what DNC/CCP/EU Davos totalitarianism wants.
Blowing up a natural gas pipeline, creating an intentional collapse of a societies infrastructure and manipulation of access to the basic needs of a people for personal gain and profit harms the general population but has no effect what so ever on the perps. We can call it anything we want but this report confirms that the same totalitarianism forces that hurled the world into WWII are back in play. Free peoples were its sworn enemy then and they are its sworn enemy now. Act accordingly.
The Constitution is why we're in this mess. But the problem is never forthrightly or honestly addressed. It's a 250-year-old set of guidelines that are long-outdated and unsuitable for present day law, politics, and culture.
Then there are those who wish to make a good faith effort in constructing a new constitution more suitable for the modern realities of the 21st century, and those who would jettison it completely for their own nefarious ends. And here we are.
And there are those of us who believe that the Constitution is the first line of defense against those who believe that they can get away with anything. Political grifters and criminal financiers always claim visionary modernity as a first step in rationalizing their personal greed and avarice.
Talking off the top of my head (which we all do a lot): "WE THE PEOPLE"" are the responsible agents for the change we need. Honestly (as I probably repeat too much) I believe "isms are in practice dead as doornails. Revelations like this RACKET report make it clear that Americans are dealing with pathology not politics. One can polish the turd any way they like and call it anything they want but it is what it is. Ramaswamy was trying to have a conversation that pointed to the revolutionary enlightenment that birthed OUR nation, empowered and protected the common man and gave him agency and control of his own destiny. There is no left/right. No Democratic or Republican. Communist/capitalist. The American CONSTITUTIONAL Republic (and the world) is under assault by the same self-interested avaricious hubris and narcissism that fueled the ascent of 20th Century totalitarianism and slaughtered millions of human beings while (at a profit) proclaiming its virtuosity and burying them in the inhuman, sterile, ideological utopianism that defines the grave of the ideal.
Tech--(repeating myself again)--like the printing press, created an explosion in CONSCIOUSNESS that hurled WE THE PEOPLE into a brand new age. Like all explosions in consciousness and entries into a new age it illuminated political, financial, and social culture make them transparent to reality. In America despite long suspicion and attempts to avoid looking directly at the canker sore of D.C. corruption and criminal finance it was in our faces. The perps don't like it. But after centuries of experience in looting the hard earned treasure of others and destroying lives, they knew it was coming. THE FIGHT? (Because this is Sunday.) Jesus was nailed to the Cross and John the Baptist lost his head became they were truth speakers. Julian Assange? Ed Snowden? Leonard Peltier? Gonzalo Lira? The 80 plus and counting journalists who have lost their lives in Gaza?
An explosion of new CONSCIOUSNESS in the general population scares the sh't out of fascists and slavers. And the general population trying to come to grips with it. It makes some people talk our of their heads. Others out of their asses. A thriving truth/fact based human reality emanates from the heart. The American Constitution and its Bill of Rights is an engine of survival that already possesses the vision needed to produce the healing solutions necessary for the creation of the prosperous future Americans (and the world) deserve. We don't need an "ism" to tell us that. Those attempting to cripple it are enemies of free people everywhere.
I agree with you. The DNC/CCP/EU Davos malignancy must be, to paraphrase one DNC witch out of hell "..brought to heel.." and, what we call the "Republican Party" may prove a way forward. But it is only so because of the millions of Americans sheltering there. The American Constitution remains the only legitimate frame of political reference and the only enlightened engine of human survival.
The French got it right with their nuclear energy. But that doesn't mean anything, the plan is for poverty via artificial scarcity to control the population, thus they have hobbled their nuclear industry.
Just as the revolution will not be televised, the scarcity will not be artificial. Shortages and rationing soon arriving to your neighborhood. You can cavil with the commissar at the RCC (Ration Coupon Center) whether or not it's "artificial" or "real."
Stock-up on Chef-boyardee and dry legumes. And processed peanut butter with added oils and sugar. Helpful hint: When food is scarce, sources of "fat" should be prioritized over "protein" and "carbohydrate" sources when scavenging. Humans can go long periods without the latter two, but "fat" is...life.
The good news: Americans are well prepared and will fare better than most of the world when the shit really comes down, due to their immense stores of body fat. So there's that...
Perhaps because we moved so much of our manufacturing to China several decades ago? And Chinese citizens could then to afford to live more like westerners? Not trying to be provocative. Just providing a possible reason for that.
In outsourcing and offshoring, the US sacrificed the wellbeing of many of its middle class citizens and helped to lift more than a billion people out of poverty around the world, mostly in Asia. In terms of overall human wellbeing, it was an extraordinarily good deed.
For the Rust Belt working class in the US, it was, and is, painful.
As a result, the fate of the world’s CO2 emissions now rests in the hands of Xi Jinping, for better or for worse.
US is not in top ten of global countries emitting the most carbon per capita.
Relative carbon intensity per capita between the PRC and US is changing rapidly.
“ China…just built 35 new coal-burning power plants the size of River Rouge.”
PRC emissions are ~3x that of US. PRC emissions are growing. US emissions are declining.
PRC population is ~4x that of US and is declining while the US population is growing.
On a per GDP basis, PRC emissions are more than 2x that of the US.
PRC emissions per GDP are also significantly greater than those of other East Asian exporting economies: ~2x that of RoK and Japan., and ~3x that of RoC.
To paraphrase a previous post on Racket (apologies--I've forgotten the poster's handle), sadly, too many Americans have outsourced their critical thinking to third parties who act not for the benefit of the citizens but, rather, for themselves.
Think it may have been me -- verbatim on "outsourced their critical thinking." Somehow we need to get them to see this, though my sense is more are. I'm seeing decidedly more interest in No Labels among friends and associates this month.
Interestingly, the attacks on No Labels seem to be having more effect on them than Trump angles. Even diehard Dems have to acknowledge that's as undemocratic as it gets.
Many were upset about Bernie, and how badly he was treated by the DNC/powers that be- but they got over it quickly when told by their leaders (MSM) to direct their anger towards Trump and the deplorables. I don't have confidence that their attention spans will allow them to remain angry at the latest undemocratic behavior by the evil DNC!!
I agree. This is a globally coordinated phenomenon. Just remember the coordination of great reset speeches by western leaders. The only comfort I have is that ballots still count, otherwise they wouldn't work so hard on their lies and propaganda. Im still amazed that some would still vote for a Democrat.
Or as Mencken put it "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary."
They want the OPPOSITE of what they propose (or say will happen if their solutions aren't implemented) ... to happen. The Law of Opposite Effects works almost every time.
Beautiful! Additional, not more than 5 minutes ago (figuratively) they were saying "the border is secure" but now of course the GOPee house is creating an existential threat . . . . . . . . . border . .
There is a belief by some young platform providers (I can't tell if they're left, right, upside down or sideways) in the journalist Whitney Webb's claim that the bureaucratic surveillance monstrosity intends to manufacture an attack on the American tech communication network to seize control of it. In short, to make the requirements for internet use like those for boarding an airplane. Of course add the "we're doing it for your own good" limits on free speech, surveillance in the name of "national security" etc. Will they? I don't know? But I don't doubt that the DNC/CCP/EU Davos juggernaut is capable of it.
Whitney Webb? Please. And ha ha. Whitney Webb is a tool and mouthpiece (one of many well-compensated propagandists) for far-right bad actors who are disseminating this black flag shit---Generalissimo Mike Flynn, the two "Stevies," Bannon and Miller, the two prominent vatniks who immediately come to mind---and all the other colorful anti-democratic, pro-authoritarian chuds pulled and pushed by the gravitational mass that is Don Trump.
The annual "Cyber Polygon" exercise is basically a dress rehearsal for how to attack the net. Lots of shady NGO's weedling their way into the security systems of important institutions and infrastructure...
Interesting list of societal threats. Your accusation of authoritarianism on the part of people wanting to prevent those threats falters on the fact those people are pathetically bad at it. For example, Covid vaccine mandates. Democrats generally complied, but Republicans just didn't. The result was an exploding Covid death toll among Republicans. (https://politicsofthelastage.blogspot.com/2022/12/update-on-covid19-mask-and-vaccine.html).
The same with everything else, CRT, wokeism, are all falling under the knife. The threat of climate change is real, but the climate change activists are inept and won't be able to effectively stop it (https://diaryofthelastage.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-world-my-grandchildren-will-inherit.html_ ). Goodbye Miami, New Orleans, Houston. New Orleans is even now going underwater but no one seems to care.
Trump, I believe, is likely to win because the Democrats are hopelessly inept. They are running an 81 year old on the bridge of the usual mental issues men have at that age (I know, I'm 81).
I do find it interesting that you only include left wing issues threatening authoritarianism. This is typical that I find here. Mr. Taibbi also seems to filter out Republican misdeeds and concentrate only on those of the Democrats. Why not these:
Drag queens pose a societal threat and we must ban them and give us the power to save us.
LGBTQ+ stories in high school library books is a threat to our children so ban them and give us the power to infantilize them.
The purity of the blood of Americans is being threatened by an invasion of immigrants so let us post machine gun nests every 100 yards to protect us.
Republicans have expressed admiration for the authoritarian Orban of Hungary who has seized control over the media and their Supreme Court and arranged for his permanent election. I believe you should have far more fear of right wing authoritarianism, and far less fear for left wing authoritarianism which is thoroughly ineffective. Putin and Orban have shown how well it works. Go after immigration and the LGBTQ.
I unpaused my subscription to reply to this, Matt. You've overturned all the stones, but continue to have hope that the average Democrat voter can be appealed to by reason and truth. The Democrat Party is a cult, and its members are unwitting cultists who nevertheless act exactly as expected, every time. Your reporting fails completely to move the needle with them, but will serve as an excellent postmortem for the United States.
There are a lot of Democrats Matt will never be able to reach, but this is a very close election, and the tide is turning. If the Dems succeed at every trick they're trying to make, then the people will be forced to vote for Biden or some random Republican. I for one will vote for the random Republican. Democracy is truly at stake.
I would prefer to be optimistic, but I've seen enough of the depraved cynicism from Democrats to know better. Sure, it's "both sides," but for every 1 Steve Bannon there are 1000 Marc Eliases. Stick a fork in us.
Democracy sucks. It ensures oppression of the losing faction. Constitutional checks against mob rule, separation of powers, is the only way it can function, and when those are destroyed by the growing power of one of the branches (the President, the SC, especially) we are well and truly screwed.
And when appointed governmental posts amass great power to become "the deep state," "the bureaucratic state," or whatever you want to call it, democracy isn't involved at all anyway.
The other problem is Matt still stubbornly refuses to call 2020 a stolen election, a coup with a colour revolution. It baffles the mind he can see what happened from 2015 through to now, but cannot see that the election was stolen. They've admitted they did all those things. Yet, he won't say it out loud.
Matt, go watch 2000 Mules. And then realize, this was done in every swing state in multiple counties. Every swing state stopped counting at the same time in the middle of the night? Why? To see how many votes they had to create. And when restarted, every single one of them had tens of thousands of votes per batch with less than 1% Trump and some of them literally zero Trump votes? It's impossible, just as the shit the banks said happened that wasn't their fault was impossible.
The only explanation I can see is Matt still cannot accept that he was fooled - for years!
Come on Matt. I got faith in you! You can do it! SEE THE TRUTH. Please, please, please, do not take another 4 yrs to admit your mistake. Admit it, say it to everyone, and start seeing what's happening in the full context.
YOU ARE WITNESSING THE WILFUL DESTRUCTION OF THE UNITED STATES. It's been in published plans and reports for decades. You can fact check about 90% of their "predictions" (I call them promises) if you just look. The last 10% is in work right now... depopulation, destruction of the U.S., WW III so bad people worldwide will beg for a world gov't just so the war will stop, U.N. in charge of all citizens, control of people via vaccine passports... It's not too late. You can wake up...
Taibbi is an actual journalist. He is trying to maintain the appearance of political neutrality and must continue to do so, even when the truth of a matter is obvious. Explicitly opining on that truth is for the editorial page. Tone and diction are unavoidable indicators of opinion, and skilled writers like Taibbi can deliberately illustrate their assumptions with judicious choices.
We don't need another factional propagandist, another polemicist posing as a reporter.
Wonder if Genocide Joe will follow good friend in corruption Netanyahu and plan to exterminate or create a concentration camp for the 75 million Americans who voted for Trump and against Biden's "Democracy"? Biden proudly bragged about doubling the US incarceration rate from one million to two million (mostly non-violent drug offenders) with his Drug and Crime Bills as Senator. Deluded Biden believes he is the uber-man and must clear the world of the untermenschen: ethnic Russian Ukrainians, Houthis/Yemenis, Palestinians, and now the deplorable Trumpers. As Obama presciently noted: "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*ck things up."
He won't have to. Democrats have been baiting conservatives for years on 2A. Did you happen to watch the latest season of Fargo? If not, don't. It's a Hollywood leftist fever dream. But the big finale has a billionaire calling in a political favor (from the "orange idiot" - the story is set in 2019) to get the FBI to raid a compound of conservative religious zealot wife-murdering, election-stealing "Patriots" and kill them all.
Once upon a time such baiting would have been seen as the height of stupidity particularly after several wars and conflicts have just demonstrated the impotency of the American military to just brute force and high tech their way to victory in guerilla conflicts. In the world of brush wars, cold blooded geopolitics, and history books such things do not play out like Hollywood movies.
My point being that Democrats, and the left generally, already believe 2A advocates are a dangerous evil enemy, and now the idea of having the government go and kill them can be celebrated. But perhaps concentration camps allow them to murder at scale for cost.
As as 2A advocate I love what Democrats have done lately. They have managed to make gun ownership skyrocket among women and minorities over the last four years. I think a lot of these people wanted better policing and instead of no policing but what do I know? It used to be around a third of American households had guns but now recent data points to well over 40%. They are also asking for another far reaching smackdown of gun control laws due to their efforts to openly defy Bruen.
Biden has and continues to commute sentences and issue pardons for nonviolent drug offenders. It ain’t 1989 no more. He was a leading chud-ass on this issue, but that was back when there were a lot of chud-asses on that issue.
Biden was instrumental in his 1994 Crime Act, PROUDLY claiming credit for his role in doubling the number of incarcerated Americans from one million to two million. Of course he was not alone, there were many in bipartisan Tough on Crime competition thirty years ago. But Biden was the Carceral King.
I think it's laudatory for ALL Presidents to pardon and commute sentences for non-violent drug offenders. Our justice system is patently unfair to the Poor. There also should be mental health and addiction treatment apart from criminal imprisonment. And how will convicted felons fare if released? Out of all the useless people in DC, there should be a small federal government group evaluating non-violent offenders and recommending release in weekly or monthly public lists.
I remember Biden commuted sentences for eleven in December. Earlier in the year he had made a statement that he was releasing all federal inmates who were imprisoned for the SOLITARY crime of pot possession. There were none; pot possession was an add-on crime to get the accused to accept a more "lenient" plea bargain for a more serious crime. Biden wants to appeal to voters that he is still tough on crime, and also free those who were unfairly punished. Those eleven.
Shouldn't it be easy to ID non-violent "criminals" to be released at the federal level? And wouldn't that policy lead/ extend to many states with overcrowded jails? Or is the for-profit private carceral system untouchable? And Tough on Crime a requirement for success in politics?
At one time, you might have been able to say the same thing about the RP, but the schism between the global war-mongers propping up Haley and the growing libertarian faction represented by Ramaswamy means that it is still working more or less as a political party that actually represents the interests of its base and of rational people. There is inter-party debate.
The DP, the party of the left, has been destroyed by its lockstep capitulation to totalitarianism: the insanity of transsexual "rights" and the effort to steamroll everyone into accepting their nonsense via public school propaganda; the advancement of the "hate speech" concept; the neo-racism of their "anti-racism" game, and so forth.
You make a good point about the schools. Over at The Free Press this week they had a couple articles about how there simply is no conservative representation in school libraries. I can say first hand - my wife is a librarian - that they are a radicalized lot and literally buy all the "banned" books out of spite. The Dems have always had an advantage in that young people think with their hearts, but in the past decades they have successfully filled their brains with all of their Orwellian garbage. The DP is a cult, and they hold our kids hostage seven hours a day.
Exactly! I should have paid for Matt’s articles after the way he was treated during Congressional hearings on social media free speech interference. However, I became a paying subscriber because of this article and this one on how long the DNC oligarchy has planned their assault on American free and fair elections for over 2 decades; https://www.racket.news/p/the-anti-democratic-movement-targeted?utm_medium=reader
This is poorly understood, but it's time to say it again. It is the type of unfounded fears Matt describes here of Trump using the military as a dictator that CAUSED Jan. 6.
We know why the National Guard wasn't deployed, we don't have to guess. It was testified to by the three-person group that controlled the decision to make a request. While those people report up to Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell, those two were paying little attention (even when better leaders would have, just as a CEO of a manufacturing company is directly responsible for safety in the plant). But the decision was made by the three-person committee that controls the Capitol Police. House Sgt at Arms, Senate Sgt at Arms, and Chief Sund, the head of the Capitol Police. Sund testified that he wanted the Guard and really pushed for it. Vanity Fair reported insider information, confirmed publicly by many, that Trump had already approved thousands of Nat'l Guard troops, so the DoD would have been on board and approved a request. But a request from the affected area, in this case the Capitol Grounds, is needed, and thus that group of three needed to make a request.
Sund wanted to approve it. The other two testified to Congress in open session - again, this isn't speculation - that the exact reason they did not approve it was that they didn't want the optics of Trump appearing to bring the military to play in the election. Given that the rally was that day and Trump was vocal about that day in particular being one that mattered, much of the inside-the-beltway crowd felt that way. This myopic worry was fed by that elite group themselves - by things like, for example, the Liz Cheney-coordinated op-ed from "all living Secretaries of Defense" that said [paraphrasing] "we must be on guard against Trump using the military and we encourage all personnel to resist any unlawful orders". So in that histrionic zeitgeist, the two Sgts at Arms were also worried about these optics, and made about the dumbest decision you could make, to not deploy the National Guard in a case where it was fairly obvious it was needed or at least the right level of insurance.
Tucker Carlson's interview with Sund indicates that Jan 6 was a planned setup by Pelosi and Yogananda Pittman to intentionally produce the "insurrection".
We are living in a time that makes Roman politics in their dying empire seem rational and moral.
Implied, yes. Anyone who doesn't believe at this point that at the very least, Democrats and partisans in the FBI took advantage of Trump's event and agitated to cause the Capitol riot is either uninformed or a cultist. Trump bears responsibility for allowing himself to be setup, though. But like most of us, he continues to underestimate the depravity of the opposition.
Nah, it happened like I said. No Pelosi involvement. Plenty of post-J6 shenanigans from her, though, foremost being having Sicknick's remains in the Capitol Rotunda and allowing that lie to proliferate.
Yeah, that was gross. So a lifelong public servant and Republican can have his death exploited for Democrats political gain, to such an extreme, but oh boy, the name Seth Rich better never come out of my mouth or I'll get sued.
It has taken longer than it should have, but I have come to understand the political obsession with "optics". It means something that can be easily observed by everyone and not something that can be spun by the liars and frauds.
Very interesting, and the first I've heard of the three person group and their decision making. Could you suggest the most neutral yet complete source for more information on that, which I could show to skeptical moderates who would discount any highly partisan source but who are not blindered by strong partisanship? (Maybe Matt has even covered it, I don't read everything written by the dozens of sources I intermittently follow, not even Matt). Thanks.
I hadn’t heard of this either. I thought the President and Governors had the authority to call up the Nat Guard. In this case, this party of three had the authority of a Governor. Ok. I buy that, but since Trump supposedly approved of calling in the Guard, why was there any question? And wouldn’t the President override a Gov or this three party group? And if not, why did Trump not step in when the first window was smashed and give that threesome a pounding or go over there heads to DOD/Senate/House/Nat Guards top dogs. Instead he remained silent, disregarding a number of pleas by phone and in person from aides, congressional reps, his daughter. He sat by and watched. Think of his personality. Hard to believe he’d watch the the broken windows, tear gas, cops being beat up with flag poles, Capitol police cries for help, threats to Pence etc and just sit by, if he truly cared...either about the safety of his boys in blue or Congress, or VP(!) or for for his minions who were in harms way.
It was unfortunate that Michael Stenger, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, who was supposed to testify in the House hearings about instigators during the "Insurrection", dropped dead immediately before his scheduled appearance.
Separate from the "approval" topic - you say Trump "sat by and watched". What's your evidence of that? What time did he get back to his office, what time did he first put out a message, and what did the message say? You said he ignored pleas from his daughter, but her testimony was that within 5-10 min of getting to the office he had put out the tweet saying "remain peaceful". Do you have other evidence?
Well, I suppose you didn’t watch the J6 investigations live, as that was too MSM. But the phone voice recordings and testimony from his loyal staff and top aides. It’s all there.
I watched, we just have different impressions. It's hard to sell me on "he just could have tweeted "GO HOME" and it would have worked" but think that when he tweeted "STAY PEACEFUL" it had no strong effect.
I will put all links as replies in one spot here, but this is also a reply to Ann22 in part. This covers the Trump "approval" which was really "said he would happily approve" because the entity getting the NG troops has to request them. I.e. you can't send the National Guard to Montana in a time of peace if Montana doesn't want them. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/embedding-with-pentagon-leadership-in-trumps-chaotic-last-week
Here's where the Mayor of DC said "the police have this under control, do NOT send armed NG troops in, we do not want them; we have some unarmed ones already helping us". She had 340 unarmed troops directing traffic and such things.
Story plays out in these links. Some things I said were slightly off, but directionally my narrative from memory was right except for a little he-said he-said. And some hair splitting where the guys I am blaming are saying "well it wasn't ever a formal request" but in my eyes that was simply Sund knowing he didn't have the votes.
The Left are masters of projection. When caught doing something wrong, immediately they accuse the Right of precisely that same thing. Sometimes they do it before being caught, just in case.
If you know anything about American history, you'd know the Left was purged in a long bloody process. Eugene Debbs was put in jail. Huey Long was assassinated. McCarythism witch hunts forced 10's of thousands of Leftists out of their jobs in media, academia, and government. Actual left Socialist and Commie newspapers (of which there were many) were suppressed and shut down. MLK and Malcolm X were assassinated, as were many others. If MLK were around today heading up his Poor People's Movement, you better believe the Democrats would be stark raving mad against him, much as they were against Bernie Sanders.
Calling Democrats 'Left' is one of the greatest propaganda victories of the last 50 years. They're a Center-Right party that supports wars, privatization, the security state apparatus, and banks.
"If MLK were around today heading up his Poor People's Movement, you better believe the Democrats would be stark raving mad against him, much as they were against Bernie Sanders."
n.b. at the time of his assassination, MLK was in very bad odor with Team D for opposing the War On Vietnam and other examples of American imperialism.
Any analysis without recognition of the mis-definition of terms like “Left” “Capitalism” “Socialism” “Extreme Right” etc. is going to go off the rails. The application of labels generally only reveal which side of the fake Red/Blue MSM a person is inhaling. This has to be repeated over and over, since it’s a powerful tactic used to divide and distract.
"McCarythism witch hunts forced 10's of thousands of Leftists out of their jobs in media, academia, and government."
Oops, you said the quiet part out loud. You're supposed to say that there were no leftists in those places, just plain old, patriotic, American liberals. If McCarthy actually turned out leftists, it wasn't a witch hunt.
So you also said the quiet part out loud. You believe then, that it is okay to blacklist people based on their political views? I thought this was a free country without thought police.
I don't know about Mr. Curmudgeonly here, but I believe it's more than "okay to blacklist people based on their political views," but only if those "views" are communist. Communism must destroy the republic if it is to accomplish its aims. It is by definition seditious, and communists work to destroy the republic and replace it with a dictatorship of the proletariat, not through bullshit "democratic" means (that's for neo-Marxists) but by "whatever means necessary" (See the SDS, Russian revolution, Mao's China, and Cambodia's Pol Pot).
I would not, however, repeal any civil liberties in an effort to purge communists. Let them keep stumping on college campuses and publishing their "Daily Worker" (oops . . . that's defunct) or "Worker's World," since not enough people are buying their horseshit; it can fail on its own terms.
The American left has done a masterful job of tarring the HUAC and McCarthy as . . . let's see, what do they call them . . . "fascist" probably.
Liberalism's failure is assured with the toleration of Socialism and Communism. What's the adage? "Don't have a mind so open that your brains fall out."
The regime switches sides. I'm old enough to remember George W. Bush being an establishment darling and Democrats being the out-party. To Greenwald's point, left v right is not as important as pro-establishment v anti-establishment.
Yeah, the left right thing is all about getting people to accept things they don't agree with because it's what the "team" stands for. I get called a left-wing commie for some beliefs and a right wing nazi for others, sometimes both for the same principles like being pro-life I wish there were less baby killing (right wing) I'm also against the death penalty (leftie)
Correct. Anyone who thinks this election will be free and fair is a fool. All the leaks about Dems worried about Biden's poll numbers, etc., etc. are just a psy-op.
Of course. It doesn't matter if they get banana republic-type election numbers, "President Biden Was Triumphantly Re-Elected With 84% Of The Vote*" as long as they get to keep power and the goodies that come with it.
Its an amazing technique much like bratty children. Just accuse others of exactly what you are doing.
Do people forget? We had 4 years to see Trump as president , and it didn't happen. The country and the world was far better off. And thats the problem.
The globalists, the WEF , Soros, and the elites are running this criminal Biden show and they own the MSM mouthpiece to deliver the lies.
Funny how what the Dems say really applies to themselves:
Former defense chief Leon Panetta: “Like any good dictator, he’s going to try to use the military to basically perform his will.” - except Biden uses the CIA, FBI, and other alphabet agencies
"“the law is... almost helpless against a president who’s willing to ignore it.” - like Biden ignores enforcing the border, foisting DEI on us, and forgiving student loans.
Of course, the Dems have to destroy democracy to save it!
Just read an article today urging Biden to use Federal forces to take over the Texas National Guard at the border. As well as comments from two Dem Congressmen urging the same.
As I understand it, not entirely- they lifted a prohibition on the feds cutting through Texas' barriers, but said nothing about what Texas can or can't do (i.e. TX can repair any barriers the feds breach). It's getting into weird territory that we'd be better off avoiding though.
Are they going to start shooting if the Guard refuses to stand down?
The brass seems to have forgotten that the rank and file are populated by regular guys. They're not going to be gung-ho about drawing down on former military people just because some ribbon-collecting desk warmer in DC is too chicken to tell the bureaucrats what a monumentally stupid idea that is.
Interestingly enough, I wonder if the 25 states supporting Texas will be declared as "insurgent" and then a legal challenge to not let those states vote in the 2024 election. It seems like very 3D chess to me, both directions, on who blinks on this.
I understand your enthusiasm, but (as discussed by several folks on this site- way more knowledgable than me) what happens when TX secedes? US military bases, Colleges w/ federal funding, interstate hwy system etc. etc. I just watched the episode of Portlandia where Portland secedes from the US because too many Angelenos are flooding across its border. Very funny! They can't purchase Beyonce tix because their currency is not recognized! Secession is not an easy step!!!
The Dems are masters of projection and accusing their opponents of what they themselves are doing. Everything they were so afraid would happen under Trump has been done under Biden.
Virtually everything the ruling class says today is Jungian (or is it Freudian), projection, perfectly encapsulated in the famous wartime phrase "We had to destroy the village to save it".
Truly amazing and enlightening article Matt, thank you for your diligence, honesty and hard work. You’re a journalist who should receive the Pullitzer Prize if it were not such a throughly corrupted award.
One of the best things to come out of all this turmoil, is finding voices such as yours that are calm and methodical and, most of all, RATIONAL.
I value your work so much. You provide an accounting of information that is nonbiased and balanced.
I did NOT want Trump to run again, even though I voted for him twice. I knew it would turn into some desperate Kabuki Theater. However, now that all of this is stacked against him....in typical American style, I can't help but root for him. What is being done to him is the most undemocratic of all election shenanigans. It cannot be allowed to succeed. If they succeed, we will never see another honest election...or as close to honest as we have come in the past(pretty sure cheating of some sort happens in all elections).
I agree Lois, that we are in for some Kabuki theatre, but it wouldn’t matter if we had had a brand new impressive candidate, or Disantis or Viveck. The democrats would start all over vilifying every facet of his/her life. At least they are going to have to get creative to out do what they have already done to Trump. I think there are a lot more smart and vigilant voters who are on to their evil ways.
"...as close to honest as we have come in the past(pretty sure cheating of some sort happens in all elections)."
It's always been there, to one degree or another. What's more worrisome is how it's been streamlined and tech-nified the last twenty years or so to a degree never – EVER – seen before in this country. And largely gone unchallenged according to what had been rules regarding how elections must be administered. Absentee ballots? Voter registration without verified voter ID? Multiple absentee ballots sent to "registered" voters who haven't lived at their address-of-record for years? C'mon man, gimme some slack here! You expect me to believe that JB got more legitimate votes after campaigning mostly from his basement than the Star of the West who rose from one-term state Senator (never completed his one term either) to the Presidency in 2008? I got a bridge I'll sell you cheap....
Its pretty uncomfortable seeing all these powerful people become unhinged over what was ultimately a milquetoast presidency in terms of policies and accomplishments. Its pretty embarassing seeing the media obediently parrot their conspiracy theories about him to create public fear and anxiety. Using the military to accomplish his goals and crush his political appointments? That's just ridiculous. Ironically, he's out there working his butt off for votes while Biden strategically avoids stairs and microphones. The dude can hardly speak and he is one small stumble away from a palliative care consult.
The very least that the democratic party could have done to win this election is declare that Biden is a garbage candidate and go with someone else. How shallow is their bench that they don't have someone better than Biden? He wasted his entire presidency stuttering about democracy and giving away hundreds of billion dollars to other countries while our domestic economy has steadily but steeply declined. You can't win with a loser twice. Bunch of dumbasses.
I fear that as they always do, the elites have projected their strategies onto others, and have revealed the last step in their playbook: Military use of force against domestic enemies.
The absolutely frantic reaction to being removed from the levers of power suggests to me they are hiding stuff that will inevitably slither out -- and rapidly --- when they are not able to hold the door shut anymore. Nothing else makes sense, they are so unhinged about not controlling everything in perpetuity.
IMO, the biggest, largely uncovered scandal (only covered by Matt et al.) is not just the existance of these shadowy groups (Protect Democracy, Democracy Forward, TIP, Stanford EIP, etc.) but the extent that they are funded by our own government. Taxpayers are funding their own censorship and blatant election interference. These are clearly "in kind" donations to the DNC (another story) but the Feds shouldn't be funding ANY of these groups. I wonder how many could continue to exist if the Feds pulled their funding. The first thing the next president should do is to rescind ALL funding of non-governmental advocacy groups and NGOs. Further, "governmental" advocacy groups like the GEC should not even exist and should be closed immediately. So frustrating to know that I am funding the erosion of my own Civil Rights and my ability to vote for any candidate I want to.
Let's see. The Progressive-Democrat-Media-Academia-Government complex has told us:
Climate change poses an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
The pandemic poses an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
Traditional American values (aka the white patriarchy) pose an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
Capitalism poses an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
Fossil fuels pose an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
Republicans and conservatives pose an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us.
And of course Trump poses an existential threat and we must suspend legal and cultural norms, and give them the power to save us. (Actually this is the second round of Trump catastrophism.)
Now, what seems to be a common theme, and what can we infer that these people want?
In news from the White House just now:
“We will take a hard look at the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security, and our environment. This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time,” [Biden] said.
The EU will be forced to throw Ukraine (and maybe Estonia soon) under the bus since the U.S. doesn't want to ensure their energy independence, not to mention the benefit of U.S. jobs and exports. Global warming? China and India (and others) are making a mockery of attempts to reduce CO2. How stupid is this administration?
"How stupid is this administration?"
Oh, they are "hold me beer and watch this" stupid.
Shock at the antics of dangerous apes doesn't serve us well.
Very. Very stupid/incompetent.
I wonder why no one in DC sees looming energy shortages as an existential threat? For some of us, heat in winter is not a luxury, but literally the difference between life and death. When home heating becomes a survival challenge it will focus priorities for millions of people in a way that the imaginary threat of climate change has not.
The move to electrify everything is about control, not the climate. They can track every milliwatt you use with electricity. If you have an electric vehicle, they know your every movement. And they can control it all with the flip of a switch. And heating your home with electricity is about 3-5X the cost of with natural gas.
Rush was actually on to something when Geddy sang about the “motor law” in Red Barchetta!
You're right! I've listened to Red Barchetta probably 1,000 times. It's my favorite Rush song, except for all the others. But the context is exactly the same as where we are now, differing only by degree. Similarly, I think that 1984 was prescient beyond coincidence. Thanks for the perspective!
"It's my favorite Rush song, except for all the others."
I've got the same problem.
It's not a bug, it's a feature.
You said a mouthful there brother. They are intent on breaking everything so that they can "save us".
They will outlaw meat and our mouths will literally be full of bugs.
Thank you for saying that truth Hugh. I'd bet you 99 Americans out of 100 would think you're crazy. If only those 99 people would read the WEF's own statements that it is their plan. Farmers all over Europe are rejecting the orders to cull 90% of their cattle because of NOx. They are destroying the institutions necessary to sustain life on the planet in slow motion.
Except, bugs are dying out left and right.
Maybe many species, but I am sure cockroaches are doing fine. That's what you all will be eating. I will be dead. But not forgotten. After all, Soylent Green is...wait, there is a knock at the door.
Because manufactured poverty via artificial scarcity is a very effective means of controlling the population.
This is the wisest, most obvious objective of the motivation that drives the will of blind unprincipled brutes (US government officials) toward ultimate power in every totalitarian force in human history.
I don't care how many PhDs they have, how many theses they published in reputable journals, how sophisticated their rationales are for relieving the "little people'" of the "burden" of freedom. The lust for power trumps every excuse they come up with. Democrat or Republican, we the people MUST always push back against the elected elite when they condescendingly tell us they need more power "for our own good".
Surprisingly, the vast unknown but free-thinking Americans usually can come up with far better solutions than can the elected, power-biased and shackled personnel of the managerial elite. Who'd a thunk?
Joe Stalin noticed this….
Brilliantly stated.
And soon meat will be legislated into being unavailable…except for those with great wealth. We will eat bugs, and we will be happy.
And we will have done it to ourselves.
But the real fear is whether the know-it-alls in DC will care about our dire existential reality enough to do anything about it. My fear is that they will downplay the reality of our lack of essential energy for daily activities. via the grid, , life-saving heat, and indispensable electricity for daily life, and expect us to "deal with " being inconveniently colder and expect more primitive living conditions as the price we must all pay to "save the planet". WHO VOTED FOR THIS?
so...Biden wants the EU to freeze?
If we were talking about the people running the EU and the EU mechanisms, I'd be entirely onboard with the EU freezing.
Europeans, not so much, though there's a convincing argument to be made that they brought on themselves what's coming.
maybe the Europeans shouldn't have let the Russians blow up the Nord2 pipeline..(/s)
Russians didn't blow up the Nord2 pipeline. ;)
That’s why he added the /s (sarcasm). It was clearly the US - who stood to gain the most from the act of state sponsored terrorism of destroying civilian infrastructure.
Driving a wedge between Germany and Russia. Unluckily for Germany, they’re so eager to atone for WWII they’ve sided with the fascists again (the US).
ya think?
Maybe the Europeans shouldn't have green-signaled their way into being dependent on Russian natural gas.
And they can't say they weren't warned.
In the phrase " being dependent on Russian natural gas.", "dependent" has a deliberate negative tone. This negative view was intentionally built into all reporting of European use of Russian natural gas. The reason for this is clear, Russia was to be demonized, and then “dependency” could later be weaponized. That was what the reporting wanted to preconfigure. There was no pushback in the media and thus the plan to characterize use of Russian gas as a negative and dangerous situation, succeeded.
If a more positive view of Russia -- as a friendly and valuable partner in the prosperity of Europe -- would have been allowed, Then the phrase might very well have been:
"European prosperity is made possible by an abundant supply of cheap Russian energy. Clearly, Russia and and its European partners enjoy a strikingly beneficial partnership in the march to a prosperous and abundant future."
But no, the (((Neocons))), driven by 1000 years of implacable hatred, want to destroy and loot Russia.
You sound like Jake Sullivan. Your passive-voice bullshit shows a lack of understanding of economics. Nordstream 1 & 2 were built to facilitate trade. Europe needs cheap energy to operate. Russia has it. That pissed off Europe's US masters, so they got woke, armed Nazis in Ukraine and blew up Nordstream. Europe is sliding into deindustrialization at an ever-increasing rate, but we sure showed those Russkies, huh?!
Warned about what? Russia continues to honor its methane shipment commitments to EU countries via landline pipelines through Ukraine and Turkstream.
It is most unlikely that the Russians blew up their own pipeline. Most likely is that America did so.
The US did that.
Is this a sarcasm or a joke?
Europeans are fighting back against the fascist EU/WEF Davos tyranny. And they're suffering. 3000 plus arrests a year and prosecutions for speech, thought crimes and video posts. SUBSTACK needs a journalist who reports on what's happening to the other free peoples of the world. The DNC/CCP/EU Davos crowd fully intends to destroy all democratic institutions across the world.
How can the EU freeze? It's been turned into a hothouse by global warming, hasn't it?
We do get Winter in the North.
However all these tales of woe did not happen.
We are fine thank you.
Biden doesn't "want" anything. He is exactly what the grifters RACKET described in this report want: A marionette. They want what all fascists and totalitarians have always wanted. Uneducated throw away subsistence labor, access to and control of all natural resources for exploitation and profit without consequence.
The ultimate aim of the WEF and their minions is massive depopulation. With that as a goal, do you really think the elite care about them getting cold?
Sorry for the invective, but what an absolute dumbshit for a POTUS.
That’s why he has to get Kamala Harris as VP, it’s painful that a complete fucking moron like her is in her position. There are plenty of capable black women - they needed an idiot black woman to hit their diversity goal and ensure no one would try to replace Poopy Pants.
I guess someone wrote a book and claims that Jennifer Whitmer was Joe's first pick for VP running mate. We definitely dodged a bullet there. Kamala seems to be completely helpless, but mostly harmless, whereas, Whitmer in the White House could be a really terrible experience.
Color has nothing to do with competency and we all know it. The fight here is to recapture the American national dialogue, take away the power of the LIE people like Harris represent and replace it with the healthy truth/fact based conversation American's deserve. And we're winning!! (A recent Greenwald report on he collapse of the MSM affirms it.)
"You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time. But you can never fool all the people all the time." A.Lincoln
I think Americans are all pretty much tired of being played for fools.
I hope you are right, but judging by many of the people I deal w/-- they are chosing to remain in a fog of ignorance and stupidity!
He's not dumb. This is deliberate and it is getting the desired result. Higher energy prices, fewer and more costly goods, and housing becoming unaffordable. What good is the equity in one's home if there is no one to buy it?
He is dumb, but the damage is deliberate. We are ruled by a bunch of morons.
Agreed. The damage is and has for six decades been deliberate. But this RACKET report clearly indicates they're not morons. They are pitiable emotional/spiritual cripples with access to unregulated immense wealth. Much of it looted from the hard labor of American lives and American treasure. They have no intention of giving it up the gold mine. They're dangerous and they're scared. We're about to find out how powerful the truth is.
Not just POTUS but Canada Netherlands Germany Belgium. All of these governments are pushing through policies made at international level. It seems to me that transnational interests are intent on robbing the coffers of wealthy nations while at the same time facilitating their destruction. At which time they can move in and use the funds that were robbed from the people to buy up all the nations assets. That’s how to gain control of a country. Demolition to reconstruction.
"...U.S. LNG capacity has doubled in recent years and is set to double again under projects already approved, the White House said. Current methods the Energy Department uses to evaluate LNG projects don’t adequately account for potential cost hikes for American consumers and manufacturers or the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, officials said.
“There’s a long runway here (for LNG projects) and we’re taking a step back and thinking, okay, let’s take a hard look before that runway continues to build out,’' said White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi."
The LNG project will move forward after the election, whether Biden or Trump is in the White House. Discount, heavily, any rhetoric you hear from any governmental office or campaign headquarters and wink at any of the earnest, feel-good propaganda from the Oil majors. Every last recoverable drop of oil will eventually be siphoned up from the earth's crust, from the Arctic to the North Pole. Lip service will continue to be paid to the anti-fossil fuel crowd---yes, yes, we're studying this and calculating that...and we will continue to clutter the landscape with windmills and magic black sun plates. Mankind will be producing and using as much energy from myriad sources as science, gravity, and the 2nd law of thermodynamics allows.
Any and all future U.S. energy policies will not make a dent in Co2 emissions. Zilch. Nada. None. Zero. It's a global phenomenon and nearly half the world's population lives in China and India and together they will be belching Co2 like there's no tomorrow and with little thought or care that the livable tomorrows might be numbered.
China is the template of what the Earth's energy near-term future looks like. They just built 35 new coal-burning power plants the size of River Rouge. More are on the way. The numbers on China projected solar projects are other-worldly. The Chinese have also made a commitment to a fully electric fleet of passenger vehicles in the next 10-15 years, a project, no matter where it is located on earth, that is about as green as month-old lettuce. India is now the most populous nation in the world, and they occupy the same developmental space that China did 40 years ago and plan on occupying the same space China now does and sooner rather than later.
And then there's the rest of the world, which isn't going away. The U.S. has no serious, coherent energy plan for the future. Nor does most of the rest of the world. You can't reverse engineer a modern, industrial, technologically advanced world economy that is run by fossil fuels and only exists because of fossil fuels. You can run a modern economy on solar, wind and other so-called "renewables"---just not the one we have. And you can augment a fossil-fuel based economy with solar, wind etc., but you can't replace one with them. Buy into the science behind climate change? Yes? No? Does it matter?
Here's the money graph:
..."The decision is complicated because Biden has praised U.S. exports in the past. But he has faced strong criticism from environmental groups who worry about the rapid expansion of LNG exports in recent years and question Biden’s commitment to phasing out fossil fuels such as oil and gas. U.S. oil production has surged since Biden took office."
Such a strong commitment to phasing out fossil fuels that U.S. oil production surged since
Biden took office. Who believes any nation will be cutting their fossil fuel use when every other nation is ramping up. Zilch. Nada. None. Zero.
I continue to think the core problem is distortion, capture and control of the dialogue around just about everything. Energy included. Most Americans are just fighting to survive the consequence of six decades of bad social/economic/financial policy. Bombarded by lies and manipulated by the ascending totalitarianism how would they have time to research and generate the truth/fact based reality that would put solutions on the table. But it is their, on the way to work, exhausted, on the freeway two hours before dawn, labor and faith holding the Republic together.
The psyop (LIE) talks over the top of legitimate discourse and brutalizes the participants while attempting to reduce everything and everyone to a lowest common denominator falsehood and caricature. The entirety of the psyop is to fracture social cohesion and prevent actual solutions while exploiting natural resources and economies for personal gain and profit. The swept under the rug un-prosecuted (energy involved) Biden/Ukraine scandal is no doubt only one example of the grift. The question is how do Americans regain their agency as citizens, personal control of their lives and resources without being convinced that they should abandon the Constitution Republic that informs the fact of their actual freedom. Which is exactly what DNC/CCP/EU Davos totalitarianism wants.
Blowing up a natural gas pipeline, creating an intentional collapse of a societies infrastructure and manipulation of access to the basic needs of a people for personal gain and profit harms the general population but has no effect what so ever on the perps. We can call it anything we want but this report confirms that the same totalitarianism forces that hurled the world into WWII are back in play. Free peoples were its sworn enemy then and they are its sworn enemy now. Act accordingly.
The Constitution is why we're in this mess. But the problem is never forthrightly or honestly addressed. It's a 250-year-old set of guidelines that are long-outdated and unsuitable for present day law, politics, and culture.
Then there are those who wish to make a good faith effort in constructing a new constitution more suitable for the modern realities of the 21st century, and those who would jettison it completely for their own nefarious ends. And here we are.
And there are those of us who believe that the Constitution is the first line of defense against those who believe that they can get away with anything. Political grifters and criminal financiers always claim visionary modernity as a first step in rationalizing their personal greed and avarice.
Kris Kringle, a.k.a "Santa Claus," would like to have a word with you.
Only the Republican Party can save us now.
Talking off the top of my head (which we all do a lot): "WE THE PEOPLE"" are the responsible agents for the change we need. Honestly (as I probably repeat too much) I believe "isms are in practice dead as doornails. Revelations like this RACKET report make it clear that Americans are dealing with pathology not politics. One can polish the turd any way they like and call it anything they want but it is what it is. Ramaswamy was trying to have a conversation that pointed to the revolutionary enlightenment that birthed OUR nation, empowered and protected the common man and gave him agency and control of his own destiny. There is no left/right. No Democratic or Republican. Communist/capitalist. The American CONSTITUTIONAL Republic (and the world) is under assault by the same self-interested avaricious hubris and narcissism that fueled the ascent of 20th Century totalitarianism and slaughtered millions of human beings while (at a profit) proclaiming its virtuosity and burying them in the inhuman, sterile, ideological utopianism that defines the grave of the ideal.
Tech--(repeating myself again)--like the printing press, created an explosion in CONSCIOUSNESS that hurled WE THE PEOPLE into a brand new age. Like all explosions in consciousness and entries into a new age it illuminated political, financial, and social culture make them transparent to reality. In America despite long suspicion and attempts to avoid looking directly at the canker sore of D.C. corruption and criminal finance it was in our faces. The perps don't like it. But after centuries of experience in looting the hard earned treasure of others and destroying lives, they knew it was coming. THE FIGHT? (Because this is Sunday.) Jesus was nailed to the Cross and John the Baptist lost his head became they were truth speakers. Julian Assange? Ed Snowden? Leonard Peltier? Gonzalo Lira? The 80 plus and counting journalists who have lost their lives in Gaza?
An explosion of new CONSCIOUSNESS in the general population scares the sh't out of fascists and slavers. And the general population trying to come to grips with it. It makes some people talk our of their heads. Others out of their asses. A thriving truth/fact based human reality emanates from the heart. The American Constitution and its Bill of Rights is an engine of survival that already possesses the vision needed to produce the healing solutions necessary for the creation of the prosperous future Americans (and the world) deserve. We don't need an "ism" to tell us that. Those attempting to cripple it are enemies of free people everywhere.
I agree with you. The DNC/CCP/EU Davos malignancy must be, to paraphrase one DNC witch out of hell "..brought to heel.." and, what we call the "Republican Party" may prove a way forward. But it is only so because of the millions of Americans sheltering there. The American Constitution remains the only legitimate frame of political reference and the only enlightened engine of human survival.
By the way, not to embarrass or condescend to you, but "Only the Republican Party can save us now," was, well, not "advocacy."
Care to share what you've been smoking? Gotta be better than that over-the-counter retail shit out there.
The French got it right with their nuclear energy. But that doesn't mean anything, the plan is for poverty via artificial scarcity to control the population, thus they have hobbled their nuclear industry.
Just as the revolution will not be televised, the scarcity will not be artificial. Shortages and rationing soon arriving to your neighborhood. You can cavil with the commissar at the RCC (Ration Coupon Center) whether or not it's "artificial" or "real."
Stock-up on Chef-boyardee and dry legumes. And processed peanut butter with added oils and sugar. Helpful hint: When food is scarce, sources of "fat" should be prioritized over "protein" and "carbohydrate" sources when scavenging. Humans can go long periods without the latter two, but "fat" is...life.
The good news: Americans are well prepared and will fare better than most of the world when the shit really comes down, due to their immense stores of body fat. So there's that...
We are ramping down here in France.........the biggest polluters are the US and China.
The PRC emits more CO2 than the EU and the US combined.
Perhaps because we moved so much of our manufacturing to China several decades ago? And Chinese citizens could then to afford to live more like westerners? Not trying to be provocative. Just providing a possible reason for that.
In outsourcing and offshoring, the US sacrificed the wellbeing of many of its middle class citizens and helped to lift more than a billion people out of poverty around the world, mostly in Asia. In terms of overall human wellbeing, it was an extraordinarily good deed.
For the Rust Belt working class in the US, it was, and is, painful.
As a result, the fate of the world’s CO2 emissions now rests in the hands of Xi Jinping, for better or for worse.
Co2 emissions, Per capita, nobody comes close to the U.S. That's how you measure it.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/05/global-per-capita-emissions-explained-charts/
US is not in top ten of global countries emitting the most carbon per capita.
Relative carbon intensity per capita between the PRC and US is changing rapidly.
“ China…just built 35 new coal-burning power plants the size of River Rouge.”
PRC emissions are ~3x that of US. PRC emissions are growing. US emissions are declining.
PRC population is ~4x that of US and is declining while the US population is growing.
On a per GDP basis, PRC emissions are more than 2x that of the US.
PRC emissions per GDP are also significantly greater than those of other East Asian exporting economies: ~2x that of RoK and Japan., and ~3x that of RoC.
The Climate Change hysteria is nothing more than The My Body My Choice abortion banter bull shit used to gin up votes.
Fossil Fuels make the world go round.
And fossil fuels will continue to make the world go round, until they won't or don't or both.
Have to keep his climate allies happy. Who cares about Europe? Oh, no, it's Biden our NATO allies wanted, Trump was destroying NATO!!
All about the votes and keeping his far left climate idiots happy
To paraphrase a previous post on Racket (apologies--I've forgotten the poster's handle), sadly, too many Americans have outsourced their critical thinking to third parties who act not for the benefit of the citizens but, rather, for themselves.
Think it may have been me -- verbatim on "outsourced their critical thinking." Somehow we need to get them to see this, though my sense is more are. I'm seeing decidedly more interest in No Labels among friends and associates this month.
Interestingly, the attacks on No Labels seem to be having more effect on them than Trump angles. Even diehard Dems have to acknowledge that's as undemocratic as it gets.
Many were upset about Bernie, and how badly he was treated by the DNC/powers that be- but they got over it quickly when told by their leaders (MSM) to direct their anger towards Trump and the deplorables. I don't have confidence that their attention spans will allow them to remain angry at the latest undemocratic behavior by the evil DNC!!
Lot of 'em 'round here.
You mean like all the bad haircuts you see at the mall?
These people are not after Trump, they're after us. Trump is just in their way.
I agree. This is a globally coordinated phenomenon. Just remember the coordination of great reset speeches by western leaders. The only comfort I have is that ballots still count, otherwise they wouldn't work so hard on their lies and propaganda. Im still amazed that some would still vote for a Democrat.
The establishment Republicans are in on it, too. My rule of thumb is to vote for the candidate that the media hates the most.
That sounds like it'll take a lot of research and data collating to make the right decision. I'm gonna stick with my "hunches."
Nah, it's simple. The media all parrot the same narrative.
Indeed. But Trump is a handy target and rallying cry--which is probably why they created him.
That’s exactly right. It is a class war. A war on populism.
"...and give them the power to save us."
Or as Mencken put it "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary."
In The Road to Wigan Pier-written pre-television, Orwell complains about “the type of person who reads too many newspapers”.
Matt & Walter had a good laugh about "existential" recently
It replaces the word “very.” Love those guys!
They want the OPPOSITE of what they propose (or say will happen if their solutions aren't implemented) ... to happen. The Law of Opposite Effects works almost every time.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/bills-law-of-opposite-effects-kicks?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Beautiful! Additional, not more than 5 minutes ago (figuratively) they were saying "the border is secure" but now of course the GOPee house is creating an existential threat . . . . . . . . . border . .
There is a belief by some young platform providers (I can't tell if they're left, right, upside down or sideways) in the journalist Whitney Webb's claim that the bureaucratic surveillance monstrosity intends to manufacture an attack on the American tech communication network to seize control of it. In short, to make the requirements for internet use like those for boarding an airplane. Of course add the "we're doing it for your own good" limits on free speech, surveillance in the name of "national security" etc. Will they? I don't know? But I don't doubt that the DNC/CCP/EU Davos juggernaut is capable of it.
Whitney Webb? Please. And ha ha. Whitney Webb is a tool and mouthpiece (one of many well-compensated propagandists) for far-right bad actors who are disseminating this black flag shit---Generalissimo Mike Flynn, the two "Stevies," Bannon and Miller, the two prominent vatniks who immediately come to mind---and all the other colorful anti-democratic, pro-authoritarian chuds pulled and pushed by the gravitational mass that is Don Trump.
The annual "Cyber Polygon" exercise is basically a dress rehearsal for how to attack the net. Lots of shady NGO's weedling their way into the security systems of important institutions and infrastructure...
I’m so done with the words “existential” and “norms”
Hope you made it through "transitory" too. :-)
The people that have adopted this common theme are the existential threat.
Nicely done, science!
🎯
Excellent analysis
Interesting list of societal threats. Your accusation of authoritarianism on the part of people wanting to prevent those threats falters on the fact those people are pathetically bad at it. For example, Covid vaccine mandates. Democrats generally complied, but Republicans just didn't. The result was an exploding Covid death toll among Republicans. (https://politicsofthelastage.blogspot.com/2022/12/update-on-covid19-mask-and-vaccine.html).
The same with everything else, CRT, wokeism, are all falling under the knife. The threat of climate change is real, but the climate change activists are inept and won't be able to effectively stop it (https://diaryofthelastage.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-world-my-grandchildren-will-inherit.html_ ). Goodbye Miami, New Orleans, Houston. New Orleans is even now going underwater but no one seems to care.
Trump, I believe, is likely to win because the Democrats are hopelessly inept. They are running an 81 year old on the bridge of the usual mental issues men have at that age (I know, I'm 81).
I do find it interesting that you only include left wing issues threatening authoritarianism. This is typical that I find here. Mr. Taibbi also seems to filter out Republican misdeeds and concentrate only on those of the Democrats. Why not these:
Drag queens pose a societal threat and we must ban them and give us the power to save us.
LGBTQ+ stories in high school library books is a threat to our children so ban them and give us the power to infantilize them.
The purity of the blood of Americans is being threatened by an invasion of immigrants so let us post machine gun nests every 100 yards to protect us.
Republicans have expressed admiration for the authoritarian Orban of Hungary who has seized control over the media and their Supreme Court and arranged for his permanent election. I believe you should have far more fear of right wing authoritarianism, and far less fear for left wing authoritarianism which is thoroughly ineffective. Putin and Orban have shown how well it works. Go after immigration and the LGBTQ.
Apologies for the Blair typo, and it is fixed now in the online version.
I unpaused my subscription to reply to this, Matt. You've overturned all the stones, but continue to have hope that the average Democrat voter can be appealed to by reason and truth. The Democrat Party is a cult, and its members are unwitting cultists who nevertheless act exactly as expected, every time. Your reporting fails completely to move the needle with them, but will serve as an excellent postmortem for the United States.
There are a lot of Democrats Matt will never be able to reach, but this is a very close election, and the tide is turning. If the Dems succeed at every trick they're trying to make, then the people will be forced to vote for Biden or some random Republican. I for one will vote for the random Republican. Democracy is truly at stake.
I would prefer to be optimistic, but I've seen enough of the depraved cynicism from Democrats to know better. Sure, it's "both sides," but for every 1 Steve Bannon there are 1000 Marc Eliases. Stick a fork in us.
RFK JR for me
RFK who supports Israel?
Probably taking that stance remembering what happened to his father...
Jill Stein for me, but that's the point. If Dems are successful, we won't be able to vote for them.
Democracy sucks. It ensures oppression of the losing faction. Constitutional checks against mob rule, separation of powers, is the only way it can function, and when those are destroyed by the growing power of one of the branches (the President, the SC, especially) we are well and truly screwed.
And when appointed governmental posts amass great power to become "the deep state," "the bureaucratic state," or whatever you want to call it, democracy isn't involved at all anyway.
The other problem is Matt still stubbornly refuses to call 2020 a stolen election, a coup with a colour revolution. It baffles the mind he can see what happened from 2015 through to now, but cannot see that the election was stolen. They've admitted they did all those things. Yet, he won't say it out loud.
Matt, go watch 2000 Mules. And then realize, this was done in every swing state in multiple counties. Every swing state stopped counting at the same time in the middle of the night? Why? To see how many votes they had to create. And when restarted, every single one of them had tens of thousands of votes per batch with less than 1% Trump and some of them literally zero Trump votes? It's impossible, just as the shit the banks said happened that wasn't their fault was impossible.
The only explanation I can see is Matt still cannot accept that he was fooled - for years!
Come on Matt. I got faith in you! You can do it! SEE THE TRUTH. Please, please, please, do not take another 4 yrs to admit your mistake. Admit it, say it to everyone, and start seeing what's happening in the full context.
YOU ARE WITNESSING THE WILFUL DESTRUCTION OF THE UNITED STATES. It's been in published plans and reports for decades. You can fact check about 90% of their "predictions" (I call them promises) if you just look. The last 10% is in work right now... depopulation, destruction of the U.S., WW III so bad people worldwide will beg for a world gov't just so the war will stop, U.N. in charge of all citizens, control of people via vaccine passports... It's not too late. You can wake up...
Taibbi is an actual journalist. He is trying to maintain the appearance of political neutrality and must continue to do so, even when the truth of a matter is obvious. Explicitly opining on that truth is for the editorial page. Tone and diction are unavoidable indicators of opinion, and skilled writers like Taibbi can deliberately illustrate their assumptions with judicious choices.
We don't need another factional propagandist, another polemicist posing as a reporter.
Wonder if Genocide Joe will follow good friend in corruption Netanyahu and plan to exterminate or create a concentration camp for the 75 million Americans who voted for Trump and against Biden's "Democracy"? Biden proudly bragged about doubling the US incarceration rate from one million to two million (mostly non-violent drug offenders) with his Drug and Crime Bills as Senator. Deluded Biden believes he is the uber-man and must clear the world of the untermenschen: ethnic Russian Ukrainians, Houthis/Yemenis, Palestinians, and now the deplorable Trumpers. As Obama presciently noted: "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*ck things up."
He won't have to. Democrats have been baiting conservatives for years on 2A. Did you happen to watch the latest season of Fargo? If not, don't. It's a Hollywood leftist fever dream. But the big finale has a billionaire calling in a political favor (from the "orange idiot" - the story is set in 2019) to get the FBI to raid a compound of conservative religious zealot wife-murdering, election-stealing "Patriots" and kill them all.
Once upon a time such baiting would have been seen as the height of stupidity particularly after several wars and conflicts have just demonstrated the impotency of the American military to just brute force and high tech their way to victory in guerilla conflicts. In the world of brush wars, cold blooded geopolitics, and history books such things do not play out like Hollywood movies.
My point being that Democrats, and the left generally, already believe 2A advocates are a dangerous evil enemy, and now the idea of having the government go and kill them can be celebrated. But perhaps concentration camps allow them to murder at scale for cost.
As as 2A advocate I love what Democrats have done lately. They have managed to make gun ownership skyrocket among women and minorities over the last four years. I think a lot of these people wanted better policing and instead of no policing but what do I know? It used to be around a third of American households had guns but now recent data points to well over 40%. They are also asking for another far reaching smackdown of gun control laws due to their efforts to openly defy Bruen.
Biden has and continues to commute sentences and issue pardons for nonviolent drug offenders. It ain’t 1989 no more. He was a leading chud-ass on this issue, but that was back when there were a lot of chud-asses on that issue.
Biden was instrumental in his 1994 Crime Act, PROUDLY claiming credit for his role in doubling the number of incarcerated Americans from one million to two million. Of course he was not alone, there were many in bipartisan Tough on Crime competition thirty years ago. But Biden was the Carceral King.
I think it's laudatory for ALL Presidents to pardon and commute sentences for non-violent drug offenders. Our justice system is patently unfair to the Poor. There also should be mental health and addiction treatment apart from criminal imprisonment. And how will convicted felons fare if released? Out of all the useless people in DC, there should be a small federal government group evaluating non-violent offenders and recommending release in weekly or monthly public lists.
I remember Biden commuted sentences for eleven in December. Earlier in the year he had made a statement that he was releasing all federal inmates who were imprisoned for the SOLITARY crime of pot possession. There were none; pot possession was an add-on crime to get the accused to accept a more "lenient" plea bargain for a more serious crime. Biden wants to appeal to voters that he is still tough on crime, and also free those who were unfairly punished. Those eleven.
Shouldn't it be easy to ID non-violent "criminals" to be released at the federal level? And wouldn't that policy lead/ extend to many states with overcrowded jails? Or is the for-profit private carceral system untouchable? And Tough on Crime a requirement for success in politics?
At one time, you might have been able to say the same thing about the RP, but the schism between the global war-mongers propping up Haley and the growing libertarian faction represented by Ramaswamy means that it is still working more or less as a political party that actually represents the interests of its base and of rational people. There is inter-party debate.
The DP, the party of the left, has been destroyed by its lockstep capitulation to totalitarianism: the insanity of transsexual "rights" and the effort to steamroll everyone into accepting their nonsense via public school propaganda; the advancement of the "hate speech" concept; the neo-racism of their "anti-racism" game, and so forth.
You make a good point about the schools. Over at The Free Press this week they had a couple articles about how there simply is no conservative representation in school libraries. I can say first hand - my wife is a librarian - that they are a radicalized lot and literally buy all the "banned" books out of spite. The Dems have always had an advantage in that young people think with their hearts, but in the past decades they have successfully filled their brains with all of their Orwellian garbage. The DP is a cult, and they hold our kids hostage seven hours a day.
How anyone can call the DP left is..............?
I use "left" to indicate neo-Marxists. Old-school socialists are a dying breed. Jimmy Dore is a good example.
95% of America has no idea who Taibbi is. You need a needle before you can move it.
Matt,
Been following your work for years and lurking here as a freeloader for a while now. Today’s note put me over the edge.
You are doing important work. Deserves to be financially supported. So I’m now a paying subscriber.
Thanks for what you have been doing.
~ j
Exactly! I should have paid for Matt’s articles after the way he was treated during Congressional hearings on social media free speech interference. However, I became a paying subscriber because of this article and this one on how long the DNC oligarchy has planned their assault on American free and fair elections for over 2 decades; https://www.racket.news/p/the-anti-democratic-movement-targeted?utm_medium=reader
This is poorly understood, but it's time to say it again. It is the type of unfounded fears Matt describes here of Trump using the military as a dictator that CAUSED Jan. 6.
We know why the National Guard wasn't deployed, we don't have to guess. It was testified to by the three-person group that controlled the decision to make a request. While those people report up to Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell, those two were paying little attention (even when better leaders would have, just as a CEO of a manufacturing company is directly responsible for safety in the plant). But the decision was made by the three-person committee that controls the Capitol Police. House Sgt at Arms, Senate Sgt at Arms, and Chief Sund, the head of the Capitol Police. Sund testified that he wanted the Guard and really pushed for it. Vanity Fair reported insider information, confirmed publicly by many, that Trump had already approved thousands of Nat'l Guard troops, so the DoD would have been on board and approved a request. But a request from the affected area, in this case the Capitol Grounds, is needed, and thus that group of three needed to make a request.
Sund wanted to approve it. The other two testified to Congress in open session - again, this isn't speculation - that the exact reason they did not approve it was that they didn't want the optics of Trump appearing to bring the military to play in the election. Given that the rally was that day and Trump was vocal about that day in particular being one that mattered, much of the inside-the-beltway crowd felt that way. This myopic worry was fed by that elite group themselves - by things like, for example, the Liz Cheney-coordinated op-ed from "all living Secretaries of Defense" that said [paraphrasing] "we must be on guard against Trump using the military and we encourage all personnel to resist any unlawful orders". So in that histrionic zeitgeist, the two Sgts at Arms were also worried about these optics, and made about the dumbest decision you could make, to not deploy the National Guard in a case where it was fairly obvious it was needed or at least the right level of insurance.
The rest is history!
Tucker Carlson's interview with Sund indicates that Jan 6 was a planned setup by Pelosi and Yogananda Pittman to intentionally produce the "insurrection".
We are living in a time that makes Roman politics in their dying empire seem rational and moral.
Implied, yes. Anyone who doesn't believe at this point that at the very least, Democrats and partisans in the FBI took advantage of Trump's event and agitated to cause the Capitol riot is either uninformed or a cultist. Trump bears responsibility for allowing himself to be setup, though. But like most of us, he continues to underestimate the depravity of the opposition.
Nah, it happened like I said. No Pelosi involvement. Plenty of post-J6 shenanigans from her, though, foremost being having Sicknick's remains in the Capitol Rotunda and allowing that lie to proliferate.
Yeah, that was gross. So a lifelong public servant and Republican can have his death exploited for Democrats political gain, to such an extreme, but oh boy, the name Seth Rich better never come out of my mouth or I'll get sued.
It has taken longer than it should have, but I have come to understand the political obsession with "optics". It means something that can be easily observed by everyone and not something that can be spun by the liars and frauds.
Very interesting, and the first I've heard of the three person group and their decision making. Could you suggest the most neutral yet complete source for more information on that, which I could show to skeptical moderates who would discount any highly partisan source but who are not blindered by strong partisanship? (Maybe Matt has even covered it, I don't read everything written by the dozens of sources I intermittently follow, not even Matt). Thanks.
Start with Tucker’s interview with Sund.
I hadn’t heard of this either. I thought the President and Governors had the authority to call up the Nat Guard. In this case, this party of three had the authority of a Governor. Ok. I buy that, but since Trump supposedly approved of calling in the Guard, why was there any question? And wouldn’t the President override a Gov or this three party group? And if not, why did Trump not step in when the first window was smashed and give that threesome a pounding or go over there heads to DOD/Senate/House/Nat Guards top dogs. Instead he remained silent, disregarding a number of pleas by phone and in person from aides, congressional reps, his daughter. He sat by and watched. Think of his personality. Hard to believe he’d watch the the broken windows, tear gas, cops being beat up with flag poles, Capitol police cries for help, threats to Pence etc and just sit by, if he truly cared...either about the safety of his boys in blue or Congress, or VP(!) or for for his minions who were in harms way.
It was unfortunate that Michael Stenger, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, who was supposed to testify in the House hearings about instigators during the "Insurrection", dropped dead immediately before his scheduled appearance.
for sure!
Wow. No change with this one. The washing of the brain is complete.
Separate from the "approval" topic - you say Trump "sat by and watched". What's your evidence of that? What time did he get back to his office, what time did he first put out a message, and what did the message say? You said he ignored pleas from his daughter, but her testimony was that within 5-10 min of getting to the office he had put out the tweet saying "remain peaceful". Do you have other evidence?
Well, I suppose you didn’t watch the J6 investigations live, as that was too MSM. But the phone voice recordings and testimony from his loyal staff and top aides. It’s all there.
I watched, we just have different impressions. It's hard to sell me on "he just could have tweeted "GO HOME" and it would have worked" but think that when he tweeted "STAY PEACEFUL" it had no strong effect.
See post under comment by Passion guided by reason - trying to keep all links to background together
If you watched the Jan 6 timeline you would see he was still in the middle of his speech and unaware of what was taking place.
Here is a good one for the approval structure... https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-235651652542
I will put all links as replies in one spot here, but this is also a reply to Ann22 in part. This covers the Trump "approval" which was really "said he would happily approve" because the entity getting the NG troops has to request them. I.e. you can't send the National Guard to Montana in a time of peace if Montana doesn't want them. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/embedding-with-pentagon-leadership-in-trumps-chaotic-last-week
Here's where the Mayor of DC said "the police have this under control, do NOT send armed NG troops in, we do not want them; we have some unarmed ones already helping us". She had 340 unarmed troops directing traffic and such things.
https://www.scribd.com/document/582684364/Bowser-Letter?irclickid=VLLSmEUfwxyPTzLxqZWm5000UkHzMd2l3TPVzs0&irpid=4328530&utm_source=impact&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Scribd_affiliate_pdm_acquisition_JoinGekko.com&sharedid=&irgwc=1#from_embed
Story plays out in these links. Some things I said were slightly off, but directionally my narrative from memory was right except for a little he-said he-said. And some hair splitting where the guys I am blaming are saying "well it wasn't ever a formal request" but in my eyes that was simply Sund knowing he didn't have the votes.
https://www.rules.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Jan%206%20HSGAC%20Rules%20Exec%20Summary.pdf
https://www.rules.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony_Sund.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/us/politics/michael-stenger-dead.html
https://www.newsweek.com/michael-stenger-said-about-jan-6-professional-agitators-statement-1719740
Your hard work is apparent and appreciated 🙂
"The fix is in. To “protect democracy,” democracy is already being canceled. We just haven’t admitted the implications of this to ourselves yet."
Of course, the fix is in. "Muh Democracy Is Saved!" (by imprisoning the opposition and/or banning him from the ballot)
Anyway, the United States is in no wise a "democracy", nor is it a "democratic republic" but an oligarchy featuring lawful de facto political bribery.
Sadly, I think we've downgraded to kakistocracy...
A kleptocratic kikocratic regime from Hell. Good luck to us 🤞
Amen Brother!
🎯
America is rapidly approaching the Jacobin Stage of a rotting politic.
The Left are masters of projection. When caught doing something wrong, immediately they accuse the Right of precisely that same thing. Sometimes they do it before being caught, just in case.
If you know anything about American history, you'd know the Left was purged in a long bloody process. Eugene Debbs was put in jail. Huey Long was assassinated. McCarythism witch hunts forced 10's of thousands of Leftists out of their jobs in media, academia, and government. Actual left Socialist and Commie newspapers (of which there were many) were suppressed and shut down. MLK and Malcolm X were assassinated, as were many others. If MLK were around today heading up his Poor People's Movement, you better believe the Democrats would be stark raving mad against him, much as they were against Bernie Sanders.
Calling Democrats 'Left' is one of the greatest propaganda victories of the last 50 years. They're a Center-Right party that supports wars, privatization, the security state apparatus, and banks.
"If MLK were around today heading up his Poor People's Movement, you better believe the Democrats would be stark raving mad against him, much as they were against Bernie Sanders."
n.b. at the time of his assassination, MLK was in very bad odor with Team D for opposing the War On Vietnam and other examples of American imperialism.
He was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers.
THAT was a bridge too far, my friends.
I listen to “Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam” every year on MLK Day. Great speech that will be timeless in its application.
Also “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” is one of the finest expositions on Just vs Unjust Laws.
Any analysis without recognition of the mis-definition of terms like “Left” “Capitalism” “Socialism” “Extreme Right” etc. is going to go off the rails. The application of labels generally only reveal which side of the fake Red/Blue MSM a person is inhaling. This has to be repeated over and over, since it’s a powerful tactic used to divide and distract.
"McCarythism witch hunts forced 10's of thousands of Leftists out of their jobs in media, academia, and government."
Oops, you said the quiet part out loud. You're supposed to say that there were no leftists in those places, just plain old, patriotic, American liberals. If McCarthy actually turned out leftists, it wasn't a witch hunt.
So you also said the quiet part out loud. You believe then, that it is okay to blacklist people based on their political views? I thought this was a free country without thought police.
Tell that to everyone who peacefully demonstrated in DC on Jan 6th.
I actually agree, the peaceful demonstrators on the 6th should not have suffered any consequences.
I don't know about Mr. Curmudgeonly here, but I believe it's more than "okay to blacklist people based on their political views," but only if those "views" are communist. Communism must destroy the republic if it is to accomplish its aims. It is by definition seditious, and communists work to destroy the republic and replace it with a dictatorship of the proletariat, not through bullshit "democratic" means (that's for neo-Marxists) but by "whatever means necessary" (See the SDS, Russian revolution, Mao's China, and Cambodia's Pol Pot).
I would not, however, repeal any civil liberties in an effort to purge communists. Let them keep stumping on college campuses and publishing their "Daily Worker" (oops . . . that's defunct) or "Worker's World," since not enough people are buying their horseshit; it can fail on its own terms.
The American left has done a masterful job of tarring the HUAC and McCarthy as . . . let's see, what do they call them . . . "fascist" probably.
Liberalism's failure is assured with the toleration of Socialism and Communism. What's the adage? "Don't have a mind so open that your brains fall out."
The regime switches sides. I'm old enough to remember George W. Bush being an establishment darling and Democrats being the out-party. To Greenwald's point, left v right is not as important as pro-establishment v anti-establishment.
Yeah, the left right thing is all about getting people to accept things they don't agree with because it's what the "team" stands for. I get called a left-wing commie for some beliefs and a right wing nazi for others, sometimes both for the same principles like being pro-life I wish there were less baby killing (right wing) I'm also against the death penalty (leftie)
People should be loyal to principles not parties.
Totally agree.
Matt is the left
No wonder the Dems are not upset or scared that they won't win. They already have plans in place to subvert democracy.
Correct. Anyone who thinks this election will be free and fair is a fool. All the leaks about Dems worried about Biden's poll numbers, etc., etc. are just a psy-op.
Of course. It doesn't matter if they get banana republic-type election numbers, "President Biden Was Triumphantly Re-Elected With 84% Of The Vote*" as long as they get to keep power and the goodies that come with it.
*on 17% turnout
Day-O!
Exactly. There's a reason they aren't worried about pissing of voters -- they already have ballots.
Matt deserves the Congressional Gold Medal for this one!
You're right. Instead, he gets IRS thugs at his front door while he's being grilled by fuckwit Democrats while in congress. War is peace.
Its an amazing technique much like bratty children. Just accuse others of exactly what you are doing.
Do people forget? We had 4 years to see Trump as president , and it didn't happen. The country and the world was far better off. And thats the problem.
The globalists, the WEF , Soros, and the elites are running this criminal Biden show and they own the MSM mouthpiece to deliver the lies.
Funny how what the Dems say really applies to themselves:
Former defense chief Leon Panetta: “Like any good dictator, he’s going to try to use the military to basically perform his will.” - except Biden uses the CIA, FBI, and other alphabet agencies
"“the law is... almost helpless against a president who’s willing to ignore it.” - like Biden ignores enforcing the border, foisting DEI on us, and forgiving student loans.
Of course, the Dems have to destroy democracy to save it!
Just read an article today urging Biden to use Federal forces to take over the Texas National Guard at the border. As well as comments from two Dem Congressmen urging the same.
25 states have stated support for Texas and its struggle to defend itself.
Far out! what will be our Fort Sumter?
Supreme Court has ruled that Texas should stand down.
As I understand it, not entirely- they lifted a prohibition on the feds cutting through Texas' barriers, but said nothing about what Texas can or can't do (i.e. TX can repair any barriers the feds breach). It's getting into weird territory that we'd be better off avoiding though.
Yep. After all the earlier claims about a "potential constitutional crisis" about this, that, or the other, this looks like it could be a real one.
I hope they don't.
Are they going to start shooting if the Guard refuses to stand down?
The brass seems to have forgotten that the rank and file are populated by regular guys. They're not going to be gung-ho about drawing down on former military people just because some ribbon-collecting desk warmer in DC is too chicken to tell the bureaucrats what a monumentally stupid idea that is.
Interestingly enough, I wonder if the 25 states supporting Texas will be declared as "insurgent" and then a legal challenge to not let those states vote in the 2024 election. It seems like very 3D chess to me, both directions, on who blinks on this.
They will, and then they'll be tossed into Hillary's "Basket of deplorables".
Maybe this will drive the Texas legislature to secede. That would be great!
I understand your enthusiasm, but (as discussed by several folks on this site- way more knowledgable than me) what happens when TX secedes? US military bases, Colleges w/ federal funding, interstate hwy system etc. etc. I just watched the episode of Portlandia where Portland secedes from the US because too many Angelenos are flooding across its border. Very funny! They can't purchase Beyonce tix because their currency is not recognized! Secession is not an easy step!!!
Who knows?
Let the chips fall.
Who is doing the urging?
Congressman Joaquin Castro, among others
www.inquirer.com/opinion/texas-border-abbott-biden-national-guard-20240125.html
Projection!
The Dems are masters of projection and accusing their opponents of what they themselves are doing. Everything they were so afraid would happen under Trump has been done under Biden.
Virtually everything the ruling class says today is Jungian (or is it Freudian), projection, perfectly encapsulated in the famous wartime phrase "We had to destroy the village to save it".
Truly amazing and enlightening article Matt, thank you for your diligence, honesty and hard work. You’re a journalist who should receive the Pullitzer Prize if it were not such a throughly corrupted award.
Pultizer: now a badge of shame
Sort of like The Novel Peace Prize..... 😢
The most dangerous symptom of TDS is the willingness to abandon principles in the name of defeating Trump.
This is a feature, not a bug.
One of the best things to come out of all this turmoil, is finding voices such as yours that are calm and methodical and, most of all, RATIONAL.
I value your work so much. You provide an accounting of information that is nonbiased and balanced.
I did NOT want Trump to run again, even though I voted for him twice. I knew it would turn into some desperate Kabuki Theater. However, now that all of this is stacked against him....in typical American style, I can't help but root for him. What is being done to him is the most undemocratic of all election shenanigans. It cannot be allowed to succeed. If they succeed, we will never see another honest election...or as close to honest as we have come in the past(pretty sure cheating of some sort happens in all elections).
I agree Lois, that we are in for some Kabuki theatre, but it wouldn’t matter if we had had a brand new impressive candidate, or Disantis or Viveck. The democrats would start all over vilifying every facet of his/her life. At least they are going to have to get creative to out do what they have already done to Trump. I think there are a lot more smart and vigilant voters who are on to their evil ways.
"...as close to honest as we have come in the past(pretty sure cheating of some sort happens in all elections)."
It's always been there, to one degree or another. What's more worrisome is how it's been streamlined and tech-nified the last twenty years or so to a degree never – EVER – seen before in this country. And largely gone unchallenged according to what had been rules regarding how elections must be administered. Absentee ballots? Voter registration without verified voter ID? Multiple absentee ballots sent to "registered" voters who haven't lived at their address-of-record for years? C'mon man, gimme some slack here! You expect me to believe that JB got more legitimate votes after campaigning mostly from his basement than the Star of the West who rose from one-term state Senator (never completed his one term either) to the Presidency in 2008? I got a bridge I'll sell you cheap....
Its pretty uncomfortable seeing all these powerful people become unhinged over what was ultimately a milquetoast presidency in terms of policies and accomplishments. Its pretty embarassing seeing the media obediently parrot their conspiracy theories about him to create public fear and anxiety. Using the military to accomplish his goals and crush his political appointments? That's just ridiculous. Ironically, he's out there working his butt off for votes while Biden strategically avoids stairs and microphones. The dude can hardly speak and he is one small stumble away from a palliative care consult.
The very least that the democratic party could have done to win this election is declare that Biden is a garbage candidate and go with someone else. How shallow is their bench that they don't have someone better than Biden? He wasted his entire presidency stuttering about democracy and giving away hundreds of billion dollars to other countries while our domestic economy has steadily but steeply declined. You can't win with a loser twice. Bunch of dumbasses.
I fear that as they always do, the elites have projected their strategies onto others, and have revealed the last step in their playbook: Military use of force against domestic enemies.
However the Ds have little support in the military and police.
I hope you're right. A lot of people are just trying to make a living, though. Those are the people who are "just following orders."
The absolutely frantic reaction to being removed from the levers of power suggests to me they are hiding stuff that will inevitably slither out -- and rapidly --- when they are not able to hold the door shut anymore. Nothing else makes sense, they are so unhinged about not controlling everything in perpetuity.
🎯🎯🎯 There must be a LOT to hide, hence their insane machinations to hold power. Cannot wait for the slithering to commence. 🐍
The election will be 'fortified' significantly so that Davos Man & friends can triumph:
The Demonic Elite are in grave danger of being thinned out significantly should they lose.
Which means they will do whatever it takes, even if it mortally wounds the American nation.
(For those interested)
If you wish to read (& listen!) to more of My commentary, here is my Main Stack:
https://thefallofthewest.substack.com
Thank You Kindly to everyone!
Reads like incredibly important information. Thank you Matt.
IMO, the biggest, largely uncovered scandal (only covered by Matt et al.) is not just the existance of these shadowy groups (Protect Democracy, Democracy Forward, TIP, Stanford EIP, etc.) but the extent that they are funded by our own government. Taxpayers are funding their own censorship and blatant election interference. These are clearly "in kind" donations to the DNC (another story) but the Feds shouldn't be funding ANY of these groups. I wonder how many could continue to exist if the Feds pulled their funding. The first thing the next president should do is to rescind ALL funding of non-governmental advocacy groups and NGOs. Further, "governmental" advocacy groups like the GEC should not even exist and should be closed immediately. So frustrating to know that I am funding the erosion of my own Civil Rights and my ability to vote for any candidate I want to.
It was only in 2023 that I found out that the gvt was funding political action groups. Surprise surprise surprise.