Explaining the first of a multipart series cowritten with Michael Shellenberger and Alex Gutentag about the corrupt origins of the Trump-Russia investigation
Glad you’re on this, Matt. Unfortunately m, it’s too late to provide any relief to a Trump Administration that fought these people for 4 years. But the American people need to see what was done to the country by those who felt no constraints on their power. The election of 2020 is a similar story. Hopefully one day.......
It doesn't matter how much authentic material anyone digs up, it will never persuade my youngest brother, 70-year old tenured Profs in SoCal, that it was a hoax just like nothing will ever convince him that the covid jab might as well have been a bio-weapon. Those who believe either or both are plainly, in his mind, 'flat-earthers'.
Sounds like pretty much my entire circle of friends and acquaintances. Everyone I know in So. Cal. is not just oblivious to these things, they think it's conspiracy theory. Fake news. They consider another four years of Trump to be virtually unthinkable. The end of Democracy.
For those of you thinking that the truth has come out; You're right. It has, but very few Democrats are aware of it. We live in two worlds. Actually three, if you consider those consuming independent news commentary. In the Democrat world of MSNBC/CNN/NBC/CBS/ABC/NYT/WAPO, Trump called white supremacists "fine people." He also won, if not directly through collusion with Russia, then by the Facebook ads placed by the Russians. They "stand with Ukraine" thinking that Ukraine is, if not winning, then at least holding their own in the war. They're lining up for the covid booster shots as soon as they become available and think others who aren't on the booster train are idiots. They're unaware that many European countries have drastically reduced the vaccine among all groups outside of older people and those highly compromised.
These people will cheer when our government mows down a couple hundred "Ultra MAGA" rioters. I believe that's where we're headed. I think the FBI and CIA would love another J6 type event, but with firearms used. They may want it enough to create it.
I believe we're going to see long-term single party (Democrat) control of the Presidency, Senate, and Supreme Court. They'll make DC a state to insure two more virtually permanent Democrat Senate seats and electoral votes.. Statehood for a territory or two will add additional Dem support. Nationalizing election law (mass mailed ballots, illegal immigrants vote, Presidential elections decided by popular vote) and stack the Supreme Court to 13 justices. That's where Democracy ends.
Your last paragraph is the Democrat plan distilled to it's most important elements. Whenever I need to remind people of what is at stake in this election I give just 4 bullet points.
As soon as Democrats have majorities in Congress/Senate and the Presidency they will:
*Add two new states - most likely DC and Puerto Rico - to add 4 more (D)Senators
*Add 6 new Supreme Court Justices
*Eliminate the Filibuster
*Eliminate the electoral college and change to popular vote
This is the recipe for forever power, the final "fundamental transformation" of America. People have no idea how close we are to losing what freedoms we have left.
You are right about the people buckets and their perspective. There is no way they will allow another Trump presidency so in that regard we are finished. I don't think they need to do those other things as too many in the Senate and some in the House have been paid big bucks to appease the globalist. 2030 is just around the corner and that's their jumping off point I expect.
I hope and pray you're wrong Shelley. A bad thing of 2024 is Dem lawfare against Trump, a good thing is "Biden is too feeble to stand trial" and Bobulinski's testimony to Congress. Many eyes are open now to the 2020 cheating. We all have to be vigilant, spread Public/Racket/TFP etc far and wide. You can't worry about the blind (one of my sisters is the same, a true believer), you're trying to reach the questioners. A thing to remember about the blind: they are well & truly brainwashed, just as if we were living in a totalitarian state, so if Obama & Hillary stood before them & told the truth, they still wouldn't believe it. They are unreachable.
Alice, I ran out of family, friends and acquaintances a couple of years ago. They either agree on major points, are willfully blind, or think I’m nuts. If the debacle in Afghanistan and the open borders are not persuasive, nothing will be. It proves they were lost a long time ago. If there are still sane folks in our fed gov that will NOT cede our sovereignty over to WHO, we have a chance.
I'm grateful there are only a few wackos in my family, and very few amongst friends. I think if you fell for the lies in 2016, you're done for. I think if confronted with the truth by even fellow true believers, the cognitive dissonance would be so intense that mental illness would follow. And now that Shellenberger and Taibbi and are constantly peeling back the layers of the onion that trace Obama's directive to the security state to interfere in the 2016 election and illegally target Trump & his associates, maybe some swing & independent voters will see that Obama is just an empty suit, and a huge liar to boot. I laugh thinking about his agony that twice it will be his fault when Trump wins-----think of his EGO falling into pieces. If you don't follow Sasha Stone, you should. She was a major progressive who saw the light, who saw the lies and brainwashing, who lost her "friends" who are still in the cult, she is a breath of fresh air:
It was difficult to persuade Europeans the witch mania was a gigantic fraud on the fabric of consciousness.
As ludicrous as the accusations were -- if you read them they are so deranged they make insanity seem sane -- for centuries entire nations organized their judicial systems and ideas of reality around it. I don't know how many people were killed -- but it was hundreds of thousands.
People think they're above all that, but they're not. They are that. In one degree or another. And so is this whole Trump-Russia hoax.
Be against Mr. Trump if someone wishes. Fine. But do it honestly. That's the "American Way". Not this madness.
The sordid truth is that it's always been pretty easy to convince large numbers of people of absolute nonsense, provided: 1) the nonsense is personally beneficial (or at least not personally injurious) to them, 2) it's a topic they have little personal experience with, and 3) someone in authority is expounding the nonsense.
Intelligence has surprisingly little to do with it. Very smart people are only marginally less susceptible than very stupid ones.
Everyone stop what you’re doing and go read Jeff Gerth’s “The Press Versus the President “ in the Columbia Journalism Review. You’ll be way ahead of the herd on understanding what happened to Trump.
But today Pres. Joey said if Republicans didn't vote for money for Ukraine, they were FOR Putin. A Republican's vote for Pres. Joey's Ukraine/Gaza funding bill is a test (not cognitive) --- You are either for America or for Trump.
Yes. Russia-gate/hoax should be over; now a nothingburger. Apparently in Dem polling circles it is still doing well. Not to mention, the Biden family owes Ukraine a lot.
Trump is a jerk with policies which just might save the country. The alternative is a senile jerk who is the puppet of a cadre of fanatical globalists intent on turning the US into just another European hull of a country.
So true. I support his policies but cannot stand the guy. As soon as he opens his mouth, I have to close my ears because he spews out such embarrassing nonsense. I am ashamed our nation cannot do better than these two senile jerks. Or a senile jerk and a narcissistic idiot. And at the same time have to admit that he was so right in many of his policies. What a paradox.
I am no longer giving him an excuse for his lousy backing of Ronna McDaniels, Keven McCarthy and Mitch the turtle McConnell. What the heck, he has even backed known rinos against vetted conservatives so we have the same globalist GOP members in Congress wanting to bankrupt the nation.
Don't disagree at all; except to say, I think we may have morphed beyond "European hull" already. Look how many statues are being torn down and defaced. Look at how many people say this country is a stain.
Today's version of Sauron have focused their eye of destruction on the US of A. For a reason. If the concept of freedom is eliminated here (as shallow as it may now be)--- well, it's over isn't it?
Correct. Hussein Obama said he was going to “fundamentally change” the USA. While he began dismantling our culture, most Americans were too busy patting themselves on the back for electing the first “black” president to notice. We they tell you who they are and what they’re going to do to you, believe them.
Except outside of Trump's rhetoric, this isn't borne out in practice.
When it comes to 99% of the metrics Trump campaigned the most on, (ignoring the culture-war related stuff that doesn't really materially benefit people's everyday lives) such as
i.) Industrial policy and re-shoring
ii.) Energy production (oil AND renewables)
iii.) contesting the growth of Chinese power
...Biden has the superior record.
If you insist on including things like 'employment' and 'GDP growth', he has a better 'record' there too, but a president doesn't really have much control over those things one way or the other, despite what your average partisan cheerleader likes to think.
And on Trump's biggest issue--the 'border'--they both have an equally abysmal record. Lest we forget, border crossings increased continually under Trump, to previously uncharted highs, before the Covid lockdowns temporarily reduced them. (Although it's notable that Trump didn't have the Democrats intentionally sabotaging bipartisan border deals because 'it would make Trump look good', as Trump insist the GOP do to 'deny Biden a victory'.)
As for the economy, the ISM manufacturing and ISM services employment survey showed a potential leading indicator of weaker employment growth "given its plunge to the weakest level since July 2020." Outside of the drop during the pandemic shutdown year, you have to go back to the Great Recession of 2009 to find an equally low number. Charles Schwab, Bloomberg, Institute for Supply Management, as of 12/31/2023 "Mixed Signals: December's Jobs Report Schwab January 8, 2024
Once again, "industrial policy and re-shoring" needs some documentation. I'm not disputing your assertion but you give nothing but an opinion. What are your parameters that you use to make that statement?
Trump's industrial policy involved slapping a bunch of tariffs on a few key exports, such as solar panels, steel, aluminum and washing machines. This had essentially zero results in terms of actually getting the manufacturers of these exports to reshore production from foreign countries to domestic producers--none of the leaders in these industries migrated new facilities to the states to avoid the tarriffs. (and if he'd have bothered to ask any of the foremost economic advocates of protectionism, they could have told him his policy was lightweight, simpleton stuff that wasn't going to have any real effects)
Biden, on the other hand, passed the CHIPS Act, to subsidize the reshoring of the most strategically important commodity on the planet--microchips. Since then, industry juggernauts like TSMC, Micron and Intel have cited it as a reason they decided to build the factories for their newest, most cutting-edge chips in the states. That's what re-shoring looks like.
That kind of re-shoring does more to contest Chinese dominance in the world's most important industry than anything Trump can point to.
And, if we're going to credit presidents for the secular economic outcomes that manifest in their respective terms, (even though we shouldn't) then just take a look at China's economy. It's running well behind the U.S.'s. Contesting the power of a country like China is a matter of growing your economic and industrial capacity relative to theirs. Not twitter-raging about Xi Jinping and throwing together a poorly thought-through travesty of industrial policy, as Trump's strategy happened to be.
How do you quantify "Contesting the growth of Chinese power"? Can you give some examples of Biden policy toward China and how that policy differed from the Trump policies?
Oil production this year reached new highs under the Biden Administration, just edging out production in 2019 under Trump. On the negative side, Biden has drained the Strategic Oil Reserve to its lowest level in over 40 years. Would you consider that a positive development?
Can you document a border plan during the Trump Administration in which the Democrats agreed to a bipartisan solution? In the latest "bipartisan" border deal, what concessions did the Democrats make?
According the New York Times, southwest border apprehensions were 1.66 million in 2021, 2.21 million in 2022, 2.05 million in 2023. Under the Trump administration all years were under 500,000 except for 2019 which numbered around 800,000. New York Times October 29, 2023 "Why Illegal Border Crossings Are at Sustained Highs"
"Lest we forget, border crossings increased continually under Trump..." Your statement is factually incorrect.
Border crossings increased in '17, '18, and '19. The number of crossings in 2019 hadn't been seen in a decade and a half.
Then COVID came and shut it down in '20.
When it comes to the border, Trump sucked at controlling it, and Biden sucks at controlling it. That is not a sound argument for why 'Trump's policies are going to save America'.
Why didn't Biden and the Democrats do away with the Trump tax policies immediately in 2021 since they controlled the Executive Branch, the House and the Senate. What has Biden done to change Trump's tax policies? Did Biden have a better plan?
Every time I think Pres. Joey can't get more loathsome, - - - . Today's three-sentence rhetorical flourish in support OF A UKRAINE FUNDING BILL for Christ's sake!
"You, elected Republican official, are either American or a traitor if you don't vote correctly on a funding bill?!"
You know, the Dems have turned into the proverbial one-trick pony, what ever that was. Trump=Russia=Bad. Democrat policy=Obama=God.*
*For all you atheists and agnostics, you have something to believe in.
That's why I'm done with them. GOP too, longer ago. It's stupid to flip back and forth when both have been found completely lacking and we have a Coke or Pepsi Uni~Party choice (and we're not invited) and any president we would like as long as we don't get to choose him.
Consider which of the following scenarios is worse:
A.) A candidate wins an election; his opponent concedes and the formal transfer of power between administrations occurs; the candidate is invested with the powers of the presidency. They are allowed to set policy and perform the functions of their office; however, a hostile media campaign involving the uncouth use of leaks from people in the intelligence world that are friendly with his opponents makes it more difficult for him to do so.
B.) A candidate wins an election against an incumbent president; the outgoing president does not concede. The outgoing president then tries to throw out the results of the election using the courts; when he cannot win in the courts, he makes an attempt to stop *the entire process* of handing over the powers of his office by ending the legal proceedings that formally do so.
Both are bad scenarios, but B is clearly worse than A. The bad actors in A are interfering with the functioning of the democratic republic and the handing over of power to the winner of an election, but they're not ending it wholesale. The bad actors in B are attempting to end the process of the transfer of power between elected executives completely.
Trump made a wholesale bid to stay in power despite the election results, and came within a hair's breadth of fomenting a constitutional crisis that might have even allowed it to happen. If you can't see why the attempt to stop an incoming president from taking office in the first place is worse than the attempt to make it more difficult for said president to govern after allowing them to take office, you need to take a closer look at how democracies get transformed into authoritarian states. (hint: it usually happens when someone gets elected and then doesn't step down when their time is up)
I don't deny that he WANTED and TRIED to do everything conceivable to stay in office, but it doesn't seem to me that it came anywhere close to actually happening.
Trump had placed a do-over request to get his first three years of being president restored. Maybe SCOTUS will cooperate on that, plus four more years.
Never forget that these are the people who shriek about "protecting democracy". The people who have installed a dementia-addled puppet with deep family corruption that benefits wildly from this particular Trump-Russia narrative...
It's a shame I won't be able to read that, as I am blocked by Mike and Alex and Public. Russiagate was a story I covered a bit, myself, as you know. In any event, kudos, and I will try to piece it together from whatever you publish at Racket.
Idk why just something been off about Shellenberger to me. He did run for California governor. Hopefully Matt, second name on article, keeps him in check.
TL;dr: I don't think MSM memory holing a story such as this is as effective for the establishment as it was just a year or two ago, and why.
A few commenters have bemoaned the fact that 'MSM' is going to memory hole it, and they're pretty much correct.
BUT...
Fox ain't gonna. I'd put $ on that. In fact, I'd bet that both Matt and Mike and Alex will be on rotating hits on all their major shows.
THIS. IS. A. BIG DEAL.
Add to that the fact that Walter Kirn's a regular on Guttfeld...
Now combine the above w/the penetration in just a few short years of the Indie Media into the infospace.
I'll give my Boomer (65) experience as an example.
1. Cut the cord about six years ago when we realized that aside from Prez debates, the Superbowl and the Masters we hadn't watched any cable TV for the previous seven years.
2. Our media diet is:
- Hacked NYT articles. I look at the headlines on their website and use https://archive.ph/ to bypass their paywall for articles that grab me. (Irony point: up till '15 I had been an avid reader and paid subscriber) and today barely glance at the columns from Krugman, Dowd, Friedman. Don't bother w/Collins/ Brook at all anymore. But often read Douthat)
- the usual suspects in Indie Media: Matt/Glenn/Dore/Stoeller. Those I pay for annually. My budget's kinda tapped out, but I'm looking at The Free Press (too expensive IMHO), and Public down the road. Was an OG paid sub to Breaking Points, but Krystal Ball has driven me around the bend, and Saagar is just a MIC simp and not nearly as smart as he wants you to think he is. (Quick question if anyone's a regular viewer- does he STILL shoehorn in his 90 days as a WH rep for Daily Caller into the show w/ the phrase "When I was a White House Correspondent"? LOL)
And X of course. But I have to set a timer for that site b/c I just get sucked in so easily.
I USED to use FB (IMMA BOOMER, OKAY?!?! lol) but I live in the land of Government Death Provision (aka Canada) and FB has blocked all media)
And that pretty much sucks up much more time that I should be spending.
When Hirsch exposed the Nordstream bombing, the MSM really, REALLY tried to ignore it. Today, it's pretty much accepted as a fact. That was less than 2 years ago. Biden laptop is now an accepted fact. Sure, MSM don't talk about it, but the fact that the Biden family is just as dirty as the Corleone's is also a widely accepted truth.
And now there's Tucker...
I think Matt & his partners in truth should take a look at the growth trend of both their subscriber bases AND MORE IMPORTANTLY overall view counts year over year. I believe the growth would be strong, and more importantly STEADY. I've heard the term 'The Great Awakening' used to describe how the West's population is becoming more and more aware of just how badly, over the decades that we've been, and continue to be, had by the establishment elite.
There's still a long row to hoe. However... today, information goes at the speed of light, and we're seeing its effects (the massive layoffs in MSM this year is a huge indicator). I'm of the belief that when it happens, it's gonna happen FAST (collapse of MSM, leaving just a handful of survivors), but that's just MHO.
It's far from becoming a new and stable information environment. The churn's really whipped up. But to quote Churchill:
I hope you are right! I still find so many people "tribal" and God forbid one says anything anti-Biden, or anti-DNC and they go off the chain screaming about "Lying Trump" or "don't say gay" or ... fill in the blanks! I certainly don't love Trump, or the RNC, but I don't believe in pretending that Biden and the DNC have anyone's but their own interests in mind! As crooked as it gets!!
What you're actually seeing is not really a 'Great Awakening' so much as 'The Great Balkanization'.
News has become hyper-customized, and yellow journalism still pays better than the 'boringly moderate' alternatives. Newsfeeds are now governed by algorithms whose goal is to maximize clicks, and clicks are maximized not by feeding positive emotions or appealing to people's intellectual capacities but by stoking negative emotions and stirring up fear/loathing/etc.
So what we are seeing is the emergence of a news mediascape defined by competing ecosystems of hyper-customized, hyperbolic news outlets. The net effect is a further acceleration of polarization, as people now exist in completely different realities based on their political preferences.
The elites are the beneficiaries to this; they own and design the information ecosystems we live in, earn money from their growth, (as well as the growth in conflict *between* them) and no longer have to deal with the threat of mass political organization.
Very interesting Jim. It is the U.S. that must be cracked wide open for the one world order to succeed. Biden and the Uniparty are to bankrupt us, over-run the country with military aged illegals, gobble up a third of all western states as federal lands, issues health passports, steal another election and the Mexico lawsuit against US gun manufacturers is to stop self-defense. While doing that there will be another pandemic, another war, and another exposé on the Russia Hoax won't get a penny's worth of air/print time.
Boomer here, too. I agree with everything you say with two exceptions. I am not a Bari Weiss fan, never have been. And, Fox is as bad as CNN. Tucker Carlson was the exception and as much as I like Walter, Gutfeld is simply boring and he really doesn't say that much. But guys like Hannity? No way. It has been a long time since Fox was really any good and they play all the same games the others do. Independent media is the only way to go and it gets expensive, so people like me are limited. Matt, Michael Schellenbeger, and Glenn Greenwald are my main go to people, although Greenwald has become an activist journalist and he was much better when he was doing written journalism. I got off Facebook 4 years ago and started using Twitter after Elon bought it. Outside of that, no social media outside of a couple of forums that are not political. Honestly, it is harder to find good information on the Internet today than in 2000. I find that amazing, how it has been co-opted and controlled. With NYT and WaPo, all I need to look at is the headlines and I can tell you exactly what the article says. Not to mention that everything is anti-Trump followed by anti-conservative. It is sad days.
In the 80's & 90's I sub'd to the NYT. Becawze I was a self proclaimed smarty pants I also sub'd to Economist, Time, Newsweek & a coupla' biz mags. I knew I was well informed b/c 60 minutes was a staple of my TV watching. When things in the world went Boom, I was glued to CNN (48 hours straight on 911- grew up in NYC, had a kid who just got commissioned a Lt in the USMC, former NYPD cop w/fam on the job and a kid brother in the NYFD)...
I thought I was informed.
God that was over 20 years ago...
Remember when we were in our 20's and couldn't imagine life 20 years in the future? Now I'm looking back wondering WTF happend?
In my post I mentioned 'The Churn' (a line I stole from The Expanse on Amazon). I just realized after reading your post that not only is it societal...
It's also in my head.
I'm the churn too.
The perfect example from my life is how I went to bed a pretty liberal guy on Oct 6...
Now I'm questioning everything. And that's not the first time that's happened.
I used to think Reagan was the greatest prez ever, now I'm thinking Nixon was railroaded.
I used to think Sanders was the hope of the USA, now I see him as a worse con-artist than Pelosi.
I used to think Stephen King was the best writer in modern US fiction, now reading one of his latest I see him recycling stuff worse than Michael Jackson did since the Thriller album.
I could go on, but I think I made my point.
And yet, in all this, there are constants in my life.
I'm w/ a woman I both love like the dickens and am inspired by. I love what I do for a living. Like that song by Jann Arden (Good Father)... I got a house, I got a car...
By any standard, I'm living a happy & fulfilling life at a stage where 1/2 the people my age exist in a well of such despair. When I look at the world from 50K feet, it's a mess. But when I look in my backyard I feel so blessed.
I 100% agree with you. I was a hippie. I still am in all the good ways, LOL. I also served in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which were total shams. It is just crazy how things have changed. Sanders really did my head in, he is just controlled opposition and a bullshit artist. I am ashamed I ever supported him. I could go on, but I bet there are a lot of folks like us out there, including younger people. Take care.
Will look forward to it. I am hoping that names will be named, otherwise no accountability even possible. I am very frustrated that so often Matt’s and other independent journalists’ work just becomes memory-holed the minute it’s published. And especially with Russiagate, many dems still totally believe it. Right?
He says above that there will be more articles and documents published on Racket in the coming days. I am not going to rush to pay to subscribe to Public after I already paid to subscribe to Matt for 2 years now.
Schellenbrger and his associates at Public have a lot of excellent content. Three Substacks will have you covered: Racket, Public, and Free Press. Combined that’s still cheaper than The NY Times with their nonstop partisanship, propaganda, and establishment ass-covering.
I would love to subscribe to public, but at $480 worth of subscriptions already I just don't have the wherewithal to do so. I too was disappointed I couldn't read it.
So are intelligence agencies "spooks for hire" by any political party or was Donald Trump just an extra special exception to their "We at the CIA would never take a political side & muck with an election" rule?
Maybe we need to resurrect JFK's "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds" plan.
The more you guys dig, the deeper and stinkier the pile of crap gets. I doubt any of the bigger turds in the pile will ever be punished but this kind of exposure should be welcomed so that all can see how the system is rigged and is being used to target people illegally. Brennan is a particularly slimy POS. Keep digging Matt, et all.
There will be a lot of stuff on this here. Basically this is their scoop that I helped investigate — but I found a lot and this space is going to cover a lot of angles
I feel like some of these big scoops should be outside the paywall and cross-posted in as many multiple places as possible. I'm not sure Public ever really built the large following that would follow them behind a paywall, and some of these stories seem to get zero traction. Great reporting, but it goes from a REALLY BIG HEADLINE to a couple of free paragraphs in my email, to probably a segment with Robby Soave on Rising and maybe a bit on Russell Brand. Maybe even something in front of the House Weaponization Committee where the Democrats will talk about a completely different subject (probably "TRUMP!") and the rank-and-file MSNBC viewer and New York Times reader will be none the wiser. (The Bulwark may publish yellow hit-piece #562 on the journalists breaking the story and David Frum will retweet.)
And then that's it; it's like the story didn't exist. The "Google News Corridor" will ignore anything like this — there's plenty of think-pieces on Greta Gerwig's Barbie snub to write, after all — and the various journalistic entities around X are all in their own universes, on their own (sometimes important, but more likely culture war-heavy) beats. Which is unfortunate. There has to be a better way.
My thoughts exactly. A story like this needs to be free, accessible and distributed as widely as possible. It's the only way it will break through the gatekeepers, making it impossible for the legacy media to ignore.
History is written in stone when written by the Dems. I don't want it resurrected as it will just restart the Russia, Russia stuff all over again - like it was yesterday, reminders of why one should not vote for Trump. No one will care that the CIA started the ball rolling and that 5 Eyes were involved. Probable cause is in the eyes of the beholder, so even if there was no cause, Trump was a monster that needed the full force of gov to rein in (and yes, on pretense).
There are some people, maybe not many on this SS, that only find this story interesting because of how long it took to show up. It was all there all along but just a conservative conspiracy theory, you know. Just like Watergate, started with the CIA agents and added the FBI. Remember how many voted in 2016 for Trump? None of those people ever believed any of it. We were aware of the slap down from the FISA court during O’s admin, well before Trump, and how his admin used the fed institutions against political enemies like TTV. The Flynn thing was an obvious hit piece and keeping Sessions from doing his job for no reason. The feds and media have been lapdogs for the Dems for many moons. The troubling part was how many Republicans in Congress surmised what was going on and stayed silent.
I begged you off and on to hook up with Sundance. You've lost years that could have exposed the biggest crimes in human history because you refused to believe.
To paraphrase you, once you view it as a coup it all makes sense.
James. I realized the same thing about Sundance but was afraid to mention it because no one knows who we’re talking about. Sundance had every bit of this information about the Russian hoax in real time as it happened 2016-2020. And used available FBI and official government documents to validate his assertions. Sundance is now ringing the alarm bell on the coming tyranny of CBGC. Get ready folks.
Sundance is the unquestionable expert (a real one, not a title from a 3 letter agency) on US national politics. He literally scripted the RNC strategy to derail Trump starting with DeSantis 6+ months before anything started.
Sundance went to DC during COVID lockdowns, met with key players including Nunez related to all this. Wrote about it extensively.
Yes. I spread the word about Sundance everywhere I can. Hoping some will take the time to read and absorb his deep dives into the perfidy of our government. Unbelievable deception at every level. And the criminals are never punished. Sad.
Watching UpChuck Schumer & Mitch McComa slipping each other some tongue over sending billions more to the Ukraine money pit/proxy war should be proof enough that we are governed by a two pronged RNC/DNC clown car & the destruction of America has always been run by a bipartisan tag team of complete & utter clowns.
Who the fuck votes for these people?
Both Schumer & McComa look like their real calling in life puts them outside a grade school wearing nothing but a trenchcoat & a greasy smile.
One small observation. Over the years voters have been indoctrinated in the idea that they should not "throw away their vote" by voting for a third party. I fell for this in 2016 when I really wanted to vote for Bernie, and I would've written him in, except I became convinced that I had to vote for Hillary in order to defeat Trump (I'm over my Trump Derangement Syndrome now, but that's not relevant to this point).
My point is, because so many people are so disillusioned with the abysmal options offered by the major parties, this year a third party or independent might actually have a chance, except for this deeply ingrained fear of "throwing away" one's vote.
Having spent my entire adult life as a liberal in the two reddest states in the country, thanks to the winner-take-all Electoral College my vote has never mattered. Nevertheless, it's a data point.
Anyone remember all the noise and agitation--at a certain point in the 2016 campaign--from the press and the Hillary camp, pushing Trump to disclose his foreign policy advisors? (Why make a big deal just about advisors on that topic, of all the many topics that could have been emphasized?)
It seems in retrospect like that agitation was probably, among other things, a push to get Trump to officially identify individuals who would be useful as targets for the justification and application of foreign (and certain domestic, but foreign-connection-justified) surveillance powers, including so-called multi-hop surveillance powers. Such practices could also be an instance of some sources (and some methods) that surveilling entities or individuals might not want revealed.
Glad you’re on this, Matt. Unfortunately m, it’s too late to provide any relief to a Trump Administration that fought these people for 4 years. But the American people need to see what was done to the country by those who felt no constraints on their power. The election of 2020 is a similar story. Hopefully one day.......
It doesn't matter how much authentic material anyone digs up, it will never persuade my youngest brother, 70-year old tenured Profs in SoCal, that it was a hoax just like nothing will ever convince him that the covid jab might as well have been a bio-weapon. Those who believe either or both are plainly, in his mind, 'flat-earthers'.
So Many Idiots
Way too many Alice. It's painful.
Educated idiots, smart idiots, the best idiots.
Sounds like pretty much my entire circle of friends and acquaintances. Everyone I know in So. Cal. is not just oblivious to these things, they think it's conspiracy theory. Fake news. They consider another four years of Trump to be virtually unthinkable. The end of Democracy.
For those of you thinking that the truth has come out; You're right. It has, but very few Democrats are aware of it. We live in two worlds. Actually three, if you consider those consuming independent news commentary. In the Democrat world of MSNBC/CNN/NBC/CBS/ABC/NYT/WAPO, Trump called white supremacists "fine people." He also won, if not directly through collusion with Russia, then by the Facebook ads placed by the Russians. They "stand with Ukraine" thinking that Ukraine is, if not winning, then at least holding their own in the war. They're lining up for the covid booster shots as soon as they become available and think others who aren't on the booster train are idiots. They're unaware that many European countries have drastically reduced the vaccine among all groups outside of older people and those highly compromised.
These people will cheer when our government mows down a couple hundred "Ultra MAGA" rioters. I believe that's where we're headed. I think the FBI and CIA would love another J6 type event, but with firearms used. They may want it enough to create it.
I believe we're going to see long-term single party (Democrat) control of the Presidency, Senate, and Supreme Court. They'll make DC a state to insure two more virtually permanent Democrat Senate seats and electoral votes.. Statehood for a territory or two will add additional Dem support. Nationalizing election law (mass mailed ballots, illegal immigrants vote, Presidential elections decided by popular vote) and stack the Supreme Court to 13 justices. That's where Democracy ends.
Your last paragraph is the Democrat plan distilled to it's most important elements. Whenever I need to remind people of what is at stake in this election I give just 4 bullet points.
As soon as Democrats have majorities in Congress/Senate and the Presidency they will:
*Add two new states - most likely DC and Puerto Rico - to add 4 more (D)Senators
*Add 6 new Supreme Court Justices
*Eliminate the Filibuster
*Eliminate the electoral college and change to popular vote
This is the recipe for forever power, the final "fundamental transformation" of America. People have no idea how close we are to losing what freedoms we have left.
You are right about the people buckets and their perspective. There is no way they will allow another Trump presidency so in that regard we are finished. I don't think they need to do those other things as too many in the Senate and some in the House have been paid big bucks to appease the globalist. 2030 is just around the corner and that's their jumping off point I expect.
I hope and pray you're wrong Shelley. A bad thing of 2024 is Dem lawfare against Trump, a good thing is "Biden is too feeble to stand trial" and Bobulinski's testimony to Congress. Many eyes are open now to the 2020 cheating. We all have to be vigilant, spread Public/Racket/TFP etc far and wide. You can't worry about the blind (one of my sisters is the same, a true believer), you're trying to reach the questioners. A thing to remember about the blind: they are well & truly brainwashed, just as if we were living in a totalitarian state, so if Obama & Hillary stood before them & told the truth, they still wouldn't believe it. They are unreachable.
Alice, I ran out of family, friends and acquaintances a couple of years ago. They either agree on major points, are willfully blind, or think I’m nuts. If the debacle in Afghanistan and the open borders are not persuasive, nothing will be. It proves they were lost a long time ago. If there are still sane folks in our fed gov that will NOT cede our sovereignty over to WHO, we have a chance.
I'm grateful there are only a few wackos in my family, and very few amongst friends. I think if you fell for the lies in 2016, you're done for. I think if confronted with the truth by even fellow true believers, the cognitive dissonance would be so intense that mental illness would follow. And now that Shellenberger and Taibbi and are constantly peeling back the layers of the onion that trace Obama's directive to the security state to interfere in the 2016 election and illegally target Trump & his associates, maybe some swing & independent voters will see that Obama is just an empty suit, and a huge liar to boot. I laugh thinking about his agony that twice it will be his fault when Trump wins-----think of his EGO falling into pieces. If you don't follow Sasha Stone, you should. She was a major progressive who saw the light, who saw the lies and brainwashing, who lost her "friends" who are still in the cult, she is a breath of fresh air:
https://sashastone.substack.com/p/the-democrats-are-going-down-with?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=66221&post_id=141644905&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=yyzmm&utm_medium=email
Flat earthers, your brother (my immediate family also): Two sides of the same coin.
Social media has taught me that, "people will believe what they want and need to believe, no matter the facts".
It was difficult to persuade Europeans the witch mania was a gigantic fraud on the fabric of consciousness.
As ludicrous as the accusations were -- if you read them they are so deranged they make insanity seem sane -- for centuries entire nations organized their judicial systems and ideas of reality around it. I don't know how many people were killed -- but it was hundreds of thousands.
People think they're above all that, but they're not. They are that. In one degree or another. And so is this whole Trump-Russia hoax.
Be against Mr. Trump if someone wishes. Fine. But do it honestly. That's the "American Way". Not this madness.
The sordid truth is that it's always been pretty easy to convince large numbers of people of absolute nonsense, provided: 1) the nonsense is personally beneficial (or at least not personally injurious) to them, 2) it's a topic they have little personal experience with, and 3) someone in authority is expounding the nonsense.
Intelligence has surprisingly little to do with it. Very smart people are only marginally less susceptible than very stupid ones.
In some ways the very smart people are even more susceptible as they fall for the conceit they are so much smarter than most.
Exactly
all true. so true.
Everyone stop what you’re doing and go read Jeff Gerth’s “The Press Versus the President “ in the Columbia Journalism Review. You’ll be way ahead of the herd on understanding what happened to Trump.
Trump is his own worst enemy. Constantly shooting himself in the foot. The “Russia hoax” is no longer an excuse.
Trump is a jerk.
But today Pres. Joey said if Republicans didn't vote for money for Ukraine, they were FOR Putin. A Republican's vote for Pres. Joey's Ukraine/Gaza funding bill is a test (not cognitive) --- You are either for America or for Trump.
Yes. Russia-gate/hoax should be over; now a nothingburger. Apparently in Dem polling circles it is still doing well. Not to mention, the Biden family owes Ukraine a lot.
Trump is a jerk with policies which just might save the country. The alternative is a senile jerk who is the puppet of a cadre of fanatical globalists intent on turning the US into just another European hull of a country.
So true. I support his policies but cannot stand the guy. As soon as he opens his mouth, I have to close my ears because he spews out such embarrassing nonsense. I am ashamed our nation cannot do better than these two senile jerks. Or a senile jerk and a narcissistic idiot. And at the same time have to admit that he was so right in many of his policies. What a paradox.
I am no longer giving him an excuse for his lousy backing of Ronna McDaniels, Keven McCarthy and Mitch the turtle McConnell. What the heck, he has even backed known rinos against vetted conservatives so we have the same globalist GOP members in Congress wanting to bankrupt the nation.
Don't disagree at all; except to say, I think we may have morphed beyond "European hull" already. Look how many statues are being torn down and defaced. Look at how many people say this country is a stain.
Today's version of Sauron have focused their eye of destruction on the US of A. For a reason. If the concept of freedom is eliminated here (as shallow as it may now be)--- well, it's over isn't it?
Correct. Hussein Obama said he was going to “fundamentally change” the USA. While he began dismantling our culture, most Americans were too busy patting themselves on the back for electing the first “black” president to notice. We they tell you who they are and what they’re going to do to you, believe them.
After seeing Pres. Joey today sleepily read that Republicans had a choice on the Ukraine/Gaza finance bill: You are either for America or for Trump.
So, the choice is funding for a foreign country with no oversight or war plan. Forget war powers. Forget "transparency."
". . . you ain't Black . . ." ". . . American or Trump . . ."
My way or the highway. And the Biden family owes a certain way al lot.
Obama voters are still virtue signaling about him. Sigh.
Except outside of Trump's rhetoric, this isn't borne out in practice.
When it comes to 99% of the metrics Trump campaigned the most on, (ignoring the culture-war related stuff that doesn't really materially benefit people's everyday lives) such as
i.) Industrial policy and re-shoring
ii.) Energy production (oil AND renewables)
iii.) contesting the growth of Chinese power
...Biden has the superior record.
If you insist on including things like 'employment' and 'GDP growth', he has a better 'record' there too, but a president doesn't really have much control over those things one way or the other, despite what your average partisan cheerleader likes to think.
And on Trump's biggest issue--the 'border'--they both have an equally abysmal record. Lest we forget, border crossings increased continually under Trump, to previously uncharted highs, before the Covid lockdowns temporarily reduced them. (Although it's notable that Trump didn't have the Democrats intentionally sabotaging bipartisan border deals because 'it would make Trump look good', as Trump insist the GOP do to 'deny Biden a victory'.)
As for the economy, the ISM manufacturing and ISM services employment survey showed a potential leading indicator of weaker employment growth "given its plunge to the weakest level since July 2020." Outside of the drop during the pandemic shutdown year, you have to go back to the Great Recession of 2009 to find an equally low number. Charles Schwab, Bloomberg, Institute for Supply Management, as of 12/31/2023 "Mixed Signals: December's Jobs Report Schwab January 8, 2024
Once again, "industrial policy and re-shoring" needs some documentation. I'm not disputing your assertion but you give nothing but an opinion. What are your parameters that you use to make that statement?
Trump's industrial policy involved slapping a bunch of tariffs on a few key exports, such as solar panels, steel, aluminum and washing machines. This had essentially zero results in terms of actually getting the manufacturers of these exports to reshore production from foreign countries to domestic producers--none of the leaders in these industries migrated new facilities to the states to avoid the tarriffs. (and if he'd have bothered to ask any of the foremost economic advocates of protectionism, they could have told him his policy was lightweight, simpleton stuff that wasn't going to have any real effects)
Biden, on the other hand, passed the CHIPS Act, to subsidize the reshoring of the most strategically important commodity on the planet--microchips. Since then, industry juggernauts like TSMC, Micron and Intel have cited it as a reason they decided to build the factories for their newest, most cutting-edge chips in the states. That's what re-shoring looks like.
https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/has-the-us-chips-act-been-a-success-2023-12/
That kind of re-shoring does more to contest Chinese dominance in the world's most important industry than anything Trump can point to.
And, if we're going to credit presidents for the secular economic outcomes that manifest in their respective terms, (even though we shouldn't) then just take a look at China's economy. It's running well behind the U.S.'s. Contesting the power of a country like China is a matter of growing your economic and industrial capacity relative to theirs. Not twitter-raging about Xi Jinping and throwing together a poorly thought-through travesty of industrial policy, as Trump's strategy happened to be.
How do you quantify "Contesting the growth of Chinese power"? Can you give some examples of Biden policy toward China and how that policy differed from the Trump policies?
Oil production this year reached new highs under the Biden Administration, just edging out production in 2019 under Trump. On the negative side, Biden has drained the Strategic Oil Reserve to its lowest level in over 40 years. Would you consider that a positive development?
Can you document a border plan during the Trump Administration in which the Democrats agreed to a bipartisan solution? In the latest "bipartisan" border deal, what concessions did the Democrats make?
According the New York Times, southwest border apprehensions were 1.66 million in 2021, 2.21 million in 2022, 2.05 million in 2023. Under the Trump administration all years were under 500,000 except for 2019 which numbered around 800,000. New York Times October 29, 2023 "Why Illegal Border Crossings Are at Sustained Highs"
"Lest we forget, border crossings increased continually under Trump..." Your statement is factually incorrect.
Not according to U.S. Customs and border protection. Look at the trend:
https://www.statista.com/chart/20326/mexicans-non-mexcians-apprehended-at-southern-us-border/
Border crossings increased in '17, '18, and '19. The number of crossings in 2019 hadn't been seen in a decade and a half.
Then COVID came and shut it down in '20.
When it comes to the border, Trump sucked at controlling it, and Biden sucks at controlling it. That is not a sound argument for why 'Trump's policies are going to save America'.
Why didn't Biden and the Democrats do away with the Trump tax policies immediately in 2021 since they controlled the Executive Branch, the House and the Senate. What has Biden done to change Trump's tax policies? Did Biden have a better plan?
One can only speculate--clearly they were prioritizing other things. What is your point?
It's worse than anything he has ever done.
Every time I think Pres. Joey can't get more loathsome, - - - . Today's three-sentence rhetorical flourish in support OF A UKRAINE FUNDING BILL for Christ's sake!
"You, elected Republican official, are either American or a traitor if you don't vote correctly on a funding bill?!"
You know, the Dems have turned into the proverbial one-trick pony, what ever that was. Trump=Russia=Bad. Democrat policy=Obama=God.*
*For all you atheists and agnostics, you have something to believe in.
Every God creates a Devil. Ecce Homo.
That's why I'm done with them. GOP too, longer ago. It's stupid to flip back and forth when both have been found completely lacking and we have a Coke or Pepsi Uni~Party choice (and we're not invited) and any president we would like as long as we don't get to choose him.
I'm afraid this just isn't true.
Consider which of the following scenarios is worse:
A.) A candidate wins an election; his opponent concedes and the formal transfer of power between administrations occurs; the candidate is invested with the powers of the presidency. They are allowed to set policy and perform the functions of their office; however, a hostile media campaign involving the uncouth use of leaks from people in the intelligence world that are friendly with his opponents makes it more difficult for him to do so.
B.) A candidate wins an election against an incumbent president; the outgoing president does not concede. The outgoing president then tries to throw out the results of the election using the courts; when he cannot win in the courts, he makes an attempt to stop *the entire process* of handing over the powers of his office by ending the legal proceedings that formally do so.
Both are bad scenarios, but B is clearly worse than A. The bad actors in A are interfering with the functioning of the democratic republic and the handing over of power to the winner of an election, but they're not ending it wholesale. The bad actors in B are attempting to end the process of the transfer of power between elected executives completely.
Trump made a wholesale bid to stay in power despite the election results, and came within a hair's breadth of fomenting a constitutional crisis that might have even allowed it to happen. If you can't see why the attempt to stop an incoming president from taking office in the first place is worse than the attempt to make it more difficult for said president to govern after allowing them to take office, you need to take a closer look at how democracies get transformed into authoritarian states. (hint: it usually happens when someone gets elected and then doesn't step down when their time is up)
I don't deny that he WANTED and TRIED to do everything conceivable to stay in office, but it doesn't seem to me that it came anywhere close to actually happening.
Trump had placed a do-over request to get his first three years of being president restored. Maybe SCOTUS will cooperate on that, plus four more years.
Never forget that these are the people who shriek about "protecting democracy". The people who have installed a dementia-addled puppet with deep family corruption that benefits wildly from this particular Trump-Russia narrative...
It's a shame I won't be able to read that, as I am blocked by Mike and Alex and Public. Russiagate was a story I covered a bit, myself, as you know. In any event, kudos, and I will try to piece it together from whatever you publish at Racket.
You are blocked on Substack? Do tell.
Idk why just something been off about Shellenberger to me. He did run for California governor. Hopefully Matt, second name on article, keeps him in check.
Hopefully what you publish will lead to some degree of accountability.
I’m a perfect world, but let’s be honest, it’s highly unlikely.
TL;dr: I don't think MSM memory holing a story such as this is as effective for the establishment as it was just a year or two ago, and why.
A few commenters have bemoaned the fact that 'MSM' is going to memory hole it, and they're pretty much correct.
BUT...
Fox ain't gonna. I'd put $ on that. In fact, I'd bet that both Matt and Mike and Alex will be on rotating hits on all their major shows.
THIS. IS. A. BIG DEAL.
Add to that the fact that Walter Kirn's a regular on Guttfeld...
Now combine the above w/the penetration in just a few short years of the Indie Media into the infospace.
I'll give my Boomer (65) experience as an example.
1. Cut the cord about six years ago when we realized that aside from Prez debates, the Superbowl and the Masters we hadn't watched any cable TV for the previous seven years.
2. Our media diet is:
- Hacked NYT articles. I look at the headlines on their website and use https://archive.ph/ to bypass their paywall for articles that grab me. (Irony point: up till '15 I had been an avid reader and paid subscriber) and today barely glance at the columns from Krugman, Dowd, Friedman. Don't bother w/Collins/ Brook at all anymore. But often read Douthat)
- the usual suspects in Indie Media: Matt/Glenn/Dore/Stoeller. Those I pay for annually. My budget's kinda tapped out, but I'm looking at The Free Press (too expensive IMHO), and Public down the road. Was an OG paid sub to Breaking Points, but Krystal Ball has driven me around the bend, and Saagar is just a MIC simp and not nearly as smart as he wants you to think he is. (Quick question if anyone's a regular viewer- does he STILL shoehorn in his 90 days as a WH rep for Daily Caller into the show w/ the phrase "When I was a White House Correspondent"? LOL)
And X of course. But I have to set a timer for that site b/c I just get sucked in so easily.
I USED to use FB (IMMA BOOMER, OKAY?!?! lol) but I live in the land of Government Death Provision (aka Canada) and FB has blocked all media)
And that pretty much sucks up much more time that I should be spending.
When Hirsch exposed the Nordstream bombing, the MSM really, REALLY tried to ignore it. Today, it's pretty much accepted as a fact. That was less than 2 years ago. Biden laptop is now an accepted fact. Sure, MSM don't talk about it, but the fact that the Biden family is just as dirty as the Corleone's is also a widely accepted truth.
And now there's Tucker...
I think Matt & his partners in truth should take a look at the growth trend of both their subscriber bases AND MORE IMPORTANTLY overall view counts year over year. I believe the growth would be strong, and more importantly STEADY. I've heard the term 'The Great Awakening' used to describe how the West's population is becoming more and more aware of just how badly, over the decades that we've been, and continue to be, had by the establishment elite.
There's still a long row to hoe. However... today, information goes at the speed of light, and we're seeing its effects (the massive layoffs in MSM this year is a huge indicator). I'm of the belief that when it happens, it's gonna happen FAST (collapse of MSM, leaving just a handful of survivors), but that's just MHO.
It's far from becoming a new and stable information environment. The churn's really whipped up. But to quote Churchill:
"...We're at the end of the beginning."
I hope you are right! I still find so many people "tribal" and God forbid one says anything anti-Biden, or anti-DNC and they go off the chain screaming about "Lying Trump" or "don't say gay" or ... fill in the blanks! I certainly don't love Trump, or the RNC, but I don't believe in pretending that Biden and the DNC have anyone's but their own interests in mind! As crooked as it gets!!
This is only half correct.
What you're actually seeing is not really a 'Great Awakening' so much as 'The Great Balkanization'.
News has become hyper-customized, and yellow journalism still pays better than the 'boringly moderate' alternatives. Newsfeeds are now governed by algorithms whose goal is to maximize clicks, and clicks are maximized not by feeding positive emotions or appealing to people's intellectual capacities but by stoking negative emotions and stirring up fear/loathing/etc.
So what we are seeing is the emergence of a news mediascape defined by competing ecosystems of hyper-customized, hyperbolic news outlets. The net effect is a further acceleration of polarization, as people now exist in completely different realities based on their political preferences.
The elites are the beneficiaries to this; they own and design the information ecosystems we live in, earn money from their growth, (as well as the growth in conflict *between* them) and no longer have to deal with the threat of mass political organization.
Nice and also true. Minsky, you are the SS poster winner this week!
I think you're making fair and accurate points.
My only exception to your take (and in service to my 'Awakening' comment) is that now, at least, I'm AWARE of what they're trying to do.
TheConservativeTreehouse.com
Very interesting Jim. It is the U.S. that must be cracked wide open for the one world order to succeed. Biden and the Uniparty are to bankrupt us, over-run the country with military aged illegals, gobble up a third of all western states as federal lands, issues health passports, steal another election and the Mexico lawsuit against US gun manufacturers is to stop self-defense. While doing that there will be another pandemic, another war, and another exposé on the Russia Hoax won't get a penny's worth of air/print time.
Boomer here, too. I agree with everything you say with two exceptions. I am not a Bari Weiss fan, never have been. And, Fox is as bad as CNN. Tucker Carlson was the exception and as much as I like Walter, Gutfeld is simply boring and he really doesn't say that much. But guys like Hannity? No way. It has been a long time since Fox was really any good and they play all the same games the others do. Independent media is the only way to go and it gets expensive, so people like me are limited. Matt, Michael Schellenbeger, and Glenn Greenwald are my main go to people, although Greenwald has become an activist journalist and he was much better when he was doing written journalism. I got off Facebook 4 years ago and started using Twitter after Elon bought it. Outside of that, no social media outside of a couple of forums that are not political. Honestly, it is harder to find good information on the Internet today than in 2000. I find that amazing, how it has been co-opted and controlled. With NYT and WaPo, all I need to look at is the headlines and I can tell you exactly what the article says. Not to mention that everything is anti-Trump followed by anti-conservative. It is sad days.
Hey my Boomer Bro! (kinda snazzy, I think...)
In the 80's & 90's I sub'd to the NYT. Becawze I was a self proclaimed smarty pants I also sub'd to Economist, Time, Newsweek & a coupla' biz mags. I knew I was well informed b/c 60 minutes was a staple of my TV watching. When things in the world went Boom, I was glued to CNN (48 hours straight on 911- grew up in NYC, had a kid who just got commissioned a Lt in the USMC, former NYPD cop w/fam on the job and a kid brother in the NYFD)...
I thought I was informed.
God that was over 20 years ago...
Remember when we were in our 20's and couldn't imagine life 20 years in the future? Now I'm looking back wondering WTF happend?
In my post I mentioned 'The Churn' (a line I stole from The Expanse on Amazon). I just realized after reading your post that not only is it societal...
It's also in my head.
I'm the churn too.
The perfect example from my life is how I went to bed a pretty liberal guy on Oct 6...
Now I'm questioning everything. And that's not the first time that's happened.
I used to think Reagan was the greatest prez ever, now I'm thinking Nixon was railroaded.
I used to think Sanders was the hope of the USA, now I see him as a worse con-artist than Pelosi.
I used to think Stephen King was the best writer in modern US fiction, now reading one of his latest I see him recycling stuff worse than Michael Jackson did since the Thriller album.
I could go on, but I think I made my point.
And yet, in all this, there are constants in my life.
I'm w/ a woman I both love like the dickens and am inspired by. I love what I do for a living. Like that song by Jann Arden (Good Father)... I got a house, I got a car...
By any standard, I'm living a happy & fulfilling life at a stage where 1/2 the people my age exist in a well of such despair. When I look at the world from 50K feet, it's a mess. But when I look in my backyard I feel so blessed.
Churn, huh? :)
I 100% agree with you. I was a hippie. I still am in all the good ways, LOL. I also served in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which were total shams. It is just crazy how things have changed. Sanders really did my head in, he is just controlled opposition and a bullshit artist. I am ashamed I ever supported him. I could go on, but I bet there are a lot of folks like us out there, including younger people. Take care.
Please read Caitlin Johnstone. No paywall, but she does accept money
I had been following her for years (found her on Dore), but since Oct 7...
I simply can't.
All the sympathies I've had for the Arab/Islamic/Palestinian world was murdered that day. And I don't need the distraction.
Will look forward to it. I am hoping that names will be named, otherwise no accountability even possible. I am very frustrated that so often Matt’s and other independent journalists’ work just becomes memory-holed the minute it’s published. And especially with Russiagate, many dems still totally believe it. Right?
Yes, because they can’t escape the MDM bubble
Right!
Hmmm, so I have to subscribe to Public to read it? Don't have access with a Racket subscription it seems. Bummer.
He says above that there will be more articles and documents published on Racket in the coming days. I am not going to rush to pay to subscribe to Public after I already paid to subscribe to Matt for 2 years now.
Schellenbrger and his associates at Public have a lot of excellent content. Three Substacks will have you covered: Racket, Public, and Free Press. Combined that’s still cheaper than The NY Times with their nonstop partisanship, propaganda, and establishment ass-covering.
True. This isn't the first Schellenberg article I really wanted to read
Yeah I wish I could read it
I agree. Real bummer.
I would love to subscribe to public, but at $480 worth of subscriptions already I just don't have the wherewithal to do so. I too was disappointed I couldn't read it.
Public is private.
The Free Press isn't free.
I'm just now seeing the irony!
So are intelligence agencies "spooks for hire" by any political party or was Donald Trump just an extra special exception to their "We at the CIA would never take a political side & muck with an election" rule?
Maybe we need to resurrect JFK's "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds" plan.
Look how far that got JFK...
Allen Dulles and George HW Bush got the last laugh.
True.
And I suppose that, unlike Kennedy, no one would cry if Joe took a magic bullet to the head.
On the plus side, with Joe's diminished brain function, no one may actually notice.
The more you guys dig, the deeper and stinkier the pile of crap gets. I doubt any of the bigger turds in the pile will ever be punished but this kind of exposure should be welcomed so that all can see how the system is rigged and is being used to target people illegally. Brennan is a particularly slimy POS. Keep digging Matt, et all.
And they are all, especially Brennan, doing much damage still.
something this slimy, gotta be a college basketball coach involved.
will you be cross-posting this to Racket? I don't subscribe to Public.
There will be a lot of stuff on this here. Basically this is their scoop that I helped investigate — but I found a lot and this space is going to cover a lot of angles
I feel like some of these big scoops should be outside the paywall and cross-posted in as many multiple places as possible. I'm not sure Public ever really built the large following that would follow them behind a paywall, and some of these stories seem to get zero traction. Great reporting, but it goes from a REALLY BIG HEADLINE to a couple of free paragraphs in my email, to probably a segment with Robby Soave on Rising and maybe a bit on Russell Brand. Maybe even something in front of the House Weaponization Committee where the Democrats will talk about a completely different subject (probably "TRUMP!") and the rank-and-file MSNBC viewer and New York Times reader will be none the wiser. (The Bulwark may publish yellow hit-piece #562 on the journalists breaking the story and David Frum will retweet.)
And then that's it; it's like the story didn't exist. The "Google News Corridor" will ignore anything like this — there's plenty of think-pieces on Greta Gerwig's Barbie snub to write, after all — and the various journalistic entities around X are all in their own universes, on their own (sometimes important, but more likely culture war-heavy) beats. Which is unfortunate. There has to be a better way.
My thoughts exactly. A story like this needs to be free, accessible and distributed as widely as possible. It's the only way it will break through the gatekeepers, making it impossible for the legacy media to ignore.
History is written in stone when written by the Dems. I don't want it resurrected as it will just restart the Russia, Russia stuff all over again - like it was yesterday, reminders of why one should not vote for Trump. No one will care that the CIA started the ball rolling and that 5 Eyes were involved. Probable cause is in the eyes of the beholder, so even if there was no cause, Trump was a monster that needed the full force of gov to rein in (and yes, on pretense).
There are some people, maybe not many on this SS, that only find this story interesting because of how long it took to show up. It was all there all along but just a conservative conspiracy theory, you know. Just like Watergate, started with the CIA agents and added the FBI. Remember how many voted in 2016 for Trump? None of those people ever believed any of it. We were aware of the slap down from the FISA court during O’s admin, well before Trump, and how his admin used the fed institutions against political enemies like TTV. The Flynn thing was an obvious hit piece and keeping Sessions from doing his job for no reason. The feds and media have been lapdogs for the Dems for many moons. The troubling part was how many Republicans in Congress surmised what was going on and stayed silent.
Thanks for all the great work you guys do!
Well, I guess better late than never.
This was all exposed half a decade ago on TheConservativeTreehouse.com by Sundance.
I begged you off and on to hook up with Sundance. You've lost years that could have exposed the biggest crimes in human history because you refused to believe.
To paraphrase you, once you view it as a coup it all makes sense.
James. I realized the same thing about Sundance but was afraid to mention it because no one knows who we’re talking about. Sundance had every bit of this information about the Russian hoax in real time as it happened 2016-2020. And used available FBI and official government documents to validate his assertions. Sundance is now ringing the alarm bell on the coming tyranny of CBGC. Get ready folks.
Government issued CBDC
Time to exercise some SOLIDARITY!
Sundance is the unquestionable expert (a real one, not a title from a 3 letter agency) on US national politics. He literally scripted the RNC strategy to derail Trump starting with DeSantis 6+ months before anything started.
Sundance went to DC during COVID lockdowns, met with key players including Nunez related to all this. Wrote about it extensively.
TheConservativeTreehouse.com
Yes. I spread the word about Sundance everywhere I can. Hoping some will take the time to read and absorb his deep dives into the perfidy of our government. Unbelievable deception at every level. And the criminals are never punished. Sad.
Watching UpChuck Schumer & Mitch McComa slipping each other some tongue over sending billions more to the Ukraine money pit/proxy war should be proof enough that we are governed by a two pronged RNC/DNC clown car & the destruction of America has always been run by a bipartisan tag team of complete & utter clowns.
Who the fuck votes for these people?
Both Schumer & McComa look like their real calling in life puts them outside a grade school wearing nothing but a trenchcoat & a greasy smile.
Unbelievable.
'Who the fuck votes for these people?'
One small observation. Over the years voters have been indoctrinated in the idea that they should not "throw away their vote" by voting for a third party. I fell for this in 2016 when I really wanted to vote for Bernie, and I would've written him in, except I became convinced that I had to vote for Hillary in order to defeat Trump (I'm over my Trump Derangement Syndrome now, but that's not relevant to this point).
My point is, because so many people are so disillusioned with the abysmal options offered by the major parties, this year a third party or independent might actually have a chance, except for this deeply ingrained fear of "throwing away" one's vote.
It was more of a rhetorical question.
I agree that people have been encouraged by each party to vote for whatever shifty creep they nominate rather than a 3rd party.
My response has always been, "It's my vote & I'll vote like I wanna..."
I respond that way because both parties tend to nominate softy creeps & I have had my fill of the "lesser of 2 evils" shifty creep bullshit.
I knew it was rhetorical, it just prompted that thought.
"shifty" not "softy"
Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!
Damn you spell check!
Damn you all to Hell!
At this point, every vote is a thrown-away vote.
I wish more people recognized this fact.
Having spent my entire adult life as a liberal in the two reddest states in the country, thanks to the winner-take-all Electoral College my vote has never mattered. Nevertheless, it's a data point.
An independent won't have an army of poll watchers, so there is no chance an independent gets an honest count of the votes.
Spiderbaby thanks for cracking me up this evening!!
You are welcome.
I'm sure that Titanic passengers enjoyed a chuckle or two before the water got them.
Maybe we should ask Al Gore. He's a high water expert. Probably knows a million old Deluge anecdotes.
Thanks for digging. Look forward to what you've found.
Anyone remember all the noise and agitation--at a certain point in the 2016 campaign--from the press and the Hillary camp, pushing Trump to disclose his foreign policy advisors? (Why make a big deal just about advisors on that topic, of all the many topics that could have been emphasized?)
It seems in retrospect like that agitation was probably, among other things, a push to get Trump to officially identify individuals who would be useful as targets for the justification and application of foreign (and certain domestic, but foreign-connection-justified) surveillance powers, including so-called multi-hop surveillance powers. Such practices could also be an instance of some sources (and some methods) that surveilling entities or individuals might not want revealed.