*Any* candidate outside the mainstream consensus will be smeared as a Russian agent. No evidence needed. Because Russia.
In this, Russians play much the same role thst Jews did not so long ago, when any development that the establishment of the day didn't like could be automatically blamed on Jews. No evidence needed. Because Jews.
It kinda looks like any candidate who would threaten Neocon goals will be tarred with the brush of "illegitimacy." Neocons have a strong presence within both the Dems and Repubs. I believe Neocons want to use US power in all its forms to intimidate, dominate and coerce every other nation. They try to use every opportunity to enlarge US power and influence. War and geopolitical confrontation are merely tools toward this aim. They are not reluctant to wage a war. From the Neocon point of view, it's justifiable to use any tactic to keep the likes of Sanders and Trump out of power. They don't value the Bill of Rights. They're more than happy to suppress free speech in the US and criminalize "misinformation spreaders."
What about the non-neocons who like Sanders, but don't like Trump, (I think you mean Rand not Ron) Paul, and Gabbard? Or the non-neocons who like the latter trio but don't much care for Sanders?
And even if any of these four were somehow elected, what makes you think that they could get any meaningful legislation enacted? And you have completely ignored corporate America, which walks hand-in hand with the neo-cons.
Maybe he was. Realizing that the authority which claims to provide one security in exchange for obedience will not hold up its end of the bargain might be a factor in one's later gravitation towards libertarian politics.
I'd vote yea for DeSantis/Gabbard too---if the choice was between casting them off (or not) into the Atlantic (or Pacific, to defer to the lady from Hawaii) on a balsa wood raft kitted out with nothing but a barrel of water and a case of Tobasco Sauce.
I so love the name Lucretia. Years ago I purchased a pair of enamel on copper convex painted images of Lucretia and Tarquin in prof, facing each other. They were 17th century Florentine wry stylized black and shadow in chiaroscuro on pristine white. Areas had crackled with age.They were prized. And I dropped them face down on coral pavers. He looked so profoundly sad before he hit the ground. When I picked it up, his eye was gone. Dropped it againNow the enamel shattered end all that remained was his coiffed wig on a copper background. I swear Lucrezia was smiling. Bitch!
Cats are above everything, not just the law. The good news is that they are easily bored and would forget they were supposed to run things. They'd just get distracted and start chasing grasshoppers. Come to think of it, we need more cats in congress.
During the Trump years the neocons gravitated to the democrats. This has been noted by many, including Glen Greenwald. Why do you think the Biden administration has a bunch of neocons in their State Department, including Nuland, a significant participant in the coup in 2014 and overheard planning what US policy should be in Ukraine. ,
Is Trump flawed? Yes! But no wars for the first time in the 21st century, and now with Biden we may be on the brink of war with Russia. Trump was better then Bush/Cheney for sure, not millions dead, displaced, tortured on his watch. Do you think Hilary is good? She loves war, and would have taken us into another as she did in Libya which was based on a lie. Once a vibrant country it is now a total horror, with slave markets that were never there before. Basically Hilary was behind trying to remove Trump from office. You'll agree, I'm sure, she is arrogant with a pathological need for power. Assange agrees with me. It was upsetting to see her laugh when she heard Gaddafi died, sodomized by a sword, and she kept laughing which was even more upsetting. Has Trump done bad things like support sanctions on Venezuela and Iran and overturn the Iran deal, yeah I thought that was bad, but the democrats backed him up. And so it goes. Democrats, and the no more independent press created a black and white world during the Trump years, Trump bad, democrats good. Trump supporters bad, Biden followers good. Black and white world, black and white thinking and a fiery guarded red wall to bring it home, and divide a country.
Neocon and neolib are the same thing. They really don't care which party they use. Same agenda, different packaging. Since Obama's election, I've simply preferred to call them "neos."
Ironically, part of the WEF narrative is to admit to the failure of neoliberalism - which is to be replaced by Stakeholder Capitalism...which of course is actually neoliberalism on steroids and part of the so-called Build Back Better. Of course, when the majority hear a politician bashing neoliberalism, they will think the politician is "on their side." Beware....they are simply doing a "bait and switch." We should be used to this from the elites by now. The state of Youtube and the internet in general should be enough proof of this. They start out promising you freedom and utopia, and in the end, corral you into a prison that you cannot escape.
Well said. I would add the FBI and CIA to the team of neocons. I think we crossed the Rubicon in 2020. They were caught off guard in 2016 but they weren't gonna let it happen again. I think the alphabets and neocons in both parties cheated...period.
After 2016, the alphabet agencies (to the cheers of Team D and the Team R mainstream) have usurped a de facto veto over election results that they don't like.
Look at the UK and Italy. They held clean elections and because the elected winners were not status quo beaucrats, they’re Nazis. While the actual Nazis are the Ukraine, EU , US ,UN, WEF “ Young Global Leaders” and the kleptotechnocorporate multinational monopolies creating a transhuman Brave New World of oppression, slavery, surveillance and misery.” You will own nothing, have no privacy and be happy”.
We attribute it to Klaus Schwab, but it was actually the oppressor character in Huxley’s epic warning” Brave New World” , published in 1931!
Great comment. Sweden went far right too and Hungary is already there. With these idiots cutting down nordstream they're gonna polarize all of europe. Revolution is in the French DNA. Germany will put someone up just left of Hitler if they go cold this winter. Unless the alphabets want a return to cold war Europe, who knows with the CIA. Obama and his advisors playing the short game trying to be everything KLAUS while the CIA is trying to sabotage the EU? Someone should a write a book about it.
All part of the plan. If you follow the chain of distractions and created catastrophes… If you’ve read Brave New World and 1984,… The Great Reset if life imitating art. Even the verbiage.” You’ll own nothing and be happy” Klaus Schwab.
“ You’ll own nothing and enjoy your slavery”… Aldous Huxley’s antagonist in Brave New World. 1931
But to wholly absorb how inexplicably prescient and prophetic Huxley was, search Mike Wallace/ Aldous Huxley interview 1958. Chilling is an understatement. Wallace was so patronizing and out of his league. He mocked Huxley’s “ Dystopic vision”. I really wish Wallace was right. You MUST watch it. Also Huxley’s amazing “ tutorial” describing the Hindu Dancing Shiva. Mind blowing. He literally disseminates the coronavirus , ensnaring evil and Shiva’s foot subjugating the hideous dwarf, representative of maintaining balance by not allowing evil to escape. Lastly, watch his 1962 seminar at UC Berkeley.
His prophecy has come to be and ironically, today’s transhumanist enthusiasts despise Huxley. Good is bad, slavery is freedom and so on.
Chris Wallace reminds me of a small town gossipy church lady. The prissy pursed lips, speech cadence and predetermined assessment. The difference being he is Jewish lite and a New York born lifer. The small town church ladies have an excuse.
That could be applied to any group of people that other people see as "in the way" of something they want. It's all Whites', Blacks', Asians', Jews', Russians', Muslims', Ukrainians', Males', Sunnis', Shi'ites', etc. fault that my tribe can't do everything they want. Everyone has the capacity for this level of xenophobia.
I’m Jewish. Does that make me an elitist oligarch? Bill Gates, Bezos, Buffett, Schwab, Getty, Dorsey, Koch, Atlantic Council, Rockefeller Foundation, Brookings Institute, Carnegie Institute, Aspen, Walmart, Visa, Capital One, MasterCard,Exxon Mobil, GE, GM, Walgreens, CVS,Lockheed Martin, Boeing, The Royals, Marriott,Microsoft, Tim Cook, Peter Theil, Oprah,PG& E, Carlos Slim, DeBeers, Coors, Merk, BioNTech, Proctor and Gamble, Trump aren’t Jewish. Soros and Zelenskyy were born to Jewish parents and are Nazi kapos.
You left out the 10 TRILLION dollar elephant in the room....BLACKROCK, the largest asset manager in the world CEO Larry fink is Jewish....and a monster. Klaus schwabs mother was Jewish, its telling that he only refers to his step mother who was Christian. But to your point gates, buffet, Koch and bezos were all raised or born of Christians. They are all social engineering monsters too. I think that dude spitting out ancient, apocalyptic religious nonsense was not even relevant to the subject matter.
Point taken although he manipulated the silver market in the 90s and made a fortune. Im also not a fan of his GEICO. theyre agents PUSH minimum state liability limits on customers which is a serious moral dilemna. When his less than stellar customers hit other people, they're only on the hook for the state minimum leaving the other Insurance companies to foot the bill.
He also donated 36 BILLION to the gates foundation whose aim is to reduce our population.....see bills involvement with covid AND the vaccine. Bezos flat out manipulates the news at the Washington post. They are nothing more than an arm of the (obama) third term , WEF , socialist machine.
I guess if ya wanna blame it all on one religion , there are important people at the top(Blackrock) but plenty of agnostic manipulators are going right along.
Hillary is not worried about nuclear war. If Russia fires nukes at Europe and the entire population of the world is wiped out, Hillary will crawl up from the rubble onto what's left of the White House and name herself president.
I thought it was a pretty good joke. By the way, Trump was very much in favor of sending lethal aid to Ukraine. As a life-long peace activist, I opposed that loudly. But failing to negotiate seriously, even now when we're at the threshold of nuclear conflict is inexcusable. None of this was necessary. And it will get worse. There are no serious negotiations because Pentagon wants a bloody quagmire to destabilize Putin. Meanwhile I am kicked off Twitter for saying that.
Trump sucks, but giving weapons to Ukraine wasn't a "good" thing. We should have negotiated a settlement, then negotiated the land back after the madmen are out of office. For fucks sake, that very same paradigm was used on that same country when the Soviets fell. Better minds than our current leadership understood you can't war your way out of a situation when nukes are involved.
All this aid is just resulting in more dead, more hatred, and then even more dead. Instead of sacrificing an intangible like "sovereignty" we are getting a generation of Ukranians killed and destroying, perhaps permanently, their nation.
But of course, that train of thought requires sacrifice and ignoring the press who have a vested financial interest in escalation.
Hell let's go back to Jimmy Fucking Carter's United Nations recommendations for elections:
"Growing use of absentee voting has turned this area of voting into the most likely opportunity for election fraud now encountered by law enforcement officials. These cases are especially difficult to prosecute, since the misuse of a voter’s ballot or the pressure on voters occurs away from the polling place or any other outside scrutiny. These opportunities for abuse should be contained, not enlarged.
We know how difficult it will be for states that have already adopted such practices to roll them back. We do hope to do what we can to undermine the hitherto largely uncritical acceptance of this “convenient” trend and discourage states that have not yet traveled down this problematical path."
Yes, this is the Bottom Line: all of the dubious practices--mass mail in ballots, drop boxes, extended voting periods, beginning to count the votes before election "day," etc. all must be criticized/ended if we are indeed interested in "saving our democracy."
SimCom, no doubt about it, inky-dinky do is the way to go...verifiable voting is not just for "other countries"anymore. We need to stay on this point anytime the topic of voting comes up.
Right? Pretty sad when voting protocols from third world countries look attractive in the most developed, wealthiest nation in (known) history. Blue ink on the right index finger that doesn’t wash off for 30 days. One person, one vote. We are truly in a new Dark Age.
Yes, we are indeed the "most developed, wealthiest nation in (known) history," but that does not mean we are not subject to the flawed humanity characteristic of all times and all places.
“How do we get these clowns?” Only ethically, morally bankrupt careerists are allowed to be promoted to the powerful positions. All dissenters are eliminated one way or another.
Sad, but you're absolutely right. What would help? Would term limits? Would campaign spending limits? There has to be some way to bring out our "better angels".
Get the money out of elections. The way it’s set up now, the public is completely sidelined from having any influence on government. Of course at this point, that would most likely require a national strike. The corporate set has a stranglehold on all our institutions.
The only way to do that is to shrink government so there's no use in bribing them. I get $0 a year from special interests because I can't do anything for them -- I'd like my 'elected officials' to be in the same boat.
I totally agree. If 95% of the money went away, they would have to focus on content and not attack ads. Another point to consider is shortening the election cycle: in many countries it's only a few months before the election. I just don't see this ever happening. Here's a list of the top political funding organizations: https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/top-organizations . It's quite eye opening.
What if campaigning only lasted six months at most? What if media access was provided to all candidates equally and at no cost? Same for travel expenses. And, of course, public financing only. No private contributions or personal loans permitted. Or if permitted they would be matched by public funding. Couldn't be worse than now and might be a huge improvement.
Congress is only a 2 year job, and they spend most of the 2 years in a cubicle across the street from the capital calling donors begging for cash. A 2 year job should only have a 6 week campaign.
Cut off all the perks. Travel, meals, healthcare, security details, qualified immunity, 401ks, security clearances, ban them from lobbying and corporate boards post leaving office….
Power corrupts, and the desire for power motivates the most Ego focused humans. The systems that work focus on distribution of power as much as possible. The larger the organization the worst the corruption. This true if you call the organization, a government, a kingdom, a corporation, union, or co-op.
Agreed, the more I come to understand human nature. The more I realize the brilliance of the Founding Fathers. I don't mean to say they were perfect or that the constitution is perfect. But it's quite impressive. Especially if you compare the way things play out in Canada vs USA. A slight Majority can get you just about anything in Canada. But the minority positions have much more protections in the US.
Yes, and think of the world in which they created this new system out of scratch, with no "experts" no books or prior example of how to do such a thing, and the rest of the world generally relying on kings, generals and despots. Absolutely amazing.
I once thought of running for Congress. I worked in County level government, had some connections, and some friends and decided to see what it would take to run. I was legitimately told that unless I could raise $4M (this was the early 2000's), that I am wasting my time and theirs. I also needed a party backing before even bothering. This was in Pennsylvania.
To get that party backing, and cash? LOL.. Yeah. Sold Soul!!! Also... I asked this question when i was told that. "Why do I need $4M for a job that is only going to pay me ~$300k over 2 years?" I went to school for Math, so I mean... I am not up on today's 2+2=7, but this math didn't add up even close.
Well, two things about the math I guess...1) Presumably the $4m would have been other peoples' money; 2) The $300k would have been yours and come with "opportunities"...
In the old days of 20 years ago, I'd have answered indoctrination in the colleges and universities - but they're taking no chances at all now and starting much younger.
And hanging, public or private, is not only undramatic but given the sheer numbers of the certain-to-be-condemned, large funeral pyres is the ticket---arranged on The Mall in Washington D.C. Most Festive.
Yes, they both claimed that, but Trump has more evidence than the left did. They never had any. They were allowed to delegitimize him daily without ever providing ANY. On the other hand, We know votes got switched, election rules were changed illegally, information was censored by the left. We KNOW that. Other than THAT, they both did the same thing, both claimed ahead of time they wouldn't accept the election results of 2020. But Donald Trump is a criminal, this persecution trying to get him at any cost started before he even took office. Trump did not do any such thing in reverse. Iin fact, he didn't try to investigate Hillary after he took office, he let her "classified" mess go. So there are differences here.
It's true. There are serious questions surrounding 2020 that the 'experts' refuse to answer or even acknowledge. Instead, they're acting exactly like people who stole an election and are terrified they will get busted.
If there were worse images out there from 1/6, we would certainly have seen them (over and over). Yet the media doesn’t seem to be interested in getting to the bottom of 1/6 OR the underlying issue: the 2020 election. And thanks to Alex Berenson and others, we know that the government is in regular communication with giant social and traditional media outlets about the ‘proper’ narrative to follow. I love Alex, but if they are in communications to squash a little fish like him, they are CERTAINLY in communications to squash the most important stories of the day. There’s no doubt that (if we were allowed to see the communications of our public servants) we’d find ‘don’t cover this story’ or ‘ban this guy’ memos surrounding both the coverage of Election 2020 AND the coverage of 1/6 — just like we’re (still) learning about the Hunter laptop story.
Ultimately, Biden’s statement about MAGA Republicans being a unique threat is based on the very dubious (but potentially easily proven, if the footage backs it up) claim that 1/6 was an attempt to overturn a free and fair election. If it was shown (through footage) that 1/6 was nothing close to an ‘insurrection’, the entire narrative would crumble and Americans would see that political violence has been coming from the left for years, as the ‘leaders’ cheer it on for political gain. After all, cities weren’t boarded up on election night in case Biden won.
Biden won in 2020, and 2016 Trump won. There was no significant fraud with the vote itself either time. As well, there was election interference both times by our foreign enemies. This is basic.  Fraudulent votes and vote influence are two different things. 
Repeating what you hear on the news isn't persuasive unless you can explain the swing states stopping the count and Biden overtaking Trump overnight with vote ratios not seen anywhere else in the world.
Or the footage showing poll workers waiting until everybody has left before they start counting again.......nothing suspicious here!
If you read outside your echo chamber (please note that I’m reading here, for instance) you would have known the Biden overtaking Trump issue was forecast.
I am sure you weren’t aware of this so FYI only: There were a lot of partisan politics around where and how to vote. For Republicans there was a strong emphasis on voting day of and in person, for Dems there was the opposite. What was tabulated first ended up being (as was forecast) heavily Republican/ Trump and then the Biden voters overtook later. I was unsurprised because I knew it was coming. I knew the pandemic also changed a lot of voting procedures.
I’d suggest you listen to real voters, not just Trump supporters, and understand why we independent/unaffiliated voters didn’t fly flags or honk in parades; we simply and quietly voted to get rid that particular inhabitant of the Oval Office. I’m no Biden fan but he’s a significant step up. Perhaps next time we’ll have better choices.
Yes, the election was super fortified -- so fortified they told us exactly how they were going to cheat before they did it.
The poll workers video wasn't explained. If they didn't kick everybody out, WHY DID THEY WAIT UNTIL EVERYBODY LEFT TO START COUNTING AGAIN? If nobody told anybody to leave, WHY DID EVERYBODY LEAVE?
These types of questions can't be answered so you keep deflecting to 'fact check' sites that say this was 'debunked' because the ballots weren't in suitcases. Simply asserting no wrongdoing in contrast to the video evidence is not proving anything.
p.s. For instance when Bush was abusing civil rights of Muslims you heard Rand Paul and Mike Lee protesting. (I'm a Rand Paul person because he has real integrity). I haven't heard a thing from Bernie about what's been going on here.
I'll take him in a limited capacity. If that's all those of us who are still anti-war / pro-civil liberties have. (although he is a pro-lifer, so the civil liberties bit comes with that purity glitch.)
You just answered your own question. Censorship. The media gate keepers decide what the public hears and reads unless they access independent media. That’s a very small percentage of the population. Bernie is a sheepdog as far as I’m concerned. After what he did to his delegates at the convention in 2016, I will never trust him again.
Right. Why aren't they on substack talking where they CAN? That's bull. They have been driving a lot of policy from Biden, too. Not standing up for freedom at ALL.
People are indoctrinated with lies. They are not interested in being on independent media threads. Only people who don’t accept corporate state dogma do so. Who is this “they” you are referring to? People are too lazy and fear mongered to stray from the status quo. Who benefits? And so it goes.
Why should we care about the taxonomy of the "left?" Just because you are three steps past Mao doesn't mean that Dems are not on the left, it only means everything looks right to you.
I've never understood this confusion about the common usage of this terminology.
In a fantasy world populated only by Reagan and Bush, the latter would be "the Left."
It is an empirical designation of one side of the political spectrum extant. That's it. You can say the Democrats are not Liberal or they are not Socialists but they are certainly the left side of the polity.
Even worse is that the evidence the Dems did produce such as the Steel Dossier was bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign while THEY THEMSELVES were colluding with the Russians.
“Although there is evidence of potential violations regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” he said.
Comey said decisions on whether or not to bring charges are partly based on “how similar situations have been handled in the past.”
Phisto, save your digital breath--these folks are not interest in rational debate, it is a rhetorical rearguard movement at this point. For every fact you raise, they will find another nonesensical response. Just declare victory and move on.
That's laughable. For 3 years Hillary, Obama, and the entire Dem party claimed that Trump colluded with Russia to hack the election. Matt Taibbi along with many others including official inquiries proved that it was the Clinton campaign that fabricated evidence to sabotage the Trump presidency. That's illegal.
I’m of the opinion this stuff has been going on for so long on both sides that we the public know most of this is bluster and ignore said protestations as just bluster... the words are meaningless...
Now, WATCHING 5 STATES STOP
COUNTING at exactly the same time on election night, that doesn’t happen every day, and perks up my antennae... not saying it’s fraudulent, but come on, it’s at least fishy and should be investigated - by legitimately non-partisan people. Not just wait for people to file lawsuits and expect the judicial system to decide who has or doesn’t have standing.
... just like changing election laws before elections seems a little fishy as well... but I digress....
Careful, Matt. Stray to far and the dogs will turn on you. Remember who runs the intelligence agencies now, and what side of the isle they owe their allegiance.
And as the illustrious Chuck Shroomer said on TV, "The intel agencies have six ways from Sunday to get you."
How come we don't spend more time contemplating and opposing that undeniable fact? Other than the obvious reason, i.e., we may get paid a visit from them if we do.
... the intelligence agencies? It sure as hell ain't the sitting President , Congress, or the American people. Remember when CIA ops were frantically raiding the SSCI's computers to delete, redact, or otherwise confusulate the Senate committee that is supposed to oversee it?
Im sorry but I stopped reading the Atlantic years ago. Not before I read that article, however. I remember it. The current NSD of the DOJ is populated by people who are undoubtedly Democrats who take orders from the administration. Many of them, such as Mary McCord, came under scrutiny when trump was president and left to avoid investigation, only to come back when Biden became president. It’s kind of sick, really. The DOJ created the NSD after the Patriot Act was passed, but under the Obama Administration they made it so the NSD can’t be investigated by the Inspector General, making it free from any oversight.
I would imagine that the operatives of the CIA, FBI, and the rest of the U.S Spook machine are more concerned with the personal effects of the common cold than the musings of Matt Taibbi.
Why would you assume that? The FBI is more focused intelligence gathering these days than the actual investigation of crimes. That is my point. It takes almost nothing for them to begin an intelligence investigation.
I would say that Taibbi is one of the last honest journalists to hold the powerful to account. That makes him a target. I would bet my life they monitor him. I’m sure the reason they give is his time spent in Russia.
Not sure what that means. I’m out as much as anyone else.
Does it make you uncomfortable that the FBI has a national security division that we can’t know anything about? I’m not really sure what is so strange to you about this. They receive their orders from whoever decides what the national security threats are. Which of course is themselves.
Burnus Sanders. Thundering Bernie, Man O' Straw. Shameless. But by God, he got his moment in the sun. I had a cool meme button way back in the 70s. It read "Age and treachery always overcome youth and skill."
Too many of the loudest voices, don't care about the stability belief in our elections create. All that matters is that they win. Pretending that every election is close to a life or death battle is distorting the more important factor. Harmony. All the noise, about fraud in elections should result in focus. A focus to prove our elections are fair and honest. Anyone that claims to care about "Democracy" should be comfortable with a bi-partisan investigation into our election processes. The fact we haven't seen this type of coalition form is the most concerning.
Because those elected under this current system dare not change it. Would you change a system that is benefitting you? answer: no. People want the system broken so they can complain about it if they lose. The democrats wanted to complain about the broken system since blaming Hillary for the worst campaign in recent memory wouldn't work for them. Republicans wanted to complain about the broken system because they couldn't accept that they had as asshole as a candidate. A dead cat could have beaten Hillary in 2016. And Sirhan Sirhan could have beaten Trump in 2020. If you "fix" the system, the parties would actually have to accept their defeat and change course. Not going to happen.
the only way the system will change is if both parties start cheating like mad.
While I don't disagree when it comes to the elected. There are lots of non elected that are totally on-board. Often the elected are just grabbing the closest branch to stay in power. There is something more going on right now. Social Media really amplifies the more unreasonable opinions. I'm not sure how you counter that. When you talk to people in person you get a much more nuanced reasonable opinion. But social media convinces us were on the verge of civil war.
Agreed. More than I would have every beloved. I really believed the free flow of information and education would avoid crazed mob behavior. Now I’ve come to accept the salem witch trials had much more to do with human ego and moral supremacy. Access the knowledge and education is not much of a factor at all.
To this (and Part I), I think it is worth adding that our sitting President has already laid the groundwork for calling into question the legitimacy of the 2022 midterms, should they not go favorably for his side.
"The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is in proportion to not being able to get these reforms passed." Since the "reforms" did not pass, that must mean . . . .
Everybody knows the best way to ensure your election is legitimate is to be unable to determine if the ballot at the bottom of the box was legally cast!
A pair of outstanding reports preserving history. I would note, only the Dems were able to employ the power of the state to undermine faith in election integrity. That is significantly more horrifying.
People are so stupid, a critical mass of them literally just regurgitate the national news broadcast, who themselves just parrot what was in the NYTimes that morning, who themselves copy-paste from noxious Twitter threads from the night before.
What I've long wondered now is where the useful idiots begin? How many CNN-heads honestly believe the pap they spew? I mean I'm a complete moron and Jesus these folks are just obviously much stupider than I am.
They aren't stupider they are doing what most of humanity wants. They believe in an ideology and press spews that ideology back to them in the form of "news." that is what they want. both left and right want it. Not people like you and me, but at least 2/3rd of the people want this. What is different now from when we were younger is that people are more involved in politics now. the more people are involved in politics the bigger the market for political propaganda.
Gene, I am not disputing that establishment Republicans helped HRC and the DNC but make no mistake, HRC and the DNC were the leaders and masterminds in the 2015/2016 coup attempt to get Trump out of office. They created the Steele Dossier as well as took out Flynn. That is not disputed. They also took out Devin N for a period of time. They also were behind the 2020 election chicanery...Marc Elias works for HRC and he was the mastermind behind the Zuckerbucks, et al
The whole "so-and-so stole the election" talking point ensures that there will almost never be an election result that people view as "valid" unless it confirms "one state, two state, red state, blue state" priors.
For example, in Kansas, I don't think anyone will question it if Jerry Moran gets re-elected to the U.S. Senate, but I can already see things warming up when it comes to the gubernatorial election, that somebody, somewhere, is going to contest it.
And, especially, we'll see this happen time and again with Presidential election, regardless of what evidence does or doesn't say. The playbook is now set and the only question is what play you call (though with Republicans, their play might vary, whereas with Democrats, it will be easily predicted as either "Russia" or "Putin," though they might throw in "Trump rigged it himself" just so they can keep making everything about Trump.)
So just be quiet and let the Administrative State select our "representatives."
At what point will you give a shit enough to stand up? When they're taking you for your daily big pharma injection and return you to your shared crack house bed?
Well, why not share with the rest of us how you have valiantly stood up to the big, bad Administrative State. And hawking stale conspiracy theories on the TK threads does not count.
*Any* candidate outside the mainstream consensus will be smeared as a Russian agent. No evidence needed. Because Russia.
In this, Russians play much the same role thst Jews did not so long ago, when any development that the establishment of the day didn't like could be automatically blamed on Jews. No evidence needed. Because Jews.
It kinda looks like any candidate who would threaten Neocon goals will be tarred with the brush of "illegitimacy." Neocons have a strong presence within both the Dems and Repubs. I believe Neocons want to use US power in all its forms to intimidate, dominate and coerce every other nation. They try to use every opportunity to enlarge US power and influence. War and geopolitical confrontation are merely tools toward this aim. They are not reluctant to wage a war. From the Neocon point of view, it's justifiable to use any tactic to keep the likes of Sanders and Trump out of power. They don't value the Bill of Rights. They're more than happy to suppress free speech in the US and criminalize "misinformation spreaders."
Exactly. They attack Ron Paul and Tulsi Gabbard the same way and for the same reason: REAL anti-war views.
What about the non-neocons who like Sanders, but don't like Trump, (I think you mean Rand not Ron) Paul, and Gabbard? Or the non-neocons who like the latter trio but don't much care for Sanders?
And even if any of these four were somehow elected, what makes you think that they could get any meaningful legislation enacted? And you have completely ignored corporate America, which walks hand-in hand with the neo-cons.
I didn't ignore them, they're the one spouting the narrative.
And Ron Paul was being attacked long before Rand was even in Congress.
https://www.cc.com/video/in35c7/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-indecision-2012-corn-polled-edition-ron-paul-the-top-tier
Ron Paul should have been attacked before he reached the 6th grade.
Maybe he was. Realizing that the authority which claims to provide one security in exchange for obedience will not hold up its end of the bargain might be a factor in one's later gravitation towards libertarian politics.
I’d vote for a DeSantis/Gabbard ticket in a minute. They’re smart and have a good rappport
I'd vote yea for DeSantis/Gabbard too---if the choice was between casting them off (or not) into the Atlantic (or Pacific, to defer to the lady from Hawaii) on a balsa wood raft kitted out with nothing but a barrel of water and a case of Tobasco Sauce.
Lithium is effective, and available as a generic. I’d suggest you try some to keep the voices in your head at bay.
I so love the name Lucretia. Years ago I purchased a pair of enamel on copper convex painted images of Lucretia and Tarquin in prof, facing each other. They were 17th century Florentine wry stylized black and shadow in chiaroscuro on pristine white. Areas had crackled with age.They were prized. And I dropped them face down on coral pavers. He looked so profoundly sad before he hit the ground. When I picked it up, his eye was gone. Dropped it againNow the enamel shattered end all that remained was his coiffed wig on a copper background. I swear Lucrezia was smiling. Bitch!
Power is to sociopaths what catnip is to cats.
Catnip is harmless though. LEGALIZE IT!
It's not legal? Chewy.com has some explaining to do.
This is just further proof that cats run things and are above the law.
Cats are above everything, not just the law. The good news is that they are easily bored and would forget they were supposed to run things. They'd just get distracted and start chasing grasshoppers. Come to think of it, we need more cats in congress.
All I know is that catnip makes our boi Mr Hef role around on the floor in ecstasy--and if that's a crime, arrest us both!
Try silvervine. It is to catnip what crack is to cocaine.
Scorpions are better people than politicians.
Probably true, but why call us "people".
Good to see more of us here. Chirrup!
During the Trump years the neocons gravitated to the democrats. This has been noted by many, including Glen Greenwald. Why do you think the Biden administration has a bunch of neocons in their State Department, including Nuland, a significant participant in the coup in 2014 and overheard planning what US policy should be in Ukraine. ,
That's why whenever anybody asks who's actually running the show, I say "The Obama team, now with more neocons!!"
What you say is unendiably true, but never forget, "orange man bad!"
It's so obvious what's really going on, and so tiresome that so many either don't want or can't bear to face the truth.
Is Trump flawed? Yes! But no wars for the first time in the 21st century, and now with Biden we may be on the brink of war with Russia. Trump was better then Bush/Cheney for sure, not millions dead, displaced, tortured on his watch. Do you think Hilary is good? She loves war, and would have taken us into another as she did in Libya which was based on a lie. Once a vibrant country it is now a total horror, with slave markets that were never there before. Basically Hilary was behind trying to remove Trump from office. You'll agree, I'm sure, she is arrogant with a pathological need for power. Assange agrees with me. It was upsetting to see her laugh when she heard Gaddafi died, sodomized by a sword, and she kept laughing which was even more upsetting. Has Trump done bad things like support sanctions on Venezuela and Iran and overturn the Iran deal, yeah I thought that was bad, but the democrats backed him up. And so it goes. Democrats, and the no more independent press created a black and white world during the Trump years, Trump bad, democrats good. Trump supporters bad, Biden followers good. Black and white world, black and white thinking and a fiery guarded red wall to bring it home, and divide a country.
Just a comment if you were serious about Trump being bad.
Neocon and neolib are the same thing. They really don't care which party they use. Same agenda, different packaging. Since Obama's election, I've simply preferred to call them "neos."
Ironically, part of the WEF narrative is to admit to the failure of neoliberalism - which is to be replaced by Stakeholder Capitalism...which of course is actually neoliberalism on steroids and part of the so-called Build Back Better. Of course, when the majority hear a politician bashing neoliberalism, they will think the politician is "on their side." Beware....they are simply doing a "bait and switch." We should be used to this from the elites by now. The state of Youtube and the internet in general should be enough proof of this. They start out promising you freedom and utopia, and in the end, corral you into a prison that you cannot escape.
bingo ... well said ... see my comment above ONE party.
Yup
Well said. I would add the FBI and CIA to the team of neocons. I think we crossed the Rubicon in 2020. They were caught off guard in 2016 but they weren't gonna let it happen again. I think the alphabets and neocons in both parties cheated...period.
After 2016, the alphabet agencies (to the cheers of Team D and the Team R mainstream) have usurped a de facto veto over election results that they don't like.
Look at the UK and Italy. They held clean elections and because the elected winners were not status quo beaucrats, they’re Nazis. While the actual Nazis are the Ukraine, EU , US ,UN, WEF “ Young Global Leaders” and the kleptotechnocorporate multinational monopolies creating a transhuman Brave New World of oppression, slavery, surveillance and misery.” You will own nothing, have no privacy and be happy”.
We attribute it to Klaus Schwab, but it was actually the oppressor character in Huxley’s epic warning” Brave New World” , published in 1931!
Great comment. Sweden went far right too and Hungary is already there. With these idiots cutting down nordstream they're gonna polarize all of europe. Revolution is in the French DNA. Germany will put someone up just left of Hitler if they go cold this winter. Unless the alphabets want a return to cold war Europe, who knows with the CIA. Obama and his advisors playing the short game trying to be everything KLAUS while the CIA is trying to sabotage the EU? Someone should a write a book about it.
All part of the plan. If you follow the chain of distractions and created catastrophes… If you’ve read Brave New World and 1984,… The Great Reset if life imitating art. Even the verbiage.” You’ll own nothing and be happy” Klaus Schwab.
“ You’ll own nothing and enjoy your slavery”… Aldous Huxley’s antagonist in Brave New World. 1931
But to wholly absorb how inexplicably prescient and prophetic Huxley was, search Mike Wallace/ Aldous Huxley interview 1958. Chilling is an understatement. Wallace was so patronizing and out of his league. He mocked Huxley’s “ Dystopic vision”. I really wish Wallace was right. You MUST watch it. Also Huxley’s amazing “ tutorial” describing the Hindu Dancing Shiva. Mind blowing. He literally disseminates the coronavirus , ensnaring evil and Shiva’s foot subjugating the hideous dwarf, representative of maintaining balance by not allowing evil to escape. Lastly, watch his 1962 seminar at UC Berkeley.
His prophecy has come to be and ironically, today’s transhumanist enthusiasts despise Huxley. Good is bad, slavery is freedom and so on.
I'll watch them, thanks. Its funny you said Wallace was patronizing, his son is too.
Chris Wallace reminds me of a small town gossipy church lady. The prissy pursed lips, speech cadence and predetermined assessment. The difference being he is Jewish lite and a New York born lifer. The small town church ladies have an excuse.
Ron Paul, Tulsi Gabbard, Rand Paul, Bernie Sanders until he folded, etc etc etc
Very good post Feral. You absolutely correct. I never thought of this, but good analysis.
The Finster aims to please.
You did please me on this. Finster 1 World 0
That could be applied to any group of people that other people see as "in the way" of something they want. It's all Whites', Blacks', Asians', Jews', Russians', Muslims', Ukrainians', Males', Sunnis', Shi'ites', etc. fault that my tribe can't do everything they want. Everyone has the capacity for this level of xenophobia.
No argument there, just that Russians are the chosen enemies du jour.
Mine and my husband’s family all emigrated from Russia.
Interesting analogy.
This is more than a few laps longer than stupid.
I’m Jewish. Does that make me an elitist oligarch? Bill Gates, Bezos, Buffett, Schwab, Getty, Dorsey, Koch, Atlantic Council, Rockefeller Foundation, Brookings Institute, Carnegie Institute, Aspen, Walmart, Visa, Capital One, MasterCard,Exxon Mobil, GE, GM, Walgreens, CVS,Lockheed Martin, Boeing, The Royals, Marriott,Microsoft, Tim Cook, Peter Theil, Oprah,PG& E, Carlos Slim, DeBeers, Coors, Merk, BioNTech, Proctor and Gamble, Trump aren’t Jewish. Soros and Zelenskyy were born to Jewish parents and are Nazi kapos.
Don't feed the troll.
You left out the 10 TRILLION dollar elephant in the room....BLACKROCK, the largest asset manager in the world CEO Larry fink is Jewish....and a monster. Klaus schwabs mother was Jewish, its telling that he only refers to his step mother who was Christian. But to your point gates, buffet, Koch and bezos were all raised or born of Christians. They are all social engineering monsters too. I think that dude spitting out ancient, apocalyptic religious nonsense was not even relevant to the subject matter.
Point taken although he manipulated the silver market in the 90s and made a fortune. Im also not a fan of his GEICO. theyre agents PUSH minimum state liability limits on customers which is a serious moral dilemna. When his less than stellar customers hit other people, they're only on the hook for the state minimum leaving the other Insurance companies to foot the bill.
He also donated 36 BILLION to the gates foundation whose aim is to reduce our population.....see bills involvement with covid AND the vaccine. Bezos flat out manipulates the news at the Washington post. They are nothing more than an arm of the (obama) third term , WEF , socialist machine.
I guess if ya wanna blame it all on one religion , there are important people at the top(Blackrock) but plenty of agnostic manipulators are going right along.
The way Carlotta's pitching I'd say she's now the frontrunner for TK News' Cy Young award---no?
You are incredibly hateful.
Hillary is not worried about nuclear war. If Russia fires nukes at Europe and the entire population of the world is wiped out, Hillary will crawl up from the rubble onto what's left of the White House and name herself president.
She'd probably be just one of many feudal lords.
She already is. $675,000 to give 3 speeches to Goldman Sachs just before she runs for president.
She’s a Borgia wannabe.😂
Why does some part of me think this is entirely plausible. She’s like the female iteration of Freddie Kruger.
And slowly blink her nictating membranes.
I thought it was a pretty good joke. By the way, Trump was very much in favor of sending lethal aid to Ukraine. As a life-long peace activist, I opposed that loudly. But failing to negotiate seriously, even now when we're at the threshold of nuclear conflict is inexcusable. None of this was necessary. And it will get worse. There are no serious negotiations because Pentagon wants a bloody quagmire to destabilize Putin. Meanwhile I am kicked off Twitter for saying that.
Trump sucks, but giving weapons to Ukraine wasn't a "good" thing. We should have negotiated a settlement, then negotiated the land back after the madmen are out of office. For fucks sake, that very same paradigm was used on that same country when the Soviets fell. Better minds than our current leadership understood you can't war your way out of a situation when nukes are involved.
All this aid is just resulting in more dead, more hatred, and then even more dead. Instead of sacrificing an intangible like "sovereignty" we are getting a generation of Ukranians killed and destroying, perhaps permanently, their nation.
But of course, that train of thought requires sacrifice and ignoring the press who have a vested financial interest in escalation.
At this point I'm at the 'let's dip our finger in ink' stage of election security.
Hell let's go back to Jimmy Fucking Carter's United Nations recommendations for elections:
"Growing use of absentee voting has turned this area of voting into the most likely opportunity for election fraud now encountered by law enforcement officials. These cases are especially difficult to prosecute, since the misuse of a voter’s ballot or the pressure on voters occurs away from the polling place or any other outside scrutiny. These opportunities for abuse should be contained, not enlarged.
We know how difficult it will be for states that have already adopted such practices to roll them back. We do hope to do what we can to undermine the hitherto largely uncritical acceptance of this “convenient” trend and discourage states that have not yet traveled down this problematical path."
VerifiedVoting.org
https://verifiedvoting.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/NCFER_2001.pdf
Thanks for that Carter quote, Burt. Very timely and apt.
Yes, this is the Bottom Line: all of the dubious practices--mass mail in ballots, drop boxes, extended voting periods, beginning to count the votes before election "day," etc. all must be criticized/ended if we are indeed interested in "saving our democracy."
Worked for Iraq and Afghanistan when the US implemented permanent stable democracies after it killed all the bad guys, amirite?
SimCom, no doubt about it, inky-dinky do is the way to go...verifiable voting is not just for "other countries"anymore. We need to stay on this point anytime the topic of voting comes up.
Right? Pretty sad when voting protocols from third world countries look attractive in the most developed, wealthiest nation in (known) history. Blue ink on the right index finger that doesn’t wash off for 30 days. One person, one vote. We are truly in a new Dark Age.
Yes, we are indeed the "most developed, wealthiest nation in (known) history," but that does not mean we are not subject to the flawed humanity characteristic of all times and all places.
Makes you yearn for some adults among our leaders and media. How do we get these clowns?
“How do we get these clowns?” Only ethically, morally bankrupt careerists are allowed to be promoted to the powerful positions. All dissenters are eliminated one way or another.
Sad, but you're absolutely right. What would help? Would term limits? Would campaign spending limits? There has to be some way to bring out our "better angels".
Get the money out of elections. The way it’s set up now, the public is completely sidelined from having any influence on government. Of course at this point, that would most likely require a national strike. The corporate set has a stranglehold on all our institutions.
The only way to do that is to shrink government so there's no use in bribing them. I get $0 a year from special interests because I can't do anything for them -- I'd like my 'elected officials' to be in the same boat.
I totally agree. If 95% of the money went away, they would have to focus on content and not attack ads. Another point to consider is shortening the election cycle: in many countries it's only a few months before the election. I just don't see this ever happening. Here's a list of the top political funding organizations: https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/top-organizations . It's quite eye opening.
Yes.
Bingo!
What if campaigning only lasted six months at most? What if media access was provided to all candidates equally and at no cost? Same for travel expenses. And, of course, public financing only. No private contributions or personal loans permitted. Or if permitted they would be matched by public funding. Couldn't be worse than now and might be a huge improvement.
Great suggestions. It would be a HUGE improvement.
Congress is only a 2 year job, and they spend most of the 2 years in a cubicle across the street from the capital calling donors begging for cash. A 2 year job should only have a 6 week campaign.
Term limits would help
Cut off all the perks. Travel, meals, healthcare, security details, qualified immunity, 401ks, security clearances, ban them from lobbying and corporate boards post leaving office….
You forgot corrupt.
We get these clowns because we don't have guillotines. We need more Guillotines.
Power corrupts, and the desire for power motivates the most Ego focused humans. The systems that work focus on distribution of power as much as possible. The larger the organization the worst the corruption. This true if you call the organization, a government, a kingdom, a corporation, union, or co-op.
Excellent comments, I agree. I think that's what the Founding Fathers thought as well - distribute power. Our system is being put to the test today.
Agreed, the more I come to understand human nature. The more I realize the brilliance of the Founding Fathers. I don't mean to say they were perfect or that the constitution is perfect. But it's quite impressive. Especially if you compare the way things play out in Canada vs USA. A slight Majority can get you just about anything in Canada. But the minority positions have much more protections in the US.
Yes, and think of the world in which they created this new system out of scratch, with no "experts" no books or prior example of how to do such a thing, and the rest of the world generally relying on kings, generals and despots. Absolutely amazing.
I once thought of running for Congress. I worked in County level government, had some connections, and some friends and decided to see what it would take to run. I was legitimately told that unless I could raise $4M (this was the early 2000's), that I am wasting my time and theirs. I also needed a party backing before even bothering. This was in Pennsylvania.
To get that party backing, and cash? LOL.. Yeah. Sold Soul!!! Also... I asked this question when i was told that. "Why do I need $4M for a job that is only going to pay me ~$300k over 2 years?" I went to school for Math, so I mean... I am not up on today's 2+2=7, but this math didn't add up even close.
Well, two things about the math I guess...1) Presumably the $4m would have been other peoples' money; 2) The $300k would have been yours and come with "opportunities"...
No, It would have come with lots and lots of strings.... That's the point. Other people don't give money away for nothing.
Interesting insight. I love your math question. Kind of says it all. Thanks for sharing.
In the old days of 20 years ago, I'd have answered indoctrination in the colleges and universities - but they're taking no chances at all now and starting much younger.
You took it one step too far...I was with you until the end
Public humiliation, maybe?
…of the rope?
I’ll get my coat.
How about, "ban human beings"? That's really the source of our problems, if we are honest. Sigh,
I know you're a groupie (or soon to be) for our New Feudal Lords, so this is right up your alley:
https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii133/articles/evgeny-morozov-critique-of-techno-feudal-reason
And hanging, public or private, is not only undramatic but given the sheer numbers of the certain-to-be-condemned, large funeral pyres is the ticket---arranged on The Mall in Washington D.C. Most Festive.
Yes, they both claimed that, but Trump has more evidence than the left did. They never had any. They were allowed to delegitimize him daily without ever providing ANY. On the other hand, We know votes got switched, election rules were changed illegally, information was censored by the left. We KNOW that. Other than THAT, they both did the same thing, both claimed ahead of time they wouldn't accept the election results of 2020. But Donald Trump is a criminal, this persecution trying to get him at any cost started before he even took office. Trump did not do any such thing in reverse. Iin fact, he didn't try to investigate Hillary after he took office, he let her "classified" mess go. So there are differences here.
It's true. There are serious questions surrounding 2020 that the 'experts' refuse to answer or even acknowledge. Instead, they're acting exactly like people who stole an election and are terrified they will get busted.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/bidens-extremist-maga-claims-lie
If there were worse images out there from 1/6, we would certainly have seen them (over and over). Yet the media doesn’t seem to be interested in getting to the bottom of 1/6 OR the underlying issue: the 2020 election. And thanks to Alex Berenson and others, we know that the government is in regular communication with giant social and traditional media outlets about the ‘proper’ narrative to follow. I love Alex, but if they are in communications to squash a little fish like him, they are CERTAINLY in communications to squash the most important stories of the day. There’s no doubt that (if we were allowed to see the communications of our public servants) we’d find ‘don’t cover this story’ or ‘ban this guy’ memos surrounding both the coverage of Election 2020 AND the coverage of 1/6 — just like we’re (still) learning about the Hunter laptop story.
Ultimately, Biden’s statement about MAGA Republicans being a unique threat is based on the very dubious (but potentially easily proven, if the footage backs it up) claim that 1/6 was an attempt to overturn a free and fair election. If it was shown (through footage) that 1/6 was nothing close to an ‘insurrection’, the entire narrative would crumble and Americans would see that political violence has been coming from the left for years, as the ‘leaders’ cheer it on for political gain. After all, cities weren’t boarded up on election night in case Biden won.
2000 Mules.
Colour Revolution
Biden won in 2020, and 2016 Trump won. There was no significant fraud with the vote itself either time. As well, there was election interference both times by our foreign enemies. This is basic.  Fraudulent votes and vote influence are two different things. 
Repeating what you hear on the news isn't persuasive unless you can explain the swing states stopping the count and Biden overtaking Trump overnight with vote ratios not seen anywhere else in the world.
Or the footage showing poll workers waiting until everybody has left before they start counting again.......nothing suspicious here!
https://vimeo.com/746699743
https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/biden-administration-rewarded-private-entities-got-2020-election
Outsourced censorship: Feds used private entity to target millions of social posts in 2020
Snip:
Government entities were involved in real-time chats with the partnership and social media platforms over specific content under review
If you read outside your echo chamber (please note that I’m reading here, for instance) you would have known the Biden overtaking Trump issue was forecast.
I am sure you weren’t aware of this so FYI only: There were a lot of partisan politics around where and how to vote. For Republicans there was a strong emphasis on voting day of and in person, for Dems there was the opposite. What was tabulated first ended up being (as was forecast) heavily Republican/ Trump and then the Biden voters overtook later. I was unsurprised because I knew it was coming. I knew the pandemic also changed a lot of voting procedures.
The poll workers video was explained over and over and OVER again. The example below was the first which came up on my search https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/dec/04/facebook-posts/no-georgia-election-workers-didnt-kick-out-observe/. You can find more yourself except that you’ll choose to not believe them.
I’d suggest you listen to real voters, not just Trump supporters, and understand why we independent/unaffiliated voters didn’t fly flags or honk in parades; we simply and quietly voted to get rid that particular inhabitant of the Oval Office. I’m no Biden fan but he’s a significant step up. Perhaps next time we’ll have better choices.
Yes, the election was super fortified -- so fortified they told us exactly how they were going to cheat before they did it.
The poll workers video wasn't explained. If they didn't kick everybody out, WHY DID THEY WAIT UNTIL EVERYBODY LEFT TO START COUNTING AGAIN? If nobody told anybody to leave, WHY DID EVERYBODY LEAVE?
These types of questions can't be answered so you keep deflecting to 'fact check' sites that say this was 'debunked' because the ballots weren't in suitcases. Simply asserting no wrongdoing in contrast to the video evidence is not proving anything.
Once again for the gazzilionth time, the Democrats are not the left! They are frickin’ neocons!
Right. Then why is Bernie and everyone supporting them? Why aren't they yelling about this censorship and civil rights abuses? You hear crickets.
p.s. For instance when Bush was abusing civil rights of Muslims you heard Rand Paul and Mike Lee protesting. (I'm a Rand Paul person because he has real integrity). I haven't heard a thing from Bernie about what's been going on here.
Rand Paul is a phony, an opportunist, and possesses the personality and range of thought of a 12th century archbishop.
I'll take him in a limited capacity. If that's all those of us who are still anti-war / pro-civil liberties have. (although he is a pro-lifer, so the civil liberties bit comes with that purity glitch.)
Wow, are you wrong.
"possesses the personality and range of thought of a 12th century archbishop"
Hey, that was pretty good for the time. Context is everything!
You just answered your own question. Censorship. The media gate keepers decide what the public hears and reads unless they access independent media. That’s a very small percentage of the population. Bernie is a sheepdog as far as I’m concerned. After what he did to his delegates at the convention in 2016, I will never trust him again.
Right. Why aren't they on substack talking where they CAN? That's bull. They have been driving a lot of policy from Biden, too. Not standing up for freedom at ALL.
People are indoctrinated with lies. They are not interested in being on independent media threads. Only people who don’t accept corporate state dogma do so. Who is this “they” you are referring to? People are too lazy and fear mongered to stray from the status quo. Who benefits? And so it goes.
"Independent media." Independent of what, exactly?"
Why should we care about the taxonomy of the "left?" Just because you are three steps past Mao doesn't mean that Dems are not on the left, it only means everything looks right to you.
I've never understood this confusion about the common usage of this terminology.
In a fantasy world populated only by Reagan and Bush, the latter would be "the Left."
It is an empirical designation of one side of the political spectrum extant. That's it. You can say the Democrats are not Liberal or they are not Socialists but they are certainly the left side of the polity.
And people like me who hate both the "right" and "left" are killjoys, curmudgeons, and generally dyspeptic bastards.
Do Marxists with drinking problems fall below this rubric?
Even worse is that the evidence the Dems did produce such as the Steel Dossier was bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign while THEY THEMSELVES were colluding with the Russians.
“Although there is evidence of potential violations regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” he said.
Comey said decisions on whether or not to bring charges are partly based on “how similar situations have been handled in the past.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/05/fbi-director-james-comey-has-concluded-the-investigation-into-clintons-emails.html
----------
Of course now this all needs to be upended because maybe we can get Trump in a process crime, so raid away!!!
What exactly is the line between WhatsApp and private servers?
Please. Enlighten us as to why Clinton gets a pass for the latter.
Phisto, save your digital breath--these folks are not interest in rational debate, it is a rhetorical rearguard movement at this point. For every fact you raise, they will find another nonesensical response. Just declare victory and move on.
So their choice of tech isn’t the dividing line?
Then why did you bring it up ?
That's laughable. For 3 years Hillary, Obama, and the entire Dem party claimed that Trump colluded with Russia to hack the election. Matt Taibbi along with many others including official inquiries proved that it was the Clinton campaign that fabricated evidence to sabotage the Trump presidency. That's illegal.
LOL😂
I’m of the opinion this stuff has been going on for so long on both sides that we the public know most of this is bluster and ignore said protestations as just bluster... the words are meaningless...
Now, WATCHING 5 STATES STOP
COUNTING at exactly the same time on election night, that doesn’t happen every day, and perks up my antennae... not saying it’s fraudulent, but come on, it’s at least fishy and should be investigated - by legitimately non-partisan people. Not just wait for people to file lawsuits and expect the judicial system to decide who has or doesn’t have standing.
... just like changing election laws before elections seems a little fishy as well... but I digress....
2000 Mules
Not many people are aware of the fact that Tom Pendergast and Harry Truman were among the very first crack addicts in the U.S.
This neatly explains Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the 1947 National Security Act!
Careful, Matt. Stray to far and the dogs will turn on you. Remember who runs the intelligence agencies now, and what side of the isle they owe their allegiance.
And as the illustrious Chuck Shroomer said on TV, "The intel agencies have six ways from Sunday to get you."
How come we don't spend more time contemplating and opposing that undeniable fact? Other than the obvious reason, i.e., we may get paid a visit from them if we do.
"Remember who runs the intelligence agencies now"
... the intelligence agencies? It sure as hell ain't the sitting President , Congress, or the American people. Remember when CIA ops were frantically raiding the SSCI's computers to delete, redact, or otherwise confusulate the Senate committee that is supposed to oversee it?
One article among many: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/02/the-cia-lawyer-who-led-efforts-to-spy-on-the-senate/385286/
Im sorry but I stopped reading the Atlantic years ago. Not before I read that article, however. I remember it. The current NSD of the DOJ is populated by people who are undoubtedly Democrats who take orders from the administration. Many of them, such as Mary McCord, came under scrutiny when trump was president and left to avoid investigation, only to come back when Biden became president. It’s kind of sick, really. The DOJ created the NSD after the Patriot Act was passed, but under the Obama Administration they made it so the NSD can’t be investigated by the Inspector General, making it free from any oversight.
I would imagine that the operatives of the CIA, FBI, and the rest of the U.S Spook machine are more concerned with the personal effects of the common cold than the musings of Matt Taibbi.
Why would you assume that? The FBI is more focused intelligence gathering these days than the actual investigation of crimes. That is my point. It takes almost nothing for them to begin an intelligence investigation.
Well, if you're characterizing Taibbi's collected and collated musings as "next to nothing," then he ought to be careful.
I would say that Taibbi is one of the last honest journalists to hold the powerful to account. That makes him a target. I would bet my life they monitor him. I’m sure the reason they give is his time spent in Russia.
You ought to get out more often.
Not sure what that means. I’m out as much as anyone else.
Does it make you uncomfortable that the FBI has a national security division that we can’t know anything about? I’m not really sure what is so strange to you about this. They receive their orders from whoever decides what the national security threats are. Which of course is themselves.
Considering how deep in the sand your head is buried, that talking asshole of yours is a pretty sweet trick.
It most certainly is not.
Burnus Sanders. Thundering Bernie, Man O' Straw. Shameless. But by God, he got his moment in the sun. I had a cool meme button way back in the 70s. It read "Age and treachery always overcome youth and skill."
Just leaving that one out there.
"Age and treachery always overcome youth and skill."
This explains how the US has become a gerontocracy, albeit not a very skillful one.
Too many of the loudest voices, don't care about the stability belief in our elections create. All that matters is that they win. Pretending that every election is close to a life or death battle is distorting the more important factor. Harmony. All the noise, about fraud in elections should result in focus. A focus to prove our elections are fair and honest. Anyone that claims to care about "Democracy" should be comfortable with a bi-partisan investigation into our election processes. The fact we haven't seen this type of coalition form is the most concerning.
Because those elected under this current system dare not change it. Would you change a system that is benefitting you? answer: no. People want the system broken so they can complain about it if they lose. The democrats wanted to complain about the broken system since blaming Hillary for the worst campaign in recent memory wouldn't work for them. Republicans wanted to complain about the broken system because they couldn't accept that they had as asshole as a candidate. A dead cat could have beaten Hillary in 2016. And Sirhan Sirhan could have beaten Trump in 2020. If you "fix" the system, the parties would actually have to accept their defeat and change course. Not going to happen.
the only way the system will change is if both parties start cheating like mad.
The Democrats have always cheated in elections and as Jimmy Carter has said the advent of mail-in ballots has exponentially increased this.
While I don't disagree when it comes to the elected. There are lots of non elected that are totally on-board. Often the elected are just grabbing the closest branch to stay in power. There is something more going on right now. Social Media really amplifies the more unreasonable opinions. I'm not sure how you counter that. When you talk to people in person you get a much more nuanced reasonable opinion. But social media convinces us were on the verge of civil war.
Social media is propagandizing those easily propagandized.
There are certain people who want to be propagandized so they feel good about their ideology.
Agreed. More than I would have every beloved. I really believed the free flow of information and education would avoid crazed mob behavior. Now I’ve come to accept the salem witch trials had much more to do with human ego and moral supremacy. Access the knowledge and education is not much of a factor at all.
The Russians hacked the election!
You lunatic, only crazy people would question Dominion digital voting software!
To this (and Part I), I think it is worth adding that our sitting President has already laid the groundwork for calling into question the legitimacy of the 2022 midterms, should they not go favorably for his side.
https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1483931218810970112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1483931218810970112%7Ctwgr%5E994498de85012f2f4b0a4f6163869d01cbb939ca%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2Fbiden-stirs-up-illegitimate-election-fracas
"The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is in proportion to not being able to get these reforms passed." Since the "reforms" did not pass, that must mean . . . .
Everybody knows the best way to ensure your election is legitimate is to be unable to determine if the ballot at the bottom of the box was legally cast!
Why is everybody picking on the Republicans?
A pair of outstanding reports preserving history. I would note, only the Dems were able to employ the power of the state to undermine faith in election integrity. That is significantly more horrifying.
if voting mattered they wouldn´t let us do it
People are so stupid, a critical mass of them literally just regurgitate the national news broadcast, who themselves just parrot what was in the NYTimes that morning, who themselves copy-paste from noxious Twitter threads from the night before.
What I've long wondered now is where the useful idiots begin? How many CNN-heads honestly believe the pap they spew? I mean I'm a complete moron and Jesus these folks are just obviously much stupider than I am.
They aren't stupider they are doing what most of humanity wants. They believe in an ideology and press spews that ideology back to them in the form of "news." that is what they want. both left and right want it. Not people like you and me, but at least 2/3rd of the people want this. What is different now from when we were younger is that people are more involved in politics now. the more people are involved in politics the bigger the market for political propaganda.
Gene, I am not disputing that establishment Republicans helped HRC and the DNC but make no mistake, HRC and the DNC were the leaders and masterminds in the 2015/2016 coup attempt to get Trump out of office. They created the Steele Dossier as well as took out Flynn. That is not disputed. They also took out Devin N for a period of time. They also were behind the 2020 election chicanery...Marc Elias works for HRC and he was the mastermind behind the Zuckerbucks, et al
Color Revolution
2000 Mules
The whole "so-and-so stole the election" talking point ensures that there will almost never be an election result that people view as "valid" unless it confirms "one state, two state, red state, blue state" priors.
For example, in Kansas, I don't think anyone will question it if Jerry Moran gets re-elected to the U.S. Senate, but I can already see things warming up when it comes to the gubernatorial election, that somebody, somewhere, is going to contest it.
And, especially, we'll see this happen time and again with Presidential election, regardless of what evidence does or doesn't say. The playbook is now set and the only question is what play you call (though with Republicans, their play might vary, whereas with Democrats, it will be easily predicted as either "Russia" or "Putin," though they might throw in "Trump rigged it himself" just so they can keep making everything about Trump.)
So just be quiet and let the Administrative State select our "representatives."
At what point will you give a shit enough to stand up? When they're taking you for your daily big pharma injection and return you to your shared crack house bed?
Well, why not share with the rest of us how you have valiantly stood up to the big, bad Administrative State. And hawking stale conspiracy theories on the TK threads does not count.