I am both relieved and horrified at the documents you, The Free Press team, and Lee Fang have revealed. This late night note captures explicitly how I feel. I feel both vindicated and terrified that the suppositions I had watching social and legacy media seemingly manhandle reality, distorting it to fit into their corporate/state-sponsor approved boxes, are being revealed as reality. "The reality they stole from us" and that you and your colleagues are wrenching back, inch by inch.
in the last 5 years, I have noticed an incredible duality between the online world and the real world.
in one world, the one of smart phones and SM, everything is in flux and danger. racism, sexism, transphbia, white supremacy at every corner.
the other world, the blue collar world of working people and homeowners, bares no reflection of the other. politics and social issues are hardly ever mentioned, people of all races and sexualities actually get along and cooperate. no one hates each other, they respect all beliefs and viewpoints for the most part.
Goddamn these bastards in government and tech that have gaslighted us all into their dystopian nightmare where they are the noble heroes saving the world from bigotry.
no punishment is severe enough for these enemies of humanity.
thanks to Matt and his readers for keeping our heads above water.
I noticed the dual world phenomenon at the height of the 2016 election. Online made it seem like a civil war would erupt at any time. Then I'd go for a walk on the neighborhood path behind my house, and everyone was friendly and helpful, people of all types and colors and religions and what-not.
The conclusion I reached was only the most powerful are the psychopaths.
the real world is a much different place than the world of power. it’s very clear to me now that all the talk of fascism, racism, misogyny and domestic terrorism is the purest form of projection from these elite psychopaths.
listen to them carefully. they are telling us who they really are.
they are the real bigots. the actively hate the middle and working class.
A friend of mine just returned from a trip to Lebanon. The nephew of a priest who's based in the US, a young man in a small mountain town, assured him that US police simply seek to murder minorities and the whole country is basically made up of murderous racists. All from social media of course.
so millions of people of color risks their life every year to cross the border to come live in a racist hellhole where they will be hunted by the police.
it makes no sense. we are being gaslighted by these bastards.
I am becoming a new fan of Elon Musk. He is now most certainly the world's most intriguing man.
I am hearing a lot of Tesla investors whining but they aren't understanding all the new interest and appreciation that Musk will be bringing to the brand. Certainly people like me. I imagine lessons learned from Twitter on all manner of fronts may convey direct benefit to Tesla and other businesses. So patience is warranted on that front.
If I had a friend or relative as delusional and dangerous as the MSM I'd try to see they received psychiatric help. Musk is courageous. And, all he's doing is allowing the truth to be spoken aloud.
The MSM is no longer main-stream, they work for the federal government (since "modernization" of Smith Mundt LEGALLY). The "journalists" involved have cushy jobs and bright careers spewing the Official Narratives, which are not open to criticism. It probably helps those "journalists" psychologically if they internalize the nonsense they present.
I misspoke. She had unrealized gains of $30k that she “lost”. She bought low, rode it up, and back down. I advised her to sell at the beginning of the year, but.....we do our own thing. The “investment in freedom” was just a little salt. No one should shed a tear.
Tesla was extremely overvalued in 2021. Musk overpaid for Twitter because he had ben overpaid for Tesla. Tesla shares have started to come back down to where they ought to have been all along, but there is still a ways down.
Yes, it can be argued that Musk buying Twitter and releasing the "Twitter Files" is more important than anything he did at Tesla. But as a business matter--don't invest in Tesla, and don't hire Musk as a business manager.
Look how difficult it was to keep "The Twitter Files" as a Wikipedia article--it was scheduled for deletion, but it was voted to keep. Wikipedia needs editors who want to truth to be shown.
This has been going on for over 100 years,, at least since the days of Edward Bernays. Bernays was a nephew of Sigmund Freud and a pioneer in psychologically sophisticated propaganda.
People today live in a Hollywood movie set reality and have for a very long time. Granted, the illusion is becoming more universal and intense. The warping of communication through the manipulation of social media is an incredibly powerful tool for opinion management.
Monitoring and access I don’t mind. Using the access for political reasons, or to go after political enemies- I mind. The Obama admin changed “unmasking” rules before the 2012 election. National security or spying on the Romney campaign! We know they spied on Congress. And we know that political operatives were given NSA database access by the FBI to spy on Trump and associates. The NSA shut this down, necessitating the Trump/Russia scam and FISA authorizations to keep the access alive. This is a huge and decades long conspiracy to violate the 4th amendment civil rights of Americans, and nobody in Congress or the media (let alone Durham at the FBI) seems to care
"Church was so shocked to learn what he had discovered - the massive and awesome spying capabilities constructed by the US government with no transparency or accountability - that he issued the following warning, as reported by the New York Times, using language strikingly stark for such a mainstream US politician when speaking about his own government:
"'That capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide.'
"He added that if a dictator ever took over, the NSA 'could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back.'"
The conditional part of Church's warning - "that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people" - is precisely what is happening, one might even say: is what has already happened. " - The Greenwald
We must mind monitoring and access. The next step is monitoring money, income and expense. The only reason to monitor what you say is to limit what, where and when you speak and listen. Monitoring what, where and when you spend is next and for the same reason. If we don't mind, our freedoms are done for.
Power corrupts. Monitoring & access enables encroachment. Human nature, without draconian checks and balances it is virtually assured.
At the time of the Patriot Act, we had a spirited debate as to whether the FBI/CIA should be able to access the list of books suspected terrorists were checking out of the public library.
Look at how far things have slid in the interests of "safety".
knowing the depth of evil and corruption at the deep state, most congress people are either direct hires or compromised through frame jobs, wrongdoing or extortion. our hope is not in government. it is in the destruction of this government, whose power lies in its ability to counterfeit money on demand. when we stop paying taxes, the government loses its ability to counterfeit (i.e. borrow from federal reserve) and we get a meaningful reset.
Observation changes the behavior of those being observed. You may not think you have anything to hide, but their observation and you knowing that someone is or could be watching changes your behavior. That is evil.
I share this sentiment. Greenwald has had every trash title thrown at him other than journalist by NYT etc.. Now Matt’s reputation as a “right winger” is being cemented in the media and thus no airplay. I still have to tune into my reliable sources to read what SHOULD be much more ado that silly Watergate. Ghosting this appears to be working.
Yep, and 18 complicit "Republican" senators eagerly jumped to help the ghosting, knee-capping the Republican house to be. Making sure the House had no ability to alter the country's direction in 2023, as the new house lacks the power of the purse.. Thus, all we'll get is oversight and investigations that the Biden administration and its PR firms (the MSM) can either ignore or label ultra MAGA and a threat to democracy.
More and more people are seeing the truth. Snowden was too abstract. This Covid thing was in our faces. I now see the Snowden thing with MUCH different eyes.
Hi Bill; they're still able to sell the invisible man in the sky story and Fiat money is real so WHY wouldn't they be selling men can be women, Russia blew up their own pipeline and the ultimate lie... the ruling classes are on your side. Happy holidays...
The whole "Russia blew up its own pipeline", for no articulable, let alone credible reason, is some of the best evidence out there, that the opinion machine is now so very strong that majorities of people can be led to believe literally anything.
When I ask them, "Why would Russia do that, they are immediately reduced to spouting utter nonsense, genuine blather." If I persist, they call me a "Russian bot", whatever that means to them.
Hey wait!
Do you mean to say that Bill Gates does not have our best interests in mind? Are you a Russian bot??? ;)
For me, they changed things. A decade after Snowden I've gone from thinking anyone saying deep state or Snowden was a hero were Alex Jones types, to now knowing both are real.
Think of them Assange and Snowden stepping stones to the stage we are at now. Certain revelations as necessary precursors so we can believe, wrap our heads around the current revelations, and understand the path to how we got here.
American complaisance is well known. Notably, it was the French rioting in the streets of Paris for months, who woke up Americans enough to get them to begin to protest the war in Vietnam. However, let me add that if Walter Cronkite, et al had refused to broadcast that footage we probably wouldn't ever have woken up. Then it would've ended at 500,000+ American dead instead of 56,000.
I believe that you may be right and that's why the yellow vests in France were so brutally repressed and you didn't see much of it on the MSM. You didn't see much of the Dutch farmers and the Canadian truckers were subjected to lies and omnipresent propaganda on the MSM despite being peaceful. They were so peaceful that the Canadian members of parliament walked through them daily with zero incidents and the agent provocateurs couldn't get them to be violent. They were still put down by force and their money was stolen which is the new western modus operandi.
Great points. One of the lessons the government learned during Vietnam was they needed to totally control war media coverage. In Iraq, we saw that in an incredible way to the point that no wounded or dead Americans could ever be seen, and all the "embedded" reporters were completely controlled.
By sabotaging the Paris Peace talks, Kissinger prolonged the end by years, during which time a further 22,000 Americans died, and uncounted Vietnamese.
I participated in one protest against the Viet Nam war. Also, when the news reported that the Pentagon was under reporting the number of US deaths, my trust in govt. began to diminish. Then came Watergate. It was schools like UC Berkeley and Kent State that elevated the protests. You're probably right, if Cronkite and others didn't cover these stories, who knows?
Context is important. Americans may not care about "French people rioting in the streets" now, but that was 1968 and those riots were protesting America's role in the Vietnam War. It's instructive about tendencies of the American public not just historically but currently to ignore what is right in front of our faces. Do you 'get' how ironic it is that it took Parisians turning out by the hundreds of thousands to march in French streets, to wake Americans up about a war that had been waged for 4 years: in our name, with our tax dollars, with hundreds of American dead every week for 4 years (at that point in time)?
I'm familiar with the context. You have a peculiar view of this that I just don't buy. These French riots, which I have never heard of, took place sometime after Tet in 1968?
I have been thinking this, too. Everyone now knows what is going on and it is still happening and so many on the left actually support it happening. I am not holding my breath on change, but one can hope.
Twitter has already changed, which is in itself a big deal. Beyond that, the security state has taken a major hit. It matters. To me it seems a bit like knocking down a wall with a sledgehammer. It takes many blows, but with each blow it gets easier.
The difference (so far) may be that the efforts to demonize Snowden were successful. But, yeah. I think it was Mencken who said nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
The opposite, perhaps: What China learned and acted on from Snowden’s crimes, gave them the drop on the West that made this anti-freedom dystopia possible.
The anti-freedom dystopia has been in place decades before Snowden came along. Maybe some damage was done, but China is already on it's way regarding tech. W/O whistle blowers, how much more will our govt. get away with?
"Must a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?"
--George Bernard Shaw
Evidently... yes! Matt is right not to let himself get deflected from being Dad at Christmas: that's his first responsibility, and it would be futile to neglect it in an attempt to counter mass inertial indifference and ignorance. I don't mean the work he's doing is inconsequential: on the contrary, it's going to rank highly in the history of the struggle against censorship and bureaucratic abuses of power, and I look forward to reading the book he'll almost certainly eventually write about it. But, family first! Merry Christmas to him!
This is only in the open now to normalize it. If they wanted it hidden, hidden it still would be. I think they believe they can now get away with normalizing surveillance, censorship, and government dominance, because young people are compliant, a triumph of decades of leftist-globalist totalitarian psy-ops.
If “Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, even Wikipedia” are getting these memos, doesn’t it follow that The New York Times, Washington Post, and network TV news are probably getting similar memos?
Jesper.....since December 8 a lot of editors have been working on the "Twitter Files" article at Wikipedia. You can watch the efforts, the take downs, and the current results. Initially it was slated to be deleted but many people fought to keep it:
Know what my initial reaction was, and what I would think would be the initial reaction of all journalists?
“LET ME SEE THE FILES, TAIBBI!”
The very little of that I saw was from people who were banned from social media or part of a major news story. Crickets from the ‘media’.
But that’s no surprise at all. The story is about government directing its preferred narrative via controlled media outlets. The media isn’t going to cover it because — you should already know this one! — government is directing its preferred narrative via controlled media outlets!
The silver lining with those outlets is that they choose contemptible hacks like Taylor Lorenz to shill for the deep state. It makes it harder for them to keep convincing people the emperor is wearing invisible clothes.
Probably much less. The reason being that these arrangements have been in place a lot longer. Just a phone call or two to key people at the top is necessary. The rank and file are guided by the coverage the bosses want - and don’t want. The star reporters are rewarded for their inside “sources.” The spooks can spin reporters 6 ways from Sunday without even trying because no one goes on the record anymore. A lot of whispers with the promise that the reporter is somehow in the know.
I remember the first time I visited an optometrist. No one understood why I was having trouble in school; I went from A’s to C/D’s in a few months. Long story short: My new glasses solved the problem. Seems my view of the world was distorted. It wasn’t my fault...the lenses were faulty.
Now, thanks to people like Matt and Musk, I understand why I didn’t feel my perception of the past few years was correct. Someone was messing with the focus. I’m only glad a proper prescription is available in the form of spaces like Substack.
I appreciate the analogy but it misses the mark. Everyone who thought the gov't response to COVID was "balanced" was not blind, but instead chose to not see the truth. Similarly, those who saw the DC Swamp and corporate media's attacks on Trump as "important" were not blind but willingly misled. We are in a very bad place because so many chose to see so little.
Those choosing to ignore the Twitter Files as the ramblings of "right wing conspiracists" are not blind, but are watching their God-given freedoms blow away like dust.
I'm glad you can so reliably see "the truth." Pardon me if I'm not convinced of your superior wisdom. Like Matt and many others, the last several years have convinced me that the prevailing narrative does not match reality, in part because we are being lied to and key information has been kept secret. That seems true, but it does not mean we now know the real truth. Many competing narratives are out there seeking to better explain our shifting reality. None have convinced me of their "truth" on Covid or anything else. I am still skeptical of those that claim they have the revealed "truth" that they say I am somehow choosing not to see. Yes, I've been lied to, but that doesn't tell me what's true. Like many, I'm still groping and value Matt and others for seeking out more solid information to help us see.
There are people in very powerful positions in both media and government who know that what Matt and others are doing is simply reporting exactly what happened, and continues to happen, at Twitter and the other social media companies. They know it is TRUTH, and not only do they choose not to acknowledge it, they demonize the reporters. That is what we are talking about here.
What I was talking about is the assertion by GB HeBe at the top of this thread that "Everyone who thought the gov't response to COVID was "balanced" was not blind, but instead chose to not see the truth. Similarly, those who saw the DC Swamp and corporate media's attacks on Trump as "important" were not blind but willingly misled. We are in a very bad place because so many chose to see so little." What the powerful people at the top know or don't know is not the issue. He is talking about us peons down below for whom the Twitter files and the Snowden and Assange revelations were disturbing news with which we are still trying to come to grips. Knowing you've been lied to doesn't mean you know the truth. And BTW, I don't think you know exactly what the rich and powerful know or don't know. You are assuming they knew and have full understanding, but that's not a given. Real life has more twists and turns than that and these elites are much more stupid and fallible than people realize.
I'm inclined, more than ever, to conclude that "the truth" and "the facts" will never line up perfectly--at least from this world's system of rational thought, and, therefore, will never allow me to reconcile my assumptions of reality to those of society's. This latest Twitter Files dump by Lee Fang gives me more support for this assertion: https://theintercept.com/2022/12/20/twitter-dod-us-military-accounts/
Sorry, but if you're older than 40, you should have sensed the complete reversal and insanity in the spewed "science." How many sudden, "because I said so" changes that flip what you do and damage so many people/businesses do you need to experience before you call bullshit?
If you're paying attention at all, not lost and distracted or asleep, then somewhere pretty quick you realize the health agencies either lied to you drastically for your entire life, or they started lying now. Ether way, they no longer deserve or get any trust.
The real question is why so many people didn't think about what the sudden and dramatic about faces and what was going on. Too many hypnotized by something. Might as well just read your phone while you cross an interstate with traffic running 75+ mph. Probably better odds to live doing that.
All that said (and observed and learned), why do so few people realize how far this has gone in a couple decades? "Show me your vaccine passport" is essentially, "prove to me you're not labeled as a bioweapon" (even though the juice is the actual bioweapon).
After 9/11, we have gone from being searched for bombs at the airport to essentially body cavity searches if you refuse the scanners to house arrest and show me your papers.
All it proves to me is those that legit think they could not have been expected to "see" what's going on are useless except for following the heard unless they start paying attention.
Shit matters. Quit thinking it's just this one thing. Principles are far more important than the vast majority of people treat them. "It's OK. Alex Jones is crazy." Except Alex has been right about all this shit you're just now seeing for 20+ years. No source is 100% reliable. That's where YOUR critical thinking skills come in. Some or most could be true. Figure shit out. Quit sleep walking, or you'll be medicated in a bed with your head in the metaverse doing literally nothing.
And what the left told us about the the eventual scope of the pandemic was a lie? And the vaccines are a bioweapon? - ineffective and dangerous?
I think it was a group of bereaved and angry parents, not the deep state, that actually showed, after an enormous effort, that Alex Jones was the liar, not the government.
As for what the left predicted about the scope of the pandemic and what it claimed when it came to the Covid vaccines, for me as a physician that lined up way better with reality than what the left’s opponents were claiming.
At least for me, “using my brain” doesn’t simply mean reflexively believing the opposite of whatever the “legacy media’s” or “the left’s” “narrative” happens to be. it means actually looking at evidence and judging to what extent what I’m being told matches with what I see.
And I have no doubt whatsoever that “non-Deep State” actors on the right are trying to manipulate me just as much as “Deep State” actors on the left.
It's reminiscent of the complete insanity exhibited by the FaUci-Birx-Redfield troika (and others) in the 80s and 90s (when I served on two local and regional AIDS councils if anyone is curious to crave context for that observation). Knowing "the truth" (quotes are required for some readers) given the dearth of facts was tougher then than it is even now. It's the levels to which the manipulative efforts that are being employed by the govt alphabet agencies is what is fascinating and how this facts are being deployed by the Twitter Files dumps. Theyve gotten "better" at it, imo. Not surprising. Just really fascinating. We all saw it. Some of us lived it. The question that needs to be begged is: what is James M. (nice rant, btw) and the rest of us going to do about it? The long answer is, "What do you do if you are still around after the totalitarian state fails (and they all fail)?" All the facts in the world won't erase "the truth" that lies at the base of that question. They may not even affect it in this biomedical security state (our new abnormal, as Aaron Kheriaty describes it).
…yup…and that’s only the tip of it..Matt is doing yeoman’s work in uncoverIng our government’s malfeasance & corruption. Joe Biden is a manufactured President by the FBI, CIA, DNC and DOJ. We are not a democracy- we aren’t even a republic anymore. Prepare for the worst.
We haven't had a democratically elected president since they staged a successful coup against "the people" by killing JFK and his brother Bobby, and then Dr. King and Malcom X.
Now... look back at everything since 1963 through open eyes and see that MK Ultra was involved in dosing large populations of high school and college aged kids with large amounts of LSD.
Johann Hari makes the case that Harry Anslinger essentially started the War on (Recreational) Drugs and the DEA and had longer tenure than J. Edgar Hoover (another monster). The Dulles brothers ran the CIA and State Dept from WWII to the late '50s and early '60s, and enabled people like Jolly West and MK Ultra (maybe creating Charlie Manson, according to Tom O'Neill).
So it seems American history has always been checkered with powerful, often amoral/ immoral individuals who had outsized effects. Now our technology has multiplied and magnified such people and their effects.
Lord Acton claimed "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", but it seems clear that Power ATTRACTS the corrupt, the psychopaths that now control the world.
"MK Ultra was involved in dosing large populations of high school and college aged kids with large amounts of LSD."
No, no, no. That's a canned narrative that's much too easy. For one thing, the LSD- and pot- markets didn't get into the high schools until after LSD had been made illegal in October of 1966. And LSD was not nearly as popular in the 1960s as you imply. Especially not nationwide. You make it sound like it was put in the water supply.
Modernity isn't that simple. 20th-21st century modernity has been careening toward information/sensory overload for a century. LSD is just one optional aspect. And one that I'd argue isn't nearly as significant as it should have been, because LSD is largely wasted on teenagers...but the teenage years have accounted for most of user initiation and exposure, in the years since LSD was prohibited, even as a subject of medical study.
TV beat LSD. At least so far. It's more seductive high-tech spinoffs aren't any more mind-expanding than TV, either. The electronic digital gizmos have the superficial glitzy imagey part down, but not the numinous experience of psychedelics, which are most productively used by adults, with as little prerecorded media conditioning and distraction as possible.
The more someone learns about this history, the less plausible the Central Controller Covert Ops Puppetmasters (aka "they") story sounds. as far as it having overarching influence up to the present day, it's a flimsy plot line simply based on the necessity for it to have a grand unified conspiracy acting in concert. A grand unified conspiracy with an intergenerational aspect, at that. One that links Allen Dulles with Bill Gates.
A majority of Americans haven't been won over to reflexive support for American Exceptionalist military interventionism as the result of a CIA plot to mess up their minds with Acid. Neither have a majority of Americans been won over to Wastrel Consumerism on that basis.
The initiation of those programs wasn't even done with public oversight; they were business decisions. Was there any public debate on dismantling our industrial base and shipping it overseas in the 1980s and 1990s, in order to outflank domestic production considerations like living wages for American workers and newly instituted pollution regulations? Did Americans certify their support for escalating the amount of disposable plastic packaging over the past 50 years? Did we even know it was happening, until very recently? You want to blame that on MK-ULTRA? https://www.interactioncouncil.org/sites/default/files/inline-images/Plastics%20graph%201.png
Americans reaped a windfall of cheap stuff, and no one in the prestige national media looked under the rug. Or beyond the next quarterly profit statement, to see what was coming further on down the road.
Ronald Reagan certainly was democratically elected. Twice. No one has ever expressed any doubts about that. He ran against the Washington establishment and scored clear victories in 1980 and 1984.
Actually there is much doubt that Kennedy won in the 1960 election. Johnson arranged for extra votes to be available in his Hill Country in case Texas was going Republican and he used them (as he had in his first Senate election). In Illinois there also were lots of extra votes found for the Democrats in the Chicago area that they controlled. They claimed that illegal voting happened in the rural areas to benefit the Republicans, but that is considered doubtful as everyone in the small towns knew everyone.
Richard Nixon decided not to contest the election because he felt it would delay the final result too long.
Yep, but so many still do not see it. And that's why the ABC government agencies and the mass media can continue to ignore the Twitter revelations and to smear anyone who takes them seriously. They are in power and have no intention of giving it up. Whatever we say here on Substack, it doesn't change a thing.
I want to say thanks to Matt, the other reporters, Musk, and you who write and read these comments for the best Christmas present of my adult life. We are few, but we understand the value of the rights set out in the first amendment and these events are enough to give us hope that this understanding, with diligence, can prevail.
So what! Surely you don't believe that he could have or would have changed the system and it's the system stupid. In China the can't change the government but you can change the system, here, it's the reverse and the Rentier extraction classes run it and surprise surprise, Trump is a Rentier.
I mean, his success was largely because of CNN and MSNBC's constant poo pooing, which led almost ALL of the people who hate that group to "revolt" by voting for him.
The glitch in the Matrix is that the CEO of CNN was the executive director of NBC where Trump had his big reality show going a few years prior.
The fact that Twitter censored the Hunter Biden Laptop is all you need. When polled, anywhere from 5 to 10 percent said they wouldn’t have voted for Biden - the FBI knew this which is why they censored. Trump lost by only 44k votes across three states.
Accepted: an oversimplification, for sure. Mattias Desmet's book does a much better job of explaining what has taken place...better than both of us, I'll also assert. The good news is that totalitarianism is designed to fail but, as you adequately describe, it will be too late for those choose the path of convenience: to simply ignore reality. Dust to dust for them.
I am starting to wonder if CIA invented or recharged the term "Nothing Burger." Like "Conspiracy Theory" it is a term being vehemently thrown around by traditional media and commentators. Real nothing burgers don't require such force or pushback.
Unfortunately, the old axiom of "being blind is excusable; being blind to one's own blindness is not" applies. Getting enough people "to the optometrist for a prescription" is the essential element that remains missing. Let's hope--and pray--that the "good doctors" (Musk, Taibbi, Weiss, Fang, and Schellenberger, et al) can distribute the "proper prescription" to the masses. It's the only way that this mass formation that has overtaken humanity can be reversed. For those of us who are reconciling our new reality with society's, it takes suffering and sacrifice. Be prepared to speak the truth. If not, you just may end up despising yourself if you don't. Crucial times are upon us.
"...Let's hope--and pray--that the "good doctors" (Musk, Taibbi, Weiss, Fang, and Schellenberger, et al) can distribute the "proper prescription" to the masses."
Ya, that doesn't sound too much like a fascist threat.
Considering the "proper prescription" is facts and truth, that's certainly not fascist. Most would agree the hiding of that prescription is the actual fascism... unless you are a fascist. 😊
Ah, so here the intolerance reveals itself. If you actually DO try to use your brain and consider the possibility that maybe the corporate media’s and “deep state’s” opponents aren’t always telling you the truth either, then you’re a “fascist”.
Obviously, the continuation got lost in the William Dean Thurmond original "optometry analogy" (see above...WAY above). Analogies are usually used to serve as innocent descriptors unless they are used to "win an argument"--which was never my intent.
Matt, the work you're doing right now is so critical.. All of us on here understand the sacrifice, and appreciate the hell out of it. That's why we subscribe. That's why *we* do what we do... It's so you can do things like The Twitter Files. It's that important... and of all the people who understand it's value, it's the people on here. Make the best you can of this Christmas, and get some rest. Your subscribers get it. Thank you so much for rising to the challenge, and making history this month.
Well said! I agree that history turns on moments like these. I strongly sense that there will be a turning, but dang, I wish it would hurry! I also feel that something that starts small could be what sparks the fire that burns away the underpinnings of the false construction. It just could be Matt's sacrifice.
Willie. I sense the same thing. I think Matt's words in this short update were absolutely spot on. I've had the same sense of hope... interspersed with moments of incredible disappointment... I don't want the things that are true to be true. But, they are, and we all know that to deny it now would be such irresponsibility on our part as citizens of the U.S. If we don't stand up now, all the people who dream of coming here... It will be *solely* as a cash grab.. and that thought both terrifies and saddens me. Therefore, we do our very best to tell the truth, to hold those in power to account, and do what we can do to keep this great experiment going, for as long as we can, to benefit as many people as possible.
Thanks, Nate, for saying this so quickly and eloquently. I was reading Matt's post thinking, "Doesn't he understand? He's not shirking his duty to the subscribers, he's doing what we support him to do. We pay him to go be an actually journalist, so he doesn't have to compromise himself for a paycheck."
I really hope Matt can understand this. He gets paid by us so Rolling Stone or whoever else can't tell him what to do. Fight the good fight, Matt. Seek The Truth. We've got you.
Spot on, Michael. I thought the same thing. *This*, right now.... this is what we invested in. We invested in the truth... and Matt is delivering. Most people don't even know what that looks like anymore. So, it's up to us to remind them!
This sentiment of social media portraying the world thru a distorted lens is extremely relatable. I feel the anti people comment is also uncannily accurate. These unelected, immoral and truly tyrannical agencies have stolen our privacy, our ability to speak, our faith in humanity to a degree, and a measure of the sanity of millions. It feels diabolical in a religious way.
Thank you for shining a light in the darkness. Bringing us understanding, restoring that faith in humanity. Giving hope that somehow we can get out from under this boot.
To those at the very tip of the spear, we are nothing more than cattle. They need enough of us to sustain their fantasy life styles, no more. But who will keep the fossil fuels flowing for their jets if they exterminate all the blue collar workers? Surely they learned something about that during the house arrest phase of the bioterrorism attack.
You are so right; you were not alone. So many of us have felt exactly the same way. Thank you for the sacrifices you’ve made. Your kids will someday be so proud of you and your place in righting the wrongs, but go be fully present and be dad!!
Thank you for your dedicated and disciplined work, Matt.
Though you currently have the difficult task of revealing uncomfortable truths to the world - things that have been shrouded in darkness - may this holy night remind you of the most powerful revelation the world has ever known, when light came among us to dispel darkness, when love in person took human form in the simplicity of a child in Bethlehem, to reveal to us that all is not lost, but that the simplest act of love is more powerful than the greatest forces of destruction, and that no deception can survive the radiance of the Truth that, bearing a human face, has come to make its home among us.
May you experience the mystery of hope anew on this holy night, as we all await, in expectation, the liberation from darkness that is for us both gift and task.
Thank you Matt, and thank you Clayton. Love to you all from Canada. We have been going through a similar time that is only now getting the exposure we need. May the next years be better for all - if we continue to work at it.
All I can say about this is that in 2020 I noticed something very very strange was happening. I was a blue-check Hillary Democrat who followed the election closely. But I could see that there some kind of invisible hands at work, mostly in how the media narrative was shaped to support what were lies and cover-ups of truths that were inconvenient. It seems that 2016 had taught them that the best way to win was to control information. So I've been writing ever since then that our government was using Twitter as a filter to get around the First Amendment. I had no proof of it - I just knew it was true because I'd been on the app since 2007. I could see how it had changed and which side benefitted from that change. Your work here has vindicated that idea -- so I wasn't just imagining it. Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
I assume many don't read all the comments and the individual comments were answered by going to the link. Wikipedia, like it or not, will be the summary to which general readers will go in years to come. Also, am hoping that others who care about this issue might be motivated to add their own citations and corrections of reliable sources to the Wikipedia article on "Twitter files."
I believe several of the tech leaders said immediately after Trump won (the first time in 2016) that they would reorganize to prevent that from happening again. 4 yrs is a long time to reorganize, especially with the help of the FBI, DoJ, and intel community.
"I can’t have been the only person to have struggled psychologically during this time. This is why these Twitter files have been such a balm. This is the reality they stole from us! It’s repulsive, horrifying, and dystopian, a gruesome history of a world run by anti-people, but I’ll take it any day over the vile and insulting facsimile of truth they’ve been selling.": Believe me, you are NOT the only one who has 'struggled psychologically' during this time. My acquaintances, across the political spectrum, and I often comment to each other these days about how we no longer listen to/read the MSM, and are constantly appalled by the waste, mismanagement, hypocrisy, and absolute corruption easily observed at all levels of the Federal Government. For me, it is only because I long, long ago read Orwell's "1984" and therefore have recognized what the Deep State is engaged in, that has kept me relatively sane. Hang in there Matt. This has GOT to end. Strangely enough, I have come to believe it is a total collapse of our economy brought about by the insanity of our own Government which is soon going to bring it about.
I agree things are going to get worse before it gets better. The people in charge care only about power and will gladly crash the plane into the ground so long as they have their hands on the controls. Buckle up friends!
You are right about it becoming worse before it gets better X-ray. IMHO, however, the "people in charge" are so willfully corrupt and blind to the upcoming consequences of their actions that they would not consider these consequences to have been intentional. The Federal bureaucracy has become so bloated at this point that more and more little piggies are nestling their noses into the trough: totally oblivious to the plain fact that the trough is breaking apart from the strain. Numerous of our past Presidents have warned us about this and it is coming to pass. Personally, I would rather arrange for an orderly downsizing so we can somehow avoid the upcoming disaster and live within our means as a Nation. The success and power of the bureaucratic Deep State, however, has effectively removed this sensible option. Thus, it has become the creature of its own (and our) destruction. There is absolutely no pleasant way to put this. I am heartsick.
Thank you Matt. Been wondering about you. With this post you have provided a healing “balm” to me. And Truth. Glad you’ll be with your fam on 12/25. Peace.
Off-kilter indeed. Right now, I'm dumbfounded by the people who are sucking up to the Ukrainian dictator and who want the USA to get into a land war with Russia 5,000 miles away. It's primarily the politicians who gave him a standing ovation and handed him billions. (10% for the big guy) They also think we can have 'limited' nuclear strikes against Russia. Madness. Average Americans are worried about the economy (their jobs & expenses) and the border invasion. Mainstream media is rooting for poor little Ukraine as if it were a bastion of democracy instead of the capital of corruption in Europe. Someone or agency is pushing this behind the scenes. I'm not buying stock in Raytheon but Revlon, putting lipstick on this pig requires billions.
Wild shift, no? My observation of Boomers in the wild suggest that the "rebel generation" loves nothing more than doing what it is told. I couldn't understand Biden's appeal but I failed to understand the dynamic at play. Daddy spank, Daddy sniff.
No, speaking as a "US out of Vietnam type" - I demonstrated at the Pentagon in 1967, the old anti-war left from the 60s and 70s are not the people displaying Ukrainian flags. Those are the comfortable online virtue signalers from the PMC (Professional Managerial Class) - mostly Millennials and younger and mostly Obama/Clinton/Biden Democrats almost entirely born after the Vietnam War and the military draft was ended.
When I read “repulsive, horrifying, and dystopian, a gruesome history of a world run by anti-people” BAM! That’s it. What an evil mess. Thank you is inadequate. Get some rest.
Mr. Taibbi,
I am both relieved and horrified at the documents you, The Free Press team, and Lee Fang have revealed. This late night note captures explicitly how I feel. I feel both vindicated and terrified that the suppositions I had watching social and legacy media seemingly manhandle reality, distorting it to fit into their corporate/state-sponsor approved boxes, are being revealed as reality. "The reality they stole from us" and that you and your colleagues are wrenching back, inch by inch.
Thank you for your work.
this has been my experience.
I’m a working class contractor in Texas.
in the last 5 years, I have noticed an incredible duality between the online world and the real world.
in one world, the one of smart phones and SM, everything is in flux and danger. racism, sexism, transphbia, white supremacy at every corner.
the other world, the blue collar world of working people and homeowners, bares no reflection of the other. politics and social issues are hardly ever mentioned, people of all races and sexualities actually get along and cooperate. no one hates each other, they respect all beliefs and viewpoints for the most part.
Goddamn these bastards in government and tech that have gaslighted us all into their dystopian nightmare where they are the noble heroes saving the world from bigotry.
no punishment is severe enough for these enemies of humanity.
thanks to Matt and his readers for keeping our heads above water.
Merry Christmas..!
Very well said!
I noticed the dual world phenomenon at the height of the 2016 election. Online made it seem like a civil war would erupt at any time. Then I'd go for a walk on the neighborhood path behind my house, and everyone was friendly and helpful, people of all types and colors and religions and what-not.
The conclusion I reached was only the most powerful are the psychopaths.
exactly James.
the real world is a much different place than the world of power. it’s very clear to me now that all the talk of fascism, racism, misogyny and domestic terrorism is the purest form of projection from these elite psychopaths.
listen to them carefully. they are telling us who they really are.
they are the real bigots. the actively hate the middle and working class.
It is the same for us where we live in Kansas. Thank you.
“It’s aaaaawl bullshit and it’s all bad for ya” -George Carlin
Thank you Hollis.
A friend of mine just returned from a trip to Lebanon. The nephew of a priest who's based in the US, a young man in a small mountain town, assured him that US police simply seek to murder minorities and the whole country is basically made up of murderous racists. All from social media of course.
that’s pretty sad Janine.
so millions of people of color risks their life every year to cross the border to come live in a racist hellhole where they will be hunted by the police.
it makes no sense. we are being gaslighted by these bastards.
What Ian said...I am so relieved and thankful to you , your colleagues and the in-your-face temerity of Elon Musk!
I am becoming a new fan of Elon Musk. He is now most certainly the world's most intriguing man.
I am hearing a lot of Tesla investors whining but they aren't understanding all the new interest and appreciation that Musk will be bringing to the brand. Certainly people like me. I imagine lessons learned from Twitter on all manner of fronts may convey direct benefit to Tesla and other businesses. So patience is warranted on that front.
If I had a friend or relative as delusional and dangerous as the MSM I'd try to see they received psychiatric help. Musk is courageous. And, all he's doing is allowing the truth to be spoken aloud.
The MSM is no longer main-stream, they work for the federal government (since "modernization" of Smith Mundt LEGALLY). The "journalists" involved have cushy jobs and bright careers spewing the Official Narratives, which are not open to criticism. It probably helps those "journalists" psychologically if they internalize the nonsense they present.
Yes, they are presenters now, nothing more.
When someone follows the "End Justifies the Means" philosophy, the door is open to all kinds of mischief.
After your comment, I told my wife that her 30k+ loss in Tesla should be seen as an investment in freedom. I think she feels better.
You must be very happy indeed, that your wife HAD 30 k to lose in the first place. I would say she is very fortunate.
I misspoke. She had unrealized gains of $30k that she “lost”. She bought low, rode it up, and back down. I advised her to sell at the beginning of the year, but.....we do our own thing. The “investment in freedom” was just a little salt. No one should shed a tear.
Tesla was extremely overvalued in 2021. Musk overpaid for Twitter because he had ben overpaid for Tesla. Tesla shares have started to come back down to where they ought to have been all along, but there is still a ways down.
Same with Facebook/META.
Yes, it can be argued that Musk buying Twitter and releasing the "Twitter Files" is more important than anything he did at Tesla. But as a business matter--don't invest in Tesla, and don't hire Musk as a business manager.
Interested federal investigators and appreciative rival EV manufacturers...
But every little chink in the armor of lies helps...
Look how difficult it was to keep "The Twitter Files" as a Wikipedia article--it was scheduled for deletion, but it was voted to keep. Wikipedia needs editors who want to truth to be shown.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Twitter_Files_Investigation
This has been going on for over 100 years,, at least since the days of Edward Bernays. Bernays was a nephew of Sigmund Freud and a pioneer in psychologically sophisticated propaganda.
People today live in a Hollywood movie set reality and have for a very long time. Granted, the illusion is becoming more universal and intense. The warping of communication through the manipulation of social media is an incredibly powerful tool for opinion management.
Drake Chamberlin
Media & Communication Action Project
https://m-cap.org/
That's a lot of whoppers in one sentence, even for you Gene.
Greenwald and Snowden both imagined that the Snowden Files would change the world.
They did not.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
That’s the horrifying part.
It truly is.
Q: "Do you know that the NSA is monitoring everything that you say online and even elsewhere?"
A: "Yeah, so? I don't have anything to hide."
Monitoring and access I don’t mind. Using the access for political reasons, or to go after political enemies- I mind. The Obama admin changed “unmasking” rules before the 2012 election. National security or spying on the Romney campaign! We know they spied on Congress. And we know that political operatives were given NSA database access by the FBI to spy on Trump and associates. The NSA shut this down, necessitating the Trump/Russia scam and FISA authorizations to keep the access alive. This is a huge and decades long conspiracy to violate the 4th amendment civil rights of Americans, and nobody in Congress or the media (let alone Durham at the FBI) seems to care
They are looking into your innermost thoughts. They are metaphorically looking into the bedroom windows of your home.
That's an outrage no matter what they do with those data.
I mind.
Thanks! :)
"Church was so shocked to learn what he had discovered - the massive and awesome spying capabilities constructed by the US government with no transparency or accountability - that he issued the following warning, as reported by the New York Times, using language strikingly stark for such a mainstream US politician when speaking about his own government:
"'That capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide.'
"He added that if a dictator ever took over, the NSA 'could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back.'"
The conditional part of Church's warning - "that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people" - is precisely what is happening, one might even say: is what has already happened. " - The Greenwald
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/25/frank-church-liberal-icon
We must mind monitoring and access. The next step is monitoring money, income and expense. The only reason to monitor what you say is to limit what, where and when you speak and listen. Monitoring what, where and when you spend is next and for the same reason. If we don't mind, our freedoms are done for.
Power corrupts. Monitoring & access enables encroachment. Human nature, without draconian checks and balances it is virtually assured.
At the time of the Patriot Act, we had a spirited debate as to whether the FBI/CIA should be able to access the list of books suspected terrorists were checking out of the public library.
Look at how far things have slid in the interests of "safety".
knowing the depth of evil and corruption at the deep state, most congress people are either direct hires or compromised through frame jobs, wrongdoing or extortion. our hope is not in government. it is in the destruction of this government, whose power lies in its ability to counterfeit money on demand. when we stop paying taxes, the government loses its ability to counterfeit (i.e. borrow from federal reserve) and we get a meaningful reset.
Observation changes the behavior of those being observed. You may not think you have anything to hide, but their observation and you knowing that someone is or could be watching changes your behavior. That is evil.
So then which is worse, “spying on Trump” or Trump stealing highly classified documents and creating a potential national security risk?
What does a chicken have to hide from a fox? The chicken isn't doing anything wrong.
Probably more than monitoring.
I share this sentiment. Greenwald has had every trash title thrown at him other than journalist by NYT etc.. Now Matt’s reputation as a “right winger” is being cemented in the media and thus no airplay. I still have to tune into my reliable sources to read what SHOULD be much more ado that silly Watergate. Ghosting this appears to be working.
Or as my CNN ridden friend would say about Matt, "WHO????"
By which he means that Taibbi is not on his "approved list" of "credible" interlocutors like Jake Tapper! lol
But he is here:
Wikipedia categories named after American writers!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_categories_named_after_American_writers
"Chuck Norris"?
What? :)
And I have no idea what that means!
Yep, and 18 complicit "Republican" senators eagerly jumped to help the ghosting, knee-capping the Republican house to be. Making sure the House had no ability to alter the country's direction in 2023, as the new house lacks the power of the purse.. Thus, all we'll get is oversight and investigations that the Biden administration and its PR firms (the MSM) can either ignore or label ultra MAGA and a threat to democracy.
More and more people are seeing the truth. Snowden was too abstract. This Covid thing was in our faces. I now see the Snowden thing with MUCH different eyes.
Yes. Forerunners with the same courage.
Hi Bill; they're still able to sell the invisible man in the sky story and Fiat money is real so WHY wouldn't they be selling men can be women, Russia blew up their own pipeline and the ultimate lie... the ruling classes are on your side. Happy holidays...
The whole "Russia blew up its own pipeline", for no articulable, let alone credible reason, is some of the best evidence out there, that the opinion machine is now so very strong that majorities of people can be led to believe literally anything.
When I ask them, "Why would Russia do that, they are immediately reduced to spouting utter nonsense, genuine blather." If I persist, they call me a "Russian bot", whatever that means to them.
Hey wait!
Do you mean to say that Bill Gates does not have our best interests in mind? Are you a Russian bot??? ;)
And then they crucified the soldier on the barn door with bayonets!
https://www.aotontario.org/post/did-the-germans-crucify-a-canadian-soldier-during-the-first-world-war
Ha ha ha.
Yeah sure.
They did change the world, perhaps in a slow motion delayed impact that we are beginning to reap just now?
For me, they changed things. A decade after Snowden I've gone from thinking anyone saying deep state or Snowden was a hero were Alex Jones types, to now knowing both are real.
The alternative, giving up, is unfathomable.
To some extent they did. But real change? I haven't seen it. I hope you are correct.
Think of them Assange and Snowden stepping stones to the stage we are at now. Certain revelations as necessary precursors so we can believe, wrap our heads around the current revelations, and understand the path to how we got here.
You win the idealism prize for the day. Congratulations!
yes
American complaisance is well known. Notably, it was the French rioting in the streets of Paris for months, who woke up Americans enough to get them to begin to protest the war in Vietnam. However, let me add that if Walter Cronkite, et al had refused to broadcast that footage we probably wouldn't ever have woken up. Then it would've ended at 500,000+ American dead instead of 56,000.
I believe that you may be right and that's why the yellow vests in France were so brutally repressed and you didn't see much of it on the MSM. You didn't see much of the Dutch farmers and the Canadian truckers were subjected to lies and omnipresent propaganda on the MSM despite being peaceful. They were so peaceful that the Canadian members of parliament walked through them daily with zero incidents and the agent provocateurs couldn't get them to be violent. They were still put down by force and their money was stolen which is the new western modus operandi.
All examples of Inexplicable levels of government violence that went far beyond the provocation. Thanks for the dialogue.
Great points. One of the lessons the government learned during Vietnam was they needed to totally control war media coverage. In Iraq, we saw that in an incredible way to the point that no wounded or dead Americans could ever be seen, and all the "embedded" reporters were completely controlled.
And "some" Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotions.
By sabotaging the Paris Peace talks, Kissinger prolonged the end by years, during which time a further 22,000 Americans died, and uncounted Vietnamese.
I participated in one protest against the Viet Nam war. Also, when the news reported that the Pentagon was under reporting the number of US deaths, my trust in govt. began to diminish. Then came Watergate. It was schools like UC Berkeley and Kent State that elevated the protests. You're probably right, if Cronkite and others didn't cover these stories, who knows?
Uhhhh.... no. Americans don't care about French people rioting in the streets, or anything else they may do.
Context is important. Americans may not care about "French people rioting in the streets" now, but that was 1968 and those riots were protesting America's role in the Vietnam War. It's instructive about tendencies of the American public not just historically but currently to ignore what is right in front of our faces. Do you 'get' how ironic it is that it took Parisians turning out by the hundreds of thousands to march in French streets, to wake Americans up about a war that had been waged for 4 years: in our name, with our tax dollars, with hundreds of American dead every week for 4 years (at that point in time)?
Here I thought it was the draft (I was there). And the body bags, of course. And last, the atrocity footage.
On a personal level, I know that my Republican father changed his tune abruptly when my brother went to Nam (I evaded the draft).
I'm familiar with the context. You have a peculiar view of this that I just don't buy. These French riots, which I have never heard of, took place sometime after Tet in 1968?
Because of these two, my opinion of how our govt. handles whistle blowers has changed. Heroes or traitors? My vote goes to the former, heroes.
Heroes exposing traitors
I have been thinking this, too. Everyone now knows what is going on and it is still happening and so many on the left actually support it happening. I am not holding my breath on change, but one can hope.
Twitter has already changed, which is in itself a big deal. Beyond that, the security state has taken a major hit. It matters. To me it seems a bit like knocking down a wall with a sledgehammer. It takes many blows, but with each blow it gets easier.
The difference (so far) may be that the efforts to demonize Snowden were successful. But, yeah. I think it was Mencken who said nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
"Wasn't, rinse, repeat." (Referring to our brains ?)
Heh!
I think mine got shrunk in the wash!
Bingo
Maybe not the world, but they changed me.
The opposite, perhaps: What China learned and acted on from Snowden’s crimes, gave them the drop on the West that made this anti-freedom dystopia possible.
The anti-freedom dystopia has been in place decades before Snowden came along. Maybe some damage was done, but China is already on it's way regarding tech. W/O whistle blowers, how much more will our govt. get away with?
Any sunlight is better than none and does affect change. Giving in to the criminal class is not an option.
My immediate thoughts exactly.
This is the mist nihlistic aspect, unfortunately. The lies out in plain sight are a plague.
"Must a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?"
--George Bernard Shaw
Evidently... yes! Matt is right not to let himself get deflected from being Dad at Christmas: that's his first responsibility, and it would be futile to neglect it in an attempt to counter mass inertial indifference and ignorance. I don't mean the work he's doing is inconsequential: on the contrary, it's going to rank highly in the history of the struggle against censorship and bureaucratic abuses of power, and I look forward to reading the book he'll almost certainly eventually write about it. But, family first! Merry Christmas to him!
That's a new quote for me.
The answer is of course, "yes".
This is only in the open now to normalize it. If they wanted it hidden, hidden it still would be. I think they believe they can now get away with normalizing surveillance, censorship, and government dominance, because young people are compliant, a triumph of decades of leftist-globalist totalitarian psy-ops.
Everything is "normal" to a kid, an adolescent - as the past for them has no reality.
The bar has moved. Again.
They never stop pushing.
Thank you for just letting us know the truth!! Please continue the reveal!
If “Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, even Wikipedia” are getting these memos, doesn’t it follow that The New York Times, Washington Post, and network TV news are probably getting similar memos?
Which might explain why there has been so little coverage of the Twitter Files in legacy media.
Jesper.....since December 8 a lot of editors have been working on the "Twitter Files" article at Wikipedia. You can watch the efforts, the take downs, and the current results. Initially it was slated to be deleted but many people fought to keep it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twitter_Files&action=history
That exactly explains why there's been so little coverage.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/its-no-surprise-medias-ignoring-the
Know what my initial reaction was, and what I would think would be the initial reaction of all journalists?
“LET ME SEE THE FILES, TAIBBI!”
The very little of that I saw was from people who were banned from social media or part of a major news story. Crickets from the ‘media’.
But that’s no surprise at all. The story is about government directing its preferred narrative via controlled media outlets. The media isn’t going to cover it because — you should already know this one! — government is directing its preferred narrative via controlled media outlets!
It's a criminal enterprise.
The silver lining with those outlets is that they choose contemptible hacks like Taylor Lorenz to shill for the deep state. It makes it harder for them to keep convincing people the emperor is wearing invisible clothes.
And curious that Amazon isn't mentioned. God knows the 2-way flow of information between the CIA and jeff bezos is unencumbered
Since forever.
4 a.m. talking points. Each outlet given their coordinated talking points for the day. Started in earnest when Trump won the first time.
Probably much less. The reason being that these arrangements have been in place a lot longer. Just a phone call or two to key people at the top is necessary. The rank and file are guided by the coverage the bosses want - and don’t want. The star reporters are rewarded for their inside “sources.” The spooks can spin reporters 6 ways from Sunday without even trying because no one goes on the record anymore. A lot of whispers with the promise that the reporter is somehow in the know.
I remember the first time I visited an optometrist. No one understood why I was having trouble in school; I went from A’s to C/D’s in a few months. Long story short: My new glasses solved the problem. Seems my view of the world was distorted. It wasn’t my fault...the lenses were faulty.
Now, thanks to people like Matt and Musk, I understand why I didn’t feel my perception of the past few years was correct. Someone was messing with the focus. I’m only glad a proper prescription is available in the form of spaces like Substack.
I appreciate the analogy but it misses the mark. Everyone who thought the gov't response to COVID was "balanced" was not blind, but instead chose to not see the truth. Similarly, those who saw the DC Swamp and corporate media's attacks on Trump as "important" were not blind but willingly misled. We are in a very bad place because so many chose to see so little.
Those choosing to ignore the Twitter Files as the ramblings of "right wing conspiracists" are not blind, but are watching their God-given freedoms blow away like dust.
I'm glad you can so reliably see "the truth." Pardon me if I'm not convinced of your superior wisdom. Like Matt and many others, the last several years have convinced me that the prevailing narrative does not match reality, in part because we are being lied to and key information has been kept secret. That seems true, but it does not mean we now know the real truth. Many competing narratives are out there seeking to better explain our shifting reality. None have convinced me of their "truth" on Covid or anything else. I am still skeptical of those that claim they have the revealed "truth" that they say I am somehow choosing not to see. Yes, I've been lied to, but that doesn't tell me what's true. Like many, I'm still groping and value Matt and others for seeking out more solid information to help us see.
There are people in very powerful positions in both media and government who know that what Matt and others are doing is simply reporting exactly what happened, and continues to happen, at Twitter and the other social media companies. They know it is TRUTH, and not only do they choose not to acknowledge it, they demonize the reporters. That is what we are talking about here.
What I was talking about is the assertion by GB HeBe at the top of this thread that "Everyone who thought the gov't response to COVID was "balanced" was not blind, but instead chose to not see the truth. Similarly, those who saw the DC Swamp and corporate media's attacks on Trump as "important" were not blind but willingly misled. We are in a very bad place because so many chose to see so little." What the powerful people at the top know or don't know is not the issue. He is talking about us peons down below for whom the Twitter files and the Snowden and Assange revelations were disturbing news with which we are still trying to come to grips. Knowing you've been lied to doesn't mean you know the truth. And BTW, I don't think you know exactly what the rich and powerful know or don't know. You are assuming they knew and have full understanding, but that's not a given. Real life has more twists and turns than that and these elites are much more stupid and fallible than people realize.
I'm inclined, more than ever, to conclude that "the truth" and "the facts" will never line up perfectly--at least from this world's system of rational thought, and, therefore, will never allow me to reconcile my assumptions of reality to those of society's. This latest Twitter Files dump by Lee Fang gives me more support for this assertion: https://theintercept.com/2022/12/20/twitter-dod-us-military-accounts/
Sorry, but if you're older than 40, you should have sensed the complete reversal and insanity in the spewed "science." How many sudden, "because I said so" changes that flip what you do and damage so many people/businesses do you need to experience before you call bullshit?
If you're paying attention at all, not lost and distracted or asleep, then somewhere pretty quick you realize the health agencies either lied to you drastically for your entire life, or they started lying now. Ether way, they no longer deserve or get any trust.
The real question is why so many people didn't think about what the sudden and dramatic about faces and what was going on. Too many hypnotized by something. Might as well just read your phone while you cross an interstate with traffic running 75+ mph. Probably better odds to live doing that.
All that said (and observed and learned), why do so few people realize how far this has gone in a couple decades? "Show me your vaccine passport" is essentially, "prove to me you're not labeled as a bioweapon" (even though the juice is the actual bioweapon).
After 9/11, we have gone from being searched for bombs at the airport to essentially body cavity searches if you refuse the scanners to house arrest and show me your papers.
All it proves to me is those that legit think they could not have been expected to "see" what's going on are useless except for following the heard unless they start paying attention.
Shit matters. Quit thinking it's just this one thing. Principles are far more important than the vast majority of people treat them. "It's OK. Alex Jones is crazy." Except Alex has been right about all this shit you're just now seeing for 20+ years. No source is 100% reliable. That's where YOUR critical thinking skills come in. Some or most could be true. Figure shit out. Quit sleep walking, or you'll be medicated in a bed with your head in the metaverse doing literally nothing.
/RANT OFF (for now)
So Alex Jones was “right” about Newtown?
And what the left told us about the the eventual scope of the pandemic was a lie? And the vaccines are a bioweapon? - ineffective and dangerous?
I think it was a group of bereaved and angry parents, not the deep state, that actually showed, after an enormous effort, that Alex Jones was the liar, not the government.
As for what the left predicted about the scope of the pandemic and what it claimed when it came to the Covid vaccines, for me as a physician that lined up way better with reality than what the left’s opponents were claiming.
At least for me, “using my brain” doesn’t simply mean reflexively believing the opposite of whatever the “legacy media’s” or “the left’s” “narrative” happens to be. it means actually looking at evidence and judging to what extent what I’m being told matches with what I see.
And I have no doubt whatsoever that “non-Deep State” actors on the right are trying to manipulate me just as much as “Deep State” actors on the left.
It's reminiscent of the complete insanity exhibited by the FaUci-Birx-Redfield troika (and others) in the 80s and 90s (when I served on two local and regional AIDS councils if anyone is curious to crave context for that observation). Knowing "the truth" (quotes are required for some readers) given the dearth of facts was tougher then than it is even now. It's the levels to which the manipulative efforts that are being employed by the govt alphabet agencies is what is fascinating and how this facts are being deployed by the Twitter Files dumps. Theyve gotten "better" at it, imo. Not surprising. Just really fascinating. We all saw it. Some of us lived it. The question that needs to be begged is: what is James M. (nice rant, btw) and the rest of us going to do about it? The long answer is, "What do you do if you are still around after the totalitarian state fails (and they all fail)?" All the facts in the world won't erase "the truth" that lies at the base of that question. They may not even affect it in this biomedical security state (our new abnormal, as Aaron Kheriaty describes it).
Trump really did win
I hate trump but yea maybe he would’ve been able to beat that geriatric leech of a man if they hadn’t censored the story.
…yup…and that’s only the tip of it..Matt is doing yeoman’s work in uncoverIng our government’s malfeasance & corruption. Joe Biden is a manufactured President by the FBI, CIA, DNC and DOJ. We are not a democracy- we aren’t even a republic anymore. Prepare for the worst.
We haven't had a democratically elected president since they staged a successful coup against "the people" by killing JFK and his brother Bobby, and then Dr. King and Malcom X.
Now... look back at everything since 1963 through open eyes and see that MK Ultra was involved in dosing large populations of high school and college aged kids with large amounts of LSD.
Gee.. was the whole trip a fake PsyOp? Maybe.
Probably just a matter of scale.
Johann Hari makes the case that Harry Anslinger essentially started the War on (Recreational) Drugs and the DEA and had longer tenure than J. Edgar Hoover (another monster). The Dulles brothers ran the CIA and State Dept from WWII to the late '50s and early '60s, and enabled people like Jolly West and MK Ultra (maybe creating Charlie Manson, according to Tom O'Neill).
So it seems American history has always been checkered with powerful, often amoral/ immoral individuals who had outsized effects. Now our technology has multiplied and magnified such people and their effects.
Lord Acton claimed "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", but it seems clear that Power ATTRACTS the corrupt, the psychopaths that now control the world.
Pretty sure we should be looking back another 60 years before JFK. The rabbit hole leads back to the early 1900s.
"MK Ultra was involved in dosing large populations of high school and college aged kids with large amounts of LSD."
No, no, no. That's a canned narrative that's much too easy. For one thing, the LSD- and pot- markets didn't get into the high schools until after LSD had been made illegal in October of 1966. And LSD was not nearly as popular in the 1960s as you imply. Especially not nationwide. You make it sound like it was put in the water supply.
Modernity isn't that simple. 20th-21st century modernity has been careening toward information/sensory overload for a century. LSD is just one optional aspect. And one that I'd argue isn't nearly as significant as it should have been, because LSD is largely wasted on teenagers...but the teenage years have accounted for most of user initiation and exposure, in the years since LSD was prohibited, even as a subject of medical study.
TV beat LSD. At least so far. It's more seductive high-tech spinoffs aren't any more mind-expanding than TV, either. The electronic digital gizmos have the superficial glitzy imagey part down, but not the numinous experience of psychedelics, which are most productively used by adults, with as little prerecorded media conditioning and distraction as possible.
The more someone learns about this history, the less plausible the Central Controller Covert Ops Puppetmasters (aka "they") story sounds. as far as it having overarching influence up to the present day, it's a flimsy plot line simply based on the necessity for it to have a grand unified conspiracy acting in concert. A grand unified conspiracy with an intergenerational aspect, at that. One that links Allen Dulles with Bill Gates.
A majority of Americans haven't been won over to reflexive support for American Exceptionalist military interventionism as the result of a CIA plot to mess up their minds with Acid. Neither have a majority of Americans been won over to Wastrel Consumerism on that basis.
The initiation of those programs wasn't even done with public oversight; they were business decisions. Was there any public debate on dismantling our industrial base and shipping it overseas in the 1980s and 1990s, in order to outflank domestic production considerations like living wages for American workers and newly instituted pollution regulations? Did Americans certify their support for escalating the amount of disposable plastic packaging over the past 50 years? Did we even know it was happening, until very recently? You want to blame that on MK-ULTRA? https://www.interactioncouncil.org/sites/default/files/inline-images/Plastics%20graph%201.png
Americans reaped a windfall of cheap stuff, and no one in the prestige national media looked under the rug. Or beyond the next quarterly profit statement, to see what was coming further on down the road.
Ronald Reagan certainly was democratically elected. Twice. No one has ever expressed any doubts about that. He ran against the Washington establishment and scored clear victories in 1980 and 1984.
The guy three rooms down in my college dorm was responsible for dosing me with large amounts of LSD. How'd I miss out on this "MK Ultra" you speak of?
Actually there is much doubt that Kennedy won in the 1960 election. Johnson arranged for extra votes to be available in his Hill Country in case Texas was going Republican and he used them (as he had in his first Senate election). In Illinois there also were lots of extra votes found for the Democrats in the Chicago area that they controlled. They claimed that illegal voting happened in the rural areas to benefit the Republicans, but that is considered doubtful as everyone in the small towns knew everyone.
Richard Nixon decided not to contest the election because he felt it would delay the final result too long.
Yep, but so many still do not see it. And that's why the ABC government agencies and the mass media can continue to ignore the Twitter revelations and to smear anyone who takes them seriously. They are in power and have no intention of giving it up. Whatever we say here on Substack, it doesn't change a thing.
Yes, it’s tragic - I used to like being American
They'll kill us all and not even bat an eyelash as long as a small handful of believers keep believing their lies.
It worked for the Nazis... so why not for them? They did steal all of the statecraft secrets Goebbels had locked away, so it makes sense.
I want to say thanks to Matt, the other reporters, Musk, and you who write and read these comments for the best Christmas present of my adult life. We are few, but we understand the value of the rights set out in the first amendment and these events are enough to give us hope that this understanding, with diligence, can prevail.
So what! Surely you don't believe that he could have or would have changed the system and it's the system stupid. In China the can't change the government but you can change the system, here, it's the reverse and the Rentier extraction classes run it and surprise surprise, Trump is a Rentier.
I mean, his success was largely because of CNN and MSNBC's constant poo pooing, which led almost ALL of the people who hate that group to "revolt" by voting for him.
The glitch in the Matrix is that the CEO of CNN was the executive director of NBC where Trump had his big reality show going a few years prior.
Yeah, it was all a giant scam.
Cold comfort from a prison cell.
Prove it with facts.
Thanks!
The fact that Twitter censored the Hunter Biden Laptop is all you need. When polled, anywhere from 5 to 10 percent said they wouldn’t have voted for Biden - the FBI knew this which is why they censored. Trump lost by only 44k votes across three states.
You mean it's all a brain-addled, delusional conspiracy theorist who traffics in bullshit needs.
Accepted: an oversimplification, for sure. Mattias Desmet's book does a much better job of explaining what has taken place...better than both of us, I'll also assert. The good news is that totalitarianism is designed to fail but, as you adequately describe, it will be too late for those choose the path of convenience: to simply ignore reality. Dust to dust for them.
The "Twitter Files now have a Wikipedia article with links to each file.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Files
Because many of the editors wanted to characterize the Twitter Files as nothing there was a Wikipedia fight to keep the article. It was voted to keep.
You might like to see the "Talk" Files that took place:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Twitter_Files
I am starting to wonder if CIA invented or recharged the term "Nothing Burger." Like "Conspiracy Theory" it is a term being vehemently thrown around by traditional media and commentators. Real nothing burgers don't require such force or pushback.
Excellent post! “So many chose to see so little”. Can I use it?
I said a prescription is available; some will choose not to take advantage of it.
Yep. That's the way I read it. Nice post, btw.
Unfortunately, the old axiom of "being blind is excusable; being blind to one's own blindness is not" applies. Getting enough people "to the optometrist for a prescription" is the essential element that remains missing. Let's hope--and pray--that the "good doctors" (Musk, Taibbi, Weiss, Fang, and Schellenberger, et al) can distribute the "proper prescription" to the masses. It's the only way that this mass formation that has overtaken humanity can be reversed. For those of us who are reconciling our new reality with society's, it takes suffering and sacrifice. Be prepared to speak the truth. If not, you just may end up despising yourself if you don't. Crucial times are upon us.
"...Let's hope--and pray--that the "good doctors" (Musk, Taibbi, Weiss, Fang, and Schellenberger, et al) can distribute the "proper prescription" to the masses."
Ya, that doesn't sound too much like a fascist threat.
Considering the "proper prescription" is facts and truth, that's certainly not fascist. Most would agree the hiding of that prescription is the actual fascism... unless you are a fascist. 😊
Ah, so here the intolerance reveals itself. If you actually DO try to use your brain and consider the possibility that maybe the corporate media’s and “deep state’s” opponents aren’t always telling you the truth either, then you’re a “fascist”.
What if that isn't the truth you're holding in your hand? What then, Ms. 024?
No arguing that! (I think I've beaten this analogy to death. lol)
Obviously, the continuation got lost in the William Dean Thurmond original "optometry analogy" (see above...WAY above). Analogies are usually used to serve as innocent descriptors unless they are used to "win an argument"--which was never my intent.
For you not attempting to win an argument is probably a smart path to travel down.
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem ? lol if so
Well, there was no argument being explored here so...
A wonderful apt little story. It could be helpful to others who have been glued to corporate legacy media of all types.
Matt, the work you're doing right now is so critical.. All of us on here understand the sacrifice, and appreciate the hell out of it. That's why we subscribe. That's why *we* do what we do... It's so you can do things like The Twitter Files. It's that important... and of all the people who understand it's value, it's the people on here. Make the best you can of this Christmas, and get some rest. Your subscribers get it. Thank you so much for rising to the challenge, and making history this month.
Well said! I agree that history turns on moments like these. I strongly sense that there will be a turning, but dang, I wish it would hurry! I also feel that something that starts small could be what sparks the fire that burns away the underpinnings of the false construction. It just could be Matt's sacrifice.
Willie. I sense the same thing. I think Matt's words in this short update were absolutely spot on. I've had the same sense of hope... interspersed with moments of incredible disappointment... I don't want the things that are true to be true. But, they are, and we all know that to deny it now would be such irresponsibility on our part as citizens of the U.S. If we don't stand up now, all the people who dream of coming here... It will be *solely* as a cash grab.. and that thought both terrifies and saddens me. Therefore, we do our very best to tell the truth, to hold those in power to account, and do what we can do to keep this great experiment going, for as long as we can, to benefit as many people as possible.
Thanks, Nate, for saying this so quickly and eloquently. I was reading Matt's post thinking, "Doesn't he understand? He's not shirking his duty to the subscribers, he's doing what we support him to do. We pay him to go be an actually journalist, so he doesn't have to compromise himself for a paycheck."
I really hope Matt can understand this. He gets paid by us so Rolling Stone or whoever else can't tell him what to do. Fight the good fight, Matt. Seek The Truth. We've got you.
Spot on, Michael. I thought the same thing. *This*, right now.... this is what we invested in. We invested in the truth... and Matt is delivering. Most people don't even know what that looks like anymore. So, it's up to us to remind them!
I second it
This sentiment of social media portraying the world thru a distorted lens is extremely relatable. I feel the anti people comment is also uncannily accurate. These unelected, immoral and truly tyrannical agencies have stolen our privacy, our ability to speak, our faith in humanity to a degree, and a measure of the sanity of millions. It feels diabolical in a religious way.
Thank you for shining a light in the darkness. Bringing us understanding, restoring that faith in humanity. Giving hope that somehow we can get out from under this boot.
Have a fulfilling Holiday.
The "Twitter Files now have a Wikipedia article with links to each file.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Files
Because many of the editors wanted to characterize the Twitter Files as nothing there was a Wikipedia fight to keep the article. It was voted to keep.
You might like to see the "Talk" Files that took place:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Twitter_Files
Thanks for the link, Kathleen. Fascinating read on its own.
The worst
To those at the very tip of the spear, we are nothing more than cattle. They need enough of us to sustain their fantasy life styles, no more. But who will keep the fossil fuels flowing for their jets if they exterminate all the blue collar workers? Surely they learned something about that during the house arrest phase of the bioterrorism attack.
The FBI and DHS have basically been gaslighting all of us.
I hear that “gaslighting” is the word of the year!
You are so right; you were not alone. So many of us have felt exactly the same way. Thank you for the sacrifices you’ve made. Your kids will someday be so proud of you and your place in righting the wrongs, but go be fully present and be dad!!
Thank you for your dedicated and disciplined work, Matt.
Though you currently have the difficult task of revealing uncomfortable truths to the world - things that have been shrouded in darkness - may this holy night remind you of the most powerful revelation the world has ever known, when light came among us to dispel darkness, when love in person took human form in the simplicity of a child in Bethlehem, to reveal to us that all is not lost, but that the simplest act of love is more powerful than the greatest forces of destruction, and that no deception can survive the radiance of the Truth that, bearing a human face, has come to make its home among us.
May you experience the mystery of hope anew on this holy night, as we all await, in expectation, the liberation from darkness that is for us both gift and task.
Thank you Matt, and thank you Clayton. Love to you all from Canada. We have been going through a similar time that is only now getting the exposure we need. May the next years be better for all - if we continue to work at it.
Fellow Canuck here. Bullseye. Plus.
Keep up the good work, Matt. Right now, you and Bari are pretty much all that we have.
Bari is OK. Schellenberger is where to go
Bari will report the truth as she sees it - but she will never see the truth if it is reported outside the mainstream media.
All I can say about this is that in 2020 I noticed something very very strange was happening. I was a blue-check Hillary Democrat who followed the election closely. But I could see that there some kind of invisible hands at work, mostly in how the media narrative was shaped to support what were lies and cover-ups of truths that were inconvenient. It seems that 2016 had taught them that the best way to win was to control information. So I've been writing ever since then that our government was using Twitter as a filter to get around the First Amendment. I had no proof of it - I just knew it was true because I'd been on the app since 2007. I could see how it had changed and which side benefitted from that change. Your work here has vindicated that idea -- so I wasn't just imagining it. Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
The "Twitter Files now have a Wikipedia article with links to each file.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Files
Because many of the editors wanted to characterize the Twitter Files as nothing there was a Wikipedia fight to keep the article. It was voted to keep.
You might like to see the "Talk" Files that took place:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Twitter_Files
Why do you keep re-posting this identical post on a dozen comments? It's creepy.
I assume many don't read all the comments and the individual comments were answered by going to the link. Wikipedia, like it or not, will be the summary to which general readers will go in years to come. Also, am hoping that others who care about this issue might be motivated to add their own citations and corrections of reliable sources to the Wikipedia article on "Twitter files."
I’ve also noticed that reply’s to initial reply’s just get lost. If you want to speak to all, you must not use “reply”.
I believe several of the tech leaders said immediately after Trump won (the first time in 2016) that they would reorganize to prevent that from happening again. 4 yrs is a long time to reorganize, especially with the help of the FBI, DoJ, and intel community.
James M.: You "know" this. I can concur.
Sending holiday cheer to you all and especially Matt and Walter! Thank you for the hard work Matt! Hope is a welcome change.
"I can’t have been the only person to have struggled psychologically during this time. This is why these Twitter files have been such a balm. This is the reality they stole from us! It’s repulsive, horrifying, and dystopian, a gruesome history of a world run by anti-people, but I’ll take it any day over the vile and insulting facsimile of truth they’ve been selling.": Believe me, you are NOT the only one who has 'struggled psychologically' during this time. My acquaintances, across the political spectrum, and I often comment to each other these days about how we no longer listen to/read the MSM, and are constantly appalled by the waste, mismanagement, hypocrisy, and absolute corruption easily observed at all levels of the Federal Government. For me, it is only because I long, long ago read Orwell's "1984" and therefore have recognized what the Deep State is engaged in, that has kept me relatively sane. Hang in there Matt. This has GOT to end. Strangely enough, I have come to believe it is a total collapse of our economy brought about by the insanity of our own Government which is soon going to bring it about.
I agree things are going to get worse before it gets better. The people in charge care only about power and will gladly crash the plane into the ground so long as they have their hands on the controls. Buckle up friends!
You are right about it becoming worse before it gets better X-ray. IMHO, however, the "people in charge" are so willfully corrupt and blind to the upcoming consequences of their actions that they would not consider these consequences to have been intentional. The Federal bureaucracy has become so bloated at this point that more and more little piggies are nestling their noses into the trough: totally oblivious to the plain fact that the trough is breaking apart from the strain. Numerous of our past Presidents have warned us about this and it is coming to pass. Personally, I would rather arrange for an orderly downsizing so we can somehow avoid the upcoming disaster and live within our means as a Nation. The success and power of the bureaucratic Deep State, however, has effectively removed this sensible option. Thus, it has become the creature of its own (and our) destruction. There is absolutely no pleasant way to put this. I am heartsick.
You are 100% correct.
Thank you Matt! You don’t know how often you seemed like the only sane voice in an ocean of media insanity.
Thank you Matt. Been wondering about you. With this post you have provided a healing “balm” to me. And Truth. Glad you’ll be with your fam on 12/25. Peace.
Off-kilter indeed. Right now, I'm dumbfounded by the people who are sucking up to the Ukrainian dictator and who want the USA to get into a land war with Russia 5,000 miles away. It's primarily the politicians who gave him a standing ovation and handed him billions. (10% for the big guy) They also think we can have 'limited' nuclear strikes against Russia. Madness. Average Americans are worried about the economy (their jobs & expenses) and the border invasion. Mainstream media is rooting for poor little Ukraine as if it were a bastion of democracy instead of the capital of corruption in Europe. Someone or agency is pushing this behind the scenes. I'm not buying stock in Raytheon but Revlon, putting lipstick on this pig requires billions.
My favorite part is that it’s all the US out of Vietnam types who are most loyal to Ukraine.
Wild shift, no? My observation of Boomers in the wild suggest that the "rebel generation" loves nothing more than doing what it is told. I couldn't understand Biden's appeal but I failed to understand the dynamic at play. Daddy spank, Daddy sniff.
Yep. As a Gen Xer who came right behind the boomers, I can tell you that even at the time there was a whole lot of conformism among them…
Frank Zappa, paraphrasing: "What everybody in this room fails to understand is that they are all wearing a uniform."
The "Twitter Files now have a Wikipedia article with links to each file.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Files
Because many of the editors wanted to characterize the Twitter Files as nothing there was a Wikipedia fight to keep the article. It was voted to keep.
You might like to see the "Talk" Files that took place:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Twitter_Files
What happened with Wikipedia is almost as big a story as "The Twitter Files." In fact, in many ways it is part of the larger story.
Care to name an American generation not marked by "a whole lot of conformism?"
Conformism is the American way as no way is.
No, speaking as a "US out of Vietnam type" - I demonstrated at the Pentagon in 1967, the old anti-war left from the 60s and 70s are not the people displaying Ukrainian flags. Those are the comfortable online virtue signalers from the PMC (Professional Managerial Class) - mostly Millennials and younger and mostly Obama/Clinton/Biden Democrats almost entirely born after the Vietnam War and the military draft was ended.
My favorite part is that it's all the Russians are evil commies and Marxists who are most loyal to Comrade Putin.
Really? I don’t give a fuck about either Zelenskyy or Putin. Let them both rot without my tax dollars.
Good to know.
Exhibit A: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/opinion/biden-zelensky-speech.html
It's Biden's America. We're just livin' in it.
I couldn't bring myself to even open that. Nor Adam Schiff's op-ed.
Good policy; I would say Brooks is a human dildo, but that is unfair to dildoes, which serve a useful purpose.
Hate-reading the NYT is a thing, at least in my household, but it's energy wasted. Go get sushi or something instead.
I can't open it, not being willing to spend anything on the NYT. Using the time to do a Sudoku puzzle is much better for my brain.
I now understand why Biden pulled out of Afghanistan the way he did. He had another war to fund.
Yes. Who wrote that speech etc.?
When I read “repulsive, horrifying, and dystopian, a gruesome history of a world run by anti-people” BAM! That’s it. What an evil mess. Thank you is inadequate. Get some rest.