It all boils down to this: the intelligence agencies, the NGOs, and the permanent administrative state all believe the general public are too stupid to know what's good for them. The people running these groups have a combination of intellectual hubris and belief in their moral superiority that leads them to think that their censorship and control of the 'cognitive infrastructure' is ethically justified. I also believe many of them are truly blind to how their personal interests (financial, power) are reinforced by these beliefs and enforcement actions.
I don't know have all the answers for how we put a halt to our increasingly authoritarian government, but I know that classical investigative journalism will have to play a major role. We must continue supporting the non-MSM sources of information, else we are doomed.
Saying they are motivated by their "intellectual hubris and belief in their moral superiority" is giving them the benefit of the doubt. The sick thing about pushing a vaccine is that the motivation was greed and profit. Big pharma had way too much control on the narrative and many people died unnecessarily. Ivermectin is safer than Tylenol, and at least somewhat effective against Covid. The demonizing of that drug, during a pandemic, is immoral.
Yes, but why do they want the political power? I believe it's because they have an absolute conviction that they know how our society should be shaped and how people should behave and think the right thoughts. They want the power to bring their vision into being, which involves suppression of dissenting voices.
Unless you think power over others is a primary reward in itself - a sadistic pleasure, as it were, even if couched in all kinds of psychological masking to deny it? I'm not ruling that out either!
Probably some combination of all of the above. They believe they are our betters, and therefore deserve all the power and wealth. A new divine right of kings.
We a select group of human beings are able to actually talk about saving the planet. I mean, it's so extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet. John Kerry.
John Kerry is an outstanding example of these people. Here’s the exact quote you’re referring to. Hubris, unbridled:
“When you start to think about it, it's pretty extraordinary that we — select group of human beings because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives [!!!] — are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet," Kerry said.
"I mean, it's so almost extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet," Kerry said. "If you say that to most people, most people think you're just a crazy, tree-hugging, lefty liberal, you know, do-gooder, or whatever, and there's no relationship. But really, that's where we are."
“Almost extraterrestrial” = “We select ones are like the Gods.”
Sometimes tyranny is compensation for massive inferiority complexes. Hitler was a failed painter, and his revenge grew partly from that. The grand programs, such as China’s revolution are perhaps based on super confidence, but Bush/Chaney? I see little more than greed and power lust for its own sake with these guys. Like enormous yachts that can’t even leave the shipyard without tearing down a bridge. They’re just testifying.
Wrong country, chief. Here, our Titans from Zenith leverage their financial power for political power by purchasing (for a song) politicians and magistrates through campaign donations and other emoluments, most of them gratuitously illicit, many of them baldly illegal.
Then the official, depending on rank and station, after tiring of 11pm roll calls and Columbus Day Middle School ceremonies, manages to secure 50% ownership of the town's Cadillac dealership with a mere few hundred dollars of his own money, or sails to Paris and back twice a year for 20 years on some plutocrat's dime, or manages to land a spot on the board of directors of Raytheon without knowing the difference between a sticky bomb and a cluster bomb. For the more fairly endowed, perhaps some gabbing and posing for the CNN or Fox cameras.
The Titans, meanwhile, proceed to "guide" the country as though it were the Zenith Chamber of Commerce. Simple.
The SC are lifetime appointments for a reason----the total invasion of politics into the Supreme Court. Anyone advocating for that just wants the court on their side of the aisle without bothering to contemplate the dangers & pitfalls.
Agreed. Federalist 78 makes a number of great points regarding the need for lifetime appointments in the federal judiciary in order to maintain radical independence.
With term limits, judges will need to curry favor with various aspects of society in order to make sure they have post-bench opportunities. They would be carried away by the whims of the majority, when their role is to be a check and balance on majoritarian rule.
The standard of "serving at good behavior" has been fairly successful over a long stretch of time. I really haven't understood where this sudden drive for term limits is coming from.
So true on Big Pharma. Didn’t anyone ever see Dopesick or hear of the Sacklers? How anyone can blindly trust any of these entities is beyond me. But millions did without pause or question...
deamplified so unapproved vaccines could obtain ‘emergency use authorization'?
FDA:
“An Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a mechanism to facilitate the availability and use of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, during public health emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic...when certain statutory criteria have been met, ‼️including that there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives.”
Your choice to vaxx or not. As far as the work place goes? ....post covid many folks work from home ( its the new normal) for many others that option doesn't work.
As our ancestor's had to adapt to change so do we (their descendents). Fight or flight you chose. Make the right one and maybe you'll get thru the day make the wrong one and maybe you won't. Nature favors those making the right one.
Some vaccines work; there is no evidence that these do. Even the best claim is just that they "moderate the severity" and keep people out of hospitals; that is not a public health benefit. And it is unaccompanied by numerical evidence. In fact, they mostly keep the numbers secret, like the Chinese.
The blanket statement that "vaccines work" has to be one of the most foolishly inane pieces of pseudo-intellectual gobbelly-gook in the current cultural zeitgeist. It is so utterly absurd, so utterly bereft of intelligence, so utterly lacking in any critical thinking or scientific evidence that I feel sorry for anyone who gives it more than a moment of serious consideration.
"the intelligence agencies, the NGOs, and the permanent administrative state all believe the general public are too stupid to know what's good for them. "
In no way am I supporting censorship, or advocating for government control and manipulation of speech, but if you look at how many Americans brought into all this nonsense with every fiber of their being, I think it's safe to say that many Americans are, indeed, profoundly stupid.
I remember hearing Colbert making fun of those who claimed they wanted to do their own research and thinking, "Damn, this guy thinks Americans who want to think and research for themselves are crazy and stupid? There's little hope for the general psyche of this republic."
What is worse: 1) living with the consequences of many low-level stupid decisions made by individual members of the public, or 2) ceding one's autonomy to a supposedly wiser autocratic state (the governance of which is also susceptible to human stupidity and greed)?
There are of course middle-grounds to be found but as this article reports, we are clearly shifting to option 2 with concerning alacrity.
One thing I will never understand (because I try to employ logic in my thinking) is why people automatically assume that government always has their best interests at heart.
My fields of study were education and American literature, but I'm a voracious reader, and I generally lean towards historical topics, so I've read reams of articles and papers that outlined all the nefarious and evil things our government has done to its own people. So naturally, my reaction to them telling us what we need to do during this "epidemic," and watching how they treated skeptics, was one of doubt.
Some people are naive to the point of being dangerous, and that danger inevitably spreads to those of us who want to think and discover for ourselves. This was evident during this entire "epidemic."
Personally, I've been following public affairs as well as I could for about, no over, 60 years now.
The one indisputable lesson: theyre lying to us, because powerful people almost always have something to hide. That's a hard thing to keep in mind - you always want your particular heros to be honest - but it is the lesson. And it applies just as much to "Science!" as to the rest, especially when it gets tangled up in politics. Scientific fraud is a major problem.
Oh, and: coverups are an admission of guilt. That applies to the Chinese gov't. when it comes to the origin of Covid, and it applies to censorship. It's just another kind of coverup.
One of the many lessons I learned early on was that people in government I looked up to were lying to me almost as though it was their nature.
Later, I learned it actually was their nature.
Politicians are the most loathsome, vile creatures in human history. They are vipers vying for power and money in a pit full of other vipers trying for the same things.
Barry W., while it is true, that many Americans (and every other nationality, too, from what I can tell) are indeed "profoundly stupid," I don't hold it against those who fell for the massive fear mongering and intimidation inflicted upon them about Covid...and it says a lot that many of the most fearful among us were also among the most "educated."
The question now is, are they prepared to collectively resist and defend medical research based on the damage resulting from their fear. These evil people will try this again. We trusted the educated experts especially regarding our health. There has been a huge breach of trust regarding health care providers. Many people are suffering the effects of treatments or have died from directives that most educated scientists knew were questionable. Also, fellow medical experts (some of the brightest researchers in the world were trying to sound the alarm) were censored by the government while these cowardly providers signed letters affirming their agreement. That was the worst. I hold it against everyone with any power that didn’t speak out. How are we supposed to know who the good folks are when we walk into a medical facility? I know many folks who lost jobs and had their lives upended during covid. If our Doctors won’t stand up for something this heinous and put their own jobs on the line, then we don’t need them. God bless those who bore the humiliation delivered to them by their silent colleagues. I know that was a lot and it certainly wasn’t directed at you Pacificus, you are one of my favorite contributors and I look forward to all of your comments. It just seemed like the best place to place it in the discussion.
Be careful not to confuse being "educated" with being "smart," and having basic working knowledge of how our government actually operates, and how people react to that type of governance.
You say you don't hold it against them. I do. They are the ones who made, and continue to make, life difficult for the rest of us.
With some exceptions, people choose to be stupid in that they refuse to question what they're being told. The simply fall in line and expect the rest of us to, as well.
I've never been one to walk single file behind others. Doing so makes one blind to the pitfalls that may not be visible until it's too late.
Consider the introduction to this interview. That is, the report on human psychological/emotional damage (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, etc.) which reflects the actual consequences of living inside a distortion. Is the general American psyche dumb or simply wounded and beaten numb? Human beings and nations become ill when forced to live inside a lie. The core driver for present day reality is the leap in Consciousness (my capital) created by the the introduction of new tech and communications. Control of this new and expanding Consciousness is THE FIGHT!! The world political/financial grift is transparent to reality and the perps are scared. Citizens of the Republic have always been manipulated and propagandized. The CIC is the natural amplification of the avaricious self-interest which surrounds and seek to control all governments. As the Doctor pointed out, the issue is control of the narrative. The protection of perps, cover for the looting of an economy and the mal consequences of bad social, health and economic policy demands the creation and imposition of an enforced hyperreality. A truthful fact based human reality is its greatest enemy. What was a whisper is now a scream.
When I say that our Constitution and the Bill of Rights it contains is our only engine of survival I'm not being hyperbolic. They stand, the Republic and its citizens stand. This new Consciousness also demands the recognition that the thugs assaulting human dignity, speech and freedom in Europe are also players here. A cartel of criminal financiers are intent in creating a CCP style electronic surveillance overlay to control the peoples of the world. They're here. Who will fight for us if we won't fight for ourselves.
Look closely at the DNC operatives at the Taibbi/Shellenberger Congressional hearings. Mercenary second rate party line political poseurs, allied with a propagandist MSM, in an attempt to destroy and humiliate the bearers of factual truthful reality, in order to prop up what can only be described as a psyop. Accept it!! The DNC is literally a lie that lines its pockets by serving corporate fascism and protecting the bureaucratic surveillance bureaucracy that serves it.--- Against all propaganda otherwise, as reported in today's article, independent journalism, committed citizens and free men and women across the world continue their assault on tyranny.
If you consider the money trail, it was our money used to pay him too. So Pharma gets billions, gives some to the politicians, who use our $, to create the market and madate the vax's, and round and round it goes.
Thirty years ago the wisdom of the general public was true in many cases. My own parents were both hillbillies from the hills of Appalachia (Eastern Kentucky).
Mom graduated high school only, and dad dropped out, joined the Army, and went to Korea. But both were mentally sharp, and very knowledgeable about politics, government, how society interacts with itself within it various groupings, etc. Both of them were news hounds, watching nightly news regularly, and reading three different newspapers every day. My father always had subscriptions to as many papers that would deliver to our house.
They were both also very active in the politics of the city and county we lived in. They dragged my two brothers and I to county commission and city council meetings. They wanted to impress upon us the importance of civic involvement. They wanted us to understand that living in a free republic involved work, i.e. understanding how our government worked, and what a citizen's duties were.
My father, an Army vet and UAW auto worker coordinated a field trip with my 7th grade history teacher (Mrs. Chrien, a wonderful historian who spoke with the rasp of years of cigarette smoking). He was instrumental in making our class the first to take a field trip to Washington DC (a trip that continues to this day, and I was in 7th grade in 1983). My dad felt it was paramount that young kids learn about their government in every facet they could, and a trip to witness our government in action was the best way to accomplish this in his opinion.
I was an SRO for a couple of years during my law enforcement career, and never saw the type of engagement with government as I did when I was in school.
Kids today can't even tell you where the seat of government is on a map. This isn't "get off my lawn" talk; this is ugly and sad reality.
You grew up in the exact same world I did, Barry. My opinion is that the further the federal government was allowed to entrench itself in our Public Schools, the less true/practical education the average American received.
A federal Department of Education is heresy in a republic comprised of states. The framers understood all too well the dangers of a powerful centralized government (unless you were a Hamiltonian).
A union of states, with states rights and localized power, was a stroke of brilliance in my opinion. Government is a necessary evil that societies need in order to maintain, well, order. Making that government as functionally small as possible makes that government more reactive to the needs of its citizens, in my opinion.
Of course we've screwed that up by tinkering with some of the good stuff. Popular election of senators, creation of a centralized education bureaucracy, attempts to annihilate the Electoral College. All of these, plus hundreds of more sinister tinkerings on the part of the collection of pit vipers known as the federal government, these have all contributed to the erosion of this republic.
Honestly, I'm surprised we still exist a a republic at this point.
Who is to say Americans are dumber now than 200 years ago? It's quite an assumption considering public education did not exist. I also don't recall our Founders worrying about the rights endowed to a lesser educated class. I surmise this distinction is entirely new in America. The elites just started looking more like elites, and the peons, peons. Elites just decided to move first.
But to answer your question, research has shown that the average colonial was rather well educated. Public schools were not needed, as schooling mostly occurred in the home (apart from some private schools that existed). Looking at historical documents, researchers have found that children were already reading earlier than their future counterparts, partially because parents were teaching them to read from an early age.
This private home education system, as it were, consisted of home, church, civic associations and clubs, apprenticeships, even the farm field. Education was foundational in all of these. Mother and father were the teachers, not some government lackey looking for a paycheck (I used to be a public school teacher, so I have no issue calling out our pathetic public education system). Because many things in life back then required a colonist to be engaged, education, done privately, was taken quite seriously. There is evidence that shows children back then were educated in a number of ways, as I outlined earlier. Mothers were mostly as literate as their male counterparts in Colonial America, and they were often the primary educator for their children. All of this was accomplished without public education.
Those living in the Colonies as they explored, and eventually gained, independence were especially enamored with the printing press, prompting many of them to learn to read. This was passed down to their children, and so on. So your statement, "I also don't recall our Founders worrying about the rights endowed to a lesser educated class" is quite incorrect, given what the historical evidence shows.
Even as early as the 1640s, laws were being passed in the colonies that required educating children so that they would be able to "read & understand the principles of religion and &the laws of this country..."
But try this: go to YouTube and pull up any number of videos of young people being stopped on the streets and asked basic questions (even lay Leno was doing this when he was still on TV). Many Americans can't even tell you which side of the country the Atlantic Ocean is on.
Based on what I've read about an educated populace, I'd wager that people were fairly well educated in terms of the social structures that existed.
Our Public Schools, as they once existed, are the best counter to your argument. Imperfect as they might have been, they demanded high standards from all who attended. Just take a look at a McGuffey's Reader from way back when. No, Americans are NOT dumber than they were 200 years ago, but the so-called "education" they have received since then has been dumbed down, with predictable results.
Who is to say that? Well, Gore Vidal, for one, because as he would say (Source: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/07/31/a-conversation-with-gore-vidal-on-the-e-word/), Americans used to be very educated and the average American farmer knew Latin and some Greek. They read all the classics, and were historically and politically literate.
Now, who in America reads any of the classics or knows ancient languages? No one important. For that matter, it is doubtful many Americans could even pass a school test from a little over a century ago. Can you pass this test from 1912? I doubt I could: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/1912-eighth-grade-exam_n_3744163
The elites and academics and "educated class" are not educated. They are ignoramuses, complete and utter barbarians who are too ignorant to recognise the decline that has occurred. It is very hard to recognise when knowledge is lost, because rarely is anyone even aware it has been; what knowledge? They are of a much lower class than the people who once existed in America, and especially of the oligarchic one that was intended from the start to rule it (only Jefferson cared much for democracy).
The Flynn effect never happened and was always an illusion, and in fact as evolutionary anthropologists have observed the trend in society is selecting outright against intelligence and educational attainment—even human cranial capacity is being selected against as one Estonian study showed—people are not becoming more educated, but less; not more intelligent, but less.
Regarding what Vidal noted, today, the only American Latin you'll find (if you're lucky enough to get it to turn up on a search engine that tries to redirect you to "Latin American") will be an introductory relic on some government website, and not a single member of Congress can read it, let alone write and speak it like the Founding Fathers did writing letters to each other in Latin and Greek.
And of course, the academic class that pretends to understand it—including scientists and even linguists who are among the very worst—does not at all and only pretends to, speaking and writing in a crude, uneducated pig Latin where they come up with endless gibberish that make no sense in a language they don't know to try to sound more sophisticated. Orwell observed similar even in his time as the common English names of plants were replaced with Latin (vile butcherings of it).
What hope is there for a people who once read Aristotle and now can only recite sentence-long quotes from him, whose attention spans rarely exceed 30 seconds? If people read him, as Vidal noted, they'd understand what has been done to the Americna Republic is terminal. There is no saving it, and this was the case long ago.
I've done some research that shows that our Colonial counterparts, given the time frame they lived in, were far more practically educated than we are now.
The private education system existed in a number of social and religious organizations that made a foundation in reading and education a central tenet of life in the colonies, especially for children.
Oh, I don't know, I believe that trying to put in prison the man who can beat you in an election is fair game. Hahahaha!
I swear I had a conversation with a friend, who said that Trump should be put in prison. I said, "What for?" And her reply, "He's an awful human being. He's a bully." I said, "So every awful human being who are bullies should be put in prison?" She said, "I don't want to talk about it anymore." I said, "One last comment, don't you think that Biden's bribes coming from Ukraine and China are worse behavior than being a bully?" hahaha. It's not fun finding out your friend is a fool.
I'm not a partisan, and feel 'whatever it takes' is the problem on 'both sides'. Agree the dems have no case on Trump the 'insurrectionist' lol. But Trump is trying to burn it all down in spirt of 'whatever it takes', too. A war of attrition between parties (edit: and constituents) is unlikely in the best national interest yet here we are.
Yeah, I see it a little differently. If ANY President should have been prosecuted, it was George W Bush. But rather than prosecuting him, the Obama's actually resurrected his legacy by acting like he is a kindly old gentleman who needs candy shared.
With Trump, I do believe the election was rigged even though I didn't vote for either Biden or Trump. There is just NO WAY 81 million people voted for a clearly demented old man. I will share an anecdote about the 2016 election: when I was watching the election in 2016, I laughed extremely hard and loud at a bar I was at when Trump won. I got so many dirty looks which made me laugh even MORE! I was asked to leave by the bartender because he said, "patrons are getting triggered by your laughter." So the Trump phenon began even in 2016 and it was accelerated by Hillary's concoction of the Russia Russia Russia, which many people still believe. Even though there has been ample coverage that the whole Russia collusion has been debunked.
The 2020 vote harvesting in the name of 'covid safety' was definitely a scam the dems played better than the repubs. And of course they'd love to keep that going since it's the only way to get young people and certain minority populations to vote as instructed. Which is why I'm skeptical of the recent mask fixations over at CNN.
Trump played the wrong angles on that one and doubled down when he should have pivoted to illegal harvesting. Wait until the suburban mega baptist churches start dumping *their* ballots at the drop off locations.
Let's not forget it was Trump nodding along with Fauci throughout. Should have called BS day 1.
Read writings of 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 who was White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012. His is some of the intellectual writing that shapes these ideas.
Yes, there are so many connections. And Victoria Nuland married to Robert Kagan, co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century.
Terrific summation. As you said, the non-MSM is playing a heroic role in shining a stark light on America’s descent into an oligarch/serf political structure. Hey, as history shows, it’s a time-tested model. Ultimately though, it’s not about Matt’s courage, it’s about the American people demanding and voting overwhelmingly for an alternative that will have the courage and will to make the changes necessary to avoid this historical fate. As discussed a few days ago, a big part of this is making drastic and permanent changes to the federal bureaucracy, which is the key enabler of the elimination of individual free will in America.
As Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini said years ago, “There is no need to attack America. They will destroy themselves.” It’s up to us to show him wrong.
Classical investigative journalism has historically played a major role limiting authoritarian government. That's why, after it inspired the Vietnam war protests, it was virtually destroyed by government intel agencies operating inside every mainstream media outlet. That's also why those same agencies now want investigative journalism equated with domestic terrorism.
After spending a few days responding to comments to my posts on Matt's 911 article, it is my opinion that it is not only the government agencies who want to control your thoughts, but it is also people who've been brainwashed by the government propaganda who want to control your thoughts.
I remember when my neighbor told me (after she knew I refused the vax) "People who aren't vaxxed should be denied entry into any hospital." So, she wanted me to die if I needed any emergency hospital care.
I also remember when I was fighting the banks during the Great Financial Crime Spree, my own friends saying, "Why don't you just pay your mortgage?" These comments were after I told them about all the bank crimes that I was uncovering.
And go and look at comments to people who believe that the 911 official story is a lie. People truly want to control your thoughts when it is in opposition to their own thoughts. Maybe it's self-protection, dunno.
As I often tell my kids, there is a big difference between being clever and being wise. Clever people often have the skills and ambition to become part of the elite. Wise people may or may not be materially successful or have lots of degrees, but they can tell which way the wind is blowing, value their own instincts, and know that the secret to a good life are simple, and as old as time.
Propaganda works very well on the first group. Not so much on the second.
A Stupid general public would not require the entirety of the propaganda machinations performed on it for decades via radio/TV/movies, all controlled by the USG via licenses.
The Libs and Conservs had their mags to gripe at the other side, and extol their own - totally ineffectual for taking on the USG. Perhaps both were established for this purpose and result.
I agree there is a lot of stupid people. But I also know people who are, what I consider to be bright, yet they have just totally wacko points of view regarding what is happening in DC and our Statehouses.
I concur. And it's not just the US government: it's global. It's quite horrifying to observe the plutocrats bleating on about what MUST BE DONE. And, like sheep, they are enchanted by that comfort bubble in which most live. THAT said, my daughter works in healthcare. What she experienced working throughtout COVID was horrifying. It dragged on brutally. We believed what we were being told would keep us safe because we believe in science, and we were afraid. My Mom died of it. It sucks that they lied. I am now aware that voices - valid, scientific, fact-based - were silenced. (I'm confident I would have opted for the vaccine.) For me, this silencing of dissent is the most distressing outcome of the pandemic. Not the "Big Pharma made $$." Not the "it's all one big conspiracy." Maybe it is, but I believe there are, like a Venn diagram, several overlapping sets of interests, more likely than one giant conspiracy. But if Klaus Schwab is pulling the strings, I guess we are all fucked.
Well said, and I'm sorry that your mother succumbed to Covid. The only silver lining of the entire Covid nightmare is that it has revealed (for all who care to see) the lengths to which our government (and others) are willing to go in order to silence entirely reasonable people. Perhaps, at a society level, this kind of Covid exposure can immunize us against any future thought-control government pestilence.
I’m sounding like a broken record. It has never been 'stupid people don’t know what’s good for them'. It is the lust for power and self-fulfillment that requires control of others.
A Stupid general public would not require the entirety of the propaganda machinations performed on it for decades via radio/TV/movies, all controlled by the USG via licenses.
The Libs and Conservs had their mags to gripe at the other side, and extol their own - totally ineffectual for taking on the State. Perhaps both were established for this purpose and result.
The internet was built and backed by the USG to instigate, monitor, and control. But with no ‘use licenses’ it lost its influencing mechanism over social media. Once the public used this outlet for its voice, the USG was quick to threaten those it helped to create - you will throttle whom we say.
Sure, about 50% of the citizens are alphabet news watchers still under the propaganda - the USG always works for and on your behalf, all the while taking all rights and depopulating the planet.
My favorite example of this is democrats claiming republican hispanics and blacks are voting 'against their interests'. What interests would those be, I wonder?
I read a book years ago where the writer was opining about voters. It was titled What's the Matter with Kansas. He was in disbelieve that the majority of voters in KS kept electing Republicans which could not possibly reflect their needs and wants!
That's Thomas Frank and I think his broader point is how modern liberalism abandoned the values of midwestern swing voters despite the history of unions in states like Kansas. Same themes in his book "Listen Liberal".
I guess that's the same as "voting against pragmatic interests" come to think of it, but 'values' are interests, too.
Just checked Wikipedia – Thomas is a liberal, Bernie (socialist) supporter and he called Trump "the worst politician ever" saying "quasi-fascist movements" are springing up around the world.
I agree, Trump is the worst politician ever because he doesn’t know how to be a deceiver and liar and he did not sell out the country like the rest of them have since Reagan. Trump gain America three plus years in stalling out the NWO. The others are the fascists.
The bulk of journalists went left because that is where all the accolades reside, otherwise, you are a nobody unless you spin for them like David Brock does.
The only values I recognize align with the 'shall nots' in the Bible. However, it is almost like they don't exist anymore, especially on the 'left'.
This only covers half the problem. George Carlin was right. Think about how dumb the average American is - and stop to think that half of them are dumber than that... right?
The sin here is that people in government seem to think that this observation doesn't apply to them. But it does. Half of them are imbeciles. Despite where they went to college.
The paid incentives for certain protocols murdered people. The Covid Event found me shifting my opinion on the death penalty. Many of us living still with the resulting carnage.
The clip of Dr Paul Marik in tears when told to stand down in ICU lives forever in my mind (mid 2021). On Ron Johnson’s Rumble channel you’ll find many ethical impassioned words. 2 Senate hearings where NO other politician bothered to show up re 2nd opinion. Patients he was saving died afterwards even tho his success rate best in hospital. World leading ICU doc
Home run this week by CHD: 4 part documentary with action plan. #NeverForget & find a doc out of system.
"They" are increasingly inhabiting our minds. Most people are unaware and will continue to be unaware, willingly. The resistance is weak and small in number. This is my cynical take. But I will not give up and sometimes I see cracks in the matrix.
Why wasn’t more of the general population able to see this happening three years ago?? Are we, the Aware, THAT much more courageous/intelligent than the average schmuck? It bothers me.
Yes. The answer would be yes. The average schmuck has bought into bread and circus. Those of us watching and screaming and arming are a step ahead of them on the scale of humanity. And I for one won’t stop.
The pols managed to make applauding the bread and circuses part of their identity (really the identify of any right-thinking person) and the dissidents were thrown to the lions
My neighbor told me to my face, knowing I was remaining unvaxxed, "People who aren't vaccinated should be denied access to any hospital care." So, in other words, if I wound up needing emergency hospital care, she wanted me to die.
They count on that. Most people if they follow FR at all focus on their smaller area. So much slips through via regulations and people focus on Bills in Congress.
Yes, but only to the extent that the gov actually has a record of your filing! I'm sure Congressional aids just clean out the email inboxes and trash the letters.
The average schmuck is me every day. I might know some things, but I don't know everything and the people who choose the news to highlight drive our attention. Help the average to follow the hidden government actions that result in policy. Find what's going on in the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫.
Rather than the average schmuck how about the average hard working, not enough time in the day, working perhaps 12 hours out of 24, has a family, children to care for ......trying to get 8 hours sleep. There’s 20 hours. Only 4 hours left. Little time to read more deeply. Yet, we must prevail.
Stoic, the answer is Yes. Fear does awful things to people’s ability to think clearly and the government and Fauci and the gang used it to their benefit. I’m appalled by the willingness of the general population to grab at anything they’re told will keep them safe, but particularly an experimental biological agent. But I’m more disheartened by close friends - intelligent, normally full of common sense - who got on the train. Most now regret it but I’m with you. Why didn’t they question more to begin with?
I have said this a couple of times on Substack but will say it again because it’s important. I Never understood how Nazi Germany could have happened until covid. Now I do and I have to say I’m both devastated and disgusted. There are far too few of us who said NO to this.
And there are far too few of us who are fighting any of it - censorship, illegal immigration, you name it.
RioRosie, too many people hated Trump because they were systematically taught to hate him...we didn't have the "two-minute hate" of 1984, more like a 24/7/365 hate. It takes a strong mind to resist that sort of mass conditioning.
A friend & I have had this discussion several times. She maintains I "like" Trump. No, I don't "like" Trump. I don't consider him my pal, my buddy. I wouldn't invite him to dinner. In many, many ways, he's an asshole.
HOWEVER Trump was a much better decision than the alternative--both in 2016 and 2020.
Too many people vote on someone they LIKE. And look where that's gotten us.
You're talking my talk, Rosie...I have never "liked" any national politician (or any local one for that matter) with the possible exception of JFK...but elections aren't about "liking" people, it's about their net impact on the political/economic/cultural scene...and Trump was certainly better than what the Dems tossed at us in '16, '20, and likely '24.
It took me a very long time to get over the hate-Trump trope. And I believe that the government lied about 911, JFK and all the other lies that have been spewed to us 24/7.
But when Biden's admin began trying to literally cut the head off the snake, that is when my alerts went up. Now, I openly stump for Trump! Trump 2024!
While we watch "news" the real activities take place in regulatory agencies. That's a heavy lift for most of us. We write to congress people, but hardly ever think to do the online comments at the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. The 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. is issued EVERY DAY.
and this becomes the 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬-- (CFR) which presents the official and complete text of agency regulations in an organized fashion in a single publication.
And of course--who has the time or skill set? In the misty past when I was a documents librarian the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 was a newspaper. I shelved it next to the 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬-(consolidation of the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫) which were books.
Lawyers used to come to the library to read these and that is how I became aware of the importance. (all online now so may as well be invisible). (I'm going to repost this reply to your very good "call to understanding" up top because maybe more people will see it. Thank you for your urgency.)
It's almost sickening to see where tax dollars are wasted, but inthe federal register you can find out why the government narrative regarding covid was spewed by so many scientists and doctors. The money, follow the money. It's your money, shouldn't you know where it's being wasted?
Knowing the FR is the secret power of lawyers and special interests. But it's there for anyone who wants to look. Want to lose friends? Send them daily updates of the actual power of regulations. That would be a good Substack.
Read writings of 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 who was White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012. His is some of the intellectual writing that shapes these ideas.
So many very smart well educated people were literal sock puppets during this time, that on the surface is does appear shocking some years later.
Or.... we as humans aren't nearly as intelligent as we'd like to believe.
And what's it take to be considered 'smart'? To make good grades at top schools? And what's that typically entail? Memorizing a bunch of shit and spitting it back.
Well, from my perspective, this comes after years of fighting the banks trying to steal my home with forged documents, I believe that many of the populace believes hook, line and sinker the propaganda spewed on all the major networks. My own "friends" told me, "Just pay your mortgage!" Those comments came after I informed them of all the bank crimes that were being committed that they, themselves, were paying for through the government taxpayer bailouts. Needless to say, those people are no longer my friends.
I watched "The Post" last night on Amazon Prime. Fictionalized story with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep of the Pentagon Pagers era. In a few short years we have done a 180 degree turn from committment to a free press as the guardian of democracy to one that has become the handmaiden of the government. How did that happen! Matt????
Right. I was asked by a (liberal) friend what one thing I would change if I could. My response was for the press to do journalism again. She looked at me like I had three heads, not because she didn’t agree they were biased, but because “obviously” they are biased in the right way.
I don’t need my ideas to win or other’s ideas to lose, so much as I want a fairly neutral arbiter to keep the government in check. The issues we could then decide fairly at the ballot box.
Good point, Dunboy, it would be nice if the media took fair-mindedness seriously when it came to the news. Problem is, the real fun in being a journalist is not to just report the news but to shape a narrative that fits your political leanings...too too many journalists these days are really political activists using journalism as their tool.
I just read a few articles by Parker Malloy and she and her ilk are under the assumtion that papers such as NYT and WaPo are too scared of being labeled as partisan, therefore they are too balanced and fair minded.
imagine believing in 2023, that the NYT doesn't give the democrats a fair shake.
It's always that way. As long as the press is supportive of the fascist agenda, the fascists approve. And we gave an amazing amount of fascists now, don't we?
Tribalism is a big factor. People want to feel superior to an other. Then will lie to themselves and violate any principle to create and reinforce that illusion. This gets worse when institutions are taken over by people with no solidarity with their fellow countrymen. If power is all there is and there is no god then keeping the other down is all there is as unity through reconciliation is unthinkable. ‘Who would we then have to demonize to feel good about ourselves?’
I watched it during the Great Financial Crime Spree while neighbors allowed other neighbors to be kicked from their homes. We all knew that the banks were stealing those homes with fake documents. What was wrong with the populace then???
The populace was spewing the same propaganda they heard, "Get a job!" "Pay your mortgage!" "You bought too much home!"
If the press has always been less than even handed and courageous, at least this was once a value we projected on to them, and one that they themselves proclaimed. Perhaps seeing their clay feet now is the silver lining: one more manipulative icon falls. The question becomes, what will replace the press as a source to remind us where the boundaries of civility are. Certainly not the celebrated void created by post modernism.
Hey ever’body, please check out CS Lewis’s “The Abolition of Man” referenced in this interview. It’s a great book (with a great title) which “seer-iously” (prophetically) describes what the Biden admin and all its 3-acronym-ed minions (FBI, FDA, NSA, ETC) are trying to do us--that is, Abolish Humanity. It’s crazy how this short tome starts out by pinpointing how the holocaust begins with how we go about teaching children English.
Thank you. I looked into this novel and love this in Wiki, " Joyce Carol Oates has described it as "Dostoevsky's most confused and violent novel, and his most satisfactorily 'tragic' work."" Will have to check it out.
I remember reading "The Kill" by Emile Zola, when I was fighting the banks. Could not believe that the banks were doing the same thing in Zola's era that they were doing in 2010! No wonder "The Kill" was censored for so long! They didn't want anyone to know the nefarious behavior of the banking industry would happen again and again and again throughout history.
Things don’t change much. The worship of “progress” still goes on. Did you read Zola’s work on the Dreyfuss Affair? If I remember right, that’s what made him famous.
"The Kill" was the first piece of Zola I've read. I don't know if I can make it through these books you've suggested. Four years ago I got a concussion from a car accident and it's making reading difficult for me. I'm hopeful that this will change, but for now I can only read more simple novels. It totally SUCKS because I was such an avid reader.
Not many CS Lewis's writings fall below the excellent bar. Hillsdale College did a great course on his writing and it was free as all their on-line courses are.
It’s amazing that Malthus, Ehrlich, Thunberg, and their ilk are so spectacularly wrong so often, yet their devotees are still powerfully attracted to their message. It’s prolly because it’s easier to sell this message than the truth: it’s our relationship to God and people that matters most.
For sure. None of this stuff was possible without the legacy media acting as guardians of the state instead of holding them accountable like they should be doing.
I admit it. I was very, very wrong. I actually, originally, supported the Patriot Act. I truly thought it would be used only for good. I also, kind of believed the narrative about Iraq, and the dangers of Sadam. I thought Matt was a leftie kook, calling it all into question. This whole experience has opened my eyes to the views of the “other side”, when they are espousing freedom and our rights as citizens. Thank you Matt for being true to your principles!
God bless this dude, a tour de force. Great summary and explanation of exactly why censorship is such a grotesque invasion, and of exactly what its pernicious effects are.
The interconnection of militarized public health apparatus, the use of digital technologies of surveillance and control and the willingness of governments to use the police powers of the state is the new triumvirate. I would also add in the willingness of the people of each nation to passively go along with all of the above as an ever scarier 4th component.
IMO - the pandemic was the perfect opportunity for governments to employ 1) how much power can we exert over our nation - i.e., how far can we go? with 2) how inclined would our ppl be to follow - i.e., how easily can we do this?
I understand CISA is composed of reps from Smartmatic, Dominion and Solarwinds(?) among others. When they declared the 2020 election the most secure in history about a day after Biden was declared winner by the MSM I knew the fix was in.
Exactly. If Biden had lost it would have made Trump’s Georgia call look like sugar and Jan 6th a walk in the park. Thousands of violent swampies were ready to go in DC and around the country.
“But then a technologist emerged who went much further. And his ideas would become central to… power
He was called Vladislav Surkov.
Surkov came originally from the theatre world and those who have studied his career
say that what he did was take avant-garde ideas from the theatre, and bring them into the heart of politics.
Surkov's aim was not just to manipulate people, but to go deeper and play with, and undermine,
their very perception of the world so, they are never sure what is really happening.
Surkov turned … politics into a bewildering, constantly changing piece of theatre.
He used (gov) money to sponsor all kinds of groups - from mass anti-fascist youth organizations,
to the very opposite - neo-Nazi skinheads. And liberal human rights groups who then attacked the government.
Surkov even backed whole political parties that were opposed to the (president).
But the key thing was that Surkov then let it be known that this was what he was doing. Which meant that no-one was sure what was real or what was fake in modern (politics).
As one journalist put it, "It's a strategy of power that keeps any opposition "constantly confused” - a ceaseless shape-shifting that is unstoppable "because it is indefinable."
Meanwhile, real power was elsewhere - hidden away behind the stage, exercised without anyone seeing it.
And then the same thing seemed to start happening in the West.”
Excerpt from the transcript of “HyperNormalisation” by A. Curtis 2016
I watched "HyperNormalisation" by BBC Documentarian, I think back in 2017, maybe. Curtis's "Century of Self" doc series had attracted me to his general skills as a commentator and documentarian of the world.
this segment, I found the script for and linked here, as well as the timestamp on the documentary itself.. have stayed with me over the years since. I stripped some of the names, because people get triggered by certain references, and I loath the "shoot the messenger" logical fallacy so commonly deployed by weak minds today.
I just can't help but see it as profound, as accurate, as the theme for the last few years.
"This is a colonization of the human mind, by government entities that want to control what you think."
How ironic that the woke mentality that has gripped the Democrats, which among other things is supposedly anti-colonial, is now trying to colonize the minds, which is a core fascist idea. They're engaging in the virtual internment of American citizens.
Some influences: "How Change Happens," book by Read writings of 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 who was White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012. His is some of the intellectual writing that shapes these ideas. (Harvard, Chicago, White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012.
Sunstein is married to 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2013 to 2017.)
Is it possible to find out how much Pfizer pays annually for that little "brought to you by pfizer" tagline?
I suspect their goal is to give media companies so much money that they never bite the hand that feeds, but at the same time want to avoid the look of every other commercial being for a Pfizer product.
Are they paying millions more than commercials for that little "brought to you by Pfizer" tagline? Is that tagline legally required when the show includes sponsored content? From a legitimate business standpoint it's odd to spend so much on that little tagline instead of product ads.
Total payments from Pfizer and the government to corporate media for supporting the vaccines is in the billions, but I meant the cost of a commercial versus that tagline sponsorship of a show.
It all boils down to this: the intelligence agencies, the NGOs, and the permanent administrative state all believe the general public are too stupid to know what's good for them. The people running these groups have a combination of intellectual hubris and belief in their moral superiority that leads them to think that their censorship and control of the 'cognitive infrastructure' is ethically justified. I also believe many of them are truly blind to how their personal interests (financial, power) are reinforced by these beliefs and enforcement actions.
I don't know have all the answers for how we put a halt to our increasingly authoritarian government, but I know that classical investigative journalism will have to play a major role. We must continue supporting the non-MSM sources of information, else we are doomed.
Saying they are motivated by their "intellectual hubris and belief in their moral superiority" is giving them the benefit of the doubt. The sick thing about pushing a vaccine is that the motivation was greed and profit. Big pharma had way too much control on the narrative and many people died unnecessarily. Ivermectin is safer than Tylenol, and at least somewhat effective against Covid. The demonizing of that drug, during a pandemic, is immoral.
Political power is the underlying motivation.
Yes, but why do they want the political power? I believe it's because they have an absolute conviction that they know how our society should be shaped and how people should behave and think the right thoughts. They want the power to bring their vision into being, which involves suppression of dissenting voices.
Unless you think power over others is a primary reward in itself - a sadistic pleasure, as it were, even if couched in all kinds of psychological masking to deny it? I'm not ruling that out either!
Probably some combination of all of the above. They believe they are our betters, and therefore deserve all the power and wealth. A new divine right of kings.
“ A new divine right of kings.”
Spot on. 🛎️
We a select group of human beings are able to actually talk about saving the planet. I mean, it's so extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet. John Kerry.
John Kerry is an outstanding example of these people. Here’s the exact quote you’re referring to. Hubris, unbridled:
“When you start to think about it, it's pretty extraordinary that we — select group of human beings because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives [!!!] — are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet," Kerry said.
"I mean, it's so almost extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet," Kerry said. "If you say that to most people, most people think you're just a crazy, tree-hugging, lefty liberal, you know, do-gooder, or whatever, and there's no relationship. But really, that's where we are."
“Almost extraterrestrial” = “We select ones are like the Gods.”
It seems like we're living in a combination of 1984 and leviticus 26 world.
Sometimes tyranny is compensation for massive inferiority complexes. Hitler was a failed painter, and his revenge grew partly from that. The grand programs, such as China’s revolution are perhaps based on super confidence, but Bush/Chaney? I see little more than greed and power lust for its own sake with these guys. Like enormous yachts that can’t even leave the shipyard without tearing down a bridge. They’re just testifying.
We see every day how short and straight the pathway from political power to financial power has become. Term limits for members of congress, please...
Wrong country, chief. Here, our Titans from Zenith leverage their financial power for political power by purchasing (for a song) politicians and magistrates through campaign donations and other emoluments, most of them gratuitously illicit, many of them baldly illegal.
Then the official, depending on rank and station, after tiring of 11pm roll calls and Columbus Day Middle School ceremonies, manages to secure 50% ownership of the town's Cadillac dealership with a mere few hundred dollars of his own money, or sails to Paris and back twice a year for 20 years on some plutocrat's dime, or manages to land a spot on the board of directors of Raytheon without knowing the difference between a sticky bomb and a cluster bomb. For the more fairly endowed, perhaps some gabbing and posing for the CNN or Fox cameras.
The Titans, meanwhile, proceed to "guide" the country as though it were the Zenith Chamber of Commerce. Simple.
AND the Supreme Court.
The SC are lifetime appointments for a reason----the total invasion of politics into the Supreme Court. Anyone advocating for that just wants the court on their side of the aisle without bothering to contemplate the dangers & pitfalls.
Agreed. Federalist 78 makes a number of great points regarding the need for lifetime appointments in the federal judiciary in order to maintain radical independence.
With term limits, judges will need to curry favor with various aspects of society in order to make sure they have post-bench opportunities. They would be carried away by the whims of the majority, when their role is to be a check and balance on majoritarian rule.
The standard of "serving at good behavior" has been fairly successful over a long stretch of time. I really haven't understood where this sudden drive for term limits is coming from.
So true on Big Pharma. Didn’t anyone ever see Dopesick or hear of the Sacklers? How anyone can blindly trust any of these entities is beyond me. But millions did without pause or question...
Were treatments for Covid
deamplified so unapproved vaccines could obtain ‘emergency use authorization'?
FDA:
“An Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a mechanism to facilitate the availability and use of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, during public health emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic...when certain statutory criteria have been met, ‼️including that there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives.”
https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/vaccines/emergency-use-authorization-vaccines-explained#:~:text=FDA%20must%20ensure%20that%20recipients,unknown%2C%20that%20they%20have%20the
absolutely
I’m finding other us
Vaccines work.
Your choice to vaxx or not. As far as the work place goes? ....post covid many folks work from home ( its the new normal) for many others that option doesn't work.
As our ancestor's had to adapt to change so do we (their descendents). Fight or flight you chose. Make the right one and maybe you'll get thru the day make the wrong one and maybe you won't. Nature favors those making the right one.
Cheers....
I think you have a lot of homework to do.
You mean shilling for Big Pharma?
Some vaccines work; there is no evidence that these do. Even the best claim is just that they "moderate the severity" and keep people out of hospitals; that is not a public health benefit. And it is unaccompanied by numerical evidence. In fact, they mostly keep the numbers secret, like the Chinese.
Why are they keeping the Chinese secret?
Fine don't vaxx.
Your call.
Live long and prosper
Cheers
The blanket statement that "vaccines work" has to be one of the most foolishly inane pieces of pseudo-intellectual gobbelly-gook in the current cultural zeitgeist. It is so utterly absurd, so utterly bereft of intelligence, so utterly lacking in any critical thinking or scientific evidence that I feel sorry for anyone who gives it more than a moment of serious consideration.
"the intelligence agencies, the NGOs, and the permanent administrative state all believe the general public are too stupid to know what's good for them. "
In no way am I supporting censorship, or advocating for government control and manipulation of speech, but if you look at how many Americans brought into all this nonsense with every fiber of their being, I think it's safe to say that many Americans are, indeed, profoundly stupid.
I remember hearing Colbert making fun of those who claimed they wanted to do their own research and thinking, "Damn, this guy thinks Americans who want to think and research for themselves are crazy and stupid? There's little hope for the general psyche of this republic."
Not denying there's a lot of stupid out there.
What is worse: 1) living with the consequences of many low-level stupid decisions made by individual members of the public, or 2) ceding one's autonomy to a supposedly wiser autocratic state (the governance of which is also susceptible to human stupidity and greed)?
There are of course middle-grounds to be found but as this article reports, we are clearly shifting to option 2 with concerning alacrity.
One thing I will never understand (because I try to employ logic in my thinking) is why people automatically assume that government always has their best interests at heart.
My fields of study were education and American literature, but I'm a voracious reader, and I generally lean towards historical topics, so I've read reams of articles and papers that outlined all the nefarious and evil things our government has done to its own people. So naturally, my reaction to them telling us what we need to do during this "epidemic," and watching how they treated skeptics, was one of doubt.
Some people are naive to the point of being dangerous, and that danger inevitably spreads to those of us who want to think and discover for ourselves. This was evident during this entire "epidemic."
Personally, I've been following public affairs as well as I could for about, no over, 60 years now.
The one indisputable lesson: theyre lying to us, because powerful people almost always have something to hide. That's a hard thing to keep in mind - you always want your particular heros to be honest - but it is the lesson. And it applies just as much to "Science!" as to the rest, especially when it gets tangled up in politics. Scientific fraud is a major problem.
Oh, and: coverups are an admission of guilt. That applies to the Chinese gov't. when it comes to the origin of Covid, and it applies to censorship. It's just another kind of coverup.
One of the many lessons I learned early on was that people in government I looked up to were lying to me almost as though it was their nature.
Later, I learned it actually was their nature.
Politicians are the most loathsome, vile creatures in human history. They are vipers vying for power and money in a pit full of other vipers trying for the same things.
I have zero respect for any of them.
Spot on, Barry.
Barry W., while it is true, that many Americans (and every other nationality, too, from what I can tell) are indeed "profoundly stupid," I don't hold it against those who fell for the massive fear mongering and intimidation inflicted upon them about Covid...and it says a lot that many of the most fearful among us were also among the most "educated."
The question now is, are they prepared to collectively resist and defend medical research based on the damage resulting from their fear. These evil people will try this again. We trusted the educated experts especially regarding our health. There has been a huge breach of trust regarding health care providers. Many people are suffering the effects of treatments or have died from directives that most educated scientists knew were questionable. Also, fellow medical experts (some of the brightest researchers in the world were trying to sound the alarm) were censored by the government while these cowardly providers signed letters affirming their agreement. That was the worst. I hold it against everyone with any power that didn’t speak out. How are we supposed to know who the good folks are when we walk into a medical facility? I know many folks who lost jobs and had their lives upended during covid. If our Doctors won’t stand up for something this heinous and put their own jobs on the line, then we don’t need them. God bless those who bore the humiliation delivered to them by their silent colleagues. I know that was a lot and it certainly wasn’t directed at you Pacificus, you are one of my favorite contributors and I look forward to all of your comments. It just seemed like the best place to place it in the discussion.
Be careful not to confuse being "educated" with being "smart," and having basic working knowledge of how our government actually operates, and how people react to that type of governance.
You say you don't hold it against them. I do. They are the ones who made, and continue to make, life difficult for the rest of us.
With some exceptions, people choose to be stupid in that they refuse to question what they're being told. The simply fall in line and expect the rest of us to, as well.
I've never been one to walk single file behind others. Doing so makes one blind to the pitfalls that may not be visible until it's too late.
No, I've zero sympathy for stupid people.
there's a lot of folks that are smart in the schoolhouse, but dumb on the bus.
Barry, you are a fellow "contrarian". I think we will get along just fine.
We're floating around the ether here and there.
People, overall, are stupid. Individuals, when asked to think for themselves, can be smart.
Consider the introduction to this interview. That is, the report on human psychological/emotional damage (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, etc.) which reflects the actual consequences of living inside a distortion. Is the general American psyche dumb or simply wounded and beaten numb? Human beings and nations become ill when forced to live inside a lie. The core driver for present day reality is the leap in Consciousness (my capital) created by the the introduction of new tech and communications. Control of this new and expanding Consciousness is THE FIGHT!! The world political/financial grift is transparent to reality and the perps are scared. Citizens of the Republic have always been manipulated and propagandized. The CIC is the natural amplification of the avaricious self-interest which surrounds and seek to control all governments. As the Doctor pointed out, the issue is control of the narrative. The protection of perps, cover for the looting of an economy and the mal consequences of bad social, health and economic policy demands the creation and imposition of an enforced hyperreality. A truthful fact based human reality is its greatest enemy. What was a whisper is now a scream.
When I say that our Constitution and the Bill of Rights it contains is our only engine of survival I'm not being hyperbolic. They stand, the Republic and its citizens stand. This new Consciousness also demands the recognition that the thugs assaulting human dignity, speech and freedom in Europe are also players here. A cartel of criminal financiers are intent in creating a CCP style electronic surveillance overlay to control the peoples of the world. They're here. Who will fight for us if we won't fight for ourselves.
Look closely at the DNC operatives at the Taibbi/Shellenberger Congressional hearings. Mercenary second rate party line political poseurs, allied with a propagandist MSM, in an attempt to destroy and humiliate the bearers of factual truthful reality, in order to prop up what can only be described as a psyop. Accept it!! The DNC is literally a lie that lines its pockets by serving corporate fascism and protecting the bureaucratic surveillance bureaucracy that serves it.--- Against all propaganda otherwise, as reported in today's article, independent journalism, committed citizens and free men and women across the world continue their assault on tyranny.
Colbert was PAID to make fun of the unvaccinated.
HE WAS PAID.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/covid-19-vaccine-campaign/
I wonder if he got a bonus for being over-the-top obnoxious.
I would certainly demand it if I was going to have something as awful as "The Vax-Scene" on my show.
He made fun of people who demanded bodily autonomy, because he was paid to do so. Just think about that for a second......
If you consider the money trail, it was our money used to pay him too. So Pharma gets billions, gives some to the politicians, who use our $, to create the market and madate the vax's, and round and round it goes.
Don't forget that we paid for our own censorship, and ultimately we'll end up paying for the vaccine injuries, too!
I don't care if he was paid in Benjamins or blow jobs.
The point is, he was a hook, line and sinker believer in all that bullshit.
Yeah, I have to laugh at this misbegotten belief in the wisdom of the "general public."
Thirty years ago the wisdom of the general public was true in many cases. My own parents were both hillbillies from the hills of Appalachia (Eastern Kentucky).
Mom graduated high school only, and dad dropped out, joined the Army, and went to Korea. But both were mentally sharp, and very knowledgeable about politics, government, how society interacts with itself within it various groupings, etc. Both of them were news hounds, watching nightly news regularly, and reading three different newspapers every day. My father always had subscriptions to as many papers that would deliver to our house.
They were both also very active in the politics of the city and county we lived in. They dragged my two brothers and I to county commission and city council meetings. They wanted to impress upon us the importance of civic involvement. They wanted us to understand that living in a free republic involved work, i.e. understanding how our government worked, and what a citizen's duties were.
My father, an Army vet and UAW auto worker coordinated a field trip with my 7th grade history teacher (Mrs. Chrien, a wonderful historian who spoke with the rasp of years of cigarette smoking). He was instrumental in making our class the first to take a field trip to Washington DC (a trip that continues to this day, and I was in 7th grade in 1983). My dad felt it was paramount that young kids learn about their government in every facet they could, and a trip to witness our government in action was the best way to accomplish this in his opinion.
I was an SRO for a couple of years during my law enforcement career, and never saw the type of engagement with government as I did when I was in school.
Kids today can't even tell you where the seat of government is on a map. This isn't "get off my lawn" talk; this is ugly and sad reality.
You grew up in the exact same world I did, Barry. My opinion is that the further the federal government was allowed to entrench itself in our Public Schools, the less true/practical education the average American received.
A federal Department of Education is heresy in a republic comprised of states. The framers understood all too well the dangers of a powerful centralized government (unless you were a Hamiltonian).
A union of states, with states rights and localized power, was a stroke of brilliance in my opinion. Government is a necessary evil that societies need in order to maintain, well, order. Making that government as functionally small as possible makes that government more reactive to the needs of its citizens, in my opinion.
Of course we've screwed that up by tinkering with some of the good stuff. Popular election of senators, creation of a centralized education bureaucracy, attempts to annihilate the Electoral College. All of these, plus hundreds of more sinister tinkerings on the part of the collection of pit vipers known as the federal government, these have all contributed to the erosion of this republic.
Honestly, I'm surprised we still exist a a republic at this point.
EXACTLY.
Who is to say Americans are dumber now than 200 years ago? It's quite an assumption considering public education did not exist. I also don't recall our Founders worrying about the rights endowed to a lesser educated class. I surmise this distinction is entirely new in America. The elites just started looking more like elites, and the peons, peons. Elites just decided to move first.
Again, don't mistake "educated" for "smart."
But to answer your question, research has shown that the average colonial was rather well educated. Public schools were not needed, as schooling mostly occurred in the home (apart from some private schools that existed). Looking at historical documents, researchers have found that children were already reading earlier than their future counterparts, partially because parents were teaching them to read from an early age.
This private home education system, as it were, consisted of home, church, civic associations and clubs, apprenticeships, even the farm field. Education was foundational in all of these. Mother and father were the teachers, not some government lackey looking for a paycheck (I used to be a public school teacher, so I have no issue calling out our pathetic public education system). Because many things in life back then required a colonist to be engaged, education, done privately, was taken quite seriously. There is evidence that shows children back then were educated in a number of ways, as I outlined earlier. Mothers were mostly as literate as their male counterparts in Colonial America, and they were often the primary educator for their children. All of this was accomplished without public education.
Those living in the Colonies as they explored, and eventually gained, independence were especially enamored with the printing press, prompting many of them to learn to read. This was passed down to their children, and so on. So your statement, "I also don't recall our Founders worrying about the rights endowed to a lesser educated class" is quite incorrect, given what the historical evidence shows.
Even as early as the 1640s, laws were being passed in the colonies that required educating children so that they would be able to "read & understand the principles of religion and &the laws of this country..."
But try this: go to YouTube and pull up any number of videos of young people being stopped on the streets and asked basic questions (even lay Leno was doing this when he was still on TV). Many Americans can't even tell you which side of the country the Atlantic Ocean is on.
Based on what I've read about an educated populace, I'd wager that people were fairly well educated in terms of the social structures that existed.
Our Public Schools, as they once existed, are the best counter to your argument. Imperfect as they might have been, they demanded high standards from all who attended. Just take a look at a McGuffey's Reader from way back when. No, Americans are NOT dumber than they were 200 years ago, but the so-called "education" they have received since then has been dumbed down, with predictable results.
Well stated, good sir.
Who is to say that? Well, Gore Vidal, for one, because as he would say (Source: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/07/31/a-conversation-with-gore-vidal-on-the-e-word/), Americans used to be very educated and the average American farmer knew Latin and some Greek. They read all the classics, and were historically and politically literate.
Now, who in America reads any of the classics or knows ancient languages? No one important. For that matter, it is doubtful many Americans could even pass a school test from a little over a century ago. Can you pass this test from 1912? I doubt I could: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/1912-eighth-grade-exam_n_3744163
The elites and academics and "educated class" are not educated. They are ignoramuses, complete and utter barbarians who are too ignorant to recognise the decline that has occurred. It is very hard to recognise when knowledge is lost, because rarely is anyone even aware it has been; what knowledge? They are of a much lower class than the people who once existed in America, and especially of the oligarchic one that was intended from the start to rule it (only Jefferson cared much for democracy).
The Flynn effect never happened and was always an illusion, and in fact as evolutionary anthropologists have observed the trend in society is selecting outright against intelligence and educational attainment—even human cranial capacity is being selected against as one Estonian study showed—people are not becoming more educated, but less; not more intelligent, but less.
Regarding what Vidal noted, today, the only American Latin you'll find (if you're lucky enough to get it to turn up on a search engine that tries to redirect you to "Latin American") will be an introductory relic on some government website, and not a single member of Congress can read it, let alone write and speak it like the Founding Fathers did writing letters to each other in Latin and Greek.
And of course, the academic class that pretends to understand it—including scientists and even linguists who are among the very worst—does not at all and only pretends to, speaking and writing in a crude, uneducated pig Latin where they come up with endless gibberish that make no sense in a language they don't know to try to sound more sophisticated. Orwell observed similar even in his time as the common English names of plants were replaced with Latin (vile butcherings of it).
What hope is there for a people who once read Aristotle and now can only recite sentence-long quotes from him, whose attention spans rarely exceed 30 seconds? If people read him, as Vidal noted, they'd understand what has been done to the Americna Republic is terminal. There is no saving it, and this was the case long ago.
I basically just posted the same thing.
I've done some research that shows that our Colonial counterparts, given the time frame they lived in, were far more practically educated than we are now.
The private education system existed in a number of social and religious organizations that made a foundation in reading and education a central tenet of life in the colonies, especially for children.
And this: stop Trump, whatever it takes.
Isn't "whatever it takes" the problem?
Oh, I don't know, I believe that trying to put in prison the man who can beat you in an election is fair game. Hahahaha!
I swear I had a conversation with a friend, who said that Trump should be put in prison. I said, "What for?" And her reply, "He's an awful human being. He's a bully." I said, "So every awful human being who are bullies should be put in prison?" She said, "I don't want to talk about it anymore." I said, "One last comment, don't you think that Biden's bribes coming from Ukraine and China are worse behavior than being a bully?" hahaha. It's not fun finding out your friend is a fool.
I'm not a partisan, and feel 'whatever it takes' is the problem on 'both sides'. Agree the dems have no case on Trump the 'insurrectionist' lol. But Trump is trying to burn it all down in spirt of 'whatever it takes', too. A war of attrition between parties (edit: and constituents) is unlikely in the best national interest yet here we are.
Yeah, I see it a little differently. If ANY President should have been prosecuted, it was George W Bush. But rather than prosecuting him, the Obama's actually resurrected his legacy by acting like he is a kindly old gentleman who needs candy shared.
With Trump, I do believe the election was rigged even though I didn't vote for either Biden or Trump. There is just NO WAY 81 million people voted for a clearly demented old man. I will share an anecdote about the 2016 election: when I was watching the election in 2016, I laughed extremely hard and loud at a bar I was at when Trump won. I got so many dirty looks which made me laugh even MORE! I was asked to leave by the bartender because he said, "patrons are getting triggered by your laughter." So the Trump phenon began even in 2016 and it was accelerated by Hillary's concoction of the Russia Russia Russia, which many people still believe. Even though there has been ample coverage that the whole Russia collusion has been debunked.
Agree on Bush the War Criminal.
The 2020 vote harvesting in the name of 'covid safety' was definitely a scam the dems played better than the repubs. And of course they'd love to keep that going since it's the only way to get young people and certain minority populations to vote as instructed. Which is why I'm skeptical of the recent mask fixations over at CNN.
Trump played the wrong angles on that one and doubled down when he should have pivoted to illegal harvesting. Wait until the suburban mega baptist churches start dumping *their* ballots at the drop off locations.
Let's not forget it was Trump nodding along with Fauci throughout. Should have called BS day 1.
It’s not just the demented old man, it’s the brainwashing by our institutions/agencies that have too much pull
Nor am I . Trump is hardly a unifier, and we can all do so much better. And all this divisive rhetoric on both sides SUCKS.
Read writings of 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 who was White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012. His is some of the intellectual writing that shapes these ideas.
......who just so happens to be Samantha Power’s husband. What a web.
Yes, there are so many connections. And Victoria Nuland married to Robert Kagan, co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century.
Don’t forget Richard Thaler, his accomplice. “Nudge,” indeed!
To his credit, Nassim Taleb unmasked these two, years ago, before their influence grew.
That “nudge” in Libya certainly worked out well.
I would rather not read any writings from Obama's criminal administration. I hate that man more than any other human on this planet.
Even more than men who question the arguments for unlimited abortion-on-demand?
Terrific summation. As you said, the non-MSM is playing a heroic role in shining a stark light on America’s descent into an oligarch/serf political structure. Hey, as history shows, it’s a time-tested model. Ultimately though, it’s not about Matt’s courage, it’s about the American people demanding and voting overwhelmingly for an alternative that will have the courage and will to make the changes necessary to avoid this historical fate. As discussed a few days ago, a big part of this is making drastic and permanent changes to the federal bureaucracy, which is the key enabler of the elimination of individual free will in America.
As Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini said years ago, “There is no need to attack America. They will destroy themselves.” It’s up to us to show him wrong.
Classical investigative journalism has historically played a major role limiting authoritarian government. That's why, after it inspired the Vietnam war protests, it was virtually destroyed by government intel agencies operating inside every mainstream media outlet. That's also why those same agencies now want investigative journalism equated with domestic terrorism.
After spending a few days responding to comments to my posts on Matt's 911 article, it is my opinion that it is not only the government agencies who want to control your thoughts, but it is also people who've been brainwashed by the government propaganda who want to control your thoughts.
I remember when my neighbor told me (after she knew I refused the vax) "People who aren't vaxxed should be denied entry into any hospital." So, she wanted me to die if I needed any emergency hospital care.
I also remember when I was fighting the banks during the Great Financial Crime Spree, my own friends saying, "Why don't you just pay your mortgage?" These comments were after I told them about all the bank crimes that I was uncovering.
And go and look at comments to people who believe that the 911 official story is a lie. People truly want to control your thoughts when it is in opposition to their own thoughts. Maybe it's self-protection, dunno.
Part of the purpose of government propaganda is to create zealous minions who will help enforce their desired narrative.
Angelo Codevilla predicted our worst ruling class ever back in 2010 and then revisited his premise in 2020, before his untimely accidental death.
https://t.co/mh1lZKCLyA
Wow, what an incredible essay. Thank you for sharing. We have indeed lost an amazing mind w the death of Mr. Codevilla.
Point taken, but on the other hand, you have to admit the general public are pretty damn stupid.
I'm not sure "stupid" is the correct word. Propaganda is very strong. And it works, that's why it's employed every day on us.
As I often tell my kids, there is a big difference between being clever and being wise. Clever people often have the skills and ambition to become part of the elite. Wise people may or may not be materially successful or have lots of degrees, but they can tell which way the wind is blowing, value their own instincts, and know that the secret to a good life are simple, and as old as time.
Propaganda works very well on the first group. Not so much on the second.
Educated and smart are two very different concepts.
There are too many educated people in government who aren't smart.
Great assessment WA
A Stupid general public would not require the entirety of the propaganda machinations performed on it for decades via radio/TV/movies, all controlled by the USG via licenses.
The Libs and Conservs had their mags to gripe at the other side, and extol their own - totally ineffectual for taking on the USG. Perhaps both were established for this purpose and result.
There's no shortage of stupid people inhabiting the "general public." The populist idea that the mob knows best is frightening.
I agree there is a lot of stupid people. But I also know people who are, what I consider to be bright, yet they have just totally wacko points of view regarding what is happening in DC and our Statehouses.
Yeah, some people are bright but confused.
There's no shortage of stupid people inhabiting the "government." FTFY
The government being made up of people from the "general public."
exactly, that's why the idea that the "government" knows best is stupid.
I concur. And it's not just the US government: it's global. It's quite horrifying to observe the plutocrats bleating on about what MUST BE DONE. And, like sheep, they are enchanted by that comfort bubble in which most live. THAT said, my daughter works in healthcare. What she experienced working throughtout COVID was horrifying. It dragged on brutally. We believed what we were being told would keep us safe because we believe in science, and we were afraid. My Mom died of it. It sucks that they lied. I am now aware that voices - valid, scientific, fact-based - were silenced. (I'm confident I would have opted for the vaccine.) For me, this silencing of dissent is the most distressing outcome of the pandemic. Not the "Big Pharma made $$." Not the "it's all one big conspiracy." Maybe it is, but I believe there are, like a Venn diagram, several overlapping sets of interests, more likely than one giant conspiracy. But if Klaus Schwab is pulling the strings, I guess we are all fucked.
Well said, and I'm sorry that your mother succumbed to Covid. The only silver lining of the entire Covid nightmare is that it has revealed (for all who care to see) the lengths to which our government (and others) are willing to go in order to silence entirely reasonable people. Perhaps, at a society level, this kind of Covid exposure can immunize us against any future thought-control government pestilence.
I’m sounding like a broken record. It has never been 'stupid people don’t know what’s good for them'. It is the lust for power and self-fulfillment that requires control of others.
A Stupid general public would not require the entirety of the propaganda machinations performed on it for decades via radio/TV/movies, all controlled by the USG via licenses.
The Libs and Conservs had their mags to gripe at the other side, and extol their own - totally ineffectual for taking on the State. Perhaps both were established for this purpose and result.
The internet was built and backed by the USG to instigate, monitor, and control. But with no ‘use licenses’ it lost its influencing mechanism over social media. Once the public used this outlet for its voice, the USG was quick to threaten those it helped to create - you will throttle whom we say.
Sure, about 50% of the citizens are alphabet news watchers still under the propaganda - the USG always works for and on your behalf, all the while taking all rights and depopulating the planet.
My favorite example of this is democrats claiming republican hispanics and blacks are voting 'against their interests'. What interests would those be, I wonder?
I read a book years ago where the writer was opining about voters. It was titled What's the Matter with Kansas. He was in disbelieve that the majority of voters in KS kept electing Republicans which could not possibly reflect their needs and wants!
That's Thomas Frank and I think his broader point is how modern liberalism abandoned the values of midwestern swing voters despite the history of unions in states like Kansas. Same themes in his book "Listen Liberal".
I guess that's the same as "voting against pragmatic interests" come to think of it, but 'values' are interests, too.
Just checked Wikipedia – Thomas is a liberal, Bernie (socialist) supporter and he called Trump "the worst politician ever" saying "quasi-fascist movements" are springing up around the world.
I agree, Trump is the worst politician ever because he doesn’t know how to be a deceiver and liar and he did not sell out the country like the rest of them have since Reagan. Trump gain America three plus years in stalling out the NWO. The others are the fascists.
The bulk of journalists went left because that is where all the accolades reside, otherwise, you are a nobody unless you spin for them like David Brock does.
The only values I recognize align with the 'shall nots' in the Bible. However, it is almost like they don't exist anymore, especially on the 'left'.
This only covers half the problem. George Carlin was right. Think about how dumb the average American is - and stop to think that half of them are dumber than that... right?
The sin here is that people in government seem to think that this observation doesn't apply to them. But it does. Half of them are imbeciles. Despite where they went to college.
The paid incentives for certain protocols murdered people. The Covid Event found me shifting my opinion on the death penalty. Many of us living still with the resulting carnage.
The clip of Dr Paul Marik in tears when told to stand down in ICU lives forever in my mind (mid 2021). On Ron Johnson’s Rumble channel you’ll find many ethical impassioned words. 2 Senate hearings where NO other politician bothered to show up re 2nd opinion. Patients he was saving died afterwards even tho his success rate best in hospital. World leading ICU doc
Home run this week by CHD: 4 part documentary with action plan. #NeverForget & find a doc out of system.
This wouldn't be so grating if they were not, in fact, the truly stupid ones in this relationship.
Well said and agree.
"They" are increasingly inhabiting our minds. Most people are unaware and will continue to be unaware, willingly. The resistance is weak and small in number. This is my cynical take. But I will not give up and sometimes I see cracks in the matrix.
Thanks from the bleacher seats. It’s appalling to see how far from a free society we are.
Why wasn’t more of the general population able to see this happening three years ago?? Are we, the Aware, THAT much more courageous/intelligent than the average schmuck? It bothers me.
Yes. The answer would be yes. The average schmuck has bought into bread and circus. Those of us watching and screaming and arming are a step ahead of them on the scale of humanity. And I for one won’t stop.
The pols managed to make applauding the bread and circuses part of their identity (really the identify of any right-thinking person) and the dissidents were thrown to the lions
My neighbor told me to my face, knowing I was remaining unvaxxed, "People who aren't vaccinated should be denied access to any hospital care." So, in other words, if I wound up needing emergency hospital care, she wanted me to die.
There was a lot of this 'let them die' talk I agree
Now we see how fascism rises. And it ain't (just) Trump.
To see what is really happening in government requires DAILY READING of the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 https://www.federalregister.gov/
Good call, Kathleen. Yes, everyday is a new tsunami of Big Government coming at you. Who can possibly keep up?
Tsunami, that it is.
They count on that. Most people if they follow FR at all focus on their smaller area. So much slips through via regulations and people focus on Bills in Congress.
I quit writing and submitting comments in 2021 after determining is was a waste of my time.
I know but it is probably more of a contribution than writing to congress people.
Yes, but only to the extent that the gov actually has a record of your filing! I'm sure Congressional aids just clean out the email inboxes and trash the letters.
The average schmuck is me every day. I might know some things, but I don't know everything and the people who choose the news to highlight drive our attention. Help the average to follow the hidden government actions that result in policy. Find what's going on in the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫.
Rather than the average schmuck how about the average hard working, not enough time in the day, working perhaps 12 hours out of 24, has a family, children to care for ......trying to get 8 hours sleep. There’s 20 hours. Only 4 hours left. Little time to read more deeply. Yet, we must prevail.
Right..most people...I work online so fortunate.
Stoic, the answer is Yes. Fear does awful things to people’s ability to think clearly and the government and Fauci and the gang used it to their benefit. I’m appalled by the willingness of the general population to grab at anything they’re told will keep them safe, but particularly an experimental biological agent. But I’m more disheartened by close friends - intelligent, normally full of common sense - who got on the train. Most now regret it but I’m with you. Why didn’t they question more to begin with?
I have said this a couple of times on Substack but will say it again because it’s important. I Never understood how Nazi Germany could have happened until covid. Now I do and I have to say I’m both devastated and disgusted. There are far too few of us who said NO to this.
And there are far too few of us who are fighting any of it - censorship, illegal immigration, you name it.
Too many people hated Trump.
I know it sounds simplistic, but it's the best answer I can find. I keep coming back to it as nothing else seems to make sense.
RioRosie, too many people hated Trump because they were systematically taught to hate him...we didn't have the "two-minute hate" of 1984, more like a 24/7/365 hate. It takes a strong mind to resist that sort of mass conditioning.
A friend & I have had this discussion several times. She maintains I "like" Trump. No, I don't "like" Trump. I don't consider him my pal, my buddy. I wouldn't invite him to dinner. In many, many ways, he's an asshole.
HOWEVER Trump was a much better decision than the alternative--both in 2016 and 2020.
Too many people vote on someone they LIKE. And look where that's gotten us.
You're talking my talk, Rosie...I have never "liked" any national politician (or any local one for that matter) with the possible exception of JFK...but elections aren't about "liking" people, it's about their net impact on the political/economic/cultural scene...and Trump was certainly better than what the Dems tossed at us in '16, '20, and likely '24.
I liked and voted for Ron Paul, even though I don't agree with some of his positions. I still like him.
I liked and voted for Bernie Sanders, even though I don't agree with many of his positions. But now, I cannot stand him.
I too have faced similar. That said, I would totally have him over for dinner.
Agree. It's a 3 step process:
- Lather up the hate.
- Emotions then override rational thought.
- The hate mongers then control.
This simple scenario played multiple times in the 20th century in foreign lands.
But don't be afraid because, to quote an old Frank Zappa song, "it can't happen here".
It took me a very long time to get over the hate-Trump trope. And I believe that the government lied about 911, JFK and all the other lies that have been spewed to us 24/7.
But when Biden's admin began trying to literally cut the head off the snake, that is when my alerts went up. Now, I openly stump for Trump! Trump 2024!
Too many people follow " the news" where they were told to hate trump. Remember?
While we watch "news" the real activities take place in regulatory agencies. That's a heavy lift for most of us. We write to congress people, but hardly ever think to do the online comments at the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. The 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. is issued EVERY DAY.
To see what is really happening in government requires DAILY READING of the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 https://www.federalregister.gov/
and this becomes the 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬-- (CFR) which presents the official and complete text of agency regulations in an organized fashion in a single publication.
And of course--who has the time or skill set? In the misty past when I was a documents librarian the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 was a newspaper. I shelved it next to the 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬-(consolidation of the 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫) which were books.
Lawyers used to come to the library to read these and that is how I became aware of the importance. (all online now so may as well be invisible). (I'm going to repost this reply to your very good "call to understanding" up top because maybe more people will see it. Thank you for your urgency.)
It's almost sickening to see where tax dollars are wasted, but inthe federal register you can find out why the government narrative regarding covid was spewed by so many scientists and doctors. The money, follow the money. It's your money, shouldn't you know where it's being wasted?
Knowing the FR is the secret power of lawyers and special interests. But it's there for anyone who wants to look. Want to lose friends? Send them daily updates of the actual power of regulations. That would be a good Substack.
Read writings of 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 who was White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012. His is some of the intellectual writing that shapes these ideas.
So many very smart well educated people were literal sock puppets during this time, that on the surface is does appear shocking some years later.
Or.... we as humans aren't nearly as intelligent as we'd like to believe.
And what's it take to be considered 'smart'? To make good grades at top schools? And what's that typically entail? Memorizing a bunch of shit and spitting it back.
Hence....
My wife is in academia and the arts. I’m around a lot of very smart liberal people. They believe the MSM and DNC.
I was going to go deeper on this reply, but I think that actually covers it.
Education.
Well, from my perspective, this comes after years of fighting the banks trying to steal my home with forged documents, I believe that many of the populace believes hook, line and sinker the propaganda spewed on all the major networks. My own "friends" told me, "Just pay your mortgage!" Those comments came after I informed them of all the bank crimes that were being committed that they, themselves, were paying for through the government taxpayer bailouts. Needless to say, those people are no longer my friends.
I want to see Nuremberg 2.0. Nothing less will suffice.
Nuremberg 2.0 would have to be when the populace has decided enough is enough. Like the French did in 1794.
The French didn't have MSNBC
Hahahaha!
I watched "The Post" last night on Amazon Prime. Fictionalized story with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep of the Pentagon Pagers era. In a few short years we have done a 180 degree turn from committment to a free press as the guardian of democracy to one that has become the handmaiden of the government. How did that happen! Matt????
Right. I was asked by a (liberal) friend what one thing I would change if I could. My response was for the press to do journalism again. She looked at me like I had three heads, not because she didn’t agree they were biased, but because “obviously” they are biased in the right way.
I don’t need my ideas to win or other’s ideas to lose, so much as I want a fairly neutral arbiter to keep the government in check. The issues we could then decide fairly at the ballot box.
Good point, Dunboy, it would be nice if the media took fair-mindedness seriously when it came to the news. Problem is, the real fun in being a journalist is not to just report the news but to shape a narrative that fits your political leanings...too too many journalists these days are really political activists using journalism as their tool.
I just read a few articles by Parker Malloy and she and her ilk are under the assumtion that papers such as NYT and WaPo are too scared of being labeled as partisan, therefore they are too balanced and fair minded.
imagine believing in 2023, that the NYT doesn't give the democrats a fair shake.
I hear that all the time too.
It's always that way. As long as the press is supportive of the fascist agenda, the fascists approve. And we gave an amazing amount of fascists now, don't we?
Tribalism is a big factor. People want to feel superior to an other. Then will lie to themselves and violate any principle to create and reinforce that illusion. This gets worse when institutions are taken over by people with no solidarity with their fellow countrymen. If power is all there is and there is no god then keeping the other down is all there is as unity through reconciliation is unthinkable. ‘Who would we then have to demonize to feel good about ourselves?’
I watched it during the lock-down and asked, WTF happened to us--the nation & the media.
I watched it during the Great Financial Crime Spree while neighbors allowed other neighbors to be kicked from their homes. We all knew that the banks were stealing those homes with fake documents. What was wrong with the populace then???
The populace was spewing the same propaganda they heard, "Get a job!" "Pay your mortgage!" "You bought too much home!"
"A free press as the guardian of democracy" has always been the ideal, but collectively the press has come up short, to speak with restraint.
Here's an amusing and depressing little political cartoon from the great team of Michael Malice and Tom Woods: https://www.dangerousdocumentaries.com/film/the-politically-incorrect-guide-to-journalism/
If the press has always been less than even handed and courageous, at least this was once a value we projected on to them, and one that they themselves proclaimed. Perhaps seeing their clay feet now is the silver lining: one more manipulative icon falls. The question becomes, what will replace the press as a source to remind us where the boundaries of civility are. Certainly not the celebrated void created by post modernism.
A. The corporatization of media
Hey ever’body, please check out CS Lewis’s “The Abolition of Man” referenced in this interview. It’s a great book (with a great title) which “seer-iously” (prophetically) describes what the Biden admin and all its 3-acronym-ed minions (FBI, FDA, NSA, ETC) are trying to do us--that is, Abolish Humanity. It’s crazy how this short tome starts out by pinpointing how the holocaust begins with how we go about teaching children English.
Also check out the four great works by Fyodor Dostoevsky, who had most of this evil flagged already in the 1860sand 70s.
Esp. Demons.
Most especially Demons!
Thank you. I looked into this novel and love this in Wiki, " Joyce Carol Oates has described it as "Dostoevsky's most confused and violent novel, and his most satisfactorily 'tragic' work."" Will have to check it out.
Yep, read the book, not what others say about it, would be my only advice.
I remember reading "The Kill" by Emile Zola, when I was fighting the banks. Could not believe that the banks were doing the same thing in Zola's era that they were doing in 2010! No wonder "The Kill" was censored for so long! They didn't want anyone to know the nefarious behavior of the banking industry would happen again and again and again throughout history.
Things don’t change much. The worship of “progress” still goes on. Did you read Zola’s work on the Dreyfuss Affair? If I remember right, that’s what made him famous.
"The Kill" was the first piece of Zola I've read. I don't know if I can make it through these books you've suggested. Four years ago I got a concussion from a car accident and it's making reading difficult for me. I'm hopeful that this will change, but for now I can only read more simple novels. It totally SUCKS because I was such an avid reader.
Well the comment from JCO makes me want to read the book even more so....
Add to that The Trial and The Castle by Franz Kafka.
For a little dystopian levity throw in a viewing of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.
The Trial is non-fiction!
Unfortunately bureaucrats see as an instruction manual.
It was prophecy.
Not many CS Lewis's writings fall below the excellent bar. Hillsdale College did a great course on his writing and it was free as all their on-line courses are.
Paul Erlich, Obama’s special science advisor, has publicly stated that the world population should be 1.5 to 2 billion.
Yes, and I'm guessing that the 1.5-2 billion number will include Ehrlich and his family members.
It’s amazing that Malthus, Ehrlich, Thunberg, and their ilk are so spectacularly wrong so often, yet their devotees are still powerfully attracted to their message. It’s prolly because it’s easier to sell this message than the truth: it’s our relationship to God and people that matters most.
For sure. None of this stuff was possible without the legacy media acting as guardians of the state instead of holding them accountable like they should be doing.
Why Substack so impt.
Cutting out advertisers and writing directly for readers is a game-changer.
I admit it. I was very, very wrong. I actually, originally, supported the Patriot Act. I truly thought it would be used only for good. I also, kind of believed the narrative about Iraq, and the dangers of Sadam. I thought Matt was a leftie kook, calling it all into question. This whole experience has opened my eyes to the views of the “other side”, when they are espousing freedom and our rights as citizens. Thank you Matt for being true to your principles!
Lots of people got fooled by Iraq and the USA PATRIOT Act. Most of them haven't learned, so you're light years ahead of them......
God bless this dude, a tour de force. Great summary and explanation of exactly why censorship is such a grotesque invasion, and of exactly what its pernicious effects are.
They wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do . . .
The interconnection of militarized public health apparatus, the use of digital technologies of surveillance and control and the willingness of governments to use the police powers of the state is the new triumvirate. I would also add in the willingness of the people of each nation to passively go along with all of the above as an ever scarier 4th component.
IMO - the pandemic was the perfect opportunity for governments to employ 1) how much power can we exert over our nation - i.e., how far can we go? with 2) how inclined would our ppl be to follow - i.e., how easily can we do this?
Some countries saw the combination of these 2 elements with alarming success. Here is an interesting infographic highlighting this amalgamation: https://freedomhouse.org/report/special-report/2020/democracy-under-lockdown
Thanks, Matt, for working hard to keep us informed. I learn something new with each article.
I understand CISA is composed of reps from Smartmatic, Dominion and Solarwinds(?) among others. When they declared the 2020 election the most secure in history about a day after Biden was declared winner by the MSM I knew the fix was in.
They had an alternate declaration ready to go if the initial count was different
Possibly. Or perhaps they knew what the count was before it happened.
That's why Biden had assembled the largest election fraud team in history....because he was going to sue everywhere in every way he could.
Exactly. If Biden had lost it would have made Trump’s Georgia call look like sugar and Jan 6th a walk in the park. Thousands of violent swampies were ready to go in DC and around the country.
They weren't boarding up cities in case Biden won..........
So secure that we have absolutely zero need for UN election inspectors, which is why we refuse to let them observe US elections.
My fantasy for the next election is we all stay home. Massive “vote” of no confidence.
Can you say "rigged election"?
“But then a technologist emerged who went much further. And his ideas would become central to… power
He was called Vladislav Surkov.
Surkov came originally from the theatre world and those who have studied his career
say that what he did was take avant-garde ideas from the theatre, and bring them into the heart of politics.
Surkov's aim was not just to manipulate people, but to go deeper and play with, and undermine,
their very perception of the world so, they are never sure what is really happening.
Surkov turned … politics into a bewildering, constantly changing piece of theatre.
He used (gov) money to sponsor all kinds of groups - from mass anti-fascist youth organizations,
to the very opposite - neo-Nazi skinheads. And liberal human rights groups who then attacked the government.
Surkov even backed whole political parties that were opposed to the (president).
But the key thing was that Surkov then let it be known that this was what he was doing. Which meant that no-one was sure what was real or what was fake in modern (politics).
As one journalist put it, "It's a strategy of power that keeps any opposition "constantly confused” - a ceaseless shape-shifting that is unstoppable "because it is indefinable."
Meanwhile, real power was elsewhere - hidden away behind the stage, exercised without anyone seeing it.
And then the same thing seemed to start happening in the West.”
Excerpt from the transcript of “HyperNormalisation” by A. Curtis 2016
https://www.scripts.com/script-pdf/10432
[some edits to strip specific gov reference, to emphasize global impacts, by (me)]
youtube link to this section https://youtu.be/fh2cDKyFdyU?t=8614
I watched "HyperNormalisation" by BBC Documentarian, I think back in 2017, maybe. Curtis's "Century of Self" doc series had attracted me to his general skills as a commentator and documentarian of the world.
this segment, I found the script for and linked here, as well as the timestamp on the documentary itself.. have stayed with me over the years since. I stripped some of the names, because people get triggered by certain references, and I loath the "shoot the messenger" logical fallacy so commonly deployed by weak minds today.
I just can't help but see it as profound, as accurate, as the theme for the last few years.
thanks for the article Matt!
"This is a colonization of the human mind, by government entities that want to control what you think."
How ironic that the woke mentality that has gripped the Democrats, which among other things is supposedly anti-colonial, is now trying to colonize the minds, which is a core fascist idea. They're engaging in the virtual internment of American citizens.
Some influences: "How Change Happens," book by Read writings of 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 who was White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012. His is some of the intellectual writing that shapes these ideas. (Harvard, Chicago, White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012.
Sunstein is married to 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2013 to 2017.)
Along with Bobby Kagan and his lovely wife Vicky Nuland they’re among the most evil power couples of all time.
Great interview, I hope some mainstream news outlets give this guy airtime at some point
The “Brought to you by Pfizer” mainstream news?
I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Is it possible to find out how much Pfizer pays annually for that little "brought to you by pfizer" tagline?
I suspect their goal is to give media companies so much money that they never bite the hand that feeds, but at the same time want to avoid the look of every other commercial being for a Pfizer product.
Are they paying millions more than commercials for that little "brought to you by Pfizer" tagline? Is that tagline legally required when the show includes sponsored content? From a legitimate business standpoint it's odd to spend so much on that little tagline instead of product ads.
Yes, dozens of millions.
Total payments from Pfizer and the government to corporate media for supporting the vaccines is in the billions, but I meant the cost of a commercial versus that tagline sponsorship of a show.
Gotcha. Sigh.