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Open Thread - 01-30-2026 - Down the Rabbit Hole

Morning,

The moving pieces on International and Domestic policies keeps going in circles faster and faster. No time to catch a breath. Up is down, down is up. Danger stalks the local communities and in far away places. Is it possible to focus on creating some calmness? Is the constant spinning to keep US off balance?

It is an odd moment in time when on the same day Pepe Escobar, Erik Prince and Alex Jones are doing videos trying to prevent a disastrous a war with Iran.

________

Does the momentum for war come from belief in a specific theology, desire for power or desire for money? The various players could have different reasons to keep us spinning towards causing death and destruction. Power and money are easier to shift from their destructive path than prophetic theology.

Keeping John McCain and Sara Palin away from the Presidency got us Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton.

In the late 1980s, several prominent Evangelical authors[3][4][5][6] used the phrase dominion theology and other terms such as dominionism to label a loose grouping of theological movements that made direct appeals to the passage in Genesis.[7] Christians typically interpret the passage as meaning that God gave mankind responsibility over the Earth, but one of the most distinctive aspects of dominion theology is that it is interpreted as a mandate for Christian stewardship in civil affairs, no less than in other human matters.[8]
Wikipedia Jan 29,2026

Iran Is Not Simply A Political Talking Point, Its A Major Player In End Times Prophecy Harbingers Daily Jan 16, 2026

I believe the Bible clearly foretold that Israel would be scattered and regathered—fulfilled on May 14, 1948, and that’s when the prophetic time clock began to tick. It was not just a sign, but a super sign.

Scripture also predicts that in the last days, a great coalition from the north—including Persia (modern-day Iran)—will rise up against Israel (see Ezekiel 38–39). While the Middle East conflicts we’ve seen are not the full fulfillment of that prophecy, it is certainly a foreshadowing.

The Bible has more to say. Not only will the Jews be regathered together in their homeland, but they will be increasingly isolated. That’s happening. The Bible also predicted the rise of anti-Semitism in the end times. That is happening. The Bible also predicts a large nation to the north of Israel, identified in Ezekiel as Magog, will attack her. That has not yet happened. Many scholars believe that Magog is a reference to modern-day Russia. I concur with that view, but no one can say with absolute certainty.

And if Russia is indeed Magog, we should pay attention to its involvement with Iran, as one of the allies of Russia will be Persia (Iran).

________

No video, no article simply a moral quandary. If one believes the migrants coming other continents during the 1600 through the 1800 settling on Native American lands and demanding a cultural change was wrong, should they support current migratory wave? The Native American citizens of the US quickly become a smaller percentage of the total population trying to access limited resources for medical care, housing, business opportunities and infrastructure improvements.

________

Ignore the politics expressed in this video. Pay attention as to how silver influences world economics and how profit is extracted from commodity markets by non-producers. It is the best explanation I have heard without requiring deep understanding of economic terminology. Yes I know he is an obnoxious, self-centered individual, but he knows markets.

$100 Silver is Crushing London’s Empire ft Tom Luongo (36.22 min)

________

Seen shorter versions of this interview clip with Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman, author Every Spy a Prince. Intrigued by the information.

[Excerpt from 1990 interview]

________

I was too young to participate in the original push by President Eisenhower to publicly identify promising students to enhance national security after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik rocket. Too old for the nationwide roll out of the Gifted and Talented Education program in the late 1980's due to Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act.

Project Talent is a national longitudinal study that first surveyed over 440,000 American high school students in 1960. At the time, it was the largest and most comprehensive study of high school students ever conducted in the United States. Designed by American Institutes for Research founder John C. Flanagan, Project Talent was intended as “the first scientifically planned national inventory of human talents.”[1] Students from 1,353 schools across the country participated in two full to four days of testing. Fifty years later, the data is still widely used in multiple fields of study and follow-up studies are underway with original participants.
Wikipedia Jan 29, 2026

A series on the The White Rabbit Report might find some parts interesting as fiction or history.

GATEkeepers Pt 1: The CIA, GATE, and the Gifted Student Pipeline
Did the CIA influence the GATE program for intelligence recruitment and mind control? Uncover the connections between gifted education and covert operations.

GATEKeepers Pt. 2 | The Origins of the GATE Conspiracy
This deep dive unpacks how Cold War paranoia, psychological profiling, and federal funding built the blueprint for one of education’s most quietly powerful—and possibly sinister—programs.

GATEKeepers Pt 3 | The 60s, 70s, and the CIA
Explore how Cold War-era programs like the NDEA and CIA-influenced policy shaped GATE education in the 1960s and 1970s. The deep state's role revealed.

GATEKeepers Pt 4 | The Profile of a GATE Student
In Part 4 of this investigative series, we dive into the traits, patterns, and strange memories shared by former GATE students. Discover the hidden (and bizarre) elements of why you were selected.

GATEKeepers Pt 5 | The GATE Curriculum

Beneath reading lists, hearing tests, and logic games, a pattern emerges. Was the GATE curriculum just schooling—or subtle programming?

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Comments

QMS's picture

.
.
I do not buy the theory that this is an Epstein shield.
Knowing the trumpet desire to dominate headlines,
creating chaos around the globe just feeds his ego. ICE
is bad enough, but Iran? Or Cuba? Very irresponsible.
He has lost domestic and global support to say nothing of the
financial destruction of the US dollar with the tariff ploy.
Beginning to doubt we can survive much more of his tactics.

Thanks for the OT!

up
4 users have voted.

Zionism is a social disease

Cassiodorus's picture

The general problem here is that the ruling class in the West has constructed fantasy worlds, and, having paid thousands of "influencers" to spread those fantasy worlds to the four corners of the Internet, they will all be compelled to "take the next step" in each case. When your notions of reality are made-up, you resolve problems of reality by making more stuff up.

1) Iran is weak, you know, and they're executing thousands of people (see? because even Amnesty Hideousevil said so) and we've destroyed their nuclear component and blah blah blah and so we gotta wipe out Iran, wherein it's all a fantasy spun by Israel to keep Mileikowski ("Netanyahu") in his position

2) "Semitic" in actual fact refers to people who speak Semitic languages, specifically Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic, and so if you are "antisemitic" you must, in the fantasy world, be less than totally in love with the Ashkenazim (basically white European settler-colonials) who form the ruling class of Israel and who fancy themselves as Semites, as opposed to the Arabic-speakers who are being genocided on the clock right now. So the next step, of course, is the Board of Peace and Gaza as the next Riviera.

3) Once upon a time, it would seem from the links above, there was this fantasy that the US would produce lots of "gifted" students and would thus out-brain the Soviets, the Chinese, and the other countries whose stuff the US wanted to steal. Now, of course, we've got an even more powerful fantasy: the US does not need people at all! AI will do everything instead, and ICE can deal with the vast masses of redundant protoplasm by calling them "Terrorists" or "illegal immigrants" or whatever other labels will excuse their murders and/or deportations. In reality, of course, everyone will be buying from China, which is for the most part what they're doing now.

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6 users have voted.

"Trump is doing everything he can to make America the highest-cost economy in the world, and he’s succeeded." -- Michael Hudson

usefewersyllables's picture

being grounded in reality: this absurdity takes the cake.

If it sticks, which it won't, this would kill pretty much all of the regional airlines, a sizeable percentage of corporate aviation, and oh by the way the entire Canadair water-bomber firefighting fleet...

I wonder who whispered *this* act of abject stupidity into his ear? The airlines will not stand for having their entire CRJ fleets decertified, and a lot of Fucking Silly Rich people own Bombardier and Canadair corporate/private aircraft for their weekly junkets to whereever. This will be walked back quietly in the next 24-48 hours.

Canada, because it's bitterly cold, has a stricter rule on fuel deicing than the U.S. FAA, which is incompetent and grants exemptions to Gulfstream. Trump thus wants to bypass due process on already-certified Canadian jets in service with innumerable U.S. carriers. Clown show.

G_3_UXTWoAAzT0m.jpg

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5 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

QMS's picture

@usefewersyllables
.
cook something up and tariff
without thinking things thru. At least
he is consistent that way. dummy donnie

up
4 users have voted.

Zionism is a social disease

enhydra lutris's picture

@usefewersyllables

Gulfstreams "pursuant to trhreats and demands from US President Donald J Trump" subject to the implicit assumption by the owners and aircrews of such aipcraft of full uncontested liability for any and all injuries and damages to any persons, place or thing resulting from any and all malfunctions of such aircraft including, most especially, any problems sith deicingor and any problems caused by such deicing problems. Certify them and require appropriate notices all over the plane, inside and out.

be well and have a good one

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5 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Pluto's Republic's picture

.... have a brief internet conversation about the experience of being a minority in their respective countries.

Note: There are 56 different ethnic minority groups living in China. Under the Chinese Constitution, they are all "Chinese," however, the constitution confers upon ethnic minorities special privileges and funding to help them preserve their cultures and and their native languages. Minorities are often invited to Beijing when the government is in session, and invited to attend national celebrations throughout China. This was also an historic tradition during dynasty rule.

An interesting conversation between an native American and a Chinese Uyghur.
byu/ShurenFromX inSino
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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@Pluto's Republic ...I couldn't tell (in the absence of the video loading beyond the first screen) which was which!

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3 users have voted.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

QMS's picture

.
.
but it appears as a blank rectangle, slightly gray.
Glad the Chinese value various cultures. That is
beyond western understanding of diversity and
preservation.

P.S. it has resolved

up
6 users have voted.

Zionism is a social disease

enhydra lutris's picture

seeing headlines about how the "Democrats" were going to block funding of ICE or DHS or something which I've ignored because talk is cheap, especially Democratic party talk. So, today I see a neadline in the Guardian where:

First Thing: Democrats agree deal to avoid shutdown but demand DHS bill include reforms to ‘rein in ICE’

Quelle surprise. People have been talking about having a TACO president, but not about our DECO "democratic party" - Democrats Eternally Cop Out. The all talk party which is, of course, simply the anti-democratic pseudo-left wing of the Uniparty. The Acronym makes me think of Art Deco visually stunning modern and futuristic drugstores that, inside, were just like any other drugstore. That is our DECO party, decorative but ineffectual except for when it comes to helping the oligarchs. The reality is that both wings of the uniparty exist to serve 1) the party and 2) the oligarchs, so they aren't ineffectual at all. They bust their ass for their constituency, it is simply that their constituency is but a tiny fraction of th populace.

Their "reforms" to "reign in ICE" will most assuredly do nothing of the sort. The Constitution alone should reign in ICE, but doesn't because our oligarchy is becoming more overtly fascist and tyrannical.

I'm feeling ripped off. I've read a lot of history. This milieu should be all about external wars and internal bread and circuses. The wars are leaking onshore, the circuses are mediocre, being mostly clowns and punch and judy shows and the bread is being intercepted and diverted. Where the hell is my damn bread and why is this circus so damn lame?

/rant

be well and have a good one

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7 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

soryang's picture

I was walking past Ms So's computer and noticed some freaking ms bitlocker rendering it inoperative. I'm actually afraid to try to do anything from my computer for fear this one might crash too. All the business I'm dealing with want everything done online.

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5 users have voted.

己所不欲,勿施于人。

enhydra lutris's picture

@soryang

https://specopssoft.com/blog/what-causes-bitlocker-recovery-mode/?creati...

from specsoft and can only say that I would never have such a thing on my machine unless I was a repository for the launch codes or had execute authority at the FED or somesuch.

be well and have a good one

up
5 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

soryang's picture

@enhydra lutris @enhydra lutris @enhydra lutris

That's pretty much been the comment so far from the people I talked to. Someone else put it there. We had nothing to do with it. I had a fishing attack by someone mimicking ms a week or more before this. I reported it to ms. We are experiencing an increase in all kinds of attempted scams, by email, by phone, by message, etc.

I tried to do the unlock procedure, it didn't work. It looks like I'm going to have to throw it away. Thanks for your reply.

up
5 users have voted.

己所不欲,勿施于人。

enhydra lutris's picture

@soryang
thumb drive, boot from the thumb drive, repartition and reformat the disk and reinstall the o/s of your choice. No point in wasting a good disk.

be well and have a good one

up
4 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --