Open Thread - 07-10-26 - Let Me Get this Off My Chest
It's been a good while since I've let loose the dogs of a good rant, so allow me to expand the parenthesis of my mind into what is hopefully a cogent stream of whatever.
Both political parties aren't worth the time or effort to flush them down the toilet.
They do not represent We the People.
We just celebrated the 250th anniversary of this country that fought a war because of a repressive governance and a lack of representation, and here we are 250 years later, facing the same unflushable situation.
We have no voice, we aren't being heard above the din of propaganda. And, oh man, is that propaganda thick. Like Custer at Greasy Grass (Little Bighorn) we are surrounded by it. And it's all leading in one direction, total sheepish acquiescence to the iron fist.
The propaganda works so well because there are not enough people that are paying attention, and most that do pay attention have short memories. It only takes a year or two into a new regime and people forget the bullshit the previous miscreants committed. Remember the Biden regime? Remember the first Trump regime? Remember the Obama regime? Remember the Bush the Lessor regime? Remember the Clinton regime? Do I need to go on? It's that short term memory that Americans are famous for that facilitates the political leap-frog effect leading directly into that much used proverbial pan of boiling water.
Allow me to paraphrase the average American voter's mind: "This regime is so bad we must vote them out and vote in the party that we previously voted out because they were so bad". Ad infinitum. Remember the leap frog game when we were kids, it goes on until everyone gets tired and there are no more frogs left to leap over. That's where we're headed, the final frog, the final leap, the final regime.
Once again, like clockwork, the same tired old buzz words get thrown around, especially the mother of all buzz words, "fascism". It gets thrown around so much it's lost all meaning. But it's manipulatively effective, like an arrow that cuts right to the lizard brain of those that aren't aware of its ability to abate critical thinking.
Hatred is the bow, the word "fascist" is the arrow. It's morphed from its original meaning into an amalgamated catchphrase emblematic of the self proclaimed importance of the archer. The target is the other, hit the target and one no longer needs to deal with it because, well, it's "fascism". That's a convenient coping mechanism, no? It works well for the manipulator of the archer.
Here's another tired old buzzword, democracy. How is it "democracy" when the toilet bowl floaters are chosen without any input from us? We get the choice of a blue turd or a red turd, but both of those turds stink to high heaven. "We have to save our democracy" is bantered about without any forethought of what the word actually means. Well, go on down to your local sewage plant and dig around because that's where it resides in this modern state of governance.
When I hear "We must save our democracy" what I hear is "We must save our demagoguery", meaning "you don't belong to my team therefore you don't get to flush my toilet".
I know, I get it, people are pissed. The problem is, like a circular firing squad, we point fingers at the other side for being wrong when both sides are equally responsible. Don't feed on the division they promote. They want us blaming each other and missing that the system is rigged for the rich. The Hidden Hands of this world want everything inverted, twisted, and artificial, disconnecting us from truth, reality, nature and humanity itself. The toilet bowl floaters want us turned against each other rather than collectively pointing at the deviants behind the curtain.
While fingers are pointed and words are tossed at one another like monkeys throwing feces, we are systematically being fleeced of what little wealth and rights we have left. The Ukraine and Iran wars along with the data center scam are being used to bankrupt We the People and the nation we live in. The out of control inflation will pick us off one by one, starting with the poorest among us and working its way up the class ladder until we all own nothing.
And I can't emphasize it enough: Both sides are in on it together.
The toilet bowl floaters are the culprits in this dilemma we find ourselves in, don't ever forget that. It is by their hand that we suffer. Their lust for greed and power is what has gotten us to this existential inflection point. If we lose sight of that we will lose everything.
We have met the enemy and it is not We the People.
Sharon Jones - People Don't Get What They Deserve
3:25
Lyrics
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
Glad to get that off my chest!
The toilet bowl floaters are monkey wrenching the handle so it can't be flushed as they hope to save their asses. The goal is to break us all, reset everything in their favor so they can start the whole enchilada over again. The idea is to flush us before we flush them.
Such are the cycles of history.
Recycled history
.
A good rant. Much to agree with here. I think it is comical that the idiot in chief
has announced "communism" is now enemy # 1. Like we need another enemy?
Add it to the 'war on poverty', the 'war on drugs', or the 'war on any competitor'
seen as muscling-in on our turf. Perhaps if we tried to clean-up our act at home
we would not have fight so many wars abroad?
Thanks for the OT.
Zionism is a social disease
Communism...
another buzzword meant to divide We the People, and another facet of the war on our minds fueled by non-stop propaganda.
Stop the wars, what a great idea. That's what Trump campaigned on and here we are. I have to wonder what goes on in that Rube Golberg mind of his. I bet it's utter chaos.
We could do better, if our politicians would only make the effort. But, they're too busy chasing the money dangled from the stick and enriching themselves at our expense.
Part of living in a democracy is accepting that others might be
different from oneself, others might have different viewpoints or even think differently on policy. There are good people and good ideas in both of our major political parties, and ultimately we the people includes everyone. If policy or leaders are not to our liking, that is democracy, we don't always get our way. Others have the same rights as we do.
It is our prerogative to vote people out of office when we want to, and likewise it is the prerogative of others to vote as they wish.
The greatest bulwark of democracy is free speech, and the very first thing an autocrat looks to restrict is the opportunity to speak one's mind. Consider strongly which places allow one to speak one's mind, and which don't.
You live in a democracy?
Perhaps we should all move to where you are.
"The US empire’s downfall comes at a time of late stage capitalism when more than 99 percent of the public are effectively disenfranchised while factions of reactionary billionaires vie for control." -- Conor Gallagher
This was true
in the 1950's early 60's. Today everything we say can be used against us. Demonstrations during political conventions can be sent to "free speech zones" caged far from the event (Bush2), not to mention political and corporate entities that use "lawfare", filing frivolous lawsuits for outrageous damages, knowing that defending against these lawsuits will bankrupt their opponent, not to leave out mandatory arbitration clauses when wronged. Yes we have free speech, get on that soapbox. You won't get arrested for what you say, but it's the wrong place, the wrong time, lacking some permit, creating a public disturbance or some other thing that'll do you in. Don't touch peeling paint in the reflecting pool in our capital. Also don't look foreign or have anything in your hand when a bunch of masked people come running at you. It could be fatal for you.
Hey ban nock...
stop being a fascist will ya? Just kidding. I just thought I'd use my 1st amendment right and troll you a bit. You're OK with a little bit of trolling, aren't you? It's all in good fun.
Let's break it down:
Very good, I like that. Except that all animals are not equal on this farm.
You get another thumbs up from me. That is, if you believe we have free and fair elections.
You're three for three, my friend, and your last sentence speaks to the first amendment rights that we strive to adhere to here at c99. Thank you for that.
You know what ban nock, I kind of like you. You show spirit when you wade into the threads here knowing full well that the majority disagrees with you, that takes some gumption.
I like this post as well, even though you come off as a bit willfully ignorant, especially about free speech in this country. But, that's OK, you do you.
Thanks for stopping in, ban nock. Oh, there's just one more thing, you do know that we don't live in a democracy, right? We never have. We live in a representative republic.
And in my humble opinion, the US Constitution is the greatest document written by mankind, if only our politician's would follow it.
Of course they aren't.
You said:
Of course, it would take a lot of time and effort to deal with the parties, given that they're both rooted into all facets of the plutocracy -- the "Deep State," the rapidly-shrinking college systems in the US, the billionaires, AIPAC, Wall Street, the Pentagon, am I missing anyone? So the parties might be worth a lot of time to destroy, but not that much time.
At any rate, I said to a silly-goose Iranian exile on Facebook, who wanted to know why Americans voted for Trump:
Perhaps it's fascinating that such people still need explanations of that sort.
"The US empire’s downfall comes at a time of late stage capitalism when more than 99 percent of the public are effectively disenfranchised while factions of reactionary billionaires vie for control." -- Conor Gallagher
Good morning Cass...
I think both parties are destroying themselves. There are already deep schisms, the DSA is splitting the Democratic Party and Trump and his antics are splitting the Republicans. Both parties are losing members to the middle. It's that middle, that is now the majority, that has the makings of a new viable party. I'm game for that if it happens.
Great response to the silly goose. I'd add one thing to C) Kamala Harris was running as Biden 2.0 or Obama 3.0 and I think the country was ready for a change in policies.
Trump lied his ass off to get in and now we are suffering from his policies, so in the long run, what's the difference? Albeit there's a difference in social issues between the two parties, but, IMHO, the US would probably be involved kinetically in the Ukraine War under a Kamala administration. But other than that it's the same difference, war for profit.
True true true
and true. We 99% are perpetually stressed. Everything we took for granted, education, health care, food, transportation, heat, electricity we now can't afford. The business model is to increase costs to us until it hurts, for everything. So we max out credit cards hoping that things will somehow work out.
Meanwhile our mirage of a 2 party system stands around with their hands in the cookie jar ignoring us. The Punch and Judy show goes on, and after cutting taxes for the wealthy our leaders are shocked to find a deficit that must be made up by cutting programs that benefit us.
I think our fellow citizens are waking up. The old propaganda was simple. Commies bad, Capitalism good, wave flag. Today there is so much noise, so little information in the largest news sources people can't make informed decisions and end up defaulting to beauty contest democracy.
Now it's eternal war, eternal sacrifice. The republicans under Gingrich declared war on the democrats and other than squeely outrage, dems were happy to do little to rock the boat as long as they got their cookies.
I am worried that this AI bubble could turn into a mushroom cloud. Wall Street has always been the worlds casino, and there are smart people in that world. We've seen the Mitt Romney chop shop form of capitalism on our domestic economy. What if that bubble could be pumped up enough in the US to keep the damage localized, leaving the rest of the world relatively unscathed.
On a lighter note I think we should recruit science fiction writers to write more humorous stories. Their bleak dystopian visions seem to be coming true, a real bummer. How about a story where an AI personality incorporates itself and then proceed to use that incorporation to claim personhood. Suddenly our useless congress, president and supreme court must act to prevent us meatbags from losing our status as people. Hilarity ensues!
I keep thinking that AI will collapse
The main reason being the enormous expenditure of time, money, water resources, building resources, energy and so on to produce results which are at least at this point rather underwhelming. This reality will appear much more significant than it is now as the bottleneck worsens, something Alastair Crooke mentions in passing in today's video:
In the same vein we might say that eternal war is not looking so eternal, now, as costs are higher and benefits are even lower than with the AI situation.
"The US empire’s downfall comes at a time of late stage capitalism when more than 99 percent of the public are effectively disenfranchised while factions of reactionary billionaires vie for control." -- Conor Gallagher
It is my belief that
somewhere north of 75% of the new data centers that are currently being built for this speculative AI greedfest will stand empty, cold, dead, looted, and grafitti'd within 5 years. The AI Ponzi scheme is already in its death throes, as the Monied Persons are taking their profits and running. That industry has pretty much been stripmined to completion already- anyone buying in at this point might as well simply set their money on fire.
The only ones left operating in five years time will be the ones either funded by, or seized by, Da Gummint for their total-informational-awareness mass surveillance needs. Let's face it, the market for AI-slop porno deepfakes just isn't that big.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
wow
What evidence do we have for this assertion? I would like to know because I would be able to put said evidence to good purpose.
"The US empire’s downfall comes at a time of late stage capitalism when more than 99 percent of the public are effectively disenfranchised while factions of reactionary billionaires vie for control." -- Conor Gallagher
Oh, there are a variety
of sources that fall along those lines. Here are a few for your consideration.
https://fortune.com/2026/06/26/ai-boom-final-stages-stock-volatility-equ...
https://fortune.com/2026/06/08/ai-boom-tech-stocks-bubble-fears-earnings...
https://futurism.com/future-society/impending-market-collapse-ai-bubble-...
https://www.stratascratch.com/blog/the-ai-ponzi-scheme-slap-on-a-chatbot...
These are a handful of negative opinions. Others, of course, think that everything is just hunky-dory: the "conservative" financial outlets see no problem at all, and generally are happy as a bunch of little pigs in shit, since there is still some stripmining remaining to be done. You can always find some putative "expert" who will support any position at all, up to and including the moon being made of green cheese. So, as in all things, it simply depends upon whether you choose to believe that this particular bubble will somehow last forever, or that it will inevitably collapse.
It is my strong belief that it is already collapsing, and that a lot of people will get skinned in the process. But your mileage may vary.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
And, replying
to myself: there’s also this Bloomberg-sourced article in which it is claimed that one reason for Apple’s current stock resurgence is the fact that Apple decided not to get sucked deeply into pouring their cash into the AI bubble, choosing instead to license Google’s various technologies. Let Google take the risk, and the bulk of the haircut when the bubble inevitably bursts…
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-stock-hits-record-territory-a...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
That's a great rant...
in its own right and a great addendum to this piece. Thank you for that.
The US economy is on crutches. It's a huge bubble that will inevitably burst. I think Trump is using the tech stocks, including AI, to keep the stock market spinning plate in the air until he gets out of office. That's why he constantly touts how well the economy is because in his world the stock market is the economy. But, that can's about to run out of road.
AI so far has had very very little return of investment (ROI) and most likely never will considering the competition from China. It's just an enormous money sink and a great source for graft. But, IMHO, that's not the point of AI and the huge data centers being built everywhere. I think it's all about building the massive surveillance state they have planned for us all. That includes the implementation of the Stable Coin, which appears to be a backdoor CBDC because it too will be programmable. I believe they need to keep the economy from imploding until they get that system in place. That's why they're rushing to build all the data centers, water and electricity be damned.
Heh, I love that last paragraph and it could very well happen. The pols would have to overturn Citizens United to remove corporate personhood and that would be a good thing. But, if that were to happen it would already be too late for we meatbags.
Thanks for the great rant.
Yes, another thing
when the bubble pops, investors have been used to being bailed out, and us 99% paying the price. That well is getting really shallow. If it runs dry I guess it's national yard sale time and fire up that printing press to print more of those dead presidents.
Exactly...
or they'll pay for it by giving everyone a bail-in haircut by lopping off a few zeros on everyone's bank accounts and retirement funds.
The laws are already in place for them to do exactly that.
Good morning...
Righteous rant!
It is also a giant grift. Trump coming out saying we've got a deal with the Iranians (or Russians) to lower oil price and jump the market. All while they bet on and then short the market. They've been making literally billions.
We the people are mere pawns in a Neo-feudalistic system of Tech, Oil, and Military technocrats/oligarchs. As Gerald says, "Welcome to slavelandia on the American plantation."
Hey, it is what it is. I wish it was different, but TPTB have their hands on the levers of power. All we can do is adapt or escape like the slaves of old. My strategy is to hide, but that may not work out. I'll see.
In the meantime, I hope everyone is doing well as they can in this joke of a nation. Take care and thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good afternoon...
my friend from the holler.
There must be a greed gene that makes some people think that they can never have enough money. When is enough enough? It's astounding.
Just think though, when the economic toilet finally gets flushed and inflation runs rampant, we'll all be millionaires or billionaires, heck, maybe even trillionaires.
By "Gerald" I take it you mean Gerald Celente. I like that guy, he has a way with a good rant, some day he's going to burst a vein though.
We the People need to ban together and quit fighting with one another. There's strength in numbers and their plans most likely wont succeed if enough of us refuse to play along.
Take care, my friend.
Well,
after reading that rant, I need a cigarette...
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I hope it was as good for you...
as it was for me.
Good Morning Johnny, nice rant and thanks for the OT.
There is an idea that has floated around for ages to the effect that if everybody were well informed and understood what was going down then we the people would, or at lest could, bring about change for the better. The problem is, of course, that the starting point is such a profoundly propagandized populace, especially with such a multiplicity of propaganda streams.
I think one area that needs to be exposed is the myth that this is a democracy, of any kind. People, in massive numbers need to be brought to understand this and possibly an important element is to clarify the mythical mechanism underlying this misconception. We were never designed nor intended to be a direct democracy, and for most of our history that has not been remotely feasible anyway. The word "Democracy" should never be used in reference to this country by anybody, because the fundamental, but false, foundational concept is that we are a Representative Democracy and the full term (phrase?) should always be used. Transmission of and reinforcement of this by constant use in conversation and writing (and maybe such things as samizdat) is critical to get the understanding that such is the claim underlying our pretense to be any form of "Democracy". Once that takes root or is adequately understood by the reader or listener, then it is relatively simple to show that our oligarchs, be they corporations or other corporates or elected and appointed pseudo-representatives do not, in fact, represent us or even try to do so. insofar as Representative Democracy is a single, unified concept, the knowledge that is is not intended to be nor required to be nor actually operationally representative means it is not remotely democratic because it isn't even asserted to be direct or other form of democracy.
(The ability to, in effect fire the elected/appointed segment of our ruling oligarchy after the fact does not and cannot remedy the fact that, ab initio, they don't and never intended to represent us, we the hoi polloi, as it were.
Just my morning 2 cents worth. Actually, make it Putative(ly) Representative Democracy..
be well and have a good one
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 --
Good afternoon mi hermano...
You said:
Another problem is confirmation bias. Too many people only want to be informed about that which they agree with and they just leave it at that, with no inclination to learn anything beyond that. That's the propaganda choke point that you mention. To me, one needs to be informed of all aspects of an issue to be truly able to make wise political decisions. A lot of folks wont even entertain and thoughts or conversations with the "other side", so to speak. They just shut themselves off.
I cannot agree more about the fact that we're a representative republic rather than a democracy. I mention that very thing above in my response to ban nock, although not near so eloquently as you have here.
You have a great day, sir.
Damn good rant
I feel the same anger.
Americans in general (at least the majority that I've come in contact with) are vaguely aware that the system is rigged but honestly have no clue how bad it really is.
Clueless because the top 1 % own and control MSM. That we allowed that to happen was a huge mistake that will be very difficult to undo. They have the money, which in this world, allows them to pretty much get away with anything.
Money, if you have enuff of it will buy you access to tptb. Nobody I know has that kind of money, and so we all sit blindfolded out here in the hallway waiting while what flavor our next shit sandwich will be is being discussed behind that closed door.
Whatever is decided, we'll choke it down. What choice do we really have? We'll bitch our heads off of course. Some will make a sign and go march or stand on a street corner, (which usually goes largely unnoticed by MSM) some will write angry letters to "their" congress critters. For their trouble they'll get a real nice polite canned response which may or may not have anything to do with the issue in question.
And when the smoke clears and the dust settles, yaay, a brand new shiny shit sandwich will be on the menu. yumm yumm.
I quit voting when I saw what the DNC did to Bernie. TWICE.. Swore I'd never vote again. But now I'm forced to reconsider that decision. That the Democrats suck is not in question. But as rotten as they are, I'm looking at what's happening in America right now.
This is different from the usual shenagens. This is an attack on the people like we've never experienced before. I am not at all convinced that we'll even have another election. Or if we do, that it'll be able to claim any type of legitimacy. I am not convinced that there won't be armed masked people at polling sites. I am not convinced that violence will not play a part in the coming elections. I am not convinced there will not be blood in the streets in the not to distant future.
I am totally convinced that the far right is making a major and unprecedented attempt to take over the US. Totally convinced that it is well planned, highly promoted, and funded by millionaires , billionaires, and yes, one trillionair. Totally convinced that we are in a make or break moment for holding onto to anything resembling a democracy.
And no, I don't believe we live in a democracy now. We obviously don't. But what tptb want for us is a whole lot worse.
So what do we do? Wish to hell I knew. But I think I'll probably find myself voting this fall. Will there be anyone on the ballot that I trully admire? Highly unlikely. And voting LOTE got us to where we are today, true dat. But what else do I have to fight with? However pathetic, it is my only tool.
If republicans manage to keep control, I believe we are truly and totally fxkd. Will making the orange monkey a lameduck make everything peachy? Of course not, it wont fix anything. At best it'll give us a little more time. But who knows, maybe we'll use that time wisely. Or not. Who knows? But it's a chance. Maybe our last chance. Who knows?
People are waking up. Slowly... but surely, That may be the one and only thing we can thank Pope Trump for. And maybe, just maybe, we can turn this train wreck around if we have a little more time.. I said maybe.
Be nice folks, just my 2 cents.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Problem is
if you have enough money to challenge the powers that be, you ARE the powers that be. Notice the dems don't fight too hard when the repubs push through tax breaks for the wealthy. After all, their donors like tax breaks too.
Well crap.
I'm not arguing that. not sure why you'd think that. And seriously, do I sound so naive/blind/stupid that I haven't "Notice the dems don't fight too hard when the repubs push through tax breaks for the wealthy." Nothing I said should be taken as standing up for Democrats. sorry if I came through like that. Not the point I was trying to make at all.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
No, didn't mean it that way
Apologies, sorry, the voice in my head said it sounded different. Stupid voice.
I read what i wrote over and over
and I apologize again. I meant no attack, personal or any other way.
Aint nothing
Misunderstandings are unavoidable. We're all guilty of it. Appreciate your kind words.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Damn good rant yourself...
there my friend. And it's great you stopped in today to pass it along to us.
So what do we do? That's a good question.
The only answer I have is don't comply. Tell them not just no, but hell no. If enough people don't play along then their plans will fail.
There's also rumblings about a new party/parties that are piquing my interest. There is strength in numbers but we have to look beyond the divide and conquer bullshit propaganda thrown in our faces every minute of every day. That's being done because they don't want us to unite, for obvious reasons.
I don't think it matters much which party is in power, we're going to get it good and hard either way when the economy collapses. They're running out of ways to keep the plates spinning.
And another thing, the blue team/red team dichotomy is just a facade and a great tool for keeping us divided, the tiger may change spots but underneath it's still a dangerous animal.
Thanks for the two cents and please pop in more often.
Local elections are a tad
closer to "democracy" in the respect we directly vote for the candidates on the ballot, not an electoral college delegate. Still, the candidates on the ballot are typically those specifically backed by a party. Selected by the party may be a better way to put it.
Our county had a huge voter turnout due to several hotly contested races, such as the race between Cornyn and Paxton, and a local district attorney. Magically, the chief election officer, on her very first election, all by herself behind a locked door, counted the votes and certified them in less than 4 hours. Her brother won overwhelmingly in his race for Justice of the Peace, his very first time running for any office! The District Attorney we now have has never tried a case, civil or criminal, in front of a jury, nor has he ever practiced criminal law. The defeated DA was recruited by counties everywhere, and he just accepted the highest bidder, will make more money as some asst. DA than he made as DA here. Good for him!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good afternnon my dear...
fancy meeting you here.
I've often said that the corruption starts at the school board level and increases upwards with the level of governance. If there's money involved the vultures will be attracted to it.
Good for the defeated DA, I hope he flipped them all off on his way out the door.
The only answer I have is don
How do we not comply? By not voting? How does that help? It might make ya feel better somehow,. Like when I wrote in Bernie's name after they knocked him off the ticket. Yeah I felt good,.. for about 30 seconds. Didn't help a damn thing. I don't believe not voting will help things either. I don't think tptb will loose much sleep about that. More likely they'd perceive that as a win. For them...I'd have to agree.
There are signs that people may be starting to realize that we've been bamboozeled. Recent wins by DSA pols are at least a beginning. How much that will change anything remains to be seen. But just the fact that people are starting to understand that Socalism isn't the big red boogyman they've fooled us into believing it was.
That's promising. Maybe it'll lead somewhere good, maybe it'll lead nowhere. I don't know and neither does anyone else. But I sincerely believe we are in the fight of our lives. I also fear that this coming election may well be our last good chance to avoid bloodshed.
Hell man, I know that there are bad guys on both sides. But you'd have to be tonedeaf not to see that we are in a war, (talking about the one at home, not the ones we're raging all across the planet) and that we are losing at the moment. But other than just shrug and say fuxk it all, (which is very tempting and has crossed my mind many times, I'll fight with whatever puny tools I have. Why not, why make it easy for em?
There are consequences to voting and there are consequences to not voting. Do we really want one more right wing asshole on the supreme court? Do we really want to continue watching the genocide taking place right now this very minute in Gaza while we sit here on our hands and bitch about it.
Some dems are making small noises about that, not many but a few. If I have the chance to vote for someone that's brave enough to speak up about it, I'm gonna do it. Will it do any good, Who knows, but it might. It might.
Please understand Jtc. I'm not trying to stir up shit. I love this place, been a regular visitor here almost since the beginning. I don't comment too often, but I spend a lot of time here just reading and have a great deal of respect for most posters here. And I believe that almost all of us are on the same side. We mainly just differ on solutions.
And of course I managed to put this in the wrong place, sorry bout that.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
No, I don't mean voting...
I have NO faith what so ever in either party. And no, I really don't think a third party is a viable option since it will be quickly compromised and co-opted.
You'll know it when the time comes. I think that we're going to be forced by mandate into some things that we're not going to be happy about, like a programmable CBDC, for one. If that gets implemented then we are done, we'll be slaves to the system even more than we are now. That's the end game for the toilet bowl floaters, if they get us in that trap nothing else matters.
But, and this is a big but, because people by and large are sheep, if a large enough segment of the population refuses to comply then the chances are good that their plan wont work.
We need to stand together and just say no. That's why they're tap dancing so fast and furiously with the propaganda to keep us divided. I think that's our only shot, short of violence, and I'm not going to advocate for that.
Voting wont accomplish a thing except dig our hole deeper. I don't know what else to tell you without triggering the wrong algorithms.
I do not comply
when, where, and how I can. I will ask for time to speak at open court discussions on things I
dislike a proposed county ordinance. I will under vote just to make a pol a bit nervous. I use cash when it is safe to do so. I do business with a local bank. I do not join protests that are for some NGO agenda because of my concern there are paid actors/agents in the crowd. NO KINGS comes to mind. I do not donate to any candidate. I have given up on international travel because I will not allow my phone or laptop to be seized and all my data history examined by a foreign airport security cop before I am allowed to exit the airport.
In the future, I will not buy a car that spies on me.
Last but not least, I will figure out how to avoid being forced to be involved in CBDCs, and I will never give my guns willingly to the government.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Make yourself ungovernable...
right on, sister. I like that.
Hi Otc
Sure, I do, or have done, ,most of that myself. Never been to an open court thing though. Due to health issues my marching days are over anyway. And merely sitting through a county board meeting would be a challenge for me today, but been there, done that. Well not the international travel thing. Never been out of the country. Unless you count the day I spent in Tijuana with 2 other very drunk Marines back in 1969. I think we had a good time.
Boycotting certain business's is another way to fight. Probably no better way to get their attention, but as was said, people are sheep and most will do what ever is easiest anyway.
I donated to Bernie both times, no one else, ever. Not expecting to see anyone else worth spending my money on. But if I did, I would.
Is it even possible to buy a car that doesn;t come with spys? Serious question.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Older vehicles are somewhat more private.
As of this year, forget it. My newest vehicles are a 2018 Toyota truck and a 2023 Hyundai Tucson. We whisper often when traveling. Or hand signals in our special code. For years, my private talks are outside in a field or wooded area. especially with clients.
Tijuana counts as international, and even if the drinks made memories sketchy, you had a blast.
I hope your health issues are resolved or well under control.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Beautiful rant.
I only want to add that propaganda now seeks to shock us. It’s used not to obscure the level of atrocity committed by our government, but to show it. Naomi Klein’s book, The Shock Doctrine, not only documents the fact that catastrophe puts populations into a state of paralysis, but that atrocity committed by rogue death squads and governments paralyses completely. Israel is not trying to hide the devastation of Gaza, the murder of children, the savagery of their sick behavior. They want us to see it.
Ukrainian private armies posed for photographs with the flags of NATO, the Azov Battalion, and an oversized Swastika and posted such photographs on the internet. They videoed the burning of the Trade Unions building and the killing of 82 people and put the video on the Internet. ISIS videoed the burning to death of a Lebanese pilot in a cage and put it on the Internet. They want us to see what they do and to understand that this is the level of savagery they commit.
That’s what paralyses us. It’s not just that we can’t think of how to stop them. It’s that we realize what they are capable of. The bombing of the girls’ elementary school on day one of the Iran war is therefore a part of the bombing of 350 hospitals in the days that followed. The first thing that the Shock Doctrine has undertaken, in countries from Chile to Russia, is to destroy socialist healthcare systems, first and foremost by un-funding them. Now we just bomb them, on day one, day two, day three. Why be subtle.
We’re softly manipulated by the mainstream press saying the bombing of the girls’ elementary school was caused by outdated software. We know that’s absurd. A trillion dollar military doesn’t have outdated software. A country that murders children murders children. A country that bombs hospitals bombs hospitals and kills the patients, young and old, in their beds, repeatedly, on consecutive days. It’s too expensive to be outdated software. The obscene press reporting is for the benefit of the journalists who report it, so they don’t have to gag on their own vomit.
I believe the American people are in a slow motion Shock Doctrine. Every cut in social security, every destruction of environmental protection, every removal of a health benefit, bludgeoned by imagery of starvation, the torture of children, forces us downward, until we find a way to stand up.
Excellent points Linda...
and I think you're right, that's exactly what's happening.
They want us dumb, numb and compliant. The world's never seen this level of sophisticated propaganda and it's lobotomizing many if not most of the people subjected to it.
But it doesn't work if you see it for what it is. It doesn't work on everyone. And we will find a way to stand up. We have to.