Saturday Open Thread - 11/30/24: Odds and Ends

Good morning, good people!

I am back home, sounds of loud trucks rattling the walls, and hungry birds at the feeder that was put away for 3 days. The birds can't blame us. They must blame the squirrels.

I watched a Due Dissidence video about the military being used to deport illegals. They talked about the bad look of dragging away kids and grannies on TV. Obviously, it would be traumatizing to decent Americans.

What they didn't really touch upon is normalizing Military presence in our communities, conditioning us to accept it. Nothing to see here.

Anyways, see what you think.

Just under 13 minutes.

The "truce" between Lebanon and Israel is to me, some cover for a great, big, pack of lies and subterfuge. If it looks like bulls shit, smells like bull shit, it is bullshit. What doesn't lie? No fighting, no fighting! (If I make it back to Columbia one day, I will die happy!)

What happened to our kids in the 60s is maybe gonna happen to kids again, since history repeats itself. I remember like it was yesterday when Bo, a guy who graduated a year ahead of me, known as borderline "retarded", as it was called then. No doubt his IQ was not more than 80. Drafted, basic training, sent to Nam, killed on Day 1. We must not continue the madness. We must learn, must improve, must survive. I can't listen this song without crying, but listen I must.

Travel tip: When you are in an asshole-ish hotel that doesn't allow ice coolers, try this: put your beer (or food that needs to stay cold) in the bathroom sink. Place beer (or food) in first, cover with free ice from the hotel ice maker. Now, this is a caveat: I have heard it works with food, have only used it with beer.

Lots of stuff going on, particularly with Erdogan and Turkey. Turkey was recently secular, awesome, then in he came. He fights a bit here, but not enough to piss off a "friend", and so on and so on.

Not sure why I am shocked that a Muslim would be as underhanded as a Christian or Jew. Deceit is across the board, friends.

Except with us. We have integrity.

I will turn over the comments to you, friends. Say what is on your minds, in your hearts, as it is an open thread.

Let 'er rip!

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Sometimes kids who are sort of physically misshapen and mentally challenged are the butt of jokes and the object of harassment and bullying. My classmates, hell, my entire school, was just not that way. We liked Bo. We all went out of our way to help him, and his ability to make passing grades and graduate was done by teachers looking the other way. When he was drafted, we were horrified. When his body was returned for burial, the turnout for the funeral was massive.
He was the first casualty of the Viet Nam War in the county.
We need a peacenik President! ASAP!
Your turn folks.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Socialprogressive's picture

@on the cusp
any time soon. The last one we had caught a bullet to the head. There's to much money to be made from endless war for TPTB to allow a peacenik President. Ain't capitalism grand.

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I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

@Socialprogressive I see these young kids getting involved in high school ROTC, marking time until they get to speak with a military recruiter. Conditioned by public education, The Girl and Boy Scouts, getting them ready to go kill someone in a foreign country they can't pronounce nor locate on a map.
They have no grasp of why we fight, much less for whom.
I was 15 when Bo was buried. We were such a small community, there were no Scouts, no ROTC. Only 1 high school teacher had fought in a war. War was a shocker, peace protests were a positive community action.
Those days are gone. Mass murder to enrich people we can't name is the game.
Enjoy your weekend, Sp. Take some photos of the clear skies while they still are, friend.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

QMS's picture

glad you made it back in one peace
sure the birdies are happy too

moved a 1600 pound cherry tree trunk
which was a cut-off from the tree service
yesterday using a gantry into a 13 foot trailer

the guy is bringing it to a sawmill, eventually
the basis for the furniture he makes

traded for the use of his log splitter later

sounds like Putin has put Ze on notice with
a major infrastructure raid with another to
follow. Hell to pay. Will the west back-off?

Anyway, thanks for the OT and welcome back!

PS. maybe misheard, but a rift on "my country 'tis of thee" sounded like 'my country
Tel Aviv' (who are we fighting for?) Axeing for a frienenemy.

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question everything

@QMS 1600 lbs? Pretty damn manly man work project, sir!
I have considered buying a wood splitter. One might come in handy.
One project we are planning this week is to install a 3-car car port. It will save both time and money to buy a package, have it erected by the dealer, than to do it ourselves. Building projects might interfere with some concert somewhere, since we spend our spare time looking for them.
I get the biggest kick out of that video/song you posted! Thanks!
I haven't read any war news, still drinking coffee, watching the birds at the feeder. After lunch, I will check out the latest on the 2 war fronts, see if Russia has had enough of the bs.
Enjoy your outdoor projects, dear friend!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

TheOtherMaven's picture

or Estrella or one of the other major SCA "wars". Those are definitely SCA-type fighters, duct-taped rattan weapons and all.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Assad, Putin, Iran, all not doing so well of late.

There used to be an IQ floor for being accepted in the armed forces, they get killed a lot quicker. Dangerous stuff wars.

Interesting data coming out of the election, of course the data is far from being definitive or complete.

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snoopydawg's picture

@ban nock

Iran just showed that Israel can’t defend against its missile attacks. Plus it derailed Israel’s attack on them. Russia is gobbling up territory in the Donbas and it just shot a rocket that America has no defense against. Syria just killed 400 terrorists in Aleppo….you were saying?

ETA: Oh yeah….Zelensky is setting out terms for a ceasefire.

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

@ban nock Different sources give very different news about the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the ME. I always check several before coming to any conclusions about who is kicking who's ass.
I have lost interest in the election details, as the matter amongst TPTB is settled, over, done, move on to the next distraction.
The Democrat party has moved further to the right than the traditional righties. As an individual with fairly leftist inclinations, I am out in the cold either way. Hence, I get away from it all whenever I can. Music doth soothe the soul.
Have a nice day, ban nock.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

I could never be an engineer…my brain just isn’t cut out to be one. I can barely goggle the facts here. Gotta admit though that the guys who figured out how to build the dam were very smart.

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

QMS's picture

@snoopydawg
.
interesting, but containing many
errors (as is the way of AI)

happy Saturday!

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question everything

snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

It still looks like an amazing piece of work. And way over my head.

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

QMS's picture

@snoopydawg
said over and over
also, the use of terms
like blowing up the cliffs

It really was an engineering marvel
but the presentation started with the
concept of 'most dangerous dam ever'
which is silly - all dams are dangerous
in the battle between man and nature
nature eventually wins

PS. happy birthday Jimi Hendrix

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question everything

@snoopydawg flew over it in a helicopter once, and while I am the antithesis of an engineer, it does look dangerous as all get out.
Just once in a while, folks in the US do something right. Hoover damn, Hoover vacuum cleaner...
Hope you and my client are having a fun day, chica!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@snoopydawg Interesting video. Just passed over the dam 4 days ago and will pass over it again tomorrow. The water is very low on Lake Powell so don’t know how much electricity is being generated.

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Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

enhydra lutris's picture

Since I am inclined to use the bathroom sink for its intended purpose, I used to ice my beer in the trashcan provided. They usually even have a plastic bag inside, waterproofing them.

Muslims, like Christers and Jews are "people of the book", same damn book, more or less with different editors, and hence it should be no surprise that they act just like the rest.

Integrity must be absolutely valueless if we have some and haven't sold it. Just sayin'.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

@enhydra lutris we filled up the bath tub. Heathens, we were and still are.
It was at Baylor Univ. when taking the required course in The Old Testament, now called Old Bible, I first got educated on transliteration and translation. Native tribe speak, call it slang, spoken not written, into another similar slang, also not written, becomes a transliteration of the best guess of what was meant, then translated into another actual written language. Lots of ways to see that what we read in English bears no resemblance to the origin of the first Bible, and the slang long since gone. Moreover, what chapters and verses were left out, and who made the decision on what to include? I daresay, the New Testament has the same iteration. We have no idea what the Books were about, yet they are the sacred tomes of the majority of the world.
I was 16 when I took that course. The professor held a Doctorate, was an ordained minister, and he stressed one must just have faith that it is a Good Book, as there is no proof.
Two more days of escape form the office! Hope you have an escape from the chores, dear friend!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

Running a bit late here. It was 30F this AM, but warming to about 50F later.
I skipped trade day, but took the recycling, picked up some wheat straw, and ran by the grocery.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday that is continuing to be so. Thanks for the OT!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout here. Given the forecast for the upcoming week, winter may have arrived. A quick mail box check, a quick trip to the local grocery store, the rest of the day will be waiting for dinner time cooking, tacos on the horizon.
I haven't done my usual surfing for news since arriving home yesterday afternoon. I am always curious to see the latest news from the ME.
I must say, Erdogan causes me severe head scratching. Sucking up to Putin and BRICS, except for funding a war with Putin on the other side. Way more complicated than I can comprehend.
I know the solution! Tomorrow's WW! Ok, dear friend?

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

Putin is blackmailing and threatening Trump.

Also too shitlibs are not only supporting the terrorist violence in Syria, but they are cheering our attempted color revolution in Georgia. Any bets that they would have supported the Nazi Maiden coup?

This is what 8 years of Russia Russia Russia has wrought. Brain dead, brainwashed fools.

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

@snoopydawg to get shitlibs to understand that they are a democratic country with a capitalist economy. Communists are elsewhere.
Russia big, has natural resources, a population capable of producing a growing and continuing population. It trades fairly. For Russia, war is simply not the first resort, but the last resort until the last Russian.
Russia today is what Americans think America is.
The CIA must be congratulated on their extraordinary propagandizing. Nobody does it better than those murderous bastards. That is our most successful government policy.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

soryang's picture

@snoopydawg

What Putin has described in terms of political prosecution of Donald Trump and family members, is exactly how South Korea is run today. I can say that with certainty. So if this video is what it appears to be, I can imagine what his opinion of South Korea's Yoon must be.

Yoon has bought into the US agenda way beyond what was necessary. He wants to support NATO, he buys into the Taiwan, South China Sea, Indo-Pacific agenda, etc. He has a team from NIS going to Ukraine now to do a "survey," whatever that means. It appears he's looking to provide some sort of military support, whether just ammunition, weapons, or more, is not known. He's been warned by the National Assembly controlled by the opposition, that he doesn't have the constitutional authority to send even one active duty soldier to Ukraine, without their approval. I don't think he has legal authority to send ammunition to South Korea either, although he's already done that.

There was an editorial in Hankyoreh recently to the effect, we don't care what support North Korea provides to Russia, it doesn't matter to us; what matters to us, is what support is Russia providing to North Korea.

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語必忠信 行必正直

This is how bullies act but I doubt that the Global South is impressed.

I think that his inflated ego is about to receive a rude awakening.

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QMS's picture

@humphrey
.
.
only makes sense as the dollar tanks

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question everything

snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

to sell oil to China and other countries are already not using the dollar. And I would think that tariffs work both ways. Why can’t countries just decide not to sell things to America? America is the stupid sucker for allowing its industry to be offshored just to keep the banks happy. Guess who will be the biggest loser if T does this? Russia already showed that it didn’t need to sell its gas to Europe and Biden…. ***** has been buying Russian oil the whole time it hasn’t allowed Europe to do so.

Economics aren’t my strong suit, but America shot itself in the head with NAFTA.

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

I haven’t watched it yet. But it’s getting good press.

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

@humphrey writ large, humphrey. In re hegemony:

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

soryang's picture

@humphrey

US trade with China is still going up, regardless of all the anti-China rhetoric. So increased tariffs, sanctions etc., will only hurt US interests and US consumers.

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語必忠信 行必正直

TheOtherMaven's picture

@humphrey

Just like the last time around, and just as (in)effective. Smile

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

snoopydawg's picture

.

After the ceasefire Israel is allowed to invade Lebanon? It gets to take territory that has been denied them by Hamas?

Strategically Hezbollah won. The zionist entity could not invade and thus far the illegal zionist settlers are not able to return to their illegal settlements in the north.

Now, after the ceasefire, we get reports such as (and this one is from Marwa Osman):

After futile attempts, Israeli tanks are invading specific neighborhoods in the border Lebanese villages which their soldiers failed to enter during the battle. With Hezbollah being committed to the ceasefire, who is going to stand up to the endless Israeli aggression?

The agreement, which comprises 13 points, involves Israel withdrawing from southern Lebanon, which will enable civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes.

Over the next 60 days, Hezbollah will remove its fighters and weapons from the area between the Blue Line – the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel – to areas north of the Litani River.

In the south, Hezbollah fighters will be replaced with the Lebanese army who will ensure that infrastructure and weaponry are removed and cannot be rebuilt.

From 4am, November 27, 2024 forward, the Government of Lebanon will prevent Hezbollah and all other armed groups in the territory of Lebanon from carrying out any operations against Israel, and Israel will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military or other state targets, in the territory of Lebanon by land, air or sea.

(Note: Israel is staying and they say so. They say they will stay to see that the agreement is implemented, but it is not their task. In addition, they say they may start firing again at any time of their choosing).

Lebanon has thus far reported 32 violations since the cease-fire began early last Wednesday, including repeated shelling of towns in southern Lebanon, as per Lebanese media reports. Bear in mind there were no Israeli tanks in the area before the ceasefire. The Zionists immediately pulled into the area with tanks.

Instead of Israel withdrawing they have moved weapons, equipment and troops into S Lebanon. But Hezzbolah is expected to destroy all its weapons and equipment for making them? Seems like a one sided ceasefire.

Read more

https://globalsouth.co/2024/11/30/ceasefire-israel-lebanon-the-good-the-...

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

@snoopydawg something to watch, read, and consider. This whole "cease fire" makes zero sense to me.
Maybe these links will help me and all of us get a better grasp of the situation.
Many thanks, snoopy

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@snoopydawg

https://www.newarab.com/news/who-jasper-jeffers-us-general-observing-leb...

The US military has appointed Major General Jasper Jeffers to oversee the implementation of the Washington-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon, which took effect in the early hours of Wednesday, CENTCOM announced.

The head of the Special Operations Command Central will carry out his mission alongside US Special envoy Amos Hochstein, who helped broker the truce between Israel and Hezbollah over the past few weeks.

Jeffers arrived in in the Lebanese capital earlier this week as part of his mission to monitor the ceasefire’s implementation, CENTCOM said.

He met with Lebanese armed forces commander Joseph Aoun on Friday, where they discussed the coordination mechanism between the involved parties in the south, the Lebanese army said, as cited by the The New Arab’s Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah will be chaired by the United States and include the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the Israeli army, the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), as well as France.

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snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

has been threatening the government and the people unless they get rid of Hezzb. The army has been neutered for decades even though we have been supporting it. How? We give them outdated weapons and planes that can barely fly. The army is using M-16s from the Vietnam war. Hezzb was the power there and it too just got neutered…but we’ll see how long the ceasefire lasts. The reason why Israel signed it was so they could rearm and turn their attention to Syria and Iran.

Erdagon stabbed Putin in the back again and Putin has to know Israel’s role in supporting the terrorists. Sometimes I think Putin is either the biggest patsy or just pretending that he is the opposition.

One other thing. Iran is an ally of Syria and it was invited in to help Assad keep control of the country as well as Russia. And yet Russia has been letting Israel bomb targets in Syria including the Iranian embassy. Russia was rumored to have given Syria air defense systems and yet they rarely use them against Israel. Why? Iran is now an ally of Russia and they either have or will soon have a defense agreement…so then what? Will Putin still let Israel continue to bomb both its allies?

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

@snoopydawg

Preferencing this since there is plenty of misinformation about the evolving situation in Syria.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20241130-north-korea-s-kim-russian...

Seoul (AFP) – Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and agreed to boost military cooperation between the two isolated nations, Pyongyang state media said Saturday.

Plus Russia is deeply involved in the Sahel region in Africa

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snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

but this stuff doesn’t address my other concerns about what Putin does. Putin will never let terrorists have free rein in Syria and a few other countries because they are a direct threat to Russia itself.

I’m following the conversation on MoA and some people bring up great points and questions. If you have time…

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

QMS's picture

@snoopydawg
.
difficult to figure who are the "good versus evil" terrorists
and who are being armed and financed by which states and
for different purpose. IDF, RUS, Iran, US, regional groups of
various affiliations such as Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
Another proxy conflict. You almost need a diagram and a program
to sort out the mess. Think the Ukies are getting involved too.
Perhaps it is an obfuscation to thicken the fog of war?

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snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

From MoA:

As the conflict in Lebanon subsides Israel and the U.S. have reignited the war in Syria. There have been signs for a while that this was going to happen. Yesterday Al-Qaeda affiliated HTS fighters, which has been rebuild and sponsored with CIA money, have relaunched their attacks on Syrian government forces west of Aleppo. Syrian and Russian air force attacks have for now stopped their progress. Hizbullah's Rudwan forces have yet to intervene but are deployed to defend Aleppo.

It’s well known that we helped ISIS in Syria because we wanted them to help us overthrow Assad. And Israel would go into Syria, rescue the wounded and take them to Israel for treatment.

Plus Turkey has backed terrorists too because of its hatred of the Kurds.

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

From Aaron.

'Al Qaeda is on our side': in Syria dirty war, US empowered a sworn enemy

In a decade-long, multi-billion dollar campaign to overthrow Syria's government, US support for the insurgency helped create an Al Qaeda safe haven.

Caitlin.

They Lied About Gaza, And They're Lying About Syria

Bottom Line is that we have long supported the terrorists who we say are our enemies which in my mind is treason. But since we are the exceptional nation we can do whatever we want because of the rules based order. For definition of the rules look at the link I posted last night in the blues.

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981