I read with great interest this piece on Tablet, which is sprawling and massive, almost 50 pages printed out:
“Something monstrous is taking shape in America. Formally, it exhibits the synergy of state and corporate power in service of a tribal zeal that is the hallmark of fascism. Yet anyone who spends time in America and is not a brainwashed zealot can tell that it is not a fascist country. What is coming into being is a new form of government and social organization that is as different from mid-twentieth century liberal democracy as the early American republic was from the British monarchism that it grew out of and eventually supplanted. A state organized on the principle that it exists to protect the sovereign rights of individuals, is being replaced by a digital leviathan that wields power through opaque algorithms and the manipulation of digital swarms. It resembles the Chinese system of social credit and one-party state control, and yet that, too, misses the distinctively American and providential character of the control system. In the time we lose trying to name it, the thing itself may disappear back into the bureaucratic shadows, covering up any trace of it with automated deletions from the top-secret data centers of Amazon Web Services, “the trusted cloud for government.”
I have been trying to wrap my mind around all of this that I see happening in our country since 2020. If you are interested in reading it and discussing it, please do so. Or if you’d like to talk about anything else, here is an open thread.
IMO, this country took a sharp downward spiral around the time Obama took office. Before that time things seemed to be in check. Social media was also tolerable. For some reason everything changed after Obama took office. I’m not blaming him but something happened around that time.
That being said, someone give me a Time Machine so I can go back to the late 90s. For me those were great times.
This is from an interview with Joe Rogan and Michael Schallenberg.
Do we know when this began? Like when did they infiltrate these organizations? Because it's not just Twitter, right?
Michael: Oh no, absolutely not. That's part of what was so terrifying. It was all of the social media companies, including Wikipedia by the way, which we don't talk about enough. And all of the mainstream news organizations are being organized.
Really what you're looking at is an apparatus that was created during the War on Terror over the last 20 years, starting after 9/11. After that there was a battle against ISIS because ISIS was successfully recruiting on social media. Then you get the big event: Brexit, first, in 2016, and then Trump's election. At that point, the establishment just absolutely freaks out.
There were a lot of different motivations. One of the motivations was just to blame Facebook, to blame social media, for Trump's victory. It was never true. I don't really think anybody really believed it. There was never any good evidence that whatever Russians did had much of any influence — any measurable influence — on the outcome of the campaign. But they started to scapegoat the social media companies as a way to get control over them.
Then, in 2017, two things happen. The Department of Homeland Security declares, as part of its mission protecting election infrastructure, the “media and information environment.” It's creepy and patronizing and it's a power move. That's the first thing that happens. Then, they create something called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security to supposedly protect the media environment from foreign influence.
They also created something called the Foreign Influence Task Force within the FBI to start policing domestic speech on these platforms. They start organizing all the social media companies to participate in these meetings. You had Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook in here and there's a critical moment where you ask about the Hunter Biden laptop. And he goes, “Yeah, in the summer of 2020, all these FBI guys come to us saying there's going to be a hack-and-leak operation involving Hunter Biden.”
This is super-suspicious because, as everybody now knows, the FBI had Hunter Biden's laptop in December 2019.
By the way, I was a victim of the Hunter Biden laptop disinformation. I voted for Biden. I thought that the laptop was Russian disinformation. I bought the whole thing.
I read this whole essay today, and it’s a long one. My question: why is this not eliciting a shit ton of self reflection or at least a modicum of interest in the legacy media?
Sasha, our generation grew up knowing that free speech was the bedrock of our constitutions and country. I didn't know anyone who was pro censorship. It's interesting times we live in, because many of those who fought for freedom of expression, and even the freedom to be challenged and not coddled in college--what happened?
On a related note, we need a different word for rigging an election meeting stealing ballots, and social media attempts to sway voters. One is completely unacceptable. The other we have to live with to an extent, but the government using tax dollars to fund organisations to create censorship is unacceptable.
I read this yesterday, and immediately wanted to share it, but anyone who would be willing read it already knows, and anyone who doesn't know won't want to read it. It's the never-ending circle of blind oblivion. Every time I'm tempted to stop reading articles like this and stop worrying about how far off the rails we are getting, I think of how much worse it would be if I added myself to the oblivion.
"A state organized on the principle that it exists to protect the sovereign rights of individuals, is being replaced by a digital leviathan that wields power through opaque algorithms and the manipulation of digital swarms"
Aka, the "Deep State". There is also the concept of groupthink, which drives the great majority of Deep State behavior. Like the "Banality of Evil" that drove German citizens to acquiescence (if not outright complicity) with the evil perpetrated in their name, the Deep State moves on its own with little central command.
Can the Deep State be defeated? That is the question of the age.
Something monstrous indeed. These past 2* years under Biden administration (a President that is embarrassingly incompetent and a cabinet filled with activists with no knowledge of the department they oversee). The MSM ignores all the blunders. We are funding a war with no end in sight and one US has stirred. Biden’s pullout of Afghanistan is never brought up, but people need to remember how many citizens and even service members are still stuck over there. Billions of weapons left behind along with Bagram Air Force Base. Biden’s war on fossil fuels has decimated our nation’s energy security and greatly damaged our economy. Every step this administration takes further damages our nation and our security. His covid mandates have hurt so many, weakened our military, and damaged our airlines’ safety.
Seigel's piece is outstanding--and something many of us have thought, if not with as much detail or all the same specifics, for a while now. We are in the final stages of a coup d'etat beyond even politics in the democratic, left-right, or Democrat-Republican, sense. It was best described by Orwell in his book-within-the-book, the one by Emmanuel Goldstein, Oligarchic Collectivism, the book with which O'Brien taunts Winston Smith in 1984. It shows us the "managerial revolution" described by James Burnham, whose real significance was understood only by Orwell. His classic novel of totalitarianism--based pointedly on western societies, not just the Communist East--describes how something that might be based on Wall Street and Madison Avenue (or the British correlatives) goes totalitarian, becomes a full corporate state. He saw how liberal democracy contains the seeds if its own supersession in an ideological meta-state. Socialism means not the abolition of private property in the classic Marxian conceit, but mechanisms of total social control through perpetual emergency, demonization of internal as well as external enemies, propaganda and methods of thought control (beyond the shaping of opinion) made possible by modern technologies and the systemic abuse of language--all for the purpose of keeping in power a governing elite no longer capable of managing anything for the good of the nation yet unable to let go of power and make room for new leaders. Socialism means that an elite governs in the name of "society" or "our democracy" or whatnot, which justifies its deployment of any means whatsoever, in reality though only for itself at the expense of society. Davos. Supposedly all for the sake of society or global humanity--but actually for the likes of Kerry and Schwab and their crowd. That is where we are now, the consummation of a totalitarian revolution from above in the works for a while but now in its final stages.
Like many of you, for the umpteenth time, I am once again struggling to find persuasive words to broach sharing such information so it doesn't fall on deaf ears.
I had all but given up on this years ago; however, the situation is becoming dire and reaching a fever pitch of late. Heck, next week may be the start of a civil war in America, for heaven's sake.
How do we get people to think, care, read, comprehend, and react appropriately in their best interest to what is happening?
I plan on sharing the link to Jacob's guide on my substack and for family and friends on Facebook. After speed-reading Jacob's piece, I came up with the following draft.
I need to reread it slowly tomorrow. I want to edit this draft down to something more concise and persuasive. I'm sharing it here in case anyone has suggestions or wishes to borrow any snippets that may help them do the same.
America: Suicide by Ignorance and the Lust for Power
Can we all agree that the world is in turmoil and that America, the leader of the free world, is degenerating into a banana republic at breakneck speed?
There is a lot to the story of America's pending demise. Since it will significantly affect everyone's family and future, we all have a vested interest in getting to the true heart of the matter.
Even the most liberal and progressive among us are becoming uncomfortable with America's trajectory. Well-intentioned people from all walks of life are asking appropriate questions and getting honest answers, unsettling as they are.
Do take the time; this is required reading that our futures depend on.
Rather than rely upon faulty headlines and simple soundbites, it behooves us to take the time to understand the cause and reasons behind what amounts to America's suicide.
The Comprehensive Guide
The author, Jacob Siegel, aptly titles his tome, A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century. Please read it, weep, get mad, discuss it freely, and determine the appropriate actions you and your family could take in response. (see the link below)
With this accurate and insightful warning, there is no excuse for saying we had no idea how far the country had fallen. We are fast approaching a point when it becomes too late to do anything about it.
We are witnessing a parallel between Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany and the modern-day rise of a radical uni party of global elites that have infiltrated and infected our institutions, cultures, and governments across America and the West.
The time for "politics" has passed.
It's not about the political left vs. right; it's about right and wrong, everyday people vs. the super elites; it all boils down to good vs. evil.
It is of existential importance that everyone understands how and why this is happening. Please share this country-saving public information with everyone you hold dear.
Knowledge is power; pursue it patiently and use it wisely.
Obama certainly ginned it all up to a daily push toward dividing us but I think it really began after the 2000 election when the SJC decided that Bush won.
The Democrat cry of "Impeach Bush" started immediately; before he'd even taken office.
And I've never forgotten Democrats circulating (online) an "Apology to the World" for the country electing George Bush, signed by millions of Democrats.
To me, that is when Democrats started The War Against Republicans and it was constant through the eight years of Bush's presidency.
And, you're right. Any criticism of Obama from Day One was called Racism. The Dems couldn't fathom that Republicans found fault with his policies. It HAD to be racism. Couldn't they see that he was the Messiah?
Gov't Quietly Brings Back Total Information Awareness
Reuters has obtained a Congressional report that shows nine months after Congress shut down the controversial Pentagon computer-surveillance program called Total Information Awareness, the U.S. government continues to comb private records and databases to sniff out suspicious activity. Peter Swire, who served as the Clinton's administration's top official said "I believe that Total Information Awareness is continuing under other names."
The Information Awareness Office is a branch of the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency whose mission is to "imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate and transition information technologies, components and prototype, closed-loop, information systems that will counter asymmetric threats by achieving total information awareness." The IAO is headed by John Poindexter, former National Security Advisor in the Reagan Administration and chief architect of the Iran-Contra Affair...
The IAO's stated mission is to gather as much information as possible about everyone in a centralized location for easy perusal by the United States government, including Internet activity, credit card purchase histories, airline ticket purchases, car rentals, medical records, educational transcripts, driver's licenses, utility bills, tax returns, and any other available data. In essence, the goal of the IAO is to be able to recreate a life history of thoughts and movements for any individual on the planet on demand, which the Bush administration deems necessary to counter the threat of terrorism. Critics claim the very existence of the IAO completely disregards the concept of individual privacy and liberties and is far too invasive and prone to abuse.
The IAO was first mentioned in the media by New York Times reporter John Markoff on February 13, 2002, with few details available as to the agency's role or activities. In the following months, as more and more information emerged about the IAO's full scope, protest among civil libertarians grew over what they claim is the IAO's disturbingly Orwellian mission, especially within the larger framework of other invasive homeland security measures and policies implemented by the Bush administration. Also at issue is the integrity of Poindexter as head of the IAO, as he was convicted on five felony charges for lying to the Congress and deliberately altering and destroying documents pertaining to the Iran-Contra Affair.
I hope it is understood that 9/11 was used as the pretext for creating "Homeland Security" and gave us the "Patriot Act" (which had already been written), the militarization of local police forces, NORTHCOM, the ability of the government to incarcerate anyone without trial by calling them a "terrorist", and much more - in addition to giving us a whole new "enemy" after the collapse of the USSR, thus the "war on terror". This "enemy" was needed in order to justify continuing to spend trillions of $ on the MIC, which includes silicon valley.
You have to understand what Noam Chomsky said:
"Governments regard their own citizens as their main enemy, and they have to protect themselves. That's why you have state secret laws. Citizens are not supposed to know what their government is doing to them."
The rabbit hole is deep on this. It is tied in with the desire to create a one-world government.
Whitney Webb is currently reporting on Jamie Diamond of JPMorgan Chase and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. She reports that they
"...were instrumental in the creation of what would manifest as the 2008 economic crisis. Not unlike some of the events that sparked today’s banking crisis, figures like Jeffrey Epstein, Dimon’s mentor Sandy Weill and the former Treasury Secretaries with close associations with both men, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, appeared to have engaged in actions that would intentionally provoke the collapse of certain banks to further consolidate the banking sector for their benefit. The goal, both then and now, seems to have been a move towards the logical conclusion of the “too big to fail” banking model — the eventual creation of a centralized cartel of mega-banks that dominate, not only commercial banking, but also central banking."
Again, there is a lot to this and it's been going on for a long time, working toward the goal of what Aldous Huxley called a "scientific dictatorship".
Start pulling on the threads of this and there's no end to it.
If you want a glimpse of what is coming for you, look to the north. In response to the Freedom Convoy, we now have Bill C-11 and C-18, where Trudeau introduces the new terrorist group in Canada, "The Teleban". Their 'G-had', aka government control of everything, is aimed at creating a New World Odour, resulting in Canada being a Hole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Trudeau, who puts the "mess" in messianic, forgets that the Freedom Convoy was not a Protest, but a Statement. Protests are made by slaves begging the masters for mercy, and the response by the Trudeau storm troopers was to trample a little old lady in a walker, confirming the official policy that "The beatings will continue until morale improves". The Freedom Convoy was a completely non-violent Statement supported by millions of Canadians and millions around the world. The message is "We Will Not Comply". No violence, no revolution, we will simply put the government on 'ignore' and proceed to de-tax our civilization. Mr. Biden and Mr. Trudeau, you have lost the trust of the taxed, and the consent of the governed. No Teleban will fix that. We have a civilization to rebuild, let's get busy.
I am half way through the article. I simply cannot wrap my head around how the progressive left can be so authoritarian and self righteous at the same time while lecturing America on how the "other side" is a threat to democracy. It is like a bad dream. Truly Orwellian.
How is it these self promoting intellectuals fail to see the irony and danger in what they are promoting. I guess it comes down to the intoxication of power and the thrill of being surrounding and applauded by a compliant media.
Jon Haidt had a very interesting article recently on how a lot of woke thinking overlaps with mental illness in the sense that a lot of young people lack the critical thinking to go along with their hypersensitized emotional thinking. Their entire world is microaggressions and obsessions around hierarchy and perceived oppression. They need what is referred to as cognitive behavioral therapy to develop the pathways in the brain for critical thinking.
I don't have answers, but I will offer this: Dubya, who I voted for twice, unleashed the government leviathan after Sept 11. He turbocharged what is now the unelected 4th branch of government - the Deep State intelligence agencies. In addition, he granted MFN status to communist China so our globalist wealthy class could achieve their bonus money through cheap labor offshore telling us our costs would go down. How is that working today?
Obama administration came in, took Chinese money, and weaponized it against Americans.
G-d damn Bush. G-d damn Obama for weaponizing it. G-d damn every executive level service officer in the United States federal government. They are the problem.
Sasha, what is happening today is nothing new, but is merely the fruits of foundations laid in the 1850s by European "Forty-Eighters" who came here after their attempts at revolution in Europe, particularly Germany, collapsed. Karl Marx and Fredrick Engles were Forty-Eighters but they stayed in Europe, in England, but they heavily influenced the work of their counterparts on America. They came to the United States and immediately started working to promote revolution here. They were staunch abolitionists and seized on abolition fervor in New England and the "Northwest," now Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin, to start their groundwork, In the century and a half since their philosophies have taken over American academia and are at the root of everything happening today. Donald Trump came along and became the champion of the little people, the very people the German revolutionists and their Communist descendants claim to be seeking to protect.
It's probably too late to stop them, but it's very possible they are the future followers of the Biblical antichrist.
"The human art of politics, which would have required real negotiation and compromise with Trump supporters, was abandoned in favor of a specious science of top-down social engineering that aimed to produce a totally administered society."
The question is: what is to be done about the totality of our administered reality? Though he took a most dreadful political path, Heidegger was right to have deep anxiety about us all becoming enframed by technology, for so we have been and are. There seems to be no exit. We don't even know how to find each other, those of us who are still thinking, outside of the internet. Wasn't it also Heidegger who said: The most thought-provoking thing about our thought-provoking age is that we still are not thinking?
How are we to stake again and anew the human, & the call & challenge to think, from within enframement, psyops & swarming?
I believe that when we focus on Covid as our major problem we are falling into a trap, a trap for our minds that discounts the real danger, the ease with which we have succumbed to mandates. We can see a tremendous amount of human energy being expended on the Covid aspect of what has taken place over the past three years, origins, vaccines, treatments, therapeutic protocol, etc. There is also a significant discussion about lockdowns but i don't think nearly enough about how easily we fell for the lie. So thanks for opening the discussion to try to unravelled what is up.
I didn't yet read the quoted article but 3 years ago i was listening to a delingpod, podcast and he had on a guest, Donald S. Siegel is foundation professor and director at the School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University (Donald.Siegel.1@asu.edu). and they discussed " a massive social experiment " being conducted on us, particularly without our informed consent. Prof Siegel and his partner wrote an article for the Jerusalem Post that's still available and there's a link in my blog post, https://gseine.com/2020/04/10/troubling-thoughts-about-covid-19/
I emailed back and forth with Prof Siegel a couple of time but haven't followed up. It was during the heart of Covid panic in early April, while the inferno was raging an a sane voice was utterly overpowered. largely the concern was the ease with which our society discarded personal autonomy.
Today I see a lot of people looking for a super villain and while there are powerful people playing with human lives to be found, it doesn't explain how we are so willing to do as the say, to so easily and uncomplainingly comply with regulation that have never even seen legislative discussion, that are not formal laws. As a nation, once full of independent thinkers, we can be considered woolly eyed sheep today.
That said though, I personally think it has been made possible by ideas the are embedded deeply in our society., ideas presented years ago by philosophers now long dead. two that come to mind, It's become almost impossible to agree on truth, as the idea we've largely accepts say there is no ultimate truth. Another is the acceptance of expert rule, that we largely accept that we are personally impotence and incompetence in this very complex world.
If we are convinced that we are personal weak we will be doomed to failure in winning back a free society. And the necessity of developing articulate, persuasive arguments to support the cause of freedom must not be ignored if we are to garner supporters. For without assembling ever increasing numbers of independent thinkers, we few will be swept away under a tsunami of ignorance.
It's an alien and inhuman materialistic darkness formerly called Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub, or simply the Adversary. It's nihilistic and suicidal to humans because it's dedicated to destroying God and every part of His Creation. Men and women are the Lord's most beloved living form, made in His image. Sexuality, the family, individualism, and the common brotherhood and sisterhood of all people are being destroyed as we speak. We're in the final act of a drama that's over 5,000 years old.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about this whole story of corporate statism through media control (among other things) is how many of our fellow citizens, with all the evidence presented, still choose to see nothing, nothing.
The following is taken from the article, “Kow Tow Now” available on the substack, BigMouth. More is available there on the topic of Chinese hybrid warfare (what Dr Robert Malone calls 5th gen warfare).
Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is often considered a principal architect of the current authoritarian tide sweeping freedom away from western democracies and the United States of America. His father, Eugen Schwab, was managing director at Escher Wyss during WW2, a major supplier of weapons and materials to the Nazi’s 3rd Reich. The Escher Wyss branch of the company in Ravensburg, Germany, (which Eugen managed) used prisoners of war and forced laborers during the Nazi’s war effort. The company also made a turbine for a Norwegian hydroelectric power station used in the construction of an experimental reactor intended for military-use plutonium production. Klaus Schwab was himself a managing board member of Escher Wyss from 1967-1970.
Although his experience of authoritarian Nazism with his father and in a personal capacity is clear, it is highly doubtful that Klaus Schwab is personally the originator of the extensive, meticulously crafted strategies which have been implemented over decades to effect the systematic destruction of western civilization. The characteristics of these strategies and their long-term implementation directly parallel the 24 warfare types articulated by the Communist Party of China in strategy papers publicly released since Chairman Mao first began to broaden his horizons to include dominance of the entire planet. The CCP began to develop their comprehensive national power goals as the foundation of a uniquely Chinese foreign policy more than 40 years ago.
What is clear is that Klaus Schwab has been a close collaborator with the CCP and their expansionist goals. In 1992, Klaus Schwab and World Economic Forum launched a program initially called Global Leaders of Tomorrow.
This program then became the non-profit Forum for Young Global Leaders. It was created in Switzerland in 2005 using $1 million in grant money by Schwab in his role as founder of the World Economic Forum. Their website glowingly reports, “as a group of over 600+ professionals across over 90 countries worldwide, YGL Alumni are engaged in activities that aim to improve the state of the world. They are CEO's of Fortune 500 corporations, in royal houses, in leading NGO's and national non-profits, public figures in civil society, sports personalities, and more.” In an address in 2017 at Harvard, Schwab said, “What we are very proud of, is that we penetrate the global cabinets of countries with our WEF Young Global Leaders." While speaking during an interview with Tian Wei, the host of the “World Insight” program on the Beijing-based China Global Television Network, Schwab discussed the recent G20 and B20 meetings in Bali, Indonesia where he gave a speech to world leaders on how his “Great Reset” agenda is going to “restructure” society in their countries.
The Authoritarian State is here. And they want us to know it.
I think its extremely significant that, inter alia, the IRS sent a agent to Matt Taibbi’s home on the day he was testifying to Congress, (see story below). This IRS visit, I think, is of a piece with the various unannounced SWAT raids on the homes of nonviolent people which have been happening the last few years, such as the completely unnecessary forceful arrest of retired economics professor Peter Navarro, and indeed, the pending arrest of Trump himself.
more on Taibbi's unannounced IRS visit below:
WASHINGTON — The White House declined to comment Wednesday on an IRS agent’s visit to journalist Matt Taibbi’s home on the same day that he testified to a House subcommittee investigating the “weaponization” of government.
The surprise March 9 door-knock came as the “Twitter Files” collaborator described his reporting on how the government pressured social media platforms to censor online speech.
The Post asked at the first White House press briefing since the news of the visit broke Monday about whether the visit was “part of a campaign to harass or intimidate [Taibbi] related to his journalism.”
White House spokesman John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, declined to provide a substantive reply.
It started a long time ago; the Deep State Uniparty has only missed twice and let 2 non-Establishment presidents win in the last 60 years; JFK they assassinated and Trump they impeached twice and now are trying to throw in prison. Besides those 2 all the others were controlled by Uniparty. Here is the list. Note that only 21 individuals have been either President or VP in last 60 years; Should be closer to 30 individuals if Uniparty didn’t keep serving up Bushes, Clintons, Biden in Pres and VP roles. (Election every 4 years; 60 years/4 years=15 president elections and 15 VP roles for total of 30 pres or VP roles).
1961-1963 John F. Kennedy Jacqueline Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
1963-1965 Lyndon B. Johnson Lady Bird Johnson office vacant
1965-1969 Lyndon B. Johnson Lady Bird Johnson Hubert H. Humphrey
1969-1973 Richard M. Nixon Pat Nixon Spiro T. Agnew
1973-1974 Richard M. Nixon Pat Nixon Gerald R. Ford
1974-1977 Gerald R. Ford Betty Ford Nelson Rockefeller
1977-1981 Jimmy Carter Rosalynn Carter Walter F. Mondale
1981-1989 Ronald Reagan Nancy Reagan George Bush
1989-1993 George Bush Barbara Bush Dan Quayle
1993-2001 Bill Clinton Hillary Rodham Clinton Albert Gore
2001-2009 George W. Bush Laura Bush Richard Cheney
2009-2017 Barack Obama Michelle Obama Joseph R. Biden
2017-2021 Donald J. Trump Melania Trump Mike Pence
Sasha, like a lot of political analysis the articles and ideas mentioned are very accurate. The use of AI now to shore up the 'digital deep state' will only exasperate the analysis. This is the death rattle of an empire expiring. The prototype of the new empire is the monolithic, emerging Chinese and to some extent Indian empires where might makes right It is very hard to visualize a go-forward and upward strategy because no-individual (even the current winners and those with vast resources) can compete with the scale needed. I thought it was elites but it is now mean girls and everyone else.
According to the iron law of all time machine movies, don’t change anything in the past or you will totally muck up the future. Liberals believe we went off the rails under Trump, conservatives blame Obama. Either way the evidence looks pretty compelling that someone broke that law in a big way.
I don’t mean to be glib. Our world is increasingly looking Orewllian. Life expectancy in the US turned down under Obama and is still going down. We need serious changes.
My humble opinion, but this is how we got here: Social Media.
It's a frequent villain, I know, but it's important to understand two facets of social media that have allowed it to be such a destructive force in this day and age.
For the first time in history, social media allowed everyone in the world to publish his or her opinion, indelibly, make it known to the world. What do I mean by "the world." Your world is your colleagues, co-workers, classmates, friend groups, relatives, acquaintances. Succinctly, those you connect with online. Before social media, you might mention your opinion on an issue to a few friends, you might even announce it in class or at work. But, it wasn't indelible, it was easily forgotten, and it wasn't published to the world. Social media changed that. You frequently aren't entitled to re-consider an ill-founded thought from seven years ago. You might even be cancelled when the narrative shifts.
In his book "Superforecasting," Phillip Tetlock cites a study where two groups of experts were asked to make predictions about future events. The first group's predictions were kept private; the second group's were published and made known to the world. Gradually, new facts were revealed that impacted the likelihood of the experts' predictions, and the experts were given the opportunity to revise their predictions in light of the new evidence.
The study found that the experts who published their predictions were far less likely to change their minds when new evidence was presented -- some even refusing to change when facts revealed their predictions were wrong. In short, their reputations were public and their egos became bound up in having their initial prediction vindicated. That's what social media does.
So, why didn't things begin to fall apart right at the advent of these social media networks, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, et al? Well, it took time for those who control the narrative to develop their techniques to match this new phenomenon, social media. With the invention of the printing press, a similar transformation occurred. Suddenly, governments, the rich and the churches lost control of the ability to control the narrative. Printing presses were banned in many areas. But, those who crave and have power developed new techniques -- yellow journalism, controlling media outlets, subtle censorship, etc.
The same is true here. The powers that be are honing their techniques. When Obama won his second election, his team and Facebook bragged about their ability to use the platform to get out the preferred vote. When Trump did the same thing four years later (Cambridge Analytica), it was a national outrage. And, from that point forward, they've been honing and sharpening their techniques for achieving narrative control using social media as the medium.
Their techniques are not perfected. But, they can successfully cement the opinions of much of the social media mob quickly, such that they cannot and will not change their minds, even when presented with evidence that they are wrong. Works on both sides of the aisle, but the medium (social media) only leans one way.
I heard someone once say that it wasn't Trump that killed the body politic and that he was just the EMT that pronounced it dead. I'm going to agree with that because I don't think you can reason with anyone anymore. Ms Stone recently gave us the example of the man who was beaten by the mob just trying to protect his friend's store in Kenosha. I look at that example and of a possible solution but all that comes to mind is the Boz Scaggs tune "It's Over.". Maybe that's where we are and there's no way back.
I know the article you refer to. It was so good I posted it to my social media accounts at Truth and GETTR, whether anyone reads it or not. I have been around long enough to remember where I was when JFK was assassinated. I have taken a keen interest in history beyond what was taught to me in many a school along the way......I attended many because I was a military brat. To truly make sense of what we experience today, one must go back to the days during the FDR administration. There are authors who expose the nastiness behind the headlines for WWII, particularly later in the war, and since then with 9/11 and the Patriot Act, and the military involvement in bio weapons research. Check out writings by Diana West, M. Stanton Evans, Whitney Webb, and Sasha Latyapova, to name a few. It is frightening how the mainstream media covers for the crap perpetrated by elected officials who have done so much to betray all of us, top among them today would be Barack Obama and Joe Biden IMO. Bless you, Sasha, for asking questions and raising doubts about all of it!
Siegel is right to object to the fascist label for this leviathan, as it really is not a good description (though I admit to having used that label for want of a better term. I guess I'm a "brainwashed zealot"). But what should we call it? The censorship industrial complex is certainly an accurate description of part of what is going on, but the CIC is simply a tool to achieve broader ideological, political, and financial aims.
Fascism is defined in M-W as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition"
This does not describe this thing we are dealing with because:
(1) the regime does not exalt nation or race above the individual, but instead exalts ideological conformity, institutional power, and collective action over the individual. Some may object that the movement does exalt race above the individual (despite its open contempt for "nation"), but this isn't really accurate. This is not, say, a black nationalist movement. Race is part of the ideology that holds the system together, but it is really the ideology itself, not race per se, that is being exalted over the individual.
(2) the regime does not "stand for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader..." Instead, it is a decentralized authoritarian system headed by an ideologically unified ruling class, using their leadership positions in government, corporations (esp. tech), and NGOs to impose autocracy through myriad mechanisms. They are not united in the figure of a dictator, but instead bound together by an egregore, which is defined in Wikipedia (yeah, I know, it's part of the regime) as "an occult concept representing a non-physical entity that arises from the collective thoughts of a distinct group of people." This non-physical entity takes the place of the dictator in the traditional fascist regime, which is what makes this thing so slippery and ephemeral. Thus, it could be said this regime "stands for a decentralized authoritarian system comprised of government, corporations, media, and civil society and headed by an egregore."
(3) While this system does enforce severe social regimentation, I don't believe it is accurate to say it enforces severe economic regimentation. The corporate sector is pretty much free to do its thing so long as the actors involved remain beholden to the egregore. Generous corporate and NGO welfare is definitely part of the system, but the economic component of the system really can't be described as severely regimented.
(4) "Forcible suppression of opposition" is also not a great descriptor for this thing. Much of the suppression occurs by very subtle and covert means, as we see in the Twitter Files. The suppression of opposition occurs through information warfare, as opposed to, say, gulags. It can be better described as "suppression of opposition through information warfare techniques."
So we arrive at something like the following definition: "a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts ideological conformity, institutional power, and collective action above the individual and that stands for a decentralized authoritarian system comprised of government, corporations, media, and civil society and headed by an egregore, severe social regimentation, expansive corporate welfare, and suppression of opposition through information warfare techniques."
Patriot Act was also used against the American People. Just a few examples: TSA and the wholesale surveillance of American citizens (under pretenses) as exposed by Edward Snowden.
The article was an amazing overview. We have allowed this "ministry of truth" and fact-checking apparatus to take over. The only way I see to stop it is for all of us to connect and support those who seek out and speak truth...like Sasha Stone. In spite of the apparatus, the truth about Covid and the jabs is slowly coming out, the truth about the Hunter laptop is coming out (where is the indictment?). We need to strengthen the sources and networks of truth. God bless Jacob Siegel for writing this.
It started years ago. WW2 spy machine put on guard against the red menace. Amping up over the decades but still out word looking. Then went into overdrive secondary to the bush administration patriot act. They started looking more inward. Starting with 'Muslim' terrorists. That's at least what they said to the public. In reality, over the next 3 presidents Obama, Trump and Biden they started looking at you. I mean you, me, us. I know most on this site are Trump folks, but this issue is a both party/ una party/ deep state thing. Trump guys were using it as well. Not sure the solution. I've always been a big believer in term limits but since this is both sides don't think that would even help at this point.
Good summary by Siegel. I think the totalitarian threat is very real and needs to be confronted. But there's a hurdle that goes by the name of Trump. He is now in the way. He is being used by the authoritarians to further their goals. How? They use Trump as a distraction. They, along with their Pravda-like media partners, put all the focus on him and his controversial personality. They enflame the hatred of the morons with lies and exaggerations and, when nobody is looking at anything else but Trump, they extend their power grab. Make no mistake, Democrats want Trump to be the R candidate in 2024. Alvin Bragg's actions are designed to help Trump win the primary. But they know they can whip Trump in the general election. They've done it twice already. At this point Trump is driven by ego and narcissism. If he really cared what was best for the country he would help Republicans get behind somebody sane and electable who can bring about a real course correction. These are really dangerous times.
Just finished reading it. Very good stuff. It kind of seems like after the Soviet Union collapsed we were euphoric and thought we had won, but instead their ghost has arisen in the form of the Democratic Party, over time, and a fusion of it with our ruling classes and deep state. You can see it with their treatment of Trump, which looks very much like the old adage of Lavrentia Beria, that if you show him the criminal he'll show you the crime. Trump offended and threatened them and so they had/have to get him no matter what. With that sort of an attitude I don't know how more people don't see the threat posed by them.
The article ends with this:"The old human arts of conversation, disagreement, and irony, on which democracy and much else depend, are subjected to a withering machinery of military-grade surveillance .. ." These old arts have already been destroyed by the MDM surveillance regime so well described in the article. Outside of perhaps some intellectual circles and online discourse, conversation, disagreement, and irony is dead. Conversation outside of the superficial and mundane is either an echo chamber or immediate hostility. How sad we no longer dare to have a civil conversation with those with disagree with but it is no longer possible. It is a scary prospect that AI is going to take over the tasks, but honestly, the war is already won.
Sasha, I just finished reading (as in literally, last night) the memoir of General Richard Taylor, the son of General and President Zachary Taylor, who was at the Charleston convention in 1860 and became a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army, and was one of the last to surrender his command, almost a month after Appomattox. It is very eye-opening. He told how he met with Thadeus Stevens, one of the leaders of the Radical Republicans. Stevens told him that if he had his way, the white population of the South would have been eliminated (as in hung and bayoneted) and all Southern property distributed to the negroes. Sherman is quoted as having said the same thing. I know you have an interest in the Civil War. This is an important book you should read. It's available on Amazon in Kindle. Taylor told how that after he surrendered to Union General Canby, who he knew, one of the German immigrant Union generals proceeded to lecture him on being an American, over Canby and other officers' protest. Taylor responded that his family had been in America since 1608 and had played a part in its founding, and that he knew what being an American was, unlike this German Forty-Eighter.
Just want to let you know I appreciate your articles and I'm glad you made the transition away from the left. I made that change a long time ago from being a Maoist communist to an American patriot. Look forward to your future material.
On positive steps we might take: how about starting chapters of the “30% group”--those of us not snowed by the various psyops? Or t-shirts so we can recognize each other?
We have no idea what the future holds. Think about how many things happening today that nobody predicted, that were total surprises. Hell, 20 years ago liberals were loving The X-FILES and cheering on Mulder and his pursuit of the truth and the Lone Gunmen and their fight against big government deep state baddies experimenting on American citizens. Today liberals are on the side of the government and laugh at people who talk about government conspiracies. I have faith in one thing; the leftoids attempt to fundamentally transform America will fail. Something totally unexpected with happen to thwart their plans
We are on this journey together. The arrows will fly against us...shields up. We will prevail but there will be casualties. Stand for FREEDOM. Never surrender!
The United States responded with a build-up of 170,000 troops in 2007. This build-up gave greater control to Iraq's government and military. In 2008, President Bush agreed to a withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq. The withdrawal was completed under Barack Obama in December 2011."
IMO, this country took a sharp downward spiral around the time Obama took office. Before that time things seemed to be in check. Social media was also tolerable. For some reason everything changed after Obama took office. I’m not blaming him but something happened around that time.
That being said, someone give me a Time Machine so I can go back to the late 90s. For me those were great times.
This is from an interview with Joe Rogan and Michael Schallenberg.
Do we know when this began? Like when did they infiltrate these organizations? Because it's not just Twitter, right?
Michael: Oh no, absolutely not. That's part of what was so terrifying. It was all of the social media companies, including Wikipedia by the way, which we don't talk about enough. And all of the mainstream news organizations are being organized.
Really what you're looking at is an apparatus that was created during the War on Terror over the last 20 years, starting after 9/11. After that there was a battle against ISIS because ISIS was successfully recruiting on social media. Then you get the big event: Brexit, first, in 2016, and then Trump's election. At that point, the establishment just absolutely freaks out.
There were a lot of different motivations. One of the motivations was just to blame Facebook, to blame social media, for Trump's victory. It was never true. I don't really think anybody really believed it. There was never any good evidence that whatever Russians did had much of any influence — any measurable influence — on the outcome of the campaign. But they started to scapegoat the social media companies as a way to get control over them.
Then, in 2017, two things happen. The Department of Homeland Security declares, as part of its mission protecting election infrastructure, the “media and information environment.” It's creepy and patronizing and it's a power move. That's the first thing that happens. Then, they create something called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security to supposedly protect the media environment from foreign influence.
They also created something called the Foreign Influence Task Force within the FBI to start policing domestic speech on these platforms. They start organizing all the social media companies to participate in these meetings. You had Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook in here and there's a critical moment where you ask about the Hunter Biden laptop. And he goes, “Yeah, in the summer of 2020, all these FBI guys come to us saying there's going to be a hack-and-leak operation involving Hunter Biden.”
This is super-suspicious because, as everybody now knows, the FBI had Hunter Biden's laptop in December 2019.
By the way, I was a victim of the Hunter Biden laptop disinformation. I voted for Biden. I thought that the laptop was Russian disinformation. I bought the whole thing.
I read this whole essay today, and it’s a long one. My question: why is this not eliciting a shit ton of self reflection or at least a modicum of interest in the legacy media?
Sasha, our generation grew up knowing that free speech was the bedrock of our constitutions and country. I didn't know anyone who was pro censorship. It's interesting times we live in, because many of those who fought for freedom of expression, and even the freedom to be challenged and not coddled in college--what happened?
On a related note, we need a different word for rigging an election meeting stealing ballots, and social media attempts to sway voters. One is completely unacceptable. The other we have to live with to an extent, but the government using tax dollars to fund organisations to create censorship is unacceptable.
I read this yesterday, and immediately wanted to share it, but anyone who would be willing read it already knows, and anyone who doesn't know won't want to read it. It's the never-ending circle of blind oblivion. Every time I'm tempted to stop reading articles like this and stop worrying about how far off the rails we are getting, I think of how much worse it would be if I added myself to the oblivion.
"A state organized on the principle that it exists to protect the sovereign rights of individuals, is being replaced by a digital leviathan that wields power through opaque algorithms and the manipulation of digital swarms"
Aka, the "Deep State". There is also the concept of groupthink, which drives the great majority of Deep State behavior. Like the "Banality of Evil" that drove German citizens to acquiescence (if not outright complicity) with the evil perpetrated in their name, the Deep State moves on its own with little central command.
Can the Deep State be defeated? That is the question of the age.
Something monstrous indeed. These past 2* years under Biden administration (a President that is embarrassingly incompetent and a cabinet filled with activists with no knowledge of the department they oversee). The MSM ignores all the blunders. We are funding a war with no end in sight and one US has stirred. Biden’s pullout of Afghanistan is never brought up, but people need to remember how many citizens and even service members are still stuck over there. Billions of weapons left behind along with Bagram Air Force Base. Biden’s war on fossil fuels has decimated our nation’s energy security and greatly damaged our economy. Every step this administration takes further damages our nation and our security. His covid mandates have hurt so many, weakened our military, and damaged our airlines’ safety.
Seigel's piece is outstanding--and something many of us have thought, if not with as much detail or all the same specifics, for a while now. We are in the final stages of a coup d'etat beyond even politics in the democratic, left-right, or Democrat-Republican, sense. It was best described by Orwell in his book-within-the-book, the one by Emmanuel Goldstein, Oligarchic Collectivism, the book with which O'Brien taunts Winston Smith in 1984. It shows us the "managerial revolution" described by James Burnham, whose real significance was understood only by Orwell. His classic novel of totalitarianism--based pointedly on western societies, not just the Communist East--describes how something that might be based on Wall Street and Madison Avenue (or the British correlatives) goes totalitarian, becomes a full corporate state. He saw how liberal democracy contains the seeds if its own supersession in an ideological meta-state. Socialism means not the abolition of private property in the classic Marxian conceit, but mechanisms of total social control through perpetual emergency, demonization of internal as well as external enemies, propaganda and methods of thought control (beyond the shaping of opinion) made possible by modern technologies and the systemic abuse of language--all for the purpose of keeping in power a governing elite no longer capable of managing anything for the good of the nation yet unable to let go of power and make room for new leaders. Socialism means that an elite governs in the name of "society" or "our democracy" or whatnot, which justifies its deployment of any means whatsoever, in reality though only for itself at the expense of society. Davos. Supposedly all for the sake of society or global humanity--but actually for the likes of Kerry and Schwab and their crowd. That is where we are now, the consummation of a totalitarian revolution from above in the works for a while but now in its final stages.
Like many of you, for the umpteenth time, I am once again struggling to find persuasive words to broach sharing such information so it doesn't fall on deaf ears.
I had all but given up on this years ago; however, the situation is becoming dire and reaching a fever pitch of late. Heck, next week may be the start of a civil war in America, for heaven's sake.
How do we get people to think, care, read, comprehend, and react appropriately in their best interest to what is happening?
I plan on sharing the link to Jacob's guide on my substack and for family and friends on Facebook. After speed-reading Jacob's piece, I came up with the following draft.
I need to reread it slowly tomorrow. I want to edit this draft down to something more concise and persuasive. I'm sharing it here in case anyone has suggestions or wishes to borrow any snippets that may help them do the same.
America: Suicide by Ignorance and the Lust for Power
Can we all agree that the world is in turmoil and that America, the leader of the free world, is degenerating into a banana republic at breakneck speed?
There is a lot to the story of America's pending demise. Since it will significantly affect everyone's family and future, we all have a vested interest in getting to the true heart of the matter.
Even the most liberal and progressive among us are becoming uncomfortable with America's trajectory. Well-intentioned people from all walks of life are asking appropriate questions and getting honest answers, unsettling as they are.
Do take the time; this is required reading that our futures depend on.
Rather than rely upon faulty headlines and simple soundbites, it behooves us to take the time to understand the cause and reasons behind what amounts to America's suicide.
The Comprehensive Guide
The author, Jacob Siegel, aptly titles his tome, A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century. Please read it, weep, get mad, discuss it freely, and determine the appropriate actions you and your family could take in response. (see the link below)
With this accurate and insightful warning, there is no excuse for saying we had no idea how far the country had fallen. We are fast approaching a point when it becomes too late to do anything about it.
We are witnessing a parallel between Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany and the modern-day rise of a radical uni party of global elites that have infiltrated and infected our institutions, cultures, and governments across America and the West.
The time for "politics" has passed.
It's not about the political left vs. right; it's about right and wrong, everyday people vs. the super elites; it all boils down to good vs. evil.
It is of existential importance that everyone understands how and why this is happening. Please share this country-saving public information with everyone you hold dear.
Knowledge is power; pursue it patiently and use it wisely.
---
Please correct this: It is not in Compact; the article is in Tablet Magazine.
Obama certainly ginned it all up to a daily push toward dividing us but I think it really began after the 2000 election when the SJC decided that Bush won.
The Democrat cry of "Impeach Bush" started immediately; before he'd even taken office.
And I've never forgotten Democrats circulating (online) an "Apology to the World" for the country electing George Bush, signed by millions of Democrats.
To me, that is when Democrats started The War Against Republicans and it was constant through the eight years of Bush's presidency.
And, you're right. Any criticism of Obama from Day One was called Racism. The Dems couldn't fathom that Republicans found fault with his policies. It HAD to be racism. Couldn't they see that he was the Messiah?
The Twitter Files are only the barest glimpse into the steamroll that is coming.
This has been in place long before 2020.
This is from Democracy Now, back in 2004:
Gov't Quietly Brings Back Total Information Awareness
Reuters has obtained a Congressional report that shows nine months after Congress shut down the controversial Pentagon computer-surveillance program called Total Information Awareness, the U.S. government continues to comb private records and databases to sniff out suspicious activity. Peter Swire, who served as the Clinton's administration's top official said "I believe that Total Information Awareness is continuing under other names."
https://web.archive.org/web/20071114211827/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/03/142239
From Sourcewatch:
The Information Awareness Office is a branch of the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency whose mission is to "imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate and transition information technologies, components and prototype, closed-loop, information systems that will counter asymmetric threats by achieving total information awareness." The IAO is headed by John Poindexter, former National Security Advisor in the Reagan Administration and chief architect of the Iran-Contra Affair...
The IAO's stated mission is to gather as much information as possible about everyone in a centralized location for easy perusal by the United States government, including Internet activity, credit card purchase histories, airline ticket purchases, car rentals, medical records, educational transcripts, driver's licenses, utility bills, tax returns, and any other available data. In essence, the goal of the IAO is to be able to recreate a life history of thoughts and movements for any individual on the planet on demand, which the Bush administration deems necessary to counter the threat of terrorism. Critics claim the very existence of the IAO completely disregards the concept of individual privacy and liberties and is far too invasive and prone to abuse.
The IAO was first mentioned in the media by New York Times reporter John Markoff on February 13, 2002, with few details available as to the agency's role or activities. In the following months, as more and more information emerged about the IAO's full scope, protest among civil libertarians grew over what they claim is the IAO's disturbingly Orwellian mission, especially within the larger framework of other invasive homeland security measures and policies implemented by the Bush administration. Also at issue is the integrity of Poindexter as head of the IAO, as he was convicted on five felony charges for lying to the Congress and deliberately altering and destroying documents pertaining to the Iran-Contra Affair.
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Total_Information_Awareness
I hope it is understood that 9/11 was used as the pretext for creating "Homeland Security" and gave us the "Patriot Act" (which had already been written), the militarization of local police forces, NORTHCOM, the ability of the government to incarcerate anyone without trial by calling them a "terrorist", and much more - in addition to giving us a whole new "enemy" after the collapse of the USSR, thus the "war on terror". This "enemy" was needed in order to justify continuing to spend trillions of $ on the MIC, which includes silicon valley.
You have to understand what Noam Chomsky said:
"Governments regard their own citizens as their main enemy, and they have to protect themselves. That's why you have state secret laws. Citizens are not supposed to know what their government is doing to them."
The rabbit hole is deep on this. It is tied in with the desire to create a one-world government.
Whitney Webb is currently reporting on Jamie Diamond of JPMorgan Chase and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. She reports that they
"...were instrumental in the creation of what would manifest as the 2008 economic crisis. Not unlike some of the events that sparked today’s banking crisis, figures like Jeffrey Epstein, Dimon’s mentor Sandy Weill and the former Treasury Secretaries with close associations with both men, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, appeared to have engaged in actions that would intentionally provoke the collapse of certain banks to further consolidate the banking sector for their benefit. The goal, both then and now, seems to have been a move towards the logical conclusion of the “too big to fail” banking model — the eventual creation of a centralized cartel of mega-banks that dominate, not only commercial banking, but also central banking."
https://unlimitedhangout.com/2023/03/investigative-series/the-rise-of-jamie-dimon/
Again, there is a lot to this and it's been going on for a long time, working toward the goal of what Aldous Huxley called a "scientific dictatorship".
Start pulling on the threads of this and there's no end to it.
If you want a glimpse of what is coming for you, look to the north. In response to the Freedom Convoy, we now have Bill C-11 and C-18, where Trudeau introduces the new terrorist group in Canada, "The Teleban". Their 'G-had', aka government control of everything, is aimed at creating a New World Odour, resulting in Canada being a Hole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Trudeau, who puts the "mess" in messianic, forgets that the Freedom Convoy was not a Protest, but a Statement. Protests are made by slaves begging the masters for mercy, and the response by the Trudeau storm troopers was to trample a little old lady in a walker, confirming the official policy that "The beatings will continue until morale improves". The Freedom Convoy was a completely non-violent Statement supported by millions of Canadians and millions around the world. The message is "We Will Not Comply". No violence, no revolution, we will simply put the government on 'ignore' and proceed to de-tax our civilization. Mr. Biden and Mr. Trudeau, you have lost the trust of the taxed, and the consent of the governed. No Teleban will fix that. We have a civilization to rebuild, let's get busy.
I am half way through the article. I simply cannot wrap my head around how the progressive left can be so authoritarian and self righteous at the same time while lecturing America on how the "other side" is a threat to democracy. It is like a bad dream. Truly Orwellian.
How is it these self promoting intellectuals fail to see the irony and danger in what they are promoting. I guess it comes down to the intoxication of power and the thrill of being surrounding and applauded by a compliant media.
Jon Haidt had a very interesting article recently on how a lot of woke thinking overlaps with mental illness in the sense that a lot of young people lack the critical thinking to go along with their hypersensitized emotional thinking. Their entire world is microaggressions and obsessions around hierarchy and perceived oppression. They need what is referred to as cognitive behavioral therapy to develop the pathways in the brain for critical thinking.
I don't have answers, but I will offer this: Dubya, who I voted for twice, unleashed the government leviathan after Sept 11. He turbocharged what is now the unelected 4th branch of government - the Deep State intelligence agencies. In addition, he granted MFN status to communist China so our globalist wealthy class could achieve their bonus money through cheap labor offshore telling us our costs would go down. How is that working today?
Obama administration came in, took Chinese money, and weaponized it against Americans.
G-d damn Bush. G-d damn Obama for weaponizing it. G-d damn every executive level service officer in the United States federal government. They are the problem.
Sasha, what is happening today is nothing new, but is merely the fruits of foundations laid in the 1850s by European "Forty-Eighters" who came here after their attempts at revolution in Europe, particularly Germany, collapsed. Karl Marx and Fredrick Engles were Forty-Eighters but they stayed in Europe, in England, but they heavily influenced the work of their counterparts on America. They came to the United States and immediately started working to promote revolution here. They were staunch abolitionists and seized on abolition fervor in New England and the "Northwest," now Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin, to start their groundwork, In the century and a half since their philosophies have taken over American academia and are at the root of everything happening today. Donald Trump came along and became the champion of the little people, the very people the German revolutionists and their Communist descendants claim to be seeking to protect.
It's probably too late to stop them, but it's very possible they are the future followers of the Biblical antichrist.
"The human art of politics, which would have required real negotiation and compromise with Trump supporters, was abandoned in favor of a specious science of top-down social engineering that aimed to produce a totally administered society."
The question is: what is to be done about the totality of our administered reality? Though he took a most dreadful political path, Heidegger was right to have deep anxiety about us all becoming enframed by technology, for so we have been and are. There seems to be no exit. We don't even know how to find each other, those of us who are still thinking, outside of the internet. Wasn't it also Heidegger who said: The most thought-provoking thing about our thought-provoking age is that we still are not thinking?
How are we to stake again and anew the human, & the call & challenge to think, from within enframement, psyops & swarming?
I believe that when we focus on Covid as our major problem we are falling into a trap, a trap for our minds that discounts the real danger, the ease with which we have succumbed to mandates. We can see a tremendous amount of human energy being expended on the Covid aspect of what has taken place over the past three years, origins, vaccines, treatments, therapeutic protocol, etc. There is also a significant discussion about lockdowns but i don't think nearly enough about how easily we fell for the lie. So thanks for opening the discussion to try to unravelled what is up.
I didn't yet read the quoted article but 3 years ago i was listening to a delingpod, podcast and he had on a guest, Donald S. Siegel is foundation professor and director at the School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University (Donald.Siegel.1@asu.edu). and they discussed " a massive social experiment " being conducted on us, particularly without our informed consent. Prof Siegel and his partner wrote an article for the Jerusalem Post that's still available and there's a link in my blog post, https://gseine.com/2020/04/10/troubling-thoughts-about-covid-19/
I emailed back and forth with Prof Siegel a couple of time but haven't followed up. It was during the heart of Covid panic in early April, while the inferno was raging an a sane voice was utterly overpowered. largely the concern was the ease with which our society discarded personal autonomy.
Today I see a lot of people looking for a super villain and while there are powerful people playing with human lives to be found, it doesn't explain how we are so willing to do as the say, to so easily and uncomplainingly comply with regulation that have never even seen legislative discussion, that are not formal laws. As a nation, once full of independent thinkers, we can be considered woolly eyed sheep today.
That said though, I personally think it has been made possible by ideas the are embedded deeply in our society., ideas presented years ago by philosophers now long dead. two that come to mind, It's become almost impossible to agree on truth, as the idea we've largely accepts say there is no ultimate truth. Another is the acceptance of expert rule, that we largely accept that we are personally impotence and incompetence in this very complex world.
If we are convinced that we are personal weak we will be doomed to failure in winning back a free society. And the necessity of developing articulate, persuasive arguments to support the cause of freedom must not be ignored if we are to garner supporters. For without assembling ever increasing numbers of independent thinkers, we few will be swept away under a tsunami of ignorance.
It started with FDR
It's an alien and inhuman materialistic darkness formerly called Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub, or simply the Adversary. It's nihilistic and suicidal to humans because it's dedicated to destroying God and every part of His Creation. Men and women are the Lord's most beloved living form, made in His image. Sexuality, the family, individualism, and the common brotherhood and sisterhood of all people are being destroyed as we speak. We're in the final act of a drama that's over 5,000 years old.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about this whole story of corporate statism through media control (among other things) is how many of our fellow citizens, with all the evidence presented, still choose to see nothing, nothing.
The regime in power now is governing as though they will never lose power. I'm beginning to believe they might not. Someone please prove me wrong.
The following is taken from the article, “Kow Tow Now” available on the substack, BigMouth. More is available there on the topic of Chinese hybrid warfare (what Dr Robert Malone calls 5th gen warfare).
Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is often considered a principal architect of the current authoritarian tide sweeping freedom away from western democracies and the United States of America. His father, Eugen Schwab, was managing director at Escher Wyss during WW2, a major supplier of weapons and materials to the Nazi’s 3rd Reich. The Escher Wyss branch of the company in Ravensburg, Germany, (which Eugen managed) used prisoners of war and forced laborers during the Nazi’s war effort. The company also made a turbine for a Norwegian hydroelectric power station used in the construction of an experimental reactor intended for military-use plutonium production. Klaus Schwab was himself a managing board member of Escher Wyss from 1967-1970.
Although his experience of authoritarian Nazism with his father and in a personal capacity is clear, it is highly doubtful that Klaus Schwab is personally the originator of the extensive, meticulously crafted strategies which have been implemented over decades to effect the systematic destruction of western civilization. The characteristics of these strategies and their long-term implementation directly parallel the 24 warfare types articulated by the Communist Party of China in strategy papers publicly released since Chairman Mao first began to broaden his horizons to include dominance of the entire planet. The CCP began to develop their comprehensive national power goals as the foundation of a uniquely Chinese foreign policy more than 40 years ago.
What is clear is that Klaus Schwab has been a close collaborator with the CCP and their expansionist goals. In 1992, Klaus Schwab and World Economic Forum launched a program initially called Global Leaders of Tomorrow.
This program then became the non-profit Forum for Young Global Leaders. It was created in Switzerland in 2005 using $1 million in grant money by Schwab in his role as founder of the World Economic Forum. Their website glowingly reports, “as a group of over 600+ professionals across over 90 countries worldwide, YGL Alumni are engaged in activities that aim to improve the state of the world. They are CEO's of Fortune 500 corporations, in royal houses, in leading NGO's and national non-profits, public figures in civil society, sports personalities, and more.” In an address in 2017 at Harvard, Schwab said, “What we are very proud of, is that we penetrate the global cabinets of countries with our WEF Young Global Leaders." While speaking during an interview with Tian Wei, the host of the “World Insight” program on the Beijing-based China Global Television Network, Schwab discussed the recent G20 and B20 meetings in Bali, Indonesia where he gave a speech to world leaders on how his “Great Reset” agenda is going to “restructure” society in their countries.
The Authoritarian State is here. And they want us to know it.
I think its extremely significant that, inter alia, the IRS sent a agent to Matt Taibbi’s home on the day he was testifying to Congress, (see story below). This IRS visit, I think, is of a piece with the various unannounced SWAT raids on the homes of nonviolent people which have been happening the last few years, such as the completely unnecessary forceful arrest of retired economics professor Peter Navarro, and indeed, the pending arrest of Trump himself.
more on Taibbi's unannounced IRS visit below:
WASHINGTON — The White House declined to comment Wednesday on an IRS agent’s visit to journalist Matt Taibbi’s home on the same day that he testified to a House subcommittee investigating the “weaponization” of government.
The surprise March 9 door-knock came as the “Twitter Files” collaborator described his reporting on how the government pressured social media platforms to censor online speech.
The Post asked at the first White House press briefing since the news of the visit broke Monday about whether the visit was “part of a campaign to harass or intimidate [Taibbi] related to his journalism.”
White House spokesman John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, declined to provide a substantive reply.
Read more: https://news.google.com/search?q=irs%20taibbi&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen
It started a long time ago; the Deep State Uniparty has only missed twice and let 2 non-Establishment presidents win in the last 60 years; JFK they assassinated and Trump they impeached twice and now are trying to throw in prison. Besides those 2 all the others were controlled by Uniparty. Here is the list. Note that only 21 individuals have been either President or VP in last 60 years; Should be closer to 30 individuals if Uniparty didn’t keep serving up Bushes, Clintons, Biden in Pres and VP roles. (Election every 4 years; 60 years/4 years=15 president elections and 15 VP roles for total of 30 pres or VP roles).
1961-1963 John F. Kennedy Jacqueline Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
1963-1965 Lyndon B. Johnson Lady Bird Johnson office vacant
1965-1969 Lyndon B. Johnson Lady Bird Johnson Hubert H. Humphrey
1969-1973 Richard M. Nixon Pat Nixon Spiro T. Agnew
1973-1974 Richard M. Nixon Pat Nixon Gerald R. Ford
1974-1977 Gerald R. Ford Betty Ford Nelson Rockefeller
1977-1981 Jimmy Carter Rosalynn Carter Walter F. Mondale
1981-1989 Ronald Reagan Nancy Reagan George Bush
1989-1993 George Bush Barbara Bush Dan Quayle
1993-2001 Bill Clinton Hillary Rodham Clinton Albert Gore
2001-2009 George W. Bush Laura Bush Richard Cheney
2009-2017 Barack Obama Michelle Obama Joseph R. Biden
2017-2021 Donald J. Trump Melania Trump Mike Pence
2021- Joseph R. Biden Jill Biden Kamala Harris
Sasha, like a lot of political analysis the articles and ideas mentioned are very accurate. The use of AI now to shore up the 'digital deep state' will only exasperate the analysis. This is the death rattle of an empire expiring. The prototype of the new empire is the monolithic, emerging Chinese and to some extent Indian empires where might makes right It is very hard to visualize a go-forward and upward strategy because no-individual (even the current winners and those with vast resources) can compete with the scale needed. I thought it was elites but it is now mean girls and everyone else.
According to the iron law of all time machine movies, don’t change anything in the past or you will totally muck up the future. Liberals believe we went off the rails under Trump, conservatives blame Obama. Either way the evidence looks pretty compelling that someone broke that law in a big way.
I don’t mean to be glib. Our world is increasingly looking Orewllian. Life expectancy in the US turned down under Obama and is still going down. We need serious changes.
My humble opinion, but this is how we got here: Social Media.
It's a frequent villain, I know, but it's important to understand two facets of social media that have allowed it to be such a destructive force in this day and age.
For the first time in history, social media allowed everyone in the world to publish his or her opinion, indelibly, make it known to the world. What do I mean by "the world." Your world is your colleagues, co-workers, classmates, friend groups, relatives, acquaintances. Succinctly, those you connect with online. Before social media, you might mention your opinion on an issue to a few friends, you might even announce it in class or at work. But, it wasn't indelible, it was easily forgotten, and it wasn't published to the world. Social media changed that. You frequently aren't entitled to re-consider an ill-founded thought from seven years ago. You might even be cancelled when the narrative shifts.
In his book "Superforecasting," Phillip Tetlock cites a study where two groups of experts were asked to make predictions about future events. The first group's predictions were kept private; the second group's were published and made known to the world. Gradually, new facts were revealed that impacted the likelihood of the experts' predictions, and the experts were given the opportunity to revise their predictions in light of the new evidence.
The study found that the experts who published their predictions were far less likely to change their minds when new evidence was presented -- some even refusing to change when facts revealed their predictions were wrong. In short, their reputations were public and their egos became bound up in having their initial prediction vindicated. That's what social media does.
So, why didn't things begin to fall apart right at the advent of these social media networks, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, et al? Well, it took time for those who control the narrative to develop their techniques to match this new phenomenon, social media. With the invention of the printing press, a similar transformation occurred. Suddenly, governments, the rich and the churches lost control of the ability to control the narrative. Printing presses were banned in many areas. But, those who crave and have power developed new techniques -- yellow journalism, controlling media outlets, subtle censorship, etc.
The same is true here. The powers that be are honing their techniques. When Obama won his second election, his team and Facebook bragged about their ability to use the platform to get out the preferred vote. When Trump did the same thing four years later (Cambridge Analytica), it was a national outrage. And, from that point forward, they've been honing and sharpening their techniques for achieving narrative control using social media as the medium.
Their techniques are not perfected. But, they can successfully cement the opinions of much of the social media mob quickly, such that they cannot and will not change their minds, even when presented with evidence that they are wrong. Works on both sides of the aisle, but the medium (social media) only leans one way.
I heard someone once say that it wasn't Trump that killed the body politic and that he was just the EMT that pronounced it dead. I'm going to agree with that because I don't think you can reason with anyone anymore. Ms Stone recently gave us the example of the man who was beaten by the mob just trying to protect his friend's store in Kenosha. I look at that example and of a possible solution but all that comes to mind is the Boz Scaggs tune "It's Over.". Maybe that's where we are and there's no way back.
I know the article you refer to. It was so good I posted it to my social media accounts at Truth and GETTR, whether anyone reads it or not. I have been around long enough to remember where I was when JFK was assassinated. I have taken a keen interest in history beyond what was taught to me in many a school along the way......I attended many because I was a military brat. To truly make sense of what we experience today, one must go back to the days during the FDR administration. There are authors who expose the nastiness behind the headlines for WWII, particularly later in the war, and since then with 9/11 and the Patriot Act, and the military involvement in bio weapons research. Check out writings by Diana West, M. Stanton Evans, Whitney Webb, and Sasha Latyapova, to name a few. It is frightening how the mainstream media covers for the crap perpetrated by elected officials who have done so much to betray all of us, top among them today would be Barack Obama and Joe Biden IMO. Bless you, Sasha, for asking questions and raising doubts about all of it!
Siegel is right to object to the fascist label for this leviathan, as it really is not a good description (though I admit to having used that label for want of a better term. I guess I'm a "brainwashed zealot"). But what should we call it? The censorship industrial complex is certainly an accurate description of part of what is going on, but the CIC is simply a tool to achieve broader ideological, political, and financial aims.
Fascism is defined in M-W as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition"
This does not describe this thing we are dealing with because:
(1) the regime does not exalt nation or race above the individual, but instead exalts ideological conformity, institutional power, and collective action over the individual. Some may object that the movement does exalt race above the individual (despite its open contempt for "nation"), but this isn't really accurate. This is not, say, a black nationalist movement. Race is part of the ideology that holds the system together, but it is really the ideology itself, not race per se, that is being exalted over the individual.
(2) the regime does not "stand for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader..." Instead, it is a decentralized authoritarian system headed by an ideologically unified ruling class, using their leadership positions in government, corporations (esp. tech), and NGOs to impose autocracy through myriad mechanisms. They are not united in the figure of a dictator, but instead bound together by an egregore, which is defined in Wikipedia (yeah, I know, it's part of the regime) as "an occult concept representing a non-physical entity that arises from the collective thoughts of a distinct group of people." This non-physical entity takes the place of the dictator in the traditional fascist regime, which is what makes this thing so slippery and ephemeral. Thus, it could be said this regime "stands for a decentralized authoritarian system comprised of government, corporations, media, and civil society and headed by an egregore."
(3) While this system does enforce severe social regimentation, I don't believe it is accurate to say it enforces severe economic regimentation. The corporate sector is pretty much free to do its thing so long as the actors involved remain beholden to the egregore. Generous corporate and NGO welfare is definitely part of the system, but the economic component of the system really can't be described as severely regimented.
(4) "Forcible suppression of opposition" is also not a great descriptor for this thing. Much of the suppression occurs by very subtle and covert means, as we see in the Twitter Files. The suppression of opposition occurs through information warfare, as opposed to, say, gulags. It can be better described as "suppression of opposition through information warfare techniques."
So we arrive at something like the following definition: "a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts ideological conformity, institutional power, and collective action above the individual and that stands for a decentralized authoritarian system comprised of government, corporations, media, and civil society and headed by an egregore, severe social regimentation, expansive corporate welfare, and suppression of opposition through information warfare techniques."
So what do we call this thing?
Patriot Act was also used against the American People. Just a few examples: TSA and the wholesale surveillance of American citizens (under pretenses) as exposed by Edward Snowden.
The article was an amazing overview. We have allowed this "ministry of truth" and fact-checking apparatus to take over. The only way I see to stop it is for all of us to connect and support those who seek out and speak truth...like Sasha Stone. In spite of the apparatus, the truth about Covid and the jabs is slowly coming out, the truth about the Hunter laptop is coming out (where is the indictment?). We need to strengthen the sources and networks of truth. God bless Jacob Siegel for writing this.
It started years ago. WW2 spy machine put on guard against the red menace. Amping up over the decades but still out word looking. Then went into overdrive secondary to the bush administration patriot act. They started looking more inward. Starting with 'Muslim' terrorists. That's at least what they said to the public. In reality, over the next 3 presidents Obama, Trump and Biden they started looking at you. I mean you, me, us. I know most on this site are Trump folks, but this issue is a both party/ una party/ deep state thing. Trump guys were using it as well. Not sure the solution. I've always been a big believer in term limits but since this is both sides don't think that would even help at this point.
Good summary by Siegel. I think the totalitarian threat is very real and needs to be confronted. But there's a hurdle that goes by the name of Trump. He is now in the way. He is being used by the authoritarians to further their goals. How? They use Trump as a distraction. They, along with their Pravda-like media partners, put all the focus on him and his controversial personality. They enflame the hatred of the morons with lies and exaggerations and, when nobody is looking at anything else but Trump, they extend their power grab. Make no mistake, Democrats want Trump to be the R candidate in 2024. Alvin Bragg's actions are designed to help Trump win the primary. But they know they can whip Trump in the general election. They've done it twice already. At this point Trump is driven by ego and narcissism. If he really cared what was best for the country he would help Republicans get behind somebody sane and electable who can bring about a real course correction. These are really dangerous times.
Just finished reading it. Very good stuff. It kind of seems like after the Soviet Union collapsed we were euphoric and thought we had won, but instead their ghost has arisen in the form of the Democratic Party, over time, and a fusion of it with our ruling classes and deep state. You can see it with their treatment of Trump, which looks very much like the old adage of Lavrentia Beria, that if you show him the criminal he'll show you the crime. Trump offended and threatened them and so they had/have to get him no matter what. With that sort of an attitude I don't know how more people don't see the threat posed by them.
Feeling like this long Tablet piece requires an “executive summary” section
The article ends with this:"The old human arts of conversation, disagreement, and irony, on which democracy and much else depend, are subjected to a withering machinery of military-grade surveillance .. ." These old arts have already been destroyed by the MDM surveillance regime so well described in the article. Outside of perhaps some intellectual circles and online discourse, conversation, disagreement, and irony is dead. Conversation outside of the superficial and mundane is either an echo chamber or immediate hostility. How sad we no longer dare to have a civil conversation with those with disagree with but it is no longer possible. It is a scary prospect that AI is going to take over the tasks, but honestly, the war is already won.
Sasha, I just finished reading (as in literally, last night) the memoir of General Richard Taylor, the son of General and President Zachary Taylor, who was at the Charleston convention in 1860 and became a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army, and was one of the last to surrender his command, almost a month after Appomattox. It is very eye-opening. He told how he met with Thadeus Stevens, one of the leaders of the Radical Republicans. Stevens told him that if he had his way, the white population of the South would have been eliminated (as in hung and bayoneted) and all Southern property distributed to the negroes. Sherman is quoted as having said the same thing. I know you have an interest in the Civil War. This is an important book you should read. It's available on Amazon in Kindle. Taylor told how that after he surrendered to Union General Canby, who he knew, one of the German immigrant Union generals proceeded to lecture him on being an American, over Canby and other officers' protest. Taylor responded that his family had been in America since 1608 and had played a part in its founding, and that he knew what being an American was, unlike this German Forty-Eighter.
Sasha,
Just want to let you know I appreciate your articles and I'm glad you made the transition away from the left. I made that change a long time ago from being a Maoist communist to an American patriot. Look forward to your future material.
Taibbi's interview with the author is worth reading as well:
https://www.racket.news/p/tablets-grand-opus-on-the-anti-disinformation
On positive steps we might take: how about starting chapters of the “30% group”--those of us not snowed by the various psyops? Or t-shirts so we can recognize each other?
We have no idea what the future holds. Think about how many things happening today that nobody predicted, that were total surprises. Hell, 20 years ago liberals were loving The X-FILES and cheering on Mulder and his pursuit of the truth and the Lone Gunmen and their fight against big government deep state baddies experimenting on American citizens. Today liberals are on the side of the government and laugh at people who talk about government conspiracies. I have faith in one thing; the leftoids attempt to fundamentally transform America will fail. Something totally unexpected with happen to thwart their plans
Excellent article! Thanks for sharing. This piece puts much of the current censorship nonsense into context.
We are on this journey together. The arrows will fly against us...shields up. We will prevail but there will be casualties. Stand for FREEDOM. Never surrender!
God bless you Sasha!
I have a business, a Masters, a PhD. A house, 2 kids and 2 dogs. I've got a life.
Yes he did. I don't know when you decided to stop reading stuff but let me help you here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War
"
The United States responded with a build-up of 170,000 troops in 2007. This build-up gave greater control to Iraq's government and military. In 2008, President Bush agreed to a withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq. The withdrawal was completed under Barack Obama in December 2011."