Looks like a showdown in Arizona this election season. Humorously playing straight to Amber/Red.
Nice job creating association between Kelley and the ever popular Pelosi and Biden.
Thank you for another example of Information Warfare and Propaganda that is further leading the USA into a mindset where violence is perceived to be the solution, but at the same time is obviously doomed to failure because reality will inevitably bulldoze over absurd fantasies.
For me it would be humorous if I for a minute had faith that the intended audience isn’t so deluded that they think a few shots from a gun will “set things right”.
History repeats itself. Prior to every armed conflict the aggressors believe violence will be a short and easy solution, but it never is in reality.
I think the humor can be taken at multiple levels.
At Red, Proud Boyz will be amped up, right along with anger responses from the Left. But anyone with a shred of emotional maturity will see it as humorous satire at a political “showdown” between good and evil. It does definitely try to evoke strength, fortitude, or if you dont like westerns oppression, victimization etc…
You keep bringing this up as if armed conflict is a foregone conclusion. Not something that I would see as foregone or even slightly probable. Sure Portland and Seattle and St Loius and Chicago will continue having saddening violence, but that is their choice as a community.
It’s already happened. Not just in the areas you consider “Left”, but also especially in the conservative heartland.
Maybe you are envisioning a conventional war and that is where the disconnect is? I’m thinking more like the breakdown of Yugoslavia. We already see there is a moral readiness to create concentration camps by paid contractors who went completely unmonitored, which allowed the rape of minors was almost completely ignored. The whole separation of families was a dress rehearsal for a kind of ethnic cleansing which the vast majority of Americans don’t want to face happened.
The whole problem is that Americans used to think they were somehow morally superior because of our constitution, victory in WWII, and whatever. That kept us somewhat in check but in the background all these (no other word for it - evil) actions continued decade after decade mostly ignored. Yes, and you are an example of this.
Once the ball of moral rationalization fueled by tribalism has been set in motion, it’s very difficult to stop. And it’s already been set in motion. Events are unfolding now that aren’t possible to reverse - the best you can hope to do is see where it is going and get out of the way.
Because also we see that the US lost a great deal of global influence during Trump’s years. He worked to isolate us from our allies. It’s not inconceivable that Russia and / or the USA could gather enough influence abdicated by a Trump administration to impose global economic sanctions on the USA, lol.
It’s not really important to me if you see it or not. I just see you as one of a fast herd of Americans just barreling top speed down a cliff. Of course you don’t see it.
At it’s deepest level, it’s sad and pitiful, but yes there are other levels if you don’t want to look at that.
@raybennett - You remind me of Alex Jones @ Infowars.
I do not share your pessimism in humanity and America.
The data is the same - the perspective is different. I don’t watch Alex Jones - but I have watched him enough to figure out what he is about and how he interprets the same data.
And yes, it’s also part of the data that his ideas are hugely popular. I can’t ignore that. Without Alex Jones and a hundred other similar names, yes - I’d be just in fantasy land. But millions of people have accepted not just Alex Jones’ data, but the conclusions that he draws.
I don’t think it’s pessimistic of me to have lived in Central Europe during the Bosnia conflict and to be aware of exactly what happened. I’d say in fact it’s ignorance to ignore it (literally the same root of the word). Europe also thought that kind of thing could not happen in Europe - until it actually did.
Here’s my childhood flash back when I saw the advert.
Disinformation or Education?
Neither
“Where’s the Beef”?
The article to me clearly uses hyperbolic language to describe things in a way that sounds like more is going on than actually is.
No I’d say propaganda if anything.
Again, again, again - what is the crime, specifically? Who did what, and what is the specific law that was broken?
And this is Hillary Clinton - so why is this relevant now other then hope people will forget this is 2022 and not the 2016 election?
Hillary Clinton is the obvious go-to distractor from stories like this:
All those unsecured communications and emails in the Trump administration.
Kind of stupid for the right to bring up Hillary at this point - it’s much easier to “connect the dots”
"oh yeah - what was the thing they were chanting “Locke Her up” about? Oh yeah, mishandling government documentation and communication.
Which is exactly the specific crimes that Trumps circle is going to face now.
Heads up. DHS says there are some bad apples in the barrel sowing MDM, just below their request for partners in settling some of the 140,000 fully vetted 110% good guys from Afghanistan .
MDM is a cool acronym .
The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors. These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence. Mass casualty attacks and other acts of targeted violence conducted by lone offenders and small groups acting in furtherance of ideological beliefs and/or personal grievances pose an ongoing threat to the nation.
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/02/07/dhs-issues-national-terrorism-advisory-system-ntas-bulletin
Sarah Palin vs NYTimes… not good optics…
The funny thing here is that the Conservative press has the most to fear from holding the press accountable for false allegations and stories based on zero facts.
So while yes, it would be slightly uncomfortable for the Liberal Press to be held to a higher standard, it would completely expose most of the Conservative media that if they bothered to think about it (which I doubt they do) they would be all out against Palin.
That’s the funny thing we see about the recent mutation of Conservativism into Trump PostConservativism - obliviously hypocritical and how exposed they are by their own strategies.
Meanwhile, yet more investigations into Trump’s supporters as they eagerly allow themselves to be manipulated by any “MDM” campaign that uses a dog whistle:
GoFundMe did not independently verify donor identities and accepted foreign funds for a campaign that had as one objective the dissolution of Parliament — just months after a free and fair election, in which 60 per cent of the electorate voted for parties supporting vaccine mandates.
Any Canadian fundraiser will tell you this number is impossible to achieve organically within Canada. This group is not a registered charity, non-profit or even a trucking organization. Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly is on record saying there is significant influence and money pouring in from the United States.
In related news:
https://globalnews.ca/news/8537707/canadian-government-report-china-espionage-manipulation/
No worries. Optics are awesome. Judge determined that no reasonable jury could find malice so dismissed case while jury was deliberating. Justice prevails, journalistic freedom lies on.
Transparency prevails and justice served when the Federal judge also threw out James Bennett’s (editor in charge) testimony and family connections. Stalwart DNC elite family. Bennett as with most of the NYT staff were badgered for information they could not have known.
Folks heading out for a pub crawl in Portland’s Pearl District. Miss the good old days of staying at the Nines Hotel and strolling downtown for great brews and amazing dinners.
Yes - that video looks more like some kind of former Soviet or Eastern block country in the 1990’s than the USA. But also important to remember is that this is just the logical and expected consequences of fundamental problems in the USA. And also a future logical and expected consequence of all this is that it will not be contained to just a few locations. It’s the nature of people living in 1st tier to react in fear and a need to “one up”. So for years we’ve had armed militants on the right intimidating protesters - and actual shootings at protests where the armed militants on the right felt they were “protecting property” or whatever reason and needed to shoot people. Now, it’s just a natural reaction that Antifa is arming themselves - and will inevitably shoot up some MAGA protesters. It won’t end there, of course, but will escalate.
And it won’t be isolated to just the cities. Again, we have seen that the right is completely eager to go from their rural or suburban neighborhoods and into the cities for a show of force as a “counter protest” to BLM rallies or Antifa activity, and are armed and in full battle gear even for peaceful protests. So it will just be an increasing trend for Antifa to also arm themselves and not limit these armed demonstrations to just their neighborhoods. From there, as things escalate just looking at the writing on the wall I don’t see any really good outcome for anyone.
Increased protests and violence will see increasing strain on the supply chain across the board - as we see with the Canadian border and other incidents. So nobody will be isolated from the consequences of escalation. One minor but telling example is I myself do see more incidences of vacant shelves in supermarkets and select products being just unavailable. Toilet paper and other products at the start of COVID has repeated itself with various products in the last 2 years. One example - car manufacturers do not have enough microchips to build enough new cars to meet demand. This limitation on production of a major product has tremendous effects at all levels of the economy. Again, all of these breakdowns in the supply chain were things I’ve been talking about for almost 10 years now. For anyone really just looking at the data, it’s not a surprise.
But here is the thing - Antifa WANTS anarchy and economic breakdown. You understand that’s what Antifa wants. They WANT the system to collapse. So all this escalation is exactly meeting their needs. The right, n the other hand, wants Despotic control - which we can see clearly in their selected Avatar of Donald Trump. But there won’t be despotic control now unless we completely shut down the internet, lol. Trump and his followers create a great deal of fear and today people are living in fear of Despotic control - as we see in the explosion in popularity of various conspiracy theories where some kind of cabal is always controlling and behind every major world event. As things escalate, the numbers of Antifa will just grow larger and larger in direct proportion to how successful MAGA and Trumpism is. Even if a person is morally opposed to violence and killing (as in many New Age conspiracy types), that is fairly easy to short circuit with a fear narrative, such as videos of the Far right making a show of force against peaceful protests in full battle gear. You or I can argue against who was right and wrong or whatever about various videos - but in vain, pretty much. People draw their own conclusions and fear tends to override any logical decision making in 1st Tier Humans.
So yeah, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. The longer the lead time in planning and preparing for the worst, the easier it is. For example, it’s almost impossible to sell a house and move after a crisis has started (such as I learned trying to sell a house during COVID in April 2020, lol) but farily easy to sell a house and change geographical location and even career during a period of no crisis. It’s also important to realize that crises are coming closer and closer together, with shorter periods in between. They used to be once a decade while now they seem to be every few years.
Now, an example of no spin and no propaganda. Just a factual statement.
The accounting firm Mazars USA said a decade’s worth of financial statements from the Trump Organization can no longer be viewed as reliable, according to a letter made public Monday by New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of her civil probe into the former president’s company.
As someone who works in that industry, that statement is jaw dropping. That is exactly the 100% job of Public Accounting firms and exactly why they are “Certified” and not Jim-bob at the local bar. And 10 years!!???
Another interesting fact is that it’s a crime to sign financial statements that are incorrect, which was a law passed in the early 2000’s Further, a Chief Financial Officer or Accountant or “responsible person” cannot claim “ignorance” or “whoops” defense because that is their entire job to be authoritative in these matters and the burden is on them to make sure they are knowledgeable - because that is 100% their job.
So now conjecture - who signed those financial reports and who exposed themselves to criminal liability, and what testimony or evidence can investigators extort out of them in return for leniency.
Oh, another fun fact - In order to take Truth Social to be a publicly traded company, Trump’s company had to submit financials to the SEC, and Trump’s financial submissions to the SEC are not reliable according to the accountants that prepared them. Once again, the very act of Trump trying to escalate and dominate over social media has ironically exposed him to investigation by the SEC in ways lay people I guess don’t understand, lol. But I’ll try to use layman’s language: anyone who signed any Trump financial statements that led up to his purchase of Truth Social is truly and thoroughly fucked. There is no other word to really describe the nuances of the situation they are in.
Here’s a description of another company unrelated to Trump, but it gives an idea of what’s at stake:
https://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=4294976271
Follow up - quite often with Right wing media stories, additional facts and perspectives come out that cast shadows on the original stories. Such is the case with this story.
I now see that it is irresponsible behavior by Durham that jeopardizes a criminal trial.
Sussmann now has legal grounds to claim bias and conflict of interest on the part of the Special counsel and this issue can come back again and again in arguments by Sussmann all the way through appeals if it even gets that far.
The two conclusions I arrive at is either this is just sloppy and unprofessional work on the part of Durham - or his intent is not to win any prosecution, but instead his only intent is to win politically, which is what Sussmann is accusing.
Perfect! Its critical for us to all remember that there are several “information domains” going on.
- Legal domain - investigation, indictments, trials…
- Public Relations domain - “The Spin”, “The Narrative” - or perhaps what we might call in the Integral Domain as assessment of Internal Quadrant motivations
It would be intellectually dishonest to think these are entirely distinct. Which that’s why we have in the Legal Domain:
- Investigations
- Indictments
- Trails
- Appeals
- etc…
I do think moving forward, you will see much better delineation between political, press/public relations, and legal domains moving forward. An originalist leaning SCOTUS will help stamp out the intellectual fantasies, akin to what you have just done. You have jumped into a purely political motivation “narrative” for Durham based on very little information. From everyone that’s spoken about Durham, NONE have claimed he is a politically motivated man. But they have ALL said he is an amazingly thorough legal practitioner.
So Ray, you might want to consider validity of your off-the-cuff-shoot-from-the-hip characterization of Durham. But it is one scenario, as unlikely as this scenario might be, that Durham is a political “operative”.