Two of the last remaining journalists in American face off against the histrionic dummies of the Democratic establishment, valiantly attempt to save free speech
I completely share your reaction to the hearing - and to the idea that it was the twisted crones exposing the decrepit “mean girls clique” that now is the left. I only take issue with your last sentence:
“I only hope the liberals wake up before they drag us all down with them. “
I know it’s been said before but it bears repeating: these people are not liberals. They are many things but liberal is not one of them. I do hope that *true* liberals wake up; most of the formerly liberal people I know have been buried under a cloak of fear. This is almost unfathomable to me because I always felt we were the brave ones.
 Second, we cannot rely on those who are dragging us down to wake up. We may gain supporters but time is rapidly running out. We need to fight with the army we have. Is an astounding blessing that that army includes people like Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi
I know what you mean, but in a way I feel like it's too late for parsing the word liberal. Something in the liberal mindset caused this abortion, the sense that "we" had figured it all out and could trust in expertise. I go back and forth on it, though, because even now I still feel like I am one in the strictest definition of the word -- open, live and let live -- and I don't have a better terminology to describe the grotesque parody we are being asked to watch.
10000% yes. I think you're right - it's a hard thing to let go of, strangely. But a grotesque parody is, indeed, what it has become - and sometimes even important things have to get chucked off the proverbial sled. We probably don't have the slack for this one.
Leftism was relatively healthier decades ago, but apparently contained within it the genetic predisposition, so to speak, of the disease it developed more frankly a few years ago -- of its current transmogrification into a Frankenstein monster of Fascist Communist Batshit.
I always thought of myself as liberal, too, but in terms of the meaning of 'liberal', not only have the goalposts shifted, but we are on a different pitch altogether! When my first child was born (22 years ago) I was living in Germany and joined a La Leche League group. It was full of liberal stay-at-home mums, who were pro-natural everything (anti-vaxxers, pro home births, home-schoolers, etc..) That was all considered liberal back then. But now this group would probably be placed in the alt-right/tradwives/misinformation/conspiracy theory group!
All those things absolutely would be considered “far-right” now. It’s because the organized left has somehow become everything we (as a part of the traditional left) fought against.
Mindless obedience to authority, fear driven, they’ve become the small-c-conservative puritans. Question the cult thinking and you are punished. Excommunicated. Shunned and ridiculed. Question nothing, just cower.
I grew up in the 60s; the heroes of those times would literally retch.
Yes, very strange how pro-establishment the left is now. The tables have completely turned. Also, with economic values. Most of us on the left appreciated supporting small local business, were mostly anti-corporation, anti-globalisation and felt that the unrestricted free market was exploitative. It was more about devolution rather than large faceless organisations. Now the opposite is true.
This week Tucker Carlson described men like Schiff on the J6 committee as "weak, therefore vicious." Taibbi's treatment by Democrats this week was appalling. He handled himself with grace and his commentary on the experience is priceless. But the treatment of Taibbi et al was deferential compared to what Democrat lawmakers put Brett Kavanaugh through. Never before have I personally seen in real time anything as vicious as what I witnessed watching the Kavanaugh hearings live. I happened to be in a hotel over those days and so had access to a TV (which I would never normally waste time on). They truly treated him like an ax murderer, cutting him off, berating him, belittling him, slandering him. If you want a picture of what this country is up against - totalitarians in the making - you cannot do better than watch the Kavanaugh hearings - including the spine chilling, coordinated disruptions by audience members and, for good measure, the mobs assaulting the doors of the Supreme Court. Yet, compared to "The Insurrection" TM there was "nothing to see there"!
It's getting more and more embarrassing to be an American.
Every day more and more skill-free people talk down to those of us that are not in their club.
Sometimes I think they actually believe that we are unable to process information on our own and that we need these elitist hall monitors to prevent us from hearing information that might be harmful to us, or worse yet encourage us to join the next fascist-in-waiting.
It's also getting more and more exhausting to be an American, which I suppose could be the point.
I'm an old enough dog to remember when the ACLU defended the Nazi-wannabe's marching in Skokie. Now we have the ACLU fighting against free speech. Then it was the Right who were the true danger to our freedoms. Now we it's the Left. This AM I read a great essay by Joe Lonsdale (https://blog.joelonsdale.com/p/to-save-america-restore-our-frontier) that I think is apposite. The Congressional clowns – on both sides – need to be held accountable. We can only do that at the ballot box for so many of them. Why have so many voters bought into their BS?
It was despicable of their interrogators to repeatedly and disrespectfully mispronounce Taibbi & Schellenberger's names. A bitchy tactic, which the two gentlemen kindly ignored. They evinced dignity under fire and insult.
If you want a less depressing take on the hearings (or at least a chuckle produced by commentary from an insider), tune in to The Free Press, TGIF yesterday. It is written by Bari Weiss' wife Nellie, who in addition to the rest of the week's newsworthy topics, adds her 2 cents to the questioning of MT about Bari's contribution to the Twitter Files.
That particular Industrial Complex is just one among a mosaic of Industrial Complexes (including Covid, Climate, CRT, Ukraine, Transgender/LGTBQ, Jan6/Anti-Trump) which we reasonably infer is internationally coordinated and reflects not merely organic development, but a concerted CONSPIRACY to deconstruct the West in order to replace it with a totalitarian globalist new world order. Hopefully a critical mass of anti-Leftists will realize this before it's too late.
One thing that Bill Clinton said that is actually worth repeating is "It's the economy stupid." when referring to the driving force behind elections. In the UK, the vast majority of people couldn't give a toss about the MSM, Woke, etc and they'll just go on ignoring all the garbage (Note how popular 'beach days' were during the Covid pandemic) They are likely to kick out the Tories because they failed economically (the irony that the Tories basically followed Brown's economic policies and Starmer will too may escape them) So all this Net Zero, ESG and general wokery will simply be a froth pushed by the MSM until?
Until the economic catastrophe heading our way, and by our I mean the West in particular but the globe in general, hits. Then see how compliant we proles will be.
The Ukraine war isn't the only thing splitting the world in half. Another is the fact that the west, and the EU in particular follows political paths whose consequences are catastrophic BUT who push the consequences onto the 3rd world - see Sri Lanka - no fertilisers because of gas/war shortages combining with economic corruption in their elite. Pakistan/Bangladesh no gas because the EU paid 3 or 4 times the price to take their 'share' of the globe's LNG all thanks to EU incompetence with Net Zero and then this war.
Next West Africa's veg from N Africa going to the EU because they could pay more when other policies had caused a drop in production of veg, noticeably tomatoes and so they hoovered up N Africa's produce.
Soon the West won't be able to afford to outbid the rest of the world so easily, the debts incurred will either default or bring down economies and banking systems. THEN the woke elites won't survive. The only question is how they fall - by the ballot box, OR if the catastrophe is bad enough, by revolution?
I suspect in the UK by the ballot box, but given the elite propensity to try and fiddle any democratic vote, it wouldn't surprise me to discover it gets violent.
If you want to know what the real situation is in the UK, look to the BBC - NOT because of what they report, BUT because of what they suppress. Since the Hancock WhatsApps started to appear in the Telegraph, the BBC ceased allowing any comments on anything other than sport (Their HYS = Have Your Say).
They were infamous for censoring anything that wasn't the Government line during Covid - hence their closing down now the reality is exposed. But closing down didn't' include sport HYS - until?
Gary Lineker shot his mouth off!
BBC suspended him and it ballooned from there. The Blackburn/Stoke Championship football match HYS became a 'political football'. Go and look at how many 'posts' have been removed - and they weren't talking about either Blackburn or Stoke's performance . It went political.
As I write, NO HYS at all on the BBC. Now this isn't because the BBC object to the Wokeratii, it is because the normally placid proles started weighing in with none Woke observations and the BBC can't cope, it has no answers so it simply stops any discussion. That is the indicator of just how many in the UK simply don't bother with the Elite message. As long as they are left to themselves and they can work and play, they do so. BUT screw the economy and damage their livelihoods and so ensure they can neither work nor play, then they'll start to take a great interest in Wokery and the Elites.
The Woke Elite's grip on power won't survive an economic catastrophe, because the proles can't simply ignore that and get on with life. Nor is the globalist agenda going to survive. Ukraine has split the world, and the Globalists of the West are basically siding with say WHO, UN etc. ALL of those are simply useful tools for the BRICS etc to get back at the West and US Hegemony. Western Globalists are going to discover they brought the rope that is going to hang them when the BRICS are able to shrug off the chains that the US Petro $ and Western Banking systems bind them with. Iran and Saudi burying the hatchet in a Chinese inspired deal? Saudi saying they'll no longer require the $ to purchase oil. The Western hegemony is in danger, and Wokery in the US won't save it, it will destroy it even quicker.
There is a reason Central Bankers are suddenly buying gold. Pity Gordon Brown flogged off so much UK gold, we sure could do with it and more now. PS You can buy your own gold, it might be worth owning some.
As I mentioned on another post, I believe we are in a 'Fin de siècle' period or as the Chinese are reputed to say "Interesting Times" The most intriguing question for me is, which Western State will survive? It may be arrogance, but I suspect England is going to wake up before any of the others. I even wonder if the US ceases to be a member of the Anglo-sphere, or even Eurosphere, but sinks into becoming a Latin-American banana republic - albeit with Nuclear Weapons, or will States attempt to secede! Who knows? But I think being in England is the place to be because eventually we English get fed up, and when we do, the Elites get stuffed. Brexit was but one example, the problem is we also quickly get fed up of politics and so keep leaving them to get on with it. However, we proles are NOT happy with the backsliders in UK politics and IF we can't work or afford to play, watch out!
I agree with you about the UK, or England anyway. I live in NI which, like the other two statelets, is a mini Soviet bureaucracy. But the conservative (note the small 'c') nature of the place is its own buttress against the worst of woke mania. Plus we have a few decent farmers so I'm hoping we won't starve in the worst case scenario. I'm glad I live here.
I see two competing narratives about the US 1. it is still hegemonic and using its still formidable power to cause all this fuckery and 2. it is gravely injured, like a bull with the sword in its neck, the vultures are circling overhead.
HYS = Have Your Say. Whenever the BBC has an article there may or may NOT be a comments section opened up. The Comments section is described by the BBC as 'Have Your Say'
Somewhat ironic because during the past 3 years whenever I posted 'my say' pointing out that Sweden for example hadn't locked down or wasn't suffering the same level of mortality etc as lockdown states or I put up a link to Prof Heneghan and the Oxford University Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, or linked to the uselessness of masks, including Dr Jenny Harries, UK Deputy Medical Director saying in the hands of the public masks were worse than useless, the posts were 'removed' Often removed with the claim that the likes of Prof Heneghan was spreading 'false news'
Now Matt Hancocks WhatsApp messages show that the Prof (along with many labelled conspiracy theorists or anti-vaxxers) was almost always right, and the Govt simply wanted them 'shut up'.
Since the WhatApp messages appeared the BBC, which always censored the Prof, stopped any HYS comments being allowed on anything but the sports pages. Presumably because they'd have seen them covered in posts saying "We told you so!" and not just by me!
They did however allow posts on Football, until last night when Gary Lineker's suspension and all the support he got meant the only HYS the BBC had open, which was Blackburn v Stoke's Championship game became a forum for and against Lineker and the 'strikers'. The BBC removed massive numbers of posts and closed down the HYS and now no HYS is open for anything.
Most amusing. So much for 'free speech' and BBC impartiality. Personally I think it time to defund the BBC by scrapping the licence fee.
As for the US , I'm not sure the two narratives you mention are mutually exclusive. I believe it certainly is wounded. Ironically the Fed and its debasement of the US $ is a self inflicted wound as is the charge to the left and the adoption of woke values. BUT that wound, because the $ is the world's reserve currency, is also inflicted to various degrees on the rest of the planet. It and the EU are not exactly winning friends in the RoW at present.
The rest of the planet aren't too keen on the US or EU for various reasons, hence them being the 'Vultures' circling the $ for a start. The moment the $ ceases to be the world's reserve currency is the moment the US either gets real and returns to what it was, or it continues with its wokery and becomes an ex-hegemon - though, like Russia, it will be a nuclear power and so dangerous, but it won't be able to afford its world policeman role, it does that on the back of the Saudi's Petro $ support. Nuclear powered carrier groups are very expensive.
The Saudi's are slowly changing their mind re the $. Slowly being the key. Meanwhile China and Russia were building up massive reserves of gold. The western observer thinking behind that was that at some point they would introduce a gold backed 'hard' currency as opposed to soft, fiat $ currency and the $ would be under attack.
The war in Ukraine and China's own problems may have postponed that day, but I can't be sure as the price of gold is rising AND it is claimed to be due to Central Bankers buying the stuff.
Certainly the Ukraine war has polarised the world, and Pakistan for one isn't likely to be a great supporter of the EU given it's recent blackouts were because the EU having sanctioned Russia, shut down Nuclear power stations & gone Green, then discovered it needed masses of LNG to make up for Russia AND the failure of wind and hydro renewables to deliver. So it started bidding 3, 4 or more times the spot price for gas and Pakistan to name but one 3rd world country couldn't afford that price so the EU hoovered up 3rd world gas.
That was one of the causes of Pakistan's power blackouts. All the above and more are why I think we are in an historic change in the world order. The only concern for me is the US kick starting a Nuclear exchange somewhere in the world, and the UK Government, good poodles that we are, becoming involved.
The above sounds alarmist, BUT even in my own household, members of my family refuse to believe anything I tell them. They happily got vaccinated, though thank heaven it wasn't multiple mRNA vaccines. They had one or those plus an AZ vaccine. Explaining that they took part in the greatest vaccine trial in history doesn't seem to faze them. It didn't stop them catching Covid. They wear masks, despite the scientific evidence on them, they thought lockdown of the healthy was sensible - despite everything I told them that would happen coming true, they simply don't want to know. But then I've a Science Degree - they are arts and languages. If it does all go wrong being right is small consolation, and the people I've been reading for years predicted a lot of this. Only 2 weeks ago they talked of the dangers to the US banking system AND specifically mentioned the bank that went bust last week.
Here in the UK there was no MSM reporting on the fact that pre Xmas the Government handed over a billion or so to the BoE to 'bail it out' for their Bond losses (Truss lifted the lid on that but the MSM blamed her for the effect, rather than praising her for exposing what was already there).
What type of economy can survive on the BoE baling out Govt with QE & low interest rates for decades, then that Govt bailing out the BoE because of the losses on bond prices, for the BoE to then bail out the Govt with QE again when the pension funds had to start selling bonds and a doom loop appeared?
It is all a house of cards. BUT you don't hear of almost any of that in the MSM.
Another thing you don't hear much of is what is going on in Holland at the moment, though you do get to hear of tomato shortages, and they blame Brexit!!!
Unlike your farmers in NI the Dutch are concerned that the Dutch Govt is determined to send them back to the dark ages, to do a Sri Lanka on them. There was a big demonstration by the Dutch farmers this weekend ,but nothing on the BBC so far. Euronews has something of it, and that it isn't just Dutch. Belgian farmers too were protesting. These are EU "Green" laws and they are going to devastate Dutch and Belgian agriculture with all the consequences for that.
All these diverse issues in the most powerful western communities coming together are why I think we are witnessing that Fin de Siecle event. The Ruling Elite simply won't stop until it all falls down around our ears.
Good points. Regarding the BBC, I've noticed there are some stories that simply aren't covered by them. A few days ago I came across a story on GB news about an Iraqi immigrant knifing a teen boy in order to be deported (apparently, he couldn't afford to leave the U.K) I wondered how accurate this was and if other papers were reporting the story, and so I checked. I couldn't find anything about it from the BBC, or the Guardian. Only so-called right-wing press were reporting it. Is it the usual fear of being called racist/islamophobic that left/liberal press don't report it? Or do they think people cannot be trusted with facts? (as with Covid) If so, this suppression of facts will have unintended consequences. People will trust the MSM less and less.
So called "right-wing" press are often the only people reporting the whole truth today. Left-wing press (which many once respectable organizations have sadly become) want to protect our delicate little ears from the truth that might interfere with whatever narrative they are pushing that day.
It's sad to see we that can't trust the media. I was once a dedicated Guardian reader and thought the BBC was excellent. But now it's all about ideology, rather than facts.
It truly depresses and angers me to see people who force, by any means available, absolute adherence to a chosen dogma refer to themselves as "liberals." By definition, these people are fascists, products of a political system in which "absolute adherence to an authoritarian dogma is required, and often enforced with violence" (dictionary quote). Who counts it as nonviolent if it is deemed "mostly peaceful" while the city burns and people die in the background? What happened to us?
Political hack propagandists are not statesmen or stateswomen. Lies are lies whether they are fashionably woke or not. The fact that so many are deceived is disturbing, but we are in end times after all. To recognize falsity, it sure helps to know the truth. The idol of wokeness can be recognized as the counterfeit that it is when we have enough biblical literacy to recognize the real deity and enough wisdom to follow Him.
I completely share your reaction to the hearing - and to the idea that it was the twisted crones exposing the decrepit “mean girls clique” that now is the left. I only take issue with your last sentence:
“I only hope the liberals wake up before they drag us all down with them. “
I know it’s been said before but it bears repeating: these people are not liberals. They are many things but liberal is not one of them. I do hope that *true* liberals wake up; most of the formerly liberal people I know have been buried under a cloak of fear. This is almost unfathomable to me because I always felt we were the brave ones.
 Second, we cannot rely on those who are dragging us down to wake up. We may gain supporters but time is rapidly running out. We need to fight with the army we have. Is an astounding blessing that that army includes people like Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi
I know what you mean, but in a way I feel like it's too late for parsing the word liberal. Something in the liberal mindset caused this abortion, the sense that "we" had figured it all out and could trust in expertise. I go back and forth on it, though, because even now I still feel like I am one in the strictest definition of the word -- open, live and let live -- and I don't have a better terminology to describe the grotesque parody we are being asked to watch.
10000% yes. I think you're right - it's a hard thing to let go of, strangely. But a grotesque parody is, indeed, what it has become - and sometimes even important things have to get chucked off the proverbial sled. We probably don't have the slack for this one.
Leftism was relatively healthier decades ago, but apparently contained within it the genetic predisposition, so to speak, of the disease it developed more frankly a few years ago -- of its current transmogrification into a Frankenstein monster of Fascist Communist Batshit.
I always thought of myself as liberal, too, but in terms of the meaning of 'liberal', not only have the goalposts shifted, but we are on a different pitch altogether! When my first child was born (22 years ago) I was living in Germany and joined a La Leche League group. It was full of liberal stay-at-home mums, who were pro-natural everything (anti-vaxxers, pro home births, home-schoolers, etc..) That was all considered liberal back then. But now this group would probably be placed in the alt-right/tradwives/misinformation/conspiracy theory group!
All those things absolutely would be considered “far-right” now. It’s because the organized left has somehow become everything we (as a part of the traditional left) fought against.
Mindless obedience to authority, fear driven, they’ve become the small-c-conservative puritans. Question the cult thinking and you are punished. Excommunicated. Shunned and ridiculed. Question nothing, just cower.
I grew up in the 60s; the heroes of those times would literally retch.
Yes, very strange how pro-establishment the left is now. The tables have completely turned. Also, with economic values. Most of us on the left appreciated supporting small local business, were mostly anti-corporation, anti-globalisation and felt that the unrestricted free market was exploitative. It was more about devolution rather than large faceless organisations. Now the opposite is true.
This week Tucker Carlson described men like Schiff on the J6 committee as "weak, therefore vicious." Taibbi's treatment by Democrats this week was appalling. He handled himself with grace and his commentary on the experience is priceless. But the treatment of Taibbi et al was deferential compared to what Democrat lawmakers put Brett Kavanaugh through. Never before have I personally seen in real time anything as vicious as what I witnessed watching the Kavanaugh hearings live. I happened to be in a hotel over those days and so had access to a TV (which I would never normally waste time on). They truly treated him like an ax murderer, cutting him off, berating him, belittling him, slandering him. If you want a picture of what this country is up against - totalitarians in the making - you cannot do better than watch the Kavanaugh hearings - including the spine chilling, coordinated disruptions by audience members and, for good measure, the mobs assaulting the doors of the Supreme Court. Yet, compared to "The Insurrection" TM there was "nothing to see there"!
It's getting more and more embarrassing to be an American.
Every day more and more skill-free people talk down to those of us that are not in their club.
Sometimes I think they actually believe that we are unable to process information on our own and that we need these elitist hall monitors to prevent us from hearing information that might be harmful to us, or worse yet encourage us to join the next fascist-in-waiting.
It's also getting more and more exhausting to be an American, which I suppose could be the point.
Demoralisation and exhaustion are absolutely the point. Which is why it's important to resist both, understandable as they may be.
Still resisting!
I'm an old enough dog to remember when the ACLU defended the Nazi-wannabe's marching in Skokie. Now we have the ACLU fighting against free speech. Then it was the Right who were the true danger to our freedoms. Now we it's the Left. This AM I read a great essay by Joe Lonsdale (https://blog.joelonsdale.com/p/to-save-america-restore-our-frontier) that I think is apposite. The Congressional clowns – on both sides – need to be held accountable. We can only do that at the ballot box for so many of them. Why have so many voters bought into their BS?
Well, if its "clowns – on both sides – " and you think the ballot box is the answer, who do you suppose people should vote for?
Those who won’t waffle on free speech and freedom.
Well, that’s helpful.
Good advice!
It was despicable of their interrogators to repeatedly and disrespectfully mispronounce Taibbi & Schellenberger's names. A bitchy tactic, which the two gentlemen kindly ignored. They evinced dignity under fire and insult.
If you want a less depressing take on the hearings (or at least a chuckle produced by commentary from an insider), tune in to The Free Press, TGIF yesterday. It is written by Bari Weiss' wife Nellie, who in addition to the rest of the week's newsworthy topics, adds her 2 cents to the questioning of MT about Bari's contribution to the Twitter Files.
I will look that up, thanks!
Thank you for distilling the 3 hour testimony down for us so well.
𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎 “𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝-𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑥” 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 “𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡[𝑖𝑛𝑔] 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒."
That particular Industrial Complex is just one among a mosaic of Industrial Complexes (including Covid, Climate, CRT, Ukraine, Transgender/LGTBQ, Jan6/Anti-Trump) which we reasonably infer is internationally coordinated and reflects not merely organic development, but a concerted CONSPIRACY to deconstruct the West in order to replace it with a totalitarian globalist new world order. Hopefully a critical mass of anti-Leftists will realize this before it's too late.
I think a lot of anti-leftists have realised it. Whether or not it's too late is another matter.
One thing that Bill Clinton said that is actually worth repeating is "It's the economy stupid." when referring to the driving force behind elections. In the UK, the vast majority of people couldn't give a toss about the MSM, Woke, etc and they'll just go on ignoring all the garbage (Note how popular 'beach days' were during the Covid pandemic) They are likely to kick out the Tories because they failed economically (the irony that the Tories basically followed Brown's economic policies and Starmer will too may escape them) So all this Net Zero, ESG and general wokery will simply be a froth pushed by the MSM until?
Until the economic catastrophe heading our way, and by our I mean the West in particular but the globe in general, hits. Then see how compliant we proles will be.
The Ukraine war isn't the only thing splitting the world in half. Another is the fact that the west, and the EU in particular follows political paths whose consequences are catastrophic BUT who push the consequences onto the 3rd world - see Sri Lanka - no fertilisers because of gas/war shortages combining with economic corruption in their elite. Pakistan/Bangladesh no gas because the EU paid 3 or 4 times the price to take their 'share' of the globe's LNG all thanks to EU incompetence with Net Zero and then this war.
Next West Africa's veg from N Africa going to the EU because they could pay more when other policies had caused a drop in production of veg, noticeably tomatoes and so they hoovered up N Africa's produce.
Soon the West won't be able to afford to outbid the rest of the world so easily, the debts incurred will either default or bring down economies and banking systems. THEN the woke elites won't survive. The only question is how they fall - by the ballot box, OR if the catastrophe is bad enough, by revolution?
I suspect in the UK by the ballot box, but given the elite propensity to try and fiddle any democratic vote, it wouldn't surprise me to discover it gets violent.
If you want to know what the real situation is in the UK, look to the BBC - NOT because of what they report, BUT because of what they suppress. Since the Hancock WhatsApps started to appear in the Telegraph, the BBC ceased allowing any comments on anything other than sport (Their HYS = Have Your Say).
They were infamous for censoring anything that wasn't the Government line during Covid - hence their closing down now the reality is exposed. But closing down didn't' include sport HYS - until?
Gary Lineker shot his mouth off!
BBC suspended him and it ballooned from there. The Blackburn/Stoke Championship football match HYS became a 'political football'. Go and look at how many 'posts' have been removed - and they weren't talking about either Blackburn or Stoke's performance . It went political.
As I write, NO HYS at all on the BBC. Now this isn't because the BBC object to the Wokeratii, it is because the normally placid proles started weighing in with none Woke observations and the BBC can't cope, it has no answers so it simply stops any discussion. That is the indicator of just how many in the UK simply don't bother with the Elite message. As long as they are left to themselves and they can work and play, they do so. BUT screw the economy and damage their livelihoods and so ensure they can neither work nor play, then they'll start to take a great interest in Wokery and the Elites.
The Woke Elite's grip on power won't survive an economic catastrophe, because the proles can't simply ignore that and get on with life. Nor is the globalist agenda going to survive. Ukraine has split the world, and the Globalists of the West are basically siding with say WHO, UN etc. ALL of those are simply useful tools for the BRICS etc to get back at the West and US Hegemony. Western Globalists are going to discover they brought the rope that is going to hang them when the BRICS are able to shrug off the chains that the US Petro $ and Western Banking systems bind them with. Iran and Saudi burying the hatchet in a Chinese inspired deal? Saudi saying they'll no longer require the $ to purchase oil. The Western hegemony is in danger, and Wokery in the US won't save it, it will destroy it even quicker.
There is a reason Central Bankers are suddenly buying gold. Pity Gordon Brown flogged off so much UK gold, we sure could do with it and more now. PS You can buy your own gold, it might be worth owning some.
As I mentioned on another post, I believe we are in a 'Fin de siècle' period or as the Chinese are reputed to say "Interesting Times" The most intriguing question for me is, which Western State will survive? It may be arrogance, but I suspect England is going to wake up before any of the others. I even wonder if the US ceases to be a member of the Anglo-sphere, or even Eurosphere, but sinks into becoming a Latin-American banana republic - albeit with Nuclear Weapons, or will States attempt to secede! Who knows? But I think being in England is the place to be because eventually we English get fed up, and when we do, the Elites get stuffed. Brexit was but one example, the problem is we also quickly get fed up of politics and so keep leaving them to get on with it. However, we proles are NOT happy with the backsliders in UK politics and IF we can't work or afford to play, watch out!
I agree with you about the UK, or England anyway. I live in NI which, like the other two statelets, is a mini Soviet bureaucracy. But the conservative (note the small 'c') nature of the place is its own buttress against the worst of woke mania. Plus we have a few decent farmers so I'm hoping we won't starve in the worst case scenario. I'm glad I live here.
I see two competing narratives about the US 1. it is still hegemonic and using its still formidable power to cause all this fuckery and 2. it is gravely injured, like a bull with the sword in its neck, the vultures are circling overhead.
PS what is HYS? 🤣
HYS = Have Your Say. Whenever the BBC has an article there may or may NOT be a comments section opened up. The Comments section is described by the BBC as 'Have Your Say'
Somewhat ironic because during the past 3 years whenever I posted 'my say' pointing out that Sweden for example hadn't locked down or wasn't suffering the same level of mortality etc as lockdown states or I put up a link to Prof Heneghan and the Oxford University Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, or linked to the uselessness of masks, including Dr Jenny Harries, UK Deputy Medical Director saying in the hands of the public masks were worse than useless, the posts were 'removed' Often removed with the claim that the likes of Prof Heneghan was spreading 'false news'
Now Matt Hancocks WhatsApp messages show that the Prof (along with many labelled conspiracy theorists or anti-vaxxers) was almost always right, and the Govt simply wanted them 'shut up'.
Since the WhatApp messages appeared the BBC, which always censored the Prof, stopped any HYS comments being allowed on anything but the sports pages. Presumably because they'd have seen them covered in posts saying "We told you so!" and not just by me!
They did however allow posts on Football, until last night when Gary Lineker's suspension and all the support he got meant the only HYS the BBC had open, which was Blackburn v Stoke's Championship game became a forum for and against Lineker and the 'strikers'. The BBC removed massive numbers of posts and closed down the HYS and now no HYS is open for anything.
Most amusing. So much for 'free speech' and BBC impartiality. Personally I think it time to defund the BBC by scrapping the licence fee.
As for the US , I'm not sure the two narratives you mention are mutually exclusive. I believe it certainly is wounded. Ironically the Fed and its debasement of the US $ is a self inflicted wound as is the charge to the left and the adoption of woke values. BUT that wound, because the $ is the world's reserve currency, is also inflicted to various degrees on the rest of the planet. It and the EU are not exactly winning friends in the RoW at present.
The rest of the planet aren't too keen on the US or EU for various reasons, hence them being the 'Vultures' circling the $ for a start. The moment the $ ceases to be the world's reserve currency is the moment the US either gets real and returns to what it was, or it continues with its wokery and becomes an ex-hegemon - though, like Russia, it will be a nuclear power and so dangerous, but it won't be able to afford its world policeman role, it does that on the back of the Saudi's Petro $ support. Nuclear powered carrier groups are very expensive.
The Saudi's are slowly changing their mind re the $. Slowly being the key. Meanwhile China and Russia were building up massive reserves of gold. The western observer thinking behind that was that at some point they would introduce a gold backed 'hard' currency as opposed to soft, fiat $ currency and the $ would be under attack.
The war in Ukraine and China's own problems may have postponed that day, but I can't be sure as the price of gold is rising AND it is claimed to be due to Central Bankers buying the stuff.
Certainly the Ukraine war has polarised the world, and Pakistan for one isn't likely to be a great supporter of the EU given it's recent blackouts were because the EU having sanctioned Russia, shut down Nuclear power stations & gone Green, then discovered it needed masses of LNG to make up for Russia AND the failure of wind and hydro renewables to deliver. So it started bidding 3, 4 or more times the spot price for gas and Pakistan to name but one 3rd world country couldn't afford that price so the EU hoovered up 3rd world gas.
That was one of the causes of Pakistan's power blackouts. All the above and more are why I think we are in an historic change in the world order. The only concern for me is the US kick starting a Nuclear exchange somewhere in the world, and the UK Government, good poodles that we are, becoming involved.
The above sounds alarmist, BUT even in my own household, members of my family refuse to believe anything I tell them. They happily got vaccinated, though thank heaven it wasn't multiple mRNA vaccines. They had one or those plus an AZ vaccine. Explaining that they took part in the greatest vaccine trial in history doesn't seem to faze them. It didn't stop them catching Covid. They wear masks, despite the scientific evidence on them, they thought lockdown of the healthy was sensible - despite everything I told them that would happen coming true, they simply don't want to know. But then I've a Science Degree - they are arts and languages. If it does all go wrong being right is small consolation, and the people I've been reading for years predicted a lot of this. Only 2 weeks ago they talked of the dangers to the US banking system AND specifically mentioned the bank that went bust last week.
Here in the UK there was no MSM reporting on the fact that pre Xmas the Government handed over a billion or so to the BoE to 'bail it out' for their Bond losses (Truss lifted the lid on that but the MSM blamed her for the effect, rather than praising her for exposing what was already there).
What type of economy can survive on the BoE baling out Govt with QE & low interest rates for decades, then that Govt bailing out the BoE because of the losses on bond prices, for the BoE to then bail out the Govt with QE again when the pension funds had to start selling bonds and a doom loop appeared?
It is all a house of cards. BUT you don't hear of almost any of that in the MSM.
Another thing you don't hear much of is what is going on in Holland at the moment, though you do get to hear of tomato shortages, and they blame Brexit!!!
Unlike your farmers in NI the Dutch are concerned that the Dutch Govt is determined to send them back to the dark ages, to do a Sri Lanka on them. There was a big demonstration by the Dutch farmers this weekend ,but nothing on the BBC so far. Euronews has something of it, and that it isn't just Dutch. Belgian farmers too were protesting. These are EU "Green" laws and they are going to devastate Dutch and Belgian agriculture with all the consequences for that.
All these diverse issues in the most powerful western communities coming together are why I think we are witnessing that Fin de Siecle event. The Ruling Elite simply won't stop until it all falls down around our ears.
Good points. Regarding the BBC, I've noticed there are some stories that simply aren't covered by them. A few days ago I came across a story on GB news about an Iraqi immigrant knifing a teen boy in order to be deported (apparently, he couldn't afford to leave the U.K) I wondered how accurate this was and if other papers were reporting the story, and so I checked. I couldn't find anything about it from the BBC, or the Guardian. Only so-called right-wing press were reporting it. Is it the usual fear of being called racist/islamophobic that left/liberal press don't report it? Or do they think people cannot be trusted with facts? (as with Covid) If so, this suppression of facts will have unintended consequences. People will trust the MSM less and less.
The BBC are a waste of space, though most annoying is that I have to pay for them!
So called "right-wing" press are often the only people reporting the whole truth today. Left-wing press (which many once respectable organizations have sadly become) want to protect our delicate little ears from the truth that might interfere with whatever narrative they are pushing that day.
It's sad to see we that can't trust the media. I was once a dedicated Guardian reader and thought the BBC was excellent. But now it's all about ideology, rather than facts.
Excuse the typos, I meant to write 'It's sad to see that we can't trust the media'
I didn't even notice the typo because I knew what you meant.
It truly depresses and angers me to see people who force, by any means available, absolute adherence to a chosen dogma refer to themselves as "liberals." By definition, these people are fascists, products of a political system in which "absolute adherence to an authoritarian dogma is required, and often enforced with violence" (dictionary quote). Who counts it as nonviolent if it is deemed "mostly peaceful" while the city burns and people die in the background? What happened to us?
Political hack propagandists are not statesmen or stateswomen. Lies are lies whether they are fashionably woke or not. The fact that so many are deceived is disturbing, but we are in end times after all. To recognize falsity, it sure helps to know the truth. The idol of wokeness can be recognized as the counterfeit that it is when we have enough biblical literacy to recognize the real deity and enough wisdom to follow Him.
The links are not that easy to find actually -- I would try CSPAN, but to find one from back a few months, it would take some digging.