It was Steve Bannon, not The New York Times or the BBC, who was the first to report the corruption & incompetence of our elites. He heads to prison for the rest of the election season.
Great post, Jenny, but there is another perspective. Every time the left makes a mockery of free speech or the right to peaceably assemble or any of the other things they are doing to undermine democracy, the sooner we will all see that we will NEVER vote our way out of this. Republicans have sold out for decades and have lost every social and economic issue since Herbert Hoover.
Yes, Steve Bannon has been demonized with the same psychological warfare tactics that Trump has been demonized. This theme, well-articulated in this essay, continues to fascinate me. The mob mentality of Democratic voters so perfectly manifests that pitchfork and torch-carrrying archetype. We're dealing with a really ancient and powerful aspect of the human mind. Hatred can probably never be "healthy," but when it manifests as a personal vendetta, based on some tangible personal history, it at least seems "natural." I suppose this level of hatred is natural too . . . it's certainly more common at least these days with the anti-Trump mob. These people cannot articulate criticisms of policy. They have been incited into hatred of Trump ostensibly on the basis of his behavior (and refusal to engage in the ritualistic worship of their moral symbols), and since Bannon looks similarly unapologetic in his white maleness and champions Trump) they hate him too.
I understand more and more why our ancestors posited the existence of "evil spirits", You don't have to be religious to understand that people's brains can be inhabited by archetypal sinister forces, and that some sort of "exorcism" seems the only way to purge the demon at hand.
The 'Evil Spirits' is an interesting thought. I'm at best agnostic, probably an atheist, though formerly a devout Catholic. The irony is that it was the sheer injustices, cruelty of 'Mother Nature' (she'd be jailed for abuse IF the law applied to her!) that made me decide a "Good creator' took some believing. BUT I'm living in a world that, had I been told what it would be like say 30 years ago, I'd have laughed and said 'You are insane! - Who could be so stupid?" BUT it's here, and it is so stupidly evil that now and again I wonder IF the prayer that Catholics used to repeat at the end of the Mass may have been valid after all.
Below is the version I seem to remember.
"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle! Protect us against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and thou, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and all wicked spirits who roam the world seeking the ruin of souls.".
is a report from the US, where a Cardinal is forbidding the use of the prayer.
That is Church Politics, no Pope, no Cardinal has the right to ban people of conscience from praying. It was Church politics and behaviour that probably undermined my faith in God. I asked myself time and again why my priest should be telling me how to vote in elections.
So now, atheist/agnostic that I am - it isn't the Church that makes me think "Perhaps there is a God after all." It is the behaviour of the Western Elites who by any definition of my earlier life are clearly either insane or evil. Now if, as I increasingly believe they are both insane and evil, I wonder how it came about so many were 'infected' and my thoughts return to St Michael, and the Roman Catholic plea. Long since abandoned in the UK as far as I am aware, and frowned upon by at least one US Cardinal, and when I despair of the West, I sometimes wonder whether St Michael exists, and if he now watches the world of the West and weeps at the ruin of so many souls.
Perhaps we have to do the job ourselves now, and vote out all these morons who rule us. Certainly here in the UK we need to eviscerate our Government. It taxes us to death and spends that tax money on charities that basically mutilate and abuse young children in the name of Trans ideology, and funds not only the mutilation, but the people who now preach to us about how we should not oppose it. That is just the most egregious example of what we are supposed to accept.
Never in the UK was a conservative Government so desperately needed.
The religion theme is sorely unappreciated in the context of today's political conflict. It was Jordan Peterson who stated in some interview, when he first came on the scene, "I don't think it's a culture war so much as a religious war."
We are in a religious war.
Not a war of good versus evil; this is how the Left understands it. They think of themselves on the side of the angels, without understanding this. They are EXPERIENCING the political realm in a religious way. I would argue that this is the explanation for the insanity of their policies as well as the zealotry of their persecution of heretics like Steve Bannon and Donald Trump. Conservatives, because they generally already have some sort of religious belief system built into their psyches (situated around the Christian tradition) have a kind of immunity against this new religious orientation ("mind virus" as Elon calls it).
So this is a conflict of two belief systems, one rooted in tradition, in the sublime, in a metaphysical set of constructs, and the other rooted in secular egalitarian motifs. Those motifs are perfectly "ethical" when seen in the abstract, but like any religion, has the capacity to morph into a corrupt institution entwined with elite interests, staffed by clerics (Diversity Warriors, Gender Affirming Apostles), now aligned around bizarre crusades (let's fight Russia!), etc. Our political leaders now engage in the public display of these rituals ("diversity is our strength", "Black lives matter," "the future is female," etc.), offer tribute to the Church (Obama inviting Rev, Sharpton to the White House 100 times, etc.) and disguise their drive toward the accumulation of even greater power behind Woke pieties.
IF they think they are on the side of the Angels, surely they understand Good and Evil and they think they are on the side of Good? Unless it is Hell's Angels they are on the side of and know it? One advantage of a devout Catholic upbringing is that I know a lot about the new testament, and 'BY their fruits ye shall know them!' is the Christian's advice on how to distinguish between all those who claim to be on the side of Good, but of whom Christ said " I know ye not." Mutilating and aiming at Children is Evil, NOT Good, AND our leaders know it.
Here in the UK who would vote for Mr Starmer, Labour leader, IF they really believed he didn't know what a woman was? He says 99.9% of Women don't have a penis. That is a movement to the 'right' from his earlier statements. He wants normal people to vote for him. But, reading between the lines, he knows NO Women have a penis, but is pandering to the Ideologues who have grasped so many levers of power in his party.
Not that his Tory opponent is any better, he says he knows what a woman is, then goes and allows anti-women trans laws to be passed. So to my mind the two men I'm supposed to choose between to lead my country are, by my definition, Evil when it comes to their deliberate choices about protecting children or their quest for power. They know Good and Evil, they choose the Evil. Even atheists understand Good and Evil. In fact they spend vast amounts of time and intellectual effort to prove that they can know the difference between Good and Evil without the need of a divine source of Good. So whatever religion these people espouse, I don't buy the idea they don't know Good from Evil. They do, they just twist things to claim Good is bad and Evil is Good.
Never confuse a religious institution with God. If you read Scripture, you will find that Jesus was at times less than thrilled with the religious bigshots of his day. Ask God to show you who he really is (you already know how he has been depicted by some religious bigshots). I suggest rereading the Bible. The Gospel of John and Romans 8 are probably good places to start.
I absolutely adore your bravery to write this, Jenny, because it has to be said. I too am an ex- leftie, appalled by the methods used by the people that I used to believe knew better. As I grew, read more about and observed those who I naturally gravitated toward, it shocked me as to how low they can sometimes stoop in order to achieve their aims. Apart from the Labour Party and modern liberals in general I also think here of the great Soviet experiment that was ultimately betrayed by those charged to manage it. Lenin himself proving himself no better than any tyrant during the power grab of those heady days in 1917. Much later of course, after a carefully plotted rise to top, we had Stalin himself. The ultimate of malevolent monsters who ruthlessly suppressed the one thing he knew would derail the great worker’s paradise if left to run free - human nature itself. If there is one thing I have learnt in this life it is the absolute necessity for opposition to all things - even to the self and our own deeply held convictions. The Democratic Party is an out of control train now, that much should now be obvious to any fair minded person, and people like Bannon and his MAGA followers provide the necessary brakes to it. Unfortunately, by putting this man away they now have control of the majority of the media and without that alternative view they know they have a free run to the White House. For one, I really don’t know how much more we can all take before an irrevocable breaking point is reached if they win again in November! The alternative to them is unpalatable in many ways, but absolutely necessary for the survival of democracy now. What a great pity it has all had to come to this.
I agree, once again, with what you have written here today. The weaponization of our court system, bureaucrats who empower themselves to be judge and jury and the foolish public who drink the Kool-Aid being spoon-fed to them via the mainstream media is a recipe for a dangerous nation. I do recognize that more people are slowly awakening from this toxic potion they have been fed, but will enough wake up in time to reverse this trend?
The Biden administration and so too the Obama administration with its Deep State commanders firmly embedded make a mockery of electoral democracy.
You are spot on with your "To see it being done by the people I formerly considered to be ‘my side’ was shocking, then upsetting, then ultimately, highly motivating. Bannon provided the analysis and information that ultimately gave me the courage to start pointing out the many hypocrisies and travesties being committed by people and institutions I once respected."
Steve correctly characterizes the struggle as a war of the good people of the West against the consiglieri and their mob bosses of the criminal American Empire (The Deep State). Steve has exposed the crimes of their intelligence community assassins that killed Kennedy and ran successful coups against Nixon and now Trump in order to maintain their status. They believe they are the rightful managers of the world. Steve is in their way.
In 2017 when it was apparent the anti-populist coup was underway, I launched a citizen campaign to draft Steve as the leader of our grass roots movement. I had no idea he would eventually do it.
The Progressives that despise Bannon and Trump are blinded by their political need to belong. How in the world could any smart person join in with the global totalitarians? This is evil vs. good.
BTW, like you Jenny, Steve is politically homeless. He recognizes that the mob bosses own both political parties (from bribery and blackmail primarily) in the United States. Steve calls the blob the Uniparty, which is a far too bland term for me. They are whores for their masters.
Thanks for this article, I was not aware of the Steve B situation. There seems to me to be a growing willingness by authorities in the alleged democratic West to use lawfare to mute their opponents. What is disappointing, as you have said, is the lack of discernment on the part of the majority who readily align with the latest tribal mantras or refuse to reconsider their long-held ideologies inspite of any amount of evidence undermining them. Who would have thought 10 years ago that 2024 would be so interesting.
In John 8:44, Jesus refers to the devil as the "father of lies." The leftist agenda seems to be to deceive by lies and, especially if that deception doesn't work well enough to suit them, to use whatever force they are able to exercise in whatever ways they can. Throwing people effective in political opposition into jail is an obvious way of doing that. Scripture, by contrast, says that we are to "speak the truth in love." (Ephesians 4:15)
For your benefit and that of your readers, I will mention Alina Chan, molecular biologist and an early critic of the popular Covid origins theories. She and Matt Ridley authored the book, Viral: the Search for the Origins of Covid-19 published November 2021.
The January 6 Congressional Subcommittee was a sham that would be an embarrassment even in the absurdist fictional third-world banana republic in Woody Allen's "Bananas". As a thinking, moral person, Bannon made the right decision to blow off the subpoena. It's the duty of any thinking person to defy stupid, immoral laws, and stupid, immoral subpoenas, if he can get away with it. Bannon was brave enough to do it even though he knew he might not get away with it. Now, he hasn't got away with it, but that doesn't mean imprisoning him is right. To believe it is is to be incapable of recognizing or understanding the context. The committee and the subpoena were wrong; Bannon was right to ignore them.
You should try and get on the War Room one day Jenny!! As a stand in host!! Here's hoping he's safe in prison and some fucker doesn't Epstein him.
If people just listened to him instead of thinking they know him through what the media says about him they'd find that they'd probably agree with him on a lot of things.
"And now, the United States government is throwing him in prison just as the most important election in US history moves into high gear. "
I wouldn't call it "the United States government". Sure, the Body (Politic) is still there, like a complex Frankenstein corpse, but at key levels of politics, what's animating it is not the organic America, but an international Cabal.
One's geopolitical analyses will be quite different depending on whether or not one sports Cabal-free glasses.
We might be out one Bannon for this election season, but we’re up one Jenny….
You give me hope that there are maybe other people out there with the courage to say “no more” to all this utter insanity.
That's high praise indeed!
I think we are all praying at this point...
Great post, Jenny, but there is another perspective. Every time the left makes a mockery of free speech or the right to peaceably assemble or any of the other things they are doing to undermine democracy, the sooner we will all see that we will NEVER vote our way out of this. Republicans have sold out for decades and have lost every social and economic issue since Herbert Hoover.
Yes, Steve Bannon has been demonized with the same psychological warfare tactics that Trump has been demonized. This theme, well-articulated in this essay, continues to fascinate me. The mob mentality of Democratic voters so perfectly manifests that pitchfork and torch-carrrying archetype. We're dealing with a really ancient and powerful aspect of the human mind. Hatred can probably never be "healthy," but when it manifests as a personal vendetta, based on some tangible personal history, it at least seems "natural." I suppose this level of hatred is natural too . . . it's certainly more common at least these days with the anti-Trump mob. These people cannot articulate criticisms of policy. They have been incited into hatred of Trump ostensibly on the basis of his behavior (and refusal to engage in the ritualistic worship of their moral symbols), and since Bannon looks similarly unapologetic in his white maleness and champions Trump) they hate him too.
I understand more and more why our ancestors posited the existence of "evil spirits", You don't have to be religious to understand that people's brains can be inhabited by archetypal sinister forces, and that some sort of "exorcism" seems the only way to purge the demon at hand.
The 'Evil Spirits' is an interesting thought. I'm at best agnostic, probably an atheist, though formerly a devout Catholic. The irony is that it was the sheer injustices, cruelty of 'Mother Nature' (she'd be jailed for abuse IF the law applied to her!) that made me decide a "Good creator' took some believing. BUT I'm living in a world that, had I been told what it would be like say 30 years ago, I'd have laughed and said 'You are insane! - Who could be so stupid?" BUT it's here, and it is so stupidly evil that now and again I wonder IF the prayer that Catholics used to repeat at the end of the Mass may have been valid after all.
Below is the version I seem to remember.
"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle! Protect us against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and thou, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and all wicked spirits who roam the world seeking the ruin of souls.".
I'm in England , but ironically, this
https://eu.timesrecordnews.com/story/life/2022/01/15/farewell-prayer-st-michael-archangel-latin-mass-wars-heating-up/6512867001/
is a report from the US, where a Cardinal is forbidding the use of the prayer.
That is Church Politics, no Pope, no Cardinal has the right to ban people of conscience from praying. It was Church politics and behaviour that probably undermined my faith in God. I asked myself time and again why my priest should be telling me how to vote in elections.
So now, atheist/agnostic that I am - it isn't the Church that makes me think "Perhaps there is a God after all." It is the behaviour of the Western Elites who by any definition of my earlier life are clearly either insane or evil. Now if, as I increasingly believe they are both insane and evil, I wonder how it came about so many were 'infected' and my thoughts return to St Michael, and the Roman Catholic plea. Long since abandoned in the UK as far as I am aware, and frowned upon by at least one US Cardinal, and when I despair of the West, I sometimes wonder whether St Michael exists, and if he now watches the world of the West and weeps at the ruin of so many souls.
Perhaps we have to do the job ourselves now, and vote out all these morons who rule us. Certainly here in the UK we need to eviscerate our Government. It taxes us to death and spends that tax money on charities that basically mutilate and abuse young children in the name of Trans ideology, and funds not only the mutilation, but the people who now preach to us about how we should not oppose it. That is just the most egregious example of what we are supposed to accept.
Never in the UK was a conservative Government so desperately needed.
The religion theme is sorely unappreciated in the context of today's political conflict. It was Jordan Peterson who stated in some interview, when he first came on the scene, "I don't think it's a culture war so much as a religious war."
We are in a religious war.
Not a war of good versus evil; this is how the Left understands it. They think of themselves on the side of the angels, without understanding this. They are EXPERIENCING the political realm in a religious way. I would argue that this is the explanation for the insanity of their policies as well as the zealotry of their persecution of heretics like Steve Bannon and Donald Trump. Conservatives, because they generally already have some sort of religious belief system built into their psyches (situated around the Christian tradition) have a kind of immunity against this new religious orientation ("mind virus" as Elon calls it).
So this is a conflict of two belief systems, one rooted in tradition, in the sublime, in a metaphysical set of constructs, and the other rooted in secular egalitarian motifs. Those motifs are perfectly "ethical" when seen in the abstract, but like any religion, has the capacity to morph into a corrupt institution entwined with elite interests, staffed by clerics (Diversity Warriors, Gender Affirming Apostles), now aligned around bizarre crusades (let's fight Russia!), etc. Our political leaders now engage in the public display of these rituals ("diversity is our strength", "Black lives matter," "the future is female," etc.), offer tribute to the Church (Obama inviting Rev, Sharpton to the White House 100 times, etc.) and disguise their drive toward the accumulation of even greater power behind Woke pieties.
IF they think they are on the side of the Angels, surely they understand Good and Evil and they think they are on the side of Good? Unless it is Hell's Angels they are on the side of and know it? One advantage of a devout Catholic upbringing is that I know a lot about the new testament, and 'BY their fruits ye shall know them!' is the Christian's advice on how to distinguish between all those who claim to be on the side of Good, but of whom Christ said " I know ye not." Mutilating and aiming at Children is Evil, NOT Good, AND our leaders know it.
Here in the UK who would vote for Mr Starmer, Labour leader, IF they really believed he didn't know what a woman was? He says 99.9% of Women don't have a penis. That is a movement to the 'right' from his earlier statements. He wants normal people to vote for him. But, reading between the lines, he knows NO Women have a penis, but is pandering to the Ideologues who have grasped so many levers of power in his party.
Not that his Tory opponent is any better, he says he knows what a woman is, then goes and allows anti-women trans laws to be passed. So to my mind the two men I'm supposed to choose between to lead my country are, by my definition, Evil when it comes to their deliberate choices about protecting children or their quest for power. They know Good and Evil, they choose the Evil. Even atheists understand Good and Evil. In fact they spend vast amounts of time and intellectual effort to prove that they can know the difference between Good and Evil without the need of a divine source of Good. So whatever religion these people espouse, I don't buy the idea they don't know Good from Evil. They do, they just twist things to claim Good is bad and Evil is Good.
Never confuse a religious institution with God. If you read Scripture, you will find that Jesus was at times less than thrilled with the religious bigshots of his day. Ask God to show you who he really is (you already know how he has been depicted by some religious bigshots). I suggest rereading the Bible. The Gospel of John and Romans 8 are probably good places to start.
You captured the subtext well.
What's happening to Steve now, I predict, will only strengthen his voice.
I truly hope so.
I've always wondered why so many successful authors on the right boast of being "New York Times Best-Selling Authors," as if it's a badge of honor.
I absolutely adore your bravery to write this, Jenny, because it has to be said. I too am an ex- leftie, appalled by the methods used by the people that I used to believe knew better. As I grew, read more about and observed those who I naturally gravitated toward, it shocked me as to how low they can sometimes stoop in order to achieve their aims. Apart from the Labour Party and modern liberals in general I also think here of the great Soviet experiment that was ultimately betrayed by those charged to manage it. Lenin himself proving himself no better than any tyrant during the power grab of those heady days in 1917. Much later of course, after a carefully plotted rise to top, we had Stalin himself. The ultimate of malevolent monsters who ruthlessly suppressed the one thing he knew would derail the great worker’s paradise if left to run free - human nature itself. If there is one thing I have learnt in this life it is the absolute necessity for opposition to all things - even to the self and our own deeply held convictions. The Democratic Party is an out of control train now, that much should now be obvious to any fair minded person, and people like Bannon and his MAGA followers provide the necessary brakes to it. Unfortunately, by putting this man away they now have control of the majority of the media and without that alternative view they know they have a free run to the White House. For one, I really don’t know how much more we can all take before an irrevocable breaking point is reached if they win again in November! The alternative to them is unpalatable in many ways, but absolutely necessary for the survival of democracy now. What a great pity it has all had to come to this.
The dems are systematically trying to imprison all their foes. It’s really banana republic.
I agree, once again, with what you have written here today. The weaponization of our court system, bureaucrats who empower themselves to be judge and jury and the foolish public who drink the Kool-Aid being spoon-fed to them via the mainstream media is a recipe for a dangerous nation. I do recognize that more people are slowly awakening from this toxic potion they have been fed, but will enough wake up in time to reverse this trend?
The Biden administration and so too the Obama administration with its Deep State commanders firmly embedded make a mockery of electoral democracy.
You are spot on with your "To see it being done by the people I formerly considered to be ‘my side’ was shocking, then upsetting, then ultimately, highly motivating. Bannon provided the analysis and information that ultimately gave me the courage to start pointing out the many hypocrisies and travesties being committed by people and institutions I once respected."
Steve correctly characterizes the struggle as a war of the good people of the West against the consiglieri and their mob bosses of the criminal American Empire (The Deep State). Steve has exposed the crimes of their intelligence community assassins that killed Kennedy and ran successful coups against Nixon and now Trump in order to maintain their status. They believe they are the rightful managers of the world. Steve is in their way.
In 2017 when it was apparent the anti-populist coup was underway, I launched a citizen campaign to draft Steve as the leader of our grass roots movement. I had no idea he would eventually do it.
The Progressives that despise Bannon and Trump are blinded by their political need to belong. How in the world could any smart person join in with the global totalitarians? This is evil vs. good.
BTW, like you Jenny, Steve is politically homeless. He recognizes that the mob bosses own both political parties (from bribery and blackmail primarily) in the United States. Steve calls the blob the Uniparty, which is a far too bland term for me. They are whores for their masters.
Thanks for this article, I was not aware of the Steve B situation. There seems to me to be a growing willingness by authorities in the alleged democratic West to use lawfare to mute their opponents. What is disappointing, as you have said, is the lack of discernment on the part of the majority who readily align with the latest tribal mantras or refuse to reconsider their long-held ideologies inspite of any amount of evidence undermining them. Who would have thought 10 years ago that 2024 would be so interesting.
Yes..."interesting" indeed. As in the Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times".
In John 8:44, Jesus refers to the devil as the "father of lies." The leftist agenda seems to be to deceive by lies and, especially if that deception doesn't work well enough to suit them, to use whatever force they are able to exercise in whatever ways they can. Throwing people effective in political opposition into jail is an obvious way of doing that. Scripture, by contrast, says that we are to "speak the truth in love." (Ephesians 4:15)
True--the Democrats in the U.S., and leftists in other countries, are the father of lies. They mirror the methods of Satan.
Normal human history.
The truth tends to float, eventually.
For your benefit and that of your readers, I will mention Alina Chan, molecular biologist and an early critic of the popular Covid origins theories. She and Matt Ridley authored the book, Viral: the Search for the Origins of Covid-19 published November 2021.
Very worth the time to read.
The January 6 Congressional Subcommittee was a sham that would be an embarrassment even in the absurdist fictional third-world banana republic in Woody Allen's "Bananas". As a thinking, moral person, Bannon made the right decision to blow off the subpoena. It's the duty of any thinking person to defy stupid, immoral laws, and stupid, immoral subpoenas, if he can get away with it. Bannon was brave enough to do it even though he knew he might not get away with it. Now, he hasn't got away with it, but that doesn't mean imprisoning him is right. To believe it is is to be incapable of recognizing or understanding the context. The committee and the subpoena were wrong; Bannon was right to ignore them.
You should try and get on the War Room one day Jenny!! As a stand in host!! Here's hoping he's safe in prison and some fucker doesn't Epstein him.
If people just listened to him instead of thinking they know him through what the media says about him they'd find that they'd probably agree with him on a lot of things.
"And now, the United States government is throwing him in prison just as the most important election in US history moves into high gear. "
I wouldn't call it "the United States government". Sure, the Body (Politic) is still there, like a complex Frankenstein corpse, but at key levels of politics, what's animating it is not the organic America, but an international Cabal.
One's geopolitical analyses will be quite different depending on whether or not one sports Cabal-free glasses.