EXTRAS

[Aragorn]

By the late 60's it was a done deal, then the real coup d'etat happened in the US.

It's a sad reality, but before that there was still some hope of democracy in the US.

The military industrial complex with the surveillance state took over.

Besides that corporations and oligarchy rules Rom... USA now.

Oh no, it was definitely sooner than the 1960s. Joseph McCarthy already started his witch hunt on (presumed) socialists and communists — and his House on Un-American Activities — in the 1950s. And Prescott Bush — father of George H. and grandfather of George W. — was involved with a failed military-industrial coup long before that time — I think this was still in the 1930s — but none of the accused were ever punished, even though they had all been found guilty.

[Wind]

Oh no, it was definitely sooner than the 1960s. Joseph McCarthy already started his witch hunt on (presumed) socialists and communists — and his House on Un-American Activities — in the 1950s. And Prescott Bush — father of George H. and grandfather of George W. — was involved with a failed military-industrial coup long before that time — I think this was still in the 1930s — but none of the accused were ever punished, even though they had all been found guilty.

Then what's your take on the murders of JFK, Bobby Kennedy and civil rights leaders and people such as MLK and Malcolm X?

[Gio]

#Livinginreality

[Aragorn]

Oh no, it was definitely sooner than the 1960s. Joseph McCarthy already started his witch hunt on (presumed) socialists and communists — and his House on Un-American Activities — in the 1950s. And Prescott Bush — father of George H. and grandfather of George W. — was involved with a failed military-industrial coup long before that time — I think this was still in the 1930s — but none of the accused were ever punished, even though they had all been found guilty.

Then what's your take on the murders of JFK, Bobby Kennedy and civil rights leaders and people such as MLK and Malcolm X?

Well, the Deep State™ was already in place at that point in time. As the matter of fact, Kennedy pleaded against it in his AP address in 1962, and Eisenhower already warned about it when he left office.

They even tried to push Kennedy into an open war with Russia during the Cuban missile crisis, but he saw through it and averted the escalation. He also tried to pull out of Vietnam, and then he was assassinated, and then the first thing Johnson did as his successor was escalate the American involvement in the Vietnam War.

So it was already there, and the Kennedys, King, et al, were standing in their way, so they made them disappear. If another US president were to try that again today, he'd be facing the same fate. But that won't happen, of course, because they now only allow suitable candidates to run for president anymore. Kennedy was the last president who was his own man. Everyone else since has been bought and paid for, or was part of the whole thing from the start — e.g. George H. Bush, who had been the head of the CIA under Reagan.

[Fred Steeves]

Well, the Deep State™ was already in place at that point in time. As the matter of fact, Kennedy pleaded against it in his AP address in 1962, and Eisenhower already warned about it when he left office.

My take on that is ever evolving, so far as the nuance and time frame go anyway. I reckon it kinda depends on what the criteria is, how deeply the fascism has taken root, factors like that.

For instance I could easily argue, just as you touched on, that we were already fascist from the very get go with the settler thing, the land grabbing thing, and the genocide thing. But I do feel that up until a certain point anyway, the American peoples' voice still mattered, at least to certain degrees. Like in the 1930's we got "The New Deal", that was pretty good for the people in general, Roosevelt's hand may have been forced into fighting for those programs so as to avoid open revolt, but none the less that demonstrates the peoples' voices and discontent was still recognized loud and clear, and the government acted upon it to avoid injury.

For the sake of brevity I'm not gonna go through the timeline or anything, sufficed to say that the indeed fascism has been here all along. I can liken it to the life span of a human. The baby is born a human, and that baby evolves through different stages throughout its life. It's going to look different at 20 than at 10, different at 60 as opposed to 50, and so on; but all the way through it was always human.

So that's about how I currently view our history of fascism. We were always fascist, but it's been a matter of degree, and how it presents itself. The beast has always done a pretty good job at disguising itself, like in how it successfully built the world's most powerful and successful empire in known history right under our noses post WW2, but was able to pull off the magick trick of making us believe it was the sole source of goodness and righteousness in the world.

At times its had to give us things it didn't want us to have in order to ensure our continued support, civil rights for example, and its also done a pretty good job of pacifying us with unkept promises, campaign promises for another example. "Welllllll, you didn't get it this time because of A B and C, but you'll get it next time - I Promise"...

What I'm seeing now, however, is something new. I mean just in the last couple of years. The beast is dropping all pretenses, the mask is all but ripped off, especially with its outrageous support of its openly fascist bretheren in Israel. There are no longer even attempts at promises it has no intentions of keeping, its very open now that the people get nothing, and if you get too uppety about that we'll come for you. Simple as that.

It's systematically in the process of destroying what's left of our rights, especially the right against illegal search and seizure, and the right to free speech. This, coinciding with what it's been doing to other people abroad, is now coming home as a weapon to keep us in line as well. I think the beast is tired of having to hide, it's proud to be seen as it really is, and god help you if you have a problem with that and voice it too successfully.

Even though I've faithfully read all of his books, I don't much follow David Icke any more, just here and there on his Twitter remark. But one thing he always harped on that stuck with me was the infamous "Totalitarian Tiptoe". That at first the blooming tyranny just tiptoes along where and when it can, without being noticed. Then it progresses to the "Totalitarian Sprint", where it's just going for it; but still, for the most part unseen/unnoticed by most people. But at a certain point, it gets so big that it has no choice but to surface, to be seen by all except the most indoctrinated. I believe that long awaited "surfacing" began right after October 7, 2023. All bets are off now, it's libel to do anything and everything to ensure its survival, now that it can plainly be seen.

I think the cartoon Gio just posted sums up what I'm trying to lay out there quite nicely. It's showing us unflinchingly, exactly what it really is:

[/CENTER][/QUOTE]

[Gio]

#Livinginreality

Photographer James Balog on documenting climate change:
"Adventure with a purpose"

CBS Sunday Morning

Apr 21, 2024
Photographer James Balog has become one of the foremost chroniclers of human-caused climate change, as his cameras have tracked the dramatic effects – vanishing ice, rising seas, fires, and the toll climate change is taking on all living things. He tells correspondent Ben Tracy that his photos are his testimony, a record of our past and present, and a message for the future.

6:36 min.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVno9NB-2us

[Aragorn]

Even though I've faithfully read all of his books, I don't much follow David Icke any more, just here and there on his Twitter remark. But one thing he always harped on that stuck with me was the infamous "Totalitarian Tiptoe". That at first the blooming tyranny just tiptoes along where and when it can, without being noticed. Then it progresses to the "Totalitarian Sprint", where it's just going for it; but still, for the most part unseen/unnoticed by most people. But at a certain point, it gets so big that it has no choice but to surface, to be seen by all except the most indoctrinated. I believe that long awaited "surfacing" began right after October 7, 2023. All bets are off now, it's libel to do anything and everything to ensure its survival, now that it can plainly be seen.

Over here in Europe, we are also well into the closet authoritarianism dropping its cloak now, but over here it's all in the name of Climate Change™ and Inclusiveness & Diversity™. Not that I would be a climate change denier or xenophobic or anything, but it's clearly a deranged agenda that's playing out, with common sense going out the window and bureaucracy — which Europe absolutely loves — becoming more totalitarian, with zero-tolerance toward trespassing.

And at the same time, there now also appears to be far more lenience — or that is to say, it's more in the open now, because it has already long been there behind the scenes — depending on one's social status and degree of celebrity.

I don't know whether you're familiar with the Sanda Dia case — he was a university student who died during the horribly inhumane hazing ritual of a very well-known student fraternity. None of the people responsible for his death were given a prison sentence — they were convicted to community service instead — and there has been a lot of protest against this ruling, in which it is being suspected — and I support this train of thought — that the mild punishment was because of the social standing of the fraternity and its members.

In the aftermath, a YouTuber going by the pseudonym Acid doxed the names of all past and present members of the fraternity — including, unfortunately, people who had had nothing to do with Sanda Dia's hazing and death — leading to his conviction in court for "cyberstalking", whereby he received a three-month suspended sentence, an €800 fine, plus an obligation to pay €20'000 as provisional damages to the parents of a former member of the fraternity.

But that's all just one example. Belgium has always been extremely enamored with the punishment of people who trespass against The Law™, and now — mostly albeit not entirely due to the European Union — there is such a degree of micromanagement at play that you wake up in the morning with a horrible fear of farting a little too loudly or accidentally emptying the uneaten part of your cereal in the wrong recycling bin. Seriously, that's a punishable offense now — not the farting of course, but the stuff regarding the recycling bins.

We've got federal and European elections again this year, in June. On a Sunday of course, as always, so that fewer people will have a legal excuse for not showing up. Because voting is compulsory — still, even though they've been promising to abolish the obligation for years now. And now even 16-year-olds are already legally obligated to vote, whereas earlier they had the right to vote but not the obligation.

Guess whom I will be voting for...

[Gio]

"Just like you" ...

Nazis Were Normal Men Once" - Jordan Peterson
On The Journey To The Heart Of Darkness

AV Mind

Apr 21, 2024
Jordan Peterson discusses the book Ordinary Man and the Journey to the heart of darkness.

Jordan Peterson: STOP LYING TO YOURSELF!
Full interview here

4:46 min.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkRydg7JjKs

[Fred Steeves]

Almost forgot, here's another reason Speaker Mike Johnson well could be presidential material. He helped keep the road well paved for governmental authorities not needing a warrant to spy on citizens.

Well done sir, the federal government needs every tool possible at its disposal, including the continued ability to spy on Americans here at home without need for a warrant. The 4TH Amendment takes another hit here, but it's for a good cause.

Washington Examiner

Johnson catches heat for ‘tiebreaker’ vote on FISA warrants

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing backlash from members of his party after he opposed an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that failed on the House floor in a tie vote.

The amendment, which would have required the government to obtain a warrant to query the data of people caught up in foreign surveillance, failed to attract the needed votes to pass on Friday, with the chamber deadlocking 212-212. In the event of a tie, an amendment on the House floor fails, per chamber rules.

The outcome angered several House Republicans who argued Johnson could have tipped the scales had he joined a bipartisan coalition of privacy hawks.

"This is a sad day for America," Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said in a post on X. "The Speaker doesn’t always vote in the House, but he was the tie breaker today. He voted against warrants."

...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...ts/ar-BB1lxfET

[Emil El Zapato]

And it has already been there since at least the end of World War II, if not even sooner. But in order to comprehend this, one has to understand what fascism really is, as opposed to what people think it is.

Most people in the western hemisphere equate fascism to a totalitarian regime under military command, but that's not what fascism is. Fascism is a nationalistic form of government whereby the power normally rests within a single official party and no other parties are allowed — in the USA, that's two official parties, but read on — and this/these party/parties are controlled by the corporate world.

Fascism also glorifies the military — if you want to achieve a social standing, you must join the military and "Serve Your Country"™ (just like Uncle Sam says on that very famous poster) — and is obsessed with National Security™, as well as with punishment and retaliation (cfr. the way Julian Assange was set up on false charges of rape in Sweden and then extradited to the UK, where he currently awaits extradition to the USA).

Fascism also wipes out the line between church and state and glorifies masculinity — with as a result that women still don't enjoy equal pay — as well as that it does not respect human rights (cfr. the systematic torturing of prisoners of war at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, and detention without a written warrant and without a chance to a fair trial as facilitated by the Patriot Act). This glorification of the masculine ideal is also one of the reasons why the LGBTQ+ movement has never been as strong anywhere as within the USA, because that's where such people have historically been openly discriminated against the most and the longest — which has now of course unfortunately led to all of the deranged neuroticism behind the Woke™ ideology.

Fascism also heavily leans on propaganda as a means for mass manipulation. In the USA, propaganda of both the political and commercial kinds have been a staple of the US mainstream media and the US education system for ages already, going back at least as far as the end of World War II, if not farther. The USA has since the end of World War II also been systematically supporting and training fascist dictators all over the globe, and was even doing business with the German NSDAP in the early years of World War II before the USA itself got involved in the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

I would even contend that fascism was probably already part and parcel of the USA from its very inception onward, given that the country was populated by European colonists who committed acts of genocide and other cruelty against the indigenous people, then kidnapped Africans away from their homes in order to use and abuse them as slaves, and then lured poor Chinese workers over to help lay down the railroads — given the already advanced Chinese civilization at the time, kidnapping Chinese slaves wouldn't have worked out so well as in the event of the African slaves, so those Chinese workers were convinced to come over to the USA voluntarily on false promises.

If you look at the history of how the USA was created and of how Israel was created, then the similarities between them are so striking that it's no wonder they're best buddies.

There is only one party in the U.S. Corporatists/Republicans.

[Gio]

Almost forgot, here's another reason Speaker Mike Johnson well could be presidential material. He helped keep the road well paved for governmental authorities not needing a warrant to spy on citizens.

Well done sir, the federal government needs every tool possible at its disposal, including the continued ability to spy on Americans here at home without need for a warrant. The 4TH Amendment takes another hit here, but it's for a good cause.



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...ts/ar-BB1lxfET

Yes he did ...

Mike Johnson - as the current Speaker of the House,
is one of The Gang of Eight ...

The Gang of Eight is an informal title used to refer to the eight leaders in Congress who are included in classified intelligence briefings by the executive branch.

And with our current U.S. border crisis situation (with individual unknowns coming in from everywhere in the world), Johnson probably has seen briefing/evidence of troublesome info in regards to. Of course, I attribute 'Biden's lack of' for worsening this potential national security situation.

Though I sense, Speaker Johnson otherwise would have not have voted to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) at this time ... But noting as well, FISA could be changed (amended again), after this most recent re-newel expires at the end of 2026.

Mike Johnson is an intelligent (strategical) politician,
now playing the insiders game.

It is what it is.

[Emil El Zapato]

"Just like you" ...

Nazis Were Normal Men Once" - Jordan Peterson
On The Journey To The Heart Of Darkness

AV Mind



4:46 min.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkRydg7JjKs

That guy always cracks me up. I'll give him this, he has a pronounced ability to bring forth drama. He doesn't even touch the obvious counterforce that should have had play in a 'regular' society. Individual morality should have superseded the loyalty to fellow wanton killers, but it didn't. That is also a very relevant why question. But the answer to that does not defend the depravity of WWII Era German society.

[Gio]

There is only one party in the U.S. Corporatists/Republicans.

From my view it's more like a foursome -
Corporatists/Republicans+Democrat/Elitists ...

Kiss my ass thingy ...

[Fred Steeves]

Almost forgot, here's another reason Speaker Mike Johnson well could be presidential material. He helped keep the road well paved for governmental authorities not needing a warrant to spy on citizens.

Well done sir, the federal government needs every tool possible at its disposal, including the continued ability to spy on Americans here at home without need for a warrant. The 4TH Amendment takes another hit here, but it's for a good cause.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...ts/ar-BB1lxfET

Yes he did ...

Look, we're in agreement again.

And with our current U.S. border crisis situation (with individual unknowns coming in from everywhere in the world), Johnson probably has seen briefing/evidence of troublesome info in regards to.

I don't doubt that's the case. When people in such positions have come to Jesus moments in a CIA "briefing" over something the National Security State has declared is of importance to them, they tend to get their minds right. It's a good thing we have the CIA, and that they have at their disposal such powers of persuasion. What would we ever do without their services?

Mike Johnson is an intelligent (strategical) politician,
now playing the insiders game.

It is what it is.

Love those insiders, playing the insiders game amongst other insiders, and the various alphabet agencies. And he's a fundamentalist Christian Zionist as well, who considers the Holy Bible a more important document to adhere to than the Constitution, so all the better! God bless House Speaker Mike Johnson in his mission to serve we the people, to the very best of his abilities.

Here's his official DC phone number for anyone who wants to let him know what a great job we think he's doing. I'm gonna call first thing in the morning:

Washington, DC
568 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2777

[Gio]

CBP’s Autonomous Surveillance

All Along the Watchtower

A Jimi Hendrix/John Mayer
Improv by Sean Mann


6:45 min.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acyEqcWG-54