Open Thread - 12-01-23 - I Me Mine
Does your mind feel like a pin cushion, similar to being stuck like a voodoo doll by invisible forces intent on stealing your free will? Does it feel like every day there's a new assault on your sanity, a new way to divide yourself against yourself and against each other? Do you feel confused about what is right and what is wrong, like old sociological taboos are now acceptable and what was once unthinkable is now subliminally admissible? Do you feel like you're being led down a menacing alleyway in the dead of night, in the midst of an archetypal dream where you need to run from some danger yet your legs don't work no matter how hard you try. Do you feel intimidated about saying the wrong thing to the point where you don't even want to think those thoughts? Do you feel like you have three legs of which only one can go forward but two will then step back? Do you pine for the old world order of just a few short years ago, that was chaotic in and of itself but now seems idyllic and much more manageable compared to the mass confusion of this nascent new world order being thrust upon us?
Do you feel helpless and hopeless? Do you want it all to just stop? If so that is exactly the raison d'etre for the incessant and ubiquitous propaganda and gaslighting we've been bombarded with by the media for many years now. It's been ever present in our lives since birth but has recently been taken to a whole new level of full spectrum mind control.
Why? Why have the societal paradigms shifted so much in the near term and what may the consequences be in the long term?
Attribution: Pexels Creative Commons
In my humble opinion the question is easily answered. Greed, power and control. Those age old attributes that have caused human misery since mankind developed frontal lobes, and are exacerbated by sociopaths and psychopaths who were thrown from the cliffs in the old days but are allowed to climb to the pinnacles of power in the modern world.
The Powers that Should Not Be have overreached in their greed. Their hands are awash in the green ink of an economic maelstrom that's poised to flush us down the commode of debt. The largest banks of the western world are intertwined in a derivative Gordian Knot of such size that if one large bank goes down they all may go down together, and the swirling vortex may pull the world down with it.
It is they, the so called elites (man, I hate that word) along with the banks and their accomplices, the politicians, that have built the pyre that will ultimately consume us all. It is inevitable, and they know it to be. They also know that their butts are on the line when it happens, so they plan and conspire and plot to ensure that they themselves come out on top of the heap when it all comes down. It's their ultimate dream.
They want to reset the board in their favor, and they want to convince us that it's for our own good, so they can wipe out the old debt (theirs not yours) and start the fleecing anew, permanently, in hopes of keeping their heads attached to their shoulders.
That, my friends, is the reason for the push by the largest and most complex propaganda machine in the history of the world, to pound us into submission, to overwhelm us into compliance, to beat us down into acceptance of the fate they have planned for us. They want us dazed and confused, to hate each other, for a myriad of reasons. They want us to give up. They want us at each others throats. They want chaos until we beg for it to stop.
You may ask: But what can we do about it? Good question. I'll try to break it down on two levels, the personal, and the community.
The personal. Do not comply. If enough people do not comply they'll not be able to implement their plans. It will take some fortitude, it wont be easy, but it may be our only chance to mitigate a dystopian future.
The community. By community I mean c99. The constant diagnosing of the world's problems with no tenable solutions gets very frustrating, to say the least. It too can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness and a waste of time. It happens to myself as well.
It helps me to think of it this way: How was it that you were awakened to the truth? By seeking out that knowledge, right? How did you find that knowledge? Mostly by the written word, right? So as we pound on our keyboards and get frustrated that it does very little, if anything, to change the world, keep this in mind. If you were awakened by the written truth, so shall you possibly awaken a truth seeker that is reading your words.
Please note folks, that the die has been cast. There will be no hero to save us from this sinking economic ship. There is no politician alive that can prevent this house of cards from falling. It's too late, the results are already baked in. The best that we can hope for as we find ourselves on the threshold of a monetary decoupling, is that whatever rises on the other side is by our own making and not that of the monsters that have, by their policies, brought us to this particular point in time.
I do very much hope that I am wrong.
-And-
Canadian Trapper Survives Brutal _ _ _ _ _ _ Assault By 200-Pound Beaver
Bill O’Connor, was checking his beaver traps near Lake Winnipeg when a large bear-like creature attacked him out of nowhere.
O’Connor, who first thought he was being mauled by a small bear or wolverine, soon realized it was, in fact, a very large-sized beaver.
Snip--
The beaver, apparently bruised by one his traps, was extremely aggressive and even managed to knock the sixty-three-year-old man unconscious before he awoke minutes later.
“I woke up, my face in the snow and gasping for air. The beaver was crushing me with its weight and doing a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ motion on my head and neck while making a strange guttural sound. It must’ve weighed at least 200 pounds,” he recalls.
Snip--
“Beavers are usually not an aggressive species unless they feel threatened or are injured, although _ _ _ _ _ _ predation on other mammals, especially _ _ _ _ _ _, is unheard of.”
---Author's Note: Check the article to fill in the blanks.
I guess the moral of this story is: Be careful about what kind of hat you wear when you go beaver trapping.
Attribution:Pexels Creative Commons
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
When I wake wake in the morning, I take a deep breath to prove to myself that I'm still sucking air.
"Heh, I got 'em fooled for one more day", as I thumb my nose.
And then I tell myself that no matter what may come, it's a great day to be alive.
Ricochet rabbit
the moral and psychological contradictions are being ramped up to keep us
off balance, off of our feet and out of our minds. It is more effective now with
the full spectrum dominance by the rulers and the demise of independent
journalism. It is way more complicated than it needs to be.
You are right, pounding the keys may not change the trajectory we are on,
but it is a form of counterbalance. Increased awareness of alternatives may
help to prevent abandonment of mindfulness and possible solutions.
Thanks for the OT and all the other stuff!
I too...
from time to time, wrestle with the pounding keys with no discernible results thing. The answer I keep coming back to is now is not the time to go silent. Self censorship is one of the goals of the incessant propaganda.
Thanks for reading.
Back in the day...
I was a pretty good diver. But this pooch's form and entry are perfect, not to mention hilarious.
That never gets old!
Thanks for entertaining the office staff here.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Ahoy ye hoi polloi. It is good to frequently remind
ourselves that we never consented to this shit, and preferably, remind a many others of that as we can as well. Next up is to reaffirm that we don't currently consent and let others know of that as well. Government legitimacy comes from the consent of the governed, and since we have not consented and do not consent, it is clear that the government cannot be legit, and that arguably also includes the current economic paradigm, processes and procedures (I won't say "system", thanks Az) The banking system, fwiw, is a system, from the ground up, designed and implemented without our consent, to screw us over.
Zo, one has an obligation to ones self to resist, if only by not going along with the plan. Also, for this to be effective, it behooves us to constantly spread the word, which needs to include exposing and refuting or at least challenging all of the bogus narratives to which we are and have been subjected.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hmmmm, the graphic ate my subsequent text, even
though such text was entered after the graphic was pasted into the comment. Editing to add more spaces between the graphic and the text didn't help. Hmmmm.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Heh...
A perfect...
addendum to this piece. Thanks old buddy.
George Hayduke
Good (late) morning...
I find writing cathartic. No, it doesn't change things, but it can bring awareness for both yourself and others. Communicating will be key as we ride the empire's slide into the abyss. It is easy for important news to fly under the radar, and one of the great things about our C99 community is how we help one another catch those obscured activities.
I also try to focus on things we can do, gardening and so on. There are actions outside the system that can have meaning and be helpful. I totally agree the system is broken and no politician can save the sinking ship. To my mind the world will be a better place as US hegemony fades.
BRICS+ offers a bit of positive news and possible future based on cooperation. I like Buckminster Fuller's line, "Think global, act local".
Y'all have a great weekend! Thanks for the OT.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
So true...
and thanks for the reminder about local action. That actually is a big part of the solution, working from the grassroots up. Since it's obvious we can't affect the system from the top down, bottoms up it is.
Hope all is well on Lookout Mountain. Hope to meet up again, soon.
That first line...
How LITERALLY do you mean this?
Because, while I would not have used this imagery/analogy to describe how it feels ('feeling like my cerebellum is being yanked like a necktie' is one I've used at times), I've been feeling this FOR YEARS. Like, since long before 2014.
If other people LITERALLY feel anything like this, that would certainly be helpful to know!
I was not raised to believe in things like demonic possession (nor the 20th-Century equivalent, "the government put a chip in my head"), so the fact I can personally SYMPATHIZE (not just empathize) with those who do believe such things is...not worth the experience, to say the least.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
It was figurative...
but in my mind an apt description of the mind control aspect of modern propaganda.
I'm sure that some would say that it could be a literal translation, but I'm not there, yet. But what do I know.
Interesting from Carlson
.
It’s been trying to snow here all morning. Tiny flakes on and off and now the big flakes have started. It’s sticking on the ground and on the damn bushes I still have in front. My back wouldn’t allow me to cut them down this year.
Update: it’s now a total whiteout and the snow is piling up. I love walking in snowstorms because it’s so quiet. Look for my snow photos tonight in the photograph thread. That storm came out of nowhere fast and I was there to witness it.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Hey snoops...
I don't disagree, that feeling of something intense about to happen is palpable.
A case in point: Gold has just posted an all time high and may be about to go over $2,100. That's a big deal and affirmation that people think something big is about to happen. 2024 ought to be very interesting.
Well said
though I think things are far worse than you present. I can't think of a way out. We're taught to think ourselves free, when it couldn't be further from the truth. The pundits we find on the internet can be insightful, ferret out facts, in long discourse make their case, and.....wash,rinse, repeat.
I had one thought. Unions. Not the usual thin slice, self serving segment, like the auto unions (who will get their thrashing soon enough) but a union of citizens to negotiate with the government and business, for better education, wages, retirement, health care, working conditions....the stuff unions bargain for. It's something our government refuses to do for us, except for whatever poster child or cause they come up with every 4 years.
My question is, how do we mount an effective strike besides stop buying stuff, spending money and time that benefits the exploiters. OWS showed the fear of our politicians and their employers had of an uprising. While it didn't foment change, it shone a light on which side of the economic fence we actually reside on.
I think Tucker must be eavesdropping on me!
Have been saying a similar thing myself. The jam that TPTB have gotten 'Murica into is now an unsolvable riddle. To his points about our upcoming presidential race I would add Ukraine and Gaza. There is no way to back down in a face saving way. Except........... if there were to be some cataclysmic event. Something at least as soul rattling as 9/11. As soul rattling as the assassinations of the Kennedys, King, and others of that time.
On a side note- never thought I might become any kind of war nerd. But the proxy war in Ukie is so well covered that I am finding myself intrigued with all of the weapons and the tech race to improve them quicker than the opponent does. Recently I found myself wondering about ADS. Air defense systems. Most folks accept that RU has some of the best ADS systems. But many other countries have ADS as well. Simply incredible and mind boggling to me that ADS can pick up signal of incoming missile and pluck it out of the air with a high level of success. Often even catching mid air something that is traveling faster than it can. It is my understanding that Ukie ADS has intercepted with some success RU missiles that travel much faster than their counter fire. Moscow has intercepted now dozens if not hundreds of incoming weapons headed for the Kremlin and other targets. Many incoming weapons designed to fly in low altitude (hides from radar) or elusive (weaving) flight patterns.
Which brings me to my big question. What I am noodling over. Drum roll please.......
How did the Pentagon not intercept whatever hit it on 9/11? How did we not intercept what hit the twin towers.
Simply defies all reality now that I know how easy it is to take out small fast moving targets. Taking out a slow lumbering passenger plane would be E Z Peazy!
Thanks C99 community for all your wonderful conversation. I don't comment much but love the banter here. (insert heart emoji here)!
I coined the term for it OVER 15 YEARS AGO:
The global oligarchy has long been trapped in what I call a 'MacBeth Complex':
The Bard knew.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
How did Israel's Dome Shield
...miss for over an hour — the penetration of its border and ensuing carnage?
It was yet another mini "Pearl Harbor." Funny, that.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
There really is no effective defense
to low flying small drones or cruise missiles for that matter. You could get lucky with a small short range missile system, or CIWS close in high rate of fire guns, but the problem then is saturation of the acquisition systems with with decoys, numbers, ecm, etc. The small radar cross section of some drones and missiles presents an acquisition problem as well. Another advance on more conventional delivery systems like ballistic missiles (although I don't think Hezbollah or Hamas has this higher end tech} are missiles designed to ride what I call the envelope crease, that is maneuver under the mid range intercept and just over the close in detection envelopes. This is combined with flattened trajectories and variable terminal guidance systems to confuse the computed intercept solutions, when you are acquired.
What the Vietnamese used to do, and is kind of similar to what a CIWS does is to fill the airspace where the likely ingress of airborne weapons is bound to occur, with large amounts of projectiles, so that rather than the projectiles "intercepting" the incoming threat, the incoming threat flies into a wall of bullets, fragments, etc. that is launched into the expected vector or sector of attack. This is particularly useful with drones, cruise missiles, or other airborne threats using terrain masking, that is following the topographical contours on the way to the target, to prevent or delay detection and intercept. If you know the likely target(s), and you know the local topography, you place your "barrage defense" in that path.
Anyway these are a few thoughts I have while listening to reports on the air war in Ukraine and the potential air war and associated missile and missile artillery developments in Korea. fwiw.
I posted this last July.
depicted in this graphic by South Korean military analyst Shin In-kyun. He's very conservative, but sometimes he gets into detail on tactical issues and arms acquisition.
The graphic is intended to reflect North Korean adoption of successful Russian offensive missile tactics recently observed in Ukraine. Shin raised the issue for two reasons. First, because of the lack of an effective response to the North Korean drone incursions into South Korea Dec. 26. So he's assuming a coordinated strike by North Korea could be similar to a coordinated Russian missile strike. Second because he's making a sales pitch to the ROK for an Israeli close in defense system, MADIS, that the USMC bought, in 2013, according to Shin. He's also recommending the Israeli Tamir missile in combination with the Iron Dome system.
I like this graphic because it shows the variety of profiles of the strike weapons the North Koreans potentially have available. A coordinated attack definitely presents a problem for the defender. From the bottom up: drone envelope, cruise missile, hypersonic missile, ballistic missile with variable terminal guidance, and uppermost, the conventional ballistic missile. Added to the mix are 170mm mlrs, 240mm mlrs, and artillery at short range.
SOTA coordinated missile attack
(edited to fix my link)
語必忠信 行必正直
Apt breakdance metaphor for countries endorsing genocide in Gaza
https://nitter.net/CensoredMen/status/1729329214531190978
ETA: fix to the above link, it works now.
Plus, Wednesday’s Ted Rall cartoon:
I believe your diagnosis of
I believe your diagnosis of the purpose for all of the "incessant and ubiquitous propaganda and gaslighting we've been bombarded with by the media for many years" is spot on. However, I believe it is merely the death throes of a dying empire of liars desperate to squelch the spread of truth that will lead to the end of the global "elites'" (I hate that word, too) centuries-old rule over the people. The Truth Will Out, and it is happening at a pace that is exhilarating.
Your prescription is good, too -- act locally and keep spreading the truth. When those with literally trillions of dollars in assets are shown to have been committing crimes against humanity for hundreds of years (but particularly recently), their lives and resources will be forfeit, the latter put to use for the benefit of humanity rather than its subjugation. There are two sides to this conflict, and we would not be where we are now in terms of awakening if there were not decent people with power, talent and resources on the side of the people.
I am optimistic for the first time in two decades.
@Bring Back Civics I am not alone in my
I am not alone in my optimism. For example: https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-magic-moment/
I appreciate the PSA
about big beavers.
Another example of getting screwed in the head by Big Guys.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Seems there is a good reason for this
.
Smith-Mundt act
U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News to Americans
Just in time for Russia Russia Russia and all the lies democrats and their corporate media mouthpieces could tell us about Trump colluding with Putin to steal the election from the worst candidate in history that democrats forced on us.
And for those bitching about Trump getting to appoint 3 SC justices just remember that wouldn’t have happened if the Hellabitch hadn’t stolen the primary from Bernie.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Sing it , Snoop
we're like fish born into polluted water. We can't really conceive of what clean water would be like, except as an abstract. With all the government and private data collection we just keep giving them bigger tools to control and exploit us.
@snoopydawg Thanks, Snoop!
Thanks, Snoop!
I honestly was unaware of the repeal of propoganda-limiting law in question. I must say, though, that it has FELT that way since at least 2014, when I first noticed that we were actively supporting NAZIS in Ukraine, and NOTHING about that from Da' Media. At the time, I remember telling what few people I knew that would listen, "This will not end well for Ukraine." I hate it when I'm right. Pretty much an entire generation of young men obliterated, and now old guys, teens, and pregnant women on the front lines. Sad beyond belief... And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse for the other peasants, we get Gaza...
-But I wanted to share something related to the OP. Having mostly given up on our heavily-censored media, I have been creating T-shirt designs meant to put forth my opinions, without the slightest concern for who might be offended. The 'reach' is small, but the feeling of having the muzzle off for a while is outstanding. Just one example:
A printer, T-shirt transfers, and an old clothes iron; and so much for the "Omnibus Gag Order". I suspect that most people that approve of the censorship are pretty cowardly, or they would support free speech instead.
Oh, and lest anyone think that I only try to annoy the Donkeys, here's an older design:
Anyway, if I find any good methods for beating the censors electronically, I'll be sure to share. Thanks again!
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
freedom of expression is the life-ring here
you are right, censorship is only good for the feeble minded.
thinking, like democracy, requires brain work
let us sort out the truth without government assistance
Of course the corporate media didn’t cover what Obama did
and many of us were over on the orange blob which has a habit of covering all the yucky things that republicans do, but rarely highlight the things that democrats do that are just as yucky. Just look at the front page today and see how it’s still doing it. The funny thing is that one prominent writer there would detail how democrats could get a bill passed…only for democrats to wriggle out of not passing it and then she would move on to the next bill…rinse and repeat…again and again, but she never places blame on democrats. They’ve been doing this since Clinton.
Another weird thing for the blob is that it rose up against the Iraq war and always bitched about the military budget. That was until the Ukraine war started and now they are just as bloodthirsty as they called red state during the Iraq war. Send more bombs, more equipment, more money.
Republicans are in bed with Putin…
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
I'm not a bit confused.
Never have been. Wish I were.
However, I do understand about self-censorship.
This is really not a US problem. The domestic TPTB appear to be bamboozled, as well, in my opinion. They are caught up in their own cult. They make too many stupid and clueless mistakes. Their house of cards is going to collapse. The American People are mentally ruined. They have been armed with deadly weapons for a reason. I do not see a local solution for any pending system failure. Rescue will come from the outside, if it comes at all. That means China, of course.
It's the psychopaths and their larvae who are fomenting the current chaos. This is the core problem. It appears that they are invisible to most people. Which is too bad. The psychopaths spin the narratives of fear. They are rarely world leaders or politicians, because that is too dangerous and they are too smart. Not even Hitler was a psychopath; ask any expert. However, they do largely control the wealth and the weapons of most of what's left of Western Civilization. They will want to see the whole thing implode if they don't come out on top. That's just their nature.
I'm a cynic, not a pessimist.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
this idea of taking down the house
misses something IMO
what will be left of the stray global constricts
for future exploitation if the top devils bring it
all down? tomorrow is not a promise
yesterday is but a lesson
"The American People are mentally ruined."
True words. By design. We are in the middle of an ongoing lesson in modern capitalism. Israeli violence is defence, Hamas violence is terrorism. Israelis are killed, Palestinians just die (old age?, obesity ? who knows?) We want peace for both sides, but we send state of the art weapons to Israel to reign down death on Palestinians indiscriminately. In the end you're for Israel or you hate Jews. I'm not taking sides, but this is how our media, our government, our economic system presents it, and ultimately how we think.
Every conflict since ww2 has been about capitalism. The cold war was the concrete setting, and just about everything was motivated by preserving capitalism and profits. The Shah of Iran, elections in South America, Asia, the middle east, none were too small to subvert. A great example is everything Kissinger did, with the blessing of both political parties. The US sees the world through capitalist colonialist eyes, as a market and a source of raw materials to be exploited. This is what we fight for.
Good essay... very good.
It gives me some hope, as you say, that hope is in the community, our community.
Also, that story about the beaver was hilarious!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so