Democrats Use Capitol Incident To Suppress Political Dissent
When watching this Jimmy Dore Show about the Capitol incident one can clearly see that some of the police were reluctant to intervene against the surprise visitors. Some even took selfies with them. The police may have been overwhelmed and decided that more fighting would have been counterproductive. Or, maybe, they let it happen on purpose?
The LIHOP theory is often applied to the 9/11 incident in 2001. The FBI and others knew that terrorist from the Middle East were about to use air planes to attack within the U.S. but it was decided to let that happen and to use the event for political gain. That political gain came in form of the Patriot Act which gave the government more power to spy on its citizens, and in form of the war of terror on the Middle East.
Even weeks before Wednesday's event there had been lots of open source chatter about a big protest in Washington and plans to take on the Capitol. Like in in 455, when the Vandals sacked Rome, there was little done by the local authorities to prevent that. The actors in both incidents have by the way remarkable similarities.
bigger
If we consider that 'Vandals' storming the Capitol was known to be upcoming and that the vandals actually managed to do it, we have to look for potential aims of those who might have allowed it to happen.
Two are sticking out. The 'Domestic terrorism' issues and the mass destruction of communication channels used by Trump and the political right.
Joe Biden gave a hint when he (falsely) called the Capitol incident an act of 'domestic terrorism':
President-elect Joe Biden characterized the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as domestic terrorists, referring to the violence as “one of the darkest days in the history of our nation.”
...
Mr. Biden has said he plans to make a priority of passing a law against domestic terrorism, and he has been urged to create a White House post overseeing the fight against ideologically inspired violent extremists and increasing funding to combat them.Federal law defines domestic terrorism as dangerous and illegal acts intended to coerce a population or influence the government. While it can be charged in some states, no generic federal crime exists. Domestic terrorism spans extremist ideologies, but it has been predominantly a far-right phenomenon in recent decades, according to researchers.
In 2019 Adam Schiff, the unhinged Russia basher who has falsely claimed that he had evidence of a Trump collusion with Russia, introduced a 'domestic terrorism' bill that will now likely be taken up.
The Hill reported at that time:
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, introduced legislation Friday that would make domestic terrorism a federal crime.The Confronting the Threat of Domestic Terrorism Act would create a federal criminal statute that would cover domestic acts of terror committed by those without links to foreign organizations.
...
“The attack in El Paso by a white supremacist is only the most recent in a disturbing and growing trend of domestic terrorism, fueled by racism and hatred. The Confronting the Threat of Domestic Terrorism Act would for the first time create a domestic terrorism crime, and thus provide prosecutors with new tools to combat these devastating crimes,” Schiff said in a statement.
The actual bill Schiff introduce is quite generic and covers a wide range of actions as well as attempts to take such actions or conspiring to do them:
Whoever, in a circumstance described in subsection (b), and with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping—
(A) knowingly kills, kidnaps, maims, commits an assault resulting in serious bodily injury, or assaults with a dangerous weapon any person within the United States; or
(B) creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to any other person by knowingly destroying or damaging any structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property within the United States or by attempting or conspiring to destroy or damage any structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property within the United States,
in violation of the laws of any State, or the United States, shall be punished under section 2332b(c).
Any prosecutor will be able to use the wording of the law to indict someone who has been talking about bashing a road sign for 'domestic terrorism'.
Such a law will of course not only be used against the 'white supremacists' who Schiff claims to dislike but, as ACLU pointed out, primarily against the left and minorities:
People of color and other marginalized communities have long been targeted under domestic terrorism authorities for unfair and discriminatory surveillance, investigations, and prosecutions. Law enforcement agencies’ use of these authorities undermines and has violated equal protection, due process, and First Amendment rights. Law enforcement agencies already have all the authorities they need to address white supremacist violence effectively. We therefore urge you instead to require agencies to provide meaningful public data on their use of resources and failure to prioritize white supremacist violence.The ACLU strongly urges you to oppose H.R. 4192, Confronting the Threat of Domestic Terrorism Act because it is unnecessary and would serve to target the very communities that Congress is seeking to protect.
The Capitol attack does not justify such new laws or more spying.
As a second consequence of the Capitol incident the tech monopoly companies, which are largely aligned with the corporate Democrats, took coordinated action to disrupt the communication between Trump and his political followers as well as within the general political right.
The company Trump used for mass emailing to his followers has stopped its service for Trump. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and Shopify have all banned Trump. Apple and Google took steps against the Parlor app which is mostly used by people on the right. It wasn't only Trump who was banned:
Ben Collins @oneunderscore__ - 21:19 UTC · Jan 8, 2021
BREAKING: Twitter is taking dramatic action on remaining QAnon accounts for breaking their "Coordinated Harmful Activity" rules, some of whom heavily promoted Wednesday's storming of the Capitol.
Mike Flynn, Sidney Powell, 8kun's Ron Watkins banned.
Twitter's statement below:
Thousands of Twitter accounts, mostly not prominent ones, were culled over night.
The banning of Trump has nothing to do with the actual content of Trump's or others' communications:
Byron York @ByronYork - 23:53 UTC · Jan 8, 2021
Twitter has permanently banned President Trump, and they did it on the basis of two unobjectionable tweets. Example: Twitter says Trump's 'I won't go to inauguration' tweet will 'inspire' violence. https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/c...
The was an organized and likely long planned campaign initiated by the incoming Biden administration. Trump's tweets and followers were probably the biggest traffic generators Twitter and Facebook ever had. They would not have killed off that profitable source of revenues if the incoming administration had not threatened them with new regulations.
Michael Tracey condemned this campaign in a series of tweets:
Twitter's stated rationale for banning Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn, and others -- "behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm" -- is extraordinarily creepy and could be used against virtually anyone if the powers-that-be decided it was politically necessary
Purging the sitting President from his primary communications platform is absolute authoritarian lunacy
It was obvious within about 10 minutes on Wednesday that this “crisis” would be exploited to drastically ramp up censorship and suppress political speech
None of this is about “safety,” it’s about purposely inflating a threat in order to assert political and cultural dominance
If we’re accepting this new “incitement” doctrine there are thousands of activists who could be purged/criminalized for “inciting” an enormous wave of violent riots over the summer. But thankfully there’s a thing called “protected speech,” although it’s quickly being shredded
The most extreme, coordinated corporate censorship offensive in modern history and liberals/leftists are in a mindless celebratory stupor. Pathetic shills
Corporate liberals and leftists have been absolutely obsessed with purging the internet of political undesirables since 2016, and this "crisis" is the perfect opportunity to finally fulfill their deepest authoritarian wish
The new corporate authoritarian liberal-left monoculture is going to be absolutely ruthless -- and in 12 days it is merging with the state. This only the beginning
Must just be a total coincidence that YouTube also happened to terminate Steve Bannon. Definitely not a coordinated political revenge campaign by the tech oligarchs as they wait for a Democratic administration to come in
Notice that the threat of "violence" Twitter says justifies their political purge never applies to traditional forms of state violence -- Trump's tweets announcing bombings or assassinations were never seen as necessitating some disciplinary intervention in the name of "safety"
Make no mistake. Both actions that follow from the ludicrous Capitol 'sacking', Biden's 'domestic terrorism' act and the systematic eradication of communication channels for people with certain opinions, will primarily be used against the left.
When President Biden starts his first war all significant protest against it will be declared to be 'domestic terrorism'. All communication against it will be 'inciting' and therefore banned. We know this because it has always been like this.
Posted by b on January 9, 2021 at 18:30 UTC | Permalink
next page »Definitely staged event, whether the protestors knew or didn't. Going forward, I'm switching to Signal from WhatsApp and viber, have to rethink my use of Gmail as well. Don't use faceborg or Jill Dorsey's twat. Enough is enough!
Posted by: Humbert Humbert | Jan 9 2021 18:48 utc | 2
As is sometimes said, the shoe now is on the other foot. From the details of b's post, it can be concluded that what the entering 'team' is doing may well preclude an orderly transition.
Posted by: juliania | Jan 9 2021 18:51 utc | 3
It’s what I said would happen in the other thread:
Watching the spectacle from a far a couple of things stand out for me.
This event has really put the fear of God into the DC political class. When you see the photos of the politicians during this event you see real fear. I bet not one of them ever thought that the people would be so fed up with the DC political class that they would storm the Capitol to show their frustration. Such behaviour was simply un-American. It was things you saw on TV happening in far away places. Never would such scenes ever happen in the good ole’ USA.
The second thing that stands out for me is that the American people have reached their wits end with the political class and are prepared to do what no-one ever thought they would do. Storm the Capitol! Disorganised as it was. What can they achieve with real organisation!
So now the people realise they have power in a collective and this power has put the fear of God in the people they despise. This has truly been a transformative event both for the political class and both for the people.
You can see this fear in the hysterical way the DC political class has reacted to this event. I don’t think this hysteria is fake. I think it is quite real. They are so desperate to regain control of the “narrative” that they are flooding this forum (as pointed out eloquently by William Gruff, and no doubt many other forums) with sock puppets to denounce anyone who disagrees with the establishment view.
This hysteria is going to lead to an over reaction which will in turn spur these people not just to lob a Molotov cocktail (politically speaking) at the DC political class but to become one themselves.
There is nothing so dangerous as a person with nothing to lose and nothing so fearful as a man with everything to lose.
How it will play out I don’t know, but the old normal has been shattered.
Posted by: Down South | Jan 9 2021 17:00 utc | 284
Posted by: Down South | Jan 9 2021 18:53 utc | 4
And here is the problem and why they are stupid:
People still have mouths.
Every human encounter, along with everytime I cross paths with a cat, I will greet then and immediately remind them of what "THEY" did, how it was unAmerican, what they can do to fight it, and then ask what the person, or cat, will do now that I have told them. And here's the rub: the person I am addressing will not be able to call me crazy; on the contrary, they will be the ones crazy for not listening.
This will enouage and proliferate massive discourse on the level which hasn't been seen in generations.
Oh, tyrannies, the depth of retardation knows no bounds.
They are sowing wind.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jan 9 2021 18:55 utc | 5
One thing is for sure: it has nothing to do with political party rivalry:
That the USA is a single-party with two branches that play "good cop, bad cop" already is consensus among serious historians, sociologists, political scientists etc. The news here is that this system won't change with Biden.
The Vandal sack of Rome of 455 CE was a completely different scenario. By that time, Rome had only symbolic importance to the Empire, and already was at an advanced stage of economic decay. Indeed, that's the main factor that differentiates the High from the Late Empire: the end of Italic hegemony, and the economic rise of the Eastern cities (Nicomedia, Antioch, Constantinople, Nicephorum etc.). Or, on a second thought, is it? Is the USA in really such advanced stage of economic decline? Only time will tell.
One last observation is that people usually confuse change with revolution. A given society doesn't need to go through any revolution in order to change itself. On the contrary: societal change is always happening, as we talk. What makes revolutions special is the fact that the previously exploited class becomes the dominant class; they turn the society upside down (hence the name).
But even a society that avoids any revolution will still change and eventually degenerate and die. Personally, I like prof. Moniz Bandeira's "Mutazione dello Stato", literally "mutation of the State", which describes a situation where the contradictions of society (development of the productive forces and the relations of production) continues to develop without a revolutionary situation or scenario. In this case, the USA is "mutating".
We've been in this environment since 911. It's been one continual project, not something new being being imposed. It's a continual tightening of society, including the Pandemic.
It's all been allowed to happen for an obvious agenda of compliance and control. From 'riots' of BLM/Antifa to the 'insurrection' of Trumpeteers, the point is to narrow accepted thought - to manufacture consent, which is much easier with an un or misinformed populace. A social credit system is coming to the west - call it the Karen Revolution.
Democracy is not an option, and never has been. Time to network with slow-mail and smoke signals, because as an organizing principle beyond sales and marketing, the internet's days are numbered.
Posted by: gottlieb | Jan 9 2021 18:58 utc | 7
Some reasonable assumptions here. Can we be more terrified. Wait and see, looks like a long year ahead.
sidebar: It's not 'parlor', it's 'parler', Pronounced par - lay, infinitive of verb 'to speak'.
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Jan 9 2021 18:58 utc | 8
@8 gottileb
Yes, the only difference is that one side, the deplorables, are speaking truth to power. The other side is conviently putting its head in the sand right now and begging for more federal overreach.
Couldn't be more obvious.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jan 9 2021 19:05 utc | 9
Stealing the election. Trying to remove Trump from office, with two weeks to go, and 'erase' him from the internet (and politics and whatelse?). Turning the U.S. into a de-facto police state. And the rush to do this all very quickly.
This smacks of desperation.
What are their Dems (rather their Deep State and 'Globalist' bosses) afraid of?
Posted by: dh-mtl | Jan 9 2021 19:08 utc | 10
I have tried to explain over the past while, that what we are seeing in the US is an ongoing coup, This is a coup against the US people by the US corporate and financial oligarchs. Clearly, they are benefiting by not simply enriching themselves at taxpayers expense, but securing their own criminal amoral behaviour through the supression of human rights and what is left of the freedom of speech in the US. This is accelaerating exponentially and has been going on long before Trump came on the scene.
Avoid paying attention to the distractions, and keep your eye on the ball.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Jan 9 2021 19:08 utc | 11
thanks b... i suspect the division is going to continue to heat up... it seems neither side is able to get beyond the division.. usa is in a very real state of decline..
Posted by: james | Jan 9 2021 19:12 utc | 13
As the people who supported the censoring and the eventual de-platforming the President on social media are about to find out , if you can censor the President you can censor anyone or any group.
But they were so caught up in the hysteria of the #OrangeManBad that they didn’t take the actions of Big Tech , that they were supporting, and to its logical conclusion:
Posted by: Down South | Jan 9 2021 19:17 utc | 14
@14 james
Use better words, James.
There is no division here. Division implies an equal sharing of power.
It is who has the power and who doesn't.
Have you figured out which is which?
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jan 9 2021 19:18 utc | 16
@ nc... it seems to me the corps are working with the intel agencies... especially the corps in question at the moment... just how the public responds remains to be seen..
Posted by: james | Jan 9 2021 19:20 utc | 17
Pepe Escobar just opened a Parler account, fyi:
Pepeasia - Geopolitical analyst, author, global nomad
He already joined VK recently, so the alternatives are in place. And if these fall there will be others. As juliania reminded us, we have samizdat. And as NemesisCalling reminds us above, we have our mouths. They are indeed sowing the wind, and when things get bad enough to invoke the whirlwind, the people will know what they know, even without Facebook etc.
Good riddance to Facebook. Good riddance to Twitter. They themselves will force us to the next platforms, the better things, for a time. And then the next better things after those. One day maybe, a Huawei platform with quantum encryption, which is already being trialed in China.
How did these social media platforms become so filled with political content anyway? Oh, because people are interested in political content. They're not just sheep. They're vitally interested in the society they live in.
And the powers that want to be everything have finally noticed and, acting as always to close the barn door after the horses have fled, they want to throttle down these platforms.
Talk about trying to contain water by closing your fist around it. Evil is always the most stupid choice in this entire universe of possibilities. It is the mark of stupid. And it can be known by its stupidity. And it will act in stupid ways. And it will fail for stupid reasons, pushing down against what is rising up.
The intelligence of every living being is something that always seeks to rise, to ascend. Stupidity goes the other way.
And my money's on intelligence.
Posted by: Grieved | Jan 9 2021 19:24 utc | 18
Trump is still president for a few days. It's about time he does something useful and goes straight against Twitter and Facebook, with all available means. A president probably has a degree of special powers he can use. I don't know, maybe ship Zuckerberg to Gitmo because he's been way too slow to root out jihadis from his network and is de facto an accomplice.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Jan 9 2021 19:28 utc | 19
Posted by: vk | Jan 9 2021 18:57 utc | 7
>>One thing is for sure: it has nothing to do with political party rivalry:
I do not agree with that and i think that republicans will be wiped out, just as it happened in California. Where are the Dems in California claiming that "we need to have strong Republican party". No where to be seen.
I think you have been dead wrong with the claims that the US will be becoming more christian and conservative country, on the contrary it will be becoming more socially liberal/atheist country. And this is backed up by numerous population surveys.
There are many defacto one party party countries and the US will become one too, without 2 branches this time, but with only one - the Dem party.
Posted by: Passer by | Jan 9 2021 19:29 utc | 20
@18 James
Apropos to what you're saying? I'm certain that you have seen this before.
Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jan 9 2021 19:31 utc | 21
@ dg - yeah, i neglected to mention any names, but google is at the top of the list.. i have seen that before.. thanks.. it seems many are happy to give away their privacy and not care much about any of these connections... oh well..
Posted by: james | Jan 9 2021 19:33 utc | 22
Are you aware that long before dirty commoners violating the sanctity, back on Jan 5th, Apple Maps stopped navigating to Washington DC? Apparently, one couldn't get directions to DC for driving, public transport, or walking.
"Directions "Not Available"". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWfDoAPc4t4
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 9 2021 19:39 utc | 23
By the way, if you want to download a Twitter video, you can use this online tool:
Twitter Video Downloader
All it does is break out the video into its own tab in the browser, and you can right-click and save the video. Facebook video is the same, using this online tool:
Facebook Video Downloader
YouTube is even better, with an interface to use:
Download Video and Audio from YouTube
And there are other tools of course, and there always will be. Information wants to be free, and it will be.
Storage is so cheap that it makes sense to download everything to watch at leisure and to keep for review.
~~
What made the social media platforms so successful is that people love to communicate and share. And the platforms behaved like jealous gods, grabbing images and videos into their own caches, not caring about copyright or royalties, not caring about destroying the quality of the original, just grabbing it all and then creating walled gardens - so that Pinterest, for example, can't save an image from Facebook - an image that was uploaded from a private individual - but to hell with ownership rights or credits, for these gods.
First they gave it all away free to get a lot of people using their platform, then they monetized it with ads or subscriptions. We're dealing with merchants here, greedheads - petty tyrants, not real tyrants. Fuck 'em. Let them kill themselves from their own gluttony.
We'll just move on. And yes, there are places to go. There is still more of this world and this human experience to explore and inhabit.
Leave these losers to their own hell. And that goes for the politicians, spooks, fixers, players, grifters, bankers and secret societies as well. They will all destroy themselves.
Posted by: Grieved | Jan 9 2021 19:44 utc | 24
Boo hoo for Donald F'ing Trump. He is complicit in insurrection, the murder of 5 people and more. He should have been de-platformed years ago. The Republican party has completely denied the Democratic party any part of government for 4 years and you want us to cry for their white privilege now. You have shown yourself to be no better than Trump b.
Posted by: BraveNewWorld | Jan 9 2021 19:46 utc | 25
@26 - BraveNewWorld - Judging from what you just said, I have to wonder if you have ever read any Aldous Huxley.
Posted by: lex talionis | Jan 9 2021 19:50 utc | 26
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9V_q39nLp_U&feature=emb_title
They open the door, and one of the cops says 'I disagree with this'.. so why did he do it? Did he get ordered? By whom? Cui bono?
Congress stopped accepting objections to electoral slates afterwards.. what, a, surprise!
Posted by: Ilya G Poimandres | Jan 9 2021 19:52 utc | 27
EVERY offense in (a) hinges on the specific circumstances described in subsection (b). They have to be read together.
You can just about appoint to specific incidents in USA that will be neutered by specific circumstances described in (b). People with firearms being bussed across State lines to attend protests is one concrete example. Burning police stations is another.
Most, if not all this could be dealt with under existing criminal provisions. Presumably this maybe OTT law is designed to emphasise to people the limits of protest - it must be peaceful, and attacking well-trained well-disciplined people paid to uphold law in a measured way cant be justified and is impermissible.
"(b) Jurisdictional bases
(1) Circumstances
The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are—
(A) the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce is used in furtherance of the offense;
(B) the offense obstructs, delays, or affects interstate or foreign commerce, or would have so obstructed, delayed, or affected interstate or foreign commerce if the offense had been consummated;
(C) the offense occurs during the course of, or as a result of, the travel of the defendant or the victim—
(i)across a State line or national border; or
(ii)using a facility of interstate or foreign commerce
(D) the victim, or intended victim, is the United States Government, a member of the uniformed services, or any official, officer, employee, or agent of the legislative, executive, or judicial branches, or of any department or agency, of the United States;
(E) the structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property is, in whole or in part, owned, possessed, or leased to the United States, or any department or agency of the United States;
(F) in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a), the defendant employs a firearm, dangerous weapon, weapon of mass destruction, or other weapon that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce;
(G) the offense is committed in the territorial sea (including the airspace above and the seabed and subsoil below, and artificial islands and fixed structures erected thereon) of the United States; or
(H) the offense is committed within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
(2) Co-conspirators and accessories after the fact
Jurisdiction shall exist over all principals and co-conspirators of an offense under this section, and accessories after the fact to any offense under this section, if at least one of the circumstances described in subparagraphs (A) through (H) of paragraph (1) is applicable to at least one offender.
(c) Proof requirements
The following shall apply to prosecutions under this section:
(1) Knowledge
The prosecution is not required to prove knowledge by any defendant of a jurisdictional base alleged in the indictment.
(2) State law
In a prosecution under this section that is based upon the adoption of State law, only the elements of the offense under State law, and not any provisions pertaining to criminal procedure or evidence, are adopted.
(d) Definitions
As used in this section—
(1) the term facility of interstate or foreign commerce has the meaning given that term in section 1958(b)(2);
(2) the term serious bodily injury has the meaning given that term in section 1365(h)(3);
(3) the term firearm has the meaning given that term in section 921(a)(3);
(4)the term weapon of mass destruction has the meaning given that term in section 2332a(c)(2); and
(5)the term territorial sea of the United States means all waters extending seaward to 12 nautical miles from the baselines of the United States, determined in accordance with international law.
(e) Limitation on prosecution
No prosecution for any offense described in this section shall be undertaken by the United States except on written certification of the Attorney General or the highest ranking subordinate of the Attorney General with responsibility for criminal prosecutions of the offenses in this chapter that, in the judgment of the certifying official, such offense was intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping."
It ain't law yet. There will be much discussion, some amendment.
Finally, as always with a government,rushed law is bad law. Much depends on sober and strong institutions - the mark of a civil and open society.
Posted by: powerandpeople | Jan 9 2021 20:06 utc | 28
Human Beings, Earth Forms via Nature, the confusion is separation from nature;
Magna Carta, 1215, the human being document establishing the right of nature's power first and foremost. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America (Iroquois Republic as model), 1776;
*Karl Marx was a proletariat, he died a pauper and during his life he never had enough money to support his many children, *"People of the world unite ~ all you have to lose are your chains!"
The human being has been struggling for eons, to live in earth nature as an enlightenment:
Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Sun Tzu, et al from China gave to our humanity their verve, too.
Here we are and an enlightenment is not the practice. Worshipping a golden calf (after a fashion), continues to mesmerize and hypnotize the global multitudes.
Intellectuals (i.e., left) vs Rednecks (i.e., right) is used to keep We The Proletariat Majority Earth People chained to *superstition (*not free).
Do nothing. Get enough food & water and do nothing. In this time of nuclear annihilation enlightened Human Beings maybe can change the dense, coarse, gross energy, into an enlightenment.
Posted by: RobertaK | Jan 9 2021 20:21 utc | 29
@16 Spartacus
Cheers for the Gibiru suggestion, will give it a try!
Posted by: Humbert Humbert | Jan 9 2021 20:24 utc | 30
@31 Humbert
No worries. When people use the alternatives it lessens their power and reach.
Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jan 9 2021 20:32 utc | 31
Alex Christoforou
Twitter is finished
App stores are finished
Big Tech purge was inevitable...Twitter is toast
Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 9 2021 20:32 utc | 32
- "If you want to build a better future, you’re going to have to do it yourself. Politics will take us only so far … Law is simply letters on a page,” Ed told the conference, as reported by Matt Novak. “Technology works differently than law. Technology knows no jurisdiction.” He then added: “use Signal.”
Yep, forget collective action, forget politics. Use encryption apps. Tech trumps everything in our fight for collective freedom.
Those who’ve followed my reporting on the Tor Project and the Internet Freedom movement know I think this advice isn’t just ridiculous and dishonest, it’s downright dangerous — dangerous because it puts in harm’s way the very people that these encryption and privacy apps are supposed to protect.
The reason is simple, and can’t be repeated often enough: most of today’s “grassroots” privacy technology pushed by privacy activists like Lee and Snowden were created and continue to be controlled by the very same U.S. military-intelligence apparatus these apps are supposed to shield us from. I’m talking about the Pentagon (including the NSA), the State Department and several CIA spinoff outfits that had been covertly set up during the Cold War. In short, these tools are a part of the very same state apparatus that will in just a few months be under the control of President Donald Biden.
If this all sounds like a whack job conspiracy theory to you, then you’re in for a rude awakening.
Let’s start with Tor......"
Posted by: Triden | Jan 9 2021 20:32 utc | 33
@34 Triden
True enough,all platforms are compromised. Some to a lesser degree. At least make them work a little harder before they shut it all down. Tor is for folks who don't understand what " harvesting" is all about.
Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jan 9 2021 20:40 utc | 34
Parler SUSPENDED from Google Play Store, faces imminent BAN from Apple App Store (RT, January 9, 2021)
So much for the vaunted Western “freedom of speech”! “Oh, but Twitter is a private company, they have a right to ban your account, go build your own short message social media!” So they went ahead and built Parler. “Oh, but Google and Apple are private companies, they have a right to remove your app from their app stores, go build your own mobile operating system!” What’s next? Denying “problematic people” healthcare? “Hospital X is a private company, they have a right to refuse to treat you, go build your own hospital!”
The U.S. is now openly totalitarian.
Posted by: S | Jan 9 2021 20:41 utc | 35
Lol, Protonmail
Protonmail : Help us defend democracy and freedom in Hong Kong
We will be donating 50% of our revenue from July, August, and September 2020 from Hong Kong to support two local civil rights organizations: 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund and Stand With Hong Kong.
Posted by: Triden | Jan 9 2021 20:43 utc | 36
True enough,all platforms are compromised. Some to a lesser degree. At least make them work a little harder before they shut it all down. Tor is for folks who don't understand what " harvesting" is all about.
Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jan 9 2021 20:40 utc | 35
-----
Signal is funded by the very same people that funded Tor: US Naval Intelligence and (CIA-front-group) The Broadcasting Board of Governors.
Obviously both are originally funded by the US Government
Posted by: Triden | Jan 9 2021 20:47 utc | 37
Peter Kanzler's Predictions:
USA will globally be accused of human rights infringements by 2040. Then the international community, led by China, will start to dismantle it.
USA continues to produce but is only a shell that slowly dies off until it might slip up into two or three parts.
Posted by: Leviathan | Jan 9 2021 20:47 utc | 38
@S | Jan 9 2021 20:41 utc | 36
This is just the death of App Store / Play Store - they are not needed - except to enslave you. Just use the browser.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 9 2021 20:47 utc | 39
It's what I thought. This blog is transitioning to the far right. Its what is called pluto-populism. The plutocrats remain in power, but they pretend to call upon popular interests. Its ridiculous to object to Biden, when the alternative is much the same. Biden will be OK as president, not too bad for the American people. It's the best one can hope for.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 9 2021 20:49 utc | 40
Just when did you decide to go into the tank for these fascist assholes, b? I have read this blog daily for a long time, and the drift to sounding as almost a shill has been accelerating. Hope it has been worth it.
Posted by: TominAZ | Jan 9 2021 20:50 utc | 41
Triden #38
So you only use entirely self-programmed apps and OS?
Or what is your point.
Posted by: michael | Jan 9 2021 20:58 utc | 42
@ 41 laguerre.. you missed some comments directed at you on the previous thread... here is one of them..
"And on principal grounds I WILL donate to b JUST because of that pathetic commenter who calls himself laguerre."
from Per/Norway | Jan 9 2021 20:37 utc | 316
Posted by: james | Jan 9 2021 20:58 utc | 43
@ 42 TominAZ
If you're a daily reader, wouldn't you be able to pinpoint this yourself?
Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jan 9 2021 20:59 utc | 44
Well, all of this is normal, all the Big Tech social platforms are, in fact, NSA start-ups, they can promote regime change in all around the world in order to spread "freedom" and "democracy", of course in a "controlled" way.
They were born to control people, and to have info of all the people (in the world but especially in USA) to be used when required. When congress defund the famous "Total Information Awareness" project, soon after that they create the social platforms in some (NSA created) "garage" by young "entrepeneurs" and "wizards" to achieve exactly the same objective fo the original blueprint.
What is your opinion b, with this law, could they conduct drone campaigns inside USA?
Posted by: DFC | Jan 9 2021 21:05 utc | 45
Since I was at the bottom, in the interface, the existence of the professional management top ten percent is real. The shell shock of the pundits and congress creatures during and right after the storming of the Capitol is real. That is fear.
The billionaires have decided to grab their belongings and leave. The US government has collapsed. Vandals are vandals throughout history.
The biggest delusion of managers is that they run things. Two things could have happened on January 6, 2021: 1) Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham down in the bunker decided after loss of control of the Senate that it was time to ditch Donald Trump and his Trumpeters and ordered the doors open or 2) the police and the protestors are one and the same and rather than fight some cops got out of the way and opened the doors for the rabble.
The one sure thing is that the Adam Schiff and other ten percenters will try to regain control but the problem is the game is up, just like the pandemic response and vaccine distribution disasters, the USA is out of control. The 90% won’t be exploited anymore. The tragedy is that it isn’t the environmentalists, media readers, teachers, nurses, or civil servants who are responsible for the chaos, it is Harvard Boys getting richer.
Posted by: VietnamVet | Jan 9 2021 21:12 utc | 46
Thanks to all posters on this and the previous thread, and many thanks to b! Somehow a song has come to me, and this is a lovely rendition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjBZEMkmwYA
Posted by: juliania | Jan 9 2021 21:18 utc | 48
The next act in this unfolding drama will probably be Biden's inauguration on January 20. I predict a massive military presence with Washington in lockdown.
Trump can go now. He has done the necessary, he has made those with power step out of the shadows and stand naked before the world.
There Is No Alternative has become There Is No Going Back.
Posted by: Hal Duell | Jan 9 2021 21:22 utc | 49
Posted by: juliania | Jan 9 2021 18:43 utc | 1
For just a split second I was like "what?! Chuck Liddell is in charge of Trump's transition team?" I used to be involved in American MMA so I guess I am programmed to see "Chuck" any time I see Liddell.
Also, to the person (cannot remember handle) that I provided the links yesterday (thread is buried now) on the orthodox zionist New York judge's son participating in the Capitol riot, it appears that we were actually in agreement. When I initially read your post I took it to be somehow aimed at implicating Democrats (in general) to what happened, when in fact both of our posts and links clearly stated that they are devout supporters of Trump and the Zionist regime in Israel.
Posted by: _K_C_ | Jan 9 2021 21:24 utc | 50
Posted by: james | Jan 9 2021 20:58 utc | 44
Yeah, that is what I expected, though I couldn't be bothered to read the crap. If someone has unrealistic expectations, it is not surprising if there is abuse.
b has to play his game, if he wants his support. I've paid my bit, not a little. If he wants to go elsewhere, that's his choice, but I don't have to go with him.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 9 2021 21:26 utc | 51
Buried in, or absolutely absent from, b's analysis and the links provided, it's not like the coming legislation that will trample even further on civil liberties is Democrat-only. The Republicans and Trump fully embraced such policies and legislation. They were the ones calling for all sorts of draconian nonsense just after 9/11 and then extending into the present time. Trump indicted Assange. Let that resonate for a minute. Obama had more than 4 years to do it, but he didn't. It's time for Trump supporters to face reality: He is a fake populist member of the oligarchy, just part of the oligarchy that the other part doesn't like. Obama was a fake populist of sorts too. Anyone ALLOWED to assume the office of President has been vetted and approved by the 0.01% and the "national security" state.
What lessons to be taken from Trump's campaign (2016) and presidency? He catered to the interests of a different group of people than most American politicians, but nevertheless he carried on the long tradition of being Murderer in Chief abroad and only amplified the powers of the increasingly impenetrable federal security apparatus.
b seems to be on a campaign against Democrats lately, but Republicans and Trump should be held out and critiqued as well. My prediction was that if Trump won (and he didn't, there was no "steal") there would have been a shooting war on Iran and more shenanigans in Hong Kong. Now my prediction is that Biden/Harris manage to be even bigger corporate/bank/private finance coddlers than Clinton or Bush before them and that Biden is mentally unable and unqualified to seek a second term. Tom Cotton, the warmonger from Arkansas, will likely face off against the usual cadre of loser Republicans like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, but they will be joined by Don Jr. The 2024 election cycle is already looking like it will be even more insane than the last two.
Free Julian Assange!!!
Posted by: _K_C_ | Jan 9 2021 21:32 utc | 52
As to police conduct re the riot, sometime in the coverage from various sites (unfortunately not specifically noted) in an interview of a Capitol Police officer, the officer said that in the onrush into the Capitol a significant number of of-duty police officers and military personnel flashed their badges and IDs while rushing in -- if these guys are identified, they should be fired from their police jobs or court-martialed if in the military.
Posted by: chet380 | Jan 9 2021 21:42 utc | 53
_K_C_ #53
How come you suddenly drop the Assange topic again, when talking about incoming administration?
Like: attack Trump on it, pro forma "attack" Obama on it, and then... silence from your end.
Posted by: michael | Jan 9 2021 21:43 utc | 54
The Night of the long (digital) knives....
I had a long diatribe in mind about deplatforming, big tech, ministry of information and such...
But then i remembered the same big techs did not lift a finger when the HK yellow movement was openly inciting violence on their platforms and instead cancelled and deplatformed the HK police WhatsApp tip line. Many anti color revolution social commenters' accounts were tagged as propaganda and some deplatformed.
Western free speech never existed. Dissent against the narrative were only ever tacitly tolerated until the establishment can no longer paint it as lunacy and becomes a credible opposition. It has, and always will be a circle jerk of tptb.
So even though i do not share the views of the Donald and his disciples, much less the incoming trojan reboot of the new world order; i do sympathize with the loss of their voice and I hope more people open their eyes and may this kickstart the demise of the big tech ermm i mean ministry of information.
Posted by: A.L. | Jan 9 2021 21:50 utc | 55
Elements of The Coup January 6th 2021.
Premised on the pattern of Inverted Communication as practiced by the HRC Wing of the Democrat Party. Recall Clinton’s pattern is documented to be projecting her misconduct onto her rivals by accusing her rivals of the very criminal misconduct Clinton is/was engaged.
The primary assessments are two major observations from the January 6th Coup
A. Control of the media and means of communication: The President of United States’ communications were and continue to be cut off by coup plotters aided and abetted by high tech tyranny. The Coup as defined by HRC, Pelosi and Schumet has been ongoing 4 years running.
B. US Military behavior was coopted by the Natonal Guard agreeing to fail to act at any time during the “staged crisis”. The Chairman Joint Chiefs engaged in communications about the coup target (President Trump) with individuals, Pelosi, who have no connection to the Chain of Command. These acts are both insubordinate and conduct unbecoming on officer under the UCMJ. The latter arrangement only protects the Chairman Joint Chiefs from prosecution if the Coup Plotters prevail. We’re at war.
1. officers’ personal grievances: no better example than the grievances Voiced against President Trumo subsequent to the coup by the execrable, unindicted war criminal , General Mattis, author of The Seige of Fallujah which targeted children on massé,
2. military organizational grievances: too many to count but include the USS Abraham Lincoln/COVID debacle, epidemic of MST, military sexual Trauma, a euphemism which obscures the epidemic of sexual assault and rape perpetrated by US servicemembers on other servicemembers
3. military popularity: highest institution approval rating among the general population
4. military attitudinal cohesiveness: National Guard failed to act on January 6th and The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff took advice/communications/ orders from Pelosi, rather than his Commander in Chief, President Trump. Millie’s passivity is codified misconduct under Title X US Code and an aggressive act by prevention of requisite duty under his Officers Oath of Office, also Title X US Code
5. economic decline: while transferring +$12 trillion dollars to failed banks and unprofitable high tech companies
6. Domestic political crisis: 4+ years manufactured by HRC, MSM and Intelligence Agencies against President Trump
7. Contagion from other regional coups: Bolivia, Ecuador, Atlanta Georgia etc
8. External threat: Russia, China, Iran hysterical propaganda
9. Participation in war: Syria, Afghanistan 20 years ongoing
10. collusion with a foreign military power: accusations about Russia vis a vis Trump, proven connections with China and Ukraine vis a vis Biden/Hunter-Joe
11. military’s national security doctrine: dictated by corporate interests. Google SECDEF Corporate Fellowships. What does it serve the nation and its military for its officers to spend time with Apple or Amgen?
12. officers’ political culture: existence of military service academies
13. Noninclusive institutions. Bidirectional here. Which branch of the US Gov’t controls the CIA or, for that matter, the FBI. And the new controlling institution, the major NGO controlling a US President’s communications with the American people, ie the tyranny of high tech, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail/Alphabet/Google.
14. colonial legacy. Check that box. British colonial legacy
Posted by: Rich | Jan 9 2021 21:57 utc | 56
Not bad, good catch with the comparison between the painting and the pics. Bidenandbroco are a bunch of nutjobs, wow.
Trump was a black swan chaos agent whose ascendency occurred during a widely recognized voter swing in western democracies circa 2015-16 favouring “outsider” politicians. Trump should have been effectively neutralized through the application of regular politics, and then swept away in a landslide this past autumn. That did not happen because the mainstream Democrats had their own outsider insurgency to deal with, which would have only found more strength and legitimacy if the necessary analysis and self-criticism required by the Clinton loss had been undertaken. Instead, the mainstream Democrats and their allies in the media and intelligence agencies decided to go with Russiagate as the means to neuter Trump. Of course, stating openly that the elected President was a foreign agent created chaos in turn. The ongoing result of chaos unleashed onto chaos is quite visible now, with the ultimate result that the hegemonic global status of the USA appears now mortally wounded. Is that a bad thing? Not sure it is.
Biden made filmed remarks yesterday stating that a massive stimulus plan focussed on domestic infrastructure, including human capital - a program that will cost “trillions” - is in the works and that not implementing it will ensure the ruin of the country. It is not clear if the trillion dollar national defence/security budget will be affected, or if the plan is to run both programs simultaneously and run up the deficits accordingly. Faced with this reality, it may have been determined that continuing the neoliberal project requires a period of retrenchment and political discipline is best enforced by tighter control over social media.
Posted by: jayc | Jan 9 2021 22:14 utc | 58
IMO this is more than passing a domestic terrorist law, or just kicking trump and supporters out of social media. I believe the intelligence community is expecting more violence along the fully polarized intrenched political divisions between supporters of various interests. They are preparing the ground to have authority to shout down the entire internet when they deem necessary.
This country politically, economically and above all ideologically is in deep shit like I have not ever imagined in this last few decades. Things are not going to settle easily without much much more violence.
Posted by: Kooshy | Jan 9 2021 22:15 utc | 59
There is no need for a new law. What is needed is the expulsion of the members of Congress who supported the insurrection even after it failed. That's about a half dozen Republican Senators and about a hundred Representatives. They can run again as martyrs, no doubt. Also, no doubt they have plenty of big money donors who will admire their commitment to suppressing the people. Their only real problem is the losers' stink is so repellent to right wingers.
The people who actually incited the march at the rally should also charged. A Virginia state senator and Guiliani and the Trumps for instance should be charged. I don't believe in overcharging as a rule, and there are problems in principle with sedition and conspiracy charges. Thus, the penalties if convicted would likely be fairly mild, though the ego of The rioters themselves should be charged, as many as possible. Prison times should be short, less than a year I should think. There is the danger that jury nullification by rabid bigots will let them off but that can't be helped. There's also a danger that people would be feel like Giuliani for instance doing 90 days in the slammer essentially endorses his crime by a light "punishment." That's a reflection of the viciously backward climate on justice.
The people who entered the Capital should be prosecuted as well, for trespass. Many could be simply charged with misdemeanors, especially those ones who just showed their ass but didn't vandalize, chase, threaten. Trials for assault should be conducted where possible, especially for the Sicknick and Babbitt cases. (No first degree murder charges are justified for the Babbitt shooting. Overcharging is a curse in this reactionary US judicial system.) All off-duty police officers and military personnel, who openly violated their duty, should be fired by their employers. Other employers can consult their conscience, if any, as to others.
All government officials who interfered with the Capitol Police, the National Guard deployment or rather the lack of it, should be charged however with sedition and insurrection and major prison time sought. Any military officers who abetted them should be court-martialed and punished with imprisonment.
This is what we need instead of another law that will be turned against the left, not the Trumper trash. This, not the riot, was the real coup attempt and the real threat. Unfortunately it appears that Biden is already proving his conservatism.
Re Twitter, Facebook, etc. Trump is not muzzled. Every network in the country would televise his press conference. What Trump wanted from Twitter etc. was a venue where he couldn't be questioned. Only a fool thinks Trump losing this means totalitarianism, the end of press freedom and so on. Twitter, Facebook etc. should either be compelled to serve as common carriers, like the phone company, which means they cannot censor until a court order is given to them...However that also means they can't sell ads or the data they collect, which probably would mean a radical shrinking of Twitter, Facebook etc. If they want to contineu the ads and data collection, they can be liable to lawsuits libel and slander and harassment of private figures like every other private news organization. This having it both ways has benefited filth like Trump far too long.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jan 9 2021 22:21 utc | 60
To misquote Churchill; "Never has so much been written about so few".
Being Contrarian, May I suggest that the "Capitol" incident was to give meaning to Political parties? To refocus on the Pols. There was a growing realisation that Politicians actually did nothing - and that control was out of their hands (some called it the Deep State, the swamp, others Corporate fascism, The Fed. Bilderbergs, Trilateral Commissions, Free Masons. five eyes and 18-agency three letter words, etc.etc. Many are the ways of the secret masters).
One question, does the disorganised visit to the capital by several tourists disguised as TRUEBLUE-USAINS, (Trappers and cowboys and other loveable folklore, no indians though) actually change anything in the "real" halls of power?- No, of course not.
What it does change is the "narrative". Old age ravaged politicians (who should have been pensioned off before now) can run around feeling scared and calling other pensioners rude names. Throwing insults at each other and reaching out to seize everything their weak arms can fondle and their wagging tongues can spit out.
The REAL battle, between us the people and them, the wannabe absolute dictators is there for all to see. Corporate power via Twitter twaddle is only one part, while control over "law" courts is rampant, Trade "deals" where, ISDN "arbitration" oversees National Governments.... Militarised "police" and mercenary armies, (the CIA is simply the private army of the Rothschilds) I could go on.
You KNOW Trump had to do as he was told. You KNOW Biden will do as he is told.
So a few actors get into a building with a history, all followed by cameramen (and women) to record the scene.
Meanwhile, the Mussolini style fascisti (Corporate, Police, Military, Propagandists and the "natural" rulers of the earth) all get on with the reset.
Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 9 2021 22:29 utc | 61
This blog is transitioning to the far right. Its what is called pluto-populism.
Come for the humor-- and some creative writing.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Jan 9 2021 22:29 utc | 62
The more video you see however the police were outmatched. It's a problem at the top of staffing the event. While there may be a couple cases where it looks like police were compliant, far more shows them barreled over and even squashed into doors where they were forced to retreat. The one time they fired a shot, it did work, the crowd retreated but that wasn't the answer any of us would have liked to have seen. Like any military operation, if you lose ground and are outnumbered, you retreat. The opening of the barricades should be investigated but it's doubtful that small number of cops were going to hold them regardless.
Posted by: Gail Storm | Jan 9 2021 22:36 utc | 63
Armed mobs storming a session of Congress with weapons is just an expression of political dissent. Noting good can come from suppressing such spontaneous outbursts of patriotic spirit.
And denying a President the platform of Twitter. OMG, how will he be heard? Will he be forced to call a press conference or give a speech and hope that the treasonous Lügenpresse will be there to hear his cry in the wilderness?
Posted by: malchik | Jan 9 2021 22:37 utc | 64
Gail Storm @Jan9 22:36 #64
The more video you see however the police were outmatched.... it's doubtful that small number of cops were going to hold ....
It was no secret that there would be a protest that day in which the focus would be on what was happening in the Capital. The Capitol police and TPTB had plenty of time to prepare.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 9 2021 22:50 utc | 65
The problem Malchik is that this is an explicit intervention in party politics by the tech companies to favour one side over the other. Trump is not some fringe figure. He managed to get just under half of the US votes. Some 75 million people voted for him.
If the tech firms are seen by those voters to be openly discriminating against the person they had just voted for, this will intensify the hostility that is evident in US politics.
Whilst Biden won more votes than Trump, accross many states, the majority voted for Trump. When political polarisation is combined with regionalisation, and where subsidiary state machines are held by opposing sides, the potential for secessionist movements to grow is considerable.
Posted by: W P Cockshott | Jan 9 2021 23:06 utc | 66
I don`t get how you come to the conclusion that this is primarily against the Left. Well, it can be and eventually it will will be used against everyone, but certainly not primarily the "woke" Left (which many commentators here call the "Faux Left"). Another Left, however, doesn`t excist. At best in rudiments.
Posted by: m | Jan 9 2021 23:14 utc | 67
This is of little interest to the rest of the world, you know, those other 7-milliard of people for whom the USA (and its peoples, by the sin of omission, if not commission) represent for a large number of blighted people the sheer oppression of heartless might, and for all the others the ugly face of cultural and ideological imperialism lurking under the sobriquet of "globalisation". People already half-know half-hope that the USA is fading away into oblivion, this latest domestic squabble is just a small manifestation of the tumble, no doubt to be immediately counteracted by a domestic regrouping which will recharge the forces of oppression (unfortunately) and therefore delay (but not avert) the collapse of the pathetic satan (oh hasten the day).
Posted by: Mistress Pliddy | Jan 9 2021 23:48 utc | 68
What Left? The m pointed out, the Left went Woke and sold out. Cut a deal with the establishment: they win the Culture War and they support the totalitarian state. We've seen it in 2020. Sex change operations for kids. Attacks on the family unit and banning Christian holidays.
Wearing face diapers and destroying small businesses. The Woke Left has had no trouble finding common ground with the authoritarians.
Regarding the idea this site has swung far right. Everything is relative. With the Left behaving like freedom suppressing fascists, it makes people in the centre - who simply want a free and peaceful society - appear to be far right.
Posted by: EoinW | Jan 9 2021 23:50 utc | 69
Man shown carrying Nancy Pelosi's lectern at Capitol riots arrested
The guy wearing face paint, horns and a bearskin headdress has also been identified and arrested.
"The DOJ also announced federal charges against 13 other individuals on Friday, including an Arkansas man who was pictured sitting with his feet up on Pelosi’s desk."
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 9 2021 23:56 utc | 70
Everyone must remember that it was Empty Suit(Obama) who shut down OWS and brutally shut down DAPL.
Neither establishment wing (D-R) care about us, the people. Actually there are many leftists that don't have a problem with the storming of the castle. I just wish that the right would get on board with the true Left, not the establishment/faux left that is as much against the left as it is the right.
I.E while one might hear that there are many progressives in Biden's administration that ain't true
at all, not true at all.
We the people need to stand together against the elites, punch up people, not at each other.
Posted by: Gazza | Jan 10 2021 0:03 utc | 71
@Posted by: Grieved | Jan 9 2021 19:24 utc | 19
"Pepe Escobar just opened a Parler account, fyi"
A coalition of Amazon corporate employees have demanded that the Seattle-based megacorp kick Parler off the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform unless 'posts inciting violence' are removed, which would force the Trump-friendly Twitter competitor to find another host.
As I said in the previous thread: Deep State Democrats
are natural totalitarians.
Posted by: librul | Jan 10 2021 0:11 utc | 72
OhNoes!
Uncensored 911 conspiracy talk on MoA. No wait, b is plugging it himself! Whaaahh!!
Forget about using "secure" apps, when everything has been backdoored, from the browser to the operating system to the hardware, on multiple levels, redundantly. Perhaps even some of the popular encryption algorithms are rotten at the core, only a few people could tell, and they're easy to shut up, especially if they already work for the man anyway. I guess I could say "wake up, people!", but unfortunately that doesn't work with sleepwalkers.
Your only relief has been to murmur in a big enough crowd. But better be careful now, massive data processing farms and machine learning is smelling out your trails.
PS: Boo-Hoo-fkn-Hoo to all the naive peoples thinking Trump is either a good cop or a bad cop. They're all on the same team, which is not ours.
Posted by: Lurk | Jan 10 2021 0:12 utc | 73
JR @ 71:
Oh dear, Nancy Pelosi's cleaning bill for her office is sure to run into the hundreds of thousands for six weeks' worth of deep cleaning and fumigation after Richard Barnett's few hours reclining in her chair and musing what it must be like to be a politician lording over the Land of the Unfree and the Home of the Corporate Slaves.
Did Barnett even find a secret trapdoor beneath her desk to an underground nuclear bunker? That better get concreted and a new one dug out.
Maybe Pelosi better buy some new furniture and order a paint job from top to bottom.
All at taxpayers' expense.🤑🤑🤑
!!!
Posted by: Jen | Jan 10 2021 0:24 utc | 74
jen and jr- it is like someone walked onto the alter of jesus christ... for that they are going to pay dearly!
Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 0:31 utc | 75
I love reading the journalist Jonathan Cook, and he has something interesting to say about this
https://twitter.com/Jonathan_K_Cook/status/1347837606134996994
This cheerleading of Big Tech censorship of the Trumpers is astoundingly dangerous and dumb because
a) the political and media establishments will use the same pretexts to silence the left;
b) banning the right will only intensify its grievances and fuel its popularity
----------
& if you start to read around you know that FB and twitter etc are already censoring/deleting/restricting many accounts of dissidents on the Left, the true Left not the fake liberal left. this is just the beginning of the Big ShakeDown of the ruling class against much dissident opinion
And just wait until Old Joe and Imperial Rats who own and rule america start their next war!
https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1347918810309828614
Aaand now they're restricting the excellent activist and WikiLeaks supporter @Suzi3D. This is going great you guys.
Posted by: michaelj72 | Jan 10 2021 0:35 utc | 76
B's analysis is not only correct it is that of any principled socialist.
What is happening has been coming for a long time- the corporate oligarchs have taken over not just the traditional media but the new social media.
There is no way of dealing with the threat this poses to freedom, in all its aspects, which does not involve social ownership/nationalisation/public ownership and control.
Any objections to which will be centred around the important question of democracy. At present any public ownership implies control by the oligarchy, usually through the politicians (bought and paid for) or political appointees. This doesn't mean that nationalisation cannot work, just that it will need to be implemented by a nation which understands what it is doing and is ready to ensure that the people have means of exerting power over the public utility of the internet, its search engines and
public platforms.
As to the coincidence of this tightening of the screws with the coming of Biden- the political realities are these: firstly Biden is in a very weak position with virtually no mandate. He is clearly the chosen tool of the oligarchy and it will be his job, as he has made fairly clear, to retrench all public expenditure, to cut all social services and to ramp up unemployment, turning the current crisis levels of joblessness and homelessness into the new reality. Things are going to get a lot worse. And the Democrats, having broken the Republican party into warring factions will be able to do what they want-which is to say what their sponsors want.
Biden has said that he is aiming for budget surpluses, without re-imposing taxes on the wealthiest. The tendency that Eric Zuesse recently wrote of-the slow and inexorable transfer of wealth and power to the oligarchs- will continue.
What has changed is that the working class (middle class in USspeak) no longer has much in the way of reserves- pensions, healthcare, rents and living costs leave very little in the way of savings. Most people are living close to the edge and are defenceless against crises. Millions of evictions are in prospect, probably more than in 2009 when Obama chose to sacrifice homeowners for the banks.
This will lead to discontent of a far more serious nature than the unfocused trouble the Trumpites and their allies in QAnon and the 'Covid is a Hoax' camps.
To guard against popular anger Biden et al will rely on censorship, police violence and their patented tactic of Identity Politics. The Democrats, quite as much as Trump, feed off racial tensions: anything to prevent the Rainbow Coalitions that would threaten oligarchy.
And, it hardly needs to be said, all this will take place against the sombre background of international tension. The Biden cabinet will double down on the violence and the intervention that Trump, against his isolationist soul, felt forced to maintain.
As America becomes a dystopia for the 85% or so on the losing side of the economy, jingoism and imperialism, death squads, proxy armies and constant provocations of Russia and China will be unleashed. And not because there is any prospect of benefits coming from living in the shadow of nuclear armageddon but because the American ruling class cannot adjust to a world in which it is just one more interest group, milking its three hundred million subjects.
Like all fascist regimes- and it is becoming that- it has a death wish, the Sampson option, pulling down everything on top of itself rather than admit that it is losing.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 10 2021 0:35 utc | 77
Gazza @72 has it correct--It's the Duopoly stupid! D & R work for the same Master. Shaowstats newly posted unemployment is steady at 26.3% and will have further data and analysis posted over the next few days.
There're lots of Chinese social media platforms, but I currently have no links or names for barflies. I've enjoyed my presence on VK. I seem to recall suggesting the creation of a new suite of social media outlets not long after the 2016 election, but the Chinese are the only ones who listened.
One outcome is certain--the Outlaw US Empire's standing in the world will drop like a rock.
Plaudits to Triden for injecting a dose of sour reality regarding the hi-tech tools available to the common man. I grimace at their delusion when I see people recommending DuckDuckGo, Protonmail and the rest of the so-called alternatives; sometimes, to prevent facial rictus, I permit myself a little smile at the sweet naivete.
You have to find your own way, which may entail anything from (indeed) exploiting the enemies' tools to the forked-stick and runner. Those old enough to have been activists before the internet took are a largely untapped and soon-to-be-lost fund of knowledge. That Sunday night visit to the sympathetic press owner. Those tedious but effective knock-and-drops. Inventive ways of notification through unpicked-up telephone calls. The walk in the park.
When I hear people proclaiming the liberatory, 'democratising', sheer-force-for-good potential of the internet, only one word is necessary to pop that particularly persistent bubble. Cisco. Of course, not only Cisco., but that should be enough to remind one of the scale of the enemy and the delusion among those who don't know enough about the origins and development of the internet or who suppose that it has "moved on" from its dark and narrow origins, or that the web was a step change, or that web two point oh was anything other than a marketing ploy dreamt up by that Oracle fellow (which worked). Everything is controlled and mapped. You have to find your own way.
Posted by: Mistress Pliddy | Jan 10 2021 0:47 utc | 79
Im am really sick and tired of people who pretend to be "independent" yet clearly have an agenda and their preferences. people such as the Faker Saker and now B.
He is so deluded in his delusions, he thinks The Democrats are real left and somehow Trump is a real fighter for freedom or something and that somehow the Democrats aren't just part of the one party system in USA.
His idiotic ramblings are a waste of time, i just go to the comments but they are full of BS too, signal to noise ratio is pretty high so its a mostly waste of time ti plow through them.
Posted by: Hoyeru | Jan 10 2021 0:53 utc | 80
For people worried by US Deep State spying, use chinese tech and apps. There is a good reason why the 5 Eyes are going crazy over it - it makes it harder for them to spy.
Use Huawei.
This may cause Trump tards to have a heart attack, but they never understood that multipolarity is not a threat, it is only a threat for the US Empire.
The more alternatives there are to US tech, the better. So use Huawei, VK, chinese apps, proxies and VPNs, etc.
Russia just added a russian app package for all phones and PCs sold in the country.
A multipolar world will break the US tech monopoly. This is why they are so afraid of Chinese tech.
Posted by: Passer by | Jan 10 2021 0:54 utc | 81
A Bertolt Brecht quote at the top?
This column is about a far away from Bertolt Brecht as you could get.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Jan 10 2021 1:07 utc | 82
@ Mistress Pliddy | Jan 10 2021 0:47 utc | 80 who provided a bit of context about the intertubes...thanks
I agree that most don't have a clue what is under the covers of the intertubes any more than they know how their car works, or the electrical/plumbing/heating systems in their house.
I chuckled at your Cisco reference in relation to popping the bubble of ignorance....I had CCNP certification at one point in my career. And at the beginning of your comment you wrote about how confidential/encrypted communication use to occur and while I agree with the need to go more analog, as you know the reach and depth of data available is almost overwhelming as long as people remain tied to their Plato's Cave displays.
If you have read much here you will know that I am one of those that thinks reality is top/bottom and managed political myth is left/right. I am more in the commenter Jackrabbit camp of both parties being orchestrated from behind the curtain of those that own global private finance.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 10 2021 1:12 utc | 83
@Norwegian #40:
This is just the death of App Store / Play Store - they are not needed - except to enslave you. Just use the browser.
Yes, a mobile web app that uses the Service Worker API for offline mode is what Parler will probably develop going forward. It will be more power-hungry and slower than a native app and, more importantly, won’t deliver notifications on iPhones until mobile Safari implements the Notifications API (users will have to remember to open the app to check for new mentions and direct messages), but it’s doable.
Posted by: S | Jan 10 2021 1:14 utc | 84
Brecht saw the crackdown that followed the Reichstag Fire.
We're about to see the same.
Posted by: lysias | Jan 10 2021 1:15 utc | 85
A couple threads back I commented that for profit social media will change for the better because of this shutting off of Trump. Now that I read more comments I agree that there could come to pass a umbrella of cover provided to for profit social media by the US government that would, in effect, make them state agents explicitly instead of the implicit we see before us.
I agree with others about the need for Open Source voting tools and all sorts of communication tools that are not selling something......Hell, people would pay a bit for tools that worked for them and which they TRUSTED. It is like the US tax system where who knows where the money goes....tax A does not lead to service B.
We are back to the Enlightenment issue for society....logic and reason or the barbarism of faith based solutions? China is showing that truly secular logic and reason can do a righteous job and the elite of the West don't want you noticing....hence the non-stop narrative control kabuki.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 10 2021 1:30 utc | 86
Laguerre 41
I followed a trail looking for pluto-populism and found this;
Testimony of Senior Italian Judge Alfio D’Urso - Italian Tax Court and Supreme Court Public Defender “US Elections were rigged by Defence Contractor, Leonardo SpA”
It appears on this blog.
Posted by: DeQuincey | Jan 10 2021 1:49 utc | 87
Jen, james, everyone
Will Trump pardon the Capitol Hill trespassers?
Would be easier to justify than this: Trump pardons security contractors in deadly Iraq shooting?
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 10 2021 1:58 utc | 88
To: Passerby
I was using a Huawei phone, bought it when I was teaching in China before COVID. Not long after I came to NM it stopped connecting to the internet. Maybe the military base next door? It works across town.
Posted by: Teacher | Jan 10 2021 2:03 utc | 89
Paul Jay and Wilkerson go after the suppression of political disagreement as well in this discussion. Which is a sad turn in an otherwise mighty good exchange. Paul Jay simply does not get that the USAi medical care system is now a failure at medical care and a success at driving people into poverty and/or bankruptcy.
So Paul Jay and Wilkerson virtually dismiss the strategic moment that arose to press the legislature just to debate Medicare for ALL as being an ego contest for those advocating #Forcethevote at the expense of thatextraordinary majority of the people of the USA that desperately want relief from penury and day to day life in threat of ill health.
Paul Jay simply does not get politics 101 and goes out to gaslight the left for demanding political action. Very sad and shame on him. I will still consider his material but use his platform to suppress political disagreement in the interests of unity is pathetic.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 10 2021 2:03 utc | 90
That last sentence should be "I will still consider his material but to use his platform to suppress political disagreement in the interests of unity is pathetic.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 10 2021 2:06 utc | 91
OMG! I just saw this:
DOJ Warns Over Fake 'Pardons' Post That Tricks DC Protesters Into Doxxing Selves
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 10 2021 2:07 utc | 92
Take a bow b for the best graphic juxtaposition I have seen in a long time. Well done.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 10 2021 2:09 utc | 93
@ jackrabbit... i doubt it... trump generally makes a mess and i've never seen him clean up after himself.... has the guy ever come back and sad he did something wrong, or that he was sorry?? i don't recall... in fact, we never see this in the political class... the idea that these people could make mistakes is very real to me, but it would be extremely refreshing if any of them could say they made a mistake... did nixon say he made a mistake?? being a canuck, i don't know the details...
so, no... trump is just another run of the mill kleptocrat who got the gig as president and remember as obama said 'we have to move on'... no accountability.... meanwhile the usa titanic continues to sail and if they hit an iceberg that is named 'no accountability', it would be divine justice working itself out...
Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 2:09 utc | 94
@ 93 jr... looking like a way to fish some into signing on... never underestimate the stupidity of your average american...
it's another twitter as decoy for cia-fb type thing by the look of it... i am really shocked i tell ya, lol...
Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 2:13 utc | 95
@ uncle tungsten | Jan 10 2021 2:09 utc | 94... i agree! but what does laguerre think? lololol...
Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 2:14 utc | 96
Jackrabbit #93 on fake pardons.
I bet they get a hundred. Maybe a thousand if people decide to name every corporate thief that come to mind and dob them in.
Pick a banker, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, a lawyer, a squaddie....
Why not pick Joe biden - just inform on them. Just don't put your name on the paper.
This is what happened in Venice in the 1500's under the Medici. They installed ceramic lions on pedestals so people could inform on each other. They eventually were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of allegations.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 10 2021 2:16 utc | 97
Trespass to land is in most U.S. jurisdictions a misdemeanor, a minor crime, which most prosecutors ignore.
Posted by: lysias | Jan 10 2021 2:16 utc | 98
In 2009 Iran’s presidential elections presidential candidate Moussavi prematurely declared himself the winner of elections against the seating conservative president two hours before the poles were closed. This caused a period of riots and internal instability by his supporters and his foreign backers. Next day US regime’s SoS Hilary Clinton went on TV and asked Twitter to delay their scheduled maintenance, so the debuting Iran election’s rioters and mobs burning city buses, Banks and police stations will have a vehicle for line of communications and pasting photos. To expresses their dissatisfaction with elections results. This same disrespectable loser Hillary Clinton the political whore she is, today, cheered twitter closing seating US president’s and sixty thousand of his supporter’s twitter account for disputing US elections.
Posted by: kooshy | Jan 10 2021 2:39 utc | 99
From the Leaving In Style thread, this resonated with me...
Yeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, I think we are there now.
Well, I guess lying your ass off all the time has its limitations as a form of governance.
...
...
Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 7 2021 12:31 utc | 55
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 10 2021 2:40 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
I saw this yesterday, should have posted it then, but in light of events ongoing I think it pertains to b's post here as it fills in some details on White House deliberations.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/nz-trump-aide-chris-liddell-staying
Chris Liddell is the main person in charge of Trump's transition team.
Posted by: juliania | Jan 9 2021 18:43 utc | 1