I don't see this as some kind of statement on abortion or Trump as much as a statement on where the majority of people are fed their information from. Look at COVID. There are so many people who bought the narrative and will never revisit it. It is locked in. Safe and effective. Democracy at risk. Abortion will be banned. Medicare will be taken away. All the narratives flow from the same sources and most of the population swallows it whole. This seems to be fact from my observations. The Truth is elusive and most do not recognize it if it is plainly shown to them with irrefutable support. I tend towards thinking that the voting is not rigged, the flow of information is. The voting is just a reflection of that. It takes so much effort now to dig through headlines and get to facts and truth that most do not bother. They just decide what sources they trust and simply trust them. Take abortion, for example. The prevailing message is that the Republicans are intent on "banning abortion" and the Democrats will "protect a woman's right to choose". The truth is more along the lines that many Republicans are intent on putting restrictions on abortion to limit it to somewhere between 12-16 weeks and Democrats are intent on making abortion available up to the moment of birth without condition or exception. The headlines are almost never the truth. The first is not a ban and the second is far, far more than simply protecting the right to choose.
Great post CG. Also a fantastic tweet by Ron Coleman last night:
"At no point in US history has every single cultural institution - press, entertainment, academia, unions, public employees, the massive public employee sector, the professions, law enforcement, federal agencies major corporations, Wall Street, non-profits, mainline Protestant denominations, the military - I could go on - been so profoundly and explicitly aligned the way they have been behind the Left in the last five years. "
This was of course planned in the 1850’s at the Frankfurt School in Germany. It was the academic beginnings of the progressive movement, and the objective was to dominate society, to take over, essentially moving the needle on the Overton Window to reestablish norms to the left. Thus began what was known as “the long march through the institutions” to gain control of them for the political ends they had determined to be the best ones. Thus we have a media, entertainment industry, politicians, academia, government, etc. The long march. has left us with totalitarianism ruling the day. Forewarned is forearmed: another day is coming.
The response to COVID hasn't been fully felt yet. These guys printed 40% extra money during the pandemic. It takes two years for a 0.25% interest rate rise to work its way through the economy. Per your comment you are absolutely right that the flow of information is rigged. That is why the spending was so obscene in these election. nearly $400 million spent in Pennsylvania alone. Lets see how Fetterman does in the Senate.
People are waking up and seeing the consequences of what has been done. The question is what will need to be done to bring reality back?
That was the great takeaway for me. Considering what was done to humanity in the scamdemic era alone should have made the red wave a TSUNAMI even without the border debacle and inflation-economy. That is the crazy aspect to me. Then again NO ONE was running on it either and humans have such short memory. Politicians know this. The totality of what was allowed to happen during the wuh-flu era was astonishing...yet no one has paid a price for it politically in any meaningful way. Just sayin
I'm not so sure that no one has paid the price. All cause mortality is well above average in vaccinated countries. China is still in lockdown and Russia is no longer providing gas to Europe. Russia is also no longer accepting Euros or Dollars for oil & gas settlement.
A lot has changed in 3-years. And COVID isn't gone yet. Where I live people are still getting sick from it, despite even our pet hampsters being quadruple vaccinated. I can also see a big difference between the schools and sports that stayed open vs the ones that locked down.
Anyway, I think it will take a few more years for us to appreciate the price and people like Alex Berrenson are out there fighting over what has happened. They have uncovered swaths of collusion between government and big tech companies to censor and also steer narratives the way they want.
All social media manipulates users. They send out the Democrat message every day. It is pounded into the heads of the uninformed. They see it on Google News, it must be true. They see it on FB, Twitter and Youtube.
My thought on Fetterman is does he serve his term or do they replace him?
That's what I anticipate. But apparently the majority of US voters love it too. Biden was correct that democracy was on the ballot. And it was mostly defeated.
It's worse than that. Using titles like "The New York Times etc." or "50 former intelligence officials say the Hunter Biden Laptop is Russian disinformation" is all a form of low-level hypnosis. Supposed professionals & officials are prostituting their credentials in order to trick voters into voting for the professional and official's candidates.
This kind of stupidity can very easily lead to a nuclear war. WWI was started because a bunch of backroom alliances by elites. Then the press joined in with "the war would only last for 6 months". 4 years later 80 million people were dead because of the arrogance of the elites and the press. The following years would bring speculative booms, hyperinflations, great depressions, and finally World War II. It is hard for me to see how there isn't something similar going on now.
Thanks for posting that Seemsastho! The results aren't stunning as Epstein suggests. They are quite as expected. If you read Robert Cialdini's (godfather of influence studies and behavioural psychology, crafted messaging for the Obama campaign), book Pre-suasion, one of the Pre-suasive messaging systems he identifies is "What is Focal is Causal". In other words whatever a person sees most recently is what they think about:
What's Focal is Causal, states that whatever is put squarely in the center for an audience to view is going to be believed to be more important and casual to whatever is being discussed.
The trick with all this stuff is turn off the TV, turn off the internet, don't touch anything "free". I only get my news from WSJ/FT/Substack/Economist most of my reading news is to help me make money or because I find it interesting.
I try to avoid google for duckduckgo as much as possible and don't have google on my starting screen. My kids are banned from any kind of phones/iPads/computers until they are well into their teens.
I don’t disagree with you but The flow of information is dictated by the appetite of the reader or listener. The press gives them what they want (fulfill their need). To then remark that the public is shallow and uninformed is redundant. Of course they are. And in this context, all they care about are abortion and trump. It’s up to the republicans to create issues that they can understand and get behind. IMHO, the Republican Party has lost its way.
And I do not disagree with you either except that there is very little left of the Republican Party. What we have is the UniParty. Two sides of the same coin. And even if Republicans present issues or arguments, it does little good if it is presented by the media with an editorial bias against it. People have an appetite for what they are presented with. If you go into a restaurant and they present a menu with no meat on it and you choose from the menu, does that mean that you do not prefer meat or that you are simply choosing from the offerings on the presented menu?
Agree 100%. Ron Paul made your point about the restaurant with no meat:
“If two parties with two sets of bad ideas cooperate, the result is not good policy, but policy that is extremely bad. What we really need are correct economic and politcal ideas, regardless of the party that pushes them.”
Another of his quote is the two parties fight for power, but share the same philosophy of more war, welfare & inflation.
Your meat example is 100% accurate. Just remember, if you don't eat meat you wither away, the restaurant might make money for a bit in the beginning but as time passes their customers disappear. There is nothing smart or healthy by disappearing meat and then claiming that people really are vegan. It's just shipping the issues under the rug, and one day they do reappear as a giant mess.
Eliminating all RINO's would certainly assist in forming a new direction led by the likes of DeSantis. The dude won 62 of the 67 counties in FL and the 3rd most populated state always has votes tabulated before midnight
I agree with you too btw. One of the pillars of propaganda is "the medium is the message", so television itself is the message, people need to look good on it. The Internet is only 25-years-old, so people are still figuring out the "medium". Exactly your comment that this election was turned into abortion and trump. It's worth reading Thomas Jefferson, his era was pretty similar with all kinds of crazy pamphlets and newspapers saying stupid things to pander to voter's emotions.
"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day"
That might as well have been written this month. But, here is the important part IMHO, there are consequences to misleading the population on substantive issues. Saying "oh this is about abortion and Trump" when in reality it is about the Federal Reserve printing 40% extra money, the supply of energy dropping each month, crime, inflation, etc. eventually the chicken's come home to roost and when I say eventually I mean in the next year or two.
To your point I totally agree that the Republican Party has lost its way. It needs to get its messaging AND message right.
Before I reply Timo, what do you think the Republican Party needs to do to find its way? I'm just curious because I have some views to. I actually think it applies to Democrats as well.
Jefferson's letter needs to be adapted to today's age. TV editors routinely made Trump more orange. Like they literally edited the videos to make him look hideous:
I didn't know about those above examples until only a few months ago. That is live editing btw. So someone from the White House communications team called a CNN executive and said "edit out the red, it looks too ominous".
Glenn Greenwald has a good piece up about internet censorship, talking exactly about what the original poster put up, that we don't even see the other side of an argument or a story. But we are starting to see it. The truth is there is an alignment between big government, big business and big billionaires. Facebook/Google/Twitter need users, they are winner take all aggregators (monopolies), they push sensationalist news to people to keep us on the product "debate about trans dances at school, lockdowns, vaccines, democrats, republicans", keep users stuck on product, advertisers from big business target users in between to buy their products, consumers buy their products off other monopolies like Amazon and Walmart, monopolies like Amazon, Walmart, Facebook, Google, Twitter donate to politicians who don't go after them for anti-trust, Facebook/google/twitter push fake news stories about racism/abortion/trans/climate change/cute kitties so that consumers can't focus on the fact that there is a class war. Outside dark money political groups donate billions to political campaigns making them needlessly long and acrimonies but creating economic incentives for political operators to prolong campaigns. Pennsylvania Senate Election alone cost $700 million. Georgia a state of 10 million people cost nearly $500 million. A lot of that money is recycled into Facebook/Twitter/Google.
Add that products are made in places like China where every single law from the USA about workers rights, worker comp, environmental regulations, minimum wage, equality, discrimination, is thrown out the window. Add military-industrial complex/energy/big law firms/foreign governments all lobbying government, there is no room for your average person's issues: crime, economic opportunity, civil liberties, basic human rights.
I'm a capitalist but not like this. The whole system has been turned into a machine and the people using it are just mocking your average middle class family.
I think you're partially right about the appetites of the readers, but for one: which came first, the daily bombardment of news, or requests for a daily bombardment of news, and two, I have mostly low-information friends who are usually too busy or complacent to research news stories further, and I'll hear them just regurgitating the LA Times or a Facebook post. If I don't get a chance to point out an inconsistency or two I might catch in a Times' story, its conclusion becomes set in lazy stone, and then groupthink takes over.
I think you highly overestimate the percentage of Republicans who focus on the former President (with the exception of the Biden admin blatantly used his DOJ/FBI to raid his estate). It appears that the one most obsessed with President Trump is the current Pres who shouts his campaign slogans with regularity in sentences that Republicans can only shake their heads at, and feel pity for the man who is living in another universe where ultra mega maga fascist extremist are around every corner denying his election. We know that we have plenty of candidates to back in 2024, and maybe even Trump if he is the nominee. Lack of candidates is not a problem for Republicans.
Regarding abortion, an apolitical branch ruled on Dobbs. Most conservatives agree that it was essentially right to send it back to the States and People, but even if we didn’t it would still be the law of the land, and not something Republicans thought would give them an edge in elections. Think clearly instead of repeating lies the media wants you to believe.
At no point did I express my personal feelings. I’m just observing the results and it’s clear that Trump has damaged the Republican Party for a generation and women will not accept the state in charge of their personal choices. . People are simple, news is shallow at best, and these are the over riding issues of the day. As such, the republicans lost handedly. The republicans either don’t have a stance or are incapable of expressing it clearly enough to drive people to vote.
I don’t know if I was responding to you, but I meant no offense. With regard to abortion, the inescapable fact is that the State will always have control in some way over the other body, the little one. It should remain out of the federal government’s reach. Every state has its own statutes for taking a life, and this is no exception, with the proviso that the mother’s life is primary, and there is choice when a heinous crime was committed, resulting conception. Simply not a political football.
It is disgusting. We saw during covid that many Dems were convinced that China had the correct policy, lock people in their homes to stop the spread. It doesn't matter if they starve to death.
geez in France no abortions after 15 weeks, a fetus sucks its thumb at 11 weeks and npr radio did a live audio abortion at 11 weeks and it was not for rape or incest, they turned on the suction machine and then they all clapped The republicans did not articulate a cap on abortion and allowance for rape and incest
The abortion issue is a drag. Remind people fetuses can feel by at least 12 weeks - at which point they are ripped apart alive or burned alive in saline. Allow 12 weeks but ensure women who want their babies realize that is a choice (a rewarding and amazing choice). Focus on changing hearts and minds early. The country isn’t purely pro life, nor is it pro baby murder, and the first party to recognize and respect this will do well in 2024. Putting ideology over outcomes only ensures more dead, tortured babies and more far left insanity. Losing an election in ideological purity isn’t being a martyr. It’s being an idiot.
I think the elections are rigged and stolen, but I also agree with everything you say here. Conservatives are victims of the constant lying and gaslighting coming from the left, and lazy people are too caught up in daily life to do their own research. The most rudimentary reading of various scientists willing to speak up in 2020 made me aware of just about everything that those just now "waking" up are surprised to learn about the pandemic and the vax (children unaffected, masking doesn't work, the virus is man-made and originated in a lab, the vax is untested, it's miRNA gene therapy, it attacks your immune system, it doesn't stop you from getting or transmitting, hydroxychloroquine works, and the list goes on.)
On the thought that it's not the voting, but the info dissemination that is the problem, check out this former Biden supporter's research on the google effect: https://mygoogleresearch.com/
People KNOW the options of what they can follow for info...it's not rocket science. People are creatures of habit and some are just far more unaware for sure of what is truly happening. Critical thought and the ability to stand your ground has been lost on many now and especially with the younger generation rising with a herd like mentality or group think
We're seeing the results of how we've been scaring the $#!+ out of the young ones for their whole lives, threatening them with the death of the planet and making them feel guilty for the air they breathe. They've been broken. Group think is a result of fear and the destruction of the ability to perceive themselves as valuable for the individuals they are.
Excellent take on the realities. Very true those who control the levers of power use FEAR as a primary driver of indoctrination. We the people have little say in that anymore or perhaps we never did. We elect servants whom we pay to go into public service allow it. CRAZY!
I'm not from PA, but I have to agree. And Oz was a centrist, not a fire-breathing MAGA type. Meanwhile, at his best, Fetterman was just creepy and uninspiring. If he were the guy showing up to take away your trash, you wouldn't be surprised. But US Senator? Whoa! I'm hoping he doesn't show up to work in that pathetic hoodie.
Hi Friend, me John Fetterman. You give money me for campaign. We fight inflation. Higher minimum wage you get. Thank you. Donate money me now. - Paid for by the friends of John Fetterman
A stroke victim vs a brilliant heart surgeon, it seems like an easy choice to me but I'm an old person so what do I know? If they only looked at Fetterman's track record from before the stroke. He let murders out of jail when he was on the parole board, he bankrupted a town he was Mayor of with his ridiculous policies. Half of the town moved after he destroyed it.
I did a Google Street View walk though of Fetterman's town, Braddock PA. Pretty dreary and depressed place. I'm surprised this didn't receive more attention. Fetterman has little in the way of real accomplishments in this life. Now he's a senator???
He had no job for most of his life. His wealthy parents supported him. Mayor of Braddock was his first job. He didn't even live there, he moved to run for office so it's ironic that he criticized Oz for not living in PA.
I'm originally from PA and have some relatives who still live there. Yes, corrupt for a long, long time. Graft in the highway system is known. I haven't lived there since 1966, but stupid and corrupt seem to be pretty good descriptors. My relatives are in thrall to the lock downs, mandates, masks way of life.
Hi Friend, me John Fetterman. You give money me for campaign. We fight inflation. Higher minimum wage you get. Thank you. Donate money me now. - Paid for by the friends of John Fetterman
I live in NM and we didn't do much better here. We have the same tyrannical, corrupt governor again. Obama campaigned for her - in a state that has 5 electoral votes! Now we can wait for the mandates, masks, lock downs to be reimposed. In liberal Santa Fe lots of the people are still wearing masks. It must give meaning to their lives.
PERHAPS enough PAIN has not yet been felt by those who voted for the likes of Fetterman. I mean what will it take...no HEAT over the winter months to freeze a certain amount or threshold of people to death. More murders of those in their families simply going to a movie or riding a subway. Maybe that PAIN threshold has not yet been reached for them to have a WTF epiphany?
I'm starting to develop a theory that most Dem voters don't believe these problems are soluble by government, or really anyone. Right? They're just "the way things are." As such, if you don't like Republicans, you don't see ANY reason to vote for them as you don't think they could fix these problems anyway.
Otherwise I struggle to explain the election results.
Wonder where Mitch was during Dr. Oz’s rallies, and has been all day? I picture him praying for continued losses so he can ride out his service as the minority with no expectations for anything. God help this country.
Yes. When is enough, enough for these people? I saw a poll that a majority of people think it's better to move to green energy than up production of fossil fuels. They don't realize that there are no renewable energy sources that would meet our demands much less support EVs that everyone is supposed to buy. Like you said, if people freeze because they can't afford heat will that wake them up?
Yes, renewable energy would be nice if it were practicable. But that's the hitch: practicable. So far, it's expensive and unreliable. And even if the entire USA went to renewables, would we have fixed climate change? No! The Indians and Chinese still have to get on board. While I'm inclined to think that carbon reduction is the way, I don't think we need to commit economic suicide when our own efforts by themselves literally aren't enough. Meanwhile, we should be building hundreds of nuclear power plants across the country. There's literally no downside to that, and we'd get plenty of cheap, reliable electricity for our efforts, with zero emissions. But it seems like the greenies want us to sit in the cold and dark instead of providing any real solutions.
Honestly I'm a pretty strong MAGA guy Ryan Murray but I like Fetterman. He is as much an ef you to the system as Trump was. Fetterman is just likeable. Dr. Oz comes off as really fake and sleazy. A vote for Fetterman is kind of like a vote for Shrek.
I didn't much like Dr. Oz either, but Fetterman is obviously brain damaged. I question the mental health and judgement of anyone who could vote for such an unfit candidate.
Yeah but someone brain damaged who isn't all there can do a lot less damage than someone who is smart and sleazy. Dr. Oz couldn't even say he was pro-abortion, didn't think 2020 was stolen, or that drag shows shouldn't be in schools.
And again, they were trying to paint Fetterman as some kind of radical who lived off his parents, 50% of people under 30 live with their parents. Something like 50% of Americans have gotten financial support from their family in the last couple of years. You have to be brain damaged to be attacking the guy over what 50% of the country is going through.
Pennsylvania should have been an easy win for the Republican Party. The questioning of the mental health and judgment should be on Dr. Oz's strategy and the Republican Party. It's pretty bad when you lose to a vegetable.
I agree with you with the exception to Fetterman’s “likability” he wasn’t fully there, you could feel sorry for him...but liking him (if you’re on the outside) just was’t there either. And his policies was as unlikeable as a virus.
It was the Southpark cartoon's conundrum of voting for a turd sandwich or a giant douche. I think the turd sandwich won. Besides, brain dead will be able to converse with Biden and they can both try to figure out how to get off the stage. Also brain dead is much easier to control and will vote however the Dems want. We have one in NM who isn't brain dead but still votes however he's told. Yay lock downs, masks, and mandates.
Well, there certainly was the issue of whether Oz was really from PA or not. And I'll grant you he wasn't the most inspiring candidate. But I'm still astonished that folks would vote for Fetterman. Cheers.
I live in PA too and my husband and I don't get it either. Did the carpet bagger thing combined with the incessant lies about Oz killing puppies, Oz would outlaw abortions, and Oz is a rich guy with 10 mansions actually work? If so, our state (and maybe the nation) is doomed.
Yeah, but he did the hoodie/shorts stitck (?sp) for 15 years prior, refused the Lt.Governors "mansion" and said all the right stuff about the working man.
Why is it so few people are able to connect the $7 trillion in "free shit" (funded by money printing over the past 3 years) with soaring inflation? Because the dem leadership, the state and federal bureaucracies, academia and the press like things EXACTLY as they are. They control the information flow, and they like staying in power by keeping the populace fat, stupid and beholden. The result is a stagnation nation, where little is ever accomplished and the values of freedom, independence of thought and self-reliance get flushed down the toilet.
This is (still) the major problem with Biden (or more correctly his handlers): all these ideas are terrible for Americans. No matter how many times you chant ‘We passed the Inflation Reduction Act’, Americans will only see the result: higher prices and government to blame. Biden is hoping the only thing Americans love more than paying more for gas is paying more for government that hates and wants to rob them. He and the democrats better hope for some super election fortification.
Fetterman wins... along with some others that baffle the mind, our country has turned a scary corner 😢
The UniParty wins (again, and as per the usual).
I don't see this as some kind of statement on abortion or Trump as much as a statement on where the majority of people are fed their information from. Look at COVID. There are so many people who bought the narrative and will never revisit it. It is locked in. Safe and effective. Democracy at risk. Abortion will be banned. Medicare will be taken away. All the narratives flow from the same sources and most of the population swallows it whole. This seems to be fact from my observations. The Truth is elusive and most do not recognize it if it is plainly shown to them with irrefutable support. I tend towards thinking that the voting is not rigged, the flow of information is. The voting is just a reflection of that. It takes so much effort now to dig through headlines and get to facts and truth that most do not bother. They just decide what sources they trust and simply trust them. Take abortion, for example. The prevailing message is that the Republicans are intent on "banning abortion" and the Democrats will "protect a woman's right to choose". The truth is more along the lines that many Republicans are intent on putting restrictions on abortion to limit it to somewhere between 12-16 weeks and Democrats are intent on making abortion available up to the moment of birth without condition or exception. The headlines are almost never the truth. The first is not a ban and the second is far, far more than simply protecting the right to choose.
Great post CG. Also a fantastic tweet by Ron Coleman last night:
"At no point in US history has every single cultural institution - press, entertainment, academia, unions, public employees, the massive public employee sector, the professions, law enforcement, federal agencies major corporations, Wall Street, non-profits, mainline Protestant denominations, the military - I could go on - been so profoundly and explicitly aligned the way they have been behind the Left in the last five years. "
This was of course planned in the 1850’s at the Frankfurt School in Germany. It was the academic beginnings of the progressive movement, and the objective was to dominate society, to take over, essentially moving the needle on the Overton Window to reestablish norms to the left. Thus began what was known as “the long march through the institutions” to gain control of them for the political ends they had determined to be the best ones. Thus we have a media, entertainment industry, politicians, academia, government, etc. The long march. has left us with totalitarianism ruling the day. Forewarned is forearmed: another day is coming.
From my observation it's been the past 3 years, but I may have been hornswoggled myself for those first 2 of the five.
There is no better proof of media brainwashing than covid. People are STILL wearing masks.
The response to COVID hasn't been fully felt yet. These guys printed 40% extra money during the pandemic. It takes two years for a 0.25% interest rate rise to work its way through the economy. Per your comment you are absolutely right that the flow of information is rigged. That is why the spending was so obscene in these election. nearly $400 million spent in Pennsylvania alone. Lets see how Fetterman does in the Senate.
People are waking up and seeing the consequences of what has been done. The question is what will need to be done to bring reality back?
That was the great takeaway for me. Considering what was done to humanity in the scamdemic era alone should have made the red wave a TSUNAMI even without the border debacle and inflation-economy. That is the crazy aspect to me. Then again NO ONE was running on it either and humans have such short memory. Politicians know this. The totality of what was allowed to happen during the wuh-flu era was astonishing...yet no one has paid a price for it politically in any meaningful way. Just sayin
I agree, "no one has paid a price"...and sadly, they probably never will.
such a disgrace all things considered in totality especially what was allowed to be done to the children
Also agree.
Agreed, no one is held accountable.
I'm not so sure that no one has paid the price. All cause mortality is well above average in vaccinated countries. China is still in lockdown and Russia is no longer providing gas to Europe. Russia is also no longer accepting Euros or Dollars for oil & gas settlement.
A lot has changed in 3-years. And COVID isn't gone yet. Where I live people are still getting sick from it, despite even our pet hampsters being quadruple vaccinated. I can also see a big difference between the schools and sports that stayed open vs the ones that locked down.
Anyway, I think it will take a few more years for us to appreciate the price and people like Alex Berrenson are out there fighting over what has happened. They have uncovered swaths of collusion between government and big tech companies to censor and also steer narratives the way they want.
All social media manipulates users. They send out the Democrat message every day. It is pounded into the heads of the uninformed. They see it on Google News, it must be true. They see it on FB, Twitter and Youtube.
My thought on Fetterman is does he serve his term or do they replace him?
Fetterman serves his term. He's perfect for the Uniparty. A brain-damaged nitwit who never needs to appear in public and will vote the way he's told.
Or put Mrs. Fetterman in office because suddenly he's not up to the job. She fits right in. Loves socialism.
That's what I anticipate. But apparently the majority of US voters love it too. Biden was correct that democracy was on the ballot. And it was mostly defeated.
It's worse than that. Using titles like "The New York Times etc." or "50 former intelligence officials say the Hunter Biden Laptop is Russian disinformation" is all a form of low-level hypnosis. Supposed professionals & officials are prostituting their credentials in order to trick voters into voting for the professional and official's candidates.
This kind of stupidity can very easily lead to a nuclear war. WWI was started because a bunch of backroom alliances by elites. Then the press joined in with "the war would only last for 6 months". 4 years later 80 million people were dead because of the arrogance of the elites and the press. The following years would bring speculative booms, hyperinflations, great depressions, and finally World War II. It is hard for me to see how there isn't something similar going on now.
Agree
Ukraine. They're doing it again.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/google-is-influencing-elections-by-flipping-votes-on-massive-scale-researcher_4846708.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&src_src=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-11-08&src_cmp=mb-2022-11-08&utm_medium=email&est=rRfuOVQpzC3lJssukORVte%2FTWUQ3msDf0BiUUyOrwzmZRAsoO05pMwW9vdv6h76XNYHa
Thanks for posting that Seemsastho! The results aren't stunning as Epstein suggests. They are quite as expected. If you read Robert Cialdini's (godfather of influence studies and behavioural psychology, crafted messaging for the Obama campaign), book Pre-suasion, one of the Pre-suasive messaging systems he identifies is "What is Focal is Causal". In other words whatever a person sees most recently is what they think about:
What's Focal is Causal, states that whatever is put squarely in the center for an audience to view is going to be believed to be more important and casual to whatever is being discussed.
https://constructionmarketingideas.com/cialdini-whats-focal-is-casual-and-why-it-is-vitally-important-for-marketing-and-business-development/
The trick with all this stuff is turn off the TV, turn off the internet, don't touch anything "free". I only get my news from WSJ/FT/Substack/Economist most of my reading news is to help me make money or because I find it interesting.
I try to avoid google for duckduckgo as much as possible and don't have google on my starting screen. My kids are banned from any kind of phones/iPads/computers until they are well into their teens.
Fetterman's lefty lunatic wife is the one who will have the power in the senate.
She is absolutely scary.
I don’t disagree with you but The flow of information is dictated by the appetite of the reader or listener. The press gives them what they want (fulfill their need). To then remark that the public is shallow and uninformed is redundant. Of course they are. And in this context, all they care about are abortion and trump. It’s up to the republicans to create issues that they can understand and get behind. IMHO, the Republican Party has lost its way.
And I do not disagree with you either except that there is very little left of the Republican Party. What we have is the UniParty. Two sides of the same coin. And even if Republicans present issues or arguments, it does little good if it is presented by the media with an editorial bias against it. People have an appetite for what they are presented with. If you go into a restaurant and they present a menu with no meat on it and you choose from the menu, does that mean that you do not prefer meat or that you are simply choosing from the offerings on the presented menu?
Agree 100%. Ron Paul made your point about the restaurant with no meat:
“If two parties with two sets of bad ideas cooperate, the result is not good policy, but policy that is extremely bad. What we really need are correct economic and politcal ideas, regardless of the party that pushes them.”
Another of his quote is the two parties fight for power, but share the same philosophy of more war, welfare & inflation.
Your meat example is 100% accurate. Just remember, if you don't eat meat you wither away, the restaurant might make money for a bit in the beginning but as time passes their customers disappear. There is nothing smart or healthy by disappearing meat and then claiming that people really are vegan. It's just shipping the issues under the rug, and one day they do reappear as a giant mess.
Eliminating all RINO's would certainly assist in forming a new direction led by the likes of DeSantis. The dude won 62 of the 67 counties in FL and the 3rd most populated state always has votes tabulated before midnight
Perhaps we can thank Chad for the efficient FL voting. Only about 20 years.
I should have mentioned that. Do you think it's truly why FL seems to have such an efficient process now?
I agree with you too btw. One of the pillars of propaganda is "the medium is the message", so television itself is the message, people need to look good on it. The Internet is only 25-years-old, so people are still figuring out the "medium". Exactly your comment that this election was turned into abortion and trump. It's worth reading Thomas Jefferson, his era was pretty similar with all kinds of crazy pamphlets and newspapers saying stupid things to pander to voter's emotions.
"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day"
That might as well have been written this month. But, here is the important part IMHO, there are consequences to misleading the population on substantive issues. Saying "oh this is about abortion and Trump" when in reality it is about the Federal Reserve printing 40% extra money, the supply of energy dropping each month, crime, inflation, etc. eventually the chicken's come home to roost and when I say eventually I mean in the next year or two.
To your point I totally agree that the Republican Party has lost its way. It needs to get its messaging AND message right.
The full correspondence. I can’t believe he said so clearly what I’ve personally believed for so long. Wow. Thanks again.
https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_speechs29.html
Before I reply Timo, what do you think the Republican Party needs to do to find its way? I'm just curious because I have some views to. I actually think it applies to Democrats as well.
Jefferson's letter needs to be adapted to today's age. TV editors routinely made Trump more orange. Like they literally edited the videos to make him look hideous:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-oval-office-address-video-doctored-footage-editor-sacked-fox-q13-seattle-orange-tongue-a8722491.html
That is only one they caught. Another example is during the Biden Galactic Empire speech CNN edited out the red colour behind him to pink:
https://nypost.com/2022/09/03/cnn-questioned-after-altering-red-background-of-biden-speech/
I didn't know about those above examples until only a few months ago. That is live editing btw. So someone from the White House communications team called a CNN executive and said "edit out the red, it looks too ominous".
Glenn Greenwald has a good piece up about internet censorship, talking exactly about what the original poster put up, that we don't even see the other side of an argument or a story. But we are starting to see it. The truth is there is an alignment between big government, big business and big billionaires. Facebook/Google/Twitter need users, they are winner take all aggregators (monopolies), they push sensationalist news to people to keep us on the product "debate about trans dances at school, lockdowns, vaccines, democrats, republicans", keep users stuck on product, advertisers from big business target users in between to buy their products, consumers buy their products off other monopolies like Amazon and Walmart, monopolies like Amazon, Walmart, Facebook, Google, Twitter donate to politicians who don't go after them for anti-trust, Facebook/google/twitter push fake news stories about racism/abortion/trans/climate change/cute kitties so that consumers can't focus on the fact that there is a class war. Outside dark money political groups donate billions to political campaigns making them needlessly long and acrimonies but creating economic incentives for political operators to prolong campaigns. Pennsylvania Senate Election alone cost $700 million. Georgia a state of 10 million people cost nearly $500 million. A lot of that money is recycled into Facebook/Twitter/Google.
Add that products are made in places like China where every single law from the USA about workers rights, worker comp, environmental regulations, minimum wage, equality, discrimination, is thrown out the window. Add military-industrial complex/energy/big law firms/foreign governments all lobbying government, there is no room for your average person's issues: crime, economic opportunity, civil liberties, basic human rights.
I'm a capitalist but not like this. The whole system has been turned into a machine and the people using it are just mocking your average middle class family.
Wow! TJ is timeless and his words are so appropriate. Thank you for sharing.
Great post. Thank you
No, the media is forming public perception. They aren't hearing half the facts or truth. SO how can they decide differently? That's how Stalin did it.
I think you're partially right about the appetites of the readers, but for one: which came first, the daily bombardment of news, or requests for a daily bombardment of news, and two, I have mostly low-information friends who are usually too busy or complacent to research news stories further, and I'll hear them just regurgitating the LA Times or a Facebook post. If I don't get a chance to point out an inconsistency or two I might catch in a Times' story, its conclusion becomes set in lazy stone, and then groupthink takes over.
I think you highly overestimate the percentage of Republicans who focus on the former President (with the exception of the Biden admin blatantly used his DOJ/FBI to raid his estate). It appears that the one most obsessed with President Trump is the current Pres who shouts his campaign slogans with regularity in sentences that Republicans can only shake their heads at, and feel pity for the man who is living in another universe where ultra mega maga fascist extremist are around every corner denying his election. We know that we have plenty of candidates to back in 2024, and maybe even Trump if he is the nominee. Lack of candidates is not a problem for Republicans.
Regarding abortion, an apolitical branch ruled on Dobbs. Most conservatives agree that it was essentially right to send it back to the States and People, but even if we didn’t it would still be the law of the land, and not something Republicans thought would give them an edge in elections. Think clearly instead of repeating lies the media wants you to believe.
At no point did I express my personal feelings. I’m just observing the results and it’s clear that Trump has damaged the Republican Party for a generation and women will not accept the state in charge of their personal choices. . People are simple, news is shallow at best, and these are the over riding issues of the day. As such, the republicans lost handedly. The republicans either don’t have a stance or are incapable of expressing it clearly enough to drive people to vote.
I don’t know if I was responding to you, but I meant no offense. With regard to abortion, the inescapable fact is that the State will always have control in some way over the other body, the little one. It should remain out of the federal government’s reach. Every state has its own statutes for taking a life, and this is no exception, with the proviso that the mother’s life is primary, and there is choice when a heinous crime was committed, resulting conception. Simply not a political football.
Yep. They control the media and have for a long time. Just like Stalin. And abortion past 15 weeks is barbarism. I guess we're China now.
It is disgusting. We saw during covid that many Dems were convinced that China had the correct policy, lock people in their homes to stop the spread. It doesn't matter if they starve to death.
Now we have similar abortion policies as well. Barbarism. So sad.
geez in France no abortions after 15 weeks, a fetus sucks its thumb at 11 weeks and npr radio did a live audio abortion at 11 weeks and it was not for rape or incest, they turned on the suction machine and then they all clapped The republicans did not articulate a cap on abortion and allowance for rape and incest
The abortion issue is a drag. Remind people fetuses can feel by at least 12 weeks - at which point they are ripped apart alive or burned alive in saline. Allow 12 weeks but ensure women who want their babies realize that is a choice (a rewarding and amazing choice). Focus on changing hearts and minds early. The country isn’t purely pro life, nor is it pro baby murder, and the first party to recognize and respect this will do well in 2024. Putting ideology over outcomes only ensures more dead, tortured babies and more far left insanity. Losing an election in ideological purity isn’t being a martyr. It’s being an idiot.
I think the elections are rigged and stolen, but I also agree with everything you say here. Conservatives are victims of the constant lying and gaslighting coming from the left, and lazy people are too caught up in daily life to do their own research. The most rudimentary reading of various scientists willing to speak up in 2020 made me aware of just about everything that those just now "waking" up are surprised to learn about the pandemic and the vax (children unaffected, masking doesn't work, the virus is man-made and originated in a lab, the vax is untested, it's miRNA gene therapy, it attacks your immune system, it doesn't stop you from getting or transmitting, hydroxychloroquine works, and the list goes on.)
On the thought that it's not the voting, but the info dissemination that is the problem, check out this former Biden supporter's research on the google effect: https://mygoogleresearch.com/
Yep. If anything, the Ds realized they just need to keep lying about anything and everything.
And nobody is going to stop them. It's terrifying.
People KNOW the options of what they can follow for info...it's not rocket science. People are creatures of habit and some are just far more unaware for sure of what is truly happening. Critical thought and the ability to stand your ground has been lost on many now and especially with the younger generation rising with a herd like mentality or group think
We're seeing the results of how we've been scaring the $#!+ out of the young ones for their whole lives, threatening them with the death of the planet and making them feel guilty for the air they breathe. They've been broken. Group think is a result of fear and the destruction of the ability to perceive themselves as valuable for the individuals they are.
Excellent take on the realities. Very true those who control the levers of power use FEAR as a primary driver of indoctrination. We the people have little say in that anymore or perhaps we never did. We elect servants whom we pay to go into public service allow it. CRAZY!
You are right, in my opinon
RIGHT!!
I live in Pa and I can’t comprehend why my neighbors would vote for him over Oz. Truly mind blowing where we are at as a nation
I think people have lost their minds.
Fetterman is a case in point!
I'm not from PA, but I have to agree. And Oz was a centrist, not a fire-breathing MAGA type. Meanwhile, at his best, Fetterman was just creepy and uninspiring. If he were the guy showing up to take away your trash, you wouldn't be surprised. But US Senator? Whoa! I'm hoping he doesn't show up to work in that pathetic hoodie.
just the fact a person like F is elected says it ALL
Hi Friend, me John Fetterman. You give money me for campaign. We fight inflation. Higher minimum wage you get. Thank you. Donate money me now. - Paid for by the friends of John Fetterman
An insult to anyones intelligence. So dementia and aphasia are now de riguer for higher office?
So true. I'm not sure PA will enjoy the winner???
ha ha. you may be correct
A stroke victim vs a brilliant heart surgeon, it seems like an easy choice to me but I'm an old person so what do I know? If they only looked at Fetterman's track record from before the stroke. He let murders out of jail when he was on the parole board, he bankrupted a town he was Mayor of with his ridiculous policies. Half of the town moved after he destroyed it.
I did a Google Street View walk though of Fetterman's town, Braddock PA. Pretty dreary and depressed place. I'm surprised this didn't receive more attention. Fetterman has little in the way of real accomplishments in this life. Now he's a senator???
He had no job for most of his life. His wealthy parents supported him. Mayor of Braddock was his first job. He didn't even live there, he moved to run for office so it's ironic that he criticized Oz for not living in PA.
A stroke victim with extreme radical positions. How is that even REMOTELY possible. Is PA that stupid or that corrupt or both?
I'm originally from PA and have some relatives who still live there. Yes, corrupt for a long, long time. Graft in the highway system is known. I haven't lived there since 1966, but stupid and corrupt seem to be pretty good descriptors. My relatives are in thrall to the lock downs, mandates, masks way of life.
I would say stupid. Probably corrupt too. Maybe it was the hoodie? I'm at a loss.
Seems like brain damage will be a box to check when vetting candidates from now on.
And the "right" answer will be "yes." Sad!
Sad but true.
Your neighbors didn't vote for Fetterman. Ballots 'voted' for him.
Hi Friend, me John Fetterman. You give money me for campaign. We fight inflation. Higher minimum wage you get. Thank you. Donate money me now. - Paid for by the friends of John Fetterman
Here my check from govmt. you win. you do good job. you talk to president man. you both get help get off stage.
I'm thankful I don't live in PA.
I live in NM and we didn't do much better here. We have the same tyrannical, corrupt governor again. Obama campaigned for her - in a state that has 5 electoral votes! Now we can wait for the mandates, masks, lock downs to be reimposed. In liberal Santa Fe lots of the people are still wearing masks. It must give meaning to their lives.
I'm pretty sure my relatives voted for him. Dems to the end.
PERHAPS enough PAIN has not yet been felt by those who voted for the likes of Fetterman. I mean what will it take...no HEAT over the winter months to freeze a certain amount or threshold of people to death. More murders of those in their families simply going to a movie or riding a subway. Maybe that PAIN threshold has not yet been reached for them to have a WTF epiphany?
I'm starting to develop a theory that most Dem voters don't believe these problems are soluble by government, or really anyone. Right? They're just "the way things are." As such, if you don't like Republicans, you don't see ANY reason to vote for them as you don't think they could fix these problems anyway.
Otherwise I struggle to explain the election results.
Wonder where Mitch was during Dr. Oz’s rallies, and has been all day? I picture him praying for continued losses so he can ride out his service as the minority with no expectations for anything. God help this country.
Yes. When is enough, enough for these people? I saw a poll that a majority of people think it's better to move to green energy than up production of fossil fuels. They don't realize that there are no renewable energy sources that would meet our demands much less support EVs that everyone is supposed to buy. Like you said, if people freeze because they can't afford heat will that wake them up?
Yes, renewable energy would be nice if it were practicable. But that's the hitch: practicable. So far, it's expensive and unreliable. And even if the entire USA went to renewables, would we have fixed climate change? No! The Indians and Chinese still have to get on board. While I'm inclined to think that carbon reduction is the way, I don't think we need to commit economic suicide when our own efforts by themselves literally aren't enough. Meanwhile, we should be building hundreds of nuclear power plants across the country. There's literally no downside to that, and we'd get plenty of cheap, reliable electricity for our efforts, with zero emissions. But it seems like the greenies want us to sit in the cold and dark instead of providing any real solutions.
Honestly I'm a pretty strong MAGA guy Ryan Murray but I like Fetterman. He is as much an ef you to the system as Trump was. Fetterman is just likeable. Dr. Oz comes off as really fake and sleazy. A vote for Fetterman is kind of like a vote for Shrek.
I didn't much like Dr. Oz either, but Fetterman is obviously brain damaged. I question the mental health and judgement of anyone who could vote for such an unfit candidate.
Yeah but someone brain damaged who isn't all there can do a lot less damage than someone who is smart and sleazy. Dr. Oz couldn't even say he was pro-abortion, didn't think 2020 was stolen, or that drag shows shouldn't be in schools.
And again, they were trying to paint Fetterman as some kind of radical who lived off his parents, 50% of people under 30 live with their parents. Something like 50% of Americans have gotten financial support from their family in the last couple of years. You have to be brain damaged to be attacking the guy over what 50% of the country is going through.
Pennsylvania should have been an easy win for the Republican Party. The questioning of the mental health and judgment should be on Dr. Oz's strategy and the Republican Party. It's pretty bad when you lose to a vegetable.
I agree with you with the exception to Fetterman’s “likability” he wasn’t fully there, you could feel sorry for him...but liking him (if you’re on the outside) just was’t there either. And his policies was as unlikeable as a virus.
As a Western PA resident, I get the likable. He was (pre-stroke) A great retail politician.
WTF! He is hideous inside and out. What is wrong with you?
I just report what I see. I neither like or respect him.
Likable? I don't get it.
It was the Southpark cartoon's conundrum of voting for a turd sandwich or a giant douche. I think the turd sandwich won. Besides, brain dead will be able to converse with Biden and they can both try to figure out how to get off the stage. Also brain dead is much easier to control and will vote however the Dems want. We have one in NM who isn't brain dead but still votes however he's told. Yay lock downs, masks, and mandates.
Well, there certainly was the issue of whether Oz was really from PA or not. And I'll grant you he wasn't the most inspiring candidate. But I'm still astonished that folks would vote for Fetterman. Cheers.
I live in PA too and my husband and I don't get it either. Did the carpet bagger thing combined with the incessant lies about Oz killing puppies, Oz would outlaw abortions, and Oz is a rich guy with 10 mansions actually work? If so, our state (and maybe the nation) is doomed.
But Fetterman himself is a trust fund baby from what I understand. Hardly a man "of the people."
Yeah, but he did the hoodie/shorts stitck (?sp) for 15 years prior, refused the Lt.Governors "mansion" and said all the right stuff about the working man.
Free shit won.
Never underestimate its power.
Why is it so few people are able to connect the $7 trillion in "free shit" (funded by money printing over the past 3 years) with soaring inflation? Because the dem leadership, the state and federal bureaucracies, academia and the press like things EXACTLY as they are. They control the information flow, and they like staying in power by keeping the populace fat, stupid and beholden. The result is a stagnation nation, where little is ever accomplished and the values of freedom, independence of thought and self-reliance get flushed down the toilet.
Well Democrats fixed inflation with the "Inflation Reduction Act". (sarc) I guess stupid people believe stupid things.
This is exactly why they called it that.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/did-the-ministry-of-truth-name-the
This is (still) the major problem with Biden (or more correctly his handlers): all these ideas are terrible for Americans. No matter how many times you chant ‘We passed the Inflation Reduction Act’, Americans will only see the result: higher prices and government to blame. Biden is hoping the only thing Americans love more than paying more for gas is paying more for government that hates and wants to rob them. He and the democrats better hope for some super election fortification.
Agree!
100%. Biden performed the biggest vote buy scheme since FDR. Republicans had little to offer and little messaging on how this was impacting inflation.