The implications of the stark contrast between those who voted for Hillary Clinton and those who voted for Donald Trump are what I wish to discuss. Two cultures. Two Americas. Unequal, unyoked, mutually hostile, and — other things being equal — on collision course. A philosopher should have something to say about this situation, especially a philosopher with a sense of history and its relevance, as well as one aware of the existence of contrasting worldviews. That would be a philosopher such as myself, schooled in the work of Thomas S. Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend, long aware of the incommensurability problem (it was my dissertation topic, after all!), and thus aware not just of the philosophical problems created by accounting for vast divides but the dicey practical problems involved in communicating across them.
These sorts of events are not limited to the U.S., obviously. The British voted for Brexit on June 23, which as I noted many pundits also thought would fail. Nigel Farage, one of the most visible Euro-skeptics, was one of the brains behind Brexit. The French might well put National Front president Marine Le Pen in charge of their country when the time comes. At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me. What some call “populism” and others, “economic nationalism” (and still others, simply racism and xenophobia) is on the rise around the world. What it is, is a mass rejection of globalism / globalization. Many common people have figured out that what globalism / globalization has done is enrich a tiny elite, destroying middle classes in its wake in places like the U.S., and destabilizing their communities without bringing them tangible benefits. In Europe, much anti-globalism is in response to the flood of Middle Eastern migrants, primarily Muslims, from third world countries, and the rising tides of terrorist attacks, sexual assaults, and other violent crimes they’ve brought with them. Eurocrats, CEOs, and bankers may think open borders are a good idea, but they don’t have to wipe up the blood!
I’ve previously commented on the so-called “alt-right” in the U.S. which has little use for a “movement conservatism” it sees as impotent, and which clearly was already dead in the water: one of the most basic reasons Trump rose to the top despite attacks from within his own party. One wonders how much soul-searching will go on within the upper echelons of the GOP to figure out that Trump, with his media-savvy and ability to use even media hostility to his advantage, had very little to compete with. There wasn’t much in the way of ideas discussed in the GOP debates, because Trump’s competitors didn’t have any! Had Trump not run, however, issues such as globalism, immigration, trade agreements, and border controls wouldn’t have been on the table! Everyone with a functioning brain knows this!
Be this as it may, the open antagonism that developed over Trump’s candidacy, and now over his victory, are indicative of more going on. One could argue that the culture war has just gone to the next level. The left thought it had won hands down (largely because of the collapse of “movement conservatism”). But that was before Donald Trump, and now we are seeing a rising clash between the two cultures, two Americas, both pre- and post-election 2016?
Read the entire article
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Monday, November 28, 2016
The Witch-Hunters
Here’s a list of more Forbidden Topics we’re not supposed to discuss, except maybe in whispers in the privacy of our own homes: “Police brutality, racial tensions, protests, anti-government standoffs, online privacy concerns, and alleged government misconduct are all emphasized [by the Vast Russian Conspiracists – ed.] to magnify their scale and leveraged to undermine the fabric of society.” After all, Russia Today is “emphasizing” these issues – so mum’s the word!
Yes, these people are serious – but why should anyone take them seriously? Why is the Washington Post “reporting” this nonsense – and putting it on the front page, no less? In short, what’s the purpose of this virulent propaganda campaign? After all, Hillary Clinton has been defeated, along with her campaign theme of “A vote for Trump is a vote for Putin.” What does a continuation of this losing mantra hope to accomplish?
The folks at propornot are explicit about their goal: they want the government to step in. They want to close down these “agents of influence.” In their own words, they want the FBI and the Department of Justice to launch “formal investigations” of the sites on their blacklist on the grounds that “the kind of folks who make propaganda for brutal oligarchies are often involved in a wide range of bad business.” They accuse the proprietors of the listed web sites – including us, by the way – of having “violated the Espionage Act, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and other related laws.”
Oh, but they say they want to “avoid McCarthyism”! They just want to shut us down and shut us up.
These people are authoritarians, plain and simple: under the guise of fighting authoritarianism, they seek to ban dissenting views, jail the dissenters, and impose a narrow range of permissible debate on the public discourse. They are dangerous, and they need to be outed and publicly shamed.
Read the entire article
Yes, these people are serious – but why should anyone take them seriously? Why is the Washington Post “reporting” this nonsense – and putting it on the front page, no less? In short, what’s the purpose of this virulent propaganda campaign? After all, Hillary Clinton has been defeated, along with her campaign theme of “A vote for Trump is a vote for Putin.” What does a continuation of this losing mantra hope to accomplish?
The folks at propornot are explicit about their goal: they want the government to step in. They want to close down these “agents of influence.” In their own words, they want the FBI and the Department of Justice to launch “formal investigations” of the sites on their blacklist on the grounds that “the kind of folks who make propaganda for brutal oligarchies are often involved in a wide range of bad business.” They accuse the proprietors of the listed web sites – including us, by the way – of having “violated the Espionage Act, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and other related laws.”
Oh, but they say they want to “avoid McCarthyism”! They just want to shut us down and shut us up.
These people are authoritarians, plain and simple: under the guise of fighting authoritarianism, they seek to ban dissenting views, jail the dissenters, and impose a narrow range of permissible debate on the public discourse. They are dangerous, and they need to be outed and publicly shamed.
Read the entire article
Friday, November 25, 2016
Thursday, November 24, 2016
When It Comes to Fake News, the U.S. Government Is the Biggest Culprit
There’s the garden variety fake news that is not really “news” so much as it is titillating, tabloid-worthy material peddled by anyone with a Twitter account, a Facebook page and an active imagination. These stories run the gamut from the ridiculous and the obviously click-baity to the satirical and politically manipulative.
Anyone with an ounce of sense and access to the Internet should be able to ferret out the truth and lies in these stories with some basic research. That these stories flourish is largely owing to the general gullibility, laziness and media illiteracy of the general public, which through its learned compliance rarely questions, challenges or confronts.
Then there’s the more devious kind of news stories circulated by one of the biggest propagators of fake news: the U.S. government.
In the midst of the media’s sudden headline-blaring apoplexy over fake news, you won’t hear much about the government’s role in producing, planting and peddling propaganda-driven fake news—often with the help of the corporate news media—because that’s not how the game works.
Why?
Because the powers-that-be don’t want us skeptical of the government’s message or its corporate accomplices in the mainstream media. They don’t want us to be more discerning when it comes to what information we digest online. They just want us to be leery of independent or alternative news sources while trusting them—and their corporate colleagues—to vet the news for us.
Read the entire article
Anyone with an ounce of sense and access to the Internet should be able to ferret out the truth and lies in these stories with some basic research. That these stories flourish is largely owing to the general gullibility, laziness and media illiteracy of the general public, which through its learned compliance rarely questions, challenges or confronts.
Then there’s the more devious kind of news stories circulated by one of the biggest propagators of fake news: the U.S. government.
In the midst of the media’s sudden headline-blaring apoplexy over fake news, you won’t hear much about the government’s role in producing, planting and peddling propaganda-driven fake news—often with the help of the corporate news media—because that’s not how the game works.
Why?
Because the powers-that-be don’t want us skeptical of the government’s message or its corporate accomplices in the mainstream media. They don’t want us to be more discerning when it comes to what information we digest online. They just want us to be leery of independent or alternative news sources while trusting them—and their corporate colleagues—to vet the news for us.
Read the entire article
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Alt Right Speech Is A Crime, Leftist Physical Attacks Are “Protests”
A point generally suppressed in the MSM reports: the relentless weekend-long attack on the NPI conference by an organized “Anti-Fascist” Leftist gang–always described euphemistically as “protestors.” They intimidated two restaurants into cancelling the Friday night dinner and, when a third was found, actually invaded it and sprayed participants, including Spencer, with some fecal-smelling liquid. They besieged the Reagan Center, which NPI is forced to use because as a federal facility it is compelled to honor the First Amendment, obscenely harassed conference attendees regardless of age or sex, and assaulted at least one of them, bloodying his face.
The D.C. police offered only perfunctory protection. I see no report that anyone has been arrested, or that the two briefly detained after the assault were charged, or even that the gang’s leadership is being questioned, despite flaunting its presence on the internet.
This has been going on for long time. A few years ago, I wrote about the Main Steam Media double standard–first noted by the late Edith Efron [1922-2001] in The News Twisters, [PDF] in 1971–in which the MSM reported conservative protests as if they were attacks, and physical attacks on conservatives as if they were protests.
Efron studied the news coverage of the 1968 campaign, and discovered a bias against Nixon and for Humphrey. (Nixon was elected anyway–Pat Buchanan was there with him.)
But the real bias was against George Wallace, former governor of Alabama, running on a Third Party ticket.
Read the entire article
The D.C. police offered only perfunctory protection. I see no report that anyone has been arrested, or that the two briefly detained after the assault were charged, or even that the gang’s leadership is being questioned, despite flaunting its presence on the internet.
This has been going on for long time. A few years ago, I wrote about the Main Steam Media double standard–first noted by the late Edith Efron [1922-2001] in The News Twisters, [PDF] in 1971–in which the MSM reported conservative protests as if they were attacks, and physical attacks on conservatives as if they were protests.
Efron studied the news coverage of the 1968 campaign, and discovered a bias against Nixon and for Humphrey. (Nixon was elected anyway–Pat Buchanan was there with him.)
But the real bias was against George Wallace, former governor of Alabama, running on a Third Party ticket.
Read the entire article
Monday, November 21, 2016
Friday, November 18, 2016
Trump Supporters Must Not Go To Sleep!
Now that Donald Trump has won the presidential election, most of the people who voted for him (along with most of the rest of the world) are breathing a huge sigh of relief. As I wrote earlier, a Hillary Clinton presidency was not only a threat to whatever liberties the American people have left, it was a threat to the peace and stability of the entire planet. Except for the radical protesters (most of whom did not even vote in the election and many of whom were paid to riot) who are making royal jackasses out of themselves in Portland, Oregon, and California, the perverts in Hollywood, and the presstitutes in the mainstream media, most of the nation (and the world with maybe the exception of China and Saudi Arabia) is feeling REALLY GOOD about the election.
However, I want to caution Trump supporters that the last thing they can afford to do right now is what conservatives normally do after a Republican wins the White House: go into a deep state of complacency. With the exception of stopping another Clinton from obtaining the White House (yes, that is HUGE), a Trump election accomplishes nothing. It is not the candidate, Donald Trump, that is going to govern from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is the president, Donald Trump, that will govern. And what kind of president Trump will make is yet to be seen.
I well remember when George W. Bush was elected President. The entire conservative, Christian, and Republican worlds fell into a state of extended hibernation. And G.W. Bush went on to trample more of our constitutional liberties than Bill Clinton and Barack Obama combined. This could only happen because he faced no resistance from the Republican Party or Christians and conservatives in general. They were sound asleep.
If the people who supported Donald Trump go to sleep now, there will be no going back. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the course of a nation. Frankly, if this opportunity is squandered, there likely will not be another one in most of our lifetimes.
Read the entire article
However, I want to caution Trump supporters that the last thing they can afford to do right now is what conservatives normally do after a Republican wins the White House: go into a deep state of complacency. With the exception of stopping another Clinton from obtaining the White House (yes, that is HUGE), a Trump election accomplishes nothing. It is not the candidate, Donald Trump, that is going to govern from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is the president, Donald Trump, that will govern. And what kind of president Trump will make is yet to be seen.
I well remember when George W. Bush was elected President. The entire conservative, Christian, and Republican worlds fell into a state of extended hibernation. And G.W. Bush went on to trample more of our constitutional liberties than Bill Clinton and Barack Obama combined. This could only happen because he faced no resistance from the Republican Party or Christians and conservatives in general. They were sound asleep.
If the people who supported Donald Trump go to sleep now, there will be no going back. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the course of a nation. Frankly, if this opportunity is squandered, there likely will not be another one in most of our lifetimes.
Read the entire article
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Establishment Media Declares War On Their Competition As “Fake News”
The establishment media is dying. This is not a biased view coming from “alternative media,” it is a fact borne out by metrics and opinion polls from within the establishment itself. It was true before the recent election, and is guaranteed to accelerate after their shameless defense of non-reality which refused to accept any discontent among the American population with standard politics.
Now, with egg on their face after the botched election coverage, and a wobbling uncertainty about how they can maintain multiple threads of a narrative so fundamentally disproven, they appear to be resorting to their nuclear option: a full shut down of dissent.
Voices within independent media have been chronicling the signposts toward full-on censorship as sites have encountered everything from excessive copyright infringement accusations, to de-monetization, to the open admission by advertising giants that certain images would not be tolerated.
However, until now these efforts have appeared random, haphazard, and rife with retractions and restorations of targeted sites and content. A massive backlash of reader outrage toward these restrictive measures has confirmed that most consumers don’t like the idea of being given boundaries to their intellectual freedom.
Read the entire article
Now, with egg on their face after the botched election coverage, and a wobbling uncertainty about how they can maintain multiple threads of a narrative so fundamentally disproven, they appear to be resorting to their nuclear option: a full shut down of dissent.
Voices within independent media have been chronicling the signposts toward full-on censorship as sites have encountered everything from excessive copyright infringement accusations, to de-monetization, to the open admission by advertising giants that certain images would not be tolerated.
However, until now these efforts have appeared random, haphazard, and rife with retractions and restorations of targeted sites and content. A massive backlash of reader outrage toward these restrictive measures has confirmed that most consumers don’t like the idea of being given boundaries to their intellectual freedom.
Read the entire article
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016
Memo to the Next Administration: Defense Spending Must Be for Actual Defense
In a disturbing indication of how difficult it would be to bring military spending in line with actual threats overseas, House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R – TX) told President Obama last week that his war funding request of $11.6 billion for the rest of the year was far too low. That figure for the last two months of 2016 is larger than Spain’s budget for the entire year! And this is just a “war-fighting” supplemental, not actual “defense” spending! More US troops are being sent to Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere and the supplemental request is a way to pay for them without falling afoul of the “sequestration” limits.
The question is whether this increase in US military activity and spending overseas actually keeps us safer, or whether it simply keeps the deep state and the military-industrial complex alive and well-funded.
Unfortunately many Americans confuse defense spending with military spending. The two terms are used almost interchangeably. But there is a huge difference. I have always said that I wouldn’t cut anything from the defense budget. We need a robust defense of the United States and it would be foolish to believe that we have no enemies or potential enemies.
The military budget is something very different from the defense budget. The military budget is the money spent each year not to defend the United States, but to enrich the military-industrial complex, benefit special interests, regime-change countries overseas, maintain a global US military empire, and provide defense to favored allies. The military budget for the United States is larger than the combined military spending budget of the next seven or so countries down the line.
Read the entire article
The question is whether this increase in US military activity and spending overseas actually keeps us safer, or whether it simply keeps the deep state and the military-industrial complex alive and well-funded.
Unfortunately many Americans confuse defense spending with military spending. The two terms are used almost interchangeably. But there is a huge difference. I have always said that I wouldn’t cut anything from the defense budget. We need a robust defense of the United States and it would be foolish to believe that we have no enemies or potential enemies.
The military budget is something very different from the defense budget. The military budget is the money spent each year not to defend the United States, but to enrich the military-industrial complex, benefit special interests, regime-change countries overseas, maintain a global US military empire, and provide defense to favored allies. The military budget for the United States is larger than the combined military spending budget of the next seven or so countries down the line.
Read the entire article
Friday, November 11, 2016
KINGMAKER DRUDGE DEFEATS ESTABLISHMENT MEDIA WITH TRUMP WIN
By standing up for Donald Trump when the establishment media went against him, media pioneer Matt Drudge has reignited independent journalism in which everyday Americans are just as important as the New York Times.
Twenty years ago, Drudge correctly surmised the mainstream media would grow so attached to the establishment that it would soon become irrelevant.
That irrelevancy came into fruition during the 2016 election when tens of thousands of establishment reporters shed all objectivity to destroy Trump, but all they’ve done is destroy themselves.
“Any objective observer of the news media’s treatment of Trump can certainly conclude that reporters are taking a side in this election — and they don’t have to be wearing a button that says ‘I’m with her’ for this to be readily apparent,” LA Times contributor Justin Raimondo wrote. “The irony is that the media’s Trump bashing may wind up having the exact opposite of its intended effect.”
The establishment media relied on their “influence” to try to convince Americans to support Hillary Clinton without realizing their influence disappeared when they abandoned forgotten Americans to cozy up with DC insiders.
Read the entire article
Twenty years ago, Drudge correctly surmised the mainstream media would grow so attached to the establishment that it would soon become irrelevant.
That irrelevancy came into fruition during the 2016 election when tens of thousands of establishment reporters shed all objectivity to destroy Trump, but all they’ve done is destroy themselves.
“Any objective observer of the news media’s treatment of Trump can certainly conclude that reporters are taking a side in this election — and they don’t have to be wearing a button that says ‘I’m with her’ for this to be readily apparent,” LA Times contributor Justin Raimondo wrote. “The irony is that the media’s Trump bashing may wind up having the exact opposite of its intended effect.”
The establishment media relied on their “influence” to try to convince Americans to support Hillary Clinton without realizing their influence disappeared when they abandoned forgotten Americans to cozy up with DC insiders.
Read the entire article
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Trump Has Forever Changed American Politics
“If I don’t win, this will be the greatest waste of time, money and energy in my lifetime,” says Donald Trump.
Herewith, a dissent. Whatever happens Tuesday, Trump has made history and has forever changed American politics.
Though a novice in politics, he captured the Party of Lincoln with the largest turnout of primary voters ever, and he has inflicted wounds on the nation’s ruling class from which it may not soon recover.
Bush I and II, Mitt Romney, the neocons and the GOP commentariat all denounced Trump as morally and temperamentally unfit. Yet, seven of eight Republicans are voting for Trump, and he drew the largest and most enthusiastic crowds of any GOP nominee.
Not only did he rout the Republican elites, he ash-canned their agenda and repudiated the wars into which they plunged the country.
Trump did not create the forces that propelled his candidacy. But he recognized them, tapped into them, and unleashed a gusher of nationalism and populism that will not soon dissipate.
Read the entire article
Herewith, a dissent. Whatever happens Tuesday, Trump has made history and has forever changed American politics.
Though a novice in politics, he captured the Party of Lincoln with the largest turnout of primary voters ever, and he has inflicted wounds on the nation’s ruling class from which it may not soon recover.
Bush I and II, Mitt Romney, the neocons and the GOP commentariat all denounced Trump as morally and temperamentally unfit. Yet, seven of eight Republicans are voting for Trump, and he drew the largest and most enthusiastic crowds of any GOP nominee.
Not only did he rout the Republican elites, he ash-canned their agenda and repudiated the wars into which they plunged the country.
Trump did not create the forces that propelled his candidacy. But he recognized them, tapped into them, and unleashed a gusher of nationalism and populism that will not soon dissipate.
Read the entire article
Monday, November 7, 2016
Friday, November 4, 2016
Hillary Clinton: Wall Street’s Losing Horse? Constitutional Crisis? What’s the End Game?
Since the release of FBI Director Comey’s Second letter to the US Congress, the presidential elections process has gone haywire, out of control. The bipartisan political apparatus is in crisis.
“I FBI director [James Comey] am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
Two important questions:
WHO IS BEHIND WIKILEAKS WHICH RELEASED THE EMAILS?
WHO IS BEHIND FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY?
In both cases, we are dealing with powerful interest groups. CUI-BONO?
Read the entire article
“I FBI director [James Comey] am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
Two important questions:
WHO IS BEHIND WIKILEAKS WHICH RELEASED THE EMAILS?
WHO IS BEHIND FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY?
In both cases, we are dealing with powerful interest groups. CUI-BONO?
Read the entire article
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Hillary Clinton, FBI and the Real November Surprise
"As bad as it is the folks above the President make the decisions. They may have decided on Trump. These things do not happen by accident."
Thus spoke a high-level US business mover and shaker with secure transit in rarified Masters of the Universe-related circles, amidst the utter political chaos provoked by head of the FBI James Comey’s latest bombshell.
It’s virtually established by now that US Attorney General Loretta Lynch told Comey not to release his letter to Congress. But Comey did it anyway. If he had not, and a scandal would – inevitably – spring up after the US presidential election, Lynch would be perfectly positioned to deny she knew anything, and Comey would be on the firing line.
Lynch is a certified Clinton machine asset. In 1999 then-President Bill Clinton appointed her to run the Brooklyn US Attorney’s office. She left in 2002, taking the private practice revolving door. She was back to the Brooklyn office in 2010, urged by Obama. Five years later she became the 83rd US Attorney General, replacing the dodgy Eric Holder.
Read the entire article
Thus spoke a high-level US business mover and shaker with secure transit in rarified Masters of the Universe-related circles, amidst the utter political chaos provoked by head of the FBI James Comey’s latest bombshell.
It’s virtually established by now that US Attorney General Loretta Lynch told Comey not to release his letter to Congress. But Comey did it anyway. If he had not, and a scandal would – inevitably – spring up after the US presidential election, Lynch would be perfectly positioned to deny she knew anything, and Comey would be on the firing line.
Lynch is a certified Clinton machine asset. In 1999 then-President Bill Clinton appointed her to run the Brooklyn US Attorney’s office. She left in 2002, taking the private practice revolving door. She was back to the Brooklyn office in 2010, urged by Obama. Five years later she became the 83rd US Attorney General, replacing the dodgy Eric Holder.
Read the entire article
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
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