Inside FICO and the Credit Bureau Cartel

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-18T03:58:17+00:00

This article is several months old but chock full of information I did not know.

Excerpt:

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, coined the term ‘junk fee,’ and has begun restructuring how financial markets work, removing medical debt from credit reports, fostering competition in credit cards, and examining big tech’s entrance into payments. And yet, for ideological reasons, to many bankers, Chopra is a villain running a government agency full of bureaucratic demons, whose goal is to force them to do paperwork on behalf of nebulous ‘consumers.’

So it was a weird day last month when Chopra had a room full of mortgage bankers nodding their heads in furious agreement, and even angry at their own trade association for helping a monopoly take advantage of them.

...Chopra went on stage a few hours later and discussed an increasing cost center for banks, which is the credit bureaus and FICO.

“Mortgage lenders in the U.S. increasingly face a lack of competition when it comes to accessing data and reports needed for loan origination,” he said. “In many cases, a handful of firms have cornered the market, allowing those companies to levy a tax on every mortgage application or transaction in the country.” Three firms dominate credit reporting: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. And just one company handles algorithms, the Fair Isaac Corporation, which sells the FICO score. “Mortgage lenders have shared that costs for credit reports and scores have increased,” he said. “Sometimes by 400% since 2022.”

Even if a lender thinks the customer would be a good risk, the lender has to buy a FICO score regardless. Mortgage bankers don’t carry the capital to hold the mortgages they make. Instead they make a loan, and then send it onward to the capital markets.

Mortgage bankers aren’t typical Wall Street bankers. While mortgage lending can be done by the big guys, real estate is an inherently localized industry with a clubby network of realtors, title insurers, and various other specialists in the home-buying process, so independent players have a strong foothold. There are roughly a thousand independent mortgage lending firms nationwide, and these lenders live everywhere.

Credit scoring used to cost a relatively small amount of money, but now it can be up to $60 per pull, with the price quadrupling over the last two years for no reason whatsoever. Only one out of every ten prospective customers ends up taking out a mortgage, so higher prices fronted by mortgage bankers add up. And it’s starting to be a major expense, driving some of the mortgage lenders out of the business entirely.

There were two thousand credit bureaus across the U.S. when FCRA passed. By the 1990s, due to this law and to a relaxation of antitrust, they consolidated into three main firms, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion... The credit bureaus, fostered by regulatory choices and consolidation, were the first wave of big data firms, laying the groundwork for corporations like Google and Facebook years later.

These firms aren’t just private entities, but have become key parts of governance. If you want to verify someone’s work and income, for instance, or manage unemployment insurance claims at scale, you use one of these bureaus...

Though contract terms [between the credit bureaus and FICO] are still confidential, some details have come out in an ongoing antitrust suit in Illinois by banks against FICO and the three bureaus. The claim is that the four firms are now a cartel.

(more information and lots more detail at the link)

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-17T15:16:11+00:00

Military coups, Counter-coups, assassinations, treachery… the history of the young 53-year-old Bangladesh has more intrigue than a Shakespeare novel. While the repercussions of all the drama have been restricted to South Asia so far, the recent coup has direct involvement of the US.

Bangladesh is a country of 170 million – larger than Russia, Japan or Germany. And it’s strategically located right next to India. While the US has encircled China in the east, the US has no presence in the south. Moreover, the Bay of Bengal region is close to the Malacca Strait and can be theoretically used to disrupt China’s trade. (See map below)

Ideally, the US would like to use Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia to control the Malacca Strait and contain China. However, all those ASEAN countries have refused to be America’s geopolitical pawns, and have explicitly told the US to take a hike in this matter. The next best option for the US is to build bases in the Andaman Nicobar Islands, which overlook the Malacca Strait. These islands, of course, belong to India, which has also staunchly refused to allow foreign military bases in its soil.

The person who was convicted of trying to assassinate [PM Hasina] in 2004 – Tarique Rahman – has been living in London for the last sixteen years. He is also the acting chairman of BNP, the opposition party, which is now poised to rule Bangladesh. This reveals how the West has taken a clear position in the internal affairs of Bangladesh.

Hasina’s biggest geopolitical “crime” – according to the US – was to embrace strategic autonomy. Her government was equally friends with India, Russia, China and the US.

In 2016, Bangladesh joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Since then, China has spent tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure projects, loans and aid in Bangladesh. Hasina also enhanced defense cooperation with China – she bought a couple of Chinese submarines and built a naval base with China’s help.

Hasina also invited Russia to build a nuclear power reactor in Bangladesh; and when the US threatened sanctions, she used Chinese yuan to pay Russia. Overall, in just 14 years of Hasina’s rule (from 2008 to 2022), the GDP of Bangladesh grew a whopping 360% – from $100 billion to $460 billion.

Along with that, Hasina wanted to join BRICS. If all those “crimes” were not enough, she refused to let the US build military bases in Saint Martin Island.

In summary, she welcomed neutrality and the multipolar world with too much enthusiasm, which was unacceptable to the US Empire.

Maniak · 2024-09-17T11:36:39+00:00

Full tweet:

Having hailed vaccines as a major success of modern medicine, Dr Bret Weinstein is now embarrassed to admit that he has changed his position on childhood vaccines after deeper research.

‘I was shocked to discover the level at which the safety work simply had not been done. Which has now been acknowledged by one of the leading proponents (Stanley Plotkin)…..

The mechanisms that are employed by vaccine manufacturers and the methods used to test or really to obscure safety signals make the products invalid from the get-go….

At the moment I discovered that we were using a trick to hyperactive the immune system in order to make the vaccine work my thought was how could that possibly be safe…. and what does that have to do with all the allergies we scratch our heads over.’

The antigen is non specific and can trigger the immune system to react to something that is not a pathogen like foods or something in the environment, causing life long allergies.

sdl5 · 2024-09-17T04:56:07+00:00

While the Ukr nationalist below is indeed a threat in Ukraine, the numbers mentioned are hilariously high:

Azov itself has been wiped completely out repeatedly, then reconstituted with new members and sent into battles yet again- very few being the fanatical Bandarists, seeing as attrition is so high it is to the point of almost all troops now sent to the front lines are forced very reluctant recruits.

Those Bandarists left, like Right Sector, routinely refuse orders from Ukr MoD to engage with Russia or to go to the front lines and instead hover on the back edges as enforcement lines to force raw troops to stay...

But considering desertion in Ukr is now estimated as likely in the thousands a week very recently I strongly suspect very few are left even at that line.

I think they pooled most still alive into the ranks of the ill fated Sumy to Kursk action, and they along with quite a few "int'l legion" men (aka westen special forces troops sent in as fake discharged) are trapped and dead or soon to be so.

But yes, the scarce but remaining will be a huge risk to any nation's govt pushing non nationalist agendas- why do you THINK the letter agencies were trying so hard to recruit and ship over imaginary "Nazis" here? 😹🤦 But they instead got propagandized NAFO fellas and idiots, plus the apolitical mercs who work for the paycheck and care nothing for nation or political agendas.

Oh, and all those weapons missing? Long gone, sold to the known orgs and operations running in or through Ukraine for decades now- then sold on to various countries and warring groups across the planet at a tidy profit. Because everyone knew Ukr was a corrupt shithole they also knew this was going to happen to anything transportable delivered there, and it would mostly end up in warring nations and in the hands of many that hate the West.

sdl5 · 2024-09-17T04:35:41+00:00

I..... I have just one question:

How, exactly, have you and others here utterly blocked out the BLATANT OPEN UNPUNISHED RIGGING BY DEMS IN 2016 AND 2020???

HOW on earth can even ONE wotberner STILL think their ballot for alternatives is NOT counted for whoever and whatever the local/State power deems the winner?!?!?

I am dead serious.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-17T01:35:14+00:00

That's a good idea. However limited the reach of such a campaign, it's taking positive action and it's something most people would be able to do fairly easily.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-17T01:22:03+00:00

Katchanovski said that the valorization of the Azov Regiment is comparable to how the West initially supported the predecessors of the Taliban in their fight against the Soviet Union’s intervention in the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and also risks inspiring yet more far-right activists from other countries to join the conflict in Ukraine in order to gain military experience, potentially causing a blowback effect if they make it home.

As more people start to think about potential ways to end the war in Ukraine the far-right in Ukraine is threatening to use violence to prevent that:

A serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the call sign "Madyar" openly and "without drama" threatens the Ukrainian government.

According to him, if someone negotiates with the Russian Federation "not in the interests of the Ukrainian people", then a million fighters will return from the front and overthrow such a government.

Members of Azov and other 'nationalist' groupings in Ukraine are now experienced fighters. The have the means to fight as there are lots of Ukrainian weapons in unaccountable hands (machine translation):

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, more than 270,945 weapons have disappeared or been stolen.

These weapons can be easily smuggled into Europe to target any politician who dares to pressure Ukraine into accepting an end of the war.

The attempted assassination of Trump is only one of the first of such incidents. (The motives for the assassination attempt against the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico are still unknown.)

sdl5 · 2024-09-16T18:45:06+00:00

I think at least half the donors are unhappy to furious too....

sdl5 · 2024-09-16T18:43:50+00:00

Bernie started popping up shilling Kamala/Walz on YT videos in the last week.

Just sayin

sdl5 · 2024-09-16T18:42:49+00:00

Putting this under every thread relating:

What’s more important is that he faces charges of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. That effectively makes the weapon untraceable (unless for some reason there’s ballistic evidence tying it to another crime). The only reason serial numbers are scrubbed is to protect the seller, or whoever gave him the weapon. Thats where conspiracy investigation begins. As a felon, who can’t legally possess a firearm, there’s conspiracy to provide him with it.

Now… what really strange here is that Florida has a private sellers loophole (gun shows) where purchasers don’t need a criminal background check or waiting period to buy an SKS. Just a drivers licence the seller has to record. There’s no reason to file off serial numbers, because a non-licenced private seller wouldn’t be breaking the law selling to Routh or any felon.

Logically, someone sold/gave him the gun, and filed the serials, becuase they knew what they were doing was illegal or he was going to do something illegal with it.

sdl5 · 2024-09-16T18:42:04+00:00

Putting this under every thread relating:

What’s more important is that he faces charges of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. That effectively makes the weapon untraceable (unless for some reason there’s ballistic evidence tying it to another crime). The only reason serial numbers are scrubbed is to protect the seller, or whoever gave him the weapon. Thats where conspiracy investigation begins. As a felon, who can’t legally possess a firearm, there’s conspiracy to provide him with it.

Now… what really strange here is that Florida has a private sellers loophole (gun shows) where purchasers don’t need a criminal background check or waiting period to buy an SKS. Just a drivers licence the seller has to record. There’s no reason to file off serial numbers, because a non-licenced private seller wouldn’t be breaking the law selling to Routh or any felon.

Logically, someone sold/gave him the gun, and filed the serials, becuase they knew what they were doing was illegal or he was going to do something illegal with it.

Maniak · 2024-09-16T17:29:56+00:00

Full tweet:

This is Donald Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, he was interviewed by Newsweek Romania in 2022.

He’s a zealot for Ukraine war because he’s been fully propagandized by corporate media to support the war.

He has ZERO idea what the war is actually about, his mind is very childlike: “It’s a battle of good vs evil”, just like the corporate news told him.

That’s how propaganda works. That’s why i warned TYT about pushing Russiagate , it would lead to a war, and brainwashed guys like this.

He has no idea what the war is actually about , so when Trump & RFK say they want to END the war, he thinks the moral thing to do is assassinate Trump.

This is the direct result of corporate news & “independent” news repeating pro-war CIA talking points uncritically.

Nobody in corporate news will ask “Where was he radicalized?”, because if you watch this video, it’s clear he was radicalized by corporate news right here in the United States.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-16T15:27:00+00:00

For nearly ten years, migration has felt like one of the most intractable problems in our entire political system. However crazy the policies, however contradictory and irrational, there was always only the towering mute wall of establishment indifference.

Suddenly, it no longer feels like that. Over the past weeks, a perfect storm of escalating migrant violence and electoral upsets in East Germany have changed the discourse utterly.

...the failure of of the Eurocracy to limit migration is gradually undermining the credibility of the EU itself. This is because nation states are much better at border security than international bureaucratic behemoths. Should a major EU member state decide that it has had enough of mass migration and elect to close its borders, the migrant pressure on other EU states would increase... A sufficiently fierce reaction could substantially undermine the authority of the EU itself, and would certainly spell the end of the Schengen Arrangement.

Germany, despite all its recent crises and setbacks, is still the dominant industrial nation of the EU, and also its most populous state. By keeping its borders open and enticing migrants with generous benefits, Germany hopes to reduce migrant pressure on its neighbours and prevent the anti-migration chain reaction from getting off the ground.

The problem is that the snake has begun to eat its own tail. The energy crisis and the lunatic anti-nuclear and anti-carbon radicalism of the Greens have taken a huge bite out of German prosperity. Open borders have lost their appeal, Alternative für Deutschland are,pounding at the door, and no amount of staged public freakouts about “the extreme right” can restore the balance.

Maniak · 2024-09-16T10:11:21+00:00

(damn this 300 characters limit with these long-add tweets... anyway...)

Full thread:

Would-be Trump shooter Ryan Routh has published a 291 page book, “Unwinnable War,” about his time in Ukraine’s Int’l Legion

Routh says he’d like to see Putin assassinated, seems to hope for Trump’s assassination as well, and calls for the US to “instigate” a nuclear war with Russia

Stating he’s neither a Democrat or Republican, Routh’s clearly articulated mindset toward Russia mirrors that of Beltway hardliners. He offers gushing admiration for Juan Guaido, the Free Syrian Army, Myanmar rebels, and other CIA backed forces, while hinting at a friendship with MSNBC natsec hack and fellow International Brigade member Malcolm Nance.

Ryan Routh calls for the assassination of Putin and Lukashenko of Belarus, arguing that their killing would bring on the demise of the Russian’s state’s viability as an independent power, as no one can succeed Putin

Routh urges the West to “instigate” a nuclear conflict with Russia and “strike first.” He wants a “quick and decisive and powerful blow to end it once and for all,” as the US did at the end of WWII.

Routh declares himself a political independent, neither Republican or Democrat, but clearly loathes Trump

In a rambling passage, Routh appears to fantasize about the assassination of Trump as punishment his unraveling of the Iran deal

Routh spills lots of ink complaining about the Ukrainian state’s waste and corruption. Here, he says it hampered the PR efforts of his International Legion comrade in arms in Kiev, “Malcolm,” who appears to be MSNBC natsec hack and wannabe freedom fighter Malcolm Nance

RandomCollection · 2024-09-14T00:22:37+00:00

https://archive.ph/xv8j9

I think that for all the of the bluster, the US doesn't actually want a war with Russia because it would expose how weak US conventional capabilities are.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-13T02:05:42+00:00

It hasn't been too long, I just noticed it a month or so ago but I got the impression Maniak was not miffed, precisely, but disappointed it took that long for someone to notice.

3andfro · 2024-09-13T01:39:56+00:00

I'd have missed that, too.

I just noticed the change in the banner. When did that "before he turned" part arrive? Maybe I should spend more time here.

kingsmeg · 2024-09-13T00:30:38+00:00

The Russians have a lot of actions they can take before Mr. Kinzhal visits NATO bases in Europe, or USA bases at home. But those are real possibilities. Depends how hard Putin wants to push back.

Maniak · 2024-09-12T16:53:55+00:00

Full tweet:

Putin on the potential use of NATO Long-range weapons against Russia:

"If they do that, NATO is officially at war with Russia "

"This would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European nations are at war with Russia. And if that is the case, considering the fundamental shift in the nature of this conflict, we will make the appropriate decisions based on the threats posed to us," stated Vladimir Putin.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-11T05:58:39+00:00

He's responding to this tweet:

@AmandiOnAir (profile shows he's an MSNBC analyst...)

That this election — between a decent, ethical, sane person loyal to the Constitution and a vile, corrupt, insane person openly hostile towards it — is even close is a 5 alarm fire revealing that the true core cause of our national problem and rot is not Trump — it’s the voters.

My response:

We have a "decent, ethical, sane person loyal to the Constitution" running in the 2024 election? Dang, I'm not sure how I missed that.

RandomCollection · 2024-09-11T00:51:11+00:00

https://archive.ph/5cYMW

That's what they get for running a pathetic candidate like Kamala Harris, with no appeal to anyone who is not a donor

kingsmeg · 2024-09-10T21:59:13+00:00

Behind the scenes the military does what it wants, and certainly during Trump's 1st term, routinely ignored his orders. But they didn't start wars without his support, because that would look kinda bad if the military starts a war somewhere while POTUS is on the TeeVee saying "I did not order that!"

So there may in fact be a difference between the 2 candidates on that front. Although they can probably blackmail Trump into just about anything.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-10T16:00:58+00:00

1. At what point does it become irresponsible not to compare Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinian people with the genocide westerners know best: the Nazi Holocaust?

2. At what point does shielding Israel from the revulsion its actions naturally inspire not turn into complicity?

3. At what point should western publics be offered proper historical context to make sense of Israel's genocide: one that lets them understand how the Zionist movement was ideologically shaped by its exposure to ugly, century-old European ethnic nationalisms that culminated in Nazism, and how the Zionists chose to mirror those supremacist ideologies rather than reject them?

4. At what point are we allowed to say that Israel cannot continue to exist in its current form, as a racist, settler-colonial state masquerading as the “state of the Jews”, and that it must be remade, as apartheid South Africa once was?

5. And at what point are we permitted to prize Palestinian life over the "sensitivities" of Zionist supremacists?

6. Is the answer: Never?

Maniak · 2024-09-09T23:32:12+00:00

But also remember that the people pulling Harris' strings are the same people pulling Trump's strings so have you considered... telling them all to fuck right off?

kingsmeg · 2024-09-09T23:24:09+00:00

Vote for Cthulhu because Orange Man Bad!!! Sure, the people pulling Kamala's strings are trying to start nuclear wars on 3 fronts, but have you considered: Orange Man Bad?

Maniak · 2024-09-09T20:22:01+00:00

Yeah! Vote for the genocider! No, not that one, the other one!

RandomCollection · 2024-09-09T19:36:00+00:00

https://archive.ph/Itjop

Even before energy became unaffordable, the Germans were losing ground to China. Now it's going from bad to worse because of their subservience to the US and their stance on Russian sanctions.

RandomCollection · 2024-09-09T14:11:42+00:00

https://archive.ph/oCnBB

The answer is that the West doesn't care about war crimes when they fulfill Western geopolitical goals. All the talk of human rights is just BS.

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-08T23:45:56+00:00

You think there's opposition on Twitter? I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Ever heard of algorithmic suppression and shadow banning? If you promote unionizing at Tesla or share certain social media posts with credible (outside) sources, you're suppressed. Resist Elon’s control, and you’ll likely end up shadow banned.

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-08T23:38:44+00:00

Coming from a country where communism has been persecuted from the start, yet has brought positive contributions such as International Labor Day and the eight-hour workday, you attempt to lecture us on the 'evils' of communism using hearsay in the most condescending tone. I’m amazed by your ignorance and arrogance in trying to teach us about our own history, as if we aren't already well-versed in it, while you push a skewed version of reality. Your delusion and pride are as flamboyant as a rainbow. Judging by your debate skills, I assume you live in an echo chamber, defending corporate monopolies while working a minimum-wage, non-union job.

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-08T23:22:00+00:00

Wow, it's beyond ridiculous how clueless you are. Imagine calling yourself part of a "school of economics" without even a mention of Marxism. You're embarrassingly out of your depth, refusing to grasp even the simplest concepts. It's painfully predictable – you're pretending to be an expert on economics, imperialism, or Marxism, yet you clearly know absolutely nothing. Then you have the nerve to lecture others with this condescending tone, as if anyone cares about your garbage takes on "polluting water" or overthrowing governments in South America. How many more color revolutions do you need to witness before it finally clicks that the American "left" and "right" are the same shallow, performative act? You’re just imposing your empty, meaningless values on the rest of the world. Seriously, go away.

Americans preaching freedom of speech like hypocrites, forcing us to listen while denying us real liberty. You suffocate us with your so-called freedom, and we’d rather choose death than live under your fake ideals. Here's a classic American lesson for you: liberty is priceless, but your version of "freedom" is just another form of our enslavement.

sdl5 · 2024-09-08T21:07:21+00:00

Could you BE a more of an embarrassing meme of the left?

Jeezus, Marxists are so damn fanatically sure they are ten million percent perfectly correct and always fighting for good while never ever being any kind of bad.

I won't tell you grow up- the one thing ideologically fixated leftists across the spectrum have in common is an intrangent refusal to ever adjust to reality as they gain age and experience.

But I will mock you. 🤦💁

Maniak · 2024-09-08T10:10:23+00:00

Yeah, in the usual circles of protest, but as far as the mindless hordes go, everything has been a-ok, nothing to see there, even though this was just done, very publicly, right in front of their faces, without even any attempt to hide any of it.

And they ate it up anyway.

No wonder our minders don't bother hiding much of anything anymore. They keep the protestors enclosed and criminalize them whenever they risk being noticed, and their zombies do what they're told, no matter how batshit it may be, up to and including supporting genocides.

sdl5 · 2024-09-08T07:01:21+00:00

Like anyone paying attention in 2016 didn't already know the actual neocons flipped to the Dem side.

But maybe this will jolt some normie Blue voters awake.... Maybe

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-08T06:55:55+00:00

There are two reasons I'm opposed to reparations. The first is that I've been doing genealogical research for some 40 years and proving you're anyone's descendant is hugely challenging, it requires hours and hours of tedious research that very often doesn't yield definitive proof. Even professional genealogists with credentials out the ears and decades of experience may not succeed when it comes to formerly enslaved people, because the records for them are so sparse.

The other reason is that I'm not a descendant of slave owners. I've heard the argument that slavery helped build this country and don't disagree with that, but I come from a long line of dirt poor farmers who scratched out a living the best they could. Not only did they not personally benefit from slavery but they were disadvantaged by it, because they were limited in how much land they could afford to own, how many acres the males in the family were able to cultivate, and when they sold their crops they were competing with large landowners who owned hundreds of acres of land with hundreds of slaves to work them.

As they say in the video, it's an emotional subject. I agree, but not just for the descendants of former slaves; because it would be hard to do justice to them for the tragic history of their ancestors without doing injustice to others whose ancestors played no part in it.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-07T23:46:30+00:00

being just placed there out of nowhere, from one day to the next, without a primary,

There's been LOTS of words about this, actually. Not in MSM, of course, but in alt media and on Twitter.

Maniak · 2024-09-07T22:45:33+00:00

Well the less-old bitch. They keep using the apparently sole picture of year from I'm guessing at least 20 years ago whenever they need a PR picture, but that's a picture from when she was already jailing minorities for political power so...

Yeah, they've both always been old cackling bitches.

Sending them to space would be an option, giving them a space-level qualifier isn't warranted.

These two are Shit Cackles.

Maniak · 2024-09-07T22:40:25+00:00

Well the cackling sub-bitch was the annointed one in 2020 after all.

Gee, I wonder who picked her.

Much like I wonder about the people who placed her as the unvoted nominee now.

Much like I wonder about why there's been NOT A FUCKING WORD about the 50/50 chance for the next president of the US (not that it matters, the US being a worldwide nuclear joke) being just placed there out of nowhere, from one day to the next, without a primary, without a vote, without anything. And especially one who was so repellent that she couldn't even get a single delegate in 2020. And couldn't even get through a preregistered preplanned interview with pre-given questions.

But hey, this is the greatest democracy in the world, right? Up there with the only democracy in the middle east, doing nazi shit all day long and being celebrated for it by the zombies told to... please clap.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-07T22:36:47+00:00

Here's an apt alternative for the younger bitch from the comments on Max's tweet:

Space Cackles

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-07T22:30:57+00:00

And as I recall, Her Heinous arranged for Harris to hobknob and fundraise in Martha's Vineyard in 2020.

Maniak · 2024-09-07T22:29:18+00:00

Hence why I refer to both as 'cackling bitch'. One is more criminal than the other (which isn't saying much, only by virtue of being older and more of a criminal corrupt corporate power-hungry whore, when Harris doesn't have the IQ for it), but both serve the same purpose and follow the same PR pattern.

More importantly, and despairingly, the zombie hordes follow either of those, no matter which one they're told to follow.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-07T22:25:10+00:00

I would imagine for Clinton the Worst, it's so people know which Clinton is being referred to. I prefer to call her Her Heinous or the more generic HRC. For Harris, maybe because that surname is kind of generic and doesn't immediately bring to mind the cackling one, because why would it? She's nondescript, an empty vessel cardboard cutout with no substance.

Just to add that the above assessment no doubt derives from negative bias and should be weighed accordingly.

And this edit would have happened sooner if not for the cloudflare BS that sent me to a webserver timeout, because of course it did.

Maniak · 2024-09-07T21:53:47+00:00

Not directly related but I'll just ask the question here in case anybody comes along with an idea for an answer:

Trump, Biden, Obama, Bush, Cheney, even Clinton the First, are all called by their last name.

Bernie, Clinton the Worst and Harris are all called by their first name (and I physically cannot bring myself to do it for the last two).

Why?

I get it for Bernie, he playacted as a friend of the working class and many of us got tricked by what turned out to be an absolute coward saying the words but not having the principles to go with it.

But why in the fuck would anybody call any of the other two cackling bitches by their first names? Neither of them is relatable to any regular person in any way, and the first-name basis is supposed to be based on familiarity.

Isn't this just a propaganda mechanism to make them feel more personable even though they're repellent criminals?

When even somebody like Max is following that pattern of calling them in that way, even though he's very well-versed in propaganda mechanisms, I wonder.

Is it a pet peeve or something more pernicious that should be thought about more often?

Maniak · 2024-09-07T21:43:15+00:00

Full tweet:

Kamala's campaign manager has enthusiastically welcomed the endorsement of Dick Cheney, stating she "deeply respects his courage to put country over party.” So the Kamala 2024 deeply respects one of the most devious war criminals alive, and considers him courageous.

Dick Cheney disseminated fake intelligence linking Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda, pushed the WMD hoax, and ordered the unmasking of Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA officer as retaliation for her husband, Amb. Joe Wilson, exposing the Bush administration's lie about Saddam obtaining enriched uranium from Niger. Cheney's machinations were aimed at guaranteeing a US invasion and occupation that wound up leaving one million Iraqis dead, brought ISIS to the region, and maimed or killed tens of thousands of Americans. The former VP simultaneously presided over a no-bid $7.5 billion contract in Iraq to Halliburton, where he served as CEO, and established a secret torture program that yielded worthless intel. To this day, he is not only unrepentant about his torture chambers, he's proud of them.

The Kamala campaign wants us to forget Cheney's record. We are supposed to see him as a hawkish but wise elder crossing the aisle for the good of "the Republic." The reality is Cheney did far more damage to the country and the world than Donald Trump has. It is such a colossal insult that Cheney is able to enjoy his twilight years in a mansion on Maryland's Eastern Shore, counting his money without ever having faced a trial for any of his titanic crimes, while Trump becomes the first former US president convicted of a felony – for concealing a measly payoff to a porn actor.

Cheney is supporting Kamala for the same reason as Bill Kristol, the McCain family, and an array of Bush era neocons: because she is an empty vessel for the post-9/11 security state, and will joyfully consolidate the Democrats as the party of endless war. The 1,160,000 shares of Halliburton stock Cheney received when he retired are also a likely part of his calculus.

Maniak · 2024-09-07T21:28:46+00:00

Take your pick, but the point is not wrong.

They've tried with monkeypox, twice. They keep occasionally trying with SARS² just in case, meanwhile the excess deaths due to millions fucking up their health and immune systems due to the injections are not clearing up... but the SMO swept those under the carpet as well and Israel's ongoing genocide (paid for by us) is bridging the gap to get to the US november pseudo-election, with the new Russiagate already being propped up.

So, what's the next global disaster we're going to be served to keep us at each other's throats rather than working to bring down our puppeteers?

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-07T20:22:37+00:00

Your frustration seems to stem from a shift in media narratives and political discourse, but from a Marxist perspective, these changes are not surprising. What you're observing isn't a failure of individuals, but a symptom of a larger, systemic issue inherent to capitalism. The media, political figures, and even social movements are all shaped by the economic base — the material conditions and class relations that govern society.

In capitalist societies, the ruling class (the bourgeoisie) controls the means of production, which includes not only factories and industries but also the production of culture and ideology. This means that public figures, media outlets, and even intellectuals often align with the interests of the capitalist class, whether consciously or not. As a result, narratives become superficial, polarizing, and focused on identity politics or other divisive issues that distract from the real source of oppression: the exploitation of labor.

Your mention of figures like Elon Musk is telling. Musk, despite his innovative persona, is a capitalist who profits off the labor of others. His wealth and power come not from personal genius but from his position in a system that allows a few to control the resources created by the many. It's not about whether he's a hero or a villain, but about the capitalist system that enables individuals like him to accumulate vast amounts of wealth while workers struggle.

You mention the "classic leftist refrains" and express frustration with what you see as authoritarianism on the left. From a Marxist view, this is a misunderstanding of what the left represents. True Marxist thought is not about dictating morality or political correctness — it's about dismantling the systems of exploitation and oppression that benefit the few at the expense of the many. The "authoritarianism" you see may be a reaction to a world where the capitalist class dominates, and workers, marginalized groups, and oppressed communities are forced to fight for basic rights in a system rigged against them.

Finally, your comment about fascism reflects a misunderstanding of what fascism truly is. Fascism is a reactionary ideology that arises when capitalism is in crisis and the ruling class seeks to protect its interests by turning to authoritarianism, nationalism, and scapegoating vulnerable groups. It's a tool of the bourgeoisie to prevent the working class from realizing their collective power. Fascism and socialism are fundamentally opposed — one seeks to uphold capitalism, while the other seeks to dismantle it.

In short, the disillusionment you're feeling is a byproduct of a system designed to keep people divided and distracted. A Marxist analysis would encourage you to look beyond the surface, to understand the deeper class dynamics at play, and to join in the collective struggle against exploitation, not as individuals with differing opinions, but as workers with a shared interest in liberation.

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-07T16:33:38+00:00

It's mind-blowing that someone who's against monopoly, imperialism, and yellow unions (like Glenn in this case) could be labeled fascistic. You've amazed me twice over.

wonder if you'll also call Vietnam's resistance against Japanese, French, and American forces fascistic for opposing colonialism, corporatism, imperialism, and ideological sabotage.

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-07T16:30:38+00:00

You're economically clueless, thinking monopoly is somehow a good thing—for you, for the world. It's astonishing how easily people are deceived. Imperialism is just monopolizing power and corporations. Fascism is when corporations and the state merge, while corporatism is when yellow unions are brought into the fold.

Your ignorance and arrogance are astounding. Why are you even here? You should be posting on Reddit instead. This so-called anti-monopoly stance is laughable. If you're just after karma, go join the agreeable ranks of the yellow unionists.

sdl5 · 2024-09-07T01:55:25+00:00

Oh yes, the now classic leftist refrains of "just use a different forum type media" and then "just make your own" and then "just make a blog".

I wonder, was the left always such absolute authoritarian intolerant douches and smugly superior assholes? And I was somehow blinded by the trust in being on the "correct virtuous side"? I fear the answer has always been YES.

Y'all fascists,- you know that, right?

If it was NOT so fraught with the karmic blowback risk I would wish upon you what you are so thoroughly cheering on for those not aligning with yourself... But instead I will allow The Fates to choose the consequences and when.

sdl5 · 2024-09-07T01:47:43+00:00

Captured before removed

Annnnnd catbox has been down very nearly all day since 😒💁😑

UA medic in Poltava says the KIA count for the missile strike is greater than 200, video was capped before it was deleted. https://files.catbox.moe/3w8gvy.mp4

Maniak · 2024-09-06T13:55:29+00:00

He talked about it with Nima as well, also yesterday. Might not be the same yesterday though :)

sdl5 · 2024-09-06T00:57:14+00:00

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk, please consider sharing some or all of the content to anyone that might listen and think.

sdl5 · 2024-09-06T00:56:13+00:00

And as a final thought:

Imagine this. You're sitting at home. An alert blares on the radio, your phone, all your devices. Everything starts blaring.

Incoming missile attack, seek shelter! over and over again. You panic, you scramble, you try to find the safest spot you can go to, or you just sit hugging your family. A little time passes, and all the power goes out. Hours more, waiting for the flash, and finally, whatever had batteries blare to life again. ALL CLEAR, STAND BY FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS! Soon, a message from your country's respective leader informs you that you were attacked, but, your missile defense systems stopped most of them. The other guys got it really good though. Now, be careful because some did land here, here, and here. So don't go there. There will be road blocks and troops to keep you safe and out of those areas. Now, we must all work together and trust our glorious leader to see us through the dark times ahead. Power should be restored in the coming weeks, however, all communication to outside influe...I mean locations have been severed.

sdl5 · 2024-09-06T00:55:37+00:00

Now consider the latest hysteria media narratives and OUR GOVT'S claims against our lived realities, 😒 like "the communists" didn't migrate here en masse during the Stalin era and their descendants become the basis of both the Neolibs and Neocons:

nooo you're not allowed to have opinions contrary to the official government position what do you think you are some kind of free citizen??? oh my god everything or opponents believe in is Russian propaganda and disinformation! what a crazy coincidence! nobody could ever generate any of these opinions organically! your gas and groceries being twice as expensive is just a psyop!

That's the thing that gets me. All of this is common sense shit that a lot of people freely talk about. Suggesting that there needs to be any outside influence is absurd before you even break down their bullet points.

I could write paragraphs about why each bullet point is common sense stuff.

This “leak” is a psyop by the DOJ. It’s designed to make you think that if you have any of those beliefs, that you are a victim of Russian brainwashing, and did not arrive at those conclusions by coming to them yourself. Then, I suppose, you would be expected to react against this by changing your positions.

Why are all these “leaks” just bullet point allegations with no evidence? This didn’t need to be leaked, they’ve been making these allegations without evidence for almost a decade.

If a politician says something, people don't believe it. If a department accidentally leaks something, people believe it. Cmon, these tricks have been being used for a year or two now. Get with the program.

Same script as eight years ago. Same jingoistic seething, as if a Democrat gave a fuck about America and wouldn’t rather replace it with the old Soviet Union.

Why yes I too believe a Russian military PSYOP will be planned in English using Microsoft word…….no you fool, this is CLEARLY whipped up by an NGO at the behest of NATO. It’s tha classic five eyes shit:

I didn’t lie to you British agents lied to me I just passed it along to you.

It works WHEN you have a total lockdown on all media sources. If just one source isn’t in your control it always blows up in your face.

While Russian propaganda is definitely real it is almost entirely inwardly directed- and their population just ignores it.

This leak just reeks of western elite desperation trying to any silence opposing voices with the same old muh Kremlin playbook garbage.

Also imagine a fucking secret Russian document entirely in English and fucking mentioning both gamers and 4chan, it's either a shit troll or lefty psyop because their brigade is filled with waterbrains who'd use this kind of language.

Modern US intelligence is filled with out of touch boomers and literal discord pedophiles.

sdl5 · 2024-09-06T00:55:15+00:00

"The US literally has the best military on earth. Even Russia and China will concede to this. Russian nuclear assets are very outdated and likely inoperable." How are people like you even real? Literally every single thing you wrote is incorrect.

If they could they would have done it already. The USA couldn't even take on the Houthis and you expect me to believe that the only reason they don't take over the entire world is because they don't want to?!?

If that was the case, US would definitely jump Russia already. Just like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. But for some reason something is deterring them. I guess getting nuked back.

I think the average American really believes we have a first rate military and that’s why it’s one of our largest budget deficits. All the area 51 and space tech propaganda also bolsters this belief

The mere fact they are posting this kind of shit is scary, like there is some faction of Western power who thinks their worldview can be saved if they launch a first strike.

"We can fuck everyone up in 2h", says the military industrial complex representative, "as long as you authorize this new 400B program".

sdl5 · 2024-09-06T00:54:49+00:00

And now about our Nuclear capabilities.... Let me do this the easy way and put up a few cogent accurate statements made by others recently.

THIS is closer to the likely outcome:

The claim the U.S. could strike "all Russian and Chinese nuke launch pads in 2 hours" is pretty useless when everything they have will have hit the targets here, at sea, and in allied nations, AND what WE have may not even launch more than a fraction after the first 30 minutes though; worse, we'll just end up hitting their empty silos while they'll hit our mil and govt extensively as we still go hand in hand to extinction.

You are not disabling silos with tomahawks. Mobile launchers? Yes, some. Silos, no. Land based silos are designed to withstand around 10kT of boom. The nuclear tomahawks are all retired. If you're talking disabling silos, you're talking MIRVs.

"Look into the flaming pumpkin seed. it's a 14,000 mph spacecraft with about 60 nukes on it." Your most recent ICBM entered service in the 70s. Good luck, you're gonna need it.

The US currently needs to liquidate its stocks of aging LGM-30s, too. Dark futures.

Every major nation has early warning detection for this type of shit.

And those Russian launchers can send nukes into space in 10 minutes, and when its in space each messile split into 12 hypersonic (20 000 km/h) nukes. you aint stoping that. Plus looks like the us lacks "hypersonic" missiles.

Going to need to get that first strike hit down to 2 minutes unless you're ready to get nuked.

That's cool and all, but it takes like 20 minutes to launch a nuke and hit a target with one. For real, like they wouldn’t see that shit coming and immediately counterstrike.

We could launch this puppy, and within about 0.5 seconds every nation with satellite infrared technology would see it. They would probably wait until it became hostile, and if it actually deployed its payload, IMMEDIATELY you would see a full-scale nuclear response from our enemies. We could probably take out 1 or 2 before they had a chance to respond.

Nice, if only this was early 60s and nuclear missiles were launched from launchpads.

More importantly, my understanding is that they don't exclusively use fixed launch sites, and their doctrines have a strong focus on mobile launch capability; trains, trucks, tunnel systems, SLBMs, specifically meant to mitigate the efficacy of first-strike and aerial attacks against them.

Their arsenals are mixed use. They only have a smattering of fixed launchers. Russia specifically has used mobile launchers since the fuckin 60s, precisely because it's not possible to locate them in that much terrain. Hell, even their own government doesn't know where they are most of the time.

Most of the Chinese and Russian nuclear arsenals are on subs or mobile launchers. Imagine actually shilling for a nuclear war and thinking you'd somehow survive it rather than watching your skin melt off.

Most of Russian hypersonic missiles are nuclear capable. The entire Russian nuclear fleet has been replaced with new models. Those models are newer than the US fleet. The entire russian nuclear triad was overhauled over the last 20 years. None of the old weapons are even in service anymore. You have the Sarmat, Zircon, Kinzhal, the new SLBM RSM-56 Bulava, all of which have been tested and put into service. All of which are more modern and more capable than anything the US has. There are literally videos of Iskanders dropping on top of Patriot systems, you can even see the Patriot firing its missiles and failing to shoot it down. The US canceled their new SLBM project due to rising costs and failures, as well as their main hypersonic missile program. The sarmat was successfully tested again last year and is now the world's longest range ICBM with hypersonic glide vehicles and MIRV capabilities. Russia has a nuclear triad: even if you disable all silos in one go (which you can't, since they have active missile defense systems like the US does), two thirds of the nukes are hidden on nuclear submarines and those transporter launch vehicles with the rockets on them.

sdl5 · 2024-09-06T00:54:16+00:00

Now why should you listen to ME vs the "experts" and/or "media" and/or "your team" ideologically or politically?

Look, this is going to come off as incredibly arrogant and talking down... even delusional to some who have believed for a lifetime the now-internalized U.S. narratives.

I know this. BUT SOMEONE NEEDS TO STEP UP AND SPEAK OUT.

Fact is I'm smart and endlessly curious, have always been interested in history and the moving parts, and have an agile comprehensive memory. And I do not blindly believe or trust authority, and have never bought into any ideological or economic OR political beliefs while frequently dissecting and critiquing any promoted.

I am also sitting on a lifetime of experience and knowledge, even before the last half a decade and more of myriad and diverse very public debacles we have all been subjected to.

And I have finally understood I am not the average and that the majority of humanity does not, CANNOT, think and analyze without any real effort like I do.

Let alone have a neutral mindset and prefer the harsh truth over comforting beliefs.

Add- My own father was an investigative reporter, and much others would never question or be exposed to was involved.

Then I was gifted with a nuclear reactor engineer stepdad, one who was in the Navy then corp latest best research and builds domestic and internationally. And he talked a lot, often, at length about what we and friendly countries had, knew, were doing or building both as energy and militarily. Better, nearly everything he said back then is now being revealed as absolutely 100% factually accurate and true. I expect the last bits are as well.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-05T17:45:17+00:00

Though one may quibble about cases, the big debates—both in the public and among historians and social scientists—have centered on motives and causes. In nearly every case, U.S. officials cited U.S. security interests, either as determinative or as a principal motivation. With hindsight, it is now possible to dismiss most these claims as implausible. In many cases, they were understood as necessary for generating public and congressional support, but not taken seriously by the key decision makers. The United States did not face a significant military threat from Latin America at any time in the 20th century. Even in the October 1962 missile crisis, the Pentagon did not believe that the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba altered the global balance of nuclear terror. It is unlikely that any significant threat would have materialized if the 41 governments deposed by the United States had remained in office until voted out or overturned without U.S. help.

The corruption hypothesis contends that U.S. officials order interventions to protect U.S. corporations. The best evidence for this version comes from the decision to depose the elected government of Guatemala in 1954. Except for President Dwight Eisenhower, every significant decision maker in this case had a family, business or professional tie to the United Fruit Company, whose interests were adversely affected by an agrarian reform and other policies of the incumbent government.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-05T17:39:47+00:00

In the slightly less than a hundred years from 1898 to 1994, the U.S. government has intervened successfully to change governments in Latin America a total of at least 41 times. That amounts to once every 28 months for an entire century (see table).

Direct intervention occurred in 17 of the 41 cases. These incidents involved the use of U.S. military forces, intelligence agents or local citizens employed by U.S. government agencies. In another 24 cases, the U.S. government played an indirect role. That is, local actors played the principal roles, but either would not have acted or would not have succeeded without encouragement from the U.S. government.

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-05T17:25:14+00:00

Brazilians don't need direct experience with Musk to justify banning him. Additionally, consider the recent trade war where the U.S., Canada, and the EU have imposed 30%-100% tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles—it's a straightforward case of economic conflict. BRICS operates as a bloc, so attacking one member is seen as an attack on all. This situation is a form of blowback. While I don't support the ban, Elon should be more strategic and understand the basic law of causality at play.

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-05T17:21:53+00:00

Elon Musk was not, in any way, advocating for abstract violence, and banning Twitter does not equate to the abstract suppression of free speech. Brazilians are still free to use other platforms for communication. The issue reflects the entanglement of American state influence, with Elon’s active management making it difficult to distinguish between the role of a platform and a publisher. This is especially relevant given the platform’s history of supporting regime change and its connections to the military-industrial complex—fundamental concepts in international and business law.

RandomCollection · 2024-09-05T13:38:01+00:00

https://archive.ph/gBKB4

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that U.S. interventions did not serve U.S. national interests well. They generated needless resentment in the region and called into question the U.S. commitment to democracy and rule of law in international affairs. The downward trend in the past decade and half is a positive development much to be encouraged.

Nearly 20 years later, we are in a similar situation. The answer is that the rich want control over the world.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-05T04:47:22+00:00

100X worse, how? Would he send two shipments of arms a week instead of one?

(She's merely a Russian asset.)

God, preserve me from fucking ignorant people.

The president is the CIC and the Pentagon answers to him or her.

Congress can pass legislation but would have to have enough votes to override a presidential veto if the WH didn't support it.

There are clauses in our existing laws that could be (and should have been) used to ban any further arms shipments to Israel since they're being used to violate human rights and international law. There's nothing preventing us putting a stop to Israel's genocide except the political will.

sdl5 · 2024-09-05T04:43:38+00:00

Going full black and white at the extreme edges of the spectrum is a sure sign someone is not using their own cognitive functions, but instead relying on trigger words and catch phrases to push a narrative.

And mind you, I am not a fan of Tesla Hyperloop drunk on influence and power Elon and have said much in the past critical of his less sensible or knowledgeable takes etc and his narrow focus nature.

And I am also probably one of the very few in here that has not only met but had extensive close secondhand personal knowledge of Musk.

But I am calling out your NPC comment for exactly what it is. And you, by default. 💁💅

kingsmeg · 2024-09-05T03:47:51+00:00

Simplicius' latest quotes several Ukies reporting much bigger numbers than 41.

mzyps · 2024-09-05T02:44:36+00:00

Yes Bernie, the Israelis hate and punish the Palestinians because the Palestinians do not approve of the Israeli settler colonialist project or the decades of Zionist oppression, occupation, and violence. Meanwhile the United States sponsors and enables the Zionist Israelis and their unjust violent oppressive project.

YoMamma · 2024-09-05T01:29:28+00:00

There's absolutely zero indication she will do anything different from what the Biden administration is currently doing.

I wrote (according to Harris). You too can listen to her comments. You should also know that Trump would be 100x worse.

If she wanted to convince voters, she could do what Stein has done: say that on Day One, she would pick up the phone and tell Israel there would be no more weapons

1) Stein hasn't a chance in Hell of becomming President. (She's merely a Russian asset.)

2) Presidents cannot tell the Pentagon to stop carrying out Congress's orders. (Congress determines arms sales and 'gifts').

3) We agree that the US stop sending weapons to Israel, but any attempts to change that 70+ history would require a sea change in approaches to endemic Israel lobbying.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-04T22:25:03+00:00

Vote for Harris = Additional pressure on Israel for a ceasefire

How delusional can you get? There's absolutely zero indication she will do anything different from what the Biden administration is currently doing.

If she wanted to convince voters, she could do what Stein has done: say that on Day One, she would pick up the phone and tell Israel there would be no more weapons until they stopped the slaughter. Israeli officials have said they could not continue what they're doing in Gaza without that assistance. They should also be told - and I'm sure Stein would - that if they provoke a wider war with their neighbors, as they've been trying to do, the US will not come to their aid.

YoMamma · 2024-09-04T21:41:23+00:00

No vote = Trump wins and genocide of Palestinians continue, and much worse.

Vote for Green Party = Trump wins and genocide of Palestinians continue, and much worse.

Vote for Harris = Additional pressure on Israel for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid convoys (according to Harris).

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-04T21:07:30+00:00

I see. So the GP should care more about the climate than they care about the slaughter of Gazans. Got it.

Not voting for Harris or Trump. Period.

YoMamma · 2024-09-04T20:15:01+00:00

Perhaps I should clarify - in the simplest terms - that no vote, or a vote for Stein for US President, will absolutely benefit Trump, who would benefit in an election with fewer votes. Secondly, if the Green Party truly cares about the environment, they would of course vote for Harris, so that Trump is not given another 4 years to help Republicans deregulate environmental laws.

Over four years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.

In all, a New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School and other sources, counts nearly 100 environmental rules officially reversed, revoked or otherwise rolled back under Mr. Trump. More than a dozen other potential rollbacks remained in progress by the end but were not finalized by the end of the administration’s term.

“This is a very aggressive attempt to rewrite our laws and reinterpret the meaning of environmental protections,” said Hana V. Vizcarra, a staff attorney at Harvard’s Environmental and Energy Law Program who has tracked the policy changes since 2018. “This administration is leaving a truly unprecedented legacy.”source

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-04T19:51:52+00:00

No one claims that the Democrat party is owed a vote.

But then you say this:

a wasted vote for a candidate like Stein - who has no chance of winning - is one less vote for an electable candidate. Because Green Party supporters would normally not like Trump - due to his many records of abusing the environment for the sake of Big Oil &c - they'd otherwise vote for Harris.

First, it's our vote to "waste", quit trying to browbeat us into supporting candidates we've clearly said we don't support.

Second, you assume that these voters, denied of a 3rd party candidate, would vote for the Democrats. You're absolutely wrong about that. I'm not alone in saying that if my only options were D and R, I wouldn't vote at all. Then there are others who have admitted to casting a protest vote for the Republicans though this happens less frequently.

People resent being corralled and they will find ways to subvert those who attempt it.

RandomCollection · 2024-09-04T18:26:39+00:00

https://archive.ph/6klYM

Hiding the extent of the casualties has been a big part of the information war.

I hope the Ukrainian SBU, their equal to the FBI, isn't going to penalize this medic for saying the truth.

YoMamma · 2024-09-04T17:22:56+00:00

No candidate or party is owed a vote so how voters vote doesn't "cost" them anything.

No one claims that the Democrat party is owed a vote.

Stein is (like Trump) a useful idiot for Putin.

This is because a wasted vote for a candidate like Stein - who has no chance of winning - is one less vote for an electable candidate. Because Green Party supporters would normally not like Trump - due to his many records of abusing the environment for the sake of Big Oil &c - they'd otherwise vote for Harris.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-04T14:29:40+00:00

No candidate or party is owed a vote so how voters vote doesn't "cost" them anything. A much larger percentage of voters identify as Independent than as either D or R so if the major parties want more votes they should stop putting up such crappy candidates.

Greens have won over 1500 races since 1985.

Instead of attacking third parties that offer candidates and platforms that huge numbers of people want to vote for, you should be attacking the "democratic" system that makes it so hard and sometimes impossible for them to get/stay on the ballot. Unless your aim is just to push people into not voting at all; because what you're suggesting is that they should vote under duress for candidates and policies they do not support.

Stein is (like Trump) a useful idiot for Putin

This remark is too stupidly ignorant to treat seriously.

What AOC means when she says "She's not a serious candidate" is "She's not supported by the corporate oligarchy like I am." (h/t u/Centaurea16)

YoMamma · 2024-09-04T11:47:27+00:00

I think AOC appropriately drew attention to Stein's 'predatory' approaches, which only benefit Republicans. If the US Green Party were serious about forming a serious 3rd party, as in countries with Parliamentary systems (UK, Canada &c), they would have more candidates in local and state elections before they encouraged the waste of votes in national elections. As such, Stein's merely trying to get attention, while helping Republicans win elections. AOC drew attention to that major difference between Dems and the Green Party in a presidential election. What's especially informative is that Stein is (like Trump) a useful idiot for Putin, as AOC partially indicates and as partially discussed here. Stein also gets donations primarily from confused old people . AOC got much more attention in the national news than Stein's response will get.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-04T04:52:54+00:00

Pretty stupid move on AOC's part since it gave Jill Stein such an excellent opportunity to gain visibility for herself and her anti-genocide platform among AOC's Dem fan base.

Maniak · 2024-09-04T00:02:50+00:00

Direct follow-up to this.

Yet another journalist, this time from Australia, being chased for doing journalism that doesn't agree with the official narrative.

Maniak · 2024-09-04T00:00:58+00:00

From Wikipedia, usual disclaimers apply:

Mary Kostakidis (born 1954) is an Australian journalist and political commentator. She is the former prime time weeknight SBS World News Australia presenter and was the face of SBS over two decades. Her journalism spans geopolitical issues, democracy and press freedom. Her commentary covers areas including the Middle East, national security, AUKUS, China and the failings of mainstream media. Her work is published by independent media including public policy journal Pearls and Irritations and has used Twitter extensively to contemporaneously report court proceedings in great detail, including the four week UK evidentiary Extradition hearing of Julian Assange and subsequent appeals.

RDDT_Swine · 2024-09-03T23:50:54+00:00

https://www.truthorfiction.com/did-elon-musk-tweet-we-will-coup-whoever-we-want-deal-with-it/

“we will coup whoever we want,” famously said by - Elon Musk

Defending a banana republic absolutist and slave miner is easier than people thought , today we saw jimmy dore and Matt Taiibi fell for it.

Maniak · 2024-09-03T20:08:51+00:00

And apparently there's a shitlibcon corporate follow-up:

Candace Owens: Tucker Carlson Is Canceled…Again. | Ep 57

Live stream just started a couple of minutes before posting this, so no clue as to what's coming in this one but no matter what, the point remains.

Maniak · 2024-09-03T19:20:23+00:00

sdl5 · 2024-09-03T08:40:45+00:00

So.... Trying to not smirk too hard here, but our prima donna fussypants flying house of cards plane was NEVER going to function in the Ukraine.

Now as to what happened.

Three actual event destroying it possibilities are A pilot error/ground conditions crash, B1 shot down by Russia or B2 friendly fire, C bombed on the ground.

I am actually ruling out B1 as no Russia linked claiming of the credit in any way. Not even the no source braggers.

So the first A is an easy choice for Ukraine leadership to make- and almost excusable.

But it both took too long to say this AND Z summarily fired the Commander General of UAF shortly after.

Combine that with the truly horrific history of Patriots shooting down allied planes AND the F16 identifying radio comms being the cause of past targetting by FF (used to be openly written about in Western and mil pubs).

And there is an interesting tidbit that a PR event was held with the Mom of the OTHER Ace pilot already killed- on the ground where the F16s are at... and subtle visual details exposed it as a specific location i n W Ukraine.

And last is that it happened the very same night extensive Ru missiles came in across Ukr, including 8n Kharkov with valid targets- that DAYS later Ukr PR have tried to paint as vicious civilian destruction with bizarre overtly questionable photos and detailed claims.

Leaving us with B2 as highly likely and C as a definite possibility.

sdl5 · 2024-09-03T08:22:51+00:00

Russia is NOT going to take on or take over the Bandarist areas or Westen Ukraine. Period.

Real politick is very obviously telegraphing just that.

They can be the West's problem for eternity, from the insane debt to the questionable land sales/corp relationships to the boatloads of war cripples to the progressively more inoperable or damaged Soviet era infrastructure they have utterly failed to maintain.

And the Dniepr zone will be the demilitarized line one way or another- imo, it should extend to Odessa south in a line from the Bug and due north through I believe that's Pavlograd to the border juncture with Belarus and be done with these cross border rockets and attacks on civilians. The Belarus border is a wide swath of nearly impassable swampy ground for most of it and Chernobyl for the other, so no need to worry much about that stretch.

Maybe even Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania can reclaim deeply historical chunks too, and let Poland deal with the rest as proxy since they so fervently want to be a US guard dog 💁

sdl5 · 2024-09-03T08:09:21+00:00

Now tell me YOU prioritize subsidized healthcare, jobs, shelter, all govt help for native born citizens of each nation on the planet- particularly the use of tax dollars....

The shutting down of immigration to economically and environmentally stressed countries, and the returning to home countries those already arrived under temp or illegal conditions.

Or are you being a hypocrite as it only applies to those you dislike or do not champion?

sdl5 · 2024-09-03T08:03:15+00:00

So.... I went to the extreme hassle of logging back in here and fighting to Comment to give you (deleted) a real response, and hoping it is a regular who is still actually here.

I worry your worst fear may be correct- or at least a last few years hidden shift.

Why I cannot say. There are half a dozen potential causes or triggers anyone can observe. And who knows what is not public...

But something something has been "off" for a while now. A subtle at first then more defined level of going superficial, or picking teams, or just flat missing important and critical context in his writing AND pushed narratives/conclusions.

And, regardless of why, that makes his content and opinions no longer something ANYone should read and accept at face value or assumed to be fully correct or complete reporting.

As they say, you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.

RandomCollection · 2024-09-02T19:06:25+00:00

The podcast starts noting that the European Union is not using its power for the good of the European people.

Note how the nations in the EU were forced to bail out their banks.

Ultimately, this is going to cause the European Union to further lose its legitimacy. Legitimacy comes from doing a good job of running one's nation and delivering prosperity.

RandomCollection · 2024-09-02T19:02:27+00:00

Feels like the UK is quickly destroying itself internally.

It is looking like the late USSR right now in nations throughout the West.

SubstackMonger · 2024-09-02T18:08:39+00:00

I seriously hope I am wrong.

SubstackMonger · 2024-09-02T18:07:59+00:00

It's becoming increasingly difficult to take Glenn Greenwald seriously. Is he just a liberal dogmatist or a liberal absolutist who's been played like a fool? Or worse, has he become an outright propagandist? After all, who is Glenn really? He burst onto the journalism scene as a supposed champion of truth, but now it seems he's just another layer of propaganda, trying to ensnare "free thinkers" in a web of deceit.

Honestly, I'd have fewer issues with someone like Mike Pompeo. At least Pompeo is an open book—a career politician whose allegiance to American imperialism is blatantly obvious. He doesn't pretend to be anything other than what he is: a dedicated servant of U.S. interests. There’s no facade, no pretense of fighting for the people or challenging the status quo. Pompeo’s deception is out in the open for everyone to see, and in a twisted way, that makes him more honest than Glenn.

Glenn, on the other hand, cloaks himself in the guise of a truth-teller, but what if that’s just another layer of manipulation? It's becoming harder to ignore the possibility that he’s not just being fooled but is actively participating in the propaganda machine he once claimed to expose. The sharp insights that once defined his work now seem like traps laid for those who think they're too clever to be ensnared.

If Glenn is just another cog in the system, then the betrayal feels even deeper. He’s not just lying to the world—he’s lying to those who believed in him as a force for good. And that makes him, in some ways, even more dangerous than the overt agents of empire like Pompeo.

entertainment · 2024-09-01T19:08:32+00:00

No one ever learns.

penelopepnortney · 2024-09-01T14:37:47+00:00

Excerpt:

The arrest yesterday of Palestine solidarity activist Sarah Wilkinson, following the arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst last week – both based on an improbable claim they have violated Section 12 of the Terrorism Act – is definitive proof that Keir Starmer’s authoritarian purges of the Labour left are being rolled out against critics on a nationwide basis.

The British prime minister is determined to terrorise into silence critics highlighting his, and now his government's, complicity with Israel and its genocide in Gaza.

The usual Israel lobby ghouls, such as David Collier, have been salivating over Wilkinson's arrest. She faces up to 14 years in jail for supposedly “supporting” a proscribed organisation – namely, Hamas.

According to reports, she was told she was being arrested over “content that she has posted online”. Police seized all her electronic devices. According to her daughter, she has been released on bail on condition she “never” uses those devices.

Let’s be clear: the police are using the Terrorism Act in this way only because they have received political direction to do so. Wilkinson’s arrest is only possible because the police and Starmer, supposedly a human rights lawyer, are rewriting the meaning of the term “support for terrorism”.

This is political repression in its clearest form.

Let us remember too that, if Britain’s terrorism laws are going to be enforced so expansively, the first person who should be arrested for “supporting” terrorism is Starmer himself. Months ago he insisted numerous times that Israel had a right to block food, water and power to 2.3 million people in Gaza, a policy Israel has indeed pursued and has resulted in a man-made famine that is starving Palestinians to death. The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is seeking Netanyahu’s arrest for that starvation policy because it is a crime against humanity.

Maniak · 2024-09-01T00:07:47+00:00

No disagreement on the last part but this isn't about MAGA. It's about mainstream zombies. Red or blue, they're the exact same shade of genocide-enabling fucktards.

As a completely random example, there's no daylight between MAGA and KHive. It's the same source, just using different labels.

RandomCollection · 2024-08-31T23:06:50+00:00

https://archive.ph/yu32r

I suspect that many Ukrainians will regret being the useful idiots of the US.

penelopepnortney · 2024-08-31T19:55:27+00:00

I thought of this when reading Roy Lilley's email on the NHS this morning. In it he noted:

Wherever you are on the debate about the NHS, whatever line you take, everyone will probably agree, stopping people getting sick in the first place is a good idea.

It might be more important than you think. Most of what we turn-up with, to get fixed-up, is up to us.

While it's difficult to pinpoint an exact percentage across all illnesses, studies suggest that lifestyle choices could be responsible for anywhere between 50 and 70% of all healthcare costs and a similar proportion of chronic diseases.

They do not do this by chance: there is a food-industrial complex (to use Eisenhowwer's terminology) that aims to make them sick as a result of the production of these items.

And then there is a medical-industrial complex called big pharma that is only too pleased to prescribe as many drugs as possible to deal with the effects of this.

RandomCollection · 2024-08-31T18:22:05+00:00

https://archive.ph/z4RWt

It's clear that our biggest enemy is the greed of the rich, which is fueling this.

penelopepnortney · 2024-08-30T22:46:02+00:00

This is a 3-1/2 minute clip from today's broadcast, Wilkerson talking.

Here's what Ha'aretz uncovered, a couple of days ago I found these documents. One is called "Israeli settlers have a master plan to cleanse the land of Palestinians." The second is called "Road to redemption: How Israel's war against Hamas turned into a springboard for Jewish settlement in Gaza."

Bingo, that has described Netanyahu's ultimate plan.

And he's got to consolidate on the West Bank as fast as he can as Ben Gvir and his settlers are already moving into north Gaza with shovels and pick axes and AR-15s, they're already clearing rubble and getting ready to establish settlements.

This has been Bibi's plan all along and he hopes it will do two things: one, consolidate his hold in the Golan, the West Bank and East Jerusalem - consolidate means killing some more people there and dispossessing them of their land; and two, begin to do the same thing in Gaza so that a lot of Palestinians get so tired of it they'll pick up and go to other countries.

And he's got plans under both these programs to entice those other countries to take the Palestinians he can't kill. That's Bibi's ultimate plan and we're playing right along with it.

(On whether it will require force to stop Bibi and his plan): It could be stopped immediately if we picked up the phone and told Bibi no more weapons, guns, artillery, ammunition; nothing. He'd have to stop, especially the peril he's in right now with the possibility of a multi-front war and some fairly significant enemies on those fronts. If we told him we weren't going to be there with him, that would end it. It would also end his political career and he'd go to jail.

penelopepnortney · 2024-08-30T20:01:45+00:00

He gives one of the most detailed explanations I've heard of the challenges of training Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16s: the language barrier, having to unlearn what they knew about flying Soviet era aircraft, the time required to be ready for a combat situation, the maintenance required in terms of how much and the skill and equipment needed.

Maniak · 2024-08-30T18:11:31+00:00

Oh noes. Did any nazi die in this experiment? That'd be too bad.

RandomCollection · 2024-08-29T23:47:46+00:00

Another Wunderwaffen ends up disappointing. Many people in the West put totally unrealistic expectations.

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Misinformation^™️ and groupthink