I should have used the word “us” instead of “me” (believe it or not, I don’t think that everything is about me)…and yes, I think that we’ve had leaders in the past who did what they genuinely thought was in the nation’s (that’s “us”) best interest, however imperfectly and ill advised at times. I don’t get the feeling that any of our leaders today really care about anything except themselves and they lie to us about everything.
It’s only in the past few years that I’ve become aware of the depth and extent of the corruption in our society. Of course I always knew that there was a baseline level of corruption (think “background noise”), but I thought that our system was, by and large, on the up and up—particularly on issues of great importance—I certainly didn’t think that corruption was a defining characteristic…boy was I wrong.
Well, you can always “vote harder”, I guess. But you’re right, there is hope, and that hope is in God.
I always conclude that the government is a reflection of the majority of the people.
I have shown this graph before and I don’t know how closely it reflects the morality and values of the US. If it is accurate, it paints a horrible picture of US morality and values. The fact that the politicians appear to have increasingly become willing to sacrifice the nation for their interests does seem to match up with the what the graph tells me about the population at large.
I would seriously consider voting for RFK for all the reasons that you mentioned. One of the reasons why I liked Trump back in 2016 was because he was the only politician (at least in recent times) to talk about the loss and outsourcing of our manufacturing base, illegal immigration and generally how “stupid” many of our policies were, particularly when dealing with other nations. But I don’t need to tell you that talk is cheap or that money talks and bullshit walks…let’s just say that Trump’s performance in office was less than stellar (although infinitely better that Hillary or any of the other Republican candidates for that matter, but that’s not saying much). In the end, nothing had fundamentally changed and we’re still marching full steam ahead into oblivion.
Could RFK make a real, lasting difference if given the chance? Well, at this point, what do we have to lose? As I said, I’d vote for him, but I would be extremely surprised if anything fundamentally changed. I’m skeptical about how much power and influence a President really has…maybe asking for fundamental, lasting change is asking for the impossible.
Maybe my frustration comes from the thinking that we can solve our problems through our thoroughly broken and corrupted institutions and political system…I just can’t see that working. The only solution that I can offer someone (particularly a younger person…it’s too late for me) is to find a saner place in the world to live that is more conducive to your values and where you can raise a family without subjecting them to the pure filth and poison that is permiating our culture—that’s a form of voting I can get behind…with your feet. Call me a coward or a quitter—I’ve been called worse—but that’s the best I can come up with. I would be thrilled out of my mind if someone smarter than me (not too hard) could articulate a novel approach to our problems…I would be their greatest cheerleader.
Trump should announce , right NOW, while 6/27 is still fresh in our minds, that he will not put Biden through another debate, he never would have challenged him to one if he had known how pathetic Biden has become, he won’t be a part of doing it again. It would be inhumane, cruel. Nobody is going to say, oh, he’s just scared—because the idea of anybody being scared to debate the piping old geezer we saw on Thursday is just…laughable.
Really, I wish I could tell Trump this. A second debate can’t possibly be better for him—and it might be worse.
In the meantime, Russia Today is reporting that US House Speaker Johnson is calling on the Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove “Joe Biden”.
"Johnson said Biden’s administration could force him to step down by invoking the 25th Amendment – which states that the vice president and cabinet members can vote to declare the president “unable to discharge the powers and the duties of his office,” making the VP the acting head of state. If the commander-in-chief refuses to comply, the final decision on the issue would be made by Congress. The amendment has never been used in US history.
"There are a lot of people asking about the 25th Amendment, invoking the 25th Amendment right now because this is an alarming situation,” the House speaker stressed. …
“I would ask the Cabinet members to search their hearts.”
If the democrat party, the biden administration (sic) and the MSM are not prima fascie guilty of treason, then treason has never, ever been committed. And, you may have noticed that today - among a significant segment of these same apparatchiks, it is ongoing. Do they think nobody has noticed?? Do they really think they can get away with the “cold” excuse??
Yes they think they can get way with it. Horrible thing is, maybe they can—especially if we don’t press our advantage. The GOP should be publishing a list of stuff Bygone lied about. No dead soldiers, “fine people”—CTFO, he was mendacity incarnate! Why are we letting them get way with calling Trump a liar?!?!?
Yes, for sure. Would you say that also applies to crypto? Are both the physical and anonymous nature of cash necessary, or is anonymity the most important critia in your estimation? I heard that Bitcoin isn’t really anonymous. Is that true? Or maybe it’s possible to achieve effective anonymity with Bitcoin via proper op-sec.
Cash acceptance is more important than bitcoin adoption
Bitcoin is not private because the blockchain is publicly available. Through chain analysis anyone can monitor most transactions visible on the blockchain which is a technical way of saying public ledger
Privacy and anonymity are critical for maintaining a free society. Anonymous nature of cash is priceless.
There are ways to launder bitcoin transactions but the technical barriers to entry are high for most people.
The importance of bitcoin is other reasons such as sending money to another person for 45 cents vs $45 wiring fee. Provides an outlet for currency competition especially in the third world.
One reason bitcoin became popular in 2011 was donations to Wikileaks. Every payment processor cancelled Assange so bitcoin became his only vehicle for donations.
Gab has been ostracized financially and the founder has been bitcoin friendly.
Laura Loomer can be a crazy bomb thrower but she should not be deplatformed financially. I recommended a couple bitcoin wallets to her in 2021 via Gab
I made a bitcoin donation to the Canadian truckers. There was a bitcoin version of go fund me or give send go
It also takes an enormous effort and technical know-how to protect your privacy and data online. I’ve been following Rob Braxman - The Internet Privacy Guy for several years now and he seems to give good advice on privacy op-sec for the layman. But it’s just too much work for me and it’s easy to make a mistake. I just try to keep a minimal footprint online (this forum is the only exception…and I’m aware that it’s a huge and potentially damaging one). I don’t know where all of this is leading to, but hopefully some really smart people develop effective counter-measures to prevent “bad actors” from manipulating us by analyzing all our data.
Minimal online footprint is probably the easiest advice for most people.
Maybe use VPN at home.
I like Proton for private email and VPN but email is a dying medium.
Try not to use Google.
No Facebook under any circumstances!
I should add that a friend of mine created a Facebook account because of his marathon training group. He was upset about that because he understood the intrusive data collection cottage industry.
Some Democratic Party inside baseball from Freddie deBoer, regarding Kamela.
The exhaustion of the Trump years, the backdoor lobbying of Obama, and the lack of a credible challenger of color helped to dampen these dynamics in 2020, but there was still a lot of really bitter recriminations from one group: the “KHive,” Kamala Harris’s notoriously aggressive fanbase. They were, and are, absolutely ready to destroy comity within the party in defense of their candidate, and their weapon are mass accusations of racism and sexism. Even in 2020, the height of public fear over appearing to transgress identity dictates, they were openly discussed as an unusually toxic force in Democratic politics. So here’s the question: if you try to replace Joe Biden at the top of the ticket in 2024, how do you push aside sitting Vice President Kamala Harris without destroying the party? Because if you thought 2008 or 2016 were ugly….
We know she ran a poor campaign in 2020. She had to suspend her campaign before Iowa caucus because she ran out of money and staff. Apparently a lot of bickering and staffers leaving.
Same thing has happened as Veep. 28 members of her communications team have resigned since 2021.
Whether this is true or not, I believe the same tactics used against Republican opponents will be used internally in the Democrat party. It will destroy itself from within eventually.
Scott Adams pointed out (I think an X post) to Gavin Newsom that, if he has realized he is being passed over in the Democratic party for his color and sex, he can still join the Republican party.
thrower but she should not be deplatformed financially. I recommended a couple bitcoin wallets to her in 2021 via Gab