Eetan
2hr ago
I always wondered, do people think this is a fake story? Or is it just not a big deal?
Well, it happened 60 years ago, agonize over it now makes as much sense now as being still really angry about Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Eetan
6hr ago
There is phenomenally popular conservative art, though.
And it is completely apolitical. No one listens to country music and thinks: "I must vote GOP harder, I must support the current day right wing cause!"
Eetan
20hr ago
will fight to protect you if the feds come knocking
You probably mean this unrealistic xitter thread.
If the feds "come knocking" in serious way, they will arrest you when you are out of the city, or will send special forces team straight to your home in surprise raid at time when everyone is asleep.
Even if locals with their rifles are willing to open fire at feds, they can do absolutely nothing in either scenario.
Eetan
22hr ago
Most of What You Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People
It was the case as long as internet was open to general public, but the age of AI can finally put it to end. Machine can schizopost 24/7/365 without need to eat and sleep and easily outschizo the craziest crazies out there.
Eetan
22hr ago
"You crowdfund the territory. The diplomatic recognition comes later."
No, it will not come. The last new country officially recognized by international community was ... guess ... South Sudan back in 2011.
All of world's powers in single day, 9 July 2011. See that South Sudanese independence was already fait accompli, decided beforehand.
This will not happen to some adventurer seizing some land in the middle of nowhere, the international community has zero tolerance for filibusters and freebooters. US+allies will treat such people like terrorists, and China the same, only harsher.
No one wants to give adventurous folks idea that you can just do thing, you can just leave your day job and become bandit in the swamp.
Eetan
23hr ago
Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, Mackenzie, has launched 10 figures into charity in the last couple years, and it seems remarkably difficult to tell what that figure has actually accomplished in terms of yield and realworld impact.
She could do it, because there is already huge, decades old network of left wing charities and NGO's ready to be funded. Lots of the cash was snatched by the organizers for large mansions and other necessary expenses, but most of really went where it was supposed to go.
There is no such thing in right wing world (excluding mainstream and useless conservative institutions). All of potential right wing donor cash will be instanly appropriated by grifters and scammers.
The difference between supplying organized army that is fighting, vs just sending stuff to nowhere.
Meanwhile, (in) famous Australian xitter activist Drew Pavlou calls billionaires to (cultural) battle.
I have at least 15 billionaires who follow me on X. This post is addressed to them.
Third Worldist Marxists and degrowth communists want to seize your shit and possibly murder you. Flying to Malaysia like @balajis doesn’t work because it’s the Third World and eventually they start accusing you of hiding Jews under your floorboards.
TL;DR: You big moneybags have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, do not waste your money on some farcical "charter cities" or "network states", spend them on activists like Drew.
The Red Cavalry is on the horizon, this is now or never!
We need more ... think tanks!
I am friends with a bunch of young Oxford and Cambridge educated right wing populist intellectuals in Australia, they want to start a think tank and help solve the human capital problem on the right, they would write policy papers and prepare the right to govern, but it’s impossible to get funding, and they all work conventional jobs where they would be fired immediately for saying anything political even on X
Centi-millionaire/billionaire activism driven by money alone had been debated here previously, and the record is not encouraging.
If the situation is really so dire as Drew believes, if fate of Western civilization hangs in the balance, if Mamdani is really new Lenin ready to set the Earth aflame, something more than policy papers is needed, but what?
Any better ideas and suggestions from Mottizen elite human capital? Not castle in the sky plans and fantasies, but something that humble billionaire can do alone or with few friends.
edit: links linked
Eetan
1d ago
too many taking the position that taking a lunch to work was living worse than a medieval peasant.
These people, of course, were overwhelmingly self identifying as left, with bios full of symbols of correct current year, month and day causes.
Black lives matter! Trans women are women! Free Palestine! Cooking your own food is ableist, Doordash is human right!
True trad Christian one, ofc, the atheist would want to do ..umm... nasty things to the roadkill, see the other current xitterstorm.
Usual example in "no god no morals, atheists owned!" eternal discourse is rape and murder, the xitter apologists recently upped the ante.
Eetan
1d ago
Malaysia is too strong of a state to start this kind of project in. You need a real basket case with limited central government, maybe somewhere like Haiti where you can just take over a few valleys and some coastline and chill
The problem is not any Haitian, even the most hardcore local gangs would have no chance against professional fighting force. The problem is international community, this means US+allies, who has rather zero tolerance for private filibustering.
There were such attempts in modern times, hadn't ended well.
Eetan
1d ago
People who are actually of extreme value to intelligence and centrally important to some kind of secret organization don’t get arrested
Assuming ZOG100% conspiracy theory where Israel owns and controls US completely, yes. Ofc, plain reading of history of US-Israeli relations debunks this. Many cases where US told Israel big no and threw wrench into their plans.
Assuming ZOG80, ZOG60, ZOG50 etc... it is rather plausible that Israeli operative, even high ranked one, gets into trouble with parts of USG who are not happy with Israeli influence, either in general or in this particular case.
Eetan
1d ago
I've made it a hard limit that the next GF has to be 'financially aware" if not thrifty. i.e. they actually consider the cost of things, consider repair vs. replace, and don't assume the most expensive option is always the best.
Good luck with that. Your best option is to look among new immigrants, preferably from some Asian country, modern US people are raised with attitude of temporarily embarrassed princes and princessess who feel any hint they should count money and consider the costs as mortal insult to their noble status and honor.
Imagine how Marie Antoinette felt when hubby told her: "Honey, you have enough palaces, you do not need another!"
The age of bourgeoisie counting every penny is over, the age of aristocracy is back.
Eetan
2d ago
If you think that flipping and installing Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela (or installing and flipping, although it looks increasingly like she flipped first) is a shining example of the new Trumpy way of war, it is an obvious thing to try. The main problem is the lack of an obvious route to get Ahmadinejad installed as leader.
The problem is that Venezuela is not Iran and Iran is not Venezuela.
Bolivarismo/Chavismo was never about anything more than gibs, there was not even patriotic pretense to make Venezuela great for the first time ever. When it turned out that no gibs will be coming any more, no one was willing to die for this great cause.
In Iran, there are tens of millions who believe in the Prophet, Ali, Hassan and Husayn, who remember Ashura and Revolution, and they really mean it.
Eetan
2d ago
Yea, the plan to get out the Cardinal failed, shame. It will count as good ending only if the blockbuster movie is Iranian made.
Anyway, if this whole affair turns out to be real, this will be probably the most high ranking defector/traitor in modern history.
Previous record holders were probably diplomat Arkady Shevchenko, secret policeman Ion Pacepa and old Chekist/NKVD man Genrikh Lyushkov.
Eetan
2d ago
New culture war news, from the secret squirrel cloak and dagger part of culture war.
And it is top tier blockbuster spy thriller tale. Tom Clancy might be dead, but his spirit is marching on.
Inside Israel’s Secret Operation to Cultivate Ahmadinejad
The yearslong effort to groom the former Iranian president as an intelligence asset culminated in a dramatic effort to take him to an Israeli safe house in the early days of the war. But the plan fell apart.
Inside the Mossad Plot to Install Israel's Arch-enemy Ahmadinejad as Iran's Leader
A Haaretz investigation reveals how Mossad agents brought former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on board, the shock within Netanyahu's cabinet and the recruitment of collaborators inside Iran
True if big, but is it big enough? What is really going on?
1/ All true news, you can always trust NYT and Haaretz. No one can resist Mossad grooming, even old revolutionary and God fearing true Muslim like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. All resistance is futile.
2/ All fake news, designed both to enhance Mossad reputation and depress Iranian morale. If even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was traitor recruited by the Zionist entity, who can be trusted? All resistance is futile.
Any way, Israel looks strong, but far from all powerful.
Eetan
2d ago
Yes. It would be terrible to find ourselves in the position of trying to figure out how to live Christian lives by interpreting the Bible from this extremely-removed modern perspective.
Well, it depends what the Bible is.
Ancient book written by ancient Near Easterners for ancient Near Easterners, or inspired, incorrupt and infallible guide for all men of all times and places?
If the latter, then it should be indeed comprehensible for all human beings, applicable to any situation and should not require explanations and footnotes longer than the original text in cases where the original context obvious to all people in ancient culture changes meaning of story or parable rather drastically.
Eetan
5d ago
The point is to show you are doing something and standing strongly against whatever is the villain of the day, the rewards are various, ranging from promotion and pay raise to clicks and retweets.
You do not need wait for internet age, actual censorship of physical books was long string of defeats since the invention of printing press.
Tsarist Russia, was know for the most extensive censorship in the world back in 19th century.
When he was about thirteen, Lado Ketskhoveli took him to a little bookshop in Gori where he paid a five kopeck subscription and borrowed a book that was probably Darwin’s Origin of Species. Stalin read it all night, forgetting to sleep, until Keke [his mother] found him. ‘Time to go to bed,” she said. “Go to sleep — dawn is breaking.” “I loved the book so much, Mummy, I couldn’t stop reading.” As his reading intensified, his piety wavered.
One day Soso [Stalin] and some friends, including Grisha Glurjidze, lay on the grass in town talking about the injustice of there being rich and poor when he amazed all of them by suddenly saying, “God’s not unjust, he doesn’t actually exist. We’ve been deceived. If God existed, he’d have made the world more just.” “Soso, how can you say such things?” exclaimed Grisha. “I’ll lend you a book and you’ll see.” He presented Glurjidze with a copy of Darwin.
Another culture wars item of the week, this time involving culture, and this means culturally cultured culture. Books, luxury bookstores and fine wine, what's not to like?
World famous superstar Dua Lipa decided to do something about rising tide of censorship.
What? Open a library of banned books.
The doors are open to the Manifesto Library
To celebrate its inauguration, we gathered inside one of Europe’s most storied bookshops for a very special Book Tasting, exploring four titles from the collection, each representing one of its core themes:
Nineteen Eighty-Four (Power)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Control)
My Pen Is The Wing Of A Bird (Voice)
Patriot (Memory)
Accompanied by thoughtfully paired Portuguese wines from @sogrape, the evening opened up conversations around censorship, resistance and the importance of preserving voices that challenge power and refuse to be silenced.
Full list of the books is in the Cosmopolitan article, it is exactly what you would already expect.
Actually banned books in UK and EU banned as "serious prison time for production, distribution and possession" are not on the shelves, for obvious reasons.
Yea, it is about performance, about sticking it up to fictional MAGA villain, not about reading. Neither Dua Lipa not any of the prestigious guests are not going to read these books (and neither any other), not that there is something wrong with it.
Just another notch on the list of centi millionaire celebrities doing nothing with their wealth and influence except to climb up the ranks to hopefully ascend from paltry nine figure wealth to glorious ten and finally make it.
Another reminder that no god, no tsar, no hero and certainly no millionaire is there to save you. You must save yourself by your own hand, aided by huge spare disk space.
Addendum: so what can be done to thwart the censorship of banned books? There are already efforts to make information free on the internets, too numerous to count, just pay their bills, support and amplify them. Just about any book ever digitized is out there at the click of your fingertips.
What about books that were not digitized? Cryptocurrency solves it - establish forum/website where you can put up bounty for ultra obscure book you are looking for, payable at successful upload of usable scan at free book pirate site. Something like this, only with stronger incentives than reddit upvotes. (it had probably had been done somewhere, the hypothetical millionaire has to make the effort more visible).
Eetan
5d ago
What is the US military supposed to do? More bombing?
Iran is, unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, developed industrial country.
World #12 in electricity production
World #18 in motor vehicle production
etc, etc...
Serious war against Iran would entail dusting out WW2 playbook and go for full strategic campaign - blockade of the country plus destruction of industrial base. Unlike WW2 times, precision bombing means not "hit the tight quarter of the right city" but "hit the right pane of the right window of the right building" and industrial plants are not something that can be hidden.
But it will still mean multi year prolonged campaign, and it would mean 6-7 figure of Iranians dying, unlike in WW2 times streamed online, and this would not be seen by the world as spreading freedom, democracy and human rights.
Eetan
5d ago
The social contract used to be that after your parents took care of you when you grew up, you would take care of them in their old age.
The social contract used to be that in the improbable case that your parents live into so decrepit old age when they are unable to work any more, they will spend at most few months in such state until they are carried away by some respiratory illness.
Eetan
5d ago
What exactly is this worthy cause? Consolidating control of the sandbox? Greater Israel? Something else?
Yes, at least according to large part of USG decision makers, the Holy Land is what is it all about. Something hard to really grok for aspiring rationalist types, but this is really the best explanation for this mess.
If it was really all about oil, you would not see even one tenth of part of IRL Middle Eastern drama - US would just do business with anyone willing to pump and sell the black goo. See, for example, Africa - Nigeria, Angola, Congo etc are as riven with intractable conflicts, but The Free World(TM) is not tempted to intervene.
See recently deceased Lindsey Graham as typical example
There is no one to say Kaddish for Lindsey Graham. He had no wife. He had no children. He dedicated his entire life, mostly for us. We are his children.
Lindsey loved the Jews more than the Jews loved themselves. He traveled the world, from country to country, and fought like a lion for the State of Israel. He wasn't even Jewish himself. He simply believed with all his heart, with all his might, that it was the right thing to do.
The culture war angle is two-fold: First, it seems weird that people go so hard on clavicular when stuff like this is accepted (at least by the online left).
Easy to understand - F1nn let his face be remodeled by professionals, the best and the brightest experts, while Clavicular performs the looksmaxing care on himself with hammer in his own hands.
The same reason why suicide is discouraged, why stopping suicide and saving human life is one of main pretexts of rising internet censorship and gun control, while simultaneously Canadian care is spreading around the world.
Your face, your skull and your life do not belong to you, they belong to the experts. Trust the science, trust the experts, only they can decide, not dumb muggle like you.
Equivalent to Clavicular style looksmaxing in woke world is DIY gender affirming care, ranging from injecting yourself with various bathtub made substances to fully self performed gender affirming surgery.
But this is problematic.
This is not something praised and encouraged by mainstream left online and offline, this is domain of real hardcore underground very very far from public acceptance.
edit: links linked
Eetan
7d ago
He got a literal golden casket, but nobody actually looks up to Floyd in any way, nor did any lasting social change occur in his name. BLM took the money and ran, people clamored back for the police once it was gone, and all that remains is a landmark of peak woke.
Nah, peak woke is this.
Far more inspiring than St. Floyd festivities and with universal worldwide appeal.
And it is still open whether it is really over, or if it will return after Trump with vengeance.
Eetan
7d ago
That's an interesting point. If being the Pope is like being the best at any other profession, he probably DOES question his identity as a Catholic a lot.
If the pope has only little grain of actual faith, he knows that nothing happens by accident (at least at such spiritual pinnacle of the world as Vatican), he knows that Pope is not picked by fallible sinful men, but Holy Spirit personally.
(sometimes as inspiration and reward, sometimes as warning and chastisement)
Eetan
8d ago
It is gratifying, though unsurprising, that Kirk's death did not kick off a wave of revenge killings and mass violence, as fedposters fervently predicted.
Not only random shitposters, but even the most serious esoteric Catholic fascist conspiracy theorist who at the time correctly disavowed all conspiracy theories and called it what it was, act of self radicalized lone wolf, predicted this event to be the turning point, end of debate.
America will not have a Years of Lead moment as the age of armed ideological cells is over. Contrary to popular opinion, organizations like Ordine Nuovo and Le Brigate Rosse were not wholly created by intelligence services but were ALLOWED to operate by intelligence services and/or political backers at the vertices of state power. It is the blind eye that facilitates groups like this, even more so in the age of mass surveillance. Kash Patel is not going to allow armed right-wing extremist groups to operate with impunity; nobody in the GOP is ballsy enough to allow an American NAR. Antifa is allowed to operate when the DNC is in power because Democrats ALLOW them to. Having Lumpenproletariat foot soldiers deployed to punish your enemies is rational. Killing Charlie Kirk while they are not even in power is not.
Instead, the age of American political violence will be lone gunmen blowing someone’s head off on camera every couple of weeks.
Well, 10 months after, even this did not happened, no copycats so far on any side.
There just aren't so many people willing to sacrifice their lives who are so functional they can track single even moderately protected target (instead of random indiscriminate massacre).
It all turned out to be one big nothingburger. Is current situation still far from revolutionary conditions, or modern culture of circus and spectacle just lacks the seriousness necessary to create martyrs?
This is nothing exceptional, this is how baseline normie human works. If you see it as strange and unexpected, be grateful to gods/fates/fortune for beautiful bubble you live in.
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