Benjamin Cole
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Posts posted by Benjamin Cole
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2 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:
What would JfK think? What would he do?
I attended a Zoom conference the other night and cyber threats. I think it’s obvious that nation states can no longer rely on physical muscle to be top dog. There can no longer be a top dog when state or non state actors can hack into nuclear power lands and weapons facilities. Time to make peace. I never liked Red baiting. I don’t think of China as the Yellow Menace. Are we still at odds with Communism? Do we dare to think we sit on moral high ground?
Paul B:
What moral high ground?
The CCP has thrown a Hong Kong publisher, Jimmy Lai, into prison and left him there. For publishing newspapers. Google it.
Did Apple announce it would back out of China? BlackRock? The NBA? HSBC?
I happen to prefer largely free-market systems, and democracy.
That said, one weakness of capitalism is that it is an amoral system (not immoral, but amoral).
If Apple makes money working with commie dictators, then they will. But problems can arise when amoral multinationals control US foreign-military policy. As they do.
This obvious moral failing is smoothed over 1,000 times everyday by corporate PR, or the painting of "Black Lives Matter" on NBA courts. Apple's PR is impressive--in image-making, they are against the 1984 state. Except in real life, not in China and Hong Kong.
To be sure, many nuances to the issue, and there would be no winners in a nuclear war.
That Trump threatened and upended the parts of the cozy relationship between US capitalists and Beijing is a fascinating tale.
My guess is JFK would be a non-interventionist in general, and would have counseled all along avoiding too much commercial dependence on foreign nations, as dependence breeds entanglements.
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10 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:
Ben,
Geez... way to completely ignore the data.
You, obviously, need to do some remedial reading on the subject of Trump's longstanding involvement with the Russian mafia, Putin, and Putin's Russian oligarchs.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-cultivating-trump-asset-40-years-says-ex-kgb-spy-2021-1?op=1
Russ Baker published a detailed expose on the subject in March of 2017, more than a year before Mueller was ever appointed by Rosenstein to investigate Trump's obstruction of the investigation of Michael Flynn's December 2016 phone calls to Sergei Lavrov.
https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/fbi-cant-tell-trump-russia/
Craig Unger and others published detailed pieces on the subject.
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/9/12/17764132/trump-fbi-russia-new-york-times-craig-unger
Are you aware that Felix Sater boasted in 2015 that Putin was planning to install Trump in the White House?
And how do you explain Trump's shocking 2018 Helsinki press conference with Putin?
It was so bad that even George F. Will accused Trump of treason.
W.-
The "guilt by association" meme is older than either of us. Phone calls? Meetings?
As I said, Trump the person is indefensible.
But the idea of peaceful co-existence with Russia, or meeting with Russians, or even tacit co-operation with Russia on a transactional basis, is certainly defensible. (BTW, I think Putin is a thug).
Trump seems to have grasped that the global security state-media blob wants an enemy, and that enemy is Russia. But being Trump, he bungled and garbled everything, stepped squarely into every booby-trap and road-turd possible. If Reagan was the teflon President, Trump was the velcro President.
As a digression (but not really, stay with me), China's GDP is about seven times as large as Russia's, and their population is about 13 times the size of Russia's. China is the largest buyer of commodities on the planet, and everyday exhibits manufacturing prowess.
China is run by overt communists, the CCP, and getting more commie by the day, and now claims the whole South China Sea as Beijing's, along with parts of India and Taiwan.
Russia is run by klepto-capitalists, the kind the US power elites usually makes alliance with, and has a shrinking population, and a one-trick-pony economy of selling oil.
But...until Trump, China was the good guys and Russia the dangerous bad guys. Many still see it that way.
How did this happen? How did the Russian capitalist nation become the enemy, and a Chinese communist nation the good guys?
Why? BlackRock, WalMart, Apple, GM, Disney, the NBA et al are tight with the CCP, using their manufacturing platform, or investing in China land, or hoping to sell entertainment product.
Trump endangered that relationship.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-privacy-censorship.html
And now the Donks are calling for more internet censorship. Russia meddled in the election, and the kooks are posting untruths. Anyone who opposes the Donks is a Moscow stooge or a racist.
W.- We just have different views on this matter. That's OK. I thought George Will's column was establishment PR, and an angry shout from the national security state. Oh gee, do you suppose Will carries water for the establishment right?
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1 hour ago, Paul Brancato said:
Ben - care to expand on that a bit?
Hey Paul, nice to hear from you.
I hate to be so cynical, but both establishment parties are deeply embedded into networks of sponsors, the media and, of course, the global security state.
So who gets to direct the largesse of federal outlays, the capricious application of taxes, and also control the vast regulatory state and foreign-military policy apparatus?
There is an old saying: "First you have a movement, or a real cause. Then the movement becomes politics. Then politics becomes a business. At last, the business becomes a racket."
Washington long ago entered the racket stage.
I am not here to defend Trump, or Trump's ugliest backers. Trump is not defensible as a person.
But the mainstream media and establishment Washington had their long knives out for Trump from before the day he set foot in the White House.
The Donks and 'Phants fight for control of the treasures, whether against each other or Trump.
The whole Russiagate story is a cotton-candy confection, a nutritionless gossamer of fantasy that melts away into nothing.
And the Wuhan lab leak theory was "debunked"? Really?
I could go on. The narrative was what mattered, not the reality.
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13 hours ago, Chuck Schwartz said:
And, what you own, you can sell.
The fight in Washington is over who controls the selling, and who is the honored buyer.
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8 hours ago, Kirk Gallaway said:Ben I saw this ad in your Taibbi article and I realize this is what lead you to the Taibbi piece in the first place!We're happy that you've finally recognized your problem, and we support your decision and wish you a speedy recovery.Help is only an out stretched hand away. But of course, that's where the struggle begins!Beat it with Jesus!May God Bless, Ben
Which poses a question, can a site be judged by it's ads?Kirk-
Your advice is divine.
But this is no joke---these are the ads through which Russians collusionists tipped the 2016 election to Trump.
So we are told. So be forewarned.
Also, one of the Jan. 6 rioters-insurrectionists tried to sell Pelosi's laptop to Russia's SVR. See how the Trumper's are?
They steal laptops and give them to the Russians. Just like the Biden laptop.
So wipe that seraphic grin off your face, and get down to business.
Trump-Moscow is no joke.
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13 minutes ago, Kirk Gallaway said:
News Flash!
The head of the Republican Party, Donald Trump has declared that all Republicans should sit out the 2022 and 2024 election until the election fraud of 2020 is solved!
And welcome news. But somehow I think Lindsay Graham and Mitch Mac Connel at last won't be blindly following his lead on this one. With about all other candidates , this would be thoroughly discrediting.But to Trump's devotees they may just admire his courage to overtake the Republican Party.I would expect there were no advisors on this decision. Is this Georgia revisited? .
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tells-republicans-not-to-vote-in-2022-or-2024
And just to be clear, this isn't a joke!
Trump strikes me as a nut-job.
The government can maliciously prosecute a nut job and his cohorts, and the media can maliciously prosecute anyone remotely connected to a nut job.
As for the 'Phants or the Donks, please start a third party.
I hope all 'Phants or Donks take Trump's advice, and do not run in the next election.
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Congratulations to the JFK Lancer team for "toughing it out" and still putting on the conference, and here is to success in getting to website up and running....
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W.-
You mistake my motives.
I am not defending Trump.
I am viewing the modern government-corporate media state with a skeptical eye.
You are skeptical of the approved party lines, government press releases, and media coverage of 9/11 and the JFKA.
But now you cite a government press release?
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"There is no there, there." Apologies to Gertrude Stein.
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5 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:
The new Showtime documentary on Dick Gregory is adequate about his showbiz and civil rights career.
But I was kind of shocked when it did not include his presence on the first national screening of the Zapruder film on ABC in 1975.
It also did not include his co writing credit on Code Name Zorro, later retitled Murder in Memphis on the King case.
Or his presence at more than one COPA Conference in Washington DC.
Dick Gregory, in my opinion, stands with Mort Sahl as one of the very few first line entertainers who risked it all for their political beliefs about what happened to America. That was my (rather unsurprising) problem with the Showtime documentary.
https://www.kennedysandking.com/reviews/the-one-and-only-dick-gregory
I viewed from afar Dick Gregory, and enjoyed this review of the Showtime documentary. And yes, political assassinations are still not a polite topic of discussion.
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1 hour ago, Joe Bauer said:
Was it the same Lee Harvey Oswald we all know?
Also, would it be that easy for an unemployed, minimum wage earning American who can't even support his wife and child and who traveled to Mexico City by cheapest fare dust covered bus, to be able to get a personal one-on-one sit down with someone supposedly as high ranking as Kostikov?
Kostikov to Oswald:
"What professional position do you currently hold Mr. Osvald?"
Oswald to Kostikov:
"Well, right now I am unemployed. I have had a series of minimum wage jobs the last year. My pregnant wife and our infant daughter are living with friends until I can get back on my feet financially.
"I have recently spent a decent amount of time passing out pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans though. Even engaging in fisticuffs with some anti-Castro hooligans while doing so."
Kostikov to Oswald:
"And what is it that has inspired you to request my personal attention?"
"Do you have or know of something of benefit for mother Russia?"
"And you must know that your physical presence here has been filmed and recorded by your own government ... da?"
Oswald to Kostikov:
"I wish to go to Cuba." "I believe I have much to offer to the current situation there."
"I have training in basic Marine procedure. I have had radio and television coverage in my pro-Castro activities back in my country." I can clean coffee machines, hand out leaflets, print maps and soon I hope to learn how to drive a car.
I speak some Russian, enjoy listening to Russian opera music, prescribe to and read Pravda and I even love Borscht! If you add in a shake of American Worcestershire sauce."
My point being that Oswald's access to a personal meet up with someone of Kostikov's standing would be like David Atlee Phillips granting an personal one-on-one interview to an unemployed Russian potato peeler who believes he can make important contribution to "American Cause" of freedom if only he could be granted asylum... Da?
The whole Oswald / Kostikov personal one-on-one meet up affair doesn't make any sense at all.
Joe B. Oh, I agree. As you know, many posit LHO never went to Mexico City, and if he did, he was impersonated at times.
But, dang it, I saw this TV clip somewhere along the line....which indicated to me that Kostikov met with the "real" LHO...
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9 hours ago, Robin Finn said:
Thanks for posting. I see Eladio Del Valle named in the tabloid. He has always interested me.
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7 hours ago, David Andrews said:
Now thet's real Civil War talkin', thet thar!
What are the states going to do for intercontinental defense?
Surprisingly, the difference in pro-secessionists between the two political factions is rather small. That is, four of 10 Bidenites think secession is a good idea, and 5 out of 10 Trumpers.
Maybe Massachusetts bolts with the Far West? And Texas and the South bolts also?
I doubt there is much of a need for the hypermobilized global security state. The US military is presently a global guard service for multinationals, not to protect the US population.
Personally, I think secession for any particular region is not practical, but then I think the hypermobilized global security apparatus is not practical either.
A Hobson's choice, if you will.
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Also, has anyone seen a clip, I think on British TV, of Kostikov, the Russian in the the embassy in Mexico City, and his meeting with LHO? The clip shows Kostikov at a table discussing his meeting with LHO...
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6 hours ago, Jeff Carter said:
So who secedes first - Texas or California?
California first state to mandate gender-neutral toy aisles for large retailers
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8 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:
In his statement on Friday, Trump declared:
Big Michigan Rally coming up on Oct. 12th, on the Capitol steps in Lansing, where Patriots will demand a Forensic Audit of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam. The Voter Fraud is beyond what anyone can believe. Anyone who cares about our Great Country should attend, because unless we look to the past and fix what happened, we won't have a future or a Country.
In Michigan of all places? Where all those armed guys took over the State Capitol and threatened to kidnap and kill the Governor?
That's a recipe for disaster.
Steve Thomas
Steve T: Read up on who helped organize and finance the Michigan kidnappers.
Buzzfeed:
"The government has documented at least 12 confidential informants who assisted the sprawling investigation [of the Michigan kidnap plot]. The trove of evidence they helped gather provides an unprecedented view into American extremism, laying out in often stunning detail the ways that anti-government groups network with each other and, in some cases, discuss violent actions.
An examination of the case by BuzzFeed News also reveals that some of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported. Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant
For the record, yes, I oppose all forms of violence, and support only peaceful reform through voting and democratic processes.
A lot of people have concluded there would have been no "kidnap plot" without federal agent involvement.
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Robert-
Man, sorry to hear. I am reminded how small and unimportant our political differences are (for 99% of us) whenever a fellow human has real problems.
Yes, at this late date, "solving the JFKA" might not change much. We see mainstream media and even much of the new media co-opted by the blob, that is the confection of government, national security agencies and huge multinationals, and affiliated think tanks, foundations, institutions, centers, lobby groups, academia, media.
But I enjoyed your posts, as someone who was trying not to think as they were told to think, by this or that major faction in the media.
Good luck, man.
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On 10/9/2021 at 8:30 PM, Steve Thomas said:
Your "scrum" came and xxxx on my Capitol. and I'm mad as hell about that.
Steve Thomas
Steve-
Your assessment may be correct.
And I am just one small citizen here, and what I say will have zero impact on anything.
But here goes: One very important reason to study the JFKA is to learn how corporate media and government work together to manipulate public opinion after real or fabricated events.
Maybe 9/11 was a terrorist attack, as depicted. It was then leveraged by government-media to get the US into two fantastically expensive and counterproductive wars, and kill a couple million people.
In the case of the JFKA, we see how public opinion was shaped, perhaps even before, and very much after the JFKA.
For sake of argument, let us assume LHO was a lone gunman---that does not change the heavy PR-fake-news-manipulation effort that went into ensuring that was your point of view. Plus a lot of hints that maybe the commies were behind it. (That is still going on.)
That is what is happening on the 1/6 scrum. The public is being manipulated, and hysteria is being fanned. The 1/6 committee is political theater. We were told racist Trump supporters murdered Brian Sicknick by bludgeoning him in the head with a fire extinguisher, and that the scrum was armed and organized---and that what happened is a threat to our nation.
Here is the woman who stole Nancy Pelosi's laptop, a Riley June Williams:
She helpfully livestreamed her theft:
Then, to add to the mix, she live-texted about it. Yes, she took "Nancy Polesis" laptop.
Assuming Riley June Williams is a real person, and not a provocateur or actress....does she strike you as a threat the Republic?
The Deep State, which can tax you at will, enter in foreign wars on behalf of multinationals at will, controls the media, and assassinates US presidents...wants you to be afraid of Riley June Williams. Why?
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/capitol-breach-cases
One sure gets a different impression of the 1/6 event when reading primary materials.
Add on, from the "statement of facts":
"W1 (an informant) stated that WILLIAMS intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service."
So, Russia gets worked into the story.
Maybe this strikes one as a little too pat.
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18 minutes ago, W. Niederhut said:
Ben,
I must confess that you have an unusual ability to completely ignore rebuttals and refutations of your oft-repeated talking points-- e.g., regarding the conflicting FBI assessments about January 6th, Brian Sicknick's anomalous death, etc. So, I won't repeat them.
Billionaire Phillip Anschutz's right wing propaganda mouthpiece, The Washington Examiner, has aggressively promoted the narrative that the January 6th insurrection was, 1) not coordinated by Trump, Bannon, Roger Stone, et.al., and 2) was not an insurrection.
IMO, a subscription to the Washington Examiner could be useful in the event of a future pandemic-related toilet paper shortage.
As for the planning of Trump's January 6th insurrection, hopefully, more information will be uncovered by the Congressional investigation-- although Trump is aggressively stonewalling the subpoenas currently.
We know that Steve Bannon has stated publicly that he was involved in planning the January 6th insurrection with Trump, himself.
And FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress in March that there was evidence that the January 6th attack on Congress was coordinated by "die hard members of the Trump attack force."
At the very least, the FBI has given us mixed messages about the insurrection.
See, for example...
Is the FBI telling us the truth about the Jan. 6 coup attempt? Because it doesn't feel that way
Reports from FBI and DHS suggest a dangerous rift in law enforcement over the Jan. 6 coup plot. We need the truth
W.-
Well, we disagree on this one.
But...my main point stands, regardless of what the underlying facts (if any) are on the 1/6 event.
The M$M media, and the political establishment, wants you to be afraid of domestic subversives and foreign threats. Sometimes it is commies, sometimes minorities, sometimes terrorists, sometimes Russians, sometimes left- or right-wing extremists.
Sure, there are germs of truth behind all of these threats. But hyped beyond recognition.
The M$M 1/6 narrative reflects the default mode of "news coverage" of hyping a threat.
Brian Sicknick's death?
Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick Died Of Natural Causes
Even NPR reported Sicknick's death this way.The real threat?As I say, the coming expansion of the surveillance and police state, more censorship on the internet. Led this time by the D-Party, with the complicity of the establishment R-Party.That's my story, and I am sticking with it. -
Capitol Police whistleblower delivers scathing rebuke to two senior leaders on Jan. 6
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/08/capitol-police-whistleblower-rebuke-jan-6-515696
This is in line with what I have been saying. The 2,300-officer Capitol Police seemed to stand down on Jan. 6, and the 3,500 officer Metropolitan Police Department was nowhere to be seen.
The Capitol Police report to Congressional leadership, and the Metro police report to the Mayor of DC. Neither report to Trump, and both are supervised by the Democratic Party.
The FBI has concluded "there is no there" to the narrative there was a controlling power behind the 1/ 6 scrum.
And the "Brian Sicknick was murdered by a blow from a fire extinguisher on the head by racist Trump supporters" narrative has been debunked. He died of natural causes the next day.
All in all...a scrum, probably police mismanagement and 600 lulu's.
But...1/6 is being purposed to bring about ever-greater fear and subsequent surveillance and police powers.
Remember, be afraid of domestic subversives and foreign powers. Be very afraid.
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11 hours ago, Denny Zartman said:
In my opinion this is not the forum for this type of thread. It has nothing to do with the JFK assassination. Tucker Carlson is a partisan political commentator; he is not a news anchor nor is he a JFK scholar.
In one thread Benjamin is decrying the government/corporate media, and in this thread he's waving the FOX news flag, calling them "often the best" of all these terrible mainstream news organizations and hoping others will agree.
Is there no other place online for this type of unrelated, off-topic discussion?
If we absolutely must have to have non-JFK discussions on this section of the forum, could we at least keep them on the "Inevitable end result..." thread?
Denny Z-
Guilty as charged, as I did not provide enough context.
My point, expressed elsewhere, is that the political and media environment that attended the JFKA has persisted, and even strengthened, to this day. The national security state, aka the Deep State, has only grown stronger, and its ties and control over media also stronger.
Fox recently also has shown more receptivity to alternative versions of the JFKA such as those expressed in this forum, which I should have mentioned.
Again, as expressed elsewhere, one important reason to study the JFKA and media is not only for the horrible event itself, but to understand how government, the Deep State, and media work, right through to the present day.
Actually, I have become so demoralized that I support neither party presently, with abundant good reason, and both are deeply embedded into the Deep State, along with all major media.
I am just curious here, just wondering why Tucker Carlson occasionally flashes these insights that I agree with, regarding the national security state.
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Tucker Carlson: It is beginning to seem like the national security state runs everything
Who is really in charge of the White House?
Man, has the newsworld changed, or what?
Why does one read a headline like this on Fox News, and only on Fox New, and not CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WaPO, CBS, etc.?
Yes, yes, Carlson has an anti-Biden agenda, and yes, yes, Fox has flaws galore, and yes, yes, Fox is in business to make money, just like the others.
Still...Fox is no longer the worst of the M$M, and often the best. Times change.
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36 minutes ago, Robert Burrows said:
I have come to agree with Donald Trump on one particular issue, because, for once, he was telling a truth. Of course, being Donald Trump he was using the "truth" to manipulate and deceive, but that's a discussion for another time and place. I don't recall his exact words, and I will never use the phrase "MSM" again, because it's merely a euphemism. But the gist of Trump's quote was that THE CORPORATE PRESS is the enemy of the people. It absolutely has come to that point.
Maybe the "government-corporate media is the enemy of the people" is more accurate.
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4 hours ago, Kirk Gallaway said:
Ben. I knew you wouldn't answer any of my questions. Your assertion as to any number of firearms was a completely skewed personal confirmation bias talking out of your butt!
Ben:If 600 halfwits can overpower two police department with a combined force of 6,000..
You'll have a hard convincing anyone that the police outnumbered the protestors 10 X1, but I am becoming convinced you could believe it. So now they're halfwits. When you were first here, you portrayed them as some nice blokes you'd gladly have a pint with at the local pub..
Never once could you conceive that possibly Trump could have a hand in this mismanagement, and though you recite the Fox protocols, does it really make sense that the police force are completely political and entirely controlled by the Democrats and the Republicans have no say at all? Are you aware Trump had huge Law Enforcement support throughout the country but also within the rank and file of the Capitol Police? I've considered both sides of the argument, but as you say, it is important to you to" stick to your story". Ok
You are quite the tough talking Police Academy wicked taskmaster of the cop on the beat Ben. You repeatedly refer to this as a "scrum".
That's sort of a laugh. If so, I wonder how long some rugby chaps would last in a true "American scrum"? I would suspect in the words of MLK,
How long?.......not long!.
heh heh heh heh
Kirk--
Not sure what you are driving at, but I have been fairly consistent in my description of the 1/6 scrum participants. The marginalized, the gadflies, the mentally challenged, the outcasts. Mr Buffalo Horns. Perhaps I should retract the word "half-wits" as condescending and pejorative, but egads these people spell the word "certain" as "sertan."
Given the size and scale of the Capitol Police and Metro DC Police...I stick with my observation the two large police departments, with small jurisdictions, were curiously ineffective on Jan. 6.
The inevitable end result of our last 56 years
in Political Discussions
Posted
Jeff C.-
I entirely agree with you; the horrid prosecution of a Julian Assange, or a Carter Page, for that matter, is an example of the US Deep State in action.
So, like I said, "What moral high ground?"
Apple-Disney-BlackRock-NBA-Tesla-WalMart is happy with the US Deep State and the Beijing commies (who are even worse).